Spell Checker For OE

Spell Checker for Outlook Express, adds the ability to use spell checking in Outlook Express without the need to install other MS products such as Word, or MS Office.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Personal Folders Backup

Backing up your Microsoft Outlook information is quicker and easier with the Personal Folders Backup feature. Personal Folders Backup creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2000 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

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Outlook on the Desktop

Outlook on the Desktop places a fully functional Microsoft Outlook Calendar directly on your desktop. You can adjust the size, position and transparency of the display, and also switch to your Inbox, Tasks, Contacts or Notes from the tray icon. The calendar displays supports full editing functionalities, as well as drag and drop. You can double-click an item to open it in Outlook, drag and drop of appointments, read and respond to email messages and more. The program also supports multiple monitors.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

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OE Reader

OE Reader (formerly MiTeC DBX Viewer) is a viewer for Microsoft Outlook Express 5/6 message database files(.dbx). Just browse for the .dbx file, open it and the program will display a list of all contained messages and their header. You can choose to view the messages in text or HTML view, sort them and also save them as standard .eml files. Additional features include support for attachments and printing.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Lookout

Lookout is a search add-in for Microsoft Outlook, that allows you to quickly search through the content of your mail folders. Unlike the built-in search feature which tends to be rather slow, Lookout indexes your mail on a regular schedule, and produces almost instant results. It also offers advanced search options that enable you to limit the keyword search to recipients, dates, attachments and more.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

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Koma-Mail

Koma-Mail is a simple, portable email client, that can be run standalone from a USB drive. It allows you to send and receive email from your POP3/IMAP account. The program supports SSL and APOP and contains options to block scripts, ActiveX and HTML content for increased security. It also includes a basic spam filter option and can be used with multiple accounts and multiple users. Koma-Mail can import/export email messages and contacts, maintains an encrypted database and even includes a simple RSS feed reader.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Express ClickYes

Express ClickYes is a handy tool that runs in the system tray automatically clicks the Yes button for the Outlook Security security prompt, that asks you to confirm mail sending from third party applications. If you are using a program that causes Outlook to generate the prompt, you ll find this tiny tool very handy.

Platform:
Win (All)

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DefaultMail

DefaultMail allows you to set a per-user default email client that is used whenever the user clicks on a mailto link or otherwise initiates an email (MAPI) feature. Unlike the standard XP configuration, this tool allows each user to set their own default mail client without affecting the other user profiles. It automatically detects installed email clients and allows you to simply select which one to use.

Platform:
Win XP

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Vista Start Menu SE

Vista Start Menu SE is a replacement for the standard Windows Start menu that provides a different layout and interface, designed to access all your programs faster without having to go through multiple menu levels. It displays all programs in a single view and provides cascading menus for other Start Menu entries. The reboot and shutdown options are conveniently placed along the top of the menu and combines the Run and Find dialog along with a Google search search option into a single input field. Vista Start Menu SE can replace the original Start menu or you can launch it from the system tray. A Pro version with additional features can be purchased.

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Portable Start Menu

Portable Start Menu is a customizable start menu that can be installed to an USB drive and acts as a customizable application launcher. You can quickly launch applications from a tray icon menu, close all running applications before ejecting the drive and also install a auto-run option that will launch the program automatically whenever the drive is inserted.

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Polyglot 3000

Polyglot 3000 can automatically identify the language used in a text, phrase, or (sometimes) even a single word. Just paste or type the text into the provided field, or load a text file, and the program will identify it from a database of over 400 languages that it can recognize. The longer the text sample, the better are the odds of proper identification. Worked well with the languages we tested.

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MessenPass

MessenPass allows you to recover your password(s) from a wide variety of popular Instant Messenger programs, including MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ Lite 4.x/2003, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger/Netscape 7, Trillian, Miranda and GAIM. Just run the program and it will present you with a list of all accounts found on your PC, including the username and passwords. The list can be exported to HTML or saved as text file. MessenPass can only be used to recover the passwords for the current logged-on user on your local computer. You cannot use it for grabbing the passwords of other users.

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jetAudio Basic

jetAudio Basic is a full featured media player with integrated CD burning and ripping capabilities. It supports all the popular media formats including MP3, OGG, MPG, AVI, WMA and many others. jetAudio can also play DVDs and VCDs and act as your default player for all selected formats. Additional features include CDDB support, integrated lyrics viewer, Monkeys Audio support, skins, visualizations and just about everything else you`d expect from a multimedia player. An optional Pro version offers support for broadcasting and mp3PRO formats.

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Exsate DV Capture Live

Exsate DV Capture Live enables you to capture and convert DV video from your camcorder via a IEEE-1394 Firewire connection. While the program is capturing the video, it automatically converts it to AVI or WMV format in real-time and saves it to your hard drive. You can optionally imprint the DV time stamp into the captured video and choose to have it appear once a day, once an hour or with every scene. Furthermore, you can choose to capture to a single or multiple files, append to existing projects, and operate all playback functions of your DV camcorder. Exsate DV Capture Live does not offer any editing functionalities, but if you just want to capture and convert your tapes to digital format, this program offers all the functionality you`ll need.

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AptDiff

AptDiff enables you to visually compare text and binary files. You can view the color-coded differences in two files side-by-side, and optionally merge lines from the left to the right or vice versa. The program can also export the side-by-side comparison to a nicely formatted HTML page for publishing on the web. Other features include file backup, customizable color coding, full Unicode support and more.

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Trial - Imagelys Picture Styles

Imagelys Picture Styles is a graphics editor, designed to create seamless backgrounds, wallpapers, textures and similar artwork. It allows you to combine multiple layers with adjustable transparency, using a variety of sample textures and image effects. You can create variations of a texture, create/edit masks, apply filters and more. Other features include standard image editing tools, web export, convert any image into a seamless pattern, image warping, flare effects and more.

Platform:
Cons: Cons: Can be a little difficult to use; documentation needs improvements
Pros: Pros: Supports layers, lighting effects, warping, filters and more.
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Trial - File Scavenger

File Scavenger is a Windows file undelete and data recovery utility for NTFS and FAT/FAT32 volumes. It can recover files that were damaged by virus or accidentally deleted from Windows Explorer, the Recycled Bin, command line window, or a network share along with original folder names and file Create and Modified dates. It supports reformatted volumes or broken hardware/software RAID volumes as well as file compression, dynamic disks, alternate data streams, sparse files, Unicode filenames and more. With the trial version only 64KB or smaller files can be recovered. File Scavenger offers 3 different search modes, one for quick access to recently deleted files, one for exhaustive search and also a defunct volume search that can even recover files from compromised striped and RAID volumes. We tested the product on a machine that was reformatted a few days ago, and safely recovered some of the files, old desktop shortcuts and more.

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Freeware - WinSock XP Fix

WinSock XP Fix offers a last resort if your Internet connectivity has been corrupted due to invalid or removed registry entries. It can often cure the problem of lost connections after the removal of Adware components or improper uninstall of firewall applications or other tools that modify the XP network and Winsock settings. If you encounter connection problems after removing network related software, Adware or after registry clean-up; and all other ways fail, then give WinSock XP Fix a try. It can create a registry backup of your current settings, so it is fairly safe to use. We actually tested it on a test machine that was having a Winsock problem due to some Adware removal, and after running the utility and rebooting, the connectivity was restored.

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Cons: Cons: Not actively supported or developed
Pros: Pros: May save you hours of headaches; can fix tricky connection problems
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Freeware - Windows Essentials Codec Pack

Windows Essentials Codec Pack is a collection of the most essential Audio and Video DirectShow Codecs and Filters for Windows, that enables you to play and view almost all music and video files downloaded from the Internet. It adds support for (S)VCDs and XCDs as well as 3GP, AAC, AC3, APE, AVI, DivX, 3ivx, DAT, h.264, x264, Nero Digital, DTS, FLV, FLAC, HD-MOV, MPEG-1/2, M4A, MP3, MP4, MO3, MOD, MKV, OFR, TTA, OGG/OGM, S3M, Vorbis, VOB, XviD, XM, WV, UMX and many other formats. Essentials Codec Pack also includes Windows Media Player Classic. An integrated auto-update can automatically check for updated codecs.

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Freeware - UnderCoverXP

UnderCoverXP is a program to easily print pre-designed CD and DVD covers. It supports JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP formats and can automatically scale front covers, back covers, front + inside, inlays, DVD Boxes, Playstation covers and CoolBela LD001 labels to the correct sizes. Other label types can be added with a graphical editing interface. The program is easy to use and allows you to preview the images as they will appear on your cover.

Platform:
Cons: Cons: Only useful for printing of pre-made cover designs; does not allow you design your own covers
Pros: Pros: Supports many different cover and label types; user can create custom size labels
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Freeware - SuperScan

SuperScan is a powerful TCP port scanner, that includes a variety of additional networking tools like ping, traceroute, HTTP HEAD, WHOIS and more. It uses multi-threaded and asynchronous techniques resulting in extremely fast and versatile scanning. You can perform ping scans and port scans using any IP range or specify a text file to extract addresses from. Other features include TCP SYN scanning, UDP scanning, HTML reports, built-in port description database, Windows host enumeration, banner grabbing and more.

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Freeware - SUPERAntiSpyware (Free Edition)

SUPERAntiSpyware scans your computer for known Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types of threats, and allows you to remove or quarantine them. It offers daily (manual) definition updates, as well as home page hijack protection and customizable scan options. Furthermore, the program includes a Repair feature that allows you to restore various settings which are often changed by malware programs, but usually not corrected by simply removing the parasite. The free version lacks real-time blocking and protection as well as several other advanced options.

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Freeware - Spybot - SD

Spybot - S&D (Search and Destroy) is an adware and spyware detection and removal tool. This includes removal of certain advertising components, that may gather statistics as well as detection of various keylogging and other spy utilities. In addition, it also securely removes PC and Internet usage tracks, including browser history, temporary pages, cookies (with option to keep selected) and more. The program offers an attractive outlook-style interface that is easy to use and multi-lingual. Spybot - S&D allows you to exclude selected cookies, programs or extensions from being reported, allowing you to prevent false positive messages for items that you dont want to be alerted of every time. It can even scan your download directory for files that have been downloaded, but not yet installed, allowing you to detect unwanted programs before you even install them. SpyBot produces a detailed and easy to understand report before it deletes any files and allows you to deselect any item that you do not want to be processed. In addition, a recovery feature allows you to restore your settings if needed.

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Freeware - Spell Checker For OE

Spell Checker for Outlook Express, adds the ability to use spell checking in Outlook Express without the need to install other MS products such as Word, or MS Office.

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Freeware - RockXP

RockXP allows you to retrieve your XP product key that you used when you installed Windows XP, as well as keys for other Microsoft products. This can come very handy if you need to reinstall but have misplaced or lost the CD cover with the serial sticker. In addition, the program also lets you save the product activation to a file, recover usernames and passwords contained in the Windows Secure Storage, as well as MSN logins, Internet connection parameters and more.

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Freeware - Restoration

Restoration is an easy to use and straight forward tool to undelete files that were removed from the recycle bin or directly deleted from within Windows, and we were also able to recover photos from a Flash card that had been formatted. Upon start, you can scan for all files that may be recovered and also limit the results by entering a search term or extension. In addition, it also provides the option to wipe the found files beyond simple recovery. The program is small and standalone, it does not require installation and can also run from a Floppy disk. Restoration works with FAT and NTFS as well as digital cameras cards.

Platform:
Cons: Cons: Limited recovery capabilities works with many but not all deleted files; simple interface lack user friendly features
Pros: Pros: Standalone, no install needed
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Freeware - RegSeeker

RegSeeker is a handy tool for managing several popular registry items and searching the registry by keyword. It offers quick access to Startup Entries, Uninstall Information, Color Schemes, History items (URLs, Recent Documents etc) and IE Favorites. The program also includes a registry cleaning feature that finds invalid and unused registry entries, allowing you to delete them. RegSeeker can automatically create a backup before deleting any registry entries. The program comes with an attractive, easy to use interface. Nevertheless it is not intended for complete beginners and you should feel comfortable working with the Windows registry before using it.

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Freeware - Quick Media Converter

Quick Media Converter enables you to convert between most audio and video formats, including AVI, DVD, Quicktime, Flash, Xvid, DivX, MPEG, MP3, WMA, MP4, 3GP and many others. You can convert multiple files (of different formats) in a single process and optionally customize the output settings in Expert Mode. In addition to media conversion, the program also includes CamStudio, which allows you to record desktop acxtivity to video, as well as a WebCam capture feature that enables you to record video directly from your webcam device. Quick Media Converter uses open source code from softwares such as FFmpeg and FFplayer.

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Freeware - PSPad Editor

PSPad editor is a programmers editor with support for multiple syntax highlighting profiles. It comes with a hex editor, CP conversion, text differences, templates, macros, spellcheck option, auto-completion, Code Explorer and much more. The program is pre-configured for the most popular programming languages (VB, C++, SQL, PHP, ASP, Python etc.) and you can further customize the syntax settings. PSPad includes several additional tools that are especially useful for HTML editing (compress, format code) and also integrates TopStyle Lite and TidyHTML. The program can be used as IDE for any compiler. Additional features include support for project, file browsing, custom shortcuts, built-in FTP client to edit files on the server and much more.

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Cons: Cons: none
Pros: Pros: Loaded with features; extensive syntax highlighting; macro recorder; projects; templates; integrated FTP; HEX editor;spell checker
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Freeware - Pivot Stickfigure Animator

Pivot Stickfigure Animator is a unique software, that allows you to create stick figure animations easily and without any artistic skills. You can move the sections of the sick figure and easily create a chain of animation frames that can be previewed as you go. You can use more than one stick-figure in the animation, and even create your own stick figures using an easy to use visual editor that lets you assemble objects out of lines and circles. In addition, you can optionally set animation size, speed and more. The result can be saved as animated GIF file. Fun and easy to use, surprisingly well featured.

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Freeware - PhotoFiltre

PhotoFiltre is a complete image editing and effects package, that will not only amaze you with features but also the fact that it is free (for personal use). It comes with many features that rival some commercial packages, as well as additional add-on that can be downloaded from the web site. PhotoFiltre offers all the standard editing features (selection, clone brush, paint brush etc.) as well as a large selection of image effects, photo masks, image adjustments, thumbnail browser and much more. The program also supports batch processing to apply filters, sizing, adjustments and transformations to a large number of images at once. PhotoFiltre comes with modern, well designed interface and is well suited for everything from simple resizing to advanced photo editing.

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Cons: Cons: Does not support layers; no support for Photoshop filters
Pros: Pros: Great editing features; easy-to-use; fast loading
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Freeware - NetSetMan

NetSetMan allows you to quickly switch between pre-configured network settings. It is ideal for people on the road, that have to connect to different networks all the time, and need to update their network settings each time. NetSetMan allows you to create 6 profiles including IP address settings, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS servers. The custom settings are saved in tabs, and you can simply select your settings and click a button to update your network configurations. Free version is limited to 6 network profiles, which is more than enough for personal usage.

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Freeware - Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Microsoft WorldWide Telescope is a virtual telescope software that enables you to explore the universe with the help of interactive star charts and high resolution imagery from some of the best land and sky based telescopes. You can manually explore the night sky for your geographical location or enjoy one of the many interactive tours that will take you on an educational journey across the universe, to visit the solar system, black holes, star clusters, nebula, cosmic events and more. WorldWide Telescope also supports the ASCOM platform which allows you to connect and control a compatible telescope directly to the software. Other features include real-time tracking of the night sky in your location, a finder scope to reveal details for any object, multiple sources for imagery, object search and filtering, and morel. WorldWide Telescope provides a user friendly interface, and is well suited for casual night sky explorers as well as more advanced star gazers and hobby astronomers.

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Freeware - Look@LAN Network Monitor

Look@LAN Network Monitor is an advanced network monitor, that is easy to use and automatically detects and analyzes your network nodes, including operating system. The program can monitor the nodes and alert you of any changes (new nodes, offline nodes etc.). The main window lists all available nodes and detailed statistics and scan results are available for each individual machine, including a real-time traceroute report, ping results, active services (open ports) and more. In addition to the auto-detected nodes, you can also customize the scan ranges and add additional networks. Additional features include HTML reports, statistical graphs, network tree view, single node scanning and more. The program comes with a unique, user-friendly interface, but no documentation.

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Freeware - Jodix Free iPod Video Converter

Jodix Free iPod Video Converter enables you to convert popular video formats to iPod video. It provides a simple and easy to use interface, just select the file(s) to convert and click a button. You can optionally change output quality and video size as well. The program supports AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, and VOB formats.

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Freeware - FreeCommander

freeCommander is a dual-panel file explorer with many additional features. In addition to the standard file management features, it can be used to compare directories, display folder sizes, synchronize folders and more. The program can also open/create ZIP and CAB files, and open RAR files, as well as search inside those archives. You can set view filters, create folder list (for printing), change file attributes, launch a command prompt, take a desktop screenshot and more.

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Cons: Cons: Older interface; no integrated file previews; no FTP support
Pros: Pros: Includes useful file management features; archive support; view filters; dual-pane navigation
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Freeware - Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner enables you to scan your registry for invalid entries. It provides a list of all errors that were found, and you can choose to remove all items, or only selected errors. Before the program deletes any keys, it automatically creates a backup of the registry and allows you to easily undo any changes if needed. You can choose to scan the entire registry or only selected sections.

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Cons: Cons: Annoying registration beg screen with every start
Pros: Pros: Creates an automatic backup of your registry
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Freeware - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is an anti-virus scanner that offers Resident Protection, e-mail Scanner, On-Demand Scanner, and Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files and automatic updates. The free version is limited in features, but includes all basic scanning functionality as well as real-time protection. It uses the same scanning engine as the commercial version, however updates are provided on a low priority basis.

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Freeware - avast! Home Edition

avast! Home Edition is a complete anti-virus package, that is is free for registered home non-commercial users. It contains an on-demand scanner with two interfaces (simple for novices and advanced for experienced users), an on-access scanner with Standard Shield (which protects against execution and opening malware programs) and an embedded e-mail scanner which scans incoming and outgoing email messages. avast! Home integrates with the Windows Explorer right click menu and also includes a special screen saver which is able to scan your system while your computer is not in use. Updates are incremental and frequently made available for manual or scheduled download. You will download a 60 days demo, if you would like to continue free usage beyond that time, you`ll need to register from the home page to obtain a free activation key by email.

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Freeware - Ad-Aware 2007

Ad-Aware 2007 is a privacy tool, that scans your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known data-mining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components. It then lists the results and offers to remove or quarantine the components. The program detects a wide range of adware/spyware related issues and can be updated with the latest signatures via the built-in update utility. The free version is strictly a scanner, and does not provide any real-time protection.

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Cons: Cons: No real-time scanning, no automatic updates; no scheduled scans
Pros: Pros: Good reputation; detailed reasons for detected items,
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Bruce`s Unusual Typing Wizard

Bruce`s Unusual Typing Wizard is a simple application that can help you learn touch typing. It offers 13 typing lessons that gradually introduce you to the keyboard keys, as well as a typing practice mode that measures your typing speed and errors. The program also includes a simple typing game and keeps track of your statistics.

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TypeFaster

TypeFaster is an Open Source typing tutor that offers a touch typing course in 15 lessons. The program can keep track of your progress with statistical charts and create custom exercises based on the errors you make during your lessons. An interactive keyboard display can assist you with finding the keys without having to look at the keyboard. Type Faster also includes spaceship-shooter typing game. Other features include support for international keyboard layouts, customizable typing lessons, adjustable font sizes and more.

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TemplateShaker (Free Edition)

TemplateShaker (Free Edition) offers a WYSIWYG environment to create a CSS driven web site based on 4 different layout templates that can be customized your preference. The step-by-step process allows you to pick colors and fonts for your page content, insert images, tweak the page layout and more. Once you are satisfied with the design you can preview the XHTML and CSS code and export all the necessary files into your web folder. The free version is restricted to non-commercial use and inserts a credit line into the bottom of each page.

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SpeedConnect Connection Tester

SpeedConnect Connection Tester provides a quick and easy way to test the speed of your Internet connection. The program downloads a file from a Microsoft server (or any other server of your choice), analyzes the measured data and reports your speed in kbps. It also provides a graphical display and some statistical data from other users.

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SiteShoter

SiteShoter enables you to capture screenshots of any website by simply entering the URL and selecting some options. You can choose from full-size captures, set a specific browser size, crop the capture to custom specifications and optionally resize the output to a percentage of the original. The program uses Internet Explorer to load and capture the website in a hidden window and saves it to .png, .jpg, .tiff, .bmp or .gif format.

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Read it Later

Read it Later is a handy Firefox extension that enables you save links to interesting websites that you have come across, without littering your bookmarks with nonessential items. The program offers two new toolbar buttons and a right-click option to your Firefox toolbar, which can be used to quickly add the current page or link to your Read it Later collection and to browse your saved page links. Your Read it Later items are stored in a designated bookmark folder so they are kept separate from your regular bookmarks. In addition to the bookmark features, the program also integrates with a wide variety of social networking sites and allows you to share interesting content with your online communities.

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Pictomio

Pictomio is an image browser and manager that can help you organize and catalog your image collections, using a modern interface with 3D rendering and plenty of eye candy. The program allows you to sort your images into categories, assign personal ratings and keyword tags, view collections as a slide show or image carousel and more. Pictomio creates an index of your image folders and automatically classifies your photos based on their date, rating or category as well as available EXIF data and storage media - a feature that can be particularly useful for amateur photographers with huge photo collections. Other features include EXIF editing, high-quality zooming, histogram display, color picker and more.

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Cons: Cons: Lacks image editing and adjustment features; resource intensive
Pros: Pros: Slick image presentation and browsing features
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NexusFont

NexusFont is a font manager that enables you to preview and compare selected font types, install and uninstall fonts on your system, find duplicate fonts and more. You can preview fonts with different font styles and colors, and even anti-aliasing, using a user defined sample text. The preview list can be printed or saved as image file in various formats. Other features include font management (copy, move, delete, rename), user list of favorite fonts, print preview and more.

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NexusFile

NexusFile is a dual-pane file manager that offers fast, color coded file management with many advanced features. You can easily copy or move files between folders, quickly navigate to favorite folders, change file and folder attributes, perform advanced renaming operations, manage archives and much more. The program offers a modern interface with customizable color schemes for file types, transparency support and custom view styles. In addition to traditional file management, NexusFile offers FTP transfers, folder comparison and synchronization, file splitting and joining, disk cleanup, file shredding, extended keyboard shortcuts and more.

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Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Microsoft WorldWide Telescope is a virtual telescope software that enables you to explore the universe with the help of interactive star charts and high resolution imagery from some of the best land and sky based telescopes. You can manually explore the night sky for your geographical location or enjoy one of the many interactive tours that will take you on an educational journey across the universe, to visit the solar system, black holes, star clusters, nebula, cosmic events and more. WorldWide Telescope also supports the ASCOM platform which allows you to connect and control a compatible telescope directly to the software. Other features include real-time tracking of the night sky in your location, a finder scope to reveal details for any object, multiple sources for imagery, object search and filtering, and morel. WorldWide Telescope provides a user friendly interface, and is well suited for casual night sky explorers as well as more advanced star gazers and hobby astronomers.

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Image2Html

Image2Html enables you to convert an image to full-color ASCII art that can be rendered in any web browser. The program analyzes the input image and creates a pattern by using colored font characters that will closely resemble the original image. There are some options to tweak the conversion settings but the default setting do a pretty good job. Image2Html supports conversion of single images, as well as batch conversion.

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Free Zune Video Converter

Free Zune Video Converter enables you to convert popular video formats (AVI, MPEG, MP4, FLV, MOV and others) to Microsoft Zune compatible video format (WMV, MP4). You can customize the video output parameters, including audio and video bitrate, fps, resolution, sampling frequency and more. In addition to video conversion the program can also extract audio tracks from video files to MP3, WMA and M4A (AAC) format.

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Free YouTube Download

Free YouTube Download is simple, single purpose tool to download videos from YouTube and automatically convert them to AVI, FLV, MP4 or 3GP format. The program supports single input URLs as well as batch downloads from multiple YouTube links.

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FlyingBit Password Generator

FlyingBit Password Generator enables you to create strong password of customizable length, case and characteristic. You can choose between numbers-only, hex, letters-only or mixed content passwords, and quickly generate an entire list of password with the click of a button. The list can be saved as text file or you can copy the selected password(s) to the clipboard. Along with the passwords, the program also provides a phonetic key that can you help remembering the password more easily.

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FlyingBit Hash Calculator

FlyingBit Hash Calculator integrates with the Windows Explorer and enables you to calculate and verify hash sums for any file from the right-click menu. It supports 9 different algorithms including MD5, CRC32, SHA1 and TIGER. All sums are generated at the same time and you can choose which one to copy to the clipboard, or save them all as a .hash file. The program can also create a GNU .md5 check file containing the .md5 signature of a file and later compare it to the original.

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Cons: Cons: Cannot batch generate .md5 files; cannot compare with hash values from the clipboard
Pros: Pros: Convenient Explorer integration; supports multiple hash types; generates and compares .md5 files
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FileTypesMan

FileTypesMan offers an alternative to the standard Windows file type management options that are provided as part of the Folder Options dialog. It displays all currently registered file type extensions along with detailed information and enables you to easily edit the properties and flags for each, add or remove file types, restore changed file associations, remove obsolete right-click entries and more.

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EASEUS Deleted File Recovery

EASEUS Deleted File Recovery enables you to recover files that have been accidentally deleted, even after they have been emptied from the recycle bin or were deleted directly from another program. An easy to use 3-step wizard interface guides you through the process of selecting the drive to be scanned and lets you preview and select the files to be recovered. The program supports thumbnail previews for common image formats and hex or text previews for other data types. EASEUS Deleted File Recovery works with FAT 12, FAT 16, FAT 32 and NTFS file systems on your local hard drives, portable devices and memory cards.

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Desktop Bidder Lite

Desktop Bidder is an auction sniper for eBay that enables you to place automatic bids on selected items within a few seconds of auction closing. The program integrates a web browser interface that allows you to browse for auctions, place new bids and track the status of previous bids. If you are planning to bid on multiple auctions for the same item, you can take advantage of bid groups, which enables you to automatically cancel all outstanding bids once the item is won in one of your grouped auctions. Other features include import of your eBay watchlist, search bookmarks, auction notes, support for international eBay sites and more. The free version limited to 10 snipes per month. Upgrades are available for higher or no limits.

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CCCalc

CCCalc is a desktop calculator that supports four basic arithmetic operations and allows you to input calculations from your keyboard while displaying all the lines of your expression on a virtual printout. You can edit the calculation by simply editing the typed characters in the same way you would edit text in Notepad - the changes will be recalculated instantly. Other features include support for copy and paste, automatic rounding (customizable), memory operations and more.

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Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free is a full featured CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning suite that enables you to create data, music, video and audio discs. You can also create backups that span across multiple discs, rip music tracks from Audio CDs and create or burn disc images in ISO or BIN/CUE format. The task oriented interface makes it easy get started and spares you most of the technical details. Other features include automatic audio conversion from WAV, MP3, FLAC, WMA and Ogg files, disc copying, compressed file backup and restore, disk erasing, VCD/SVCD support, project burning and more. Free registration required after 10 days.

Platform:
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ZipGenius

ZipGenius is a powerful zip tool that offers support for more than 20 different compression formats, including 7zip, ZIP64, UPX and many others. It supports drag and drop, 5 compression levels, full customization and integration in Windows Explorer. The program also comes with a built in FTP client that allows to download and upload files from within the software. The signature features allows you to add your signature and contact information to any zip file you create. ZipGenius also supports the creation of self-extracting exe files, complete with custom setup launch and icon. ZipGenius also comes with additional features like encryption, scanner support (acquire pictures and zip them into files), backup, statistics, download time calculator, disk spanning, file export, support for OpenOffice and more. It can also interact with your Pocket PC device. Very nice!

Platform:
Win (All)

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WinSock XP Fix

WinSock XP Fix offers a last resort if your Internet connectivity has been corrupted due to invalid or removed registry entries. It can often cure the problem of lost connections after the removal of Adware components or improper uninstall of firewall applications or other tools that modify the XP network and Winsock settings. If you encounter connection problems after removing network related software, Adware or after registry clean-up; and all other ways fail, then give WinSock XP Fix a try. It can create a registry backup of your current settings, so it is fairly safe to use. We actually tested it on a test machine that was having a Winsock problem due to some Adware removal, and after running the utility and rebooting, the connectivity was restored.

Platform:
Win XP

Cons: Cons: Not actively supported or developed
Pros: Pros: May save you hours of headaches; can fix tricky connection problems
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WinPatrol

WinPatrol allows you to get a better understanding of what programs are being added to your computer. It monitors important system areas that are commonly altered by many malicious programs. This includes the startup groups (registry and startup folder), cookies and active tasks. You can terminate processes and enable or disable startup programs. The cookie monitoring option allows you to automatically delete cookies based on a keyword found in the cookie name. Additional features include a WHOIS lookup tool and an option to alert you on changes. WinPatrol is easy to understand, yet quiet powerful. Optional upgrade to a Plus version available.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

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Windows Defender

Windows Defender detects and removes adware and spyware from your computer, and also features real-time protection that alerts you when potential dangers arise, stopping most spyware before it can even install. The program includes a variety of security agents that act as bodyguards to protect areas of your system that are commonly used by malware to hijack your settings, add menu items, change your home page, and much more. If any adware or spyware items are detected during a scan, you are provided with detailed information about the offender and can choose to delete or quarantine the item(s).

Platform:
Win XP

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Weather Watcher

Weather Watcher is your personal Windows desktop weather station. Automatically retrieve your local weather from the Internet and store it in your Windows system tray. With one click of your mouse button, the most current weather update is in your view. Weather Watcher provides an attractive interface with detailed information, hourly and daily forecast, as well as access to satellite maps, international weather and more.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Weather Pulse

Weather Pulse is a weather monitoring tool that that displays detailed weather information for selected US cities, as well as popular satellite images from around the globe. It includes weather alert options, 10 day forecast, hourly forecast, detailed forecast and more. The satellite images can be sent via email and also saved to file. Weather Pulse integrates all the information into a simple, easy to use interface and also provides a tray icon that displays the current temperature (we had to change the font settings for proper display). You can also add custom radar and weather images, view animated images and monitor multiple zip codes. A nicely done program that puts local and global weather information into easy reach from the system tray.

Platform:
Win (All)

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TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is an open-source encryption software that enables you to create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as a virtual disk, that can be accessed via a drive letter. Any file that is stored on this virtual drive is automatically encrypted on-the-fly, and can only be accessed while the drive is mounted with the correct password or key. TrueCrypt supports a variety of encryption algorithms, including AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent, Triple DES, and Twofish. Other features include support for FAT32 or NTFS formatting, hidden volumes, hotkeys for mounting/dismounting and more.

Platform:
2000/XP/2003/Vista

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Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a full featured email program with built-in junk mail controls, message filters, address book, news groups and more. It offers a clean and easy to use (customizable) interface. Thunderbird also offers security features such as S/MIME, digital signing, message encryption, support for certificates and security devices. Other features include IMAP/POP compatibility, support for HTML mail, labels, quick search, return receipts, LDAP address completion, import tools and more.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

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SyncBack

SyncBack is a flexible, and quite powerful backup and synchronization program that allows to to maintain backup copies of your files and folder, or to synchronize them, so that both locations always have a complete copy (e.g Laptop/PC). It offers different types of actions that let you choose how older and newer files are processed, which files should be excluded (by mask) and more. It offers standard file comparison based on the date and size, as well as optional MD5 checksum, which will detect even the slightest modifications to files. SyncBack also supports scheduled projects, FTP and zip compression of backups, as well as network login, simulation runs and more.

Platform:
Win (All)

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SUPERAntiSpyware (Free Edition)

SUPERAntiSpyware scans your computer for known Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types of threats, and allows you to remove or quarantine them. It offers daily (manual) definition updates, as well as home page hijack protection and customizable scan options. Furthermore, the program includes a Repair feature that allows you to restore various settings which are often changed by malware programs, but usually not corrected by simply removing the parasite. The free version lacks real-time blocking and protection as well as several other advanced options.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

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SpywareBlaster

SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of many so-called spyware, adware and malware programs by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage. This allows you to run Internet Explorer with Active-X enabled, but it will never download or even prompt you for any of the known ActiveX controls. All other Active-X controls or plug-ins will work fine. The SpywareBlaster database contains information on these known spyware Active-X controls and can be updated with the click of a button. The application windows displays a list of all controls that it is able to detect (this is not a list of what was found on your computer). The program cannot detect if you have any of the known objects already installed, but if you do, they will be disabled. The program also allows you to take a snapshot of your computer (certain settings) in its clean state and later revert many changes made by spyware and browser hijackers.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Spyware Terminator

Spyware Terminator is a full-feature adware and spyware scanner with real-time protection that can remove or quarantine spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers, home page hijackers and other malware threats. The scan behavior can be customized based on your level of experience, ranging from automatic interception to complete user control over how to handle any potential threats. Spyware Terminator offers manual and scheduled scans as well as real-time protection for your browser settings, HOSTS file, startup entries and other system areas. The program can optionally use ClamAV for additional virus protection. Other features include a file analysis tool, system restore, Locked File Removal, integrated spyware reporting, automatic updates and more.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

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Spybot - S

Spybot - S&D (Search and Destroy) is an adware and spyware detection and removal tool. This includes removal of certain advertising components, that may gather statistics as well as detection of various keylogging and other spy utilities. In addition, it also securely removes PC and Internet usage tracks, including browser history, temporary pages, cookies (with option to keep selected) and more. The program offers an attractive outlook-style interface that is easy to use and multi-lingual. Spybot - S&D allows you to exclude selected cookies, programs or extensions from being reported, allowing you to prevent false positive messages for items that you dont want to be alerted of every time. It can even scan your download directory for files that have been downloaded, but not yet installed, allowing you to detect unwanted programs before you even install them. SpyBot produces a detailed and easy to understand report before it deletes any files and allows you to deselect any item that you do not want to be processed. In addition, a recovery feature allows you to restore your settings if needed.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

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Spamihilator

Spamihilator is an full featured anti-spam filtering program that works with any email client. It runs as a local POP server that sits between your email program and your mail server and filters mail based on a built-in filtering mechanism. In addition, you can maintain a blocklist as well as a list of friends (their mail will never be filtered) and customize the filtering with a variety of settings and plug-ins. The program automatically configures popular email clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape etc.) to work with the filter. Among many other options, you can change the aggressiveness of the filter, block certain attachment types, block specific senders and also add your own spam words to look for. Spamihilator does not delete the spam right away, but moves it to a recycle bin from where you can review it, restore items or permanently delete them. A very flexible and capable spam filtering system.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

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Skype

Skype is a user friendly P2P software, that allows you to make free Internet telephone calls (VoIP) to any other Skype user, anywhere in the world. The sound quality is as good or even better than regular phones, and requires no additional equipment, besides a normal PC microphone or headset. The Skype interface is similar to popular instant messenger clients and allows you to create a profile, with optional picture, that will be displayed when you call other Skype users or receive incoming call. The program is very easy to use, and works with firewalls and NAT without any additional configuration changes. Basically, all you have to do is download, select a Skype username and you are ready to make or receive calls.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

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RegSeeker

RegSeeker is a handy tool for managing several popular registry items and searching the registry by keyword. It offers quick access to Startup Entries, Uninstall Information, Color Schemes, History items (URLs, Recent Documents etc) and IE Favorites. The program also includes a registry cleaning feature that finds invalid and unused registry entries, allowing you to delete them. RegSeeker can automatically create a backup before deleting any registry entries. The program comes with an attractive, easy to use interface. Nevertheless it is not intended for complete beginners and you should feel comfortable working with the Windows registry before using it.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

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Rainlendar Lite

Rainlendar Lite is a small and compact desktop calendar that comes with some powerful features under the hood. It integrates nicely with your desktop wallpaper and allows interactive access to selected dates, just click on a date to add an appointment or reminder. It also comes with a ToDo list that can optionally be displayed or maintained hidden. The calendar automatically supports one-time and recurring events and tasks with optional reminder alarms. It highlights dates that have appointments and you can quickly switch between months via keyboard shortcuts or your mouse wheel. A Pro version is available that can synchronize with Outlook.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

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PSPad Editor

PSPad editor is a programmers editor with support for multiple syntax highlighting profiles. It comes with a hex editor, CP conversion, text differences, templates, macros, spellcheck option, auto-completion, Code Explorer and much more. The program is pre-configured for the most popular programming languages (VB, C++, SQL, PHP, ASP, Python etc.) and you can further customize the syntax settings. PSPad includes several additional tools that are especially useful for HTML editing (compress, format code) and also integrates TopStyle Lite and TidyHTML. The program can be used as IDE for any compiler. Additional features include support for project, file browsing, custom shortcuts, built-in FTP client to edit files on the server and much more.

Platform:
Win (All)

Cons: Cons: none
Pros: Pros: Loaded with features; extensive syntax highlighting; macro recorder; projects; templates; integrated FTP; HEX editor;spell checker
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POP Peeper

POP Peeper is a small utility that runs in your Windows system tray. It visually and audibly lets you know if you have email on any number of POP3 and IMAP servers as well as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other web mail providers. It allows you to preview the headers of your email, and view the messages. There is also support for file attachments, which allows you to view the name of the files. If you are checking multiple accounts, you can specify a custom color for each, making it easy to distinguish the messages. Message preview is quick and fully supports HTML messages. Using POP Peeper, you can quickly scan what messages are important enough to read, and which ones you want to delete without even opening your email client. A great little tool that works fast and efficient.

Platform:
Win (All)

Cons: Cons: No spam filtering
Pros: Pros: Flexible settings for multiple accounts; mail preview and reply options
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Pivot Stickfigure Animator

Pivot Stickfigure Animator is a unique software, that allows you to create stick figure animations easily and without any artistic skills. You can move the sections of the sick figure and easily create a chain of animation frames that can be previewed as you go. You can use more than one stick-figure in the animation, and even create your own stick figures using an easy to use visual editor that lets you assemble objects out of lines and circles. In addition, you can optionally set animation size, speed and more. The result can be saved as animated GIF file. Fun and easy to use, surprisingly well featured.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

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PhotoFiltre

PhotoFiltre is a complete image editing and effects package, that will not only amaze you with features but also the fact that it is free (for personal use). It comes with many features that rival some commercial packages, as well as additional add-on that can be downloaded from the web site. PhotoFiltre offers all the standard editing features (selection, clone brush, paint brush etc.) as well as a large selection of image effects, photo masks, image adjustments, thumbnail browser and much more. The program also supports batch processing to apply filters, sizing, adjustments and transformations to a large number of images at once. PhotoFiltre comes with modern, well designed interface and is well suited for everything from simple resizing to advanced photo editing.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

Cons: Cons: Does not support layers; no support for Photoshop filters
Pros: Pros: Great editing features; easy-to-use; fast loading
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PC Inspector Smart Recovery

PC Inspector Smart Recovery is a data recovery program for Flash Card, Smart Media, SONY Memory Stick, IBM Micro Drive, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card(SD) or any other data device for digital cameras. It enables you to recover accidentally deleted or formatted pictures, videos or sound files from the selected media. The program also offers a mode that enables you to check the media for errors.

Platform:
Win (All)

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PC Inspector File Recovery

PC Inspector File Recovery is a data recovery program with support for FAT 12/16/32 and NTFS file systems. It recovers files with the original time and date stamp, even when a header entry is no longer available. On FAT systems, the programs finds partitions automatically, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged. PC Inspector File Recovery offers an easy to use interface that will scan your drive and automatically make files that can be recovered available from a "Deleted" folder in an Explorer Style navigation tree.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

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Opera

Opera is a fast, secure, configurable, and standards compliant Internet/Intranet browser that also includes a newsreader and mail client. Opera gives you the freedom to run multiple windows without opening up other instances and many more features that make it a great choice for the serious web enthusiast. Opera comes with tons of features, including 128bit encryption, enhanced security for your online transactions, advanced download support features, cookie management and many more. Additional features include built-in download manager, integrated mail client with spam filter, skin support, mouse gestures pop-up killer, one-click log-in to password protected sites and more.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

Cons: Cons: Not fully compatible with all website designs
Pros: Pros: Fast browser with many attractive features
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OpenOffice

OpenOffice is a free, Open Source alternative to MS Office with a Word compatible word processor, a complete Excel compatible spread sheet program and a Power Point like presentation software and drawing program and also allows to save to PDF file. In addition, it offers enhanced printing capabilities and options for direct connection with external email software as well as form-letter management to send letters to addresses in a database. Also included are Indexing functions, a layout manager, third-party import filters, HTML export capability and a context-sensitive html editor. OpenOffice also includes a variety of graphics tools and manipulation options as well as slideshow support and an option to create "portable" presentations. If you are looking for a free office suite, don t miss to take a look at this one - you ll be impressed!

Platform:
Win (All)

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MWSnap

MWSnap is a small yet powerful program for taking scren captures of a desktop, an active window,menu, or a specified part of the screen. The program supports BMP, JPG, TIFF,PNG and GIF formats, with user selected color depth and quality settings. It also includes a zooming tool, a screen ruler and a color picker as well as system wide hotkeys and preset selection sizes. A very nice program, one of the best - if not the best, you can currently find for free.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is a Mozilla browser, that is independent from Internet Explorer or other Windows components. It offers tabbed browsing combined with numerous handy features like popup blocking, Live Bookmarks (RSS integration), password manager and more. The functionality can be extended with dozens of freely available plug-ins (Extensions). Firefox can import all your Internet Explorer Favorites as well as some other settings, so switching is made easy. The default features of Firefox are good for general web surfing. The availability of the free extensions (and themes) is one of the key aspects for our rating, since they allow you to easily add the features you want and customize the browser to fit your needs. New features since version 2.0 include spell checking, slight interface improvements, improved RSS features, and integrated anti-phishing.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

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Maxthon

Maxthon is an Internet Explorer based web browser that adds a lot of new features as well as a fresh new look to your standard Internet Explorer browser interface. Among the added features are a tabbed interface that allows you to quickly switch between multiple web pages and create groups of pages that you can launch with a single click. In addition, it offers several privacy features like cookie and history cleanup as well as an option to delete the typed address bar URLs (either all or only selected). There are many other features, most of them small, but very handy. For example, it offers a RSS sidebar, supports URL aliases and keyboard shortcuts, quick proxy switching, auto-scrolling, network speed display as well as content filtering and a popup window killer. Maxthon supports plug-ins (some come included).

Platform:
Win (All)

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IZArc

IZArc is a full featured archiving tool that you can use to open and create compressed files in many different formats. It offers many advanced features, including repairing of broken archives, searching within archives, password protecting, emailing of archives and much more. The program provides an Explorer style interface with integrated file browser, favorites, customizable toolbar and color coded file listings. IZArc can also be used to create self-extracting or disk-spanning archives and more. Additional features include Windows Explorer integration, anti-virus integration and just about anything else you d would expect to find in a professional archive utility - but this one is free. IZArc support most popular archive formats, including 7-ZIP, ACE,ARC, ARJ,BH, BZ2, CAB, DEB, GZ,HA, JAR, LHA, LZH,PAK, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR,TGZ, TZ, ZIP and ZOO. The program is easy to use, even for beginners, yet powerful enough to provide advanced users with all the tools you need.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Link download:

IrfanView

IrfanView is probably the most popular and feature packed free image viewer for Windows. It has been around for many years and keeps getting better. In addition to standard image viewing, it includes many additional features including slideshow, batch conversion, image adjustment, image editing, resizing, panorama stitching, auto EXIF rotation and more. The functionality can be further extended via plug-ins that are widely available. Even though Irfan offers a powerful set of features, the interface lacks behind modern image viewers that often offer more user friendly operation and better thumbnail browsing features. With IrfanView even some basic features like EXIF display, lossless rotation etc. require you to download and install additional plug-ins. There certainly are more user-friendly and attractive image viewers, but few that offer all the functionality, and extendibility that IrfanView can provide.

Platform:
Win (All)

Cons: Cons: Interface not streamlined; not as easy to use; weak thumbnail browsing
Pros: Pros: Includes many features beyond simple image viewing
Link download:

FreeCommander

freeCommander is a dual-panel file explorer with many additional features. In addition to the standard file management features, it can be used to compare directories, display folder sizes, synchronize folders and more. The program can also open/create ZIP and CAB files, and open RAR files, as well as search inside those archives. You can set view filters, create folder list (for printing), change file attributes, launch a command prompt, take a desktop screenshot and more.

Platform:
2000/XP/2003/Vista

Cons: Cons: Older interface; no integrated file previews; no FTP support
Pros: Pros: Includes useful file management features; archive support; view filters; dual-pane navigation
Link download:

FileZilla

FileZilla is powerful Open Source FTP/SFTP client with many features. It includes a site manager to store all your connection details and logins as well as an Explorer style interface that shows the local and remote folders and can be customized independently. The program offers support for firewalls and proxy connections as well as SSL and Kerberos GSS security. Additional features include keep alive, auto ascii/binary transfer, download queue, manual transfers, raw FTP commands and more. A nice program for beginners and advanced user alike.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

Link download:

FastStone Image Viewer

FastStone Image Viewer is an image browser, viewer converter and editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features, that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, watermarks and more. It also includes an intuitive full-screen mode that provides quick access to EXIF information and thumbnail browser via hidden toolbars that emerge when you touch the edge of your screen with the mouse. Other features include a high quality magnifier and built-in slideshow with 60+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and much more. FastStone Image Viewer supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA as well as digital RAW formats including CRW, CR2, NEF, PEF, RAF, MRW, ORF and DNG).

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Link download:

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner enables you to scan your registry for invalid entries. It provides a list of all errors that were found, and you can choose to remove all items, or only selected errors. Before the program deletes any keys, it automatically creates a backup of the registry and allows you to easily undo any changes if needed. You can choose to scan the entire registry or only selected sections.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Cons: Cons: Annoying registration beg screen with every start
Pros: Pros: Creates an automatic backup of your registry
Link download:

DeepBurner

DeepBurner is a CD/DVD burning software that lets you create Data Cds, Bootable CDs, and Audio CDs as well as data DVDs. In addition, it lets you burn ISO files, create ISO images and includes a tool to create and print CD/DVD labels, and also lets you design an auto start menu to launch documents or programs from the CD. The interface is easy to use and organized in several steps and supports drag and drop of files into the burning queue. DeepBurner supports all certified formats for burning, as well as BurnProof and Overburning technologies (if supported by your drive) and should work with all Works with all IDE (Atapi), SCSI, USB and FireWare CDR/W DVD/RAM drives.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP/2003

Link download:

CQPhone

CQPhone is an easy to use PC-to-PC phone, that allows voice chat, as well as video chat and text chat. In addition, you can easily exchange pictures and web links by simply dragging them onto the interface. Once you install the software, you will be automatically assigned a phone number, no registration or sign up required. To connect to your friend)s), simply enter their CQPhone number, just like you would with an ordinary phone. CQPhone works with most firewalls and routers without additional configurations. The sound quality is very good.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

Link download:

Comodo Firewall

Comodo Firewall is a personal firewall that filters ingoing and outgoing traffic on your computer. It alerts you of any applications that attempts to connect to the Internet and allows you to permanently or temporarily allow or block the connection. Advanced users can customize the application and TCP/IP rules based on IP address, protocol and destination port, however this is not required unless you have a reason to customize the rules. In addition to application behavior and network connections, Comodo Firewall also monitors components (dll files etc.) that initiate network connections, as well as parent processes and modifications to executables (checksum verification). Other features include attack prevention (port scanning, flooding), adjustable security levels, trusted networks, activity log and more. Comodo Firewall is easy to use for novice users, but includes enough flexibility via custom rule settings that allow advanced users to tweak it for their needs. The program requires a free registration after 30 days.

Platform:
2000/XP

Link download:

CDBurnerXP

CDBurnerXP is an easy to use CD/DVD burning software, that can write CD-R and CD-RW discs. The program can also write disks directly from an ISO image file, and save image as an ISO image file (*.iso). You can create data and audio CDs, and it supports Burn-Proof technology, multi-session disks, import of ISO images and more. In addition to CD burning, you can also rip audio CDs, normalize WAV files, encode MP3 files, erase disks, and more. CDBurnerXP does not require ASPI when used under for NT/2000/XP. The program can also convert .bin and .nrg (Nero) images to .ISO format.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

Link download:

CCleaner

CCleaner is a tool to clean your system from temporary and unnecessary files that accumulate over time. This also includes rather thorough cleaning of Internet and PC usage tracks like browser cache, recently used files, web sites visited and more. You can select the items that you want cleaned, and also specify cookies that should not be deleted. In addition, the program comes with a registry scanner that scans for invalid references (advanced users) and options to start cleaning automatically or from the command line.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

Link download:

AxCrypt

AxCrypt is a powerful, yet extremely easy to use file encryption program. It integrates directly with Windows Explorer, enabling encryption, decryption, viewing and editing of any file with just a few clicks of the mouse. AxCrypt uses the AES-128 and SHA-1 algorithms, which comply with US Government and Internet standards. Additional features include creation of self-decrypting files, automatic re-encryption after editing, secure deletion (wiping) of files and temporaries, cryptographic data integrity validation, separate key and data encrypting keys, secure internal memory handler and more. AxCrypt uses a straight forward one-click way to process files. There is no additional interface to configure or open, other than selecting/entering your password.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

Link download:

Avira AntiVir Personal

Avira AntiVir Personal offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. It detects and removes more than 50,000 viruses and an Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating. The built in resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically, for example when downloading files from the internet. Heuristic scanning protects Protection against previously unknown macro viruses.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

Link download:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is an anti-virus scanner that offers Resident Protection, e-mail Scanner, On-Demand Scanner, and Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files and automatic updates. The free version is limited in features, but includes all basic scanning functionality as well as real-time protection. It uses the same scanning engine as the commercial version, however updates are provided on a low priority basis.

Platform:
2000/XP/2003/Vista

Link download:

avast! Home Edition

avast! Home Edition is a complete anti-virus package, that is is free for registered home non-commercial users. It contains an on-demand scanner with two interfaces (simple for novices and advanced for experienced users), an on-access scanner with Standard Shield (which protects against execution and opening malware programs) and an embedded e-mail scanner which scans incoming and outgoing email messages. avast! Home integrates with the Windows Explorer right click menu and also includes a special screen saver which is able to scan your system while your computer is not in use. Updates are incremental and frequently made available for manual or scheduled download. You will download a 60 days demo, if you would like to continue free usage beyond that time, you`ll need to register from the home page to obtain a free activation key by email.

Platform:
Win (All)

Link download:

Avant Browser

Avant Browser is a multi-window (tabbed) browser based on the Internet Explorer core. It allows you to browse multiple Web sites simultaneously, block popup windows, block Flash advertising, and offers additional mouse functions for faster navigation. Additional features include an integrated privacy cleaner that helps to remove surfing tracks, a built-in Yahoo/Google search, RSS/ATOM Reader, Popup blocking and more. Avant Browser also provides options to easily block downloads of pictures, videos, Flash, sounds and ActiveX components to further spped up page loading times. All your IE settings and Favorites are available from within Avant Browser.

Platform:
Win (All)

Link download:

Audacity

Audacity is a free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, and MP3 files, and more. Use it to edit your sounds using Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited Undo), mix tracks together, or apply effects to your recordings. It also has a built-in amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency analysis window for audio analysis applications. Built-in effects include Bass Boost, Wahwah, and Noise Removal, and it also supports VST plug-in effects.

Platform:
98/ME/2000/XP

Link download:

AI RoboForm

AI RoboForm is a secure password manager that can automatically log you into your web accounts with a single click. The program can automatically learn from a new login, just click the a button to save the current login information - the next time you want to access the site, you can do so with a single click. Your stored logins are securely protected by a master password and AES encryption, so there is no need to remember individual password, or to use insecure passwords in order to remember them more easily. In addition to secure password storage and automatic logins, RoboForm also includes an automatic form filler, that uses Artificial Intelligence to populate common form fields (name, address etc.) whenever you encounter a web form to fill. Besides the obvious convenience of one-click logins, the program also adds an additional level of security by restricting password entry to matching sites, and bypassing keylogger captures (sine you don`t have to type the password). RoboForm works with Internet Explorer, AOL/MSN, and Firefox.

Platform:
Win (All)

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Advanced WindowsCare Personal

Advanced WindowsCare is designed to provide one-click care for your PC. It includes a quick spyware scan, adware blocking, privacy cleanup and several system scans that can find and fix invalid registry entries and clean up temporary files. The program also analyzes your system configuration and suggests changes to optimize performance. Advanced users can review all changes that are about to be made and make adjustments as needed - a restore option is provided in conjunction XP System Restore. Advanced WindowsCare provides a convenient way for non-technical users to perform routine maintenance and apply system optimization tweaks without the need to become a computer geek. The program can also be scheduled to run automatically. A Pro Edition can also be purchased that offers additional optimization features.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

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Ad-Aware 2007

Ad-Aware 2007 is a privacy tool, that scans your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known data-mining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components. It then lists the results and offers to remove or quarantine the components. The program detects a wide range of adware/spyware related issues and can be updated with the latest signatures via the built-in update utility. The free version is strictly a scanner, and does not provide any real-time protection.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

Cons: Cons: No real-time scanning, no automatic updates; no scheduled scans
Pros: Pros: Good reputation; detailed reasons for detected items,
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Free Image Resizing tools -- Web Resizer

Web Resizer

Web Resizer enables you to compress, resize and convert your images, add a watermark, change the DPI, and also make minor image adjustments (brightness, contrast, sharpening). The program is primarily designed to process multiple images, but can also be used to resize or convert individual files. It supports JPG, JPEG 2000, PNG (8 and 24 bit), BMP and several other image formats. You can choose which actions to take during the processing, and optionally combine resizing with image conversion and other options. Web Resizer can also add a prefix or suffix to the output images, as well as an incrementing number. Other features include image rotation, resampling filters, color conversion (sepia or black and white) and built-in zip compression that can automatically create a zip archive containing the processed images.

Platform:
2000/XP

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Free Image Resizing tools -- VSO Image Resizer

VSO Image Resizer

VSO Image Resizer enables you to batch resize a selection of images to a variety of popular image resolutions, as well as custom dimensions. It supports .bmp, .gif, .png, .jpg and .tiff formats and can optionally convert the output to one of the supported formats. Other features include adjustable JPG compression and choice of filtering algorithm, as well as renaming schemes and an Windows Explorer integration for convenient resizing from the right-click menu. Photographers will appreciate the fact that VSO Image Resizer keeps EXIF data intact.

Platform:
2000/XP/Vista

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