~terry
Thu, Jul 25, 1996 (14:11)
seed
WebWhacker -- WebWhacker is designed to "Whack" web sites --
it goes out and automatically downloads single web pages, groups
of pages, or entire sites (including text, images, and secondary
links), and stores a complete copy on your local desktop. Each
copy is a complete replica of the original, relinked for quick
and easy local browsing without an Internet connection. Not only
does WebWhacker reduce your dependency on an Internet
connection, but it also reduces your Internet bill by saving you the
time and cost associated with checking out web sites while
connected. Any World Wide Web browser can view and navigate
the local Web-Whacked pages, and the speed of browsing a web
site locally is alone enough of a reason to rush out and buy
WebWhacker. Imagine having your own complete copy of The
CWSApps List to quickly browse through on your computer. Think
of how you won't have to worry about all the traffic at a web site,
about having a slow connection, or about the possibility of a web
site being down. With WebWhacker at your side, the web really can
be delivered direct to your desktop.
Pros: Run complete web sites on your local computer, fast and easy
to use
Cons: Lacks the ability to test whether a web site has been updated
since last whacked
New: Revised interface, scheduling, wizards, headlines, more
Version Reviewed: Windows 3.x - 1.0e. Windows 95 - 2.0
Date of Review: 6/24/96
~geodesic
Tue, Nov 25, 1997 (16:48)
#1
I'm not sure if anyone reads these reviews- but I'd love to put two bits in all the same. I have tried most of the Web Agents- NetAttache 2.50, Anawave WebSnake 1.23, WebWhacker 3.2 (Stroud's only lists 3.0), Teleport Pro 1.28; Smart Bookmarks 3.0, and so on. I simply cannot understand how poorly designed they are, in general. Currently I use WebWhacker 1.0 to store sites, and Smart Bookmarks to keep track of changes and my bookmarks. That's right Web Whacker 1.0. One of the main problems with WebSnake,
eleport Pro, etc. is that they don't allow you to chose the links you want to add, link by link. Suppose you find a Web published paper you like. You might get options to download the paper in different formats. By going level by level, Teleport Pro, etc. will end up downloading ALL the versions. WebWhacker has always allowed this degree of user discrimination. Furthermore, WebWhacker has the best browser integration- Teleport Pro, Anawave Snake, etc. tended to open a new browser when I looked at the docu
ents it was storing, never realizing that one was already open. WebWhacker can also grab a URL from the current page in the browser at the touch of a button. Nice.
However, the 'Proxy' system of WebWhacker 2.0 and later means that you don't necessarily know whether the document you are accessing is on your machine or elsewhere! It's the worst! You can no longer trust what the 'location' listed above. Furthermore, all the downloaded material is put into a proprietary database format. I download web based material so that I can look at or search through documents with a variety of methods, such as browsing with Quick View Plus. The 'export' function of WW3.2 doesn
t work well, and is nowhere as open as Teleport Pro's mirroring. WebWhacker 1.0 doesn't do updates (I use Smart Bookmarks for that), starts in a funny directory, etc. but solves most of these problems mentioned above. So if you can find a copy of WebWhacker 1.0, grab it.
~terry
Tue, Nov 25, 1997 (17:24)
#2
You know the best of this breed may be the new FrontPage 98s
ability to capture whole directory structures intact. Anawave
is running a close second. I don't know why WebWhacker can't
get things screwed on right, they blew their lead in this category.