Transfz
a (very) useful search agent, 464 (trees) planted on its account!

Frequently Asked Questions

Information on Transfz


Introduction
This file deals with a variety of subjects related to the Transfz search agent. Some of the information contained herein is introductionary content from the included help file and other information is concerned with the support and licensing aspects.
The Program
Transfz (pronounced transfuse) is an integrated search agent, it allows the user to launch online searches from any document or application on both the desktop and the web.

The search takes place by simply selecting the bit of text that one would like search for and pressing the default hotkey (ctrl+d). This brings up the Global Menu which behaves like any standard windows context menu except for the fact that it can be called up anywhere and lets the user pass the selected text automatically on to his favorite searchengine (or dictionary, thesaurus, or any other online encyclopedia or wiki).

Externally Transfz supports a wide range of browsers (I.E 6-7.x, Opera 8.x, Firefox 1.5-2.x and more are supported). The search feature of Transfz is but one in a complete line-up of workflow improving features that comes included.
Main Features
The following are examples of what Transfz can do when out-of-the-box standard configured.
  • Quickly launch a lookup in any online dictionary, searchengine..etc. through the Global Menu (ctrl+d).
  • Assign hotkeys directly to searchengines so that one keypress (ctrl+w) can look up a term directly on Wikipedia (bypassing the Global Menu).
  • Extend the clipboard; insert text by selecting among the last 5-30 entries of copied text, an immense time saver for professional users.
  • Perform powerful macro editing by using the Extensions, allowing for an example direct text manipulation in ANY editable text form (i.e. perform search and replace on selected text in a webmail browser session).
  • Improve Transfz's search capacity by using the build-in Plugin Creator to easily allow your favorite searchengine to become an omnipresent standard in your desktop/web experience.
  • Use Extensions to do any type of text or code manipulation in easy basic syntax, an number of extensions are already available in the default Transfz installation. Do you or your company have certain procedures that needs to be applied to incoming data (email or other) every single day? Why not simply write an extension to take care of the work and spend your time on something better, as Transfz itself provides the framework that integrates into Windows you can focus on the data and forget about GUI programming.
  • As a private user you can see basic usage statistics by hovering your mouse over the tray icon - gauging exactly how much faster your computer usage is after you installed Transfz.
Supporting Transfz (the Greenware section)
Private Use
Transfz is free to download and use. If you find yourself continually using Transfz after a two month period please consider donating or becoming a subscriber (see below). In order to gain the financial freedom to work on the Transfz as much as possible there are two different ways in which you can support the project:
  1. Donate what you feel is right! 50% goes to planting trees, e.g. (five trees) are planted for every $10 donated, see Environmental Aspect
     
  2. Subscribe and give a recurring monthly donation $4, out of this amount 50% goes to planting trees, e.g.  (two trees) are planted every month, see Environmental Aspect

When donating using one of the above options please be aware that around 30 trees planted is enough to make you CO2 neutral for a year (based on estimate by American Forests).

Should you choose to become a subscriber (and automatically donate a micro payment of $4 every month) you will be virtually CO2 neutral for as long as you continue to support Transfz!

It happens like this: every month I divide the potential donations by 2, take the resulting amount and go to the American forest website and convert the cash to trees. Then, finally, I proceed to post the receipt from the payment to a thread in the Transfz Forum. Using the PayPal Secure Payment! secure online payment system you may:

or
Business and Institutions
Transfz is free to employ for professional purposes. Please consider making larger recurring donations if you use Transfz professionally - this way you can ensure that the program will continually be improved upon. Also, if your company needs a certain feature implemented or a support agreement, please contact me.

or
Environmental Aspect
After having spend 6 months programming Transfz, as well as writing bad HTML/CSS and help files ;), I
re-remembered that the development of the information technology we use daily has only come to see the light due to a functional biosphere. Even more importantly; unless the biosphere stays functional we can't even keep using the technology we have developed. So out of every donation given to this project 50% (see Supporting Transfz) will go to the the Global ReLeaf Project (run by the American Forests Organization). Here is a bit of information on the environmental impact of planting trees:
  • Trees Remove Carbon Dioxide (one acre [4 square kilometers] removes 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere. In comparison, one person, with a car, generates 2.3 tons of carbon dioxide) (details)
     
  • Trees Remove Multiple Pollutants ("...a single tree with a trunk circumference of 30 inches [76 cm] removes 200 pounds [90 kilogram] of carbon dioxide, 1.1 pounds [0.5 kilogram] of ozone, and 2 pounds [1.0 kilogram] each of sulfur dioxide, particulates, and nitrogen dioxide every year, with the greatest removal taking place during the summer months") (details)
     
  • Trees Produce Oxygen ("...an average-sized tree releases enough oxygen throughout one day to keep a family of four breathing. An acre [4 square kilometers]  of trees produces enough oxygen to meet the daily breathing requirements for 18 people") (details)
     
  • Trees Have a Positive Impact on both Physical and Mental Health (details)
So, basically, it's worth planting a few trees every now and again. Even if you do not plan to support Transfz I suggest you consider donating directly.
Linking to Transfz
Ah, yes, I would be honored! You can either just do a plain link to index page or use this button (thanks to Martin from Siteloom.dk for the design):


Clean Software (Reviews and more)
Since I compile Transfz myself (and scan it for viruses before each release) I obviously know that it is completely free from viruses and other malware/adware. Still, it is nice for me - and you :) to know that others feel the same way about Transfz. Which is why it comes in handy that Softpedia have cared to go over the latest release and have awarded it with this certificate:



Read more about the certificate!

Note: because Transfz is written in AutoIt, which is an interpreted language, malware scanners might sometimes produce a false positive, stating that Transfz contains a Trojandropper or something of the likes. This is not so. A description of the potential problem can be found here:
http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34658

Reviews
Yep, some of these are more or less flattering (they are included because of the former, not the latter) ;). If you happen to stumble (..) upon any reviews please leave a note in the forum or ship me a mail - especially if the review includes constructive critique. Anyways, here are a few from the referral log for you to scrutinize if you need that last push before you go on installing Transfz.

Bear Bottoms (english)
, not a review but awarded nevertheless
Baixaki (portuguese)
, check english translation
Digital Quest (english)
Emisjerry.roodo.blog (taiwanese)
, check english google translation, contains brief guide on making plugins :)
Essential-freebies (german)
Freewaregenius (english)
Freewares & Tutos
(french)
Optomvse.ru (russian)
, check english translation
Ghacks.net (english)
PI Download (italien), check english translation (wish that the google translator did italien better)
Planet Download (dutch)
Snapfiles (english)