Spell Checker Hunt

Spell Checker Hunt

My hunt for a free Windows spell checker was both a success and a failure. I checked out both SourceForge and Tucows and found a freeware spellchecker AutoTypist on the Tucows site. However, when I downloaded and installed this, it failed to work for me.

I also downloaded and installed a shareware product, Spell Magic. For this you get a 30 day trial, and I will think about buying it.

When it launches, it pops up a Smart Bar which, on close, minimizes to the Tray, from where you can access it by right-clicking.

To spell check you copy something to the clipboard and then hit SPELL CHECK CLIP. Your options include an ADD option.

The Smart Bar stays on top, and has an EDITOR option, which pops open a very simple editor which puts wavy red lines under errors, prompting you to self-correct.

In the OPTIONS you can unchoose always on top mode and have your choice of always loading when windows launches or not.

If you want to purchase, you can purchase before or after the 30 day trial period has expired.

I have other stuff that I downloaded and could mess with, but I think I'll stop there.

The version I have is Spell Magic v5.1.6.

Time is money, and, if this product works okay for me, I have no philosophical objection to paying for it.

At this stage I'm only in a "she looks okay from the other side of the bar" situation with this product, so, consequently, this is not a recommendation.

The graphic above shows the Smart Bar, or, if you prefer, the SmartBar ... the screen shot is a bit rough, sorry, but it's after midnight, and I need to get to bed. Have to work today.

I've blown up the screen shot way larger than life so detail will be clear once it has been uploaded to Blogger.

I went to the Spell Magic site, www.alcodasoftware.com

They have a number of products for sale, including a text editor and a word processor.

The site's blurb for Spell Magic is as follows:

" Everyone has a favorite application that doesn't include spell check, or one that is slow to respond or hard to use. With Spell Magic, you can easily spell check a word, paragraph, or entire document; in any Windows program, anywhere on your computer, including Microsoft Word, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer. One of the most beneficial aspects of Spell Magic is the minimal learning curve. With its standard Windows user interface and unparalleled options, you'll be an expert in no time at all and be using Spell Magic with all your applications. (retains Spell Magic)"

If you click the buy button then you can find out the price, which is about thirty bucks American, or, to be precise, US $29.95. That wouldn't break the budget. So, if it works okay and provides ease of use, then I may opt to purchase it.

Out of curiostity, I went back to Tucows and punched "WordWeb" into the search box.

The place I ended up at is:

http://www.tucows.com/preview/198316

I wanted to take a look at what people who had downloaded WordWeb had gone for. Programs included tinySpell, which I downloaded but have not installed, and probably won't, because a discription of it makes it sound that it's not what I want to use, not with my shoddy eyesight. The error-displaying editor that comes with Spell Magic would be a much better option, I think.

The Tucows page for WordWeb has a "related ads" section which included a "download freeware" option, so I clicked and got to this page:

http://www.tucows.com/related/?k=Downloading+Freeware&c=preview&t=1805&u=http://www.tucows.com/preview/198316

It list freeware sites, so I clicked my way to this one, again, out of curiosity:

http://www.tryfreeware.com/

Nothing that I would be interested in, but I think exploring the Tucows freeware page might be a good place to start if you wanted to hunt around for freeware sites.

I duplicate here, at the end of this blog entry, the URL already given above, a set of links to freeware sites:

http://www.tucows.com/related/?k=Downloading+Freeware&c=preview&t=1805&u=http://www.tucows.com/preview/198316

In summary, then, the answer to the quest for software downloads, paid or free, seems to be to skip Google and go directly to Tucows or SourceForge.

Good night, folks.

Yokohama, Japan, 0121, Wednesday 18 April 2007

No, not done yet. Peeked at the image once it was uploaded to Blogger, and, hey, once uploaded the screenshot looks okay. That said, I really am done.

Didn't spell check this file. Hitting the fatigue barrier, and it really is time to go to bed.