15-Minute Reviews :: AptEdit Standard v3.7.4b230 (Quick)

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is AptEdit Standard version 3.7.4 build 230 by Brother Technology, Inc – A raw text editor as well as hex-editor.

This software title has been previously reviewed by myself. Click here to read the review of version 3.7.2b222 Pro.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“AptEdit is a 32-bit full-featured text / hexadecimal professional editor for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. It offers many powerful features to view and edit any file (text or binary). And it is also an excellent source editor for Web page authors and programmers.

Text/binary files comparison and merging, full Unicode support, HEX template, edit disk drives, seamless Web browser, function list, EBCDIC to ASCII, OEM to ANSI, convert to html (WYSIWYG), customizable keyboard shortcuts, favorite files, and so on.”

Quick Pros

• File compare functionality works well
• Syntax highlighting and collapsing for a good number of languages
• Many text-formatting options available
• Hex editor very powerful

Quick Cons

• Interface a bit awkward to use in places
• FTP functionality does not support Secure FTP
• Not quite as many features as Pro

Expansion

Since my previous review, there has not been any significant feature updates that I can locate; However my biggest concerns from last review appear to have been corrected. My experience started out a lot nicer this time by not crashing during the install of the registration information. As with this, my experience with working with text files a lot more pleasant; It no longer crashes each time I attempt to hit return, or delete content, which is definitely a vast improvement.

I played quite a bit with this application to confirm all the points. Without the crashbugs, I did find myself settling into this application a lot more, except I still find the button bars and sheer content of the menus overwhelming at times, though now that I’ve used it a bit, it is becoming easier with time. Though I don’t often use a HEX editor, it is very handy having it quickly available as well.

There are some differences between the Professional version reviewed previously and this title (Standard). The most notable here for some will be the lack of the Project management functionality. There is no longer the Project tab on the Workspace Bar, or any of the useful functionality linked to it. The Standard version is also lacking the drive-hex tools for allowing you to open your drive (Which many may not be useful to most anyways). To see a full list, check out the developers Comparison Table for more information on features. For the most part, besides the project functionality, many of the features that have been removed for the Standard version may not even be a concern to most.

Final Verdict

All-in-all I do feel a lot better about this application since the critical crashbugs have been fixed. It runs pretty well, and besides the awkward toolbars and menus it is very powerful and useful. For free, if you need a HEX editor or looking to compare this text editor to others, this may be a great time to pick this up; While it may be awkward, it is awkward due to the sheer level of functionality included. As for paying $39.95 for this application, for most the Standard version for this price is more than what most people need as long as it fits your needs well; It is still bit steep however, but this price tag may be easier for most to chew off.

Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, October 19, 2007