FavSoft

Exact Duplicate Finder

2018-08-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Useful to:

Find and remove identical files.
Remove empty folders.

Recommended because:

Uses byte-by-byte comparison to find identical files reliably.
Finds duplicates in certain locations only, by running library scans.
It's having a clean interface. Identical files are grouped by location.

Links:

Download Exact Duplicate Finder (from Softpedia).

Xion Audio Player

2018-08-25T13:14:00.002-07:00

Useful to:

Play music with high quality and powerful bass.

Recommended because it has:

An amazing equalizer with the most powerful and deep bass.
A friendly interface also with more skins available.
Developed as portable software, so you can take it anywhere.

Links:

Homepage of Xion Audio Player.
Download Xion Audio Player.

Universal Extractor

2017-05-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Useful to:

Decompress and extract files from archives and installer files.
Extract content of various installers to run the apps inside.

Recommended because:

It can unpack most installers, so you can use the resulted apps as portable.
You can drop files in its window and unpack installers with one mouse click.

Links:

Homepage of Universal Extractor 2.
Download Universal Extractor 2 (from Softpedia).

PeaZip archiver

2015-07-02T03:51:00.000-07:00

Useful to:

Compress data by using the most efficient algorithms available today.
Open, extract, convert, update and create encrypted archives in multiple formats.

Recommended because:

Strives to support the most efficient compression algorithms.
It is continuously developed, opens source, cross-platform and portable.

Links:

Homepage of PeaZip.
Download PeaZip portable for Windows.

IcoFX - icon editor

2015-06-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Useful to:

Create and edit icons, or extract icons from files.

Recommended because:

You can easily create and edit icons with it.
Possesses all the features you would expect in an icon editor.

Links:

Homepage of IcoFX.
Download IcoFX 1.6.4 (last free version, portable).

FileOptimizer

2015-05-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

Useful to:

Batch optimize multiple types of files, to reduce their size, with no quality loss.
Batch re-encode certain file types with different settings, to reduce their size.

Recommended because:

Can optimize the content of many types of files to reduce their size to a minimum.
Can optimize files without quality loss. Settings are available for certain file types.
Extremely efficient PNG optimization. You can also choose an optimization level.

Links:

Homepage of FileOptimizer.
Download FileOptimizer for Windows.

Aimp 4 - audio player

2015-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

Useful to:

Play music and internet radio.
Convert audio/multimedia files.

Recommended because:

Uses it's own smart sound engine for the output.
Lots of settings are available, and many people designed cool skins for it.
Includes a versatile audio converter and an advanced audio library.
Can play and record internet radio stations.
Can be installed portable, so you can take it anywhere and keep the settings.

Links:

Homepage of AIMP.
Download AIMP 4 (from Softpedia).

CCleaner 5

2014-12-18T16:18:00.001-08:00

Useful to:

Remove useless and temporary files.
Clean registry of useless entries.
Remove unwanted start-up entries.
Disable Windows Explorer context menu items.

Recommended because:

Can easily free up the space occupied by useless files.

Links:

Homepage of CCleaner.
Download CCleaner 5. (free portable version available).

Eazfuscator.Net - last free version

2014-12-18T03:40:00.008-08:00

Eazfuscator.Net is paid software since version 3.4 (alternatives below).
Download Eazfuscator.Net 3.3.161.40493 (last free version).

How to make Eazfuscator.Net 3.3 work with Visual Studio
If Eazfuscator doesn't find the ildasm.exe in Visual Studio installation,
go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows, look for ildasm.exe
and copy it to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\
You'll need to create the missing folders if any.
Eazfuscator 3.3 (last free version) doesn't support .NET 4.5 and WinRT.

Eazfuscator.Net has some free alternatives (list updated on 17.02.2022)
To obfuscate your .Net apps, you can also use the following products:

> Obfuscar (open source),
> ConfuserEx (open source),
> DotNet Patcher (open),

> DotRefiner (free),
> AppFuscator (free mode),
> CSharp Obfuscator (free edition),
> Dotfuscator (free edition),

How to pin a Computer shortcut to taskbar in Windows 7

2014-12-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

This will open My Computer instead of Libraries location.

1. Create a "Computer - Shortcut.lnk" shortcut on desktop.

2. Rename it to "Computer.lnk".
3. Extract this archive and move the shortcut to the extracted folder.

4. Pin MyComputer.exe to taskbar.

That's it. It is the safest way to pin a Computer shortcut to Windows 7 taskbar,
other than enabling the Links toolbar and adding the Computer shortcut to it.

External drive, data not accessible in Windows

2014-09-25T01:46:00.001-07:00

The problem:
I got the "You need to format the disk before you can use it" message in Windows Explorer, after connecting an external drive.

The story:
The wrong thing I did. A different drive was connected and the computer was in sleep mode. I disconnected (unplugged) the drive and connected a new one, then returned the computer from sleep mode to normal. The new drive's data was then inaccessible and the above message appeared. Drives are NTFS formatted, and the same model.

The panic:
I disconnected and reconnected the drive with no good results. HD Sentinel assumed the drive was in perfect shape by reading the S.M.A.R.T data. Looking for a fix I tried TestDisk and Find and Mount, but these weren't particularly useful in this case. Afterwards, I downloaded the Parted Magic ISO and burned it to a CD. I was able to copy some important files from the drive after booting with the Parted Magic disc. The drive was easily accessible that way.

The fix:
Ultimately, I said I'll give Check Disk a try, to fix the problem. And it worked. Check Disk took a while to fix the errors, but after that, the data on the drive was recognized by Windows again.
In my case, I also had to change permissions for the files and folders on that drive, to have access to them, when drive is connected to other computers running Windows.

To run Check Disk press the Windows Start button (or press Win+R on your keyboard). Then in the Search box, type "cmd" and press the Enter key. In the cmd window type "chkdsk /f E:" (or chkdsk /f /r E:) where "E" is your drive letter, then press the Enter key and wait for the disk repair process to finish. You can close the cmd Window after Check Disk finishes its work.
Afterwards, you may have to disconnect and reconnect the drive to notice any change.

Note:
I assumed that the problem was not caused by a hardware failure (good S.M.A.R.T data, no unusual noises). This may not be the case in your particular situation, so use this info wisely.
Also, I can advice you to connect the external hard drive using shorter cables when possible.

Anvir Task Manager

2012-10-10T08:07:00.002-07:00

Useful to:

Identify unwanted processes or services that should be removed.
Stop unwanted processes or services from running in Windows.
Modify certain Windows settings, and restore the browser's homepage.

Recommended because:

Lists all running processes and can assist in case malware needs to be removed.

Links:

Homepage of Anvir.
Download Anvir Task Manager (free portable version available).