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Using Windows? Be cautious while installing any of these puzzle solvers.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Sudoku solvers and puzzles on your PC or OS X Mac


Aug 14, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   I had to wait an extra five minutes for a business meeting the other day because the person I wanted to talk to was busy -- solving a Sudoku puzzle.
   I was used to it. It seems like a fact of life in the summer of 2005 that half the world is either solving Sudoku puzzles or waiting for those who are solving them to free up some time for normal activities.
   But maybe that's a sly hint that a lazy summer with a few puzzles might be just what we all need -- especially when you don't even have to pick up a pen or pencil to take part in the latest craze. You can work out those number cells right on your computer screen.
   I looked into software that helps solve Sudoku puzzles for both Windows PCs and Apple Macintosh OS X computers, and I checked out many Web sites that said they offered help solving any Sudoku puzzle, along with a few that offered puzzles you could try to solve on the Web.
   The good news is that both Windows and Mac OS X users have some good Sudoku programs to choose from. The bad news is that many of the puzzle solvers I tried on my wife's Windows PC installed more than the puzzle software; they slipped spyware into Windows as well. (The Mac OS X Sudoku programs I tried on my Apple Macintosh didn't do that. Macs aren't vulnerable to spyware.)
   So my advice for Windows users is to be cautious while downloading and installing any of these puzzle solvers -- or any other games and programs. Be sure your Windows PC is protected by good spyware-detection software. For an explanation of what spyware is and what software I recommend to fight it, go to http://technofileonline/texts/tec111404.html.
   My natural curiosity took my to a Web site that calls itself "your first stop for finding Sudoku," www.inertiasoftware.com/top50. At the top of the main page, a headline tells you you're looking at a list of "The Top 50 Sudoku sites," but don't let the fact that only 26 are actually listed get you down; it's still a helpful list even if the math is wrong. (Maybe it's a work in progress. Check back to see if the list grows.)
   A site with easier math is www.scanraid.com/sudoku.htm, created by a programmer who fell in love with Sudoku puzzles as soon as the newspapers in Great Britain, his homeland, started featuring them. The site is a marvelous combination of fun and intellectual challenge, and you might find it more interesting to use than any of the stand-alone puzzle solvers that install on your computer.
   The site also has two extra features I found to be handy. You can e-mail a puzzle to anyone and you can format a puzzle for the best possible printing. This makes things easy if you want to take a puzzle along to the office for study on your coffee break.
   My favorite Windows Sudoku program is a free one, Sudoku Solver, from Nathan Davis. His program doesn't try to flood your Windows PC with spyware and he isn't interested in annoying you in any other way -- except perhaps in the difficulty you might have ferreting out the program, which is buried in a couple of online file sites.
   Here is the Web address of one of the download pages for Sudoku Solver: www.download.com/Sudoku-Solver/3000-2111_4-10415005.html?tag=pdp_prod.
   I also liked a program that isn't free. It's Sudoku Works from Oak Systems at www.sudokuworks.com. Oak Systems is a longtime Windows entertainment-software developer, which helps explain why Sudoku Works is so polished and well designed. The cost is listed as about 6 British pounds, which should translate to about $10.
   For Apple's Macintosh OS X computers, I recommend Sudoku Master, from aerosolsoftware.com/products.html, and Sudoku Susser from www.madoverlord.com. Sudoku Master is fairly simple, with very little to guide you when you first run it, but it's easy to figure out. Sudoku Susser has an amazing collection of puzzle options, with yellow sticky-note-style tooltips that pop up to guide you along the way.
   I also looked for Sudoku software for Linux but couldn't find any. But there were indications that Linux versions are on the way. I'll post an update when I hear of any.