Network Protocol Analyzer with Wireshark

Wireshark is the world's most popular network protocol analyzer. It is used for troubleshooting, analysis, development, and education.

Not sure I have a need for this but it good to know its around.

Link:
http://www.wireshark.org/

Organize your desktop with Fences

Fences is a one-of-a-kind program, allowing you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. These groups can help bring organization and consistency to your computer's desktop, solving the "constant mess" problem that has plagued the desktop since its inception.

This is something I have struggled with, how to organize something that offers very little help in doing so. I create folders, but then I can't see whats in them easily. I move things to different areas of my desktop, but then switching video sources and all that is undone. Fences is perfect for someone like me who likes things neat and organized.

Since its in beta I have been testing in in a Virtual PC and so far see no reason not to adapt oit on my laptop.

Link:
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/

Trillian Astra goes Beta

In addition to the standard set of IM services, Trillian is now compatible with your favorite social networks, including Twitter and Facebook! Easily integrate social news directly in your contact list, including fully customizable alerts and notification preferences.

Highlights:

• Chat with video and audio
• Tabbed chats with text, emoticons, and pictures
• Get in style with themes and skins
• Use animated widgets to broadcast your status
• Connect to WLM, Google, Facebook, and more
• Show contacts and social news feeds
• See the status of your contacts at a glance
• Receive real-time notifications of changes
• Minimize your IM world with Trillian Cobalt
• Search and archive chats with activity history
• Extend your Trillian possibilities with plugins

Been using Trillian for many years and can't wait for Astra. This is one application that I thought would never get here as its been in development for years.

Link:
http://www.trillian.im/

Windows 7 Little Tweaker

Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a small and simple to use utility that let you easily activate a few useful extras for Microsoft's new OS, Windows 7 Ultimate. Windows 7 Little Tweaker is a Windows 7 only portable application and will not run on any other Windows versions. Windows 7 Little Tweaker must run as Administrator, and with UAC disabled.

Link:
http://leelusoft.blogspot.com/...

Hulu on the Desktop

Hulu Desktop is a lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer. It features a sleek new look that's optimized for use with standard Windows Media Center remote controls or Apple remote controls, allowing you to navigate Hulu's entire library with just six buttons. For users without remotes, the application is keyboard and mouse-enabled. Hulu Desktop is a downloadable application and will work on PCs and Macs. It will initially launch as a beta product during which we plan to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve the service.

Link:
http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop

Five Best Malware Removal Tools

The internet—unfortunately—isn't a never-ending buffet of secure open-source software and Bollywood-style musicals starring LOLCats. There are people and organizations that delight in stealing your personal data, hijacking your computer, and making a general nuisance of themselves through malicious software. This week we're highlighting the top five tools for removing software with ill-intentions from you PC.

Link:
http://lifehacker.com/5227896/...

Change the software in your media player with RockBox

Rockbox is an Open Source replacement firmware for portable digital audio players

Supported Players:

• Apple: 1st through 5.5th generation iPod, iPod Mini and 1st generation iPod Nano
  (not the Shuffle, 2nd/3rd/4th gen Nano, Classic or Touch)
• Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
• Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5, M5L, M3 and M3L
• iriver: iHP100 series, H100 series, H300 series and H10 series
• Olympus: M:Robe 100
• SanDisk: Sansa c200 series, e200 series and e200R series (not the AMS models)
• Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series (not the S series)

Link:
http://www.rockbox.org/

SaveAllAttachments for Microsoft Outlook 2007

This outlook add-in adds the missing feature in Microsoft outlook which allows you to save and with option to remove all attachments from multiple emails at once.

Link:
http://www.netpro.biz/saveallattachmentsol2007.html

[ found on LifeRocks ]

MakeItOne combines multiple MP3's into one

MakeItOne is a great little utility for combining multiple MP3's into a single MP3. I did this recently for a comedy CD I had that was in separate tracks. Used MakeItOne to combine into a single Mp3 and in few minutes it was done. This is a nice little tool to have in your Audio application tool list.

MakeItOne:
http://www.makeitone.net/

Skype call recorder

This is a free Skype recording program which automatically recorders all your Skype conversations and conferences. It saves Skype conversations in compact and widely used format - mp3 files. This tool records P2P Skype calls, SkypeOut calls, as well as calls to Skype Online number . This program seats in the system tray and monitors skype calls and start the recording automatically when you start conversation. It can record several simultaneous calls (eg. one active while others on hold) in separate files for easy and convenient access. Very simple interface requires virtually no tuning or setup. Just install it, allow access to the Skype client and that's it.

I just started using Skype to help reduce the minutes used on my cell phone. The calls are clear, no lagging, very cheap and its dead easy to get up and running. This software seems like a good utility to have when those situations popup and you want to record the call.

Link:
http://voipcallrecording.com/

Computer Repair Utility Kit runs on a USB drive

The first version of Technibbles Computer Repair Utility Kit was so popular, we’ve created a second version. For those of you who don’t know, the Computer Repair Utility Kit is a combination of computer repair tools in one easy to use pack. The Computer Repair Utility Kit allows you to run all of the repair tools from your portable drive (eg. USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive, IPod etc.) and comes with an easy to use, right-click menu. A must in any computer technicians kit.

Link:
http://www.technibble.com/...

Super 2009 Multimedia Encoder

SUPER is a Multimedia Encoder and a Multimedia Player, easy-to-use with 1 simple click. If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER is all you need. SUPER does NOT require any additional external codec to be installed, absolutely nothing. Necessary codecs are built in!

Link:
http://www.freewaregeeks.com/...

50 Extremely Useful PHP Tools

This post presents 50 useful PHP tools that can significantly improve your programming workflow. Among other things, you’ll find a plethora of libraries and classes that aid in debugging, testing, profiling and code-authoring in PHP.

Link:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/...

Google Desktop fills harddrive

Get message that Google Desktop has stopped working and searching the Temp folder I find Gigs of Zip files that are being left behind (in C:\ Users/[username]\AppData\Local\Temp) by some GD function (indexing not working?)

See others discussing:
http://groups.google.com/group/...

Extract video and audio from FLV files

Extracts video and audio from FLV files without decompressing or recompressing. The video is saved as AVI (H.263/FLV1 and VP6/VP6F) or raw elementary stream (H.264/AVC). The audio is saved as MP3, AAC (with ADTS headers), or WAV (PCM).

Link:
http://moitah.net/#FLVExtract

Google Earth adds Photorealism to New York

Link:
http://earth.google.com/

Notable software releases

WordPress 2.7 "Coltrane":
http://wordpress.org/development/2008/12/coltrane/

Google Chrome 1.0:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/google-chrome-beta.html

Songbird, an open source music player

Songbird is an open-source customizable music player that's under active development.

I still use Winamp as my music player but and getting closer to dropping it. It used to be a very good, low resource music player but has gotten bloated over the years. Songbird might be a good option, trying it now.

Link:
http://getsongbird.com/

emEditor releases version 8

EmEditor Text Editor is a lightweight, yet extendable, easy-to-use text editor for Windows. EmEditor is very customizable, and it supports Unicode and powerful macros. EmEditor now supports very large files - up to 248 GB or 2.1 billion lines! EmEditor is certified for Windows Vista! The x64 Edition is also available! The portable version is also available for USB drive setup!

In this version (8.0) there are many new features including a Large File Controller, Vertical Selection Editing, Binary Editing, Optimized Search and Replace, improved Projects Plug-in, and many more!

emEditor has got to be one of the best text editors I have come across. So much so that it is my main application for writing web development code (HTML, CSS and PHP).

Link:
http://www.emeditor.com/

Check if a photo is faked with Error Level Analyser

Finds error levels from jpg compression in images with Error Level Analyser. Basically it will allow you to see where in images alterations have been made against what was actually photographed.

Link:
http://www.tinyappz.com/wiki/...

Yet another free burning software with ImgBurn

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application.

ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.

You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.

Link:
http://www.imgburn.com/

The fastest, free PDF reader released version 3

As a small and fast PDF viewer, Foxit Reader currently has over 50 million users all around the world. After keeping users waiting for almost two months, Foxit Reader 3.0 has been released and introduces many fascinating new features such as multimedia design and Foxit OnDemand Content Management.

Whats New:

• Enticing Multimedia Design - Now users can not only play multimedia in Foxit Reader, but also are empowered to add, edit or delete multimedia files with the incredible Movie Tool and Sound Tool.
• Attachment Panel - Lists all the attached files in the PDF document, and provides a number of common options that helps users manage the attachments, such as opening, deleting and adding description to the attachments. Users can also change the security settings when opening an attachment in this panel.
• Thumbnail Panel - Shows thumbnail images for each PDF page and allows users to quickly view relevant portions of a PDF file. Now users can navigate through PDFs with page thumbnails.
• Layout Panel - Lists PDF layers in the document, allows users to control the display of some certain content areas.
• Metric Unit Support - Within the preferences dialog box it gives users the option to set the unit of page dimension in either metric system or imperial system.
• Auto-scrolling with Middle Mouse Button - In the Hand Tool reading mode, users can perform auto-scrolling by holding the middle mouse button/wheel mouse button down.
• Awe-Inspiring Foxit OnDemand Content Management - This new add-on enables users to organize, share and collaborate on documents and forms online. Users can upload from Foxit Reader or send documents with ease. Advanced features include workflow driven document sharing, revisions of documents, CollabRoom for group collaboration.
• Firefox Support - With Firefox Plugin, users can view and work with PDF files loaded in Foxit Reader with Firefox web browser.

I have been using this for years and its works great. One of the best things about FoxIt is it isn't a resource hog like Adobe Acrobat reader and FoxIt starts in seconds...

Link:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

ZoneAlarm 2009 Pro Free on November 18th

Get ZoneAlarm Pro for free tomorrow, November 18th. The page linked below should get activated tomorrow at some point. If the link is not correct I will update it when I find out what the actuall published link is.

Link:
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/sum/index.html

Cheat in any game with Poke

Poke is the ultimate gaming utility. It's a small program that allows you to cheat in every game out there - published or to be published in the future!

In a computer game, all numerical values are stored 'as is' in memory. We'll use a great game, The Sims, to show you how easy it is to take advantage of this fact using Poke.

Link:
http://codefromthe70s.org/poke.asp

How to easily monitor your Adsense account

AdSenseLog will help you improve your AdSense ad performance, using several monitoring, tracking and analyzing tools, all built into one easy to use software.

I have AdsenseLog running all the time and minimized to my system tray. It lets me monitor the performance of my Adsense campaigns that span many domains. This tool makes it dead easy to watch the performance.

Link:
http://www.metalgrass.com/adsenselog/

Software: SyncToy v2.0

SyncToy 2.0 for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.

Features:

• Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.
• True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames, and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.
• Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.
• Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).
• Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.
• Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.
• Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.
• Re-Architect Sync Engine: The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.
• Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.
• Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.
• 64-Bit Support: SyncToy now has a native 64-bit build (x64 only) for 64-bit versions of Windows.
• Folder pair rename
• Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents created under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded. Usability improvements for the sub-folder exclusion dialog.
• Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.
• Setup Improvements: Integrated setup with single self-extracting archive file and no extra downloads if you already have .NET Framework 2.0 installed. Enabled silent install for the SyncToy Installer file (see readme.txt file for more information). Removed combine and subscribe actions.
• Removed combine and subscribe actions.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/...

WinZip 12 can compress Jpeg files by 20 - 25%

WinZip will now compress your JPEG files (digital photos or graphic images) by 20 to 25% and still without any loss of photo quality or data integrity. Now you can send photos faster or fit more on your hard drive and removable media than ever before.

About time someone came up with a method to compress Jpeg images without any additional loss in quality.

Link:
http://www.winzip.com/whatsnew120.htm

Winners of the Camtasia Studio software selected

Congratulations to the winners:

• Sebastian
• Curt
• Cheryl
  

Emails will be coming.

Giving away 3 Camtasia Studio Licenses

First, what is Camtasia Studio:

Imagine being able to show exactly what's on your screen to anyone, anywhere. Imagine that it's easy. Now you've imagined Camtasia Studio. With the smartest screen recording tools on the planet, Camtasia Studio makes everything from training videos to PowerPoint presentations to lectures look better, reach more people, and pack more punch. Which makes you look even smarter, too.

I have used Camtasia Studio for years now and its an excellent tool that makes creating videos a simple process. From screen recording to post production to publishing the video, everything is logical and easy to do.

Link:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

Second, how to enter:
Leave a comment to this post saying one thing you like about Camtasia Studio (at least try it before leaving a comment). Also, in the comment leave your name and email address (use a format like name-a-t-domain-com so spammers won't pick it up) or use a Blogger account where I can locate your email address to send the registration key to.

I will be selecting at random three comments at the end of the month.

(please don't enter multiple time)

Value: $299.00

Closed - Selecting winners later today

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools provides a set of tools for photographers to perform various tasks with their images—including RAW captures. The current version enables you to quickly geotag your photos, view and edit metadata, and more, leveraging the power of Windows and Microsoft Live Local.

Features:

• Geotagging with flexibility
• Determine location name automatically
• Determine GPS coordinates from location name
• Identify location on a map
• View images on a map
• Edit image metadata
• RAW support
• Extensibility

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/...

The Great Software List for Linux

If this will be anything like his original The Great Software List, which was geared towards Windows software, then The Great Software List for Linux will be an amazing resource of invaluable software. Even though I'm not much into Linux I can still appreciate the level of software he is recommending.

Check this resource out, and be sure to bookmark it.

When is The Great Software List for Online Applications coming?

Link:
http://www.anova.org/software/index.html

codebase, online source control

codebase brings together source control, issue/ticket management & deployment tracking. If you find yourself managing multiple software projects and need a central place to organise your code.

Link:
http://codebasehq.com/

Defrag a single file with Contig

Contig is a single-file defragmenter that attempts to make files contiguous on disk. Its perfect for quickly optimizing files that are continuously becoming fragmented, or that you want to ensure are in as few fragments as possible.

Another great utility from SysInternals

Link:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897428.aspx

5 Microsoft Power Toys you should know about

SyncToy
With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Power Calculator
With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.

Image Resizer
This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.

Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.


Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/...

15 fun things you can do with your spreadsheet in less than 5 seconds

Who said Excel takes lot of time / steps do something? Here is a list of 15 incredibly fun things you can do to your spreadsheets and each takes no more than 5 seconds to do.

Link:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/08/01/...

DM2

DM2 provides Windows enhancements that helps in every-day work. This overview is a good starting point and a DM2 introduction since it covers the basics of all functionalities. Don't forget that all described DM2 functions are very configurable and may be set to match user personal needs

• Minimize to floating icon
• Minimize to tray
• Hide window
• Align and resize
• Enhanced system menu
• Opacity and On-top flag
• Process priority
• Open/Save dialog favorites & recent

Link:
http://dm2.sourceforge.net/overview.html

Freeware PDF Unlocker Enables Copy/Paste Functions Without Passwords

Freeware PDF Unlocker, a free Windows utility, doesn't do everything that commerical packages like those from Elcomsoft do, but it will help if you just need to unlock copy/paste and editing restrictions on a PDF. Simply drag a copy-protected PDF onto PDF Unlocker's icon, and a new, non-protected copy will be created.

Link:
http://lifehacker.com/396534/...

Windows Update thought I was running a Mac

I got the above error message (This website is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating systems only) when trying to run Windows Update. A Mac, really?. To fix the issue, and get Windows Update working again I deleted the following two registry keys:


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]


Once deleted, I rebooted the computer and all was working again.

If you want to see what your Agent string is check out:
http://www.veign.com/tools/reflection/
(look at Browser information)

Microsoft's Search 4.0 for desktops

No, it's not WinFS, the file system that was supposed to revolutionize the way files and documents are stored in Windows. But if it gives users tools that accomplish the same things WinFS was supposed to provide, does Search 4.0 come close?

Link:
http://www.betanews.com/article/...

Get a free copy of Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite with MSDN Premium

DonationCoder and Veign have teamed up to give away a free copy of Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite with MSDN Premium. What we decided is to hold a 1 month contest where someone enters by simply submitting a new application built with one of the free versions of Microsoft Visual Studio Express. A great opportunity for any developer.

Oh, the subscription is valued at over $10,000. How does that sound?

This is no-joke and there are no catches.

Read all about it at DonationCoder:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/...

The PC Repair Toolkit in your Pocket

One tool that I have found to be valuable beyond compare is the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD). This compilation of software has just about everything you need to diagnose hard to find low level problems, and also some other tools that every PC technician should have available.

UBCD on a USB thumbdrive.

Link:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/...

Google Earth Gets Layer for News

Google Earth has a new layer: Google News. Writing on the Google LatLong blog, Brandon Badger, Product Manager said, "By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide."

Link:
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080521-090559

Weather Watcher Live

Weather Watcher Live is your personal, real-time Windows desktop weather station. View real-time weather conditions in your neighborhood from WeatherBug weather stations, or as reported by NWS.

Link:
http://www.singerscreations.com/...

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1

Service Pack Update for Virtual PC 2007 qualifying Windows Server 2008, Vista SP1 and XP SP3.

Notice it says for XP SP3 only. This appears in the main section of the download but if you read further down it says supported on XP SP2.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Deployment Tools

The Windows XP System Preparation tool enables administrators to prepare Windows XP system images as part of an automated deployment. You can use the System Preparation tool to perform the following tasks in a manner that is supported by Microsoft

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

WorldWide Telescope

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Link:
http://www.worldwidetelescope.org

Microsoft Photo Info 1.0

Microsoft Photo Info allows photographers to add, change and delete common "metadata" properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer.

When installed, a new "Photo Info" item appears on the context menu for files selected in Windows Explorer. To use, simply select one or more image files, right-click and choose "Photo Info" to open the Photo Info properties editor. You can edit metadata for files individually, or all together as a batch. Photo Info reads and writes metadata in IPTC and XMP formats (depending on file type). It also provides enhanced "hover tips" and additional sort properties for digital photographs in Windows Explorer.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Compare your registry before and after an install with Regshot

Regshot is an open-source(GPL) registry compare utility that allows you to quickly take a snapshot of your registry and then compare it with a second one - done after doing system changes or installing a new software product.

Link:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/regshot

Foxit Reader 2.3 released

Whats New:

• Bookmark Design: Makes it possible to have your own bookmarks. Users can create, edit, or delete bookmarks in a PDF file if the security settings allow.


• Multi-tab Browsing: Enables users to open multiple files in a single instance.You can choose to view PDFs in a multi-tab window or multiple instances by setting documents layout from the Preferences dialog.


• Multimedia Player Support: Supports many media formats including audio and video. Read multimedia ebooks with Foxit Reader 2.3.


• Callout and Text box Tool: Creates comments in a callout text box or a box. You can also define their appearance as other commenting tools.


• Commenting Text Tool: Enables users to add most types of text edits by right-clicking on the selected text, including highlight, strikeout, underline, squiggly and replacement. You can also use the Commenting Text Tool to add bookmarks for PDF files.


• Rulers and Guides: Provides horizontal and vertical ruler guides to help users align and position objects on the page. Right-clicking on the ruler enables you to change the unit of measurement.


• Magnifier: Magnifies areas of the PDF files easily as you work on Foxit Reader.


• Automatic Scrolling: Allows users to view documents without using mouse actions or keystrokes.


• OCG Support: Enables the user to view related content stored in a variable number of separate layers.


• FDF Related: Opens FDF files directly with Foxit Reader without any import implementations.

Much smaller (aorund 2Meg) and faster than Adobe PDF Reader.

Link:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/...

Skype Offers "Unlimited World" Calling Plans

Regularly making phone calls Internationally can get pretty darn pricey these days! Coming to the rescue of those callers is Skype who today, just announced new unlimited calling plans to overseas phones for an extremely reasonable price. When I say reasonable, it’ll only cost $9.95 per month to make a phone call to 34 different countries around the World. You really can’t beat that price, can you?

Link:
http://cybernetnews.com/...

Still on Dialup, try PhoneTray

PhoneTray Dialup will notify you when someone is calling while you are online. You can choose to take the call or ignore the call. With PhoneTray you can put internet on hold and answer incoming calls without disconnecting from the internet.

Plus, you get full-featured Caller ID software that shows and speaks callers name and number, logs all your incoming calls, blocks unwanted calls and zaps telemarketers.

Link:
http://www.phonetray.com/

Photoshop Express (Online version of Photoshop) in Beta

This is the main interface of the online version of Adobe Photoshop called Photoshop Express. Once you have uploaded an image, through the My Gallery manager, you can access and modify your images. What Adobe has done is make this as dead simple as possible. Nothing too complex, but still pretty powerful.


The menu of options seems limiting at first but when you get into modifying your image you will see it covers pretty much everything need to do (at least for the person using an online version of Photoshop). What they have done that is very cool is when you apply or use one of the menu items it becomes checked and that option is applied. You can simply uncheck the item to see your original image.

Everything is done through an AJAX, interactive, interface which means things are done without having to refresh or reload pages.

I changed the color of the corvette in the image with two clicks: select Pop Color from the menu and then select one of the preset choices.



Did I mention all menu items, when selected, give you 6 or 7 choices to try so you don't have to worry about figuring out what the settings should be.

Link:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopexpress/...

Top 10 Software Easter Eggs

Sure we like our chocolate bunny ears, but around these parts the best easter eggs aren't painted pink and stuffed with jelly beans—they're the undocumented and unexpected fun features hidden deep inside various software apps. While new software Easter eggs don't come around often, there's still a basket full of classics we love. After the jump, get roundup of our favorite software Easter eggs.

Link:
http://lifehacker.com/...

WirelessKeyView lets you recover lost WiFi passwords

Freeware application WirelessKeyView recovers the wireless network keys saved to your computer by the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service of XP or the WLAN AutoConfig service in Vista. As with any password-finding tool...

Link:
http://lifehacker.com/366649/...

Top 10 Free Programs to make the most out of your MP3 Collection

Here comes a carefully chosen list of free programs that might help you squeeze the best out of your MP3 collection.

My List:

• Player: Winamp
• Manager: MediaMonkey
• Ripper: CDEx

Link:
http://www.killertechtips.com/...

Burnaware free CD/DVD burning software

BurnAware Free Edition allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning tasks: write to all CD/DVD media types, including Blu-Ray; write Audio CDs and DVD-Video files; create and burn disc images; write multi-session discs and much more.

BurnAware Free Edition has a modern interface and supports Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and Vista (32 and 64 bit). The application is free and contains absolutely no adware or annoying banners.

Link:
http://www.glorylogic.com/index.html

Sysinternals Suite

The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault.

The Suite is a bundling of the following selected Sysinternals Utilities:

• AccessChk
• AccessEnum
• AdExplorer
• AdRestore
• Autologon
• Autoruns
• BgInfo
• CacheSet
• ClockRes
• Contig
• Ctrl2Cap
• DebugView
• DiskExt
• DiskMon
• DiskView
• Disk Usage (DU)
• EFSDump
• FileMon
• Handle
• Hex2dec
• Junction
• LDMDump
• ListDLLs
• LiveKd
• LoadOrder
• LogonSessions
• NewSid
• NTFSInfo
• PageDefrag
• PendMoves
• PortMon
• ProcessExplorer
• Process Monitor
• ProcFeatures
• PsExec
• PsFile
• PsGetSid
• PsInfo
• PsKill
• PsList
• PsLoggedOn
• PsLogList
• PsPasswd
• PsService
• PsShutdown
• PsSuspend
• RegDelNull
• RegJump
• RegMon
• RootkitRevealer
• SDelete
• ShareEnum
• SigCheck
• Streams
• Strings
• Sync
• TCPView
• VolumeID
• WhoIs
• WinObj
• ZoomIt

Link:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/...

NirSoft offers a large collection of freeware

Highlights:

• Mail PassView - Recover the passwords of popular email clients
  
• IPNetInfo - Find all available information about an IP address:
• NirExt - Change the icon of any folder in your file system, Easily create shortcuts on your start-menu/desktop.
• WinUpdatesList - Displays the list of all Windows updates (Service Packs and Hotfixes) installed on your local computer.
• ShellExView - Displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.
• SysExporter - Grab the data stored in standard list-views, list boxes, and combo boxes from almost any application running on your system, and export it to text, HTML or XML file.
• ProduKey - Recover Office/Windows CD-Key
  

Link:
http://www.nirsoft.net/

Email Standards Project

The Email Standards Project works with email client developers and the design community to improve web standards support and accessibility in email.

• Outlook 2007 - Poor rating
• AOL Webmail - Excellent rating
• GMail - Poor rating

Surprised?

Link:
http://www.email-standards.org/

EmEditor 7 released

EmEditor has relased its next, and most comprehensive, version of its very popular text editor. EmEditor v7, after just 30min of use, is already proving itself to be a major release packed with amazing features and additions.

Version 7 can now record and play keystrokes and mouse operation against other applications, and includes new plug-ins including Projects and Word Complete, lots of new objects for macros, the Macros Toolbar, and portability options (such as USB drive setup), virtual space mode, wrap indent, smooth scroll, Theme feature for color settings, and crash auto-recovery.

EmEditor is by far the best text editor I have come across and I use it daily for web development and design work.

If you use a text editor this is a must to check out.

Features:
http://www.emeditor.com/modules/feature1/

Detailed change log of Vista SP1

This document describes many of the notable changes in Windows Vista SP1, with the exception of some updates to the Windows Genuine Advantage experience which we are still developing for our customers and will be released in a later build.

Overview:
http://.../vista-sp1-changelog/

Full 17-page document:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Microsoft Expression Web Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Expression Web Service Pack 1 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the updates released for Expression Web prior to December of 2007. You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 937163: Description of the Microsoft Expression Web Service Pack 1.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Get DivX Pro for free

Back in June, DivX offered a free version of DivX Pro for Windows and Mac which would normally cost $20. They must be in the holiday mood because they’re once again offering it for free. All you need is a valid email address and you’ll be set to go.Remember, this is the Pro version which includes DivX Converter and DivX Pro Codec.

Link:
http://.../free-divx-pro-download-for-a-limited-time-only/

Direct Download:
http://www.divx.com/dff/

Navicat does what few applications do

And that is to switch me 100% away from an application I have used for years.

Navicat is a powerful MySQL database administration and development tool that is not only sophisticated enough for professional developers, but also easy to learn for new users.

I did a post a few weeks back about some top tools for managing a MySQL database. From that post Navicat contacted my and offered me a free license to fully take advantage of their software. Usually I am weary about this but wanted to give it a try since a top developer I know that is in charge of DonationCoder.com also uses it. Why not give it a chance and use it for week to see if I like it - basically stop using the MySQL provided tools.


So glad I did as Navicat is an awesome application that is very well designed from a UI standpoint and provides all the functionality that one could need from a MySQL manager. So much better having all the features in a single interface instead of spreading them across several tools like MySQL Tools does.

Quick Highlights:

• Ability to drag and drop tables detween databases
• Ability to copy field(s) in a table design view and paste the fields into another table table design view. Makes copying part of a table definition easy
• Import wizard is very well designed and logical in its use and flow.

Wishes:

• Query Editor. I like typing in queries and it would be nice if the Query Editor either provided intellisense as I typed a table/field name or let me drag and drop table/field names into the Query Editor without navigating back to the Query Builder window.
• Quick SQL selection: Basically allow me to select a table and press one button (or right-click menu selection) to generate an INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE and other SQL statements. Provide options of how the SQL statement is constructed: SQL statement on a single line, Lines based on SQL commands, or Seperate lines for each item.

Link:
http://www.navicat.com/

Computer forensics with Helix

Helix is a customized distribution of the Knoppix Live Linux CD. Helix is more than just a bootable live CD. You can still boot into a customized Linux environment that includes customized linux kernels, excellent hardware detection and many applications dedicated to Incident Response and Forensics.

Helix has been modified very carefully to NOT touch the host computer in any way and it is forensically sound. Helix wil not auto mount swap space, or auto mount any attached devices. Helix also has a special Windows autorun side for Incident Response and Forensics.

Link:
http://www.e-fense.com/helix/

Top 5 free tools to destroy your hard drive's data

Remove evidence or just remove information before giving away or trashing an old computer. You would be surprised at what can be recovered from your hard drive if the proper steps aren't taken to permanently erase the data. So, here's a few tools to help you destroy your data.

Darik's Boot and Nuke - A self-contained boot floppy (can be a bootable CD) that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. I just got done using this application on an old laptop.

Eraser - Eraser is a secure data removal tool, which allows you to remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it with carefully selected patterns.

Secure Delete - Secure Delete allows you to specify a directory (and optionally all subdirectories) in which all files should be deleted. When each file is deleted the contents of the file are filled with random data prior to deleting the file.

Wipe [linux] - Wipe is a secure file wiping utility and listed by some as one of the best utilities for securely removing data from a hard drive.

Active KillDisk - A powerful and compact software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

stay tuned for a tool to get data from an erased hard drive...

Win a copy of Expression Studio

A fellow MS MVP is making available a full copy of Expression Studio for whoever submits the best video tutorial as it relates to Expression Web.

Give it a shot and you can even use the free copy of Camtasia to enter.

Link:
http://.../expression-video-contest/

Camtasia Studio v3.1 for free through TechSmith

We're excited that you're taking advantage of downloading Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 absolutely free. Camtasia is the complete professional solution for recording, editing and sharing high-quality screen videos. It's easy-to-use, affordable, and is the quickest and most effective way for you to communicate.

Its may not be the newest version but Camtasia is such a powerful program that using an older version may be good enough for a lot of uses.

Link to get license key:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

Download:
http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe

HTTrack Website Copier

HTTrack allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site's relative link-structure.

Link:
http://www.httrack.com/

as found through Nettech's Blog

Yazzle: Is it Spyware or Adware or Garbage?

Decide for yourself by reading this:
http://www.spywareremove.com/removeAdwareYazzle.html

Quote:

"Yazzle parasite will generate tremendous amounts of popup and pop-under advertising."

Think what you want but I would avoid anything that has Yazzle included in it.

Network Monitor 3 One Click Capture Tool

Wish you could get a network capture from a computer with no capture software installed? Wish you could have a network traffic "flight recorder" on a USB key? Here's your answer!"

The motivation behind creating this tool was to provide an extremely simple way to get a trace from an end user. And the name says it all, though maybe a small bit of false advertisement as it may take a bit more than just one click :). Once you have it downloaded to your machine, you can launch the executable and it will lead you through some simple dialogs that install the tool and start a trace. Once the trace is complete, which means it was manually stopped by the user or the default time of 2 hours have passed, a window will be opened to the location for the capture, called OneClick.cap.

Link:
http://.../nm3-one-click-capture-tool-beta.aspx

Software I have been reviewing lately

Just a quick post of software I have been using for testing and possible inclusion into my software arsenal.

• Navicat: a MySQL Database Manager. So far I like that all functionality is in a single location rather than loading seperate applications, like with the tools from MySQL.
• Vista Buttons: A web menu creator that creates Vista styled menus for websites. So far, its not bad. Trying to figure out if I like the usability of the application - so far I'm on the fence.
• Free Monitor for Google: This tool will determine the search engine result placement for groups of keywords. So far, its fast, easy to use and the reporting is easy to follow.

That's it for now

Flickr offers tools for uploading images

If you don't like working through a web interface for handling your Flickr account then you can use the standalone applications they offer for uploading and working with images in your Flickr account. Easy to install and even easier to work with makes this an option for the most novice users.

Also, Flickr has a pretty cool WinXP Explorer plugin that lets you 'Send To Flickr' right from within Windows Explorer. Can't get much easier than that. (look at the bottom of the tools page for the download and how to install here)

Flickr Uploader:
http://www.flickr.com/tools/

Cfont Pro: Font Manager v3 released

The next version of Cfont Pro, font manager, has been released. This version brings some new tools and makes it compatible with Windows Vista, finally.

Whats New:

• Now supported on Windows Vista
• Redesign Font Browser to include an always displayed Folder Browser
• Brand new Quick Detailed Viewer lets you see all fonts with key information in a single location
• New Zoomer tool lets you see the details of any font and any character
• Added a Property Toolbar to let change some properties instead using the Property Window
• Glyph viewer lets you see how a font character is constructed

This version was going to include a lot more things but since I have some other projects that are taking focus I thought I would release it just to get people on the newer version.

Cfont Pro is Free

Link:
http://www.cfontpro.com/
or
http://www.veign.com/application.php?appid=101

SyncToy v2.0 Beta

SyncToy 2.0 Beta for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.

Whats New:

• Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.
• True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.
• Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.
• Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).
• Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.
• Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.
• Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.
• The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.
• Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.
• Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.
• 64-Bit compatibility
• Folder pair rename
• Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents creates under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded.
• Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.
• Removed combine and subscribe actions.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

New WebRunner Browser by Mozilla

Mozilla cutout all of the frills to give people a one site at a time browsing experience that doesn’t even have an Address Bar, bookmarks, forward/back operations, or many other things that you have become accustomed to a browser having.

At first I thought why. Why would you need a single window that can view only one website at a time with no way to type a new website in. Then they mention web2.0 apps. What a great idea for a quick kiosk application. Web2.0 apps are taking on desktop applications in every area and a simple webbrowser is just the ticket for better simulating a desktop application with a web app.

Link:
http://.../new-webrunner-browser-by-mozilla/

Defraggler - a new kind of disk defragger

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

Its currently in beta and I would recommend waiting for an official release before trying it. Something about a beta disk defragger that makes me nervous.

Link:
http://www.defraggler.com/

Frostwire is a free solution to Limewire Pro

Frostwire is a spinoff of the Pro version of Limewire. Instead of downloading one of the free, open-source compiles of the pro version of Limewire, which I have heard is not legal to distribute, try Frostwire. Its clean, legal and looks just like Limewire.

Frostwire, in simple terms, is a Peer-to-Peer application very much like Kazaa except clean. It allows you to connect with other users on the network to trade files (music and porn mainly).

Features of Frostwire:

• Completely Free & open-source
• Firewall-to-firewall transfers
• Turbo-Charged Download Speeds
• Absolutely NO Spyware or Adware
• Connects to more sources
• Creative Commons license support
• Max. speed network connections
• Junk Result Filters
• Community Chat Rooms
• iTunes Integration
• BitTorrent Support
• Proxy Support

Frostwire:
http://www.frostwire.com/

Always Be Releasing (ABR) approach to software development

Something I have been noticing with software development and the software's user base is that more and more users expect software to be in a constant release mode (which I call Always-Be-Releasing approach). That is, they really don't like the older, more traditional methods (very much like what Microsoft does) where a version is released and any fixes are passed down through patches with new version coming every year or more. It appears that the software release approach used by Open Source where the developers are constantly and consistently releasing new versions (even if its just a dev/snapshot build) is a much more desirable, and in some ways, an expected approach.

If you were to release updates to your application(s) on a daily/weekly basis, even with just minor changes, your users will think the application is always being worked and gain a level of confidence that is hard to come by now. There are just too many dead-applications cluttering the software database websites, the search engines and the software review websites. Users want to make sure the time they invest in learning an application is not going to waste.

The days of a software title release every year or 6 months just doesn't cut it anymore and only upsets your users. Stay in an Always-Be-Releasing state and you will find you users are much happier, contribute more with suggestions and develop a stronger loyalty to your company and software.

Thoughts, leave a comment...

A complete, free CD burning solution with CDBurnerXP

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components

Very nice and a complete CD burning solution. It always amazes me at what developers make available for free.

Link:
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/home

Winamp 5.5 10th Anniversary Edition

Winamp has release a 10th anniversary edition that contains:

• 29 New Additions
• 34 Improvements
• 46 Fixes

If you look back over the 5.0 version, which has been out for many years, this is the largest update ever. Seems that AOL has been holding on to updates and fixes to make this a more special version.

Why release a 10th Anniversary edition today? It was released on 10/10 at 10:00am.

Link:
http://www.winamp.com/

Process Scanner

Now you can harness the power of the industry's leading and most definitive process listing with just one single click! Process Library now lets you search for and identify all the processes that should - or should not - be running on your computer. What's more it's fast, comprehensive and FREE to all PC users.

On occasion I would look through the running processes on my system to see what was going on. Every time I found something in question I would hit Process Library to get the details. Well, Process Library has made it very easy to find out details on all processes in one swoop with their Process Scanner software. This makes it easy to clear running processes that can slow a system down.

Link:
http://www.processlibrary.com/processscan/

NetTools v5.0

Net Tools is cutting-edge security and network monitoring software for the Internet and Local Area Networks, providing clients with the ability and confidence to meet the challenges of tomorrow's technology. Keeping pace with the industry trends, we offer professional tools that support the latest standards, protocols, software, and hardware for both wired and wireless networks. The main goal is the creation of high quality software. Net Tools is a very strong combination of network scanning, security, file, system, and administrator tools useful in diagnosing networks and monitoring your PC and computer's network connections for system administrators.

Link:
http://users.pandora.be/ahmadi/nettools.htm

Note-it gets a needed updated

Note-It is one of my most popular applications. This is a very simple, easy to use post-it type application. This update adds the ability for a new notes will be prompted to be saved if needed. This means when you start a note you won't lose what you typed if you forgot to save.

It's Freeware, actually Postcardware (send me a postcard if you like the application) but same difference.

Link:
http://www.veign.com/application.php?appid=102

CCleaner v2.0

CCleaner has released v2.0 of its very popular system cleanup tool. Better and faster is what they claim. I installed it and so far so good.

Whats New:

• Complete rebuild in C++
  With the requirements for a portable version, 64-bit compatibility and Windows Vista increasing against the limitations of the old architecture. We decided to rebuild the entire CCleaner application in highly optimized C++.
• Faster analyzing and cleaning
  Each scanning process was rewritten from scratch and fully optimized. The result being a noticeable speed increase in all areas.
• Portable
  CCleaner can now run from a USB thumbdrive and be installed/run on a computer without a complicated setup process.
• Compact
  The rewrite removed all external file dependencies, so the main EXE is now half the size of the original program and support files.
• Redesigned User Interface
  The original CCleaner user interface was looking a little dated, so the GUI was redesigned with a modern look, but without sacrificing speed or usability. New icons were created for the interface and the main program icon was updated with a more modern style.
• Exclusions
  It is now possible to specify files, folders and registry keys to ignore from the cleaning process.
• Loads of little tweaks
  Too numerous to mention them all separately, we've tried to improve CCleaner in all areas.

Link:
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner-20

EDraw Flowchart

To create flowcharts, organizational charts, and other diagrams for business and technical processes rapidly, designing does not need to start from scratch. Abundant flowchart templates, symbols and samples provided along with the software will help to quickly create new flow diagrams. Numerous colors, fonts, shapes, styles, and symbols for each object of the flowchart are usually available to create ones own template that can be saved for future use.

After much looking and evaluating other flowchart software I came to the conclusion that this application is by far the easiest to work with. I read no help file and was creating flowcharts in a matter of minutes. The interface is clean and setup pretty well. All in all, for the $49 price tag, I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone looking for a solid flowcharting application.

Link:
http://www.edrawsoft.com/flowchart.php

Process Explorer for Windows v11.0

Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you'll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded. Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded.

Link:
http://.../sysinternals/utilities/processexplorer.mspx

Misc. Microsoft downloads of interest

BITS Repair Tool for Windows Vista (KB940520):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx

Microsoft Office Hotfix Installer v.2.0:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx

Microsoft Application Verifier v3.4:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx

Windows Desktop Search 3.01 for Windows XP (KB917013):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx

VBA Macros get a productivity boost with MZ-Tools

MZ-Tools 3.0 is a freeware add-in for Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Basic 5.0 and the Visual Basic For Applications editor (provided by a VBA-enabled application such as those in Office 2000 and higher) which adds several productivity features to the IDE.

I have used MZ Tools since a very early release back in VB6 days. This is one of those things that if you work in a Visual Studio IDE or create macros in Word / Excel you will wonder how you ever did without.

Link:
http://www.mztools.com/v3/features.aspx

XYplorer: A multi-tabbed file manager for Windows

XYplorer is a multi-tabbed file manager for Windows, featuring a very powerful file search, versatile preview facilities, a highly customizable interface, and a large array of unique ways to efficiently automate frequently recurring tasks. It's innovative and it's fun!

XYplorer is a portable file manager. It does not require any installation, stores all data in the program's folder, and running it does not change your system or registry.

Read a review:
http://www.donationcoder.com/...

Link:
http://www.xyplorer.com/index.htm

Scriptomatic 2.0

A completely new version of the famous Scriptomatic, the utility that writes WMI scripts for you. (And, in the process, teaches you the fundamental concepts behind writing WMI scripts for yourself.) Unlike its predecessor, Scriptomatic 2.0 isn’t limited to writing just VBScript scripts; instead, Scriptomatic 2.0 can write scripts in Perl, Python, or JScript as well. In addition, Scriptomatic 2.0 gives you a host of new output formats to use when running scripts, including saving data as plain-text, as a stand-alone Web page, or even as XML. Scriptomatic 2.0 handles arrays, it converts dates to a more readable format, and it works with all the WMI classes on your computer; on top of all that, it also writes scripts that can be run against multiple machines.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...

The Regex Coach - interactive regular expressions

The Regex Coach is a graphical application for Windows which can be used to experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions interactively.

If you're like me any little bit helps when it comes to Regular Expressions and The Regex Coach does indeed help.

Link:
http://weitz.de/regex-coach/

USB Drive Apps: PC Repair System

Basically a suit of tools that will fit on a USB drive as small as 32Meg to assist in the repair of a PC. Very much along the lines of Portable Apps but more geared towards fixing rather that function.

What's inside PC Repair System:

• DCoT Menu
• Active@ ISO Burner
• AutoCompress
• Brute Benchmark
• CCleaner
• CDmage
• DriveImage XML
• Double Killer
• DTaskManager
• encopy
• Eraser
• ERUNT
• explore2fs
• File Assassin
• Filemon
• Hash
• HDDScan
• ICE ECC
• LC ISO Creator
• LSASecretsView
• NTREGOPT
• Patcher
• PMMon
• ProcessExplorer
• ProduKey
• Regmon
• Restoration
• Roadkil’s CommTest
• Roadkil’s Disk Image
• Rootkit Revealer
• SequoiaView
• System Information for Windows
• TweakUI
• Universal Extract
• Virtual CD Control Panel
• What Changed?
• Why Reboot?
• WirelessKeyView

Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Money Plus

Building on the company’s 17-year history of delivering award-winning financial management solutions, Microsoft Corp. today launches Microsoft® Money Plus, the latest release of the popular Money product line. Money Plus debuts innovative new tools that enable consumers to effortlessly manage all their finances. With customizable “Insights,” Microsoft Money Plus delivers important financial information right to the desktop, without the need to open the Money program. Consumers can personalize Insights to alert them when they are close to preset spending limits or when bills are coming due and can also quickly and easily check accounts to see balances and cash flow.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/...MoneyPlusPR.mspx

Portable Apps

Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.

This is basically a collection of free software that all runs from a USB drive (Flash drive) so you can take it with you when you're on the go. See below for a list of software.

• Firefox Accessibility Extension - Make Firefox more accessible
• On-Screen Keyboard Portable - Easily access an on-screen keyboard
• Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable - A full-featured screen magnifier
• Notepad++ Portable - A full-featured text editor with syntax highlighting
• Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - The easy-to-use Nvu web editor
• XAMPP - Apache, mySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin, etc in one package
• Mines-Perfect Portable - a classic hunt-for-mines game with advanced features
• PokerTH Portable - classic Texas Hold Em style poker at its best
• Sudoku Portable - the wildly popular and addictive puzzle game
• GIMP Portable - Photo and Image Editor
• FileZilla Portable - the full-featured FTP client
• FireFTP Extension (for Firefox) - a lightweight extension
• Gaim Portable - chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in an easy-to-use interface
• Miranda IM Portable - chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in a customizable interface
• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition - the award-winning web browser that's safe and secure
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition - the handy email client
• Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - the easy-to-use webpage editor
• PuTTY Portable - lightweight telnet and SSH client
• Sage Extension (for Firefox) - A full-featured RSS extension
• Audacity Portable - A simple audio editor and recorder
• MPlayer Portable - Full-featured movie player with support for most video formats
• VirtualDub Portable - video processing and capture utility
• VLC Media Player Portable - An easy to use media player that plays most audio and video formats
• AbiWord Portable - a lightweight word processor compatible with Microsoft Word files
• Lightning Extension (for Thunderbird) - A lightweight extension for your calendar and tasks
• Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition - Calendar and task management with a familiar interface
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (Address Book) - Email client's built-in address book with import/export functions
• OpenOffice.org Portable - word processor, spreadsheet, presentations with Microsoft compatibility
• Sumatra PDF Portable - a lightweight PDF viewer
• Mac-on-Stick - Run Mac OS Classic 7 portably
• 7-Zip Portable - File archiver and compressor
• ClamWin Portable - Antivirus on the go
• Command Prompt Portable - Simple link to a customizable command prompt
• Eraser Portable - securely delete files and data
• KeePass Password Safe Portable - Secure, easy-to-use password manager
• PortableApps.com Backup - integrated backup utility bundled with the platform
• PortableApps.com Menu - integrated start menu bundled with the platform
• Toucan - backup, sync and encrypt for advanced users
• winMd5Sum Portable - check md5 sums to verify files on the go

The way I look at is, why not. I have a lot of extra space on a USB drive I carry around so why no load it with some software.

Don't forget to support them with a donation (even $1 USD helps them).

Link:
http://portableapps.com/

How To: Bulletproof Server Backups with Amazon S3

We all know that it is important to keep recent backups of anything you value at all, so why not automate the process? Until I started tinkering with S3, my server backup process involved manually downloading and compressing the contents of my server and storing the compressed file on my hard drive. That usually took longer than I’d like so I wouldn’t do it terribly often. The main benefit of backing up with S3 is that you take advantage to your server’s high-speed connection and bypass the need to download files over your connection, as well as safely store files somewhere other than your own server.

Link:
http://.../how-to-bulletproof-server-backups-with-amazon-s3/

GIMP’s major UI revamp

GIMP is well known as a powerful application, and especially in the last few years has gained a rather large community of users. There’s also a large group of people for whom GIMP would be their tool of choice, if it had the same kind of attention to user interface as Inkscape, GNOME, Firefox and other modern Open Source apps.

Full Story:
http://.../gimps-major-ui-revamp/

Gimp:
http://www.gimp.org/

Speed up your internet connection

The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run.

I have it used it to tweak my settings but its hard to tell how much, if any, its speed up my internet connection. Check it out and leave a comment if you noticed much of a difference. Also, you can use one of the many connection speed tests to check just how fast your connection is.

TCP Optimizer:
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

Cfont Pro gets a minor release

I released a very minor update to Cfont Pro, my Font Manager, which enhances a few things and sets the ground work for some additional features. I already have another version coming together but will wait and compile a larger release.

Oh, and this application is Donationware (free).

Link:
http://www.cfontpro.com/

Adobe PDF Reader OUT, Foxit IN

Man am I glad to finally dump Adobe PDF Reader. The straw that broke the camels , besides the 110Meg+ install, was the constant and annoying updater. In comes Foxit reader to the rescue with its very small under 2Meg install and fast opening of PDF files.

Run don't walk and remove Adobe's bloatware and grab Foxit.

Link:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php