AptDiff is a visual text/binary files comparison and merging utility for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. It is highly useful for software developers, web designers and other professionals.

Pros: AptDiff is a Windows utility that does text/binary files comparison and merging. It is compatible to Windows 2000 to Vista. There are dual panes in the application that visually displays the differences in the files very effectively. Differences between the two files are highlighted for easy spotting. The color coding used can be customized easily. The color coding scheme can clearly indicate each line/byte added, deleted or changed. This could be very useful for software and web site developers besides other uses. The difference display can be formatted into a HTML page for publication on the web. Picking out the files for comparison is easy through the browser integrated into the application. File changes are detected and the display moves to the first difference.

Navigation is easy thereafter; horizontal and vertical scrolling is synchronized. You could customize the way the panes are split. The application mode can be easily set to text or binary. Command line support, customization of keyboard shortcuts, multi language support, customizable toolbar are some other nice features. When comparing text it can merge differences, merge differences in selected text, watch for changes outside the application and reload the file, comparison reports in HTML can be created, Unicode support, unlimited levels of undo/redo, can ignore white spaces, leading whitespace, trailing whitespace and case of characters while comparing. It can delete differences easily. When comparing binaries it compares byte by byte, navigates by differences within bytes and file sizes can be unlimited. AptDiff can be installed on FLASH or other portable drives including all user configurations. That lets you take the application anywhere.

Cons: No particular problem here.

Overall: Nice and easy operation of a nice set of features and a useful function. This is a 4 star item.