On Click Utilities
Reviewed June 2008

What’s It Do?

This is a collection of software utilities for Windows XP/Vista/2000/2003. Individual components of the suite offers fast searches, undelete of files after trashing, secure deletion to prevent recovery, verification of files, encryption of files, updating of large files, encryption of selected text, and minimization/customization of Windows settings for specific programs.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: For the most part, yes, as far as I can tell. I say "as far as I can tell" because I'm not able to confirm some of the company's assertions, such as their claim that no program can recover a file deleted by DeleteOnClick.

Reviewer 2: OnClick is actually a "suite" of utilities each designed to do different tasks. Each is a stand-alone application that launches by itself, not from within a main program. In my testing, this feature seemed to be faster to load than calling a main program and then using the needed module. That is a nice time saver and easy on system resources. The names tell the story. Each module or application does as the name implies.

• DeleteOnClick; Securely delete files with military grade deletion so no program can ever recover it.

• EncryptOnClick; Ensure the files you want to keep safe and out of view from others stay that way.

• FindOnClick; Quickly search your whole disk for documents, programs, hidden files, MP3s, image files, and more.

• UndeleteOnClick; For any file types including NTFS compressed and NTFS encrypted files.

• HashOnClick; Ensure the files you download or copy are identical to the originals.

• PatchOnClick; A very convenient program for sending frequent updates of any kind of data.

I found all the applications easy to understand and use. One actually turned out to be a lifesaver! I take lots of digital pictures which get saved to a folder along with the report I’m doing. I save them on the desktop (and delete them from the card) for archiving to an external HDD at the end of the day for future reference. Somehow, 40 jpegs got erased from the folder and the camera card had already been erased. UndeleteOnClick recovered every jpeg intact from the previously erased XD picture card. When viewing the card in Windows Explorer, it was empty as far as Windows was concerned. Undelete found them all with no problem.

I was just as happy with FindOnClick. It was very fast, scanning 76GB of data on my main drive in just 12+ minutes, faster than Windows search. This application is very customizable as well. It can be fine tuned to search specific drives, both internal and external including flash media. It can be limited to a single folder search. It can compare the “hash” for finding duplicates. It can be run from the command line and will export results to .csv for analysis.

DeleteOnClick is a secure deletion application that really deletes a file, not just its address in the FAT table. It also has the ability to “Quick” wipe or “Secure” wipe the drive’s free disc space.

EncryptOnClick uses 256 bit AES military grade encryption with compression for smaller file size for the encrypted files. It can encrypt single files or entire folders, can be run from a USB drive and is password protected.

HashOnClick may seem a bit “geeky” for the average user but is actually quite useful. A “hash” is a long number derived from certain parameters generated from any file. By comparing the hash, two files can be compared to determine if they are exact duplicates. This application is useful for finding duplicate files on the computer. And to make sure that the file transmitted or downloaded is the correct file or one that did not get glitched in transit. If, for example, the provider of the program can provide the hash number, this can be compared with what is downloaded, thus allowing one to detect a difference if an “extra” payload, like a virus or malware got included in the download.

PatchOnClick is an easy-to-use program that allows sending and receiving updates to large files without having to send or receive the whole file each time. PatchOnClick is particularly valuable when frequent updates of files are sent via email, over the Internet, or via a Network. Sending and receiving smaller patch files is less burdensome on servers, firewalls, and security programs that scans the data as it is sent and received.

Reviewer 3. Yes, each of the modules does work. However, while some of them are quite straightforward, others are much more technical. I am a fairly competent computer user, yet I found some of the modules to be challenging, and I needed to refer to the help files quite frequently.

Reviewer 4. Yes. OnClick Utilities is a suite of several small tools for working with and manipulating the files stored on your computer. Whether or not it will, as its Web site claims, “transform your computer experience,” may be more than just a bit subjective. For this writer that “transformation” was confusion and aggravation/

Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1. It wasn’t difficult to install, but it wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Although the program is called a utilities suite, each of the eight programs that make up the suite must be downloaded and installed separately (the NNT panel tested only seven of these, since the eighth, TrayOnClick, was still in beta, and we don’t test beta software). I’d have preferred the option to download them all at once, and perhaps even to install them all at once as well. I was also not pleased that ScrambleOnClick tried to insert itself into the Startup menu without asking me whether I wanted it there. I prefer to restrict that menu to programs I use multiple times every day. Also, two of the programs, UnDeleteOnClick and HashOnClick, require that the computer be rebooted to complete the installation. On the plus side, as soon as the user inserts the registration code into one of the programs, all the programs will automatically recognize it.

Reviewer 2. The installation was a little different than I usually experience since each of the programs in the suite is a separate application and they install individually. Some require a reboot. One “key” covers all the applications. Another nice feature is that the EULA allows installation on up to five computers for “non-commercial use”. The OnClick Utilities Suite is downloadable as a package or as individual applications from the 2brightsparks.com Web site. Some, such as the EncryptOnClick, are freeware.

Reviewer 3. It was a tedious procedure, because the Onclick Utilities Suite is actually a collection of a number of individual modules. Each one follows the standard Windows procedure, but each has to be installed individually. In most cases, I was able to place the programs modules and the shortcuts where I wanted. This was not so with the help file, which installed to a folder buried deep inside the “Documents and Settings” folder. The Hash and Delete modules will appear on your right-click Context menu, so their shortcuts will not appear in the Start Menu. Some of the modules require restarting the computer to complete the process. As each module is installed, a window opens up with a brief explanation of the main functions of that particular application. As some of these utilities are not so commonly understood (“Hash” and “Patch File” are good examples), it would be useful to copy each of those explanations, and paste them together into an explanatory text file that you could keep in a folder with the program modules as a quick and easy reference. Apart from my main criticism of the installation process, (see “Weak Points” below), they installed relatively easily.

Reviewer 4. No. While it was a relatively small 3.3MB download occupying a mere 4.7MB on one’s hard drive and that installed using the standard installation wizard, the confusing, unclear, and cumbersome “help” files made registration an unnecessarily confusing nightmare.



Good points

Reviewer 1: One good point applies to the entire utility suite: very responsive technical support. There is both a user’s forum and the possibility of submitting a support request on the company’s website. I sought help from both sources and received useful responses within 24 hours. The company also provides an illustrated Help Manual that in general offers clear descriptions of the OnClick programs and how to use them. (The discussion of ScrambleOnClick, however, proved inadequate and misleading: see below under Weak points.) One other good point that applies to most of the programs in the utility suite is their ease of use. The program interfaces are for the most part very simple, and using them requires very few steps. Other than the tech support, the Help Manual, and the ease of use, a discussion of good points must focus on individual programs rather than the utility suite as a whole.

The program I was most impressed with was DeleteOnClick. In just one pass, it will delete a file securely; it is much faster than other software I have used. DeleteOnClick is very useful if one no longer needs a sensitive file or is planning to give away or discard an old computer. The company, 2BrightSparks, claims that the program uses “military grade deletion so no program can ever recover” a deleted file. I do not own specialized file recovery software, so I could not test the company’s claim, except to note that I could not recover the deleted files on my own or by using the company’s UnDeleteOnClick (and, indeed, the company says explicitly that UnDeleteOnClick cannot recover files erased with DeleteOnClick).

Other files in the utility suite that people may find useful are PatchOnClick, HashOnClick, EncryptOnClick, and ScrambleOnClick. PatchOnClick should be especially useful for someone who routinely sends updated versions of a file to other people. Instead of having to send the entire large file each time, a PatchOnClick user can simply make and send a much smaller patch file that contains just the changes from the previous version. Colleagues who have the original version and a freeware copy of PatchOnClick can use the software to create an accurate updated version. Another of the OnClick utility suite’s programs, HashOnClick, can be used to determine whether two files are identical, or whether one of two seemingly similar files has been tampered with. A hash value can be thought of as a condensed representation of a file. Each file produces a different hash value, while two files that are absolutely identical will have the same hash value. To find the hash value of a file using HashOnClick, the user simply right-clicks on the file name in Windows Explorer and selects the kind of hash value to calculate (MD5, SHA-1, or CRC32; the OnClick User’s Manual explains these in more detail). Two files that return the same hash value are very likely or definitely identical. HashOnClick can thus be used, for example, to confirm that the updated copy created by PatchOnClick is identical to the original revised version. In all my trials, this proved to be the case.

I have never needed to use an encryption program, but if I ever do, I would happily turn to two programs included in the OnClick utilities suite, EncryptOnClick and ScrambleOnClick. The former enables the user to encrypt one or more files or even entire folders, while with the latter the user can encrypt selected portions of a file. The encrypted files or folders can then be sent to friends or colleagues without fear of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands. To decrypt the file or folder, all the recipient needs is the user’s password and a freeware copy of EncryptOnClick or ScrambleOnClick .

Reviewer 2. The help system is good, with an online trouble ticket system, a downloadable PDF “Users Manual” and online HTML file on the Web site at http://www.2brightsparks.com/onclick/help/ocu-help.htm. A “help file installer” may be downloaded to activate the “Help” buttons in the modules that have them, but not all do.
The Web page has information about all the modules in a layered menu format with the typical “+” to expand the section for that module. It also has a two-pane layout with the left side having the menu and the right side having the information for the selected menu item. This is typical and user friendly. Each application’s menu is laid out with general information about the module including system requirements, licensing information, instructions for use, what it is used for and an FAQ section.

Reviewer 3. Since this is a suite with a number of modules, some of my comments will relate to a particular module, but will not be relevant to the others. The module that I enjoyed using the most is the Find program. It is fun to watch the little Windows dog for the about 10 seconds or so after Windows XP is first installed, then do a search for something. But it very quickly loses its appeal as you wait for him to finally come up with something, if ever. The Onclick Find function is very fast, with options that include finding duplicate files, files of 1 or 0 bytes, searching by extension, date or content, and more. Onclick Find effectively replaces a number of specialized “tools”. For example, I have a program that is specifically for finding duplicate files; but that feature is only one of many in the Onclick Find module.

Compared to the speed of the Onclick Find, the Onclick Delete function takes a very long time. This is not surprising, because it works differently from the "delete" function in Windows. When Windows deletes a file, it only erases the reference to that file in Windows' files index, making that part (or parts) of your drive available to data which would then overwrite the original information. Instead of simply making the space available, Onclick Delete overwrites the space that was occupied by that file with a series of random bits and bytes, many times, so that the original data cannot be recovered by any undelete programs. Onclick Delete can clean up the "free space" on a drive; I like to do this fairly regularly to make sure that files that were recycled with the usual windows method will be securely deleted so that they cannot be recovered by someone else. I find this particularly important if I have been using a memory key on which I have recorded and erased private data. It is worth making sure that this will remain private, and inaccessible to those prying eyes that could misuse it. Once this has been done, even the Onclick Undelete will fail to recover anything usable.

To my surprise, the Undelete program works very fast indeed. It scanned all three hard drives on my system (one is 250 gigabytes, one is 300 gigabytes and one is 350 gigabytes.) in a matter of seconds, and produced a list of everything that it found. This compares with the program that I normally use for undeleting files that took 45 minutes to scan only one of the drives; however, I had only limited success with this function, particularly in trying to find files that I had deleted, even those recently cleared out of the Recycle Bin.

The Patch program was one that I found I had to go back and forth to the help file, to understand, first, what it is for, then how to get it to work. Once I worked through the step-by-step help, I realized that it is, in fact, really quite logical and simple to use. Recently, I was working collaboratively with someone, developing a project proposal. All those who need to share files or documents need the Onclick Patch installed on their computers to work with "Patched" files.

I found that the support were helpful when they did respond to my questions, using the support ticket system on the Web site; however, responses were intermittent. Sometimes they answered very quickly, but at other times there were pauses of several days before a question that I had submitted would receive a response. There is an active forum with many knowledgeable people, some with considerable technical expertise. The forum would be familiar to people who use the Neat Net Tricks forum. Access to the Help functions is readily available through the Help Menu, shortcuts and even the Windows Start Menu.

Reviewer 4. The eight "mini programs" contained in the OnClick suite each performed as indicated with the most usable ones, Encrypt, Delete, Scramble more valuable to someone who deals with highly sensitive files as each allow the user to secure, encrypt, and when necessary delete files with an eye on security and privacy protection. The Delete tool claims to delete files using military grade deletion so no program can ever recover it. Whether there is no program that can recover it, I can say that the Undelete tool which is also a part of the OnClick suite, could not recover a file once deleted. The Undelete tool may be the most usable to the general computer user as it allows one to retrieve files which may have been accidentally deleted. The tool did a reasonably good job being able to recover nearly 94% of the files I gave it to retrieve. Like all file recovery or "undelete" tools, the more time that lapses between when the file was deleted and when one tries to retrieve it will reduce the chances of doing so. Similarly, if the hard drive is defragged, one can generally forget about retrieving any files that were deleted prior to defragging. Technical support is offered by the email support ticket, a generally excellent users, forum, a good knowledge base, and detailed help files.

Weak points

Reviewer 1. I was disappointed with the performance of two of the seven programs in the utility suite: FindOnClick and UnDeleteOnClick. On the whole, FindOnClick did a good job of locating files when given the file name; it was much less impressive in finding files that contain specific text. For example, I asked it to find a .pdf file that contained the words "KeyText scheduler." It searched for more than eight minutes, examining 115,052 files, and came up empty (I don't know why it looked at so many files when its instructions were to look only for a .pdf). I then asked the freeware program Copernic Desktop Search to find a file with the same text string, and it found the file in approximately two seconds. Even when FindOnClick managed to locate a .doc file containing a specified text string, it took more than three minutes to do so, whereas Copernic located the same file in two seconds. Admittedly, though Copernic is lightning fast, it will only find files it has indexed; however, even the Find feature of Directory Opus (an alternative to Windows Explorer) took only 25 seconds to find the same .doc file for which FindOnClick needed more than three minutes.

I rarely succeeded in undeleting a file using UnDeleteOnClick. Mostly, I found the program confusing. When I opened it to search for a file to restore, it listed perhaps a hundred mysterious folders all named Directory followed by a six-digit number: Directory001137, Directory 010799, etc. The few I examined were either empty or contained equally mysterious files with names such as A0011623.ini. In addition to these mystery directories, there were a few directories that I recognized as part of my C:\ drive, but why these few directories were listed and not any of the others on that drive, I don't know. I was often unable to find files I had just deleted, and some that I managed to find turned out to be pretty much unusable even though I had just deleted them and followed the Help Manual's instructions for how to proceed.

One other weakness concerns the Help Manual's discussion of ScrambleOnClick. For example, it says that to scramble text using this program, one should press "Ctrl" "C" "C". I couldn't get this to work, and I later found out that what this means is not CTL-C C, but CTL-C CTL-C. The Help Manual says that one can also encrypt and unencrypt text without using the keyboard by right-clicking on the ScrambleOnClick tray icon and using the resulting menu. The Manual provides no further instructions about how to proceed with this second method. It turns out that before one right-clicks on the tray icon, one needs to highlight the text to be scrambled and copy it to the clipboard, but the Help Manual makes no mention of this. The Manual is also misleading about how to use the options Quickly Wipe Free Disk Space and Securely Wipe Free Disk Space. According to the Manual, one should "right-click on a file" and choose one of these two wipe options from the resulting list. When I right-clicked on a file, neither wipe option appeared. I then wrote to tech support to ask about this. They responded: "Those options only appear when you right-click on a drive in Explorer. They do not appear when right-clicking on a folder." Thus, the Help Manual's explicit instruction to right-click on a file is simply incorrect.

Reviewer 2. I found no problems in using these utilities. All worked as claimed and the help files handled any usage questions I had.

Reviewer 3. Since the Utilities are marketed as a Suite, and the price is for the complete set, I do not understand why each individual module has to be downloaded and installed separately. It would be much simpler to download the complete series, then select the individual modules that you would like to install. Technically, this must be feasible. Many programs, including the Microsoft Office set, do exactly that. Since I did not use the default locations for the programs and for the items in the Start Menu, I had to click through to the folder where I wanted the program modules to install. Then I had to click through the location in the Start Menu where I wanted the icons to go, for each of the individual modules. This is most tedious, and definitely needs improvement. On the other hand, fortunately, there is the "Onclick License Manager." You need only to run that once, enter your license code once, and all the utilities are registered in one shot. I found that I needed some time to be able to make use of some of these utilities. For example, when I ran the undelete program on one of my (quite large) hard disks, I was not able to find many meaningful lists of folders and files that had been deleted. At the top of the list, there were some folders that I recognized. But then there was a list of folders called: Directory01214, Directory02821, Director03398, Directory03497, instead of what I might expect: Movies, Photos, Trees, Project, Novel. I found that very disconcerting and not particularly helpful. However, when I tried it out on a memory key, it was the familiar kind of tree that I expected to find, and I was able, in fact, able to recover some files that were quite old. In most programs that I use, if I want to Open or to Save a file, I can get to the Open or Save dialog in that program, then leave it. I can then go over to the desktop, to shortcuts, or use other methods or programs to navigate to the folder containing the file I want to Open or Save. I can then go back to the waiting Open/Save dialog box in my program, and it will have followed me over to the folder that I want to use. This is not at all the case in the Onclick dialog boxes. To navigate over to a file in a folder to Patch it, for example, I have to go there first, then start up the Onclick Patch module. If I do it the other way around, Onclick will hang up with a "Path not found" error. The same problem occurred with other modules as well. I thought that access this way is standard practice for all programs.

Reviewer 4. While I question the usefulness of this suite of tools for the average user, for example the Patch tool which enables you to "update large files with a smaller patch file," or the Hash tool which supposedly is "useful when downloading and sharing data by verifying that the files are identical", and the Encrypt or Scramble tools that to some extent are already built into Windows-albeit not as secure, the biggest weakness in this program is its obtuseness. Just a quick look at some of the names of the tools in the suite I have already mention such as "Hash" and "Patch" are perfect examples of the total lack of intuitiveness of this software program. Even the names of the individual tools or "mini-programs" do not easily identify what the tool's purpose or function may be-at least not for any but the most advanced user. I think the best example of this lack of intuitiveness and obtuseness is in the very act of registering the software. The registration is (or should be) very simple. Each tool can be purchased separately and if so must be registered separately; however, if the suite containing all eight of the tools is purchased, it should be registered all at the same time. Instead, however, everything about this program seems to be confusing, counter-intuitive, unclear, and made unnecessarily difficult. The tutorials and/or help files are less than helpful and generally take a Methuselah-like patience to wade through in order to find what help might be needed. Along with the help files there is, as I mentioned, email support available. The email support indicates no turn-around time and my experience with three requests averaged over ten days for a response.

Other Comments

Reviewer 1. Although I found 2BrightSparks' tech support responsive and helpful, the process one has to go through to submit a request seems needlessly cumbersome. The Company does not accept questions submitted via email. One has to fill out a ticket on the Web site. To do this, however, one first has to register, supplying one's name and email address and setting a username and password. The Company then is supposed to send an email message that includes instructions for how to complete the signup, though this message may not come for more than an hour.

Reviewer 2. The suite provides good clear help files. It was easy to use. The standalone applications were easy on resources. The screens were easy to understand. While all the OnClick modules may not be needed by all users, it's handy to have them available for the "just in case" option. The entire Suite is only $30 and it consists of commercial and freeware versions. Several have functional 30-day trials and others have "limited" trials such as the UndeleteOnClick application which has a 64kb limit for recovered files with the trial version.

Reviewer 3. One Onclick module is freeware, some have freeware and commercial versions and there is one in Beta. Fully-functional versions of all the Utilities can be used for 30 days, then a license must be purchased for the commercial versions of the program. 2BrightSparks has implemented a much enlightened policy for the commercial versions of the program. "One registered copy of software may either be used by a single person who uses the software personally on up to 5 computers in a non-commercial setting (home), or installed on a single workstation used non-simultaneously by multiple people, but not both." This approach addresses the real-life situation of most computer users. A policy similar to this should be followed by all software developers, and the 2BrightSparks people are to be commended for their example.

Reviewer 4. I am troubled by the Privacy Statement included with this program. The developer goes at great lengths to ensure the user that no personal data that may be collected is shared; they even have almost an entire page titled "Why we use cookies" to, again, assure the user that their cookies are harmless; yet, it contains this statement: We only disclose data when required to do so by the UK and/or International Law. I am not a citizen of the United Kingdom but neither am I an expert on International Law so that caveat is enough to warn me away from this product. The Privacy Statement also indicates We have the right to change this policy without notice. In other words, if you buy our product here is our guarantee of safeguarding your privacy; however, the guarantee may vanish tomorrow and you will never know.

Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1. Yes, I will keep a few of the utilities on my computer, but not all.

Reviewer 2. Yes, this one is going in my "Toolbox".

Reviewer 3. Yes, but not all of the modules. I have no need of some of them, but I will continue to use Onclick Find, Delete and Encrypt.

Reviewer 4. No. In addition to the above-stated issue with privacy, there are programs available which do the same thing as OnClick Utilities Suite that are simpler to use (and understand) and are free rather than $30.00.

2BrightSparks Ltd. Developer's Response:

We very much appreciate the time and effort your reviewers at Neat Net Tricks have taken to evaluate and write their views about OnClick Utilities. Our software has benefited immeasurably from user suggestions and feedback, and we would like to take this opportunity to comment on your reviewers' feedback.

OnClick Utilities consists of eight programs and was developed specifically to increase the efficiency of a computer user's ability to find, share, and secure files. It was developed with both the novice and advanced computer user in mind, and our aim has been to make each tool powerful yet simple to use.

To help users get the most out of our software we provide an extensive support area on our website that includes online tutorials, ebooks, a large and growing KnowledgeBase, FAQs, and our lively community forum. We acknowledge your reviewers found some inadequacies in the help file - we recently updated the software as a result of user feedback and the help file was not appropriately amended - we are currently updating the whole help file for OnClick Utilities.

We hope users take advantage of the free support ticketing that all licensees and trial users enjoy whenever they run into difficulties or require clarification about a feature. Although one reviewer stated they had to wait a long time before receiving a response, without having further details about that user, we cannot investigate this unusual delay further. We can say however that our average response time for support ticketing at 2BrightSparks is under 18 hours.

Although registration prior to submission of support tickets seems "needlessly cumbersome", it is a necessity in order for us to provide prompt and efficient assistance. Our online ticketing system ensures that support requests are logged and tracked properly. A record is kept of each support request for both the user and our staff to view. This results in more effective communication, and a faster resolution to issues.

Concerning the reboot before being able to use DeleteOnClick and HashOnClick, these two utilities are shell extensions and only appear in the context-menus. It is Windows that requires a reboot before it will display them. This is common to all shell extensions.

There was considerable feedback about having to install each utility separately. This provides the user with the flexibility of installing only the utilities they require and was as a result of considerable feedback from users who generally preferred this method. Once a single program in the suite has been licensed, all other programs in OnClick Utilities are also unlocked.

We hope your readers try the 30 day evaluation of OnClick Utilities for themselves so they reach their own conclusions about the usability, functionality, and value of the suite. Every reviewer has their own preferences on how things should work and we will continue to improve our software as a result of user feedback, and provide high quality support resources.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home

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