Once downloaded there is a short installation process before you can start sending files.  It is annoying to have to download the program, however it is nice that you can just open it an you’re away, whereas with Filemail.com you have to find the website etc before you can do anything.

To be able to use Memeo Send you must register your email address and password with them.  This can seem very confusing at first but literally, on your first time of using the program, just enter your email address, password and your registered name, then you’re ready to start sending.  This is a slightly different setup to Filemail.com, you just have to enter your email address in for that.  Sending is very simple in both services, just select the files you wish to send and then you’re on your way.  One great extra feature of Memeo Send is that you can send folders as well as files!

The received email is very nicely presented by both applications.  However, you can personalize and brand your Filemail.com emails with their corporate package, which cannot be done on Memeo Send.  Although, Memeo Send does have a great tracking feature which let’s you know how your email is doing and whether it has sent/been downloaded etc.  This feature is also available on Filemail’s Corporate package!

Memeo Send try to get the recipient to register with them.  However, this can be avoided by downloading the files via their web browser.  File downloading on Filemail is also very easy, simply click on the link and then download.  However, on Filemail, files do expire after a few days so you must download before then!

Prices on Memeo Send are very different to Filemail and it would be down to the sender to identify which service is best suited to them.  Memeo Send give you 3 free emails and after that you must purchase either 10 emails for £6.58 or 50 for £32.90.  This compares to Filemail’s free emails for up to 2GB messages, $4 per month (£2.43 at time of writing) for up to 10GB messages (Premium Package) or $45 per month (£27.29 at time of writing) for unlimited file size along with other features (Corporate Package)

To conclude, if you need to send lots of small emails I’d recommend Filemail.com.  However, if you want to send less frequent emails over 2GB go for Memeo Send.  Although, if you want to frequently send secure emails with personalized features then I’d say go for Filemail.com’s Coporate package.

See Also:
Filemail.com Review

The service can be used for free (up to 2GB) or can be subscribed to for $4 per month (£2.41 at time of writing) or $45 per month (£27.12 at time of writing).  Obviously the more you pay, the more features you get.  For example, in the $4 Premium Package you can send up to 10 GB, have password protection and keep track of uploads/downloads.  The features are even more extensive for the $45 Corporate package, including giving your email a real brand image.

Filemail.com is really easy to use.  Simply type the recipients email address, your email address, a message, upload the file(s) and then click send!  It couldn’t be much easier!

We think Filemail.com is a great website and will most definitely resolve the forever occurring issue of how to send big files via email!

Have you ever used Filemail.com?  What do you think of it?

	Alternative Software %	AVG % in Comparison
	64%	86%
	63%	88%
	75%	94%
	69%	88%
	77%	82%
	67%	90%

As you can see from the table, AVG is by far the superior antivirus software when compared to the others.  Throughout the entire comparison process we were very impressed with the potential of some of the lesser known software like Avira and Kaspersky.  In a few years time they could really be battling with the rest!  Look out for our ratings table in coming weeks!

Feature
Download Time	Very Fast	Fast
Installation	Installation was long.  You setup a couple of the basic features but most features you need for a decent performance are still left to be configured. Also, very frustratingly it isn’t compatible with complementary anti-virus software such as, Windows Firewall.  However, it does allow you to continue the installation process.  A warning just appears to say they aren’t compatible.	Takes an average length of time.  Quite extensive and helps you set up the basic features of the software.
Anti-Virus
Anti-Adware
Anti-Spyware
Anti-Phishing
Anti-Rootkit
Web-Shield/Guard (Protection whilst surfing the Internet)
Anti-Bot
Email-Scanner
Backup System
Anti-Spam
Firewall
GameMode
Parental Control
Easy to remove Viruses
Task Scheduler
Identity Protection
Link Scanner
IM Scanner
Available to buy from Brandstar?
RRP	£26.95 (1 year)	£39.14 (1 Year)
Overall Rating	17 out of 22	18 out of 22

Overall I have been very impressed with Avira’s Premium Security Suite!  It’s really given AVG Internet Security a run for its money!  As you can see, Avira’s feature’s aren’t quite as extensive as AVG’s, this is represented by the lower price.  For Avira to really compete with the likes of AVG they will need to increase its compatibility and bring in features such as Identity Protection.  Avira’s userface could also do with a ‘facelift’ to make it easier to user and generally nicer to look at.

To conclude, watch out for Avira in the next few years…it’s bound to be big!

I think I have mentioned in past blogs either here on on Brandstar.co.uk that I was using the pre-release of Vista codenamed longhorn and thought it was good although wasn’t completely convinced. When Vista was fully released to the public at the beginning of 2007 I moved over to Vista on my existing system.

Installing Vista Business on my XP System

I didn’t want to have to buy a new machine just to use Vista, mainly because I didn’t know if it would be worthwhile. Instead I decided to install it on my existing machine that was running XP fairly well. There begun a number of problems. Firstly the graphics card drivers didn’t work properly so I had to replace the graphics card (took two attempts!) and then stability did seem to be an issue although I think that was due to the XPC motherboard as I was aware of some problems with them at the time.

Despite those problems, what I had seen of Vista, I liked but I needed in the office something more stable than this XPC machine that would randomly freeze. So I bought a Dell Vostro Desktop. Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, 4GB Ram, 200GB Hard Disk etc. In short..a nice machine!

Vista on a nice new PC

With this machine built for Vista it had hardware in it that I knew would be compatible and stable and so I thought a good ground to really begin using Vista properly.

I have to confess that I was surprised when I found all my existing hardware to be compatible with Vista. I know Microsoft raved about the compatibility but that was just marketing surely! My Canon IP5300 printer had drivers I could download, the Samsung ML-1210 works nicely, both Epson scanners worked too!

Some people say – “It is important that my digital camera works”. You rarely need drivers for your digital camera to work on XP or Vista, let alone the bloated software that comes with them. Might I suggest that the next time you get a digi camera you take a photo and plug the camera in…see what happens! I think you will be surprised!

It was a new OS so there were obviously things to learn, the first one for me being how to overcome networking issues. Turns out you have to use Network and Sharing Center and turn on things like Network Discovery, File/Printer Sharing etc. Once you have sussed that and set the Vista machine up on the right workgroup then my experience so far has been good. Set it up and do a reboot…away you go!

Secure…Really? - Microsoft’s sales team spent goodness knows how long telling us how much more secure Vista will be compared to XP. I have to be honest despite knowing how much time and effort had gone into testing the OS before release I was still a tiny bit sceptical. Having said that..It turns out that Microsoft might actually have been telling the truth! From what I have read the reported security problems with Vista is not only way below XP’s security vulnerabilities upon release but is also beating other brands of OS as well! What’s more, my experiences on my own Vista machines as well as clients match their findings. Well done Microsoft!

Crash, Hang, Reboot - How is the stability. Well I am yet to see a blue screen on Vista, anyone got a screenshot to prove they exist? Seriously, I am sure they do exist. I am just yet to see one. Because I access my desktop remotely all the time it tends to get left on and it does so quite happily. The only thing that does cause it to shutdown against my will are the powercuts we randomly get around here and that isn’t really Vista’s fault! When I last checked how long my Vista machine had been up and running for, it was 21days, and still going strong. I only rebooted because I installed an application that wanted a reboot.

It has only been in the last week that I have actually seen Vista crash, which isn’t bad after working on it for a year or more. That was on a clients machine and it actually turned out to be a problem with the storage controller and not Vista. The other crash I have seen on Vista happened last week and that was caused by a fault with a CD rather than Vista.

So is this a perfect Operating System then..? Well..No, I don’t believe in such a thing. Vista isn’t perfect, if it was they wouldn’t be releasing Service Pack 1 for it in March. However the things that I have come across more than once with Vista that make it not quite perfect are these:

• Windows Mail – There is a bug in this that will randomly lock out and corrupt the outbox mail folder. There is a way round it but you loose any unreadable messages from the outbox. If you are struggling with this we wrote about it on Brandstar along with the fix, check out the Brandstar Site for details.
• Windows Mail – An issue, not really a bug with Windows Mail this time, but a little disappointment is that there is no UK dictionary.
• Office 2003 doesn’t fully work with Vista. There are the odd little bugs here and there which annoy more than anything in Office 2003 running on Vista. The one I found on a users machine was that they couldn’t use Word to edit their signature in Outlook. Small but annoying. Office 2007 I have to say is better and works perfectly on Vista, but that’s not really the point!
• Bit-Locker only on Vista Ultimate – In my opinion the Business version of Vista should have the Bit-Locker facility as well. I appreciate Microsoft’s argument that Ultimate has to have something ‘extra’ to warrant having that version but surely just having all the components of Premium and Business is enough?

They are the things that come to mind, and although there might be one or two more I don’t really think there is anything terribly worrying that should put users off this Operating System.

Am I recommending people get Vista?

The answer is yes and no. Much like when it was first released I don’t recommend upgrading your machine unless you bought it as “Vista Ready”. If you are buying a new machine then I wouldn’t even think of advising you against Vista! My most important advice. Make sure your computer peripherals are compatible with Vista!

I hope this has helped, particularly if you are on the edge of buying Vista. So far Vista has been very well taken up but at the same time there are still many users uncertain about making the change, and understandably as the OS is still pretty young. But with the first milestone of a year in use and no real scares I think Vista will only become more and more popular. I think this year will be an important one for Vista!