Evernote works across the computers and phones you use daily, allowing you to capture something in one place and then access it from another. Evernote consists of a web service accessed through a software application that allows users to collect notes and information for upload to their account on Evernote servers. Evernote supports touch and tablet screens with handwriting recognition.
Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screenshot. Evernote will keep it all safe. Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made searchable. If you like, you can add tags or organize notes into different notebooks. Search for notes by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote magically makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too.
Evernote is free to use at a basic level, but requires users to create an online account to store and access their data. Unlike other notetaking applications, such as Microsoft OneNote, Evernote user data is not stored locally. Free account monthly upload allowance is 40MB with promotions and advertisements and without features in search within PDFs,Offline notebooks (iPhone/iPod),priority image recognition.
Get started with Evernote
How do Free and Premium compare?
Some suggestions:
a)Snap a photo of a business card with your phone, and have an easy way to store and access contacts.
b)Capture plane tickets and confirmation numbers, hotel invoices, and receipts for your expense reports.
c)Get inspired. Keep a file of anything cool you want to buy for yourself or as a gift, whether it’s online or out in the real world.
d)Keep notes from your meetings all in one place. Take a picture of a whiteboard and you’ll be able to find it later.
e)Plan your next trip. Clip web pages, maps, and itineraries. Capture sights, sounds, tastes, and anything else.
f)Research web sites and clip pages directly from your browser.
g)Keep a record of your favorite wines by snapping a photo of the label when you find one you like.
h)Remember the things you were supposed to remember. Create to-do lists, jot down random thoughts, leave a voice memo, and more.
i)Create notes right from Twitter and save tweets that you like by following @myEN on Twitter. Learn more »
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Evernote - online notebook
RDesc - Fully Automated Downloader
RDesc is a freeware utility that is the automated download of files from multiple hosts direct download in both free and premium version.
Host supported in free version:
- Rapidshare.com, Megaupload, Mediafire, 4Shared, Easy-Share, Gigasize, HotFile, DepositFiles, zShare, NetLoad, Uploading.com, FileFactory, Storage.to, SendSpace, Uploaded.to, Badongo, Megarotic, Megaporn, Freakshare. - Rapidshare.com, Megaupload, Mediafire, 4Shared, Easy-Share, Gigasize, HotFile, Depositfiles, zShare, Netload, Uploading.com, FileFactory, Storage.to, SendSpace, Uploaded.to, Badongo, Megarotic, Megaporn, Freakshare.
Host supported in Premium version:
- Rapidshare.com, Megaupload. - Rapidshare.com, Megaupload.
RDesc Features :
* Simultaneous automated downloads from various file-hosters.
* Bulk link adding feature allows you to grab all links from a webpage.
* Inbuilt feature for automated router reconnection needed for getting fresh IP to bypass download limits.
* Auto-captcha decoding.
* Full download details and log.
The application is currently available available in 12 different languages. (English, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Brazilian Portuguese, Iberian Portuguese, German, Croatian, Korean, Turkish, Romanian and French).
RDesc runs under Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Download RDesc (Requires Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 or higher) >>
Homepage in Translated English
ImageMagick
ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats (over 100) including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, and TIFF. Use ImageMagick to translate, flip, mirror, rotate, scale, shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves. ImageMagick is free software delivered as a ready-to-run binary distribution or as source code that you may freely use, copy, modify, and distribute. Its license is compatible with the GPL. It runs on all major operating systems.
Features and Capabilities
Here are just a few examples of what ImageMagick can do:
* Format conversion: convert an image from one format to another (e.g. PNG to JPEG)
* Transform: resize, rotate, crop, flip or trim an image
* Transparency: render portions of an image invisible
* Draw: add shapes or text to an image
* Decorate: add a border or frame to an image
* Special effects: blur, sharpen, threshold, or tint an image
* Animation: create a GIF animation sequence from a group of images
* Text & comments: insert descriptive or artistic text in an image
* Image identification: describe the format and properties of an image
* Composite: overlap one image over another
* Montage: juxtapose image thumbnails on an image canvas
* Motion picture support: read and write the common image formats used in digital film work
* Image calculator: apply a mathematical expression to an image or image channels
* Discrete Fourier transform: implements the forward and inverse DFT.
* High dynamic-range images: accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from the brightest direct sunlight to the deepest darkest shadows
* Encipher or decipher an image: convert ordinary images into unintelligible gibberish and back again
* Virtual pixel support: convenient access to pixels outside the image region
* Large image support: read, process, or write mega-, giga-, or tera-pixel image sizes
* Threads of execution support: ImageMagick is thread safe and most internal algorithms are OpenMP-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups offered by the dual and quad-core processor technologies
* Heterogeneous distributed processing: certain algorithms get a speed boost by executing in concert across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and other processors (in development).
Homepage
Monday, December 7, 2009
Mininova Deletes All Infringing Torrents
Mininova, the largest torrent site on the Internet, has removed all torrents except those that were uploaded through its content distribution service after they lost a civil dispute against Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN, and were ordered to remove all infringing torrents from the site. The BitTorrent site, Mininova which popped up five years ago, and has been a massive hit with the download crowd.
The ruling meant that while Mininova is not responsible for any copyright infringements, it had to remove all torrents linking to copyrighted material within three months, or face a whacking great penalty of up to 5 million euros for linking to the stuff. As Mininova was born out of the hole left by Suprnova back in 2004, it's inevitable that another site will take its place soon. Read more about the site's demise on its own blog.
The popular DVD ripper, aXXo has stop releasing new DVD rips. While newcomer KLAXXON takes the advantages from aXXo name, DVD rips released by FXG seems identical to aXXo release. aXXo is the Internet alias of an individual who became popular for releasing commercial DVD movies on the Internet as free downloads.aXXo files are popular among the file sharing community using peer-to-peer file sharing protocols such as BitTorrent. The aXXo files gained popularity because aXXo produces files of comparatively small size approximately 700 MB – the same size as a Compact Disc.Because of aXXo's reputation for re-encoded quality, the aXXo name is sometimes faked as an identifying source by a variety of imitators.
The aXXo name first appeared in November 2005 on the message board 'Darkside_RG. In November 2007, aXXo deleted all of his files released after September 7, 2006 from The Pirate Bay, protesting that the site would allow harassing comments to be added to his torrents by "possible members of MPAA".While past aXXo torrents remained available on other torrent sites, uploads of new aXXo files stopped on November 11, 2007.After an absence of four months aXXo returned to uploading, starting with the movie I Am Legend on March 9, 2008.
On December 15, 2008, aXXo's thousandth movie upload, a copy of the Kiefer Sutherland horror film Mirrors, appeared on an internet forum for the Darkside Release Group.
On March 11, 2009, aXXo stopped uploading new files after releasing Punisher: War Zone but he was still regularly logging on to his Mininova and Demonoid account.
On April 19, 2009 aXXo made his last known comment on Message Board 'Darkside_RG',in response to rumors that he had stopped posting on Darkside_RG and was now a father. He states : "I can only say a big thank you for your appreciation mates, hope you all enjoy the darkside as much as you can My home is my beloved Darkside and as I've said so many times before on each of my torrents.... Be aware of bogus sites and lamers See ya."
AXXO Source 1 2 3
FXG Source 1 2 3
VIA
Related Post Utorrent
SkipScreen Firefox add-on
SkipScreen is a free Firefox add-on that skips the clicking and waiting on these sites: (Tips:Make sure you’re running the latest version of both Mozilla Firefox & SkipScreen)
* Rapidshare (don't click! it's automatic!)
* Megaupload (captcha action coming soon!)
* Mediafire
* Uploaded.to
* zShare (now with a "listen-first" option!)
* Sharebee
* DepositFiles
* Sendspace
* Divshare
* Linkbucks
* Link-protector
* More on the way...
Upload with Sharebee when possible, so that SkipScreen can automatically pick the sites that it currently works best with.
c. Use SkipScreen with AdBlock Plus and The Cavern Links Checker for added speed and convenience.
1. Add-ons for Firefox
Thursday, October 29, 2009
SpeedyFox
SpeedyFox - Boost Firefox in a Single Click!
Boost Firefox in a single click with SpeedyFox for free!
# Boost Firefox startup in up to 3 times!
# Speed-up browsing history
# Quicker operation with cookies
Homepage
speedyfox_portable.zip
Saturday, July 18, 2009
ClamWin Free Antivirus
ClamWin is a Free Antivirus program for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003 and Vista. - ClamWin runs fine on both 32 & 64 bits processor.
ClamWin Free Antivirus comes with an easy installer and open source code. You may download and use it absolutely free of charge.
It features:
* High detection rates for viruses and spyware;
* Scanning Scheduler;
* Automatic downloads of regularly updated Virus Database.
* Standalone virus scanner and right-click menu integration to Microsoft Windows Explorer;
* Addin to Microsoft Outlook to remove virus-infected attachments automatically.
Please note that ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner. You need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware.
Homepage
Monday, July 13, 2009
Free Firewall
A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications. It is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all (in and out) computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria. VIA
Firewalls can be implemented in either hardware or software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
Download Basic Firewall
Entries:3
1) Zone Alarm Free Firewall
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2)Agnitum Outpost Firewall Homepage
Outpost Free Firewall
Outpost Firewall Pro 2009 32 bit link---Read Me First
Mirror
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Outpost Firewall Pro 2009 64 bit link
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3) Free Comodo Firewall + AntiVirus for WindowsInstallation Options:
During the setup process you will be given the choice to:
* Install the AntiVirus as a standalone
* Install the Firewall as a standalone
* Install both Firewall and AntiVirus
Related Post : Comodo Firewall, Comodo iVault, Comodo AntiVirus, Comodo Anti-Malware, Comodo AntiSpam,
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Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware can detect and remove malware that even the most well-known Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware applications on the market today cannot. Only the most sophisticated anti-malware techniques can detect and remove malicious viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and malware that are constantly evolving and becoming harder to detect and remove from your computer.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware monitors every process and stops malicious processes before they even start. The Realtime Protection Module uses our advanced heuristic scanning technology which monitors your system to keep it safe and secure. In addition, we have implemented a threats center which will allow you to keep up to date with the latest malware threats. Homepage-Download Free Version
Key Features
* Support for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit).
* Light speed quick scanning.
* Ability to perform full scans for all drives.
* Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Protection Module. (requires registration)
* Database updates released daily.
* Quarantine to hold threats and restore them at your convenience.
* Ignore list for both the scanner and Protection Module.
* Settings to enhance your Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware performance.
* A small list of extra utilities to help remove malware manually.
* Multi-lingual support.
* Works together with other anti-malware utilities.
* Command line support for quick scanning.
* Context menu integration to scan files on demand.
Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.38 Link1-----Link2------link3----------link4---------link5
malwarebytes_portable_1.38_multilingual.rar
link1
link2
link3
link4
link5
Saturday, July 11, 2009
KMPlayer free movie and audio player
K-Multimedia Player (commonly known as The KMPlayer, KMPlayer or KMPis a media player software for Microsoft Windows which can play a large number of formats including VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, FLV and QuickTime. It has a significant user base and has received strong ratings and reviews on major independent download sites.
KMPLAYER is a Korean movie and audio player that supports a wide range of codecs and file formats, It has full VCD/DVD playback functionality.
It is a versatile media player which can cover various types of container format such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg Theora, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, and QuickTime among others. It handles a wide range of subtitles and allows you to capture audio, video, and screenshots in many ways.
On 5 March 2008, The KMPlayer's Forum announced that the KMPlayer had been acquired by Pandora TV (a Korean streaming video company) in August 2007. Since then it has continued to be available as freeware.
KMPlayer 3.0.0.1439
KMPlayer - 14.40MB (Freeware) available here
You should try KMPlayer to watch video with multiple soft substitles. You will have to enable closed caption in preferences (F2) > dvd settings > navigator tab. Afterwards right click > Video (Advanced) > Video Render > choose the one that best works for you. Nevertheless in the last KMLPlayer the setting has been changed to the section of Subtitle Processing > multi-sub/etc > Etc > Decode Closed Captions.Subtitle Processing
KMPlayer has always been released as a freeware and this policy will not change in future as well. Hence, KMPlayer for individual users will remain as a freeware and be released from www.kmplayer.com. Thanks to Mr. Kang Yong-Huee for his passion and efforts towards the development of KMPlayer. Last but not least, KMPlayer “Open Album Art” also provides remote control and a wireless keyboard. The new era has come for KMPlayer’s HTPC (Home Theater PC) users or that of TV-OUT users to watch videos via “Open Album Art” with a more comfortable service in a more amicable environment.VIA
Related Posts:
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
VIA
All Codecs For Windows Media Player
MPlayer for Windows
Sublight - subtitle search utility
Sublight is free Windows application with nice user interface which allows you to download subtitles for your movies easily and quickly. Available installed & online search version.
You can even preview the subtitles before downloading.
Features of Sublight Freeware
* Search subtitles automatically and manually.
* Subtitle ratings and commenting are allowed.
* Subtitles are saved in Unicode encoding.
* Optional Windows Explorer integration.
* Automatically detects the video codec.
* Supports VLC Player, BS.Player, KMPlayer, Media Player Classic, Windows Media Player, Zoom Player and GOM player.
* Free registration enables you to publish new subtitles.
* Plugin framework for searching subtitles from other applications.
* Supports OpenSubtitles.org, Podnapisi.NET and divx-titlovi.com databases.
* SublightCmd command line interface for advanced users.
Requires .NET Framework 2.0 or newer
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Miro HD Video Player & Free internet tv and video podcast player.
Miro is a free open source HD Video Player and it is the best among the free HD Video Players. It can play almost any video file and offers over 6,000 free internet TV shows and video podcasts. Best of all, Miro is 100% free and open source, developed by a non-profit organization and volunteers around the world.
Miro is an application that brings together a collection of video shows from all over the web. It is the open-source Internet TV platform and it brings together a community of broadcasters to create an ‘Internet video ecosystem’. Miro is not only an amazing Video player, but it is also a tool to download videos from YouTube, Hulu and more. Whenever a video has an HD version, Miro automatically downloads the HD video
Miro uses open protocols to let you subscribe to video channels and video blogs fed via RSS, and it uses BitTorrent to download the video files.
Download Miro
Features of Miro:
* World class HD video player with a gorgeous and friendly interface, that includes the Miro Guide
* Supports video Playlists
* Supports most Video formats
* Supports audio podcasts as well as video
* With Miro, you can Download Daily Motion Videos, YouTube videos and stream TV Shows from Hulu
* You can easily pause and resume video downloads
* It is faster, more responsive, and uses less memory
* Miro will create a thumbnail for any video that doesn’t have one
* It can move your video collection to any location on your system, such as an external hard drive
* There are Keyboard shortcuts for all the key playback commands, that makes it easy to configure a remote control
* You can auto expire videos or choose to keep it permanently, if you like
* Thousands of free video channels are available with Miro
* You can control the video feeds to stop downloading new stuff, if unwatched videos pile up
* Search, download, and save videos from YouTube, Google Video, Blip, and more. You can even save a search term and automatically get new videos as they are posted
* You can keep on browsing while watching videos on a separate window
Friday, July 10, 2009
Best sites for taking Office files online
Both Office and OpenOffice are tied to a specific computer. Where Incompatible operating systems are a problem plus if you long to store your office suite documents in the Internet cloud — where you can reach them any time from any Internet-connected PC try:
1) Google Docs with the recent addition of Google Gears offline caching, you can even view and edit your Google Docs when you board a flight or are otherwise unable to access the Net. Share the files with other Google Docs users. Publish documents to your blog with just a couple of clicks. And that Google Docs can also be seamlessly integrated with Gmail.
Create, edit and upload quickly
Import your existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or create new ones from scratch.
Access and edit from anywhere
All you need is a Web browser. Your documents, spreadsheets and presentations are stored securely online.
Share changes in real-time
Invite people to your documents and make changes together, at the same time.
It's free
You don't pay a nickel.
As with OpenOffice, be sure to upload, open, and print a representative sampling of your existing documents in Google Docs to check for compatibility before you make a permanent switch. Google's Web-hosted document, spreadsheet, and presentation apps offer far fewer features than their counterparts in MS Office and OpenOffice.
2) ThinkFree Online View a document without opening it in the Office program. ThinkFree Online is a Microsoft Office compatible office suite launched within your web browser or desktop client. Documents, spreadsheets and presentations can be created online, or uploaded from your desktop V. It's a perfect solution for people who commute or travel and for people who use shared computers for their work. Overview.
3) Zoho Office a Web service that offers feature-rich word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications. The online applications are free for individuals and some have a subscription fee for organizations. Zoho offers free versions of all its software including the business oriented applications uch as CRM for entrepreneurs and startups who need an immediate solution for tracking their sales activities.
Zoho Office matches Google Docs' offline support via Google Gears (in the Writer application only) and provides a dozen more free apps. Zoho even has a plug-in for Microsoft Office that lets you open, edit, and save Zoho-hosted files in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint themselves. You can do the same trick with an extension called OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs. This bit of software is available on the OpenOffice.org site. Despite its name, the OpenOffice extension also supports Zoho and WebDAV servers. Microsoft offers a similar tool through its free Office Live Workspace. The software giant reportedly also plans to make online capabilities a part of the upcoming Office 2010.
Mobility adds a new dimension in collaborative editing which are unique to online applications. Online office applications do have their limitations and they don't yet offer whatever their offline counterparts offer today. It is a matter of time you'll see greater improvements with Online office suites which are just 2 years old and probably can be compared to early versions of mobile phones vs wired line.
Post any amount of links to get one protected link
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Read More...... View blog reactionsUnable to open .WAB file
Error Message
The Address Book file has been locked by another application. Please close the other application and try again later.
When you attempt to open a .WAB file by the Address Book in Outlook Express, you may receive the above error message. Click the .wab file, and then click Properties on the File menu. In the Properties dialog box, click to clear the Read-only check box.
Click Apply, and then click OK.
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DVD - Video Playback with DTS & 5.1 Audio Support
1)WinDVD
WinDVD 9 Plus
Will appeal to power users who want the latest audio/video technologies. Includes everything in the standard version, plus:
* Unique All2HD upscaling technology
* Support for the latest video formats, including MPEG-2 HD, H.264 HD and AVCHD
* Dolby Pro Logic IIx™
* DTS 6.0 digital surround audio
* 96 KHz/24-bit audio decoding
* Intel® Clear Video™ and NVIDIA PureVideo® graphics processing
| System Requirements for WinDVD 9 and WinDVD 9 Plus * Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista® * Minimum CPU: • Intel® Pentium® III 800 MHz or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor • Intel Pentium 4 1.0 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon processor * Recommended CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon, or higher * 256 MB system memory or above (512 MB recommended) * 200 MB of hard-disk space for program installation * 4:3 or 16:9 (widescreen) monitor * AGP or PCI-Express graphics card/accelerator with DirectDraw™ overlay support * Windows®-compatible sound card and stereo speakers (PCI or on-board audio card) * Multi-channel sound card and speakers required for surround sound support * DVD-ROM, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW or DVD-RAM drive Supported Formats: Disc: DVD-Video, VCD, SVCD, Mini DVD (DVD on CD), WMV HD, Audio CD. The Plus version also supports AVCHD™ disc Video: MPEG-1, 2, 3GPP/3GPP2, DivX®, Windows Media®, AVI, RealPlayer®, QuickTime® formats, HDV, MPEG-2 HD. The Plus version also supports H.264 and AVCHD Audio: Dolby Digital®, MP3, AAC, MPA, M2A, WAV, WMA, DTS®, LPCM |
Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blue Ray
| System Requirements for WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray Check your system for Blu-ray compatibility. For standard DVD and video playback, see system requirements above. For Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD playback: * Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista * Minimum CPU: • Intel® Core™ Duo T2400 1.83 GHz • AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz * Recommended CPU: • Intel: Core™ Duo T2500 2.0 GHz, Core Duo E6400 2.13 GHz, Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHZ, Core 2 Duo 5500 1.66 GHz, or higher • AMD: AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6 GHz, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz, AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL-60 2.0 Ghz, or higher * 512 MB system memory or higher (1 GB recommended) * VGA Chipset: please ensure your VGA chipset supports hardware acceleration * 128 MB VGA VRAM or higher (256 MB recommended) * Graphics Cards: Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce® 7600, ATI Radeon™ X 1600 Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce 8400, ATI Radeon HD 2400 or higher * VGA Driver Version: To ensure you can enjoy full quality of Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, please visit the ATI and NVIDIA websites to download the latest drivers * Optical Drive: Blu-ray optical drive for Blu-ray titles or HD DVD drive for HD DVDmovies. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD drives can play back standard DVD titles. Standard DVD optical drives can play back HD-REC (HD DVD video burned on a standard DVD), as well as AVCHD discs * Display Device: If you are using a Digital Visual Interface (DVI) or High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection to a digital output, please make sure your display device is High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)-compatible and your VGA supports HDCP Supported Formats for Blu-ray/HD DVD Playback: Disc: Commercial HD DVD & Blu-ray discs, HD DVD-R, BD-R and RE, HD-REC Video: MPEG4-AVC (H.264), MPEG-2 HD, and VC1 Audio: Dolby Digital® Plus, Dolby® TrueHD and DTS |
* DVD-Video, DivX®, RealPlayer®, QuickTime®, Windows Media® and AVI support
* Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
* DTS® audio stereo support
* SRS audio virtual surround and headphone enhancements
* Battery optimization for laptops
* Advanced upscaling
* De-snow and De-block filters
* Unique All2HD upscaling technology
* Support for the latest video formats, including MPEG-2 HD, H.264 HD and AVCHD
* Dolby Pro Logic IIx™
* DTS 6.0 digital surround audio
* 96 KHz/24-bit audio decoding
* Intel® Clear Video™ and NVIDIA PureVideo® graphics processing
* Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD support
2) ArcSoft TotalMedia™ Theatre — Enhance your movie watching experience with tons of cool features and options that you just can’t get from a standard DVD player.
TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum
Universal Player, Including Blu-ray Discs
Enhanced Blu-ray interactive features
High Quality in supporting SD and HD effects such as Noise Reduction, Video Test, and Film Test with mainstream graphic cards.
Bring Everything to High-Definition with SimHD™ Plug-in
Excellent Performance and Compatibility with Advanced Graphic Processors
Superior Audio Decoding in fully supports the next-generation audio formats used in Blu-ray discs: LPCM, AC-3, DD+, and MLP. It also supports Dolby Surround, Digital 5.1 (AC-3), and DTS Surround Sensation virtual speaker. Once your favorite soundtracks are playing, fine-tune your audio experience with our broad 10-band equalizer. Pick from a variety of presets, or customize the sound to your personal taste.
Support HDMI 1.3 Pass-through Technology for Lossless 7.1 Channel Audio Output*
With DTS-HD Premium Audio Output via HDMI 1.3 in providing full high-definition audio digital output, enabling lossless audio such as DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus, to be transferred to the AV receivers for high-fidelity sounds - up to 192 kHz sampling frequency and 24-bit audio resolution, offering exceptional audio experience.
Enjoy Surround Sound with Two-Channel Speakers
Direct Playback Files or Various High-Definition formats (AVCHD, BD) from HD Camcorders
Popular Internet High-Definition Video Support – MKV
Supported File Formats***:
* Video
MPEG-1 (.M1V), MPEG-2 (.M2V, .TS, .TRP, .TP and etc.), MPEG-2 HD (.M2TS, .M2T, .MTS), MPEG-4 (.MP4, .DIV, .DIVX), WMV, WMV HD, DVR-MS, H.264 (.264, .26L, .H264, .AVC, .JSV, .JVT and etc.) , VC1, DV AVI, Real (.RM*, .RMVB, .RAM, .RV, .RA), QuickTime (.MOV, .QT), FLV, MKV, DivX AVI*, DivX HD, VOB, ASF, DAT, VRO,3GP, 3G2
Note:
i. RM (RealMedia with RealNetworks codec installed)
ii. Divx AVI (with DivX codec installed)
* Audio
MP2, MP3, WAV, Ogg, AAC, WMA, MP3 CDs and audio CDs
* Digital Camcorder
Digital camcorder device, auto detection, and playback, from Canon, Sony, Panasonic, and JVC.
* Decoding
LPCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby®, TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS Digital, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES, and DTS-HD Hi-Resolution, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS Neo 6.
*A compatible NVIDIA graphic card with the latest driver supporting CUDA installed are required.
**ASUS Xonar HDAV series audio card required.
***Available in standard retail version.
Corel WinDVD Plus v9.0 Multilingual
Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blue Ray Part 1
Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blue Ray Part 2
Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blue Ray Part 3
TotalMedia Theatre v4.0.100 Retail
ArcSoft_TotalMedia_Theatre_3_Platinum_3.0.0.38
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1:1 DVD Copy
Entries:5 First rip the DVD to hd in either file mode (all files) or .iso mode with DVDDecrypter. Advanced users only Advanced Registry Settings with InstantCopy 7 patch USE THESE SETTINGS WITH EXTREME CAUTION NO SUPPORT CAN BE GIVEN IF YOU CHANGE DEFAULTS OF THESE SETTINGS HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VOB\CD Wizard\7.0\Copy DWORD "DVDAnalyzeMaxRel" DWORD "DVDAnalyzeMinAbs" DWORD "DVDSaveQuality" STRING "DVDHideConversionPicture" STRING "DVDAlwaysEnableOkButton" STRING "DVDRemoveLayerBreak" DWORD: DVDDestSize Default: 4424 DWORD: DVDDestDisplaySize Default: 4424 DWORD: DVDAnalyzeMaxRel Default: 7 DWORD: DVDAnalyzeMinAbs Default: 16 InstantCopy Batch Processing /srcimage You must set the DVD resize mode to automatic in order to prevent showing of * This patch can only be used with Instant Copy 7.0, 7.01 or 7.02. Bug Fixes/Improvements: * Better usage of destination disk capacity What is new in this version 7.1.1:
1X5)123 DVD Clone
123 DVD Clone makes DVD to DVD copying come true. You will get 1:1 perfect DVD copies of your DVD collection without having to buy any other DVD burner software. The copied disc works well with most popular home DVD player, being completely same as the DVD movie you bought.
123 DVD Clone is easy to use. Without any special setting, 123 DVD Clone will auto remove the protections (CSS, RC, RCE and UOPs) while copying. You can freely copy copyright-protected (CSS-encrypted) DVD movie and all regions DVD movie.Main Features:
123 DVD Clone lets you easily
* Copy DVD movie to DVD R/RW disc.
Direct burn to the target disc makes it really quick and easy to create DVD copies and backups.
* Copy DVD movie to your hard drive for future copy or viewing.
* Burn DVD from DVD-Video folder (VIDEO_TS) on your hard drive.
Real DVD movie clone by 1:1 perfect video & audio quality - same as the original!
Shrink DVD-9 to one DVD-5.
DVD-5 to DVD-5 Copy.
DVD-9 to DVD-9 Copy.
Copy CSS-encrypted and Region-protected DVD movies.
Compatibility in NTSC and PAL format DVD movies.
Copies can be played back on home and computer DVD players.
Supports most recordable media formats including DVD+R/RW.
And more...homepage
123 DVD Clone v2.5.0
123 DVD Clone v2.6.1
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2x5)DVD Cloner Platinum
Homepage
Copy DVDs Easily
Just one click and you can become a DVD backup expert!
Perfect 1:1 DVD Copy
Copy entire DVDs including the title, menus, subtitles, audio & languages – or just the parts you want.
Create Customized Copies
Now you can select your favorite title, chapter, subtitles or audio for copying.and preview
Supports Episodic DVDs
Choose your preferred sections without copying the whole DVD.
Copy DVD-9 to DVD-5
Compress one DVD-9 movie onto one D5 dvd+-r/rw without noticeable quality loss.
Copy DVD-9 to DVD-9
Copy a DVD-9 movie to an 8.5GB dual layer dvd+r/rw without any quality loss.
Backs up Blu-ray and HD DVD movies
Directly transports DVD files from PC to iPod without iTunes!
Supports the conversion of latest DVD movies
DVD-Cloner Platinum is powerful DVD copying/converting/burning software. It has all the features of DVD-Cloner plus the ability to convert all your DVD movies to iPod Nano, Classic and Touch. It’s a user-friendly program with excellent output quality. The latest version utilizes SmartAnalyser to ensure the highest level of success copying latest DVD movies. Give it a try and you’ll find your ideal multimedia solution!
Links:AddOn
DVD-Cloner_Platinum_v6.40.982
mirror1
mirror2
mirror3
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3x5)Pinnacle Instant Copy v8
Description:
Pinnacle Instant Copy 8 is a comprehensive DVD and CD copying program that can even copy a DVD to a series of VideoCD discs. It won’t flout copyright protection schemes, though. In essence, this is a single function program – it copies DVDs and CDs. However, it sets out to make the process as simple as possible and to offer as many combinations of copy as there are configurations of PC. You can copy a typical dual-layer DVD to a DVD rewriter, using any of the current standards, such as DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD RAM, or to a DVD recorder such as DVD+R or DVD-R. Similarly, you can copy CD material to CD-R or CD-RW discs. Also to say you can copy a DVD to a recordable or rewriteable DVD, to multiple CDs or to an image on a hard drive. When copying to another DVD or CD, you can copy on-the-fly or by using a hard drive file as an intermediary.
New features of version 8 include support for BURNproof and Justlink technologies, which insure against running out of data while writing a CD-R. Version 8 also offers faster copying. This is achieved by a new High Speed Mode that compresses the data on a DVD up to four times faster than the normal High Quality mode, at the expense of some loss of quality. For more flexibility, you can also choose to copy just the main movie from a DVD, and exclude all the extras and bonus tracksMain Features:
Easy one-click copying or advanced expert features.
Copy any non-copy protected dual-layer DVD onto one recordable 4.7GB DVD disc
True 1:1 duplication of single-layer DVDs (CSS-encrypted titles not supported)
Faster copying thanks to Direct-to-Disc technology and High Speed Mode.
Copy the whole DVD or just the video and audio content you want
Copy disc images of DVD movies to disc
Transfer a DVD movie to VCD or SVCD disc that can be played on most DVD players
Select audio track and subitle track wanted when copying DVDs to CDs
Automatically copy content across multiple discs
Creates perfect bit-for-bit copies of your CDs
Make backup copies of audio CDs, including oversize CD formats
Create safety copies of games for PC and CD-based game systems
Download Pinnacle Instant Copy v8 0_ 78.82 megabyte
Refer µTorrent file download
Mirror:- Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Instant Copy 7.1.1 update official link
12.2MB [May 19, 2003] mirror1 | mirror2
Instant Copy update InstantCopyUpdate8.3.0.8.exe [16MB]
Version : 8.3.0.8
Date Inserted : 10/20/2004
Extension : MSP
Size : 4.7 MB
Description CHANGES
Main Changes
- Double Layer Support for Instant Copy
- fixed: Audio CD copy hangs on some Writer
- fixes in Japanese language
- minor bugfixes
--- Registry Editors and Shells (automate rip, encode, burn) ---
InstantCopy Hidden Settings Editor 1.4.3 (Feb 1, 2004) by The Mad Guy IC7 & IC8 compatible
You can donate to The Mad Guy by using paypal to show your appreciate for ICHSE.
It can do many things besides just modifying registry settings. See screenshots below
BatchControl | Main1 | Main2 | OneClickSolution | Options | PDIControl | PredictionCalc
German Help File ICHSEHelpGer.zip
Instanttool.zip 1.0.0.1 by Pivello (May 20) screenshot changes the registry settings for Instant Copy 7.
instanttool8.zip by Pivello (Dec 15) screenshot changes the registry settings for Instant Copy 8
ICShell.zip version 2 by MPauley (August 25) screenshot automates the process of ripping, executing Instant Copy, and burning. Requires DVDDecrypter, Daemon-Tools, PDIExtract (from PDITOOL)
One Click Instant Copy by nyplayer (July 3) screenshot The program will read your DVD Rip it using DVD Decrypter. Pass the output to InstantCopy including the DVD Label. It will then Encode with InstantCopy burn with InstantCopy or DVD Decrypter. It will also determine if the DVD can fit on 1 DVDR if it does then it will just create an ISO and Burn with DVD Decrypter.
Free Software you may need:
Daemon Tools mounts ripped .iso as a virtual dvd-rom ( needed if ripping/burning in ISO mode) mirror
DVDDecrypter Rips dvd to hd and alternatively burn .iso to dvd burner. Donate to LIGHTNING UK!
DVDDecrypter 3.1.6.0 mirror can burn .pdi file set. Simply awesome.
Open DVDecrypter | Tools | Settings | Registry | check PDI
Just double click on .pdi file and burn the dvd-r.
pdi2iso_011.zip free mirror converts .pdi (Pinnacle Disc Image) to .iso. screenshot Simple GUI program written by Gerd Mitländer [MrWGT]. With converted .iso you can mount it with daemon tools and view with PowerDVD or burn with DVDDecrypter. In my tests pdi2iso takes 4 mins and PDITool takes 22mins.
Fast PDI2ISO 1.0.0.14 fpdi2iso.zip [July 16] by MaxMax converts .pdi file sets to .iso files screenshot
ICShutdown 1.0.0.5 IC_Shutdown.zip [July 16] by MaxMax probes Instant Copy job status and when it sees that it's done it'll shutdown your computer screenshot
PDITOOL 0.7 free mirror convert .pdi file sets to .iso files and extract all or only selected files from a .pdi file set which enable you to burn/author DVD with software of your choice and edit .ifo with ifoedit, etc. Written by schlaufer and GUI by WPELLE screenshot
If you get 'component comdlg32.ocx not registered error' install Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Libraries
Click upper left corner on two cd icon and choose About.
Setup: 0031 7.0.0.80 Jan 15, 2003 --- on CD says: VERSION 7.0
Setup: 0039 7.0.0.91 Feb 05, 2003 --- on CD says: VERSION 7.0a
Setup: 0044 7.0.1.114 Mar 10,2003 --update1
Setup: 0046 7.0.1.119 Mar 25,2003 --update2 (cumulative)
Setup: 0053 7.0.3.140 May 15,2003 --update3 (cumulative)
Before you even use Instant Copy you should try stripping it. For those doing main movie only to strip it first with either DVDFAB or DVDShrink as it'll be more compatible with some dvd players out there. If you want a 1:1 copy then DO NOT uncheck extras in Instant Copy but rather reduce them as much as you can. Instant Copy is good for multi-episode DVDs. Long movies I like to use dvd2dvd-r with CCE.
Start Instant Copy, select Generic STEALTH DVD as your Source if you ripped in .iso mode or right-click on Hard Disk | Select Image | and locate the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.
Choose either your DVD-burner or Harddisk for the Destination. Right click on Harddisk under Destination and create a new folder and name your movie. I suggest using underscore _ to separate words. To be able to preview end result before burning choose harddisk.
[Read TAB]...uncheck Repair Subchannel Data (.iso)
[DVD TAB]
Copy method: Customized Resize works with registry trick to allow you to specify transcoded size of each title set and allows you to deselect unwanted Video Title Sets. Remove trailers, bonus features you don't want.
Advanced...
General
Uncheck Use online transcoding database. Similar to freedb.org
where one user types in audio track titles for a new audio cd and submits them
so next person can automatically retrieve them, thus saving them time. Online
transcoding database keeps track of a DVD that has gone through 5 phases of
Testing video quality. If checked it could potentially crash the transcoding process
because evidently they're not bit for bit identical each time for various reasons.
C:\Program Files\InstantCD+DVD\InstantCopy\discdata
Delete discdata.add and discdata.adi if you experience crashes.
Audio Streams CHECK the audio languages that you wish to REMOVE.
If you only want English and Spanish put a check by everything except those two.
Subtitles CHECK the subtitle languages that you wish to REMOVE.
User Prohibitions CHECK the User Prohibitions you wish to REMOVE. If you wish to remove all restrictions (prevents you from skipping, navigating DVD) check ALL of them. If ripped with DVDDecrypter it'll remove them all by default anyway.
[General TAB] | Options | Settings
Verify your temporary directory has at least 4.5GB of free space available.
Note: Write TAB will only show if you select DVD burner as your destination.
Now press START and in a few seconds the Customize disc menu will appear.
After applying the registry trick (setting DVDMagic to true/yes) you can deselect extras, bonus features, trailers, etc. you don't wish to keep by unchecking the Video Title Sets (VTS). 5.72GB is the size of the just the video and (6.38GB) is the original size of the main movie with audio. I don't recommend unchecking titles anymore. Strip them with dvdtoolbox or dvdshrink. Try dvdshrink and set crap extras to Still Movie if your trying to do a 1:1 copy instead of Main Movie Only copy.
If you wish to OVERSIZE (when green turns to red) just press F5 (thanks jaimeo)
to re enable the OK button so you can push it and select 4.37GB or DVD-R size 4.7GB for example. Set DVDAlwaysEnableOK to true if you don't want to hit F5. See Hidden Settings Editor.
Many try a 4.5GB oversize setting to see if the target size will come out close to 4.37GB. Sometimes this works, othertimes it still undersize by a large margin and even sometimes it'll oversize.. File size with Instant Copy is hit and miss. Hopefully this issue will be addressed in a future update.
Here's the AC3 5.1 English soundtrack. You stripped out the other audio tracks with dvdtoolbox or dvdshrink already.
Always keep all subs unless you have say more than 6 or so. They only take about 2MB to 4MB per subtitle language which is nothing on a 4.37GB DVD-R. IYyou'll miss foreign speaking even though it's only certain parts of the movie if you take out subtitles sometimes. Example LOTR (Elfish speaking parts), Sum of All Fears (Russian speaking parts).
Let the encoding begin, hit Start. First 10 - 20 mins or so it does 5 passes/phases quickly analyzing the whole video quality. If you do not see it doing 5 phases immediately after you hit start, you may encounter a crash.
Actually encoding begins which can take around 3 to 5 hours on slow computers.
On my P4 2.53Ghz it'll usually take 1 to 2 hours to transcode. Depends on movie length.
DVDHideConversionPicture set to true/yes will speed up the process a bit. See Hidden Settings Editor.
Once it's done transcoding you'll have a few .pdi files.
movie.pdi | movie.pdi01| movie.pdi02 | movie.pdi03 | movie.pdi04
Check transcoded video quality
The .pdi files can be burned directly to DVD-R with Instant Copy or you can quickly view them (everyone except the very first proprietary .pdi which contains 304 bytes at the beginning) by renaming them by appending .vob at the end of the filename and view that in PowerDVD. (e.g. rename movie.pdi01 to movie.pdi01.vob)
pdi2iso v0.11 Select PDI file and let it convert it to an .iso file. I got a 4GB file which I mounted in daemon tools then play DVD movie with PowerDVD to test out quality, menus, subtitles, and audio languages, navigation, etc.
Now you can burn it with DVDDecrypter. Either burn .pdi directly or use pdi2iso and convert to .iso and burn the .iso.
Mounting .pdi set with daemon tools to view output
--Open dvddecrypter goto....TOOLS/Create DVD MDS File
-- Click on "ADD"
-- Then click on the .pdi file for the movie you wish to create a MDS file for.
-- "OK" it.
-- When the next screen pops up just hit "SAVE".
-- Just "OK" it
-- And its done in a second and can be mounted with daemon tools.
(thanks to Mukesh for the info)
Advanced registry settings:
USE THESE SETTINGS WITH EXTREME CAUTION NO SUPPORT CAN BE GIVEN IF YOU CHANGE DEFAULTS OF THESE SETTINGS
Defines video size that gets analyzed in percent (Default: 7%)
Minimum video that is analyzed (Value * 2,5 MB)
Defines the place reserved for not predicted video size in percent (Default: 6%)
"True" Hides preview picture while converting and analyzing a DVD (Default: "False")
"True" Always enable OK button in "Customize Disc" dialog even if the predicted size is over 4,32
"False" to disable removal of layer break
Size InstantCopy tries to reach for the destination medium in MB
Size InstantCopy uses to determine if the contents of the disc
fit or wont fit on a recordable disc in MB
DWORD: DVDVideoSaveBorder Default: 2
Unsecurity in percent of the transcoding process
Maximum data of a cell set that gets analyzed in %
Minimum count of 2,5 MB data packets of a cell set that get analyzed
InstantCopy has basic support for batch processing.
The following command line options from the MultiCopy.exe file are available:
Select hard disk as source device and select the specified filename
/dstimage
Select hard disk as destination device and select the specified filename
/autostart
Start the copy process directly after the executable was started.
/autoload
Load custom settings previously saved with F6 in the customize disc dialog.
the customize disc dialog.
Download ICopyBatch.zip [256KB] to your hard disk and unzip the file to the same directory as InstantCopy.exe. Simply specify the source image and destination image. Fill the list and hit start. The program will minimize and starts an instance of InstantCopy for every image listed.
Changelog 7.1.1 update:
Important
* Do not use this patch to update Instant CD/DVD.
* Optimized video quality
* Overall speed improvements
* "Phantom cell sets" fixed
* Still picture problem fixed (occured in menus with sound)
* Demux errors fixed (aka SID error)
* The main improvements are a significant speed increase for the DVD transcoding (approx. 30%-50% faster) and a new analyze method for better target disk size usage.
* Various registry settings were added.
* Key combinations (no support available for this function)
o F5 : Enable the OK button ignoring all size issues
o F6 : Saves the currently selected percentages/titles/streams for this DVD
o F7 : Load (if previously saved) settings for this DVD
* Batch Processing functionnality.
VIA
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4x5) SlySoft CloneCD
( clone cd, backup cd, cd copy, copy music cd, copy navigation cd, copy protected cd, safe disc)CloneCD is the ideal tool to make backup copies of your music or data CDs, regardless if they are copy protected or not! CloneCD's award-winning user interface copies almost any CD in just a few mouse clicks! CloneCD allows you to create excellent 1:1 copies of your valuable original discs. E.g., should your copy protected music cd not play in your car audio, the backup created with CloneCD will!
Since release 5.0 CloneCD is able to copy not only CDs but as well all formats of DVD like DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD R, DVD RW, DVD R Dual Layer und DVD-RAM. Copy protected movie DVDs can only be copied with AnyDVD. The movies will not be modified (compressed), but one-to-one copied.
CloneCD also works with other formats such as ISO and UDF files and copies CDs/DVDs with the new SafeDisc 3 Copy Protection System. CloneCD allows you to create perfect 1:1 copies of your valuable original compact discs. Should your copy-protected music CD not play in your car audio, the backup created by CloneCD will. Homepage
Links
CloneCD 5.3.1.3-----AddOns=========
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5x5) CloneDVD
CloneDVD is a flexible and easy to use DVD movie copy software. Without special setting, CloneDVD auto removes all protections (CSS, RC, RCE, UOPs and Sony ARccOS) while copying, lets you freely copy all of your DVD movie collections
Download CloneDVD 4.3.0.2
Download Portable DVD X Studios CloneDVD 4.3.0.2---- Mirror Features
Perfect Copy Quality
* Real DVD movie clone by 1:1, Perfect Video & Audio Quality - like the original!
Region-free & CSS-free, remove Sony ARccOS copy-protection on-the-fly
* Remove new Sony ARccOS protection, copy ARccOS protected DVDs smoothly
* Copy copyright-protected DVD movies. Built-in DVD Ripper, backup CSS (Content Scrambling System) encrypted movie
* Supports all-region discs, remove region protection (Region-free), remove RPC-I/RPC-II/RCE region protection automatically during copying
* Without warning screen and watermark, copied DVD same as the original DVD movie
Flexible Copy Modes
* DVD Title / Chapter Preview: access DVD content in advance, help you decide what to copy and what to remove
* Multiple copy modes: Entire Disc, Main Movie, Customize, Split Disc
* Entire Disc : completely copy all the Special Features, Intros, Menus, Subtitles & Languages, nothing to lose
* Main Movie : intelligent copy main movie title, remove unnecessary intros, menus, language and sound tracks
* Customize : personalize target DVD movie, just favorite title/chapter/subtitle/audio remained; and custom target movie size to fit to your output disc
* Split Disc : split a whole DVD-9 movie into 2 DVD-5 blanks to keep original video quality
* Multiple burn engines selectable, external Nero burn engine supported
Convert DVD as various movie file, fit for popular portable devices
* Convert DVD as different movie file: AVI, ASF, 3GP for Smart Phone, MP4 for Apple iPod, MP4 for Sony PSP, to fit for most popular portable devices: MPEG4 player, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, PMP and 3G smart phone
Synchronize CloneDVD with Sony PSP and Apple iPod
* Automatically locate Sony PSP and Apple iPod devices, directly copy to your mobile devices.
more >>
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DVD2One
DVDShrink
OpenDNS to surf safely with a few tweaks
OpenDNS is a better DNS service. It makes your Internet safer, faster, smarter and more reliable. It's free, and there's nothing to download. OpenDNS offers DNS resolution for consumers and businesses as an alternative to using their Internet service provider's DNS servers. By placing company servers in strategic locations and employing a large cache of the domain names, OpenDNS usually processes queries much more quickly,[1] thereby increasing page retrieval speed. DNS query results are sometimes cached by the local operating system and/or applications, so this speed increase may not be noticeable with every request, but only with requests that are not stored in a local cache. OpenDNS is not, as its name might seem to imply, open source software.
Type :DNS Resolution Service
Founded :2005
Headquarters :San Francisco, California
Key people :Nand Mulchandani (CEO) David Ulevitch (Founder & CTO)
Employees :20
Website :www.opendns.com
When you type a domain name, the conversion to an IP address goes through OpenDNS instead to your ISP's server in converting domain names. OpenDNS uses a global network of servers that can be redirected in case of overload or failure which eliminate the intermittent server outages that many broadband subscribers experience. OpenDNS claims to resolve requests quicker than the DNS servers of most ISPs, which means pages should load faster. As a defense against Web-based malware attacks it is second to none.
By filtering the URL requests that come to you through its servers, OpenDNS can block your browser from surfing to phishing sites and other kinds of undesirable content. The service also corrects typos you make, such as google.cmo, and lets you create URL shortcuts for quick access to the sites you visit most often. OpenDNS is currently beta-testing a new SmartCache feature that loads the last known-good address for a Web site, even if its nameserver is offline. This kind of outage can happen due to distributed denial of service attacks. With SmartCache, OpenDNS users can access these sites even though other Internet users cannot.
Setting up OpenDNS:
Create an account on OpenDNS.com. for without an account you're stuck using the default preferences. An account means you are in full control to to access a VPN (virtual private network) or Windows Home Server, take advantage of OpenDNS's powerful filtering options, add more to block sites in such categories as pornography, illegal downloads, social networking, or video sharing in PhishTank list to block phishing sites.Set up a free account at OpenDNS.com and sign up.
Change the DNS servers in your router to two OpenDNS-controlled IP addresses: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
Customize your OpenDNS settings via the service's Dashboard.
To customize OpenDNS for a typical home PC user, you would first add your home network using the Networks tab. By configuring OpenDNS in your router and adding your home network, you can protect all your computers and network devices — including smartphones that connect via Wi-Fi — with the same account settings. If you use multiple networks, you can add them all under the same account.
When you travel, you can change the DNS settings for your laptop's Wi-Fi and Ethernet adapters to connect to OpenDNS directly, rather than relying on your home network to make the connection. Instructions for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers are available on the OpenDNS Change DNS settings page. (It's fine to use both computer and router OpenDNS at the same time.)
Next, click the Settings tab to choose and customize your Web-filtering preferences. You can also create custom lists of allowed and blocked sites, regardless of the level of protection you select.
Click Settings, Advanced Settings. The OpenDNS Advanced Settings page lets you customize your use of the proxy service. This is where you can add your VPN or Web server, activate the SmartCache feature, and enable dynamic IP updating — which is particularly useful for travelers.
To reach a VPN or corporate intranet domain, or to access such resources as network printers and network shares, you have two options. For home networks, simply add a "Domain typo exception" in the name of your VPN server or network domain; for example, vpn.mycompany.com. Together with dynamic IP updating, this solves a problem with remote access and Windows Home Server.
If you're already running a local DNS server such as Windows Server 2008 with Active Directory, your second option is to forward only external DNS requests to the OpenDNS servers and continue to resolve local domains locally. In this case, you update the external DNS settings to OpenDNS on your server, not in your router or client computers.
People who rely on a dynamic IP address from their ISP or who travel frequently can download and install the OpenDNS Updater, which is available on the OpenDNS Support page.
Try OpenDNS's speed claims with the handy DNS Performance Test from Silverwolf's Auditorium once you've got it configured properly. Run the test on your regular ISP's DNS servers and on OpenDNS's servers.
Even if you find a small performance deficit from OpenDNS, the minor slowdown should be evaluated against the security and reliability benefits OpenDNS can bring. If you find a larger difference, this may argue against using OpenDNS from your area. In that case, you can also try DNS Advantage, a similar service from NeuStar. DNS Advantage is still under development but will soon be adding site-blocking and typo-correction services similar to those offered by OpenDNS.
OpenDNS directs you to a search page, which contains advertising that supports the servic if there's no easy match when a user types a domain name that doesn't exist is an OpenDNS feature. Few Internet services as useful as OpenDNS are truly free and as long as the ads don't get in the way this is a small price to pay.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Vista Services Optimizer
Vista Services Optimizer enables you to safely optimize Windows services based on how you use your computer. The program does not require any technical knowledge and provides easy to understand checkbox options to tune your system for your personal needs. It also includes a system restore feature that allows you to restore Windows service settings to their defaults at any time.
Publisher: Smart Pc Utilities, Ltd.
File Size: 1904 kb
Version: February 05, 2009 version 1.1.42.2 released.
License: Freeware
Windows: Windows Vista x64
Requirements: .NET Framework 3
* Vista Services Optimizer is a free and perfect tweaking utility that can improve your Windows Vista Performance and security with a simple mouse click, by tweaking Windows services in an automatic and a very safe way according to the way you use your computer and which software are installed on your system.
* Vista Services Optimizer also enables you to tweak Windows Vista services manually for advanced users who need more control over Windows services in an easy and safe way.
Download
Learn More
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2009 Windows Utility Guide
2009 Windows Utility Guide
Check out the biggest collection of time-saving utilities for Windows XP, vista, and even Win 7 ever assembled. The best part? Most of them are free.
| AppeArAnce BumpTop www.Bumptop.com Make your Windows desk- top look like a regular three-dimensional desk, complete with piles (repre- senting fles) you can toss around or fip through and walls you can stick things to. Works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Free; Pro edition, $29 Minime www.saphua.com/blog/?page_id=18 Minime minimizes all windows to the System Tray with a single hotkey. Plus it hides them behind a single icon, which you can then click for a menu of what’s running. Free Nimi visuals www.mynimi.net This portable app (no installation required, just run the EXE fle) gives Windows visual effects similar to those found on Mac OS or Linux add-on Compiz, including better trans- parency, sparkles, blurred backgrounds, and more. Nimi Visuals is fun, albeit not useful, and best run on very fast systems. Free QTTabBar qttabbar.wikidot.com Did you fall in love with tabs in your Web browser? Add the feature to Windows Explorer and fall in love all over again. Free Taskbar Shuffe nerdcave.webs.com Portable and simple, Taskbar Shuffe does one thing: It lets you move around the but- tons for open applications usually found on the Windows taskbar. Free TrayIt! www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm This lightweight, portable app installs a Sys- tem Tray icon that lists the programs run- ning on your PC; that’s where you’ll access them when minimized, rather than on the taskbar, saving valuable real estate. Free ObjectDesktop www.stardock.com Give XP or Vista a whole new look. This col- lection includes WindowBlinds for new skins, DesktopX for building widgets, DeskScape animated wallpaper, and more; the Ultimate version adds ObjectBar for customizing your desktop and TweakVista, which does just what it says. $39.95; Ultimate, $69.95 UBitMenu www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages Do you love Microsoft Office 2007 but hate the ribbon interface that replaced the menus of yore? UBitMenu puts the drop- downs back in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, just as they appeared in Offce 2003. Switch back and forth from menus to ribbon when- ever you want. Free; $13.50 for businesses vista Start Menu www.vistastartmenu.com Vastly improve the look of the Start Menu in Windows and get faster access to just about all aspects of the OS with this replacement menu tool. It’s also accessible from the sys- tem tray. Free; Pro edition, $19.99 Winroll www.palma.com.au/winroll Right-click the title bar of any window and you can roll the window inside of it, and do the same to all open windows at the same time. Free BAckup/Sync BackUp Maker www. ascomp.de/index.php?php= prog&prog=backupmaker This simple interface might make all the difference for average users saving their data. It sends fles to another drive (including USB drives), a CD/DVD, or an FTP site. It also handles fle restoration if you lose something. Works with Windows 7. Free Carbonite Carbonite.com Carbonite monitors important files and backs them up online for future restoration, should you need it. It also provides remote fle access, so you can access your data from any computer. $54.95 per year for unlimited space Cucku Backup www.cucku.com Why back up to extra storage or online when you can stash fles with friends? This social-backup tool sends encrypted files to storage you share on your buddies’ PCs using Skype’s fle transfer abilities (without Skype, Cucku handles only local storage). You, of course, should share back. Free DriveImage XML www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm This utility will create a disk image even while the PC is in use (using Microsoft’s Vol- ume Shadow Services feature). Later you can restore a drive entirely, or browse that image to retrieve select fles. Free Dropbox www.getdropbox.com The darling of the world of online sync is Dropbox: Put all your fles in the My Drop- box folder and they’re immediately stored online; set up the software on other com- puters (even Macs and Linux PCs) and the fles synchronize whenever changed. Free for up to 2GB; Pro plan, $9.99 per month or $99 per year for 50GB Dimio's Tools hDhacker dimio.altervista.org/eng On start-up, your PC looks for the master boot record (MBR), typically the frst sec- tor in the frst partition of the disk. The MBR reads the partition table that tells your PC where the OS is—it’s essential to booting properly, in other words. Make sure your PC’s MBR is backed up so the PC is always bootable. HDHacker will back up and restore the MBR instantly when you’re in Windows. Free Mozyhome mozy.com/home Running completely in the background, MozyHome monitors folders you specify, and when all is idle on your PC, it backs up those fles into the cloud. Dead simple. Free for 2GB; $4.95 a month for unlimited space OffiSync - Enabling Collaboration If you’re a big user of Google Docs and Apps but can’t get away from Microsoft Offce (or vice versa), OffSync combines both worlds. Manage and open all your Google Docs fles from Office apps, and store all new Office documents online so you can access them anywhere with Google Docs. Free SyncToy 2.0 A Windows XP PowerToy that also works fne with Vista, SyncToy does a good job of making sure folders on your system are syn- chronized with their counterparts on exter- nal drives or network-attached storage. Free SyncBackSE www.2brightsparks.com A perennial fave, SyncBackSE is the mid- range uti l ity in 2BrightSparks’ l ine of backup tools, complete with fle versioning, smart two-way sync between folders, auto- start at log-in, and more. If you want even more features, like backup to single or mul- tiple CDs or DVDs, try the Pro version. $30; Pro version, $49.95 compreSSion 7-Zip 7-zip.org Compress fles in ZIP or 7z format (and get AES-256 encryption), and get support to compact or unpack formats from CAB to RAR. Free PortableApps.com AppCompactor If you like running apps from a USB flash drive but your drive doesn’t have lots of room, turn to the AppCompactor. This pro- gram will compress apps as much as pos- sible (how much varies depending on the app) to fit your drive and still function. Free SecureZIP Desktop www.pkware.com This PCMag.com Editors’ Choice is all about the ZIP format, because it’s from the cre- ators of the ZIP format. It does everything an archive manager should, such as inte- grating with MS Offce and Outlook. $39.95 DiSk utilitieS Defraggler www.defraggler.com Why defragment an entire drive? Defraggler is one of the few tools that allow drag-and- drop of individual fles or folders for defrag work. Free for home or business Easeus Partition Master home Edition www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm Resize, copy, or create new disk partitions from within Windows (2000 up to Vista, 32-bit only with Home Edition). It can con- vert existing partitions from FAT to NTFS on drives up to 1.5 terabytes in size. Free for home use FileAlyzer www.safer-networking.org/en/flealyzer Learn just about every property of fles on your system when FileAlyzer analyzes them. Seriously, it’s a lot of info. Free DiSplAyS Edgeless www.fxc.btinternet.co.uk/assistive.htm Why let the cursor stop at the edge of your display? Edgeless lets it wrap from one side to the other, even when using multiple mon- itors. Free Fences www.stardock.com/products/fences Easily unclutter your desktop shortcuts and icons with Fences. It groups the items on your desktop into transparent containers you can hide or unhide at will. Works with Windows 7, too. Free MaxTo www.maxto.net On a big monitor with a lot of screen real estate, it just doesn’t make sense to run every application full-screen. MaxTo seg- ments a display into regions so that you can easily tile windows as you see ft. It works with Windows 7. Free Maxivista www.maxivista.com Turn your laptop (or any second computer with a monitor) into a second monitor for your main system. What you’re really doing is controlling as many as four computers on your network using one keyboard and one mouse, to extend your primary computer’s desktop space. (Issues with Vista and Win- dows 7 are still being worked out.) Free 14- day trial, then $29.95 Powerresizer Dock windows to the edges of the screen, and when you resize them with Power- Resizer, they stay docked. If you put the windows side by side or atop each other, dragging one to resize will also resize the other so they never overlap. Free Switcher insentient.net Exposé on the Mac instantly shows you the desktop, or all your open windows in vari- ous views, when you invoke a keystroke. Switcher brings that same function to Win- dows, and it works with a multi-monitor setup. The utility runs only on Vista, how- ever. Free DisplayFusion www.binaryfortress.com Give each of your moni- tors its own Windows taskbar or wallpaper, span one long wallpaper across displays, move windows to new screens with a single click, and more. DisplayFusion is ready to work with Win- dows 7. Free UltraMon www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon UltraMon is all about multiple monitors: It adds icons to title bars to make moving win- dows from one screen to another faster (no dragging), creates shortcuts that open pro- grams on the monitor you prefer, and puts separate wallpaper images or screensavers on each display. And there are even more tools to handle all that real estate. $39.95 virtuaWin virtuawin.sourceforge.net Add up to nine virtual desktops to your sys- tem, on computers running Windows 98 all the way up to Vista. Access the other desk- tops via an icon in the system tray. Free WinSplit revolution winsplit-revolution.com Split your big screen into multiple smaller “monitors.” Drag program windows around with the mouse while holding Ctrl-Alt to bring up a shaded area—that’s the grid section that the window will snap to when released. If there are multiple targets, pick one with the mouse scroll wheel. Free encryption File & Folder Unlocker A locked file on Windows isn’t encrypted, but it can be a pain to work with. Unlocker will change files from locked to unlocked so you can manipulate them again without getting errors. Free See also Unlocker FreeOTFE www.freeotfe.org OTFE stands for “on-the-fly encryption,” and that’s just what FreeOTFE does, cre- ating a virtual disk where copied files are instantly encrypted and stored. It’s portable and works on thumb drives, and FreeOTFE has its own Explorer to access encrypted fles without installing software. Free TrueCrypt www.truecrypt.org A granddaddy in disk-encryption software TrueCrypt will encode an entire drive—even a thumb drive—for security in real-time Wizard software provides help with deci- sions like how big the virtual drive should be (just one fle or the whole hard disk). Free See also Maintain XP well until Windows 7 arrives My Lockbox www.fspro.net/my-lockbox This utility locks down or hides a special folder, not just from snoops on the same PC (even those with admin privileges) but also from any kind of remote access, all with a single password. Free erase and delete Autodelete Set time limits for folders on your drive and Autodelete will automatically delete files that are too old. It’s great for getting rid of older backup archives taking up space. Free Darik’s Boot And Nuke www.dban.org Download DBAN, write the software to a bootable CD, and then use the disc to com- pletely and utterly erase the contents of a hard drive. After that, those files will never come back. Free DeleteOnClick Rather than send an unwanted file to the recycle bin for “deletion”—where it can potentially be recovered—this utility securely deletes the space the fle took up, making it impossible for you to get it back. Free DoubleKiller www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller Remove duplicate files across your local and network drives, including pictures and music. DoubleKiller compares size, name, date, and content to see what fles may be a bit too similar. The Pro version supports multiple languages and can search on extra criteria. Free; Pro edition, $19.95 Download DoubleKiller Pro 2.1.0.104 Images IrfanView www.irfanview.com A compact classic dating back to 1996, Irfan- View can view any kind of image thrown at it (some video and audio too), plus convert and edit it. Free See Also Unable to open PSD files in Photoshop JPEGsnoop impulseadventure.com/photo/jpeg-snoop.html Wondering if that beautiful-looking JPG fle you’re viewing is an original right off the digital camera? JPEGsnoop looks at the metadata inside to see if the file has been modifed, and if so, how it’s changed. Free RIOT luci.criosweb.ro/riot Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT) reduces image size—not the dimensions, but the actual fle size. Smaller GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs on Web pages mean faster load times. RIOT will display old and new side by side for comparison. It’s also an IrfanView plug-in. Free Fotosizer www.fotosizer.com Three steps are all it takes: Pick a bunch of digital photos, select resize settings, and let it rip. All the images are reduced, replacing the original images or duplicating the source, as specifed. Free networking Comodo EasyvPN easy-vpn.comodo.com Secure the connection between you and other computers with this simple-to-install virtual private network. Free for personal use GoToMyPC www.gotomypc.com We all know this one: GoToMyPC makes connecting to a PC remotely almost as easy as using it live. Download the free trial to access one PC for 30 days. $19.95 per month to access one PC, $29.95 per month to access two PCs Leaf for Windows www.leafnetworks.net Get ready for peer-to-peer network shar- ing, to stay connected to your network on the road (even through Facebook), share data with friends, or even set up Xbox and Xbox360 consoles for head-to-head games. Leaf’s client is free for Windows, and coming soon to Linux. Free LogMeIn hamachi secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp With LogMeIn Hamachi, you can put mul- tiple remote computers on a virtual private network (VPN) so that they all appear to be in the same building—perfect for remotely sharing fles. With the free version, one user can join 256 Hamachi networks, each of them able to handle 16 users; networks can handle 50 users if registered with the Pro version. Free; commercial license, $4.95 per month per PC orgAnizAtion Advanced renamer aren.hulubulu.net There are eight different ways to create batch-renaming jobs for your files with Advanced Renamer, including adding extra characters, changing the case of letters in the flenames, and changing the fles’ attri- butes and timestamps; it also supports ID3 functions to work with MP3 audio fles. Free everything you can imagine doing in Win- dows, using prearranged keystrokes and mouse clicks or just about any input button. Free Autohotkey www.autohotkey.com Set up macros to automate just about everything you can imagine doing in Win- dows, using prearranged keystrokes and mouse clicks or just about any input button. Free See also HotKicks ( Hotkey Utility ) CubicExplorer www.cubicreality.com/ce This file viewer and Windows Explorer replacement is portable and relatively uncomplicated, supporting tabs for multi- ple browsing sessions to take place at once. Free Free Commander www.Free commander.com Get dual panes of data (side by side or stacked) with this Windows Explorer replacement, plus features like FTP, tabs, fi le-renaming tools, and compressed archive support. Free Gladinet www.gladinet.com Get access to your online files—such as those in Google Docs or Windows Live Sky- drive—as if they’re stored locally. Gladinet mounts the services like network drives that are accessed from Windows Explorer. Free (for now) Portable Snowbird lmadhavan.com/software/snowbird Snowbird is built for speed as well as porta- bility (run it from a USB flash drive on any Windows system). The main window has the typical tree on the left, breadcrumbs at the top, and a list of recently visited files—but what it lacks in features it makes up for in performance. Free xplorer2 zabkat.com/x2lite.htm You want two panes of fle listings, a folder tree, tabs, and FTP access? That’s just the beginning with this longtime favorite Win- dows Explorer replacement. The free version also comes in a portable version. Pro adds individual folder settings, “hyperfilters,” scrap containers, duplicate cleanup, and more. Free; professional version, $29.95 recover AnD reStore AntiFreeze www.resplendence.com/antifreeze We all know the Ctrl-Alt-Delete salute to get out of a borked computer (or to get to the running processes list and kill an offending program). But AntiFreeze may offer a bet- ter way. It waits in the background for trou- ble, and when called, it displays all running processes, suspending most without killing them until necessary. Free GoneIn60s www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index .html#GoneIn60s If you closed an application within the last minute, you can open it up again without los- ing anything by right-clicking the icon in the system tray—but only if your PC is already running GoneIn60s. Free (donationware) UndeletePlus www.undelete-plus.com No matter the volume type (FAT12 on up to NTFS5), UndeletePlus promises to restore fles you’ve junked but want back. Great fl- tering makes it easy to fnd one fle among the many you’ve deleted. Free trial, then $29.95 per year Download Portable_Undelete_Plus_2.96 recuva www.recuva.com Pronounced “recover” (what accent are they using?), Recuva has one goal: to bring back fles you accidentally trashed (or that were trashed by crashes and other errors) using a simple-to-grasp interface. Free (donation- ware) Screen cApture FastStone Capture www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm Capture and annotate whatever is on your screen with this little toolbar, then send it to a fle, printer, e-mail, Web site via FTP, or to another application (like Word or Power- Point). $19.95 SiteShoter www.nirsoft.net/utils/web_site_screenshot.html Good in any version of Windows from XP to 7, SiteShoter works with IE to take grabs of entire Web pages, even the areas you’d have to scroll because they aren’t visible on screen. Free SnagIt www.techsmith.com TechSmith (which is also behind Jing, next page) has upped the price of SnagIt by $10 this year, but this perennial PCMag favorite is worth the money. Version 9 is completely rewritten and includes new features like a live preview, a mini-toolbar (like the one for formatting selections in Word 2007), an software stamps you can slap into capture images. 30-day free trial, then $49.95 SeArch Copernic Desktop Search www.copernic.com An old hand at indexing and searching your fles, Copernic continues to look inside 150 different types of files so you can search their contents. Now you can search the Web via the same interface, and even make Copernic a default Web search engine. Free; Professional version, $49.99 Everything www.voidtools.com For NTFS drives only, this program promises to search, well, everything, and fast. Really fast. It’s for NTFS format only because it uses the drivers for the hard drive to create its index. It also comes in a portable version, and will work with Windows 7. Free Jing www.jingproject.com You can do more than take a picture of your screen and annotate it with Jing; it will also record video of actions you take on the computer. Using social networking to show people how to do stuff on the PC, it integrates quick ways to share your captures via IM, e-mail, or on a blog. Free Google Desktop desktop.google.com Integrate your Web searches with your hard- disk searches, throw in a gadget engine for the thousands of widgets available for iGoogle, and you’ve got a four-star product. Free ShutDown/Boot Edison www.verdiem.com/edison.aspx A truly green utility, Edison helps you adjust the power settings and schemes for XP SP2 and Vista, so your hard drive, monitors, and CPU all power down after a certain amount of inactivity. It will also calculate how much you’ll save, in money and energy. Free Marxio Timer www.marxio-tools.net/en/marxio-timer.htm Marxio Timer can perform any action (or actions) you preset for a select time, every- thing from shutting down to logging off to hibernating to displaying text to running a program. It can even simulate the press of a specifc key on the keyboard, or take a screen grab, or grabs, one after the other. Free WinPatrol 2009 winpatrol.com WinPatrol does a lot—it is a security monitor alerting you to changes you may not have made, and it even comes in a (slightly less powerful) portable version. Where it excels is in assisting your Windows system at start- up, delaying or deactivating processes as you see ft. Free; Plus edition, $29.95 SyStem cleAnerS CCleaner www.ccleaner.com It’s no secret that the first C in this program stands for “crap,” and that’s exactly what it goes after, in the browser, the Registry, and all the other spots in Windows where fotsam like temp fles and log fles accumulates. Its creator, Piriform, updates the app frequently and promises it is malware-free. Free Little registry Cleaner sourceforge.net/projects/littlecleaner Another portable tool for the USB fash drive arsenal, this app checks the Registry for unneeded items and cleans them—a must for tackling your family’s and friends’ com- puter issues. It also has options for speeding start-up and creating restore points. Free Norton removal Tool service1.symantec.com/support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/ 2005033108162039?Open&docid=2004030411260104 Symantec’s Norton products are super- popular but not always perfect. Getting rid of one to try a different security suite is so hard with the built-in Windows tools that even Symantec had to admit it and built this tool with only one job: Uninstall Nor- ton 2003 to 2009, and a few other titles like SystemWork and Norton 360. Free SyStem monitorS WinDirStat windirstat.info Need to know how much space on your disk is in use, and what’s using it? Win- dows Directory Statistics (WinDirStat) eliminates the guesswork, providing mul- tiple views—including some graphically beautiful color- coded views—that spell it out for you. Free Disk Usage Analyzer www.extensoft.com/?p=free_disk_analyzer This program does one thing: It creates a list of all the fles on your hard disks and tells you which are taking up the most room. Put it to use when running out of disk space, to quickly determine what should get tossed, or at least given permanent berth on a backup drive. Free FreeMeter www.tiler.com/freemeter When monitoring performance, your per- formance monitor should not impact per- formance. FreeMeter’s 888KB free version fills the bill, looking at drive space, CPU usage, memory usage, system up time and five more stats; the Pro version has 19 different monitors. Free; Pro version, $22.95 Process Explorer technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653 .aspx This extra from Microsoft is a major step up from the Windows built-in Task Manager, especially for power users. Rather than just show processes alone, it also displays han- dles or DLLs in use by that process. Use the search to fnd problem areas, or to skip out to Google and look up what a listed process does. Once you’ve downloaded it, it’s fully portable, or you can run it right from the Web. Free SpyMe Tools www.lcibrossolutions.com/spyme_tools.htm Sometimes things happen to the Windows Registry that shouldn’t—such as changes made by malware. SpyMe dumps a copy of the Registry from before and after a change, so you can restore the older version if you detect something amiss. It’ll also make Reg- stry backups. Free Xinorbis freshney.org/xinorbis You can analyze one folder, one drive, or multiples—even network drives—in a single eport. What you get is graphs galore, all of which can be saved for report comparison at a later date. Free tweAkerS Game Booster www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html Get more out of your game by making it the most important thing on your computer. Game Booster will do that by temporar- ily shutting down background processes, cleaning up leaky RAM, and giving the game processor priority. Works with Win 7. Free Ultimate Windows Tweaker www.winvistaclub.com/uwtf.html Ready to tweak Windows 7? So is Ultimate Windows Tweaker, building on the vast array of what it can do for Vista and the IE Web browser. Free XdN Tweaker xenomorph.net It doesn’t offer as many tweaks as the paid tweak tools, but XdN makes up for it with a price that can’t be beat. It requires Windows .NET to run on XP; .NET is a given with Vista and Windows 7, both of which XdN sup- ports. Free upDAterS Filehippo Update Checker www.flehippo.com/updatechecker Run this utility once in a while and it will compare installed apps against the vast collection at FileHippo.com, even against updates still in beta. The results come up in a Web page where you can download new versions to install. Free Update Notifier cleansofts.org/view/update-notifier.html Linux users know the joys of having not only their OS kept up to date, but also third-party software that never gets old. Windows users have to work at that. Update Notifer helps: When a new version of a third-party program you’re running becomes available, it makes it easy for you to download and install it. Free uninStAllerS PC Decrapifer www.pcdecrapifer.com If you got a new PC at retail, chances are it came preinstalled (read: bogged down) with extra unwanted and unneeded soft- ware. PC Decrapifier should be the first item you install, as it knows what to look for on those PCs and deletes them, en masse. Free remove Empty Directories www.jonasjohn.de/lab/red.htm Afraid you’ve got a bunch of empty folders on your Windows system? You won’t have them after this utility has its way. (Just don’t delete any temp directories needed by your other programs.) Free Revo Uninstaller Maybe the perfect replacement for Win- dows’ own uninstaller list, Revo chucks programs with the usual built-in uninstall routine, but follows up with a check of the hard drive and the Registry for anything left behind. It comes in a portable version for USB fash drives. Free Virtual PCs Portable Ubuntu portableubuntu.demonccc.com.ar Want to try Ubuntu? Install a full-blown ver- sion of the popular Linux distro as an applica- tion within Windows. It can even be installed on a USB fash drive, so it can be your porta- ble OS—any changes you make to Portable Ubuntu stick with it. Windows will just treat it like any other application. Free Returnil Virtual System 2008 Personal www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/returnil-virtual-sys- tem-personal If you have a system with XP, Vista, or 2003 server, you can mirror it completely on the same system, entirely in system mem- ory. Why do that? So your software runs entirely on the virtualized side. If some- thing goes wrong, your primary installation is still okay. It’s a great way to experiment with software you might otherwise be ner- vous about. Free for personal use VirtualBox www.virtualbox.org Install open-source VirtualBox on just about any OS that runs on x86 chips (even Mac, Linux, and OpenSolaris) and you can run a “guest” OS inside it—including those above plus Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. It’ll even load a 64-bit OS inside a 32-bit host OS. Free for personal use Source: PC Magazine, July 2009 |
