Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Flock -the next generation browser.

The role of the internet browser is redefined day by day to a different plane, owing to the greater possibilities it offers. Tomorrow it will be much greater than an application that simply lets you view your favorite websites. Flock is focused on key innovations that help you stay connected with your favorite sites, people, media and content so that you can be a happier, more informed and plugged-in person.
Flock is built on the Mozilla Firefox open-source browser, so it has all the features you've come to expect in a high-quality web browser, like intuitive buttons and menus, personal customizability, reliable security, enhanced privacy protections, and automated updating. However, Flock is much more than that! The Flock Social Web Browser has been fully integrated with a wide range of social networking websites and popular blogging tools. So with Flock, you can now keep in touch and share text, links, pictures, video and more with friends, family and co-workers across the entire internet with unparalleled speed and seamless ease.
Why I recommend flock.
  • Once you set up a blog in Flock, you can copy text, pictures and videos from anywhere on the web and instantly post them into Flock's Blog Editor or directly into your own blog. You can also monitor, manage and post to different blogs.
  • With Flock's built-in Feed Reader, you can track, organize, update and format all your favorite feeds. Saving articles and inserting quotes into your blog are also only a click away.
  • Flock can seamlessly plug into several specific Webmail services, making it easy monitor new emails and instantly send new mails.
  • Using Flock's Media Bar, you can quickly preview online videos and photos, subscribe to video feeds, keep up to date on your friends' picture postings, search media files, send videos to friends with one click, and much more!
  • With its built-in photo uploader and one-click Web Clipboard, Flock lets you share text, links, photos and even entire videos with your friends and co-workers with unprecedented ease and quickness.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

RegScanner -Scan registries as you like

RegScanner is a handy small utility created by Nirsoft, which can scan your registry to find a desired registry value or values modified in a specific time period.If you want to modify the registry values in RegEdit you can do it by simply double clicking it.You can export or save registry values for editing if you like.
The greatest advantage is that all the registry values are displayed in a single list. RegScanner can even find a unicode string located inside a binary value.

Tips
  • If you want to view all Registry values under a specific key, choose 'Registry item contains any value' in the matching combo-box, uncheck the 'Scan the following base keys', and in the Base Key combo-box type the desired key (For example: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer)
  • If you want to view the list of all Registry keys that have been modified in the last few hours or days, check the 'Add entry for each found key' and 'Add only keys' options, choose 'Registry item contains any value' in the matching combo-box, choose the 'Display only keys that their modified time is within the following range' option, and then select the modified date/time range that you want to view.

Download


Thursday, December 25, 2008

Temporary inbox extension for Mozilla

Usually when you want to download something from a web site the site will ask for your email address. From the next day of downloading you will be getting unwanted spam mails in your inbox. This firefox extension will protect your mail box from spams. You can create temporary disposable email addresses for just downloading purpose by pressing the random email button. It will create your temporary inbox. Copy and paste into the field. Wait a while then press the check email button.View screenshot
It's easy to use, requires no registration and the temporary email gets automatically deleted after 6 hours, if you can't bother deleting it yourself.

Download


Saturday, December 20, 2008

iDaily Diary

iDailyDiary is great tool for those who are font of writing diary and keeping a log of day to day activities. You can do it in a much beautiful and organized way using this cute utility. Interface is simple and you can readily use it for taking daily notes, creating a journal, putting your thoughts into writing and much more..
iDailyDiary provides a rich text editor and the ability to insert graphics. You can also create multiple pages for each day to keep subjects separate. iDailyDiary is fully searchable and supports hyperlinks, so you can always track down those important dates and reminders. Also, iDailyDiary's data files are encrypted and can have optional password protection. Download and try it, I am sure you will love it.

Download iDailyDiary

Friday, December 19, 2008

LogMeIn Vs TeamViewer

LogMeIn is a powerful tool which can be used to control a remote PC from anywhere as if it is your own system.It offers layers of security which is not there in its competitors like end to end 256-bit encryption,dual authentication and RSA SecureID etc.
LogMeIn works fine even in low band width dialup connections. You will have to create an account in the LogMeIn site and add the computers which are to be controlled into that account. If you does not have a LogMeIn account it will be created in the installation process itself.
The greatest advantage is its hastle free configuration and ease of use. The program differs from its competitors in that the application runs in your Web browser. If you're running Firefox, it asks to install a plug-in and then opens an emulator of the remote PC in a new window.
Download the user guide.(PDF)





TeamViewer is another fast, simple and user friendly solution for remote desktop access over the Internet. All applications are in one single and small module of just arount 1.8 Mb size. It can even work without installing the software in any of the systems as there is a run option in the module. It supports File transfer,Chat and more. Immediately after installing or running the team viewer, it will assign an IP address and a password for your computer. You can share the desktop by just giving these details in the other system. Team viewer may not work nicely if the band width is very low as in case of dial up connections.
Download Team Viewer

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

GIMP and GIMPshop

GIMP -GNU Image Manipulation Program-is a powerful free Image manipulating software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
Typical uses include creating graphics and logos, resizing and cropping photos, altering colors, combining multiple images, removing unwanted image features, and converting between different image formats.GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in GIF format.It is often used as a free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop, the most widely used bitmap editor in the printing and graphics industries.
GIMP's native XCF file format is not widely supported by other applications, but GIMP can read and write most Photoshop native PSD format files.
The Interface of GIMP is different from Adobe Photoshop but it is not very hard to learn it if you take some genuine effort.
GIMPshop is a modification of GIMP,intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop.Due to the GIMP interface changes found in GIMPshop, many tutorials for the popular Photoshop can, without modification, be followed in GIMPshop, and others may be adapted for GIMPshop users with minimal effort.
Download GIMPshop

Download GIMP

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Clamwin portable antivirus

If you use a pen drive, it is a good idea to equip and protect it with a portable antivirus software. The best choice is Clamwin portable antivirus.ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner, and you need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware.To install ClamWin Portable, just download the portable package and select the location (the Pendrive)to which you wish it to install.After installing you can download the virus definitions and updates.
ClamWin Portable supports running from a CD. To set it up, extract ClamWin Portable to a local drive and run it. Download the latest virus definitions. Then close ClamWin Portable. Move the ClamWin.conf file from the ClamWinPortable\Data\settings directory to the ClamWinPortable\App\clamwin directory. Then burn the whole ClamWinPortable directory to CD. Be sure not to move any of the files from the default locations.

Why I recommend this utility
  • High detection rates for viruses and spyware
  • Regular virus database updates. ClamAV team regularly updates virus databases to include a new virus/variant immediately after it appears
  • It is a Standalone Virus Scanner
  • It can be configured to run from a CD also

Download

Monday, December 15, 2008

Faststone Capture

Faststone capture is a cute screen capture utility which can do all your screen capture needs in a beautiful and easy to use interface.It can capture the entire desktop, individual windows or objects as scrolling areas offscreen . It can capture specific regions within a screen in a rectangular, circular, and freehand selections. It also contains a practical editor that can process captured images with features such as resizing, cropping, contrast, sharpen, and text annotation.
The program has a very nice look and feel; it can be accessed through a small floating control panel or minimized in the windows tray area
Images can be saved in a wide variety of outputs (BMP, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and TGA).you can specify where the captured image will be sent (editor, clipboard, or file).
It is powerful, well designed, and uses a very small amount of memory.Currently the software is a shareware but the previous version (5.3) is fully functional and can be downloaded here.

Download

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Foxit Reader

Many of us think that Acrobat is the only way to handle PDF files. Foxit reader is an alternative which can do the same job faster and with fewer resources. According to the creators, Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size, breezing-fast launch speed and amazingly rich feature set. The download size of Foxit Reader is just 3.12 MB, a fraction of Acrobat Reader which is more than 20 MB.
When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay and of course without any annoying splash windows. You can create pdf documents with Foxit reader and the free version of Foxit reader puts a small water mark in the document.If you want to create a pdf document it is better to use Cute pdf.

Download

Friday, December 12, 2008

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a great application which will simply replace your windows notepad owing to its great functionality and innovations.Original windows notepad is used widely for writing programs but it lacks vital support for programing languages. On the other side Notepad++ supports C, C++, Java, C#, XML, HTML, PHP, Javascript, RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file (extension .nfo, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP, VB/VBS source files, SQL, Objective-C, CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python and Lua.
Ordinary note pad can open only one file at a time and only one file can be edited at a time.The versatility of note pad is that each file opens in seperate tabs under a main window and you can use a special view in which two documents can be viewed and edited simultaneously.You can open a document by drag & drop. You can also move your document from a position (or even a view) to another by drag & drop.
Another useful feature is the text highlighting.Select any text and all similer texts in the file is highlighted automatically.Press ctrl+Enter and word completion help will be obtained. I recommend you to try Notepad++ and realize how it replaces windows note pad.

Short cuts of Notepad++ are very powerful and will be handy to you.
Open in firefox: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X
Open in internet explorer: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I
Google search: Alt+F2
Wikipedia search: Alt+F3
Word completion: Ctrl+Enter


Download

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Stickies

Whoever you are,and whatever is your work style, you may come across so many useful things when you use your system which has to be noted for later use.One way to manage all these information is to write it in a paper and stick it in front of your work table. Stickies do exactly the same thing in a very organized and neat manner.Stickies are yellow rectangular windows onto which you can put some text notes. Once created, they will stay on screen until you take them away. Just like a real sticky piece of paper.

Why I recommend stickies
  • Once on screen, stickies will remain where placed until closed, even through reboots
  • Stickies appearance can be customised; fonts, colours and buttons may be changed, and styles saved. Stickies can be resized.
  • Stickies can snap to each other and to the sides of the screen to keep them neatly lined up
  • Stickies can be attached to a web site, document or folder so they only show when it's on screen
  • Stickies can be transferred from one machine to another either over a TCP/IP network connection, or by using an SMTP mail server or MAPI client:
  • Stickies can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified date and time, or to wake every day, week or month, to act as reminders.
  • Stickies can have alarms set to ensure you notice them at a point you choose
  • Stickies works with Windows Vista
  • Stickies is small and simple, it writes to a single text file, and does not alter the registry
  • ...and Stickies is completely free!

Download

Monday, December 8, 2008

CCleaner

If you want your system to sprint at lightning speed as you expect, you should make it light by getting rid of all unwanted junks from it. The best option is to install CCleaner, a great system optimization and privacy tool. View screen shot.
CCleaner has come a great way from its predecessor Crap cleaner and has transformed into a complete system tool. Many cleaners clean out just your browser cache or your temporary files folder, but CCleaner goes further. It cleans temporary files from common third-party applications like Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more....It has got separate settings for internet explorer, firefox, Opera, Safari, chrome etc. and hence works more effective with them. Registry cleaner is also part of this utility but I would recommend Eusing or Glary utilities for that purpose.
This utility become more versatile as it boasts of an excellent uninstaller and a useful start up manager inbuilt in it. That saves you from installing two additional programs for that purpose. CCleaner is highly customizable and can be tuned to precisely clean according to your need.

Why I recommend CCleaner.
  • It is a complete system cleaning utility.
  • Works more effectively compared to other cleaning utilities.
  • Highly customizable.
  • Good startup manager and uninstaller bundled.
  • It can effectively handle junks created by large number of third party applications.

Download

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Power Toys for XP

Tweak UI is a beautiful tweaking tool created by Microsoft itself in the name of "Power Toys" to change many windows XP settings which are other wise inaccessible. Using this program which is just 146 kb you can optimize many things including mouse settings, Explorer settings, Task bar and start menu,Desktop settings,Control panel settings and even repair certain problems.If you are a power user Tweak UI is a must.View screen shot
Download Tweak UI 2.10

Image resizer is another power toy created by Microsoft and it can be very handy in resizing pictures.This software integrates to windows shell and by simply right clicking on the image you can resize it.
Download Image resizer

Friday, December 5, 2008

FastStone Photo Resizer

FastStone Photo Resizer is the fastest and lightest image resizer which is much more than just a resizer.View larger screen shot. It allows you to Convert, Rename, Crop, Rotate, Change color depth, Add text, add Watermark and give different Borders to an image. You need not have to convert your pictures one by one as this software supports batch conversion at a lightning speed. It supports most of the formats like BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF and PNG. Drag and drop support makes it easy to work with. The border option is really cool. You can change the colour depth from 2 to 16.7 million using faststone. Adding text to your images can be done with elegance and could be useful many a times.
A portable version of the software is also available which you can download here.
Download (Full version)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Mozilla Thunder Bird

Mozilla Thunder bird is a lightning fast and real no nonsense E-mail client which lives up to the reputation of its sibling, Mozilla Firefox. It is open sourced and is fully customizable with large number of add-ons available. The main advantage of Thunderbird is its powerful spam filter. You can train the Thunder bird to catch almost all spams without loosing real mails. It is very easy to configure your mail accounts and it supports multiple accounts also. It also includes a terrific search function and built-in RSS. View screen shot.

Download

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Comodo Firewall

Firewall is expected to be the first line of defense of your system in protecting private information. A system without a good firewall installed is a real cake walk for hackers. In the current era of e-commerce any lapse in protecting informations like passwords and other sensitive informations could prove to be detrimental. Sad part of the story is that you will never know that your system is hacked by somebody, if firewall is not good enough. Many people think that as a free firewall is provided with Windows, no additional firewall is required. You will understand how primitive Windows firewall is if you have ever used a dedicated firewall.
Comodo firewall is a real killer with great features and will offer near complete protection to your system. The interface is really simple and will not create any difficulty for even a beginner. In first few days of system usage you may get popups very often and comodo will ask you many things. You need not panic as this is just the learning process of comodo to understand the net connections and our preferences. If you give correct responses in the beginning it will never disturb you much in the future.
One thing you have to remember is that while installing use the advance mode ie "firewall with maximum proactive defense +" if you are a net freak. You can decide upon the option to be used depending on your net usage pattern. View screenshot.
Comodo firewall comes bundled with free antivirus software also and you can optionally decide to install or not to install it. My personal recommendation is to avoid it if you have any other good antivirus program like avast which is also free.
When you open the software the main tabs you see are Summary, Firewall, Defense, and Miscellaneous. Click the respective words to see the screen shots.

Why I recommend this software.
  • High performance
  • Does not affect system performance negatively.
  • Simple interface
  • Lots of useful features bundled.

Download

Monday, December 1, 2008

Glary Utilities

If you are looking for a single utility which can fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC, Glary utilities are for you. You will get a good registry cleaner, Startup manager, File splitter, Memory optimizer, Secure file deleter, Uninstaller, Disc space analyzer, Short cut fixer and more by simply installing Glary Utilities. The program automatically creates a backup copy before making important changes to your system. If you require a registry cleaner only then EUsing registry cleaner is also a good option.View larger screen shot.
All Glary Utilities tools can be accessed through an eye-pleasing and totally simplistic interface. 1-Click maintenance option of Glary utilities includes Registry cleaner, Shortcuts fixer, Startup manager, Temporary files cleaner, Tracks eraser and spy remover. For internet explorer users it has got an explorer assistant also. Windows default functions that can help you to keep system stable can be directly accessed from Glary. It includes Check Disk, Disk defragmenter, System restore, System file checker and Backup utility.

Why I recommend Glary utilities.
  • It provides almost complete Tweaking tool kit for your system
  • Good registry cleaner
  • Makes backup before important changes
  • Very useful 1-click maintenance.
  • Very easy interface
  • Great file splitter and rejoiner

Download