Free Software File » System Utilities

Free Window Registry Repair 2.5

randi — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:08:54 +0000

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.

Modifying File Attributes with File Property Edit Free 3.57

randi — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 06:24:07 +0000

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.

Unlock Files or Folders with EMCO UnLock IT 3.0.1

randi — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:15:17 +0000

First of all, for every locked resource, it enables you to see a list of processes that control it. It’s freeware that can unlock files and folders that are locked by system processes or other programs when you receive an Access Denied error message. It does this by attempting to close any processes and services locking a resource or, if that doesn’t work, prompting the user to terminate the process holding the resource hostage. Having detailed information about the processes, you can identify respective applications and close them down in a natural way by following all required procedures, such as saving opened files, etc. Alternatively, you can force termination of the locking processes directly from EMCO Unlock IT to unlock the resource immediately.

With colorful interface offers many skin choices via a skin chooser button on the upper border as well as the toolbar. The interface sports two tabs, Applications and Actions. We browsed to Program Files under the Applications tab, and UnLock IT displayed all running processes for the directory, their specific locations, and the Process Name and ID, Description, and Executable Path of any process locking the resource. Right-clicking any entry let us choose Close Handles, either All handles or File or Library, as applicable, or Kill All Processes, a more drastic step that prompted a warning message.

EMCO UnLock IT features :

Force Closing File Handles :

The application allows to unlock a file by closing file handles to this file. This unlocking approach can be used to release a lock for files that are opened for modification. This approach is safe to use in most cases, because it doesn’t require termination of a process that hold a lock.

Force Closing Library Handles :

The application makes possible to unlock DLL file currently using by running processes. In this case opened handles to the DLL are forced to close in order to release locks. This approach also doesn’t require termination of the process that use DLL. In most cases can continue to work successfully.

Termination of Protected Processes :

If file can’t be unlocked by closing file and library handles, the application allows to unlock it by terminating processes that hold locks. Even processes that are protected from termination can be terminated successfully, so approach can be used when you need to remove resources locked by viruses.

Integration with Windows Explorer :

To check a resource for locks and unlock it you have to enter path to the resource in the application. In order to reduce actions required to check and unlock file or folder, you can integrate the application with the Windows Explorer and access its actions from the context menu.

EMCO UnLock IT simplifies the process of freeing up system resources being held hostage by other processes and applications. It’s a powerful tool that should be used with care, especially when killing processes. UnLock IT integrates into Windows Explorer, so you can launch it by selecting a corresponding item from the context menu for any resource. It gives you a one-click access to checking any resource for locks and unlocking it if required.

Merges Multiple Files with Best Self Extractor 2.0.0.1

randi — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:43:04 +0000

Compressed files can be converted as a self extracting file, which would be automatically decompressed on self extraction. Best Self Extractor is actually JiJi Self Extractor, a portable freeware utility that converts compressed files into self-extracting executables, which is a fancy way of saying files that open when you click them instead of requiring you to extract them before you can open them. Best Self Extractor 2.0.0.1 support 15 different compression formats(7z, zip, rar etc.,) for auto decompression. This facility would be convenient for data transfers across internet, e-mails. This is also suitable for packaging softwares for deployment on client machines.

You can also create self-executing packages that not only automatically decompress their contents but also activate them, which is particularly useful for bundling software packages for installing on client PCs. We extracted this tool’s download and opened the program, which included a registration notification for commercial users. JiJi is a very simple tool that walked us through each step of the process from its compact dialog-style interface.

On the first screen, we browsed to and added files, chose a destination file path and name, and clicked Next. The next screen let us choose an icon for our self-extracting file or to stick with the default. We could also create a 300-character message with a 30-character title for our file. Next we selected the Extraction Folder Path, which is the folder the program uses to store extracted data on our PC: Default, which is relative to the self-extracting file; Temp, the user’s Temp folder; and an option to let the user choose during extraction. We could also select and enter password protection.

The self-executing file wizard included a FileName option as well as the ability to issue any valid DOS command. We clicked Finish, and the program quickly returned a pop-up telling us our job was done. We opened the target folder and clicked the newly created self-extracting file, which not only extracted the data but also displayed our message in a pop-up.

Best Self Extractor 2.0.0.1 features :

Merge multiple file as a single package.
Auto decompression facility available for compressed files. Compression format supported tar, 7z, zip, iso, arj, lzma, cab, z, rar, bz2, gz, jar, nsis, cpio, chm, bzip2
Capable of executing a packed file after extraction. This would be helpful in software deployment.
Command line arguments are supported for the executing file of the pack.
Unicode support
Support in all windows OS(Includes Windows 7)

This program proved not only capable but easy to use almost foolproof and fast.

Free Virtual Keyboard 2.7 : Lightwieght Alternative Keyboard

randi — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:16:37 +0000

There are many instances in which a virtual keyboard can come in handy. This Free Virtual Keyboard is software that simulates the hardware keyboard on the computer screen and adds some elegant features. You might be using a touch screen, typing in a foreign language, or just wanting an emergency backup in case your physical keyboard goes kaput. Free Virtual Keyboard is a simple program that provides an onscreen keyboard in a portable package.

Free Virtual Keyboard can be used anyone with a disability that prevents him or her from typing on a physical computer keyboard. The keyboard’s interface is plain and utilitarian, with a standard QWERTY layout. A slider in the bottom right corner adjusts the keyboard’s transparency. We had read that the program had a few other features, but it took us a while to figure out how to access them, as the interface doesn’t contain any menus.

We finally realized that right-clicking on the program’s title bar brought up a context menu with a few options. You can enable or disable key repeat and specify whether or not you want the keyboard to fit the width of your screen.

Virtual keyboard features :

Change size of the keyboard.
Change transparency of the keyboard.
Turn on and off a key-repeat function (see context menu).
Scale the virtual keyboard to match the screen width (see context menu). It’s a useful feature for frequent screen rotation in the portrait and landscape modes.
Change type of the keyboard (see context menu). Available 3 types of the virtual keyboards.
Change theme colors (see context menu).
Type text in any language.
Type text in other layouts (e.g. United States Dvorak for Left Hand).

The program doesn’t have a Help file, but there is a Web site that offers a little bit of information about its features. Overall, we think that Free Virtual Keyboard is a good choice for anyone who needs a basic, portable virtual keyboard. Free Virtual Keyboard is a totally portable application; bring your virtual on-Screen keyboard with you from PC to PC.

Synchronize File with FreeFileSync 3.17

randi — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:52:21 +0000

Great application for doing the job effectively and efficiently. While FreeFileSync won’t win any beauty contests, FreeFileSync’s interface is super functional. It is optimized for highest performance and usability without restricted or overloaded UI interfaces. Comparison of data possible to the date of these files, their contents and size.

Some key features are FreeFileSync 3.17: Compare files byte by byte or by date and sync. No limitations on the number of folders. It also syncs subfolders, including empty folders. The program is highly optimized for speed and large data sets. Algorithms coded in C + +. Designed following usability rules to ensure maximum functionality without overloading menus or icons.

Features :

Compare files (bytewise or by date) and synchronize them.
No limitations: An arbitrary number of files can be synchronized.
Subfolders are also synchronized, including empty folders.
Network support.
Lean & easy accessible UI: Highly optimized for speed and huge sets of data.
Algorithms coded in C++ completely.
Focus on usability: Only necessary functionality on UI: no overloaded menus or icon jungle / Select folders via drag & drop / Last configuration and screen settings are saved automatically / Maintain and load different configurations by drag&drop, load-button or commandline / Double-click to show file in explorer / Copy & paste support to export file-lists / Delete superfluous/temporary files directly on main grid / Right-click context menu / Progress indicators, status information and error reporting / Sort file-lists by name, size or date / Display statistical data: total filesizes, amount of bytes that will be transfered with the current settings.
Easy configurable commandline mode for automated synchronization.
Support for filesizes > 4 GB.
Option to move files to Recycle Bin instead of deleting/overwriting them.
Automatically ignore directories “RECYCLER” and “System Volume Information” when comparing and syncing.
Localized German version available.
Delete before copy: Avoid disc space shortages with large sync-operations.
Based on wxWidgets framework => Portable to many operating systems.
Filter functionality to include/exclude files from synchronization (without re-compare!).
Include/exclude specific files from synchronization manually.
Create sync jobs via GUI to synchronize automatically (can be scheduled or executed directly).

FreeFileSync 3.17 can work in four modes. The first is the automatic mode, then the mirror (right folder will overwrite the contents of the left). Mode is a worthy upgrade approval of new or updated files and its own mode, which allows itself to define their own rules for synchronization.

FreeFileSync 3.17 is an application designed to synchronize multiple folders and able to compare between them. The great advantage is that it occurs is free, and its operation is simple and intuitive. The installation file installs on 32 and 64-bit systems.

Removes Unused Files On Your System with CCleaner 3.06.1433

randi — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:09:26 +0000

CCleaner 3 doesn’t disappoint on that front, introducing two major new features that make it worth the upgrade. CCleaner 3 cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware). As with many of the tools in CCleaner, it’s fairly nuanced and allows for a simple one-pass overwrite, a Department of Defense level three pass option, a National Security Administration-level seven pass cleaning, and a 35 pass Gutmann level deep scrub. The more passes you select, the slower the deletion process.

CCleaner 3 has been adding more options to pre existing features. You can now select specific Internet cookies to keep, across all your browsers, while CCleaner deletes the rest in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari. Note that your browser must be closed for the cookie deleting feature to work. The benefit of this is to keep cookies for specific sites that you know to be safe, such as webmail, while getting rid of the rest that you don’t want tracking you.

Improvements in version 3 to the internal scanning tech that powers CCleaner, and the interface received some minor tweaks to make icons more visible. If you’re familiar with previous versions of the program, though, you’ll be hard pressed to find any differences between older CCleaners and the new one. Version 3 supports more Windows programs than before, including added support for Microsoft Silverlight Isolated Storage, AVG 2011, Audacity, LogMeIn Hamachi, BitTorrent, and Windows Game Explorer. Pre-existing support has been improved for Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9 beta, and the torrent managing client Vuze.

In addition to browser tracks cleaning it will clean tracks from other programs, empty your recycle bin, delete temporary files, and clean your Registry, quickly scanning for invalid entries before removing them. CCleaner 3 appeared to be marginally faster than previous versions. This is probably system dependent, so users with older computers could likely see significantly faster scan and cleaning times than in previous versions.

CCleaner will also back up your Registry before you hit delete, in case it accidentally removes a crucial component. Problems with CCleaner are minor at best, and it remains a highly recommended, must have weapon against system slowdowns, tracking cookies, and the multitudinous debris that can clutter your computer.

Version 3.06.1433 adds HTML5 IndexedDB cleaning and management for Firefox and Chrome and HTML5 Offline cache cleaning and management for Opera and Safari. The freeware CCleaner hasn’t seen many major revisions since Piriform launched it in 2004, so when you do see a major update, you can be assured that it’s going to come with impressive new tools.

Fix problems in your Windows registry with Argente

randi — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:44:59 +0000

There’s a wide variety of registry cleaners that can tidy things up for us. Argente – Registry Cleaner is one such program. Argente Registry Cleaner helps you keep take care of the Windows Registry ( one of the key system elements in your os). Problems with the Windows Registry are one of the common causes of failures of the system and error messages from Windows.

The program’s interface is plain, with its features arranged in a menu down the left side and a large empty pane in the middle where registry errors are displayed. Argente Registry Cleaner analyzes the whole Registry in just a few seconds and finds all the invalid entries that programs usually leave behind after being uninstalled, as well as missing keys, broken references and other junk entries.

By using a registry cleaner regularly and repair your registry, your system will not only be more stable but it will also help Windows and its software to run more quickly.

Argente – Registry Cleaner uses a detection algorithm for high performance quickly identify missing and invalid references in your Windows registry. These problems can occur due to various reasons such as having done an uninstall or having removed a program incorrectly, when you have hardware drivers missing or corrupt, or any Startup programs that do not belong to any program.

With a few simple steps, Argente – Registry Cleaner will scan your entire registry looking for invalid entries and provide you with a list of the errors found in the registry.

For your convenience and protection, Argente – Registry Cleaner can also make backups of any repairs made so that in this way you can recover any changes if necessary. Just as conduct a full endorsement from registration as a control point. Argente – Registry Cleaner installs politely but leaves a folder behind upon removal.

Argente Registry Cleaner includes some configuration options with which you can select which areas in the Windows Registry you want to scan, and manage both the backup copies and the exclude list. Unfortunately there’s no option to set automatic scans according to a user defined schedule.

Recovering Valuable Free Hard Drive with KCleaner 1.0.0.32

randi — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:42:33 +0000

Designed to be the most efficient Hard Disk cleaner, tracking every useless byte in order to give you all the ressources you may need for your documents, music, pictures, movies, etc. KCleaner is a free system-cleaning utility that offers automatic and manual modes, data scrambling, and multipass deletions.

It targets temporary files, browser caches, installers, update caches, and unneeded log files, including the caches for a wide range of programs, including Google Earth, COMODO System Cleaner, AdAware, and TomTom. It is the first product of this kind featuring a full automatic mode, which works in background so that you don’t have to care about when to launch it.

KCleaner 1.0.0.32 features :

Detects and cleans temporary and useless files (cache, unused setup files…)
Automatic mode working in background
Secured file deletion method
Expert mode : let users control any file deletion done by KCleaner
Internationalization support

Tiny interface that serves for automatic mode, and its settings dialog also opens, allowing us to set the interval for automatic cleanups, Expert mode, deletion methods, security settings, and select file types for cleanup from a lengthy list in the main view. There’s also a panel for selecting the interface language. We deselected file types that didn’t apply to our system and selected those that do, set an interval of 3 hours, and clicked Save. In the meantime, we tried the Expert mode, which displays the files that will be deleted in an expanded view. We clicked Analyse, and the program quickly populated its window with our system’s trash.

In a minute or so, KCleaner had purged the selected files. We clicked Automatic mode, and after a warning message and a brief countdown, it scanned our system and cleaned the few temporary files that had appeared in the interval. Another timer counted down the hours, minutes, and seconds until the next operation.

It often finds up to many Gb not even seen by its competitors so give KCleaner a try ! And if data security is something you are interested in, you’ll love the secured file deletion methods proposed by KCleaner, making deleted files unrecoverable by any known mean.

Fast Empty Folder Finder : Free Utility to Find out All The Empty Folders

randi — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:01:05 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if someone wrote a simple tool that finds and deletes all that junk? Fast Empty Folder Finder is a great tool that will quickly find empty folders, show you a preview of its contents (for safety), and give you the option to delete those folders. This is the best program to get rid of all the empty folders on your computer as they does not mean anything if they don’t have any contents in them.

Fast Empty Folder Finder is compact, and since it’s also portable freeware, it requires no installation but runs as soon as you click its executable file. It has a very simple but efficient, even elegant interface, with a plain main view anchored on the top by a toolbar with drop-down lists for Choose Locations and Options, including a pop-up file browser for adding locations; Scan Now, Delete Checked, and About buttons; and on the left, small icons for adding to the exclusion list and toggling the explorer panel.

This tool takes some pains to make sure you don’t delete the wrong folders, not only analyzing the content to verify they’re truly empty but letting you preview them to satisfy yourself. It made quick work of a 500GB media drive, finding several empty folders that we soon deleted. However, twice we ran it on the 60GB of files in our C: drive, and twice it stopped working. Though the drive held less overall, it held many, many times the number of files of the media drive, and it seems likely that we just fed it too much at one time. Given smaller bites, Fast Empty Folder Finder certainly lived up to its name.

Enhancements :

The “delete checked” button is now only enabled when results are visible
Fixed big that allowed 1 empty folder to remain every scan
Added drag drop functionality to main window. draging folder(s) to it trigger a scan
Reconfigured the explorer panel to suppress possible error messages
Fixed bug that failed to save and load a empty list of scan locations
A few other minor fixes

Even with its apparent size limitations, we heartily recommend this small, free, portable tool, which does something fairly unique but unquestionably useful. It belongs on every portable USB toolkit, too. Since it’s free, you have nothing to lose but your empty folders.