Free Software File

Free Window Registry Repair 2.5

2011-08-17T21:08:54Z

Almost all Windows users gradually experiences the downfall in their PC´s performance. Much of it can be attributed to Windows Registry Errors. Free Window Registry Repair is a refreshingly simple tool for cleaning up your Windows Registry. It lacks the bells and whistles offered by some programs such as special features for uninstalling programs or managing the Start menu but thankfully so. This is a program that does something well and doesn’t stray from that success. The application’s straightforward presentation and clear menu make this program appropriate for most users.

The program opens to a window with very simple, step by step instructions. You can perform a full scan or select areas to examine. Scanning is quick, and the results list shows the data and key, sorted by problem type. The right-click menu lets you open the Registry to a specific item. Each time the program fixes a set of errors (you uncheck the ones you don’t want fixed), it automatically creates a backup. This seems like a sensible and safe feature, making us wonder why most other repair makers make you manually create a restore point. Each backup is saved with a unique filename, allowing you to choose which one to reinstate via the Restore menu.

Free Window Registry features :

Repair invalid registry entries that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages
Increase system speed and stability
Set a variety of Registry cleaning preferences
Improves system performance
The automatic creation of Windows Registry backups, with the option to restore them.
A simple, user-friendly interface
100% Spyware FREE, NOT contain any Spyware, Adware or Viruses.

In addition to scanning, fixing, and restoring, Free Window Registry Repair offers an Options menu where you can choose keys to exclude from scanning as well as choose to create a system restore point prior to fixing errors. The program isn’t perfect the name of the program itself has a typo, and the Help file is actually not a help file but overall, this is a great, speedy program for all but the most novice user.

Listening Radio on The Internet with Screamer Radio 0.4.4

2011-08-15T03:56:35Z

There is little reason to listen to commercial FM radio anymore, it is an old medium that provides little choice of music and is saturated with ads. For the last couple of years there has been an alternative, streaming internet radio. An alternative that has been somewhat complicated to use.

Screamer Radio attempts to remedy this problem by bringing most of the required steps into a single, easy to use, freeware program. Not every preset station will be a success, we found that many URLs lead to a Web site, not to a stream. If that’s the case, you can follow the link from Screamer Radio, do a little searching around the site, and manually enter the URL. Unfortunately, there’s no way to edit the global library for everyone’s benefit.

You won’t find absolute perfection in this free desktop app for streaming Internet Radio, but you will find a mess of language options, preset stations, and a few extra functions stuffed into a very light, fast app.

Screamer Radio Features :

It’s easy to use
It’s ad free
It has no spyware
It has a huge database of radio stations
It has a cool peak meter
You can easily record what you’re listening to
You can hide it in the system tray
You can play back on multiple soundcards
Free

Supported Stream Types :

Shoutcast and Icecast MP3 Streaming
Icecast OGG Vorbis Streaming
WMA Streaming
AAC Streaming

As for the perks, you’re looking at two sound effects, saving favorite stations (but not songs,) and audio recording you’ll be able to easily open the Recordings folder from the app interface. With Screamer Radio, you’ll also be able to mute audio and do some manual configuring. It’s a great deal for those looking for ease of use and an easy way to experiment with new stations and sounds in a set-it-and-forget-it format. If you’re looking for more advanced features like visualizers, saving individual songs, and socializing, however, this isn’t the radio app for you.

Clear Past PC Activities and Internet History with Free Internet Eraser 3.60

2011-08-12T21:01:25Z

Effective and easy, Free Internet Eraser gets rid of most of your tracks. Free Internet Eraser allows you to delete Internet history, browser history, address bar history, Internet Cache, cookies, of your browser, and Window’s temp folders, history run, search history, open/save history, recent documents and more. In addition, you can have Internet Eraser automatically erase those tracks when Windows is started or shutdown.

An average user is unlikely to need permanent deletion algorithms (scrambling filenames or overwriting with random numbers), but then again, only the paranoiacs survive. This free utility’s advanced features disabled unless you pay for the upgrade. However, even hamstrung it offers capabilities sufficient for most active surfers.

The program can perform automatic cleanup at regular intervals (on every start-up or shutdown, for example, or on a timer).

Internet Eraser features :

Delete Internet Explorer Cache Files
Delete Internet Explorer Browser History
Delete Internet Explorer Cookies
Delete Internet Explorer Address Bar History
Delete Windows Recent Documents History
Delete Windows Start Menu Run/Find History
Delete Windows Open/Save History
Delete Windows Registry Streams
Delete Windows Clipboard
Delete Windows Recycle Bin
Delete Windows Temporary Files Directory
Delete Windows Wordpad Recent File List
Delete Windows MediaPlayer Recent File List
Secure delete files &folders
Scheduled Tasks & Windows Startup Manager
Free space on your Hard Drive
Speed up your computer and much more

Internet Eraser supports Microsoft Windows FAT/FAT32/NTFS file systems, completely implements and exceeds the US Department of Defense DOD 5220.22-M and NSA clearing and sanitizing standard, to gives you confidence that once deleted with Internet Eraser, your file data is gone forever and can not be recovered.

VisiTimer 1.0 : Great Timer Application

2011-08-08T11:07:55Z

VisiTimer is a handy and relianle countdown timer designed to enable you to time anything from baking a cake, taking a break, or rationing out time for kids to do things like play video games or use the computer. VisiTimer gradually reveals an image with a sweeping radial motion similar to the movement of the arm of a clock. It’s a great choice both for kids and for adults who do better with visual representations than with numbers.

VisiTimer interface is plain and easy to navigate. You can choose either an image to use with VisiTimer or a plain circle in the color of your choice. The program comes with a variety of high-quality images, including some that will appeal to kids (cute cartoon animals) and others for adults (such as nature scenes and cars). We were impressed with the number of audio alerts that the program comes with; there are traditional alarm sounds as well as animals, horns, chimes, nature sounds, and more.

Once you’ve configured the timer’s appearance and sounds, simply enter the number of hours, minutes, and/or seconds that you want counted down. Clicking on the timer’s image will hide or show the numbers, which will count down once the timer starts. A built-in Help file provides an overview of how VisiTimer works, but it’s easy to figure out without assistance. VisiTimer would be a great idea for kids who need to time how long they brush their teeth, stay in time-out, practice the piano, or anything else, especially if they don’t have a firm grasp on how time works yet.

The program is also a fun and flexible choice for adults who’d rather look at a pie chart representation of the time elapsed than a set of numbers ticking away. The program features an extensive library of fun, built-in images to use as well as the ability to use your own image or even just a simple circle to be “painted” as time counts down. You can also run several instances of the timer and label each one so that you know what it is being used to time.

Need to use the same set time more than once? Set the timer for any amount of time and save it as a preset for quick and easy re-use in the future.

Portable Efficient To-Do List : Elegant Task Management Software

2011-08-06T04:49:58Z

Efficient To-Do List makes every effort to assist you in following the “First Things First” principle. Sometimes the programs we end up liking the best are the ones that aren’t particularly innovative or exciting, but that simply do one thing and do it in a commonsense, elegant way. Efficient To-Do List Free Portable is just such a program. The portable edition is designed to run from a USB flash drive. Now, with the USB drive, you can manage your tasks on different computers (such as one at home and another at work), and do not need to worry about data synchronization.

Efficient To-Do List Free Portable interface is sleek and intuitive, reminding us of recent versions of Microsoft Office products. In the dialog for creating new tasks you enter a subject, comments, start and due dates, status, and level of completion. You can also specify each task’s priority level and add custom labels to tasks.

Tasks can be scheduled to recur on specific days of the week or at intervals ranging from daily to yearly. You can assign custom sounds to each alert. The list of tasks can be ordered by subject, start date, due date, status, level of completion, or priority, making it easy to re-sort your tasks and focus on whatever is most pressing.

The program also has some advanced search features that let you find tasks quickly no matter how long your list is. We couldn’t get the built-in Help file to load any content, but this wasn’t a huge problem; everything about the program was easy to figure out. As its name implies, Efficient To-Do List Free Portable is small enough to fit on a USB drive, making it easy to keep your to-do list with you wherever you go. Overall, we think that this program is a great choice if you need a flexible, intuitive way to manage your tasks.

Portable Efficient To-Do List Free features :

Multiple Interface Styles :

· 8 interface styles are provided to meet your individual needs! They have various tones of color like blue, green or metallic, and have Vista standard and XP standard windows appearances separately.

Easy to Search :

· Efficient To-Do List has powerful search capabilities so you can quickly find your information.

Powerful Document Editor:

· Efficient To-Do List has embedded a powerful document editor similar to MS-Word, which can be used to write your comments for tasks.

Information Safety Safeguards :

· There is a Recycle Bin in this task management software, you do not need to be worried that you may delete some important information by mistake. The functions of Backup and Restore can help you conveniently save and migrate data.

Efficient To-Do List Free Portable comes as a ZIP file and is accessible after extraction. This application will help you boost productivity and benefit from promotions faster than you expect.

Dia 0.97.1 : Excellent Diagram Software

2011-07-31T21:24:43Z

Dia lets users quickly draw customized flowcharts and diagrams. While the program markets itself toward a more technical crowd, we think it’s a great tool for just about anyone looking to create a custom flowchart. Dia is an open source general-purpose diagramming software, inspired by the commercial Windows program “Visio”, though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. Technical flowcharts and diagrams are a great way for IT project managers to visually demonstrate the ins and outs of a project to all involved.

Dia interface resembles a little to GIMP, and like it, has a modular structure as well. So you’ll find all the shapes you need nicely organized in packages. Dia is very simple to use also, just pick the symbols you need from the package and select an area in the Canvass to place them.

The window opens with a blank, gridlike “canvas” in the center. A toolbar sits at the top with various edit, view, and layers options. A toolbox with tools for adding text, scrolling, magnifying, and adding shapes and lines resides below that, as do various objects used for creating a basic flowchart or technical diagram. We immediately jumped in and added specific shapes that represented technical commands, connecting them with lines. For example, the diamond object represents “Decision,” while the circle represents “Connector.” From there, we were able to customize our flowchart by adding colors to our shapes as well as text.

Dia has the ability to create diagrams using UML, or Unified Modeling Language, as well as a long list of other special object categories such as Cisco, Database, and Sybase. After you create your diagram you can style it with labels and boxes and export it to one of the many formats that Dia has, like:

PNG (Portable Network Graphics);
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group);
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics);
DXF (Autocad’s Drawing Interchange format);
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript);
WMF (Windows Meta File).

Dia’s wide swath of technical objects makes it perfect for IT professionals, but its basic tools and ease of use make it appropriate even for non-techies. Dia installs and uninstalls cleanly and without issues.

Changing Dimensions of Your Pictures with Minhs Free PhotoResizer 1.61

2011-07-18T06:43:25Z

This is a very simple utility to allow you to batch resize digital photos. No one wants to open a huge suite of photo editing tools just to perform one simple task like resizing an image. with tools like Minh’s Free PhotoResizer, we don’t have to. This basic program can resize and convert images, and that’s about it. It’s the perfect tool for anyone looking for a quick, no hassle way to resize images. You simply indicate your maximum width or height in pixels and drag and drop your images (or folder containing images) onto the window. The program will then batch resize all images into a subfolder.

Minh’s Free PhotoResizer interface is plain with just a small gray square with three menus across the top. A text box lets users enter the desired maximum width or height of their image in pixels. Users can select JPEG quality on a scale of 1 through 10, have the program scale up images of a smaller size, and select between JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, or TIFF output formats. Once you’ve adjusted the settings to your liking, just drag and drop the image or images you want resized onto the program’s interface.

Minh’s Free PhotoResizer creates a subfolder within the original files’ directory and deposits the resized images there. We liked that the program gives users the option of adding it to the Windows context menu, allowing them to right-click on any image and select it from the Send to menu. There’s no Help file, but that’s not a huge drawback; everything about the program is fairly intuitive. Minh’s Free PhotoResizer isn’t fancy or feature-packed, but if you need a program that can resize your images quickly and with little fuss, it’s a great choice.

Version 1.61 allows for choosing the output file type. Extended support to TIFF, JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG codecs (input as well as output). It can’t get any easier than that.

With Minh’s Free PhotoResizer you’ll be able to change the size of your digital images on the spot. Minh’s Free PhotoResizer requires no installation, and at only 68K, you could easily keep it on a USB drive for portable use.

ScreenGrab 1.1 : Effective Screen Capture Utility

2011-07-16T02:36:35Z

Screengrab is an useful tool for those who need to be constantly taking screenshots, but also for those who only capture their screen from time to time and need only a simple tool to do the job as quickly as possible. Screen captures can be incredibly useful, whether you’re trying to share an error message with tech support or want to save a ridiculous comment exchange on Facebook. There are plenty of utilities to help you do this, too, ranging from the bare-bones to the highly customizable.

ScreenGrab falls somewhere in the middle of this spectrum; we’ve definitely seen screen capture utilities with more features, but ScreenGrab still brings quite a bit to the table. ScreenGrab interface is plain, just a rectangle with some drop-downs, radio buttons, and check boxes. You can set ScreenGrab to capture either the entire screen or just the active window.

The program can either automatically save the image, save it to the clipboard, or prompt you to enter a file name. Images can be saved in JPEG, BMP, TIFF, and PNG formats. You can set hot keys to both take a screen capture and to bring the interface back up, and the program can be set to hide its icon in the task bar, ensuring that it won’t appear in the screen captures.

The program can optionally include the cursor in the image and play a sound when a screen capture is taken. We took several different kinds of screen captures with ScreenGrab and we were pleased with its performance each time. The built-in Help file provides a brief overview of the program’s features, but it’s really not necessary; everything about ScreenGrab is intuitive. Overall, ScreenGrab isn’t the fanciest screen capture utility we’ve seen, but it will be perfectly adequate for many users’ needs.

Needless to say, the auto-save feature is the one that allows a faster work. You can save images in four popular formats, but unfortunately you only have two capture modes: either the whole screen or the active windows.

Manage Contact Information with E-Z Contact Book 2.2

2011-07-12T23:38:44Z

This simple program makes it easy to keep track of friends, family, business associates, and anyone else, and it includes a few extra features that set it above the no-frills competition. Contact managers don’t have to be complex to be useful, and E-Z Contact Book takes that fact and runs with it. you can save all this data in one simple application. E-Z Contact Book is a lightweight tool and free.

This freeware interface is plain and intuitive, and we had no trouble getting started with it. To add contacts, you must first create a new group within the All Contacts heading. This makes it easy to keep contacts from different parts of your life organized and easy to find. For each contact, you can then add both personal and business contact information, a birthday, and notes.

The program has a search feature, an important component of any contact manager that you’re going to use for more than a few people, but what really impressed us were some of the other features that you don’t always see in programs of this type. You can click on a contact’s e-mail address to launch a default e-mail program and click on Web addresses to go to the Web site fairly typical features but you can also click on a phone number to initiate a call using Skype.

You have to have Skype installed for this to work, of course, and the typical fees apply, but those who are already fans of Skype will appreciate this feature. We also loved it that the program will automatically launch Google Maps and show the location of a contact’s address. An online Help file is well-written and thorough.

E-Z Contact Book features :

Store, enter new and edit contact information such as phone numbers / addresses / emails / web pages / notes / birth dates
Organize contact information in groups (Friends / Family / Business, etc)
Sort data by any column and change sort order (ascending / descending)
Unique fast “wildcard” search within entire book, or a selected group
Send emails using your default email program
Open web pages using your default browser
Start phone calls using Skype in one click
Import contact information from other sources
Export data from entire book, or a filtered part of it into a comma-delimited (*.csv) file, or Microsoft Outlook
Preview and print either a single contact card, or the entire book, or a filtered part of the book
Print postal envelopes
Store birthday information and set advance reminders, so you will never forget to send a postcard or buy a gift for your loved ones

Overall, we were quite impressed with E-Z Contact Book; we loved that it doesn’t go overboard with features of questionable value but instead includes just a few, really useful extras in an easy-to-navigate interface.

Modifying File Attributes with File Property Edit Free 3.57

2011-07-11T06:24:07Z

With just several mouse click, you can easily change the files’ attributes, including “create time”, “modify time”, “last access time”, “Realonly”, “Hidden”, “System” and modify their diversify properties. File Property Edit Free from Foryoursoft is a free tool that can alter file attributes such as the date and time a file was created or last modified, singly or in batches. It’s a stripped-down version of a “Pro” shareware tool. With the powerful file and folder browse feature plus the drag and drop support, you can easily add a group of files and/or directories.

File Property Edit Free has an attractive, efficient layout that has an integrated shell color tool next to the button accessing the online Help file. However, there seems to be no options or settings beyond what’s available on the interface, and many of those aren’t available in the freeware. Controls let us add and filter files, select all, change file times in predetermined or custom methods, and perform a few other basic functions.

In addition to the previously mentioned disabled functions, we couldn’t use the Quickview or Add Variable functions, or any of the subfeatures of the disabled tools. Nevertheless, we were able to browse to and add files and quickly change the file time stamp from a drop-down list or enter custom time and date settings as well as change the following file attributes: Archive, ReadOnly, Hidden, System, Temporary, Offline, NotContentIndexed, and Normal. The tool processed a folder full of images in no time.

File Property Edit Free features :

Change file and folder’s “created date time”, “modified date time”, and “Last access date time”.
Change file and folder’s attributes including “Archive”, “Read Only”, “Hidden”, “System”, “Temporary”, “Offline”, “Content index”, or “Normal”.
Add both files and folders to the file list for changing the file properties, you can also select to recursively add files in sub folders.
Drag and Drop: It’s easy to add files to the list, just drag files from anywhere and drop them to File Property Edit’s list.
Files filter support case sensitive and exclusive filtering, with this, you can easily filter in or out the files you want from the file list.

File properties editors are useful tools, and File Property Edit Free certainly does a good if basic job. Version 3.57 adds support using variable to change file data time attributes and corrects minor text error.