Control Freak (Ontrack Powerdesk 4.0)

Member Name:

Product:	Ontrack Powerdesk 4.0
Date:	02/06/01 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gives you control .

Disadvantages: A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

After years of being dedicated to the Amiga platform I was transported to the PC world some six months ago. I left behind many useful utilities that gave me absolute and total control of my computer and in particular the hard drive. SID2 was one of a number that allowed me to access every single file whether it was hidden or not and manipulate that file any way that I wanted to at the click of the mouse. I could create a folder/file, delete it, copy it, move it, re-name it, view it if it was a picture file, play it if it was a sound file and set the protection flags to name a mere handful of operations. The list of SID2’s functions is almost endless.

I longed for such a utility on the PC and have eventually found one. Powerdesk 4 is to all intents and purposes the SID2 of the PC world. It is free to download from http://www.ontrack.co.uk/powerdesk/ for personal use and at just over 1.1Mb it doesn’t take too long. There is Powerdesk 4 Pro with a multitude of enhancements that is as near to free as you can get these days at £12 plus vat, soon to be available for purchase in England. Currently it’s a buy from the states job and all that entails.

Once downloaded a simple click on the .exe file installs the programme where it is supposed to go or it gives you the option of putting it where you will. For those people using Windows ME a box appears to tell them that this version of PowerDesk is not for ME but you can ignore that and carry on with the installation because it only applied to the version 4 and not the version 4.0.8.0 that is downloaded. In any case the FAQ’s on the web site inform ME users to update to version 4.0.12.1 that is totally compatible with ME. I tried but could not find that version but that doesn’t mean that it is not available. It just means that I could not find it.

Technical support is not available for the free version you have to have the Pro version to get that, but the help facility i
s, well, helpful.

After launching, a window opens with a row of ten menus at the top and underneath there are three rows of icons. The rest of the window is divided into two parts across the screen with the left hand one being less than half the size of the rest. The left part of the window displays the Desktop items and all drives such as hard drive partitions, CD, Floppy etc. thus you can get to any part of the whole system. The right side will display the contents of any drive or folder in the left side that is activated. SID2’s way of displaying the contents of a hard rive were done much more efficiently and in a different manner but this is PC and when did PC and efficient go hand in hand.

The first thing to do is to go to menu View and select how you want the windows to be displayed, Single Pane as described above or Dual Pane Horizontal or Dual Pane Vertical. I would recommend that the users select whichever of the Dual Pane’s they feel most comfortable with, as the Single Pane is limited in its use. I favour the Dual Pane Horizontal as it is nothing more than two Single Pane Windows under each other and thus easier to use.

The top Pane becomes “active” when you put the cursor anywhere in the Pane and click LMB as does the bottom Pane if you click in it. The bar just above each Pane changes to a dark blue when it is active. A mid grey bar means that it is not active.

Both Panes will show the contents of the Desktop etc. and clicking on a drive or folder of your choice will display the contents in the right window. A simple click and drag will copy a file or folder with its contents from an active Page to the inactive page or you can single click a file/folder to make it active and then you can do with it what you will, like cut, delete, rename using the top row of icons or view it or read it using the bottom row of icons. The middle row is just a short cut to all the system drives. You can still righ
t click to create a new folder in the Page of your choice.

Basically all the users need to remember is to make a Pane active and then they can do what they want to, subject to the programme’s limitations, in that Pane. Any copying is done to the inactive window so the destination has to be sought beforehand.

I do not intend to detail all the various functions, as the reader would get lost in a morass of instructions but once you get used to the idea it is much easier than using separate windows. So the best way to find out how to use PowerDesk 4 is to go and use it. Start off with creating a folder in a place of your choice then copying one of your own data files, like a picture into it. Then have a go at deleting the copied file in one of two ways, recycle and delete. Play around because in this case familiarity does not breed contempt.

This free version is limited in its actions and the Pro version will no doubt work minor miracles for the user and just as soon as I can find out where I can get it from, I will.

Summary: