The BLOCK 2.0
Author: Marc Mennigmann
Shareware: $10

The BLOCK, by Marc Mennigmann, puts an interesting twist on computer security. Although its security is effective in thwarting common intruders, would-be-snoops familiar with “The BLOCK” or with moderate Mac knowledge may be able to defeat its effective but simple approach to securing your Mac.

Is That a Trick Question?
Security is a very important aspect of computing. Well-known tools like PGP effectively layer powerful security features over everyday computing. But most of us don’t need 1024-bit encryption for our documents; we just need a simple way to keep the local snoop from digging through our stuff.

“The BLOCK’s” innovative approach is unlike any other. When you turn your computer on, you see a dialog box asking for a password. This is where the similarity ends and the creativity begins. Instead of typing your password in and clicking “OK”, you must hit a sequence of keys (which you have preset), and click the “Shut down” button! In this way, potential invaders can try passwords all day and never gain access to your machine.

However, depending on how you set up “The BLOCK,” users may still be able to get in. Users can hold down the Shift key at startup to bypass “The BLOCK’s” extension, but “The BLOCK” has an option to disable starting with extensions off. However, this feature can become very dangerous because an extension conflict or forgotten password could possibly render your computer inaccessible.

The Summary
“The BLOCK” provides an easy solution to basic security concerns. Average users like your spouse, children, or co-workers may not be able to get into your computer, but you should know that its security may be child’s play for an extremely dedicated and skillful intruder, and for this reason “The BLOCK” shouldn’t be used in high-risk scenarios. However, “The BLOCK” is a shareware gem at only $10, and is highly recommended for any user seeking a simple solution to basic computer security.

RAM Doubler 8.0.1
Company: Connectix Corp.
Estimated Price: $44.99

What would you do with more RAM? Start thinking,
because RAM Doubler 8.0.1 from Connectix could provide
a quick solution to double or triple your existing memory.
The new version features enhanced speed, compatibility, and many new features that will make doubling (or even tripling) your RAM a more pleasurable experience.

Out With the Old…
Remember RAM Doubler 2? Imagine that it never crashed, worked faster, and was compatible with more applications. The end result would be something very similar to RAM Doubler 8.0.1. Compared with previous versions, this memory enhancement works like a dream. Although you will still see a noticeable speed hit, it’s still much, much faster than the Mac OS built-in virtual memory scheme and still faster and more compatible than ever before.

… And In With the New
Not only does RAM Doubler 8.0.1 boast better compatibility and improved speed, but it introduces several new and useful features in the control panel.

The layout of the control panel is now a three-tabbed approach. The first tab allows the user to determine what the memory should be increased to (no increase, double, triple, and a few settings in between). A new pie chart feature on the second tab lets you see what percentage of each application’s memory is in active use, paged, compressed, and free. The third tab features advanced settings and displays. Six vertical bars show the memory paging fault rate, RAM compression rate, and disk access rate (for stored memory data).

How Slow Can You Go?
If you want to see a testimonial to RAM Doubler 8′s power, look below for a screenshot:

RAM Doubler 8 is shown supporting the following applications with only 48 MB of physical RAM: Illustrator (18.5 MB), Photoshop(39.1 MB), AOL (14.6 MB), HyperCard(5.9 MB), Finder (15.6 MB), PlayerPRO (7.8 MB), and VirtualPC (30.7 MB).

Even while running all of these applications at the same time on a PowerMac 6400/200 with RAM Doubler 8.0.1, I didn’t crash at all. Of course, I wasn’t running at full speed, but I was operating at twice the speed of the standard Mac OS virtual memory. Note that it’s still pretty extreme to triple your memory and run that many applications at once; doubling your physical RAM is the best cross between enlarging your memory and retaining your computer’s speed.

RAM Doubler also gives the user all of the benefits of standard virtual memory. It reduces the amount of memory that PowerMac-native applications need (as seen in the Get Info dialog). However, it adds several seconds to your startup time as it prepares itself for use.

Wow, That’s Smart!
Memory enhancement is also smarter than ever. If you try to give an application more than the amount of physical memory you have, its memory partition is automatically reduced to the maximum size. It also features a small “paging indicator”, a dot that flashes in the upper left corner whenever RAM Doubler is working its magic. The control panel is also now outfitted with a help box that provides information on whatever you point to.

The Summary
With gratly improved speed, reliability, and compatibility, RAM Doubler 8.0.1 is a better buy than ever. Its useful charts and graphs show statistics about your memory down to the smallest detail, and even has many smart features to prevent easily avoidable crashes. However, RAM prices have continued to fall; you can get 32 MB of real physical memory for $45 at most places. If you have a fair amount of existing memory, a fast computer, and you want a little extra memory to play with, you may get substantial value out of RAM Doubler 8.0.1. But if you have 16 MB memory or less, a slow computer, or a desire to triple your memory, RAM Doubler 8.0.1 will work, but at the price of a substantial slowdown.

GoMac 1.5v3
Proteron, L.L.C.
Shareware: $19.95

If there was one measly, single feature in Windows 95 or 98 that you could consider decent, what would you pick? (I know, it seems like a trick question, but it’s not. :¬P) One popular answer would be the “Task Bar”, a feature that allows for single-click cycling through open programs and windows, making multitasking a little easier.

Just Like Windows
True to its claim, when you restart after you install GoMac, you will notice something different. A strange bar seems to be invading the bottom of your screen! Depending on your setup, you see a Start menu à la Windows 95/98 (but with a Mac OS logo instead of that wavy, rainbow-colored thing), and a clock. You will also see a button labeled “Finder”, representing the current open application.

However, GoMac falls a bit short of the functionality of the task bar used by Windows (or as GoMac refers to it, a “Program Bar”). Although there is a button for each open application at the bottom, individual windows within each application don’t get their own buttons. As a result, you can use GoMac to switch between applications but not to move through open windows. It even mimics Windows 95/98′s application-switching keyboard shortcut to allow you to cycle through open apps without the mouse. (Note that both keyboard shortcuts for application switching and a floating window that lists all open applications will be featured in MacOS 8.5.)

Is That a Feature?
Unfortunately, when it comes to configurability and customization, GoMac almost hits rock bottom.

Of course, you can set options like automatically hiding the Program Bar, whether or not to hide other applications in the background, and which application you use to search your hard drive, but GoMac has too many of those trivial settings and not enough of the essential options that users expect. For instance, there is no way to customize the font/size of the start bar menu or clock; you cannot change what appears under the “Settings” menu item—it’s
permanently set to Control Panels, Extensions
(for the Extensions Manager), Chooser, Monitors
& Sound, Program Bar (to open the GoMac
Control Panel), and Start Menu Items.

Mac Meets Windows
Of course, GoMac also has its share of well-
conceived features. For example, clicking on the
clock reveals a “perpetual calendar”, where you
can cycle through the days, weeks, months and years just about indefinitely. The program bar also features Control Strip support; however, you must individually add Control Strip modules, one-at-a-time, to be able to use them. This may become troublesome for users with many modules. Its Control Strip support also does not use the font settings of the “Control Strip” Control Panel. GoMac also features rudimentary Contextual Menu support. Control-clicking on a program’s button will reveal a menu that allows the user to see how much memory an application is taking up (when you click on the Finder, it displays the total amount of free memory), an option to quit the application, and a menu item to invoke a “Settings” dialog which can control if the app appears as a small icon next to the clock instead of as a bar.

One of GoMac’s best features is support for the Appearance Manager. Although this may not mean much now, it means better compatibility down the line. When users of Kaleidoscope 2.0 change schemes, for instance, GoMac changes the color of the program bar to match the scheme. However, it still doesn’t change its fonts to automatically match the scheme’s selected System font.

The Summary
If you’re a PC user who recently switched to the Mac, or you usually juggle a dozen apps at once, then GoMac is for you. Its usefulness will satisfy your needs, even though its lack of configurability may be disconcerting. If you’re a Mac user looking for a new toy for your Mac, GoMac doesn’t provide enough features to justify its usefulness unless you really want to have a task bar.

Extension Overload 2.7
Author: Teng Chou Ming
Shareware: $10.00

If you are one of the many users who are lost in the countless files littering your Extensions and Control Panels folder, take heart. Help has arrived in the form of a nifty document called Extension Overload 2.7!

Encyclopedia o’ Extensions
The author of Extension Overload claims that it contains information of 666 extensions (INITs) and 245 control panels. After using Extension Overload to look up some of the most obscure extensions I have (it even listed an extension called ‘Cham Hangul’, an extension I need for foreign language operations), I was convinced that this figure was easily accurate.

Extension Overload vs. InformINIT
Dan Frakes also publishes an excellent electronic document for extension and control panel information called “InformINIT” (shareware, $25). Regardless of which document has more extensions and control panels covered, Extension Overload tops InformINIT in many ways.

Organization is Key
First of all, Extension Overload provides the information to users in such a clear way that they don’t really need to read the directions at all (except to register, or course). Extension Overload also lists all extensions and control panels alphabetically, making finding the one you’re looking for simple. On the other hand, InformINIT uses many different colors and conventions which are useful but could easily confuse the reader who hasn’t read the long version of the directions, and makes browsing the database difficult by dividing everything into overly-specific categories (Apple Control Panels, Apple Extensions, Non-RAM INITs, Groups, Third-Party Extensions, Third-Party Control Panels, Enablers, and Microsoft files). Fortunately, both include a “Find” feature.

Extension Overload also provides the latest version of each extension and control panel where applicable, along with a URL (also when applicable). InformINIT does the same, but goes one step further by providing “hot links” to the website. Clicking on the “NN” or “IE” button (depending on which browser you use) will take you to the URL, but only if your browser is already running in the background. This quirk can make the feature essentially useless; users can always simply copy and paste the URL into their already running browser.

To top it off, Extension Overload has a smaller file size; it isn’t bloated with huge graphics like InformINIT. This means that downloading new updated versions becomes less painful. It’s also cheaper, but advanced users may not get all of the techie info (RAM usage for instance) for certain extensions and control panels that is contained in InformINIT.

The Summary
Extension Overload packs 666 extensions, 245 control panels and a few extras into an easy-to-use format—all for $10. For any true Mac user, this document is a must-have source for extension and control panel information.