I've been trying a program I bought from Poundland and I think it's one to avoid.
It's by a (UK?) publisher called Green Label Software, and I've found that the "puzzles" it generates usually don't have unique solutions; I suppose this is better that generating "puzzles" which have no solution, as some programs (particularly sliding-block-puzzle programs) I've tried do, but not much.
A pity, really, as this program does have the good feature of a combination calculator. I suppose that for only £1 I couldn't expect much...
(edit: found out the rest of the publisher's name.)
One Kakuro prog I don't recommend
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One Kakuro prog I don't recommend
by robert@fm » Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:29 pm
Last edited by robert@fm on Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- robert@fm
- Posts: 28
- Joined: 20 February 2006
by robert@fm » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:26 pm
Actually, I've never had a virus, nor am I ever likely to get one from commercial software (any publisher who tried that would get their butts sued off, and any UK publisher would also get a hefty prison sentence); but I have had some pretty dodgy non-malware, including some much worse than Green Label Kakuro.
The two worst programs I've personally had were both from an outfit called Expert Software, which of course I now avoid; one was a virus scanner which turned out to be a badged version of AVG, which of course I could have downloaded free -- and even worse, it was so old that the database could no longer be updated, rendering it useless. The other was a so-called "font designer" which proved to actually be a text-effects designer (and which spent only five minutes on my hard drive, a record unlikely ever to be beaten).
Of course, I got my money back on both, as they were both unfit for the stated purpose (one because it was obsolete, the other because it was grossly misdescribed).
On another forum I was on once, I heard of an even worse program; some twit was boasting of a so-called "HTML source file encrypter" which he was selling for £20 a time. It turned out that what it actually did was to convert files to URLEncoded format (e.g. ABC becomes %41%42%43); in other words, the author was too dumb to know the difference between encoding and encryption, and remained so even when said difference was spelled out for him on the forum. When it was pointed out that his was a worthless program which promised the impossible whilst doing nothing but bloat the file size and increase the upload/download time, and nothing whatsoever to prevent access to the original plaintext by anyone determined to do so (determined enough to spend five minutes or so writing a decoder, anyway), and that he thus should withdraw his program and refund all monies before angry customers (or their lawyers, or the police) forced his hand, he angrily refused to do so, thereby making the transition from accidental deception (including self-deception) to deliberate fraud.
Makes one think...
The two worst programs I've personally had were both from an outfit called Expert Software, which of course I now avoid; one was a virus scanner which turned out to be a badged version of AVG, which of course I could have downloaded free -- and even worse, it was so old that the database could no longer be updated, rendering it useless. The other was a so-called "font designer" which proved to actually be a text-effects designer (and which spent only five minutes on my hard drive, a record unlikely ever to be beaten).
Of course, I got my money back on both, as they were both unfit for the stated purpose (one because it was obsolete, the other because it was grossly misdescribed).
On another forum I was on once, I heard of an even worse program; some twit was boasting of a so-called "HTML source file encrypter" which he was selling for £20 a time. It turned out that what it actually did was to convert files to URLEncoded format (e.g. ABC becomes %41%42%43); in other words, the author was too dumb to know the difference between encoding and encryption, and remained so even when said difference was spelled out for him on the forum. When it was pointed out that his was a worthless program which promised the impossible whilst doing nothing but bloat the file size and increase the upload/download time, and nothing whatsoever to prevent access to the original plaintext by anyone determined to do so (determined enough to spend five minutes or so writing a decoder, anyway), and that he thus should withdraw his program and refund all monies before angry customers (or their lawyers, or the police) forced his hand, he angrily refused to do so, thereby making the transition from accidental deception (including self-deception) to deliberate fraud.
Makes one think...
- robert@fm
- Posts: 28
- Joined: 20 February 2006
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