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NotepadEx is ideal. It can handle any length file, knows how to save its own settings and is quick at everything it does.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Notepad replacements: 2 winners, 1 loser


Nov. 18, 2001


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Post Standard

   A good text editor is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, most Windows users never experience this. They're stuck with Notepad and usually don't realize that they can switch to a text editor that works right.
   Notepad is the feeble-minded text editor that Microsoft has supplied with every version of Windows since the Paleolithic Era. Notepad's faults could fill two chapters of a book. I've mentioned them before (see twcny.rr.com/technofile/texts/bit090797.html and http://twcny.rr.com/technofile/texts/bit091497.html).
   For years I've raved about Super NoteTab, a Notepad replacement now available in three versions: the free NoteTab Lite, the $10 NoteTab Standard and the $20 NoteTab Pro. (To go www.notetab.com for more information.)
   As good as NoteTab is, it's too slow for the kind of quick text reading and editing I like to do. I need a text editor that pops open instantly when I want to look at a "readme" file or when I need to fix an error in a Web page on my site. Even the "lite" version of NoteTab is too porky for me.
   I found two new text editors that are just what I need. You might find them ideal, too. Both are free. I also tried out the latest version of a highly rated text editor called UltraEdit-32. It's been around a long time and has a lot of fans. As I'll explain shortly, I'm not one of them.
   The two new Notepad replacements are NotepadEx and a program called, confusingly, "Notepad," written by a Russian programmer. I'll refer to it as the "Russian Notepad" to avoid confusion.
   NotepadEx can be downloaded from www.notepadex.cjb.net. (You'll be redirected automatically to another site, so save the new address in your bookmarks or favorites instead of the one I'm giving you.)
   The Russian Notepad comes from a site that seems down nearly all the time. The address is www.smallteam.nm.ru/projects/notepad/. If you can't get the Russian site to respond, click this link for a secondary download site.
   NotepadEx is excellent. If all you want is a program that looks like Notepad while acting like something professionals put together, NotepadEx is ideal. It can handle any length file, knows how to save its own settings and is quick at everything it does.
   I installed NotepadEx it as a complete replacement for Notepad under Windows 2000. If you do this under Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you'll have to take a special step because of the way those two versions protect the original Notepad file. Be sure to pay attention to the ReadMe.txt file that comes with NotepadEx. (By default, Windows hides the "txt" part of the name, so the file you should read probably will be called "ReadMe.")
   The Russian Notepad is just as good, and you might like the fact that it has a real toolbar and a few other helpful features that are left out in both the original Notepad and in NotepadEx. The Russian Notepad is ideal as a lightweight HTML editor, and even has a toolbar button that lets you open the current text (an HTML file, for example) in a regular HTML editor with a single click.
   UltraEdit-32, the third text editor I tried, costs $30 but can be tried for free. Get it from www.ultraedit.com. It's exceptionally competent, does many things well and has great support.
   My complaint about UltraEdit-32 concerns a yellow band that obscures the current line of text. I consider this unacceptable. What's worse is that UltraEdit-32 places that band of yellow across your text whether you want it there or not unless you're clever enough to figure out how to turn it off.
   I asked the programmer about this and he told me how to turn off the yellow band. It took me three or four tries over a couple of days because of the way the function is mislabeled in the menus. If I told you I was frustrated and upset I'd only be telling you half the story. I was exceptionally annoyed.
   I'd love to recommend UltraEdit-32. It's superb except for that single major annoyance. It drives me nuts, especially considering the fact that instead of being an option that can be turned on, it's a feature that must be turned off. But if that doesn't bother you, you'll probably love UltraEdit-32.