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COM Explorer Screen Shot Download
Version: 2.0
Size: 408kb
Platform: 
Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000/ Me, XP
  
   
 
 
 
Download Now (408kb, V2.0, 30-day trial) Feature List
New in version 2.0 Screen Shots
About COM ExplorerTM Press Release
COM Explorer Customers Reviews
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Why COM Explorer is a "Must have" tool    
Windows Explorer Integration  
  
Overview
COM Explorer is a unique tool specifically designed to enable developers and system administrators to explore, manage and fix ActiveX Controls, EXE Servers (Out-Proc) and DLL Servers (In-Proc). An Explorer like GUI allows developers to browse registered COM objects and view information such as GUID, TypeLib, version information, dependency information, file information and more.

Misbehaved objects such as objects with missing files left as junk in the registry are clearly marked.

A Registry editor is fully integrated allowing to view and edit COM settings. COM Explorer is integrated into Windows Explorer enabling to quickly register, unregister and view COM Controls using a pop-up menu.

One of the most powerful features is an inventory report generator. HTML or comma delimited text reports are easily generated . These reports include a list of the COM objects installed. Strong filtering and customization capabilities are provided as well.

COM Explorer substantially reduces the complexity of identifying COM related problems developers and system administrators face every day.

Why COM Explorer is a "must have" tool
   
    
What's new in version 2.0
The success of COM Explorer version 1.0 and the excellent feedback we have received from end users and the press, has proven the superiority and uniqueness of our product. To further improve COM Explorer, we integrated new features and capabilities based on requests and suggestions we have received from our users.

Version 2.0 includes some exciting new features, which are listed below. 4Developers LLC is committed to further enhance COM Explorer and keep it the best tool around for exploring, managing and repairing COM files.


New Features:
  New user interface allows you to select multiple COM objects and perform operations on the selected group. Previous versions allowed single selection only. Multiple selection applies to many operations as listed below.

  Register or unregister multiple COM controls with a single mouse click. 

  Remove multiple “misbehaved” COM Controls from the system Registry with a single click. This long awaited feature saves countless hours if you have many “dead” COM entries in the Registry.

  Compare COM control versions across multiple remote computers. This feature allows you to easily check if controls are registered on one remote machine or more. You can also generate HTML reports containing the results.

  A new feature allows you to specify how COM Explorer behaves after a control is registered, unregistered or removed from the Registry. You can choose between displaying a confirmation dialog (with or without the need to click an OK button), making a beep sound and a "no confirmation" option.

Quickly change the information displayed in the object list by using 4 new buttons that were added to the main toolbar. You can select between ProgID, CLSID, TypeLib and file location. 

  “Misbehaved” COM controls are now marked with bright red color and are underlined. This new feature allows you to quickly identify the controls that need to be removed or re-registered.

  A new feature allows you to view multiple ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer.

  After a new COM control is registered it is automatically selected in the controls list.

  When you alter between the 3 different categories (Controls, DLL Servers and EXE Servers), the last selected object is maintained.

  An auto update feature was added allowing you to easily check for program updates.


Bug Fixes:
  Previous versions of COM Explorer did not allow you to view the list of COM controls unless you had Administrator privileges. Version 2.0 fixes this bug allowing you to view controls with lower privileges. To perform operations like “Remove From Registry” or “Unregister”, Administrator rights are still required. 

  With some controls (written in Visual Basic), COM Explorer crashed after unregistering a control. This bug was fixed.

  When generating a text based inventory report a comma delimited format was used without double quotes. This caused problems when importing the report to other tools. Version 2.0 uses the CSV format, which includes the double quotes around each field.

  
  
Why COM Explorer is a "Must have" tool
1. Problem Detection
Many of the bugs applications produce end up being DLL/OCX version mismatch. A bad install program (that does not check the OCX version) can hurt a lot well behaved applications. COM Explorer allows you to view the attributes of any registered ActiveX Control, EXE or DLL server. Information like file version, file size or date can help you track down what went wrong. Detecting missing DLL dependency files is made easy as COM Explorer clearly marks missing DLL files.
   
2. Easy to use & quick
Anyone working with ActiveX Controls (OCX/DLL files) knows that getting them registered and unregistered can be a hassle. Both developers and system administrators often need to quickly register one version of an OCX and seconds later a different version of the same control. Working with REGSVR32 for these kind of operations is OK but tends to be time consuming and is not very informative (to say the least). COM Explorer is integrated into Windows Explorer allowing you to very quickly register/unregister controls, view control and DLL details (Registry, dependencies & attributes) and to compare between two versions of COM files.
   
3. Registry Cleanup
Registering an ActiveX Control and then deleting the file leaves the Windows system in a mess. Visual Basic for example will display the control in its "Component List". The user might think this is a legitimate control. Applications that use this control will crash finding the entry in the registry but not the file. COM Explorer clearly marks out these misbehaved controls.  Even better it allows you to cleanup the "dead" entries that were left in the registry.
  
4. Report Genration
The reports feature allows system administrators and developers to create a database of all the controls installed on a specific workstation. This is a very useful feature if you need to make sure that multiple machines all have the same set of OCX files.
   
Summary
Developers and system administrators that work with ActiveX Controls and DLL/EXE servers on a daily basis need a tool that will enable them to manage COM files. They need a better way to track and fix problems than browsing the registry with REGEDIT. Anyone that has worked with Active/COM knows the feeling of trying to find out why a certain installation does not work only to find that the wrong MFC40.DLL was used or is missing altogether. Tools like REGEDIT or REGSVR32 are just not enough. COM Explorer will enable you to quickly solve these problems by allowing you to actually view, detect and fix the different errors. It is a unique tool anyone dealing with ActiveX/COM should have in his arsenal.
   
   
COM Explorer Customers
AB CONSULTORIA LTDA
Abaris Consulting AB
ABB Industrial
ACNielsen
Advent Software
Agfa Gevaert N.V.
AJS Associates
Alert Technologies
Accenture
Appleton Mills
Ara Application As
Aranea Consult B.V.
Arthur Andersen, S. A.
ASI Software, Inc.
Bayerische Rueck AG
Brinson Partners
Business Information Solutions
Business Software Technolgies
CareTools, Inc.
CCP Software GmbH
Centre de Recherce Public Henri Tudor
Compaq Tandem Labs Israel
Concode AB
Congressional Information Service, Inc.
Convergys
CSC
Dataworld
Dakota Services, Inc
Danal Technology Inc
Dataplus Distri B.V.
Davlin Consulting and Software, LLC
DC-3 Dreams, SP
Dell Computer Corporation
Diamond Technology Partners
Digital Equipment GmbH
Disney
Dolphin Software
EA Systems Inc
eCHARGE
EDS
Enviornmental Software
ERDAS
Ericsson (Norway)
ESRI
Euro-Alarm A/S
Executive Perspectives
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Fiserv Inc.
Flashline.com
Fujitsu-ICL Systems Inc.
Garaio Information
GE Capital CEF
GEA Automation R&D Ltd.
GEAR AB
Giordano Automation Corporation
GREEN Informatique
Hartford Steam Boiler
Hewlett Packard
IBS Industridata AB
In House Development
Interact Multimedia (1995) Ltd.
International Computer Concepts, Inc.
InvestByAgent.com
IWARE SA
Jerger Company
JRT Software Services Inc.
L3 Satellite Transmission Systems
Lockheed Martin IBS
Logical Business Systems Inc
Lucent Technologies
Marquardt & Partners AB
MassMutual
Mediamap
Mediware
Meridium, Inc.
Method Factory, Inc.
MigraLynx Systems, Inc.
Ministry Tracking Software
Modern Business Technology
Mosaix, Inc.
National Computer Systems
National Investment Services
NCR Corporation
New Era of Networks Ltd
Nokia Telecommunications
Nortel Networks Corporation
Outermost Software, LLC
Panam metrics
Parametric Technology Corporation
PCSI
Penn National Insurance
Philips (Germany)
PlanetAll.com
Power Measurement Ltd.
Productivity Center, Inc.
Queensland Fisheries Management Authority
R2K LLC
Rational Software
RC Associates
Reliance Insurance Company
Reuters
RoCAD-Informatik
S1 Corporation
Santa Barbara County Government
SAP Labs, Inc.
Schenk & Winter
Seagate Technologies
Sequencia
Siemens
Software AG
Software Management Group, Inc.
Solution Software
Spreadsheet Link Ltd
Storebrand ASA
Swisscom AG
SWX Swiss Exchange
Synergistic Systems
Targetfour Limited
TELLTABS
Telos Conslting & Engineering GmbH
TERJE.ENGE
The Motley Fool
The System Services Company
The Taylor Group
The Virtual MIS Group
The Writer's Group, Inc.
University of Alaska
VeriBest
Vidar systems
Volking Software
West Wind Technologies
Westland Systems ltd
World Team Software AB
WorldPreferred.com
Yale University
  
    
Feature List
  Provides a complete picture of the state of a computer as far as ActiveX Controls, DLL Servers and EXE Servers.
   
  An Explorer view that includes all COM objects and their attributes helps to quickly identify problems like DLL version mismatch and other common COM installation problems.
   
  Quick and easy access from Windows Explorer. You can register, unregister, view and compare controls from within Explorer.
   
  Powerful Inventory report generator. Supports both HTML and comma delimited text formats. Generates a report with all the COM files/objects and their specific attributes.
    
  Integrated Registry Editor to help edit COM settings.
    
  Integrated Dependency viewer. Allow you to view all the DLL dependencies for any COM object. Clearly marks missing DLL files to allow quick detection of "bad" installations.
     
  COM Explorer marks misbehaved COM objects (Objects with missing files) and allows to cleanup the registry from the their leftovers.
    
  COM File comparison to quickly identify DLL/OCX version mismatch.
    
  Compare COM control versions across multiple machines on the network.
    
  Automatic HTML Object tag generation for any ActiveX Control on the system.
  
  
Windows Explorer Integration
COM Explorer is fully integrated into Windows Explorer allowing you to quickly register & unregister controls. You can view a control's Registry settings, dependencies and attributes from within Windows Explorer. Another feature available from Explorer as the ability to compare between two COM files.

Windows Explorer Integration

   
Reviews
Specialized Registry Simplifies Management (by Don Kiely, InformationWeek)
    
ZDNet's editors give COM Explorer the highest rating ( 5star.gif (1031 bytes) )

Check out the ZDNet review

   
Selected as pick by CNET's editors (DOWNLOAD.COM)

CNet's Review: A developer's system is rarely a thing of beauty. Between old versions of projects, rarely-used components, and incomplete uninstallations, it's easy to get quite a mess on your hands. COM EXPLORER helps the developer or system administrator clean house. Not only does COM Explorer allow you to examine and fix ActiveX controls, it also speaks the language of other objects under the Component Object Model--objects such as EXE and DLL servers, for example. Fully integrated with Windows Explorer, COM Explorer lets you browse the Registry for COM objects, including CLSIDs, TypeLib and version information, and more. Registry settings can even be edited on the fly. This new version adds support for viewing DLL dependencies. Tame your objects!

    
     
Pricing
Single License: $150
A single license for COM Explorer entitles an organization to receive one copy of the distribution package. The software should be used by a single person who uses the software personally on one or more computers, or installed on a single workstation used non-simultaneously by multiple people, but not both.
   
Site License: $450
A site license for COM Explorer entitles an organization to receive one copy of the distribution package and to duplicate the distribution disk for any number of people or workstations within one site.
   
Corporate License: $950
A corporate license for COM Explorer entitles an organization to receive one copy of the distribution package and to duplicate the distribution disk for any number of people or workstations within the entire corporation (multiple sites).
   
Upgrade Pricing 
Existing Customers (of version 1.x) can purchase an upgrade online. Upgrade prices are listed in the order form.
   
   
Questions: sales@4dev.com
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