Reviews of FileOptimizer

1. 
   GadgetPig

   Reviewing 5.00.213 (Feb 20, 2013)

   This is a nice bulk file optimzier tool, it really does slim down and optimize files. However it has 2 critical flaws which needs to be fixed.
   
   Things that could be improved:
   
   1.) The default setting is to remove metadata info. So for example on JPG files, the program strips out critical pieces of Exif data from JPG files:
   
   exif-camera (date picture was taken)
   exif-origin (camera f-stop/exposure/iso)
   
   This is critical because if you want to rename your JPG files based on "date taken", it's stripped out and won't work.
   
   Under "options" there is a checkbox "copy metadata". I recommend you enable it for all applicable file extensions. This really should be enabled by default.
   
   2.) There is no "abort" or "pause" button. You have to close out of the program to cancel operations. Understandable as it uses multiple command line operations/plugins, but it'd be nice if it was possible to abort.
   
   Other considerations:
   
   PDF/PNG/EXE compression compression is slow, especially on dual core systems (YMMV) sometimes not worth the effort considering most PDF/PNG/EXE files won't compress much further.
   
   Keep in mind during processing, the program places originals in your recycle bin. So if you process 1 gb of data, it takes up 2gb of space (until you empty recycle bin)
   
   In some cases EXE files also do self integrity checks on itself and related DLL files. Some cases it fails to run after compression. One example is WinWGetPortable, which failed NSIS self integrity check after compression of both EXE and DLL files.
   
   Tests:
   
   On a sample JPG photo created from a Canon EOS 60D (18 megapixels) it shrunk down the file size from 5.95 MB to 5.88 MB with no difference in picture quality, even zoomed up close. True to it's stated "lossless" description.
   
   On a sample PDF file, by default it downconverts to 150DPI, so images inside will slightly change when viewed close. Setting to "prepress 300DPI" should make it virtually exact.
   
   Conclusion:
   
   Good program for squeezing every last drop of space from files, just make sure to backup first, exclude certain program directories, enable "copy metadata" for all extensions, enable "keep file attributes", and change PDF DPI to "prepress 300" under program options.
2. 
   Sativarg

   Reviewing 1.70.104 (Sep 7, 2012)

   OK link fixed thanks
3. 
   Sativarg

   Reviewing 1.65 (Sep 4, 2012)

   Thanks for listening... reading.
4. 
   Sativarg

   Reviewing 1.60 (Aug 27, 2012)

   Some impressive result... FAST I have a folder I use to drop all the images and PDFs and such that end up on my desk. I dragged it to the File Optimizer window and got a list of the 72 files that where in there and sub-folders.
   
   the overall size went down by 15.1 MB (15,872,000 bytes) / 35.6 MB (37,384,192 bytes) = 42.4%? did I do that right...
   
   Only 42 of the files where altered so the CRCs had change. I used a synchronize to compare the new folder with the original I backed up.
   
   But it was not clear when selecting a file in the File Optimizer list if the context menu would process just that file or the whole list. So I suggest allowing users to select files or have the text in the context menu reflect the range of files to be processed like "precess all". Or at least let the user know in the documentation what to expect.
   
   Every one is going to say this overwrites files without asking so maybe a warning would relieve these concerns. Or an option to backup all files changed...
   
   OK, that said, non of my files seem any worse for wear. But I'm no X'pert.

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