Monthly Disk June 2009

Freeware

Anti Virus

ClamWin - Ver: 0.95.1

ClamWin is one of only a handful of free antivirus tools for Windows, it's based on the Clam Antivirus engine which, like ClamWin, uses the GNU General Public Licence making it open source software.

It doesn't have the slickest of interfaces but this isn't really a problem as, once it's installed and you've set its options to suit your needs, you'll rarely go into the application itself.

You can set the software to scan your PC at regular intervals, and it includes context menu integration in Windows Explorer so you can scan a file or folder simply by right-clicking and selecting 'scan'.

ClamWin can be set to automatically download updates to the virus definitions, ensuring that you are as safe as possible. It also includes a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, should this be your email client.

On the downside, it doesn't have a real-time scanner so it won't automatically check downloaded files for viruses. The Outlook plug-in, however, will delete a virus-infected attachment immediately.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Audio

AudioGrail - Ver: 6.16.0.163

AudioGrail (K-MP3) is the Swiss army knife for everything that is related to audio files (MP3, MPC, OGG...). It can very easily rename and tag (tag: info such as artist name, album, track title) your files automatically.

It can also analyse quality, organise files on your system, create a "magic folder" for easier audio collection browsing, and more.

Main Features:

• Supports : MP3, OGG, MPC, APE, AAC, FLAC and WavPack files.
  
• Automatic Album Renaming & Tagging (ID3Tag V1 & V2 tags, - Vorbis (Ogg) comments and APEv2 tags are supported) Powered by FreeDB.
  
• One-by-one tag editor with queue (for multiple files edition).
  
• Audio files To Audio CD burning capabilities.
  
• Files Names Normalizer (Case Standardization...)
  
• Tags Normalizer (Case Standardization...)
  
• Mass Tags Remover
  
• Files Organizer (Mass Tag To Name / Move To Folder)
  
• Duplicate Files Finder
  
• Playlist Creator & Analyser (Supported Formats : m3u, pls, xpl)
  
• Files Lister (Supported Formats : Raw listing, Coma - Separated Values, SQL, XML)
  
• Incomplete Tags Finder.
  
• Quality Analyser.
  
• Internationalisation support.
  

NOTE: This version is free with a 30-day trial of the "Expert" features included. If you wish the "expert" edition can be purchased for 19.99 Euros @ the Authors site.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Foobar - Ver: 0.9.6.5

Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats.

• Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player
  
• Audio formats supported "out-of-the-box": WAV, AIFF, VOC, AU, SND, Ogg Vorbis, MPC, MP2, MP3
  
• Audio formats supported through official addons: MPEG-4 AAC, FLAC, OggFLAC, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, Speex, CDDA, TFMX, SPC, various MOD types; extraction on-the-fly from RAR, 7-ZIP & ZIP archives
  
• Full Unicode support on Windows NT
  
• ReplayGain support
  
• Low memory footprint, efficient handling of really large playlists
  
• Advanced file info processing capabilities (generic file info box and masstagger)
  
• Highly customisable playlist display
  
• Customisable keyboard shortcuts
  
• Most of standard components are opensourced under BSD license (source included with the SDK)
  

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

J. River Media Jukebox - Ver: 12.0.49

J. River Media Jukebox is the cure for the media player that ails you. This freebie strikes a pleasing balance between compactness and features.

The full-featured Media Jukebox lets you manage and play your media collection, rip and burn CD's, play DVD's, import and play podcasts - pretty much does anything you want in a jukebox. So you'll be able to create custom playlists, and use EQ, DSP and audio effects. Media Jukebox also includes automatic lookup of CD's and albums, and populates your music tracks with the proper tags. And it supports all popular music formats.

One of Media Jukebox's strengths is its simplicity. If you feel that Windows Media Player has become increasingly bloated, you'll welcome Media Jukebox. And if you've got an iPod and are sick of iTunes, you can use this program to manage your iPod library and synch between your PC and your iPod. It will synch to some phones as well.

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ NT/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Backup

AceBackup - Ver: 3.0.0

AceBackup is a user-friendly and powerful data-protection tool for your computer or local network.

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ NT/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

TrueSafe Personal Edition - Ver: 3.36

TrueSafe allows you to backup your data to another computer over the Internet or to local storage (e.g. a USB drive).

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Burner

DVD Flick - Ver: 1.3.0.6

Ever tried burning any old video file to a playable DVD? How much was the repair bill after you put your foot through your monitor?

DVD Flick burns virtually any video file to a DVD you can drop in your DVD player and enjoy on the big screen.

DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks, subtitles as well as a menu for easier navigation.

Features :-

• Burn near any video file to DVD
  
• Support for over 45 file formats
  
• Support for over 60 video codecs
  
• Support for over 40 audio codecs
  
• Easily add a menu
  
• Add your own subtitles
  
• Easy to use interface
  
• Burn your project to disc after encoding

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Express Burn - Ver: 4.25

Express Burn you create and record MP3/WAV formats to CD in Windows for free.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Desktop

Appetizer - Ver: 1.3.1.222

This is a free application launcher, or dock, for Windows. It allows organising your shortcuts and folders into a convenient dock.

The application is open source, which means that it's free and will remain so. It is entirely customisable and is available in multiple languages.

Features :-

• Support for plugins
  
• Support for multiple skins (two included)
  
• Resizable dock, which allows displaying the icons both horizontally or vertically.
  
• Three sizes of icons: Small, large and extra-large
  
• Support for custom icons
  
• 'Wizard' to automatically imports shortcuts from various locations
  
• Organise the icons by drag & dropping them
  
• 'Multi-launch' functionality
  
• Regroup multiple shortcuts within one menu
  
• Hot key to hide / show the dock
  
• Special items to provide extra functionality: hide / show the desktop, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, etc.
  
• Support for multiple languages
  
• Minimise to tray icon functionality
  

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

BumpTop - Ver: 1.0

BumpTop is a fun, intuitive, 3D desktop that keeps you organised and makes you more productive. It combines the look and feel of a real desk with the power of your PC.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Cfont Pro - Ver: 3.7.0.3

Cfont Pro was developed as a way to manage fonts; to include system, printer, and currently uninstalled fonts.

Cfont Pro lets you view installed system fonts, printer fonts, and a special mode where you select a directory, CD, or network drive and preview the fonts. Preview All mode will let you view all of your installed fonts in a single view with printing capabilities. Also, be sure to check out the Slide Show mode where the application will cycle thorough each font at an interval determined by you.

Features:

• TrueType, OpenType, Bitmap, and Postscript Type 1 font support
  
• Redesigned interface for ease of use
  
• View all installed fonts
  
• Preview fonts before you install them
  
• Automatic viewing mode
  
• Print and Export a preview of all fonts
  
• Create Font Packages and carry your fonts to any machine
  

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Freebie Notes - Ver: 3.25

Freebie Notes is a little program for users who just want sticky notes with an alarm timer.

Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Icons from File - Ver: 3.34

Extracts icons or icon arrays from files (EXE, DLL, OCX) with ability to scan folders to search for EXE, DLL, OCX files, which contain icons.

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Switcher - Ver: 2.0.0

Switcher allows users to manage multiple program windows in Windows Vista by arranging thumbnails of them at the top of the screen, and is accessible via hot keys.

For those who've made the jump to Windows Vista but don't like the angled multipane view, Switcher offers a familiar and less-jarring alternative.

Using fully customisable hot keys, you can activate the app with nothing more than a single keystroke or mouse gesture. The currently active program will then drop slightly on the screen and the other active apps will appear above it in minimised form. The opacity of the inactive programs can be tailored to your tastes, as can nearly everything else about Switcher. Dock padding and location, mouse trigger corner, transition duration, view of minimised versions of the inactive apps, and more can be adjusted. You can even organise the Options menu alphabetically or by category.

Strengthened by a fast install and lightweight footprint, Switcher is a fun program for those who love modifying their PC experience to suit their tastes.

Minimum requirements: Vista + Aero

Theme Manager - Ver: 3.09.000

Theme Manager is a new software that lets users work with all their skins, themes, icons, and wallpapers together from one place.

It can apply the visual styles / skins from most of the popular programs including WindowBlinds, Windows Media Player, Winamp, MSStyles, along with icon packages, wallpapers, and more.

Moreover, users can download "Suites", these are single files that contain all the skins/themes/icons to create a full desktop.

Users can also take a virtual snapshot of their desktop and save it as their own suite file

Theme Manager supports :-

• Wallpapers
  
• Visual Styles (WindowBlinds & MSStyles*)
  
• MP3 Players (Winamp, Windows Media Player, Cool Player)
  
• Desktop Themes (Microsoft .theme, DesktopX, Hoverdesk, NextStart, ObjectBar)
  
• Mouse cursors (both Windows and CursorXP)
  
• Logon Screens (LogonXP format)
  
• Boot Screens (BootSkin format)
  
• Icons (both MS Themes and IconPackager themes)
  
• Widgets (SysMetrix, DesktopX Widgets)
  
• Instant Massaging Skinning (Trillian, ICQ Plus)
  
• Launchers (ObjectDock, WorkShelf)
  

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Digital Imaging

Arclab Thumb Studio - Ver: 2.01

Thumb Studio is an easy to use image gallery, thumbnail, slide show and Web photo album creator for everyone.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7

Fullscreen Photo Viewer - Ver: 1.9

Fullscreen Photo Viewer is a program designed for high-quality viewing of high-resolution pictures on the computer screen.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

PhotoScale! - Ver: 0.1

PhotoScale is a picture resizing and format changing tool. It can scale all the images inside a directory to a defined resolution quite quickly.

It's pretty useful for users of social networking and photo sharing sites.

It's an ideal tool when you have to upload to the web huge amounts of pictures. Most social networking sites use quite low image resolutions and uploading 3072x2304 (7 megapixels, approximately 4.5 megabytes) pictures is both a waste of time and bandwidth.

Minimum requirements: Windows all/ Java

PhotoTitle - Ver: 3.0

PhotoTitle allows you to add comments, time stamps, pictures and thinking bubbles to your digital photos.

You can add comments with various font, colour and size. With PhotoTitle you can easy add comments, time stamps, pictures and thinking bubbles to group of photos by one click! Also you can use batch renaming for your photos.

Main features :-

• Add your text, pictures, think bubbles;
  
• Tune up the transparency of your text, pictures, think bubbles;
  
• Add the date and time of photo (from EXIF info)
  
• Add watermarks
  
• Convert your photo to sepia
  
• Resize your photo
  
• Rotate your photo
  
• Change Saturation of your photo
  
• Change Brightness of your photo
  
• Change Contrast of your photo
  

• Add your text, pictures, think bubbles to the group of photos
  
• Add watermark to the group of photos
  
• Change size of the group of photos
  
• Rotate the group of photos
  
• Rename the group of photos.
  

Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Email

Postbox - Ver: 1.0b10

Postbox helps you make the most of your email, offering powerful new ways to find, use, and view email messages and content, organise your work life, and get stuff done.

Postbox works behind the scenes to catalog everything in your email. We mean everything: every bit of text, every contact, address and link. Every picture, document and attachment. It's all in the catalog and it's all searchable.

Just click the Images tab to see a thumbnail gallery of every picture from every message, or the Attachments tab to browse through documents, files and more. And since Postbox does all of it's cataloging on your own computer, the privacy and confidentiality of your email information is preserved.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Games

Blitz Boulders - Ver: 1.0

Blitz Boulders is a good Boulderdash clone that resembles Rocks 'n' Diamonds.

The levels can be played in any order if you wish to and the game speed is adjustable.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Dyson - Ver: 1.20

Real-time strategy games have a fairly basic gameplay model: Acquire resources, build units, swarm the enemy. Dyson, a freeware game from Dyson Games, strips the model to the very basics. No cut scenes, no tech trees, no micromanaging miners or farmers. Dyson very deliberately steers away from much of the classic imagery to focus purely on gameplay.

The premise: You control semi-autonomous robots mining an asteroid belt. Beginning with a single world, you direct your swarms to either build "Dyson Trees" (which produce more units), "Defensive Trees", which can help blow up attackers, or explore other worlds. Each world is unexplored until your units get there, and this is where strategy comes in. Each world is rated for speed, power, and strength--and all units built on that world (there is only one basic unit) mimic those attributes. Want fast flyers? Build on a world with a high Speed value. Want tough tanks? Build on a world with a high Strength value. It takes 15 units to begin a tree, and each world can only have 5 trees, split over offense and defense, so build wisely. While there's only one "unit" in the game, the visual appearance is indicative of the overall strengths and weaknesses--fast units have bigger wings, for example.

Further, each world has a radius which limits how far units from it can be sent. Some worlds form, in effect, dead ends--no new worlds can be reached from them. This can force you to begin development in another direction. In Dyson, you tend to spread in a fractal fashion, with each world becoming productive and then sending probes to the worlds nearest to it, and so on.

Of course, there are enemies to fight. Some worlds are inhabited by your unnamed foe. In Dyson, there is no real management of units beyond "point them at the world." Once they're engaged, all units fight independently, destroying enemy units and taking down their trees (which keep them from spawning more units). Pretty much, whoever can arrive with overwhelming force, wins. There is no way I have found to intercept enemy units on the march.. er... fly... , so you need to watch the map for signs of conflict and hastily send in supporting troops. On large maps, you can find your attention diverted all over the place -- while you're marshalling forces for an assault on one world, you will find worlds on the other side of the map succumbing to the enemy.

Dyson is a much simpler game than Warcraft or Command and Conquer, but it does not lack for replayability, and it is being actively developed with new features. Gameplay is quick, making Dyson a perfect "lunch hour" game.

Licence: Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista/ .Net Framework 2.0

Game Booster - Ver: 1.0

Game Booster can help you to get better performance from your PC while playing resource intensive games.

Licence: Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7

Home/Office

CardMaster - Ver: 6.05

Looking for a simple-to-use piece of software to manage your contacts - on a budget of zero dollars?

RGS-Avancesoft's CardMaster offers all the basic tools you need for contact management, including easy searching and sorting, the ability to attach photos and notes to contacts, and simple printing. You can also export all of your contacts to a variety of formats.

CardMaster also integrates with your default e-mail program so that if you're viewing a contact and want to send e-mail to him or her, you can just click the e-mail button to launch your mail client, with the "To" field properly filled in.

Don't expect a lot of bells and whistles here, because you won't find them. But if you're looking for a straightforward contact manager - and you don't want to pay a penny - give CardMaster a try.

Licence: Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

MARS - Ver: 3.17

MARS (Membership and Activity Records System) is a complete membership, contact, and activity database for non-profit organisations.

MARS keeps track of mailing lists, contact and organisational interests, events and classes, organisations and their staff members, family members, volunteer hours, communications, fundraising activities, administrative tasks, payments of all kinds, and of course member renewals and other membership activity.

You can find information in literally thousands of different ways, and then produce reports, emails, mailing lists, labels, form letters, and all kinds of renewal materials. MARS was specifically designed to be easy to use. MARS has just one screen, five tabs, and zero menus. Full-time and part-time staff as well as volunteers can use MARS effectively and productively.

Licence: Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Smart Diary - Ver: 4.40

Smart Diary is more than a simple Diary or a Personal Information Manager (PIM).

You can plot your exercise program against your diary of health notes and see how they interact. Add information about changes in your diet and see how these changes have affected your health and activity levels. See how your mood is affected by your sleep.

Track fatigue against dreams, diet or any part of your life that you choose. In addition to using informative graphs to show you how your choices affect your life, Smart Diary has all of the functions that you would expect to find in a professionally designed Personal Information Manager. Smart Diary's components work together to help you keep track of your life.

Licence: Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Internet

Ashampoo Internet Accelerator - Ver: 2.11

Ashampoo Internet Accelerator will boost the speed of your internet connection by changing Windows default parameters.

Many windows settings work in harmony in order to get the best out of an available internet connection. Unfortunately, the factory design of these settings means that they are often not optimised for a particular connection type, or they are adjusted by a newly installed software product unasked.

The consequences are plain to see: the computer can`t get the best out of your internet connection. As a user, this means you have to wait longer until web pages have loaded in your browser or until internet downloads are finished.

For beginners and for most professionals, it simply isn't`t possible to find the settings necessary for the fine tuning of the internet in the registry - let alone to edit them. No problem: the Ashampoo Internet Accelerator 2 will be pleased to complete this job for you!

A slow internet connection costs time and gets on your nerves. For this reason, taking the time to optimise the settings is almost considered a must - particularly since an optimisation in terms of speed doesn't come with any additional cost, neither for a hardware extension nor for the software, as the Ashampoo Internet Accelerator 2 can be used completely free of charge.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

CSE HTML Validator Lite - Ver: 9.02

CSE HTML Validator Lite is a fast, easy to use, and FREE (for personal and educational use) HTML development tool for Microsoft Windows that helps you create problem-free HTML and XHTML documents.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Deluge - Ver: 1.1.6

The Deluge application was designed to be a full-featured BitTorrent client. Deluge uses libtorrent in it's backend and PyGTK for it's user interface.

Here are some key features of "Deluge" :-

• Web UI
  
• BitTorrent Protocol Encryption
  
• Mainline DHT
  
• Scrape support
  
• FAST protocol extension
  
• Peer Exchange
  
• PnP and NAT-PMP
  
• Local Peer Discovery (aka LSD)
  
• Proxy support
  
• Web seed
  
• Private Torrents
  
• Global and per-torrent speed limits
  
• Configurable bandwidth scheduler
  
• Password protection
  
• RSS
  

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

DownTester - Ver: 1.0

DownTester allows you to easily test your Internet download speed in multiple locations around the world. It automatically test the download speed of the URL's that you choose, one after another.

Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ 7

InternetScrap - Ver: 2.40

As you use internet more and more, bookmarked sites' contents change or disappear. Sometimes, totally gone to nowhere. Bookmarked information become obsolete.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

TOWeb Free Edition - Ver: 2.74

Between overly simplistic "Personal Home Page" tools and the deep, dark, depths of full content management suites like Joomla, lies ToWeb Free Edition.

This useful program serves those who want more than pictures of their cat but don't have the time or inclination to learn CSS and muck about with configuration files and editing raw DHTML.

ToWeb uses a wizard-style interface to guide you through everything from selecting a topic for your Web page to actually uploading it to a host (you will need to provide a hosting service). However, simply clicking next-next-next will produce a subpar experience. Each page of ToWeb's wizard (and you can easily move forward and backwards without losing changes) is filled with ever deeper layers of options and choices, allowing a surprising degree of customisation within a fairly standard web page layout. ToWeb also functions as an ongoing content management system, allowing you to easily add and integrate new content to your site.

All of the underlying work - the raw HTML and CSS which composes the site - is hidden from you; you work entirely within the GUI, clicking checkboxes, selecting items from drop down menus, and so on. You can easily preview your in-development site on your local system before committing it to upload, and that's a good thing - it is very easy to create truly hideous combinations of colours and graphical elements, often referred to by designers as "Angry Fruit Salad."

ToWeb's free version automatically posts advertising banners and links, and limits your Web site's size, as well as disallowing commercial use. There are a variety of licenses available which unlock additional functionality, but there are plenty of things to play with in the free version before deciding to upgrade.

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ NT/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector - Ver: 1.01

If you're a frequent user of Wi-Fi hot spots, you'll find this free software an invaluable tool, especially if you need to troubleshoot connections.

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector finds nearby Wi-Fi networks, gives an extraordinary information about each, manages your Wi-Fi connections, and monitors and reports on network speed and performance.

For each network that it finds, Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector tells you whether it's encrypted or not and if so, what encryption it uses; the signal strength; manufacturer of the router; what channel and frequency it uses; and whether it's an access point or a peer-to-peer connection--and more as well.

To help troubleshoot, the software also displays your IP address, information about your adapter and IP configuration. In addition, it pings your configured DNS server and gateway to make sure they're active and alive.

There's plenty more here as well, including a speed tester. The software is a more powerful version of Xirrus's free Wi-Fi Monitor, which runs as a Vista gadget. Both pieces of software are immensely useful for people who frequently connect to Wi-Fi networks.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Zultrax P2P - Ver: 4.32

From a review by Download.com

"Zultrax is a peer-to-peer client that looks good, makes it easy to find files, and operates over two networks, but it isn't memory-stingy.

Zultrax installs with a lot of explanation screens for novice users. Most users will be able to start searching as soon as the program loads. Zultrax's tabbed interface makes it very easy to check program functions and search results. The application quickly searches either the Gnutella or Zepp networks or combines a search over both.

We found a lot of hits for our test files, but most were on a single peer. Unfortunately, Zultrax doesn't list which peers are on fast connections. However, a tab that lists all downloads by completeness and speed makes it easy to cancel sluggish files. You can easily manage the files available for download. Zultrax includes a basic audio and video player to make it simple to verify that you have the correct file. For users interested in behind-the-scenes information, Zultrax features traffic data and swarming information.

We can't say Zultrax is a memory hog when compared to Firefox 2, but this application uses more memory than Windows Explorer. Novice-friendly, advanced user-flexible and well-connected, Zultrax makes P2P file searches easy to accomplish."

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ XP/ Vista

Multi Media

GOM Media Player - Ver: 2.1.16.4613

GOM Media Player might very well be the most hassle-free and full-featured freeware media player available.

The player boasts several unique features - including support for a wide range of video file formats and built-in video and audio codec's that permit you to play video files encoded in the most popular formats without having to download additional files - as well as a codec finder that points you to download sites for the few encoding formats the program doesn't natively support.

The application also sports a patented ability to play corrupted, broken, or partially-downloaded video files, something that typically stymies most media player applications. You don't even have to wait to get the entire file to start watching: Even while you're still downloading a file, GOM Media Player can begin playback, so you don't miss a minute of the action.

With this impressive ease of use - and advanced features like support for several subtitling protocols used in digital video, settings to help you improve the playback quality of your files, and a built-in screen capturing utility - GOM could easily become your favourite media player.

Minimum requirements; Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

PDF

doPDF Free PDF Converter - Ver: 6.2.296

Using doPDF you can freely convert documents to searchable PDF files from any Windows application.

It installs as a printer driver and helps you generate the PDF files by simply selecting the "print" command from any application (you can convert your Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, AutoCad drawings, company's reports, contracts, workflows, agreements, marketing plans, forms, products list, price list, charts, emails or web pages).

The resulted PDF files can be viewed on any computer with a PDF viewer (reader) installed. doPDF has a lot of features that allows you to: modify the paper size, modify the resolution (from 72 to 2400 dpi), change page orientation (portrait, landscape), change the quality settings and lots more.

The user interface supports localisation, thus using doPDF in your own language (currently English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Czech, Korean, Dutch, Japanese, Polish, Swedish, Portuguese, Brazilian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Chinese Simplified, Russian, Greek and Hungarian are supported).

minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Registry

Free Window Registry Repair - Ver: 2.0

Free Window Registry Repair enables you to scan your Windows registry to find and remove errors or invalid registry entries.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

RegAlyzer - Ver: 1.6.2.15

RegAlyzer application was designed to be a tool that will help you browse and change the registry.

RegAlyzer was created because a few features were missed in the original regedit tool, from support for exotic value types over background and regular expression search to better bookmarks, displaying .reg files in the accustomed style and a history view.

Here are some key features of "RegAlyzer" :-

• Improved search function (results list)
  
• Hierarchical bookmark support
  
• Jump to key by command line parameter
  
• Jump to key by typing/copying it into dialog (instead of browsing)
  
• DWord editing with parallel hex/decimal/binary display
  
• Support of QWord (64 bit integer)
  
• Display of .reg file contents without importing it
  
• Support of version 5 files (Unicode) even with Windows 95/NT
  
• Low-level display of security settings with option to export it
  

Minimum requirements: Windows all

RegCompact Pro - Ver: 2.6.7

RegCompact Pro solves the problem of registry bloat by rewriting the registry hives into new files which are completely optimised and often much smaller.

Minimum requirements: Windows NT4/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

TweakNow RegCleaner - Ver: 4.1

This program is a lot more than a Registry Cleaner - it includes a Disk Cleaner, Disk Usage Analyser, Registry Defragmenter, Startup Manager, Track Cleaner and Uninstall Program module.

The Registry is a heart and soul of any Windows system. It contains information that controls how your Windows appears and how it behaves. Most applications today use registry to store configuration and other important data.

When you install an application, a new registry entries will be created. These entries will automatically be deleted when you uninstall the application. Unfortunately, it does not always work that way. Sometimes, you will find that some applications fail to remove their own registry entries. These entries will become obsolete.

After a long period, and after installing and uninstalling many applications, your Windows registry will contain a large number of obsolete entries. These will significantly increase the registry size and thus will slow down your computer, because Windows will need more time to load, search, and read data from registry.

To keep your computer in top performance, it is recommended to periodically clean your Windows registry.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Security

AnalogX Script Defender - Ver: 1.03

Malware authors use a variety of underhanded ways of trying to infect your PC, notably using scripts including Visual Basic Scripting (.VBS), Java Script (.JS) and Windows Scripting (.WSH).

AnalogX Script Defender is a free, simple way to get help thwarting them. Install the program, and then whenever one of those scripts tries to run on your PC, a warning pops up, telling you that a script is about to run, and asking you whether you wan to let it proceed. To stop the script, tell Script Defender to abort. If you're familiar with the script, and know it's safe, let it proceed.

You can tell Script Defender to stop other scripting types by entering the extension into the program, which will then stop that extension from running as well. Script Defender by itself won't keep your PC safe from all harm, but it's a nice addition to those concerned about safety - and these days, that should be everyone.

Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

AVG LinkScanner - Ver: 8.5.289

The most dangerous page on the web may be the one you are about to click on. AVG LinkScanner provides an advanced layer of security against fast-moving, invisible web threats, and hacked web sites.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Comodo Internet Security - Ver: 3.8

Comodo Internet Security (CIS) combines Comodo's sturdy firewall and state-of-the-art antivirus protection in one suite.

Defends your PC against 1 billion executables including viruses, root kits, Trojans, and zero-day attacks. And even with all these great features, CIS is free.\

NOTE: The installer of this program will, by default, change your Home Page, your search provider and add a tool bar. If you do not want this to happen, please remove the ticks from the relevant boxes.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

FlyingBit Password Keeper - Ver: 1.2.2.26

FlyingBit Password Keeper offers a simple solution for the problem of remembering a lot of confidential information. For example, it may include passwords, serial numbers and all kinds of codes.

All information is kept in a special encrypted database.

Thus, even if someone gains access to the storage, it will be impossible to read information from it. Due to reliable encryption algorithms, such as AES, Towfish and Blowfish, your password database is securely protected.

Here are some key features of "FlyingBit Password Keeper" :-

• Supporting various database encryption algorithms
  
• Grouping entries by categories
  
• Automatically clearing the clipboard
  
• Copying the value of a field with one mouse click
  
• Supporting custom fields
  
• Storing notes
  
• Simple and clear interface
  
• Comfortable navigation with the help of a tree-like list
  
• Working with removable media

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Panda USB Vaccine - Ver: 1.0

Panda, an antivirus software company, has a new free Panda USB Vaccine available for download that can disable the Windows Autorun feature for an entire PC or a particular USB drive.

The Autorun feature in Windows can make it easier to install software - and it can also be exploited by malware like the Conficker worm, which co-opts the feature to spread itself. The risk has been written about before, and turning off Autorun can be a good idea for better computer security.

When you run the tool, you can click a button to vaccinate your computer (disabling Autorun), and you can then click the button again to turn Autorun back on.

You can also connect a USB drive and choose to disable Autorun just for that drive. But note that it's a permanent step when done for a particular drive, and can't be reversed.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP Vista

Prevx CSI - Ver: 3.0.1.56

The Prevx CSI is a fast effective scanning and real-time checking against the most comprehensive malware database in the world.

Prevx CSI is click-and-go and requires no installation or reboot, which makes it quick and easy to use. Its small size allows you to take it anywhere,you have the possibility to use it as many times as you like and even copy or send it to your friends.

Prevx CSI allows you to benefit from the knowledge gained from the entire Prevx community.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ 2003/ Vista

Utilities

Batchrun - Ver: 4.1

Batchrun will let you create batch files using a graphical interface. In the good old days of DOS .bat files took care of this task. They still do, but they are not exactly user friendly.

• Launch files of any file type
  
• Internal commands: Run, Copy, Rename, Makedir, Delete, DelTree, End Process Wildcard support for Copy, Delete and DelTree
  
• Makedir nested dir creation
  
• Drag and Drop between Explorer and Batchrun
  
• Support for date and time tags
  
• Save batch files directly to Startup and Desktop.
  

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Cleanmem - Ver: 1.4.1

The program will install and set it to run every 30 min via the windows task scheduler. Install it and your done! The program doesn't run in the background, once it does its job it closes and doesn't run again until the task scheduler runs it.

The program is very simple to operate as it will run and clean the memory out of all processes it can, without any user input.

Some anti viruses and such protect their processes so of course cleanmem can't touch those.

This doesn't work like other memory cleaners that do nothing but force windows to free up memory by using up all the available memory. This old trick then causes your system to lag big time!

Cleanmem works in a matter of about 5 sec. It uses a windows api call that is in Windows 2000,XP,2003,Vista & 2008 that tells windows to cleanup the workspace of a processes thus freeing up any memory the process no longer needs. Other memory cleaners end up forcing the memory into the page file slowing down your system. This tool does not. The API call frees up unused memory from programs, when a program needs the memory again it can simply take it back instead of forcing the memory out of ram and into the page file.

A good example is this, say you have Quickbooks installed and setup for multi user mode. The Quickbooks service takes 37MB of memory just sitting there! When cleanmem is run it uses only 600kb and won't grow again until it actually is used. The same goes for all processes.

If a processes needs more memory it gets it back in a sec, the author of this program has it set to run every 30 min in the windows task scheduler. You won't notice any performance hit of any kind even when pushing your system to the maximum playing a heavy 3D game.

So basically set it and forget it, memory leaks from programs will be a thing of the past with this tool.

If you need to run it manually you can simply make a shortcut to it in the system32 dir, or just open your run command and type in cleanmem and hit ok!

To see when it works just open the task manager.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

DesyEdit - Ver: 3.0.833

DesyEdit is a useful editor for Windows.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

FileSeek - Ver: 1.7.1

FileSeek helps locate a particular file, or information within a file, from within the ever-growing heap of data sitting on your hard drive. This free tool could provide fast and focused searches in the hands of someone comfortable with techie techniques like regular expressions and wildcards, but non-techies might be more comfortable with the built-in Windows search.

The app allows for specific searches that might include certain file types or names and exclude others, and can use wildcards in those specifications. For example, typing in "*.txt" in the Include field will tell FileSeek to only search files that end with .txt.

In its search results, FileSeek reports the filename, full path, and whether the result is based on finding a match based on the file's name or on information within the file. If it found data within a file, it will report the line number where it found a match, and the selection of text that matched. If you click a particular result you'll see a preview of the matched text in the bottom of the program window; double-clicking will open that file.

FileSeek can perform detailed, specific searches if you're a technical user, but it could use a few more user-friendly features. For instance, there isn't currently a quick option to search everywhere if you have multiple hard drives. You'd instead have to search each drive in turn. But the program's maker is releasing frequent updates which FileSeek will check for automatically, so it may soon become more polished.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ .NET Framework 2.0

Magic Memory Optimiser - Ver: 8.1.1.242

Whether you want to optimise your system performance or cleanse fragmentation collected in your system with as little effort as possible, Magic Memory Optimiser is the tool of choice.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Russell Patterson Alarm - Ver: 3.5.7

Alarm is a program for Windows which turns your computer into a fully functional alarm clock.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ .NET Framework 2.0

Tweak N' Tune - Ver: 1.1

TNT's selection of tweaks is divided into Windows, Security and Software. The settings under each have a short explanation in an information area near the bottom of the window.

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Update Notifier - Ver: 1.1.5.133

The Update Notifier is a small utility that scans your computer for installed software and displays a list of updates. Also you can see the latest updates for applications from your Watch List.

Most of the time having the latest version of a software is a good thing.
Usually software updates add new features, which makes the software more
useful. Also with every update software becomes more secure and more
stable by fixing bugs & vulnerabilities from previous versions.

Features :-

• install/run option
  
• scan selected stand-alone software
  
• delay option on start-up
  
• low memory consumption
  
• direct download links
  
• run in background
  
• multiple filters
  

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Vista Services Optimiser - Ver: 1.2

Vista Services Optimiser 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.

The program 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.

The program provides you with detailed information about certain services and enables you to query some services information using Google or Yahoo search engine to help you identify some of Windows services function.

The program can inspect your system performance and security status according to your current Windows services configurations and the way you use your computer, and give you report about the optimised and unoptimised services.

The program is a very safe tweaking utility which can optimise Windows Vista Performance and Security without causing any harm to the system. If you face any problem after services optimisation, you can with one click restore your system default settings using Smart Rescue Centre.

Minimum requirements: Windows Vista

Wipe - Ver: 2.33

Wipe is a free, easy and powerful tool to clear user browsing history, clean index.dat files, remove cookies, cache, logs, delete temporary internet files, auto complete search history and any other tracks that user leaves after using PC.

No user documents deleted, just tracks that computer records about your activity without your permission!

Tracks preview
After program starts you will see a window with a list that instantly calculates all computer tracks and garbage files, separated by areas. You can double click any item in the list to see what it stores. For example, view cookies or index.dat files. After that you can clear them all or just selected. Try this software free and you will find many many invisible areas in Windows that record your activity in many ways!

Smart program support
Wipe supports clearing tracks in Windows XP and Vista, in the most popular browsers (IE, FireFox, Opera, Chrome), and in many other programs that you use. Every month new version comes that help Wipe recognize and clear tracks in newly released software.

No recovery!
Wipe includes DODD 5220.22 (Gutmann, Russian GOST) algorithms that makes deleted tracks unrecoverable. Even more! Wipe will shred file names of deleted items so no one will be able even guess what you did on your PC!

Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Video

Clone2Go Free Video Converter - Ver: 1.7.8

Clone2Go Free Video Converter is a freeware tool that can convert video files in different formats.

The supported input video formats include: WMV, FLV, MPEG-4, MKV, RM, RMVB, AVI, 3GP, etc. The supported output video formats include: MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, etc.

With so many input and output video formats, plus customisable profile, you can easily convert video files to the specific format for your portable devices such as iPod, PSP, Zune, BlackBerry, Pocket PC and mobile phone, taking your videos on the road.

What's more, this free video converter allows you to download and convert YouTube videos for free.

Minimum requirements: Windows NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

MP4Cam2AVI - MPEG4/MJPEG to .AVI - Ver: 2.81

MP4Cam2AVI is MPEG4/MJPEG to AVI converter/joiner for MPEG-4 camcorders and digital photo cameras. It makes MPEG-4 ASP camera clips DivX/XviD compatible and playable with any DVD-MPEG4 player like regular MPEG-4 movie. Program supports *.MP4, *.MOV, and *.AVI input.

MJPEG video from photo-cameras is supported as well. Program converts *.MOV MJPEG clips to MJPEG AVI (without recompression) or to XviD MPEG-4 AVI (with recompression) in one click.

MP4Cam2AVI supports MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video from new H.264 cameras like Sanyo CG65 and Casio EX-V7 (to view target AVI, H.264 VfW codec needed, i.e latest FFDShow).

By default, MP4Cam2AVI doesn't recompress video, that means no quality loss and fast operation (5-20x realtime, depending on audio settings). Audio can be stored in source format, or converted to MP3 (best for DVD-MPEG4 players) or PCM (best for editing).

Also, MP4Cam2AVI can convert MJPEG video to MPEG-4 ASP using XviDcore GPL library. That means you can convert MJPEG MOV's from photo camera to DivX-compatible AVI in one click.

MP4Cam2AVI converts MPEG-4 ASP *.MP4 files from Nero Recode (MPEG-4 ASP video/AAC audio) to DivX AVI format with MP3 audio - it's fast and loseless for video.

Unlike many converting apps, MP4Cam2AVI doesn't require QuickTime or any codecs to work, it performs all the job itself.

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

VDownloader - Ver: 0.82

Search for videos in sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Yahoo, Megaupload, or Google at the same time. You can watch, download, or save videos with just one click.

Minimum requirements: Windows all