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ART5
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1993-02-27
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101 lines
╓──────────────╖
║ Becker Tools ║
║ v4.0 ║
╙──────────────╜
by Tony Curro
Seems as if many companies are in the shell game. Windows shells
that is. PC-Kwik, Norton and Abacus to name a few. They are many
more out there. However, Abacus is one of the early entries. While
the other are at v1.0, they are up to 4.0.
Becker Tools requires 6MB of hard disk space for installation. Of
course it also requires MS Windows. The installation is straight
forward, and easy to follow. It will install on a single PC or on a
network. For a network you first install in on the server, and then
on each workstation.
Becker Tools has a large selection of programs included; I will
discuss some of them later on. With such a large selection it would
be hard to remember what each one does. Well, Abacus has made that
easy for you. As you place you pointer over any icon, you see the
icon's function explained on the bottom left of the screen. This
eliminates the need to remember the icons.
Becker Tools has a toolbox that you can configure with up to 25
functions. You add the icons from a master group into the toolbox.
One of the icons is a reboot icon. Using it, you do not have to go
through the exit sequence of Windows. There is also a restart icon.
Many times you install something, and the program says "Restart
Windows for the changes to take effect." Click on the restart icon,
and Windows will do just that.
When you bring up Becker Tools Shell, you can see a file and/or tree
display. You can also have one or two drive windows open. This is
useful for copying or moving. Included also is Launcher. This allows
you to launch all applications of Becker, and any other
applications. You customize this to suit you needs.
Features of Becker Tools include: Undelete, Recover, Print, Blackout
(Screen Blanker), Disk Optimizer, File Finder.
There are several editors included: Text, Hex, Icon, Disk.
A viewer allows you to view the following graphic formats: BMP, PCX,
GIF, PIC, IFF, TIF and LBM.
Other programs and features are:
Disk Info - Graphic display of disk allocation. Show a pie chart
with directory names and percentage of disk that each directory is
using.
Backup - It will automatically format and verify target diskettes.
Creates backup history file, and compresses files during backup.
Group Services - This allows you to add groups to the Program
Manager. This is useful if you make Becker your primary shell.
File Compactor and File Extractor - Create archive and
self-extracting, self-running EXE archive files using Compactor.
Extractor restores files to their original state.
Disk Utilities - Copy a diskette in a single pass. Create multiple
diskettes from one read. Also allows you to copy from one diskette
format to another.
Single or Multiple Compare - Single compares source to target.
Multiple will compare source to multiple target diskettes.
Disk Librarian - Compress data from diskette into one file on your
hard drive. This file can then be stored, or copied on to a separate
diskette. This is like creating a backup of your diskettes. In case
the original becomes defective, you can use this archived file to
restore it.
Compactor will compress Windows applications. It will uncompress the
file when it is needed. When you exit the session, the uncompressed
file is removed, leaving only the compressed file. The next time you
access the application, the above process is repeated.
Abacus has done a good job with this program. The interface, and
access, is much improved over previous versions. If you are on the
market for a Swiss-army-knife of shells, Becker Tools v4.0 does
deserve a look.
╓─────────────────────────────╖
║ Product Information ║
╟─────────────────────────────╢
║ Becker Tools v4.0 ║
╟─────────────────────────────╢
║ List Price -- $129.95 ║
╟─────────────────────────────╢
║ Abacus ║
║ 5370 52nd St SE ║
║ Grand Rapids, MI 49502-8107 ║
║ 616-698-0330 ║
║ 616-698-0325 (FAX) ║
╙─────────────────────────────╜