A Better Finder Attributes 4.6.5 — Do the tweaking needed to make documents more compatible to your installed system and applications

Reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad       © 2007

Developer: Frank Reiff (Publicspace.net) http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderAttributes/index.html/ reiff@publicspace.net Released: 17 October 2007 15.00 USD System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later; Universal binary; 6.7 MB Hard Drive Space.
Strengths: Changes the file attributes that the Finder won't let you touch. Weaknesses: list, separated by comma. Copyright Notice: Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.\

The software was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAM running under OS X 10.4.10

Disclaimer: When briefly reviewing share-freeware I will often use the developer’s product, functions and features descriptions. All other comments are strictly my own and based on testing. Why need I rewrite the developer’s narratives, if they are clearly written?

 

Introduction in Including Publisher’s Summary

 

A Better Finder Attributes [AFBA] allows you to change file attributes that the Finder won't let you touch. Specifically it allows you to change file and photo dates and times, as well as other useful file attribute for reasons I summarize below. Quickly change the following file attributes: modification date and time, creation date and time, batch adjust the Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) time & date that JPEG pictures were shot to compensate for time zones or incorrectly set camera clocks and more. Now why would anyone want to do that. Let me share some reasons, reasons that depend on who you are.

 

Photographers, both professional and amateur can use the program to correct and edit EXIF information. They can also to adjust photo shooting or creation dates, to compensate for incorrectly set camera clocks or incorrect sorting in the Finder.

 

System Administrators can use ABFA to remove Macintosh invisible file, such as DC_Store files, prior to burning CDs or DVDs they share with non-Macintosh users. They can also use this tool to set the files' creation and modification dates to appropriate values before placing them onto a network server for group access.

 

Developers, according to Frank Reiff, have a use for this application, but I could figure out how they would uniquely use it. It seem from the ABFA website, that they used in a manner similar to Web site maters and or systems administrators.

 

Curious Reviewers, me, can play with the software as I describe in the next section.

 

Getting Started

 

As usual for well-developed and designed products, installation,, a drag and drop to my applications folder worked flawlessly. A few mouse and keyboard clicks later, to enter my Serial Number I was ready to play.

As its developer pointed out, “you can use AFBA as a stand-alone application, dragging & dropping files onto the application icon or directly into the file list window. Alternatively you can use it straight from the Finder using either the context menu or the command-control-A hot key combination.

Tweaking attributes with the application is done in the file list window. It displays your currently selected files along with the attributes you are about to change. The file list can be attached to the main dialog or detached into a separate window.”

Since I had only few items that I’d want to use the product on, but overwhelming sense of curiously, I used it to:

• Change the modification date and time on a few MSW, PDF and JPEG files. While I was at it, why not change the creation date — Okay, all of that worked.

• Working with the recipes folder I use to create my mmmRecipes CDs and DVDs, I used ABFA remove invisible files (including DS_Store) from entire folder hierarchies. Because of the waning the developer provided, I tried this on a duplicate of my recipes file; it worked and I was able to burn a DVD w/o any DS_Store files associated with every folder on the CD/DVD disk.

• I played at locking and then unlocking some files I used as template for reviews and articles. That action prevents the name and the contents of the file to be modified. That worked, but I prefer to just lock the folder my files are stored, and dragging out a copy therefore giving me template I can use. I know, since most of my templates are MSW documents, that I can use the template feature in MSW; that awkward so I’d do it my way — aren’t Macintosh system wonderful.

• I also played at using ABFA to show or hide the file extension for a grab bag full of file, but had no immediate use for that feature

• Having needed to do so in the past, I quickly explored resetting the Mac OS 9 legacy creator and type codes. Useless to me now, since I’m unlikely to need most of the archive files I created back in the MSW 5.x or FileMaker 4 days; but by updating the codes, I was able to crack these files with my current software. What I don’t know, not having taken the time to check, was whether my current software MSW 2004 or FMP 6 would have opened these unaided.

User Manual — An online user manual can be accessed at: http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderAttributes/download.html/

 

 

Conclusions and Recommendation

 

Although I’m mot a digital media professional or web master, I have used ABFA to clean up CDs before burning them on CD or DVD by removing unsightly and to PC users, confusing invisible files. My PC using friends keep asking about the DS_Store files they find on my recipe disks. It’s easier to remove them, thus avoiding confusion.

 

I played with setting the files' creation and modification dates to appropriate values as well as testing other ABFA features. Now I don’t need this wonderfully performing product! I am neither a heavy user of digital media, a system administrator or a developer. What I tried worked.

Would I use the product again? Surely, when ever I was going to release a new update on my recipe collection. However, what I tired and more importantly what little, alas, there was that I googled, make this a likely priority buy for those of you who do serve in the identified roles. Using the product to change file and photo dates and times, as well as other Finder hidden file attributes, things you need to do routinely make this product a potentially important tool in your working life.

 

Check out the demo; this may one of the better useful, bit inexpensive tools, you added to your working software collection.

 

PS

 

If you’re a photographer, check out:

http://www.applelinks.com/index.php/more/a_better_finder_attributes_465_adds_batch_finder_label_setting/

 

Also there’s Chris Marshal’s all to brief review:

http://www.chrismarshall.ws/?p=584