Monthly Disk September 2008

Freeware

Audio

Audacity Portable - Ver: 1.2.4b

This program is the popular Audacity audio editor packaged as a portable application, so you can take your audio files along with everything you need to edit and record on the go.
You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Backups

FileHamster - Ver: 1.5.2.0

FileHamster provides real-time backup and archiving of your files while you work.
It enables you to monitor specific files on your hard drive and automatically create incremental backups whenever those files are modified. It also enables you to store notes about the changes that have been made, allowing you to quickly locate a specific revision or provide a detailed account of the work you've done on a project.
It has many features, but is very easy to use and does not require any technical expertise - just point it to the directory or file you want to monitor/backup and it will do the rest.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Macrium Reflect Free Edition - Ver: 4.2 build 2017

An award winning disk imaging solution for free. A complete disaster recovery solution for your home and office.
Protect your personal documents, photos, music and e-mails. Upgrade your hard disk or try new operating systems in the safe knowledge that everything is securely saved in an easily recovered backup file. Macrium Reflect supports backup to local, network and USB drives as well as burning to all DVD formats.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Uranium Backup Free - Ver: 6.8.0.2351

Uranium Backup Free is a personal backup tool that enables you to backup your data to local drives, network drives or external USB/Firewire drives.
You can create multiple backup sets and choose to run them manually or schedule them for automatic execution. The free version is limited to simple backup sets, other versions can be purchased that offer features lacking in free version.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

ViceVersa Free - Ver: 1.04

ViceVersa is a utility which compares, mirrors, synchronises and backups folder trees. You can choose from three different ways to compare your files: timestamp, CRC or both. Differences will be shown side-by-side, in a graphical, easy to understand manner.
ViceVersa compares folders between floppy drives, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, zip drives and network drives (UNC paths supported). It can compare only files and folders that match Include and Exclude filter pattern lists which you define. In addition, the program offers a choice of six synchronisation methods, supports Copy and Delete operations for manual synchronisation as well as action preview and more.
An optional Pro version with even more features is available for a charge.
Minimum requirements: windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Burners

CDBurnerXP - Ver: ver. 4.1.2

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CD's and DVD's, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD's.It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multi language interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.
Key Features:-

  • burn all kinds of discs
  • audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
  • burn and create ISO files
  • data verification after burning process
  • create bootable discs
  • multi-language interface
  • bin/nrg to ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
    Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Desktop

360desktop - Ver: 2.0

360desktop transforms your standard Windows desktop into a 360-degree panoramic workspace, giving you many times more desktop space.
360desktop also lets users make desktop widgets from favorite pieces of the Web and create and share 360-degree interactive wallpaper. 360desktop makes your desktop a more functional place with a 360-degree panoramic view. Always have the latest news, dynamic information, video content, family photos or anything else you like at your fingertips.
Slide around your new workspace quickly and easily between all your open applications, windows and widgets - it'll spin you out. See something that you like online? You can now clip it and put it right on the desktop. You can grab any part of any Web page or your favorite web widgets, RSS feeds, games, and videos. 360-degree wallpapers brings your desktop to life, with an endless selection of themes and designs that can be inspiring, entertaining, branded, useful or just plain fun.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

A Ruler for Windows - Ver: 1.0.6

A Ruler for Windows is an on-screen pixel ruler for your PC. It provides your choice between a rich wood grain ruler, or at the touch of a button, a clear see-through plastic ruler.
As you can see through the clear plastic ruler you can even continue your typing under it. Special 2x, 3x, and 4x modes allow you to take a snapshot of your primary screen and magnify it so you can more easily measure between very fine points.
The ruler can be flipped horizontally or vertically, resized to an exact length or resized by dragging it to a desired length. You can click near a tick to have a measuring line automatically drawn at an exact location. The question mark button allows you to learn more about other features and functions.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Circle Dock - Ver: 0.9.1

Program docks organise your desktop and look appealing, but they're not always convenient to use. Circle Dock changes this with its large size, intuitive shapes, and ability to appear with a keystroke.
This attractive freebie turns the usual ribbon-like dock inside out. Its default shape is a set of concentric circles, but it can also take the form of a spiral. You can further personalise the look with included skins and your own icons. The settings window offers useful tweaks as well, such as conditions for hiding the dock and a Portability Mode that lets you tote Circle Dock on a USB drive.
Version 0.9.1 is the first release of Circle Dock, which Eric Wong created in less than a month for the DonationCoder/Veign Programming Contest. As such, it's still a little rough around the edges. Wong has a long list of improvements and additions for Circle Dock over the next few weeks and months, though, so check back for future incarnations.
NOTE: This program is donationware. It is free to try, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Gadwin PrintScreen - Ver: 4.3

Gadwin PrintScreen allows much more flexibility with that Print Screen button at the top of your keyboard. Usually when you hit the Print Screen button it loads the current screen into your clipboard.
To save the image you have to open up an image-editing application, paste it, then save the file.
Gadwin's free PrintScreen streamlines this whole process. It sits in your System Tray, and you can set a number of options. When you hit print screen (or whichever button you specify), you can choose to save the screen directly to a specific folder. You can also choose to save just a window, or a specific area of the screen.
The application also gives you the option of sending the screen capture directly to your printer or as an email, and it will even automatically resize the picture to specified dimensions. You can select the type of image you want to save.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

PrintDeskTop - Ver: 1.06

PrintDeskTop is an extremely easy to use utility, that lets you print the exact contents of your screen with a single click of a mouse or the shortcut key of your choice.
You don't have to capture your screen image before printing it, just click the new icon, that is added to the start menu and everything will happen automatically - there is no configuration or learning curve.
This program initially opens with a tutorial.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

RocketDock - Ver: 1.3.5

RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organisation.Now with added Task bar support your minimised windows can appear as icons on the dock. This allows for better productivity and accessibility
Features:-

  • Minimise windows to the dock.
  • Real-time window previews in Vista.
  • Running application indicators.
  • Simple drag-n-drop interface.
  • Multi-monitor support.
  • Supports alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons.
  • Icons zoom and transition smoothly.
  • Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over.
  • Positioning and layering options.
  • Fully customisable.
  • Completely Portable.
  • ObjectDock Docklet support.
  • Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y'z Dock skins. Runs great on slower computers.
  • Unicode compliant.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ NT/ XP/ Vista

Digital Imaging

AndreaMosaic - Ver: 3.22

AndreaMosaic lets you make beautiful images from photos stored on your hard drive. (It's freeware, but if you like the program, you can make a PayPal donation.)
Don't worry about the somewhat confusing interface. This will tell you what you need to know to get started, and the excellent user guide can explain the rest.
The first time you run AndreaMosiac, the program will want to know what collection of photos it should use as source material to be your new creation's "pixels." To keep things simple, you might want to grab a hundred or so of your favourite photos and copy them to a new folder. Then, in AndreaMosiac, click Find Tiles. Click Create Collection, navigate to the folder with the source photos, and name your collection. It'll take a few minutes for AndreaMosiac to create the collection, so have some patience. When it's done, click Close. You'll be back on AndreaMosaic's main screen, where you need to fill in a few more details. In Step 2, for example, you need to enter a width for each tile. I suggest a number between 50 and 100 for this first mosaic.
The last step is to choose a photo to turn into a mosaic. AndreaMosiac is not going to change the photo - it will use whatever photo you choose as a template and make the mosaic look like it. Click Add Image and select any photo on your computer. When you're done, click Create the Mosaic's (perhaps a donation will help the author correct the grammar). After a few minutes of processing, you'll get your first mosaic.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Imgares - Ver: 1.41

Shrink batch of photos in three easy steps with Imgares. You can also rotate photos, add text to them and make a slide show (as an .avi movie) with a bunch of transition effects and your own voice comment.
Image files from digital cameras are far too large to send over the Internet. With Imgares, in a few clicks you can shrink batch of photos, and reduce transfer times. Simply drag & drop your photos to the application's window, change the size and press 'Start'. That's all.
Imgares also enables you to rotate photos, add text to them and make a slide show (as a movie). All of these in 'batch' mode, that is - you can process many of images at once.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

JAlbum - Ver: 8.0.9

JAlbum allows you to create nice-looking photo galleries for the Web. You simply select or drag and drop folders containing images or movie files onto JAlbum, and it creates thumbnails and HTML pages to publish your images as a gallery or as a picture slide show.
The galleries are based on various templates, and their appearance can be further customised by advanced users. The application's additional features include support for IPTC/EXIF data, style sheets, lossless image manipulation, plugable image filters, a built-in FTP/SFTP client and a built-in web server that allows anyone to share Web albums straight from their own computers.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Pos Free Photo Editor - Ver: 1.05

Pos Free Photo Editor is a free, simple and very user friendly photo editor, that lets you easily view, and enhance your photos.
The photo editor supports the major graphic formats and is very intuitive to work with without any "headaches" - It was especially designed for novices as for the short learning curve.
The software also includes advanced but very easy to use multiple image printing tool, that allows you to easily print multiple images on a single page or paper in various ways and effects. It also helps you saving on expensive paper.
NOTE: This software comes with Photo Pos Toolbar toolbar, that can be installed or uninstalled at the user's choice.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Web Photo Album - Ver: 1.2

Web Photo Album offers the easiest way to create photo galleries for the web. It is user friendly to ensure that even new users will be able to create a web album in a couple of clicks.
Easy installation, built-in wizard, context sensitive tooltips make creating a professional looking web gallery a breeze. Web Photo Album supports drag and drop, so you can easily add images or folders directly from Explorer or your desktop. Subfolders support lets you add a folder with all subfolders included keeping the folder hierarchy intact.
This will let you accurately organise heaps of images within one album. Moreover, Web Photo Album is the only photo album generator that lets you view the result immediately in real time. This means you can see how your album looks as soon as you've added images to it without waiting for the program to generate the album.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

Email

Cool Picture Mailer - Ver: 1.0

Easily edit and send pictures by e-mail to your friends and family members. Simply import your files into the application and flip or rotate them with a single mouse click.
Cool Picture Mailer automatically optimises and scales your digital content to fit in the recipients mail reader. Supports spawning files over multiple e-mails. E-mail settings are automatically imported from your existing Windows Mail, Outlook Express, or IncrediMail account.
Minimum requirements: Windows Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ .Net Framework 2.0.

DreamMail - Ver: 4.4.1.0

DreamMail is one of the best email client software in the world; specialising in sending and receiving your emails. It was designed to handle multi-user and multi email account.
The protocols supported include SMTP, eSMTP, POP 3, Hotmail and Yahoo as well. It uses the multi-thread ultra-fast speed when receiving and sending mails. With the supplementary remote mail box access function, you might use it to logon your mail account remotely and check the mail content, preview even to delete it directly from the server; The combination use of mail filter, blacklist and white list, can sort out the junk mail effectively; DreamMail can the automatic detection harmful mail, to improve system safety; Moreover, DreamMail also supports the post-direct, voice mail, anonymous deliver, bulk sending and so on. DreamMail fully supports the HTML mail body, the mail template, signature as well as the backup and the archive email.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

xTerminator - Ver: 5.0

xTerminator 5 will help you block spam and most worms before they even reach your mailbox. You'll be able to delete unwanted messages directly from the server thus saving valuable time and bandwidth.
While working as a client on Windows Compatible PC it's actually intercepting messages before they're fully downloaded to users PC. After checking message headers (body only when needed) on the server xTerminator can either delete messages from the server automatically or offer users to select unwanted messages manually.
Besides this basic functionality xTerminator can use built in challenge/response system where unknown senders receive a message containing a questions that they must reply to with a correct answer for his message to be accepted by the recipient. If both a question and the answer are something known only to your friends, you have a pretty safe method for keeping unwanted spammers out of your mailbox.
Latest release include full multi account support where each account can be filtered in a different way and at last but not least, xTerminator 5 can be used from USB Stick or Memory Card. When in this mode, xTerminator can be used from any public computer without fear that any messages or settings will be publicly exposed. While working from USB key xTerminator doesn't write anything to the PC. All information like logs or settings changes are saved only to users removable media.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ 2000/ NT/ XP/ Vista

Games

Bontago - Ver: 1.1

Developed by Juniors at DigiPen Institute of Technology, Bontãgo is an intense single or multi player 3d real-time strategy game.
Players begin with flags (one colour for each player) spaced evenly around the edge of a large disk, called the field, balanced on a fulcrum in the centre. Around each flag is a circle representing that player's controlled area. Every few seconds a block appears on each player's cursor. The players must place the blocks somewhere in their controlled areas. Players can place the block at any moment in the allotted time, or can hold it until time is up and the block will fall on its own and be replaced by the next block.
The goal of the game is to encompass all of the world flags in the controlled area. To expand the controlled area, the player must build upwards and outwards. The radius of the controlled area (and thus the area the player may place blocks in) is determined using the height of the player's structures perpendicular to the disk. If controlled areas of opposing players meet, a hole is formed in the disk in the overlapping region. The first player to possess a continuous area containing the world flags wins.
Real-time multi player strategy. Up to 8 players can test their skills online.Blocks are given randomly to players and come in a variety of semi-random shapes. The base block unit is a cube. Several types of blocks are made as a combination of base units.
Specialty blocks can be attained by extending the controlled area around gift boxes randomly dropped on the map during the game. The next block the player receives after encircling the crate will be a specialty block. These include volcano, earthquake, rocket, and other blocks. Smashing a specialty block in any obvious way will activate it.
Experiment with free-form building in the sandbox. Bontãgo uses realistic Tokamak powered physics, and the disk can tilt on its fulcrum if certain special blocks are activated. Towers will fall, blocks will slide off the game world, and specialty blocks will wreak havoc on opponents. Although the rules are simple, strategic thinking, quick reflexes, and a bit of luck is required to win this game.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

Logyx Pack - Ver: 1.57

Logyx Pack is a collection of 25 different logic games: Puzz, Zookey, Bapp, Foldex, Hopper, Zoodoku, Mem Pro, Spiny Goo, Mips, Moc, Inrot, Zyx, Qwez, Zbam, Thux, Rotiz, Woosho, Newpy, Cossai, Sanno, Tac 3D, Symh, Geex, Micro Master Mind, and Baca.
You can adjust options to be suitable for almost all ages. They all have basic but understandable descriptions.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Mail Room Madness - Ver: 1.6

In this game of logic and strategy, a disgruntled employee has scattered the mail all around the postal building and your job is to gather all the letters again.
The playing surface is vertical, with gravity trying to pull everything down. You can move left and right, pickup and drop objects on top of each other, push reels and travel up and down in elevators (which themselves can be picked up and dropped).
All these things will help you achieve your goal of reaching the letters that seem out-or-reach!
One of the letters also contains a secret message which will only be discovered after all the letters have been collected.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

Home/Office

AceMoney Lite - Ver: 3.1

AceMoney Lite is free account-management software. It will help you keep a tight rein on your spending habits, your stock portfolio, and your bill payments.
With more than 100 transaction categories, support for password protection, 150 currencies, and more than 20 supported languages, AceMoney Lite is powerful and clever enough for any home user or even for small businesses. It supports QIF and OFX file formats, allowing you to download information from online banks or to import it from another account's software.
AceMoney Lite can generate custom reports based on any parameters you define, and can call up bar graphs and pie charts. On top of that, AceMoney Lite provides a simple loan calculator and a professional mortgage analyser. Version 3.10 adds archiving, duplicate check number warning, mouse wheel support in a list of accounts and reports, support for simple arithmetic expressions to all dialogs, and support to download quotes and exchange rates through proxy server.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

iMoney Lite - Ver: 1.29.03

iMoney Lite is a freeware personal finance software, budget manager, money manager.
It has all the features of its iMoney except multiple accounts management. iMoney Lite helps people organise and manage their personal finances quickly and easily. It supports all the features required for home or even small-business accounting needs.
Using iMoney Lite, you can, accurately record different financial transactions, arrange different scheduled transactions, have a well-thought-out plan to set budgets, master assets and liabilities situation, grasp and analyse income and expenses, and track and analyse investments.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

WordWeb - Ver: 5.5

This thesaurus/dictionary can be used to look up words from almost any program.
In addition to displaying sense definitions and synonyms, WordWeb can find sets of related words. The database has more than 150,000 root words and 120,000 synonym sets, many proper nouns, pronunciations, and usage tags.
WordWeb works off line, but when online you can also quickly view web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

World Wind - Ver: 1.4

World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth.
Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, as if you were really there. Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0/ DirectX 9.0c drivers

Internet

AM-DeadLink - Ver: 3.3 Final

AM-DeadLink detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser Bookmarks.
If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can delete it from your Browser.
This program checks Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Opera and Netscape.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

CurrPorts - Ver: 1.37

CurrPorts will display the list of all currently opened TCP/IP and UDP ports on your PC.
For each port in the list, information about the process that opened the port is also displayed, including the process name, full path of the process, version information of the process (product name, file description), the time that the process was created, and the user that created it.
It allows you to close unwanted TCP connections, kill the process that opened the ports, and save the TCP/UDP ports information to HTML file, XML file, or to tab-delimited text file. CurrPorts also automatically mark with pink colour suspicious TCP/UDP ports owned by unidentified applications.
This utility works perfectly under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. You can also use this utility on previous versions of Windows (Windows 98/ME), but in these versions of Windows, the process information for each port won't be displayed.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

PingInfoView - Ver: 1.0

The simplest of all Internet tools is the humble ping command, which lets you use the command prompt to contact a Web site and see if it's alive, and if it responds to your ping request.
It also resolves host names to IP addresses - in other words, if you issue the command ping www.pcworld.com, it will tell you the site?s associated IP address. And it also tells you the speed of the connection and response.
The free PingInfoView makes the simple ping command a lot more useful. It lets you ping multiple Web sites simultaneously, will ping the sites on any schedule you set, and displays the results in a graphical interface, rather than in a command prompt.
Is this an earth-shaking tool? Certainly not. But if you use ping at all, you'll find it a useful, worthy alternative.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

SeaMonkey - Ver: 1.1.11

Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple - all your Internet needs in one application.
The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to deliver production-quality releases of code derived from the application formerly known as "Mozilla Application Suite".
Whereas the main focus of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, our group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that you can have "everything but the kitchen sink" - and have it stable enough for corporate use.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

sQusi Tracking Plus - Ver: 2.15

sQusi is both a free Internet Explorer add-on and a Firefox extension in one package.
It is designed to take the clutter out of browsing and to prevent sites such as Facebook.com from tagging and tracking you across the Web. sQusi combines a continuously updated global database with a local one that you can use to override global settings to block or unblock URL's of your choosing. Now you can say goodbye to the Hosts File editors that choke your machine and to multiple add-ons/extensions.
sQusi combines the functionality of several available extensions (ad blocking, script blocking and cookie/cache cleaning) in a single application that requires zero effort on your part. sQusi will work with both Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows XP and Vista.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista/ Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework

VisualRoute 2008 Lite - Ver: 12.0g

Here's another update of a venerable command line Internet tool, tracert.
The command line tool displays the route you take to contact a Web server or other Internet device - every hop on every server or router along the way, along with the server's or router's IP address, and how long it take to get to each server or router.
This program displays all that in a visually appealing way, not just through the command line. It shows a map of every hop along the way, and graphs it against a background that shows response times. Highlight any hop, and you'll see important details, such as packet loss and speed.
In addition, the program displays a narrative of the route, detailing whether the route has fast, average or slow throughput, and highlighting any problems along the way. This version of the program is free, but there are a variety of for-pay versions also available that offer many extra features, such as displaying network names of devices, testing DNS services, and more.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Multi Media

FormatFactory - Ver: 1.40

Whether you're looking to change a video format to save space or because you lack a necessary codec, FormatFactory could be the last converter you'll need. It's not perfect, but it handles 12 types of video formats, six audio types, eight image formats, and DVD/ISO conversions with speed and accuracy.
The interface is simple and utilitarian, although spiked with format-icons and a big banner announcing the program's name for no reason other than to gild the lily. The left navigation menu has collapsible links to the various formats you can convert to, based on type: video, audio, image, mobile device, and ROM device. Below the massive title banner, the central pane sports decorative icons until you start the conversion process.
Once you've selected your files, you can change the output quality to presets or custom settings. Hit Start on the Toolbar of the main window to begin the process, which is surprisingly fast for smaller video files. FormatFactory excels at batch conversion without error. It does, however, eat up much of your processor while it's running even one conversion.
Because there are so many file formats out there and even more codecs, it's likely that FormatFactory will fail to convert at some point. Nevertheless, FormatFactory is a solid, free, catch-all converter, with excellent tools.
Minimum requirements: Windows NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Fresh View - Ver: 7.50

Fresh View is a free software designed to help you organise and view multimedia files (images, audio, and video).
It gives you the ability to watch movies, listen to music, and view graphics in a slide show. Image files in a folder can be displayed using a number of views, such as thumbnails view that lets you quickly see what your images are without having to open them.
You can convert graphics from one type to another, print, and even create a HTML album. This easy-to-use software supports 86 different formats.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

InstalledCodec - Ver: 1.02

InstalledCodec is a small utility displays the list of all Codec drivers and DirectShow filters currently installed on your system.
For each component the following information is displayed: Display Name, Type, Disabled Status, Installed/Modified Time, Description, Company Name, Filename, and more...
It allows you to easily disable or enable any Codec/DirectShow component or export the list into text/xml/html file.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Kodak Easyshare Software - Ver: 7.0

Kodak's critically-acclaimed, full-featured software - organise your photos, express your creativity, and get connected to our online service, Kodak Gallery.
Kodak Easyshare Software seamlessly gets your photos off your camera and organised on your computer with just a few clicks. Super simple EasyShare Software tools let you do things you never thought you could. Reduce red-eye, create greeting cards, albums, photo-mugs, and order other great photo gifts from the Gallery.
NOTE: This program took forever and a day to install and seemed to be constantly downloading from the Internet.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

MagicDisc - Ver: 2.7.101

MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD-ROM is a utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD drives and CD/DVD discs.
MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulates audio, data, and game CDs and DVD's with ISO image, CD and DVD images. MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD-ROM offers 200x speed and noiseless CD/DVD access without a physical drive. It supports creating up to 15 virtual drivers.
You can run games, software, see movies (VCD, SVCD, DVD), and hear music directly from your hard disk without inserting and swapping CD's and DVD's. MagicDisc allows you to use almost all CD/DVD image without burning them onto CD or DVD in order to easily access your favourite games, music, or software programs. It works like a real CD/DVD-ROM:
You can run programs, play games, or listen to music from your virtual CD-ROM. It can compress ISO CUE MDS NRG CCD image; can encrypt ISO CUE MDS NRG CCD image; can make ISO image from CD/DVD; It can mount UDF only CD/DVD image and multi-session MDS/MDF and CCD/IMG image.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Teen Spirit - Ver: 0.94.805

Teen Spirit mainly is a Music Organizer. It allows you to add folders / CD's / DVD's to an integrated database.
It will then search in those collections for audio video files, and extract their tagged(ID3v2) information if exists. Otherwise it will parse filenames, folder names to get as much info as it can automatically.
At the end, it will have your whole collection and it will present it in a familiar explorer-like interface in an Artist / Album fashion (You can choose to see them in different ways though)An interesting feature in the Artist/Album interface is that it can group all artists with tracks less than a number (e,g 3) in a "[various]" field in order not to clutter the tree with thousands of artists which you own only 1-2 songs.
Main Features:

  • Audio/Video Collection Organizer
  • Support for Local/Net Folders, CD's, DVD's
  • Integrated Audio/Video Media Player
  • Automated Lyrics Downloader featuring more than 95% success in common tracks.
  • Artist/Album info/picture completely automated downloader.
  • Album HiRes Album Cover downloader
  • Quick and Advanced search options on its internal database
  • Full Text Search for words in Lyrics
  • Convenient Rating System
  • History Logger of most listening tracks
  • See the popular Artists based on your history
  • Mini Player mode in case you liked Winamp..
  • Re-discover your music with features like 'Auto-Continue'.
  • Many different categorization options
  • Renamer Engine
  • Supported Read Formats(mp3, mp2, wma, avi, mpg, mpeg, asf)
  • Supported Write Formats (write Tags)(mp3, mp2 - id3v2.3)
  • Supported Media Player Formats Formats (mp3, mp2, wma, avi, mpg, mpeg, asf)

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Security

Privacy Mantra - Ver: 2.05

Privacy Mantra keeps your computer clean from online and offline tracks. Most people are unaware that every Web site they have visited remains in the undeletable index.dat file, even after the Internet history and cache has been removed.
Your system also is keeping information of executables you run, movies you watch, and documents you open. Some of these prints can not be deleted manually as they are locked by the system.
Privacy Mantra will erase and wash away most privacy threats in your machine including Internet history, cache, cookies, index.dat files, auto-complete forms, the search assistant, recent documents, open and save dialogs, run files, in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Privacy Mantra allows the user to easily download the latest database of threats. For maximum flexibility you can also create your own cleaning plug ins and download others.
Minimum requirements: Windows NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Rohos Mini Drive - Ver: 1.19

Rohos Mini Drive encryption software that allows you to protect your USB stick by using a hidden and protected partition.
Those who have Megabytes of sensitive files on the USB drive and are seriously concerned with data security cannot imagine their USB stick without the hidden and encrypted volume that is created using this tool. Allows one to open encrypted partition on any guest computer even without having Administrator's rights.
Version 1.19 now offers up to 1 GB encrypted partition size, support Windows XP x64 and has a virtual keyboard to enter password on a guest PC to prevent malicious loggers to steal your password.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Sakina Privacy Protector - Ver: 2.4

Sakina Privacy Protector is an easy and secure program to clean activity and history traces, and securely delete online Internet tracks stored in your browser and in hidden files.
Sakina Privacy Protector can delete cookies, clean index.dat files, clean the cache, erase the recent documents history, remove temporary files, free hard drive space, empty file and temp folders, and just to protect your privacy and improve your system's performance.
Minimum requirements: Windows 9x/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Trojan Killer - Ver: 1.3.3.2

Trojan Killer application was designed to be a malicious computer software (malware) removal tool.
Samples of malware include various types of adware (displays unwanted advertising); spyware (may keep and send logs of your keyboard and mouse activity, such as credit card or personal identity information); hidden diallers (may initiate unsolicited phone call which then shows on your bill), and more.
If you are an active internet user, you should take steps to protect your sensitive personal information from possible cyber exposure. Trojan Killer will help you to timely identify and safely remove dangerous applications before it is too late.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Text to Speech

TTSReader - Ver: 1.20

TTSReader is a full-featured, text-to speech software package that allows reading text aloud as well as to wav or mp3 files.
Main Features: -

  • Intuitive user interface design.
  • Automatic highlighting of currently read text.
  • Reading to wav.
  • Reading to mp3, with adjustable settings.
  • Pronunciation corrections.
  • Support for both SAPI4 and SAPI5 voices.
  • Support for rich text formatting.
  • Skipping of sentences or paragraphs while reading.
  • Auto-reading the clipboard.
  • Reading with control tags.
  • Global hotkeys.
  • Documentation provided for all features.

Minimum requirements: Windows all

Utilities

Bill2's Process Manager - Ver: 3.2.1.6

Bill2' S Process Manager makes it possible to create rules to indicate with which priority a program must be carried out, and which processors or cores (affinity) it can use.
Moreover, these rules are automatically safeguarded, and observed in a transparent way when a process concerned is detected. This software will help you manage, rule, and then will memorise the priority and the affinity of the processes carried out.
You will be able to also manage the problem with the processors multicores, and the throw on only one processor without having to worry about their management.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Easeus Deleted File Recovery - Ver: 2.1.1

This program is designed to recover deleted files from all types of media such as Hard Disk Drives, Floppy Drives, Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Sticks, iPods and other types of removable media.
Main Features:

  • Restores files after mistakenly deleted.
  • Retrieves almost all types of files.
  • Recovers from local PC and various portable devices.
  • Supports FAT 12, FAT 16, FAT 32 and NTFS file system.
  • Supports Windows 2000/2003/XP/VISTA.
  • Previews recoverable files.
  • Fast and easy-to-use with a Graphical User Interface.
  • Safest read only software

Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

GPU-Z - Ver: 0.26

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.
Main Features :-

  • Support NVIDIA and ATI cards
  • Displays adapter, GPU and display information
  • Displays over clock, default clocks and 3D clocks (if available)
  • Validation of results
  • No installation required
Support for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

HD Tune - Ver: 2.55

HD Tune is a hard disk benchmarking and information tool.
You can use it to measures the raw performance of your drive(s), including transfer rate, burst rate, access time and more. In addition, it provides detailed information about supported hard drive features, as well as current temperature, S.M.A.R.T. Information (if available) and an error scanner.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

HeavyLoad - Ver: 2.4

Heavyload is intended to stress all resources of a PC (the CPU, RAM, hard disk, network, operating system, etc.) in order to test reliability under a heavy load.
This is useful for testing important MS Windows file or database servers before using them for production, or just to check if your new PC might get too hot when used intensively.
To stress your PC or server, HeavyLoad writes a large test-file to the temp folder, it allocates physical and virtual memory, perform complex calculations and it draws patterns in its window.
Minimum requirements: Windows all

HTML to PDF Converter - Ver: 3.9.4

The HTML to PDF Converter is a .NET 2.0 managed application which was built with the Winnovative HTML to PDF Converter Library for .NET.
The application does not require any printer driver installation or other third party tools and is delivered as a simple Windows .exe file. You can convert to PDF any Web page from a specified or HTML/MHT file from the disk completely for free.
The resulted PDF has no stamps on it or other limitations. The application allows you to add headers and footers, page numbers, set page size, page orientation and PDF compression level, embed true type fonts. Using the same application you can also convert HTML to BMP, JPEG, PNG or any other format.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ Microsoft .NET Framework

ManicTime - Ver: 1.0.0.46

ManicTime enables you to track computer usage and allows you to review which applications you have used on a certain day and for how long you were active on the computer.
The program provides a colour coded timeline that indicates activity for the selected day as well as a more detailed report for the individual applications that were used.
You also have the option to tag certain activities with custom keywords such as web browsing, word processing etc. allowing you to quickly analyze how much time you spent on certain activities.
In addition to daily reports the program can also generate simple statistics that show you how long you were active on your computer over a selected period of time.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Pandora Recovery - Ver: 2.0.1

Pandora Recovery enables you to recover accidentally deleted files from NTFS formatted drives, even if they have been emptied from the recycle bin.
The program offers a quick scan for recently deleted files and a time consuming surface scan that attempts to find all deleted JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG files. Pandora Recovery does not work with media cards or any other drives that are not NTFS formatted.
This program will find deleted files after formatting or accidental deletion, however it is limited to NTFS; does not work with media cards; surface scan only works with 5 common image formats.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Process QuickLink - Ver: 2.0

If your system slows or experiences issues, the first thing you look for is problems within the Task Manager. These issues might include applications that refuse to respond to commands.
However, you often need to go far further than this, examining problems with an open process and, in some instances, may need to close a process.
However, how do you know which open process is associated with a particular application? Indeed, how do you even understand the processes listed within the Task Manager.
There is an online service called the Process Library from Uniblue that enables you to quickly refer to various processes that run on your system. Unless you can view the site with your browser or have the resources to check online, you may be stuck. Luckily for you, Uniblue have designed an addon for the existing Task Manager that enables you to quickly see information about each open process, using the information from Process Library.
This is done by adding a small info button next to each process in the Task Manager. Simple, but a welcome addition to your Task Manager.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista

ReNamer - Ver: 5.3

ReNamer is a small, yet very flexible file and folder renamer, that offers all the standard renaming procedures, including prefixes, suffixes, replacements, case changes as well as advanced options and support for Unicode file names.
In addition, it can also remove brackets, add number sequences, remove digits or symbols and change file extensions. The program allows you to combine multiple renaming actions as a rule set, applying each action in logical sequence.
Renamer supports 60 different meta fields, including EXIF, ID3 and others, that can be used as part of the new file name. Advanced users can use Pascal Script to program their own renaming rules.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Stick - Ver: 2.8.0.66

With Stick, you can literally keep tabs on the folders that matter. Hearkening back to Mac OS 9's folder tabs feature, this freebie places tabs along your screen to help you quickly nab the file or utility you need.
Creating tabs is a snap with Stick's Tab Manager, reached with a right-click of Stick's glue-bottle System Tray icon. The program producer created what Stick calls Navigator Tabs for oft-visited folders. Then the settings (transparency, autohide, autoshow, etc.) were tweaked to minimize mousing. In short order, tabs for the most important folders were lined up along the top of the screen, ready to spring to attention with a mere mouseover.
Stick's quick and simple installation also gives you the option to add plug-ins for bare-bones utilities: calculator, calendar, RSS reader, etc. They work fine, but you can either decline to install them or try them out and - if you have something else you prefer - delete them from the Tab Manager.
Unlike many desktop utilities, Stick doesn't launch programs or run command-line utilities. It just lines up your folders for you, and it throws in a few basic utilities into the bargain. If your desktop organisation needs are simple, Stick is worth a look.
NOTE: This program is donationware. It is free to try, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/ Vista

Vista Start Menu SE - Ver: 2.92

Vista Start Menu SE is a replacement for the standard Windows Start menu that provides a different layout and interface, designed to access all your programs faster without having to go through multiple menu levels.
It displays all programs in a single view and provides cascading menus for other Start Menu entries.
The reboot and shutdown options are conveniently placed along the top of the menu and combines the Run and Find dialog along with a Google search search option into a single input field. Vista Start Menu SE can replace the original Start menu or you can launch it from the system tray.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Vista4Experts - Ver: 1.2.0.1

Vista4Experts is kind of a treat for computer experts who don't want security centre notifications, User Account Control dialogs, automatic Windows Defender scannings, automatic update installations (which cause you to reboot your system if you don't react quickly enough).
People who want MSDN (or Google) set as default search engine in the Internet Explorer search bar, who want the start menu power button to shut down the system instead of hibernating it, etc. These and many more fixes are included in Vista4Experts. All of these changes can be discarded, enabled or reversed. Vista4Experts is the first expert utility of its kind and works on every platform.
Minimum requirements: Windows Vista

Winlaunch - Ver: 4.0.1320

Winlaunch enables you to launch programs, documents, websites, folders, email messages and system commands with the help of custom keyboard shortcuts.
You can use any combination of keys, including special function keys, number pad keys and F keys and also configure exceptions that will disable the shortcut key if a specific program is open (to avoid conflicts).
WinLaunch offers an easy to use interface with a step-by-step wizard to guide you through the process of adding new commands. Other features include drag and drop support and activity reporting.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ .NET Framework 2.0

Video

Personal Video Database - Ver: 0.9.8.16

With Personal Video Database you can catalog your movie collection quickly and easily.
Thought-out user interface and different database management functions make it easy to create and manage big movie databases. Powerful filtering, grouping and sorting help you find movies very fast. The program is expandable with plugins.
There are already plenty of plugins included with the installation that can help you retrieve movie information from different internet movie databases or other database formats.
Other important features of Personal Video Database include Loan history, password protection and full Unicode support.
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista

Video Edit Master - Ver: 1.0

Video Edit Master is a free video editor with these features:-
Cutting and joining video files that have the same encoding, resolution and frame rate easily and fast without re-encoding, removing commercials from asf or wmv files very fast, has user friendly GUI, a preview to help you cut and join files precisely. Final video will have the same quality of the original files.
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista