Email etiquette: how to recall a message

Summary: Five courtesy rules of email message recall applicable to Outlook users (but not only).

It happened to me again: I sent an email to a (reasonably) large group of people and then realized that I forgot to include an important detail. What do I do now?

I could do the following:

1. Send an updated e-mail containing original message along with additions.
2. Send an update with a reference to the original message (not including the original message).
3. Use Outlook's capability to recall the message and replace it with a new one.

Because I sent the message to my co-workers (all located in the same time zone) during lunch time, I decided to revoke the message and replace it with a new one. So I did.


Well, despite my best intentions, I did not do it right again, because several recipients had already opened the original message and weren't sure whether they needed to finish reading it or start over. Since this happened to me more than once, I thought I would define a few guidelines for doing it right. I hope they will help you as well.


Here are the five rules of email revocation etiquette I recommend:

• Don't send the message right after completing the last sentence.
  Unless the message is urgent, do not send it immediately after writing. Give yourself a 5-10 minute break, then re-read it from beginning to end (do not rush), check hyperlinks (if you use hyperlinks, click every one of them to verify that they point to the correct sites), and only then send it.
• Pick the right option to recall/resend the message.
  OK, you did not follow the first rule (or you did but then realized that you still needed to change something), so now you need to decide how to send an update: either by recalling the message, sending an update, or sending an update with the original message. First, keep in mind that the Outlook's message recall may not always work (see the Will my recall be successful? section). Second, consider time. If you sent the original message more than a few minutes ago (unless you did it in the middle of the night and all recipients live in your time zone), message recall will do little good. I suggest that you recall email only within the first 5-10 minutes of sending the original message or when there is a high probability that the majority (I would say 95%) of recipients did not have a chance to open it. If it's likely that people has already started reading the message, don't try to recall it, just send an update.
• Modify the subject line.
  Keep in mind that message recall may work for some recipients and not for others. If you send an update (either via recall/replace or standard resend), indicate that this message is an update. Include an update indicator in the subject line, e.g. you can add the word [UPDATED] (with brackets) in the beginning or at the end of the subject phrase, such as

  Subject: [UPDATED] New training requirements

  or

  Subject: New training requirements [UPDATED]

• Explain the changes.
  To help those who have already read the original email, add a sentence (or brief paragraph) in the beginning of the message stating that this message is an update; describe the nature of the update. If the original message contained errors (e.g. a broken hyperlink), fix the original message (the part which was wrong). For example, you can start the message with the following paragraph:

  [UPDATE]In case you received my first message: the URL of the training company XYZ was wrong. I'm resending this message with the correct URL. Sorry for confusion.[/UPDATE]

  When adding new information (say, a new hyperlink), you can either include it in-line or add it in the beginning, e.g.:

  [UPDATE]In case you received my first message: I forgot to include the URL of the training company XYZ, which is: http://UrlOfXyz. Sorry about that.[/UPDATE]

  If you add new information in-line, make it stand out (if you use rich text or HTML formatting, mark it using a different font style or some other indicator), such as:

  Here is the list of approved training companies:
  http://UrlOfABC
  http://UrlOfDEF
  [ADDED]http://UrlOfCompanyXYZ[/ADDED]

• Be careful with them attachments.
  If the original message contained attachments, be very careful: do not include very large attachments in the update because it will take space on the server and fill recipients' mail boxes with duplicate data. If the attachments are reasonably small, you can assume that (or ask) recipients (to) delete the original message.

Additional references:
How to use the recall message feature in Outlook 2000 or in Outlook 2002

Freeware Appreciation Day: ImgBurn

Summary: ImgBurn can burn CDs and DVDs better than most burners and it won't waste much of your system resources.

This month, my Freeware Appreciation Day's contribution goes to ImgBurn.

Before switching to ImgBurn, I have been using Nero. In the beginning, I really liked Nero, but starting with version 6, it turned into a pile of bloatware, which was harder and harder to use. After getting fed up with frustration, I gave up on Nero and decided to try several freeware alternatives. [The last license of Nero I bought was Nero 7 Ultra Edition, although after reading user comments, I re-sold it without opening the box.] Out of all programs I tested, ImgBurn proved to be the most reliable.

Here are the main reasons why I like and recommend ImgBurn:

• ImgBurn is narrowly focused.
  It does not attempt to solve every possible CD/DVD-related problem, but when it comes to ripping disk images (such as ISO files) from disks or burning disks from disk images, it performs the job better than most (on many occasions, I was able to burn disks using ImgBurn after other applications had failed).
• ImgBurn is lightweight.
  It takes little system resources and does not use any memory-resident processes, such as Nero's InCD, which has a nasty tendency to hog CPU even if Nero is not running. When I need to burn a disk, I just start ImgBurn, and when done, close the program.
• ImgBurn is flexible.
  You can adjust many burn settings, such as burning speed. For novices like me, the number of available options can be overwhelming, but the default settings should work fine for most users.
• ImgBurn has a simple and intuitive interface.
  Just remember to use the Read mode to rip disks to image files and Write mode to burn image files to disks. Everything else should be obvious.
• ImgBurn comes from the maker(s) of DVD Decrypter.
  If you are familiar DVD Decrypter, you will notice the similarities between the two programs. Unfortunatley, Macrovision Europe has bought DVD Decrypter, but you can enjoy many of its features in ImgBurn. (Note: Keep in mind that ImgBurn cannot remove DVD region code or Macrovision copy protection.)

As any software, ImgBurn is not perfect. It can occasionally crash or freeze, but it's no worse, and in most cases better, than other programs I tried including the already mentioned Nero Ultimate, as well as Roxio Creator Basic 9 (which came with my hardware), Ashampoo Burning Studio Free, and InfraRecorder. And I suspect that you will get faster response from the ImgBurn author(s) (if you run into issues) than from their commercial counterparts (I, for one, never heard back from Nero after reporting bugs or asking questions). To see what ImgBurn users say about the product, check the support forum.

Additional references:
How to Rip DVDs with ImgBurn
Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster

Five free replacements for essential Windows programs

Summary: If you are not satisfied with the built-in Windows Explorer, Notepad, Clipboard, Task Manager, or Start menu, see if you like their alternatives.

Although Microsoft made -- what some would call marginal -- improvements to its operating system(s), many important Windows components (namely, Windows Explorer, Notepad, Clipboard, Task Manager, and Start menu) look like they haven't been updated since the early days of Windows 95. Fortunately, many FREE alternatives -- some better than others -- offer features missing from their Windows counterparts. Here are several programs, which I recommend as replacements for the built-in Windows components:

Windows Explorer

---

Replacement: UltraExplorer (or FreeCommander)
Benefits: Both FreeCommander and UltraExplorer provide a wide range of nice features not available in regular Windows Explorer. FreeCommander offers a few more features, but it has a serious limitation: it does not support Unicode, so it cannot rename a file to something like
МанькаОблигация.txt. Another problem I noticed was a long delay when accessing network shares, which may (or may not) have a workaround. UltraExplorer is not perfect either. For example, it does not offer any search options and has troubles displaying file attributes -- such as read-only, hidden, etc. -- in the list view. It can also crash once in a while, but I'll tolerate these limitations until they get addressed (or until I find a better tool) because UltraExplorer offers me the following features:

• Dual-pane mode (you can browse two folders in one window).
• Ability to copy full path(s) of selected file(s).
• Tabbed windows (you can add tabs whenever you need).
• Size column shows folder sizes (Windows Explorer does not).
• Quick access to the favorite folders (you can customize the list of favorite folders).
• Displaying files in the list using natural sort, e.g.:

  1.txt
  7.txt
  50.txt
  200.txt

  instead of traditional:

  1.txt
  200.txt
  50.txt
  7.txt

• When renaming a file, extension is not selected by default.
• Filtering files and folders (handy when working with folders holding huge numbers of files).
• Multiple skins.
• File preview panel.
• Built-in command-line window.
• And more.

If you decide to try UltraExplorer, I recommend spending a few minutes customizing the settings so that they fit your personal preferences (I did not like many of the defaults).


Other alternatives to Windows Explorer are available, but the ones I checked seemed to have usage limitations, e.g. xplorer² lite cannot be used "in any commercial context, including but not limited to: corporate, office, military, government, etc.", so I can't use it at work.

Notepad

---

Replacement: PSPad (or Notepad++)
Benefits: I have been going back and forth between PSPad and Notepad++, but lately moved completely to PSPad, partially because it was the first editor to correctly process regular expression-based search and replacement (all free text editor tools I tried could not correctly replace beginning or end of lines using regular expression syntax -- ^ and $ -- but PSPad was able to correct the problem in one of the recent releases). Other nice features of PSPad, which I appreciate, include:

• Built-in spell checker.
• Syntax highlighting (for many programming languages).
• Ability to run external tools (for example, when editing a VBScript file, you can execute it directly from the editor).
• Search and replace options (including regular expressions).
• Text bookmarking.
• Line numbering.
• Multi-document interface.
• Built-in file explorer.
• Macros.
• Character case change (UPPER/lower/Sentence/etc.).
• Text conversion (to/from Base64, URL, quoted printable, decimal/hexadecimal, etc.)
• Auto-insert (optional) and finding matching brackets (parentheses).
• HTML-RTF conversion.
• Column selection mode.
• And a lot more.

When researching Notepad replacements, I found TotalEdit (via Download Squad). Unfortunately, TotalEdit did not do well in my regular expression test: it corrupted the whole document. I hope this issue will be fixed some day because I really liked the interface and would like to give it another shot. [Update: The author of TotalEdit has acknowledged this problem and is planning to release a fix soon.] If you are interested in exploring other Notepad alternatives, check this Wikipedia list (also see what other people use).

Task Manager

---

Replacement: System Explorer (or AnVir Task Manager Free)
Benefits: I have many gripes against the built-in Windows Task Manager. Why doesn't it show full paths to the running executables (processes)? How come it can't display command-line parameters of the running processes? The list can go on, but I don't care any more because I have replaced Task Manager with SystemExplorer, which offered me the following features:

• Displaying full paths to the running executables.
• Command-line parameters are shown in the Process Details window (so now I can see which running svchost.exe corresponds to which service).
• Ability to check suspicious processes (executables) against the VirusTotal database.
• Access to process information at Process Library.
• Network connection information (shows which processes are connected to which addresses over UDP or TCP/IP).
• Startup data (shows which applications are loaded at start-up).
• List of opened files (displays which process holds open handle to which file).
• By pressing CTRL+F and entering the name of a DLL in the SystemExplorer Search window, I can find which processes have this DLL loaded.
• Every list displayed in the SystemExplorer tabs can be exported to a file.
• Configuration option which allows SystemExplorer to be invoked instead of Task Manager.

SystemExplorer offers many more features, but so do other similar tools. For example, AnVir Task Manager Free can do everything that SystemExplorer can (and more), using a smaller memory footprint. I like AnVir Task Manager's alerts displayed whenever a new entry is about to be added to the startup database, but the GUI seems a bit too overwhelming. Microsoft's own Process Explorer is another alternative to Task Manager worth checking out.

Clipboard

---

Replacement: ClipX (or Ditto)
Benefits: I have already mentioned ClipX on several occasions (for example, here and here). This little program has been helping me by making it possible to select items from the clipboard history (not just the immediate ones). I also like that ClipX converts formatted text (RTF or HTML) to plain text (there are dedicated programs which just do that).


I have been recommending ClipX for many years, but Ditto, which I found (via Online Tech Tips) just a few weeks ago, also looks promising (the main thing I do not like about Ditto is that there is no easy way to paste text from clipboard with formatting stripped: to do this you need to use a context menu option; the author is planning to add this feature in a future release).

Start menu

---

Replacement: Launchy (or Enso Launcher)
Benefits: Okay, Launchy is not really a replacement for the Windows Start menu, but once you start using Launchy, you will not need the Start menu, except for a rare occasion. You invoke Launchy (which runs as a memory-resident program) by clicking the ALT+SPACE keys (you can use a different hot key combination), and then enter a few letters of the application executable (or shortcut) name in the pop-up window. Launchy will display the list of matches from specific directories (and their subdirectories). What I like most about Launchy is it's reasonably small memory footprint and it's auto-scanning of the folders (some other launchers require you to manually add programs to the list, which seems like unnecessary work).


If you feel more adventurous, try Enso Launcher. I have mixed feelings about Enso. I like its slick interface, but the memory footprint (about 30 MB) seems a bit excessive for a memory-resident application. Also, I'm too lazy to remember and type Enso commands (to launch a program, you need to press the CapsLock key, then type OPEN  and the first letters of the program name).

For a list of other application launchers, see Wikipedia (the Wikipedia article does not include all launchers, e.g. it misses such popular programs as Key Launcher and SlickRun, so you may also want to try Google).

Microsoft ate my uninstaller

Summary: Microsoft thinks that program uninstall shortcuts under the Start menu are bad. What say you?

The most common methods of uninstalling software include two options:

1. the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel (or an equivalent program), or
2. a shortcut under the Start menu's program group (or Uninstall shortcut).

Although many programs create Uninstall shortcuts, Microsoft discourages this practice. In Designed for Windows XP Application Specification, Microsoft suggests:

"Do not place shortcuts to remove the application in the Start menu. It is not needed because your application’s uninstaller is in the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel item." (Section F1.1)

In addition to the stated reason, Microsoft does not favor Uninstall shortcuts because they (supposedly) add clutter to the Start menu:

"Usability studies show that when the Start menu and/or Windows Desktop become too cluttered, users have a very difficult time finding and launching their programs. This leads to a bad user experience." (Section F1.1)

I don't buy the last argument because when users complain about the Start menu clutter, they probably imply the main Programs group folder. Since Uninstall shortcuts appear under the application sub-folders (and not directly under the main Programs group folder), they do not make the Programs group folder more cluttered than it already is. Besides, with Vista improvements and so many available alternatives, Start menu clutter becomes less of an issue. [After adopting Launchy, I hardly use the Start menu.]

With respect to the "application’s uninstaller [being] in the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel" argument, I have to mention that the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel... kinda... sucks! Let's see what it takes to uninstall a program via the Uninstall shortcut and compare it to the Add or Remove Programs approach.

Option 1: Use the Uninstall shortcut

1. Click the Start menu; select Programs-Application folder-Uninstall.
2. Follow the prompts.

This was fast. Now, how do we get to the same step via the Add or Remove Programs control panel:

Option 2: Use Add or Remove Programs

1. Click the Start menu; select Settings-Control Panel.
2. Wait a few seconds (minutes) for Control Panel to load.
3. Control Panel loads. Select (or double-click) the Add or Remove Programs option.
4. Wait for the list (of installed applications) to be populated. (Go to Starbucks... Get a cup of Frappuccino... Come back...)
5. OK, the Add or Remove Programs list is finally populated. Now, find the application. (Scroll down looking for the application name... Scroll up looking for the software maker name... It is not uncommon for the entries in the Add or Remove Programs control panel to have names different from the applications under the Start menu. Sometimes the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel contains entries with duplicate names.)
6. Once you find a reasonable match, select the program and click the Uninstall button.
7. Follow the prompts.

Although the performance of the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel in Windows Vista has somewhat improved, it's still not the most efficient way of removing software. Maybe this is why a number of applications, including CCleaner, MyUninstaller, Revo Uninstaller, and ZSoft Uninstaller, promise to offer a better uninstallation experience. [After trying a few of these alternatives, I have not been convinced that their application removal features offer any drastic improvements over the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel.]

Not only does it take longer to launch uninstaller from the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel, but what would you do if Control Panel stopped working. This happened to me a few times. For example, a couple of weeks ago I installed a recommended anti-virus tool, and several programs -- including the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel -- started to malfunction (I could not even launch the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel). Attempts to kill or suspend the offending application process did not help, but because the application had the Uninstall shortcut, I could quickly remove it and bring my system back to normal. Without the Uninstall shortcut, fixing the problem would've taken much longer.

If you want to implement the Uninstall shortcut for your application, but not sure how, check Google (look for the solution applicable to your installer technology). For MSI-based installations, use a shortcut with the following command line (replace Product_Code_GUID with the actual value of ProductCode):

msiexec /x{Product_Code_GUID}

To implement an Uninstall shortcut in a Visual Studio 2005 deployment project, do the following:

1. Add Windows system folder
   
   Select the setup project in Solution Explorer, click the File System Editor icon. Right-click anywhere (except the currently displayed folders) in the File System Editor view, and select the Add Special Folder - System Folder to project menu option.
   
   
2. Add msiexec.exe file to project
   
   In File System Editor, right-click System Folder, and select the Add - File... menu option.
   
   
   In the Add Files dialog box, select the msiexec.exe file located in the Windows system folder (such as System32) and click the Open button.


3. Create the Uninstall shortcut
   
   Double-click the application folder under the User's Programs Menu and right-click anywhere on the empty space of the right panel of the File System Editor (make sure that none of the items are selected); select the Create New Shortcut menu option.
   
   
   In the Select Item in Project dialog box, double-click System Folder, and select msiexec.exe; click OK.
   
   
4. Set the Uninstall shortcut properties
   
   Select the Uninstall shortcut and press the F4 key to display the shortcut properties window. Rename the Uninstall shortcut to something more meaningful, like Uninstall (it may make sense to include the name of your application). Set the value of the Arguments property to /x[ProductCode] (you can enter the GUID of the product code, but then you would need to remember to update the shortcut property if you change the GUID).
   
   

Note: When you build the setup package, you will get the following warning (the path to the msiexec.exe file may be different):

WARNING: 'msiexec.exe' should be excluded because its source file 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe' is under Windows System File Protection.

You can ignore this warning.

Additional references:
Application Specification for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Application Specification for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Dude, where is your installer?

Dude, where is your installer?

Summary: Don't make your application users suffer: offer them an installer.

Last year, Jeff Atwood wrote an article, in which he mentioned a hassle of installing applications, which do not have installers. After describing the manual steps it takes to prepare such application for its first run, Jeff concluded:

"That's a lot of tedious, error-prone steps I have to perform before I can run the application. [...] Is this really what we want to subject our users to?"

Judging by the growing number of applications, which come without installers, the answer to Jeff's question is: "Absolutely!" And not only do we (programmers) want to subject our users to these tedious, error-prone steps, we somehow managed to make them believe that this is a good thing. Read what CyberNet's Ryan wrote about an application called Pitaschio:

"[Pitaschio] caught my attention not only because it was freeware, but also because it didn’t require any installation. Those two ingredients are pretty important when it comes to making a good first impression on me."

Now, Ryan, wait a minute... It didn't require any installation? Are you sure?

With the exception of portable programs (such as Portable Apps intended to run from USB drives), any application requires some form of installation. Installation can be manual (extracting files from a ZIP file, copying them to folders, creating shortcuts) or it can be done with the help of a setup program. Whenever someone claims that an application does not require any installation, he (she) probably means that the application does not have an installer and must be set up manually. Why this is considered a good thing is beyond me because it normally takes more effort to install a program manually.

Let's compare the steps it takes to install a hypothetical program consisting of a single executable file with and without an installer.

Option 1: Installation steps (with installer)

1. Download the ZIP file.
2. Extract installer file(s) from the ZIP file (to a temporary folder) and launch the setup program (good installers do this in one step).
3. Once the setup program starts, click the Next button to select the default options (for the application folder, and so on) until setup completes (most installations can be done in three clicks or less without lots of thinking).
4. (Optional) Delete setup file(s) from the temporary folder (again, good installers do this automatically).
5. Delete the ZIP file.

The key point here is that the user is not forced to think and can just go: click, click, click (the mouse), or hit, hit, hit (the Enter button). Here are the steps, which I often perform to install a program manually.

Option 2: Installation steps (without installer)

1. Download the ZIP file.
2. Extract the application file from the ZIP file to... Hmm, where should it go? (Thinking...) I guess, I'll save it under the Program Files folder.
3. Open Windows Explorer (click, click to start Windows Explorer). Locate the Program Files folder (click, click, click, more clicks to navigate to the Program Files folder).
4. Okay, I'm in the Program Files folder, but how do I name a folder for the new app? (Thinking...) I guess, I'll name it after the application executable. Select File-New-Folder from the menu, enter the name of the new folder, hit Enter.
5. Extract the application executable to the newly created folder.
6. Switch back to the application folder in Windows Explorer and create a shortcut (right-click the executable, select Create Shortcut from the menu, click F2 to rename the shortcut, enter a more user-friendly name, hit Enter).
7. Create a new program folder under the Start menu (click, click, click, more clicks to navigate to the Programs folder under the Start menu, select File-New-Folder, enter the name of the new folder, hit Enter).
8. Copy the application shortcut to its program folder under the start menu.
9. (Optional) To auto-start the program, copy its shortcut to the Startup folder; otherwise, copy the shortcut to the Quick Launch menu (again a few more clicks).
10. Delete the ZIP file.

Would someone (Ryan?) be so kind to explain what makes option 2 better than option 1, because it's not obvious.

One argument in favor of installer-free applications claims that these applications are easy to uninstall: just delete the application file(s) and it's gone. I can't agree with this argument because it attributes "clean" application behavior (the fact that the application does not use Windows registry or any other persistent storage) to lack of installer. Besides, most client programs rely on persistent storage for tasks such as storing application data and user preferences, which (according to the most recent guidelines) should not be kept in the program folder, but saved in the user's application data directory (such as AppData). This means that when uninstalling the program, I need to find and manually delete data files, as well as the program file(s) and shortcuts located in various folders (Program Files, AppData, desktop, Start menu, Startup folder, Quick Launch menu). Again, how is this easier than launching the uninstaller and letting it handle all cleanup tasks for me?

There is one valid argument in favor of installer-free programs: support for portable execution. If an application is intended to run from a portable device, such as a USB drive, it should not require an installer. However, this does not mean that the application should not provide an installer for regular (non-portable) use.

Smarter developers, such as the makers of my favorite text editor PSPad, offer users both installation options: with and without installers. I hope that one day I will see installers for other great programs, including:

• CAPshift
• Hide Desktop
• Snippet Compiler
• SysInternals Suite
• System Explorer
• Texter

If you are a developer, who haven't written an installer before, you may not realize that (for simple applications) it requires very little effort. You can build a simple installer using Visual Studio's Setup and Deployment Project templates. Or use one of the following FREE tools:

• Inno Setup
• NullSoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) (see who uses NullSoft and NSIS Quick Start)
• VSSetup (simplifies MSI-based upgrades)
• Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset
• ZipInstaller

Lists of other installer authoring tools can be found here:

• Windows Installer Authoring Tools for Developers

If you are totally new to the world of installers, the following references will help you get started:

Build an Installer for Installer-less Programs
Deploying a Windows-based Application
How to create a Setup package by using Visual Studio .NET
Step-by-Step Process of Creating a Setup and Deployment Project
More articles...

See also:
From MSI to WiX
It's the installation, stupid
Software and Support for Setup Developers
Windows Installer resources
Installers (list of free and commercial installers)

VodPod vs. WorldTV: VodPod wins

Summary: Both VodPod and WorldTV can help you organize and share your favorite Internet videos, but VodPod can do it better (at least, for now).

If you're looking for a better way to organize your favorite video clips from YouTube, Google Video, Viddler, BlipTV, and other video sharing sites, try these (free) services:

• VodPod
• WorldTV

Both VodPod and WorldTV let you collect videos from various video hosting sites and share your video collections with the world or a selected group of people (you, your friends, family) at your own custom URLs, such as these:

http://worldtv.com/YourTV
http://YourTV.vodpod.com

After playing with WorldTV and VodPod for a few weeks, I would like to mention a few things I liked and did not like about both and each service.

I like WorldTV's name: it is simple, understandable, and easy to remember. VodPod's name is unfortunate. I suspect that the pod part of the name is somehow related to podcast, but what in the world is vod? [UPDATE: Vod stands for video on demand.] I also like the term channel (like TV channel) used by WorldTV to describe a video collection. VodPod calls video collections pods, again one more confusing term.

VodPod and WorldTV use different naming schemes for video collections: VodPod puts your collection name in front of the address (as a subdomain), WorldTV keeps it at the end (as a virtual directory). VodPod's scheme is more appealing to me, but you can decide for yourself, which one is easier to remember: AlekTV.vodpod.com or worldtv.com/AlekTV.

WorldTV uses a very simple interface for its channels, but at reduced size, the screen elements tend to stack over each other and the aspect ratio seems distorted.


WorldTV's Welcome (home) page has a few design flaws as well. For example, the main navigation buttons (Go and View) of the Welcome page are not visible on my 14" laptop screen, even in the maximized browser. [The buttons are placed lower than the browser's bottom margin, but because the page does not show a vertical scroller, there is no way to get to them (in IE, the scroller bar lacks the scroller button, while in Firefox, even the scroller bar does not appear).] Also, it's impossible to know without rolling the mouse all over which elements of the Welcome page (and some other pages) contain hyperlinks.

For some reason, WorldTV's channels offer no way to see the list of videos in a collection; you only see a currently played video. Neither can you select a video without manually skipping the videos before it. So, to watch the last video from a 100-video WorldTV collection, you will need to click the Skip button 99 times. VodPod's interface, although cluttered, shows the list of video snapshots, using which you can browse videos and easily select the one you want to see.


Unlike WorldTV, VodPod cannot show videos in the full screen mode, but given the generally low quality of Internet videos, most of them will not look good maximized. Still, when more sites start supporting higher quality videos, this WorldTV's feature will become more useful. [Note to the WorldTV developers: when already in the Full Screen mode, the option to switch back should say something other than "full screen"; maybe "original screen", or "restore screen".]

WorldTV takes an unorthodox approach to authentication/authorization. Unlike most sites (including VodPod), which allow you to sign in with a user ID and password, WorldTV requires you to enter a pas... sorry, a "secret word" (that's the term WorldTV uses) for your channel (URL). To clarify: you do not have a user ID. This means that if you want to create multiple channels (say, you want to keep your collections of music videos and funny clips separate), you need to define a password for each one of them (password is only needed for administration, not for viewing).

Maintaining multiple collections in VodPod is easy because they all are associated with a single user account. Each collection will a have a different URL (Web address). You can use any name for the name of your collection in the URL as long as it is not already in use. For example, my (test) pods can be found at:

http://AlekEdTV.vodpod.com (technical, educational)
http://AlekFunTV.vodpod.com (humor, entertainment, news)
http://AlekMTV.vodpod.com (music, songs, dance)

At VodPod, once I sign in (with my user ID and password) at the home page, I can see and work with any one of my channels. At WorldTV, I sign in at... Hmmm... Where do I sign in?!! There is no sign-in link visible anywhere on the WorldTV's home page. It took me a trip to the FAQ page to figure out that to sign in (so that I can make changes), I need to enter the URL of the admin (editor) page of my channel, which, by default, is defined as the "editor" subfolder under your channel, such as:

http://worldtv.com/YourTV/editor

You can change the name of the of your admin page, but if you forget it, you may never find it.

WorldTV should work fine for a small video collection, but once the number of clips starts to grow, it will be harder to manage, because there is no way to categorize or filter videos. VodPod makes this job easier by letting you define tags and categories for videos. I haven't yet figured out how to use tags, but categories allow you (as a channe..., sorry, a pod editor) and your pod viewers to view only category-specific videos (a video can belong to multiple categories). For example, if you define two categories "Humor" and "Music" and associate them with your videos (some may belong to Music, some to Humor, and some to both), you will be able to view clips belonging to each category. Unfortunately, there is no way to select videos from multiple categories, such as "Music" and "Humor" (say, I want to watch "White & Nerdy").

VodPod lets you add comments to your videos. Comments can be handy if you want to explain why you liked a particular video, add trivia facts, links to relevant sites, and so on. WorldTV does not support comments.

For integration with Web sites (blogs), VodPod allows you to create widgets for your pods. When building a widget, you can specify its layout, title, category, and other options.

As I found out, not all widgets are created equal. For example, when I select a single-frame (so-called "button") layout (when only one video is displayed), the widget does not recognize the specified category; it will show all videos defined in the pod (see the VodPod widget in the right side bar of this blog). WorldTV does not offer widgets, although you can plug your channel into your Web site via an IFrame.

VodPod offers a whole range of social features, like ability to leave comments, follow other people's pods, ratings, RSS subscriptions; I don't care about the social aspect, but there are several non-social features, which I wish were improved. For example, it would be nice to be able to filter videos by (spoken) language. For example, if a collection includes Russian and English videos, non-bilingual viewers may want to watch only clips in the language they understand. There should also be a language-neutral option for videos, which are not language-specific.

A silly problem: inexplicably, VodPod chops the photo in my profile. I tried to add different photos (various sizes and aspect ratios), but they always get chopped (almost by half) at the bottom. And once you add a photo to profile, there is no way to remove it (unless you replace it with another one).

Another idiosyncrasy involves the video approval process. After I added one video from a non-standard site, it turned into a zombie: although it appeared in my pod, it did not play, making the pod look broken. The status of the video stated that it was approved but not encoded (in another place, the status indicated pending approval). The video was pending for a few days with no progress, so I eventually removed it. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but at the least, pending non-playable videos should not be visible to viewers.

Here is one of the most irritating problems (to me): I cannot find a way to show videos in a custom order, instead of the chronological order. I can re-order videos, and play them using default categories (random, most viewed, top ranked, and others), but there seems to be no way to play them in the same order they appear in the pod. Also, there should be an easier way to share videos between pods. For example, if a manage several pods, I should be able to publish a video from one pod to another (with the same comments, tags, and categories) via a simple mouse click.

I sent feedback to both WorldTV and VodPod, but did not get any response from either of them, so it should be safe to assume that you ain't get much support either.

[UPDATE: After publishing this article, I got feedback from both WorldTV and VodPod. VodPod people were especially responsive and fixed a few problems mentioned in the post. If you are interested in additional information, see comments.]

Freeware Appreciation Day: ClipX

Summary: ClipX is so much more than your regular Windows clipboard.

This month, my Freeware Appreciation Day's contribution goes to ClipX.

ClipX is a clipboard history manager written by Francis Gastellu. This tiny application keeps track of text- and image-based clipboard entries allowing you to paste items, which have been recently copied to the clipboard, but got overridden by more recent entries. ClipX also makes it easy to strip formatting from rich text- or HTML-formatted values and paste resulting plain (i.e. unformatted) text in a single step.


Since I have already explained how ClipX works and described how to correct a minor problem with its hotkey settings in the ClipX fix post, I'll keep this entry short. If you need more information, check out what other people say about ClipX:

Review by BestFreeApps
Ricky's Web Review

I have been using ClipX for a few years now and it saved me a lot of keystrokes. Unfortunately, it looks like development work on ClipX has been halted (there have been no updates to the application since late 2005), but since it keeps working, I feel that the author deserves a small token of appreciation (I hope, though, that ClipX keeps working until Microsoft wakes up and makes the same functionality built into the operating system). If you haven't used ClipX (or an alternative clipboard manager), give it a try; I'm sure you'll like it.

[UPDATE: After publishing this post, I've noticed articles covering ClipX in a number of prominent blogs, including Coding Horror, Lifehacker, and MakeUseOf. Also, Francis Gastellu released a new beta, so we may get a new version of ClipX very soon.]