very important software

Post-apocalyptic Tokyo scenery

2011-07-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

The illustrations of TokyoGenso (a.k.a. Tokyo Fantasy) depict a post-apocalyptic Tokyo devoid of people and overtaken by nature.

Shinjuku skyline [+]

Tokyo Big Sight [+]

Rainbow Bridge [+]

Moai statue at Shibuya station [+]

Kabuki-za Theater, Ginza [+]

Mode HAL iKO Building, Shinjuku [+]

Poster for "The Book of Eli" (Japanese title: "The Walker") [+]

Gundam // Tokyogenso Robot

Tokyo Sky Tree [+]

Sofmap Akihabara [+]

Haneda Airport [+]

Cover of Liberal Time, September 2010

Akihabara [+]

Saigō Takamori statue, Ueno

Poster for "The Book of Eli" (a.k.a. "The Walker) - Osaka version [+]

Osaka street scene - Tsūtenkaku Tower [+]

Osaka street scene - Billiken [+]

Osaka street scene [+]

Hato Bus [+]

Tokyo Monorail [+]

Shibuya station (Fukutoshin Line) // Seibu Shibuya

"Manneken Pis" statue at Hamamatsuchō station

Ueno [+]

Tokyo Tower [+]

Shinjuku station [+]

Hanayashiki amusement park, Asakusa [+]

McDonald's [+]

Yoyogi station [+]

Nakano station [+]

Akihabara [+]

Shibuya [+]

Wako Building, Ginza [+]

[Links: tokyogenso blog, pixiv, deviantART]

How To Permanently Delete Your Account on Popular Websites

2011-07-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

Smashing Magazine

How To Permanently Delete Your Account on Popular Websites

We all have an increasing number of sites and online services we’re members of, and sometimes it all gets a little overwhelming. At times, we just need to delete our memberships to some sites, either in an effort to simplify our lives or just because we’ve grown tired of a particular site or service.

What we often don’t realize when signing up for all these accounts, though, is how difficult it can be to permanently delete our accounts when we’ve had enough. Some require complicated, multi-step processes that can stretch over the course of days (or weeks). Others take less time, but still require multiple steps by the user.

Below we’ll take a look at the account deletion processes of popular websites and services, and how easy or difficult they make it. Then we’ll discuss why sites make things so complicated, and some things to consider when designing your own deletion policies.

Facebook

Difficulty (on a scale of 1-5, 5 being hardest): 5

Deleting a Facebook account is a bit more complicated than many other services. There are two options for getting rid of your FB account, one that’s permanent and complete, and one that lets you change your mind later.

If you just want to shut down your account for a little while, with the option to reactivate it later, you can deactivate your account. This is simple: just go into your account settings and click on the “deactivate account” link. This immediately makes your account invisible to everyone else on Facebook. If you decide at a later date that you want to reactivate your account, it’s as simple as reactivating.

If you’re looking for something a little more permanent, though, you’ll need to submit a request to Facebook. The tricky thing here, though, is that they don’t immediately delete your account, and if at any time before it’s permanently deleted you log in or otherwise interact with Facebook, your deletion request will be canceled. For that reason, it’s a good idea to go around to any computers or devices (like your mobile phone) that you access your account through and log out (deleting saved passwords is also a good idea to prevent an accidental login).

Then you can use the form found here to request deletion. Remember not to log into your account at any point after that. There doesn’t seem to be any official notice on how long it takes, but unofficial reports say 14 days. To be on the safe side, you may want to wait a month or more before attempting to login to confirm your account has been deleted.

More information on deleting your Facebook account can be found in their FAQs.

Twitter

Difficulty: 2

In contrast to deleting a Facebook account, deleting a Twitter account is relatively easy. All you need to do is go into your account settings and click on the “Deactivate my account” link at the bottom of the page. This is a permanent deactivation, though it can take up to a month for your account and information to disappear entirely from their system.

One word of warning, though: if you think you might want to use your email address, username or phone number on Twitter in the future, make sure that you change them prior to deactivating your account. Whether these things are permanently blocked from Twitter in the future or only temporarily isn’t specified, but it’s a good idea to change them anyway.

You can find more information on deleting your Twitter account here.

MySpace

Difficulty: 4

Deleting a MySpace account is a bit convoluted, but doable. You’ll need to login to your account and then go to the “My Account” link, and then select “Account”. Scroll until you see the “Account Cancellation” section and click on “Cancel Account”. This is where it gets a little bit complicated. MySpace will then send you an email with instructions for completing your account cancellation. Except the email doesn’t come right away, and can take a couple of days to show up. Once you get the email, it asks you for confirmation again that you want to delete your account, but then deletes it immediately.

All of the above works just fine, as long as you still have access to the email address you signed up with. But as so often happens when we finally decide to clean up our online accounts, some of them may be associated with outdated email or other accounts. In that case, there are a few alternatives listed by MySpace. The first one is to edit your profile and replace everything in your “About Me” box with “REMOVE PROFILE” and then contact MySpace and tell them to delete your profile (including your friend ID or URL). If that doesn’t work (say, if you can’t login to your account at all), you can just contact MySpace and ask them to delete the profile. How quickly they actually do so isn’t specified.

Official instructions for deleting your account can be found here.

Difficulty: 3

LinkedIn makes it quite easy to delete your account, once you know where to look. Click on “Settings” in the upper-right of the screen once you’re logged into your account, and then select “Close Your Account” under “Personal Information”. You’ll then be prompted for the reason you’re closing your account, and once confirmed, your account will be deleted.

As far as social networking sites go, LinkedIn probably has the most straight-forward account closure process. More details can be found here.

Google

Difficulty: 3

Considering how pervasive Google is in our digital existence, you’d think deleting your Google account might be incredibly complicated. After all, many of us use dozens of Google services, and you’d think each one would require separate deletion.

For the most part, deleting your entire Google account is easy. There are only a few services that require special consideration. Of course, with the exception of a couple of services, there’s no way to delete individual services completely from your Google account. For example, with Analytics, you can delete each individual site you’re tracking, but not the Analytics account itself.

To delete your main Google account, login through the Google Accounts homepage. Then click on “Edit” next to “My Products”. From that page, you can delete certain services (Orkut and Web History), as well as delete your entire account by clicking on “Clear account and delete all services and info associated with it”. This will take you to a form where you’ll need to confirm each of the services you’ll be deleting. If you linked your Google account to an existing YouTube account, you’ll need to delete that account separately.

Then you’ll need to confirm your password, and check that you do, indeed, want to close your account, and that you know you’re still responsible for any pending financial transactions associated with your account. Then confirm, and your account will be deleted.

Certain services, including Google Alerts, Groups, and Docs, aren’t automatically deleted in this way. To unsubscribe from alerts, you’ll need to refer back to your original Alerts email (or from any Alerts email you’ve since received) and click the ‘unsubscribe’-link there. For Groups, you’ll also need to unsubscribe from each group.

Google Docs leaves shared documents and presentations available to collaborators and viewers. Spreadsheets, on the other hand, aren’t available to collaborators or viewers once you’ve deleted your account (so have a collaborator create a copy of the spreadsheet prior to deleting your account). With shared documents and presentations, you’ll want to reassign ownership to another user before deleting your account.

Full details on deleting your Google account can be found on the Google’s Help page “Deleting: Your Google Account”.

Ebay

Difficulty: 3

Ebay makes it fairly easy to close your account, though they do impose a waiting period. All you need to do is make sure your account has a zero balance, and then click the link to request your account be closed on this page.

One caveat: if you think you might want to use your email address for another Ebay account in the future, make sure that you change it prior to deleting your account. Email addresses and user IDs cannot be reused in the future. Once the waiting period has ended, your account will be deleted and your feedback ratings and other information will no longer be visible. Whether that information is permanently deleted or stored on a server somewhere ad infinitum isn’t specified.

Wikipedia

Difficulty: Impossible

Wikipedia is one of the few websites out there that doesn’t allow you to delete your account. That’s right, once you have a Wikipedia account, you have it forever. There is some hope, though, if you really don’t want to be associated with it any longer.

In most cases, accounts can be renamed and your user page can be deleted, along with (in some cases) your user talk pages. While this doesn’t erase your tracks entirely, it does effectively let you vanish from the site.

Wikipedia’s reasoning behind this is that all contributions have to be assigned to someone. They can’t have anonymous or orphaned contributions, or it would potentially ruin the crowdsourced and open nature of the site.

Flickr/Yahoo!

Difficulty: 2

Deleting your account on Flickr is relatively easy. Once you’ve logged into your account, go to your account settings and click on the “Personal Information” tab. From there, click the link “Delete your Flickr account”. A warning screen will come up that informs you that the deletion is permanent, and that all of your photos and videos will be deleted.

Deleting your entire Yahoo! account is a separate step. Log into your account and then go to the account deletion page. This page explains what happens when you delete your account. User information is kept on Yahoo!’s active servers for 90 days after the deletion has been requested, and may persist in backups beyond that. Once you’ve read the information on the page, you have to enter your password, a captcha code and then confirm that you want to delete your account. One thing to remember: if you’ve signed up for any Yahoo! premium services, you may still be billed for those after your account has been terminated, so make sure you cancel those premium services before you delete your account.

Windows Live

Difficulty: 2

Closing your Windows Live account is actually surprisingly easy. There’s only a problem if you’re using that account to access other websites. If so, you’ll need to go to each website where you’re using your Windows Live login credentials and delete your accounts there prior to deleting the Live account itself. If you don’t, you won’t be able to delete those accounts (or do anything with them) once your Live ID is deactivated.

Now, once you’ve verified that all your accounts linked to your Live ID have been closed, all you need to do is go to your Windows Live account and click on the “Close your account” link at the bottom under “Other Options”. This will bring up a page that tells you what happens when your account is closed. This includes that your registered information will be permanently deleted, that some information might not be deleted (refer to their privacy statement for details on that), and that if you have associated children’s accounts with that Live ID, they will also be deactivated. To finish the deletion process, you have to type in your password and click “Yes”.

There are reports that at this point you may be told there is a Microsoft email account associated with your account, and that your account cannot be closed. From there, you just need to click on “Close your Microsoft account” and then “Close my account”.

Stumbleupon

Difficulty: 1

Stumbleupon is one of the easiest web services to delete your account from. Just go to their delete account page, enter your user ID/nickname and password, and click on “Delete Account”. That’s it! Account deletions are permanent, so make sure you really want to delete your account before clicking that “Delete Account” button.

WordPress.com

Difficulty: Impossible

WordPress.com doesn’t allow you to delete your account. Instead, they recommend you simply leave the account inactive. If you’re worried about the information you’ve uploaded to your WordPress.com account, remember you can always delete the information contained in the account (or replace it with false information).

Start by deleting your blogs. To do that, go to Tools and then “Delete Site”. There’s an email confirmation step required. You may want to run an export of your site’s content first, just so you have a backup in case you ever want to repost or reuse any of it (or just for posterity). After that, you can replace your email address and other identifying information with alternative information. More information can be found on this page and this one.

Amazon

Difficulty: 3

Closing your Amazon account requires you to contact their customer service department to request the account to be closed. This can only be done if you have no pending transactions, so make sure you’ve either received or cancelled all recent orders.

The email to customer service has to be sent from the email-address associated with your account. Other than that, they don’t give any indication of either how long it might take to delete the account or if there are additional confirmation steps involved.

YouTube

Difficulty: 3

If your YouTube account was set up with your Google account login credentials (as in, you used your Google account to sign up for your YouTube account), it’s automatically deleted when you delete your Google account. But if you set it up separately from your Google account (or linked the accounts together after they were both set up, or if you want to keep your Google account), you’ll need to delete it separately. One thing to note is that deleting your account does not delete your videos or channel, just your profile information. You’ll need to delete those prior to deleting your account.

The deletion process is pretty straightforward, though it does have a few more steps than are really necessary. Log in to your account and then go to “Manage” from the drop-down menu under your user name. Then click on “Manage Account” and then “Delete Account”. It will then ask you why you want to delete your account. Fill that in and then click the “Delete Account” button. YouTube then brings up a window that reminds you that your videos will not be deleted, only your profile. If you’ve deleted your videos and channel (or opted not to), then click on “Delete Account” one more time. You then have to confirm one more time. After that, try logging into your account again to make sure it’s been deleted.

PayPal

Difficulty: 1

Closing a PayPal account is pretty simple. Just log in to your account, and then click on your “Profile” link. From there, click on the “Close Account” link in the “Account Information” column. You’ll be prompted to continue from there and then you’ll need to click the “Close Account” button.

You’ll want to make sure your account is current and that there are no pending transactions, and of course you’ll want to transfer the positive balance to your bank account. There are reports that if you delete your PayPal account, it’s more difficult to get another one in the future (as in, they require more information of you). Whether this is true or not is unconfirmed.

Why’s It So Complicated?

In the case of every service mentioned above, properly deleting your account is a multi-step process. Some sites are even more difficult. It’s not a technical issue, obviously, as programming a functionality to let users delete their own accounts is something most competent developers could do before breakfast.

So why do some sites make it so complicated? The answer is user retention. They don’t want you to delete your account. The hope is that if you have the account, you’ll use it at least occasionally, if for no other reason than curiosity about things you might have missed when you weren’t logged in. As soon as you delete that account, though, it’s an out-of-site-out-of-mind kind of thing. You’re less likely to sign up for another account if you decided you could live without it once.

Account Deletion Remorse

This is one very valid reason to make it more complicated to delete an account: deletion remorse. It’s not uncommon for a user to have a bad day, get angry about something going on within a social network, and decide they’ve had enough and are getting rid of their account.

Of course, what often happens is that a day or two later they realize how much they loved using that social network, and they wish they could get their account back. With account deletion policies like those of Facebook (on which I’ve witnessed such account deletion remorse first-hand), users can just reactivate their account, and have all of their old friends and information right there. On sites with more immediate deletion policies, that user would likely have to start over entirely.

Should You Use Complicated Account Deletion Processes?

Considering how many major sites out there have complex methods for deleting accounts, should this be industry standard? Should all sites employ these methods to help retain users who can’t be bothered to follow a multi-step process? Probably not.

There are a few things to consider when deciding whether you want to make it complicated for a user to delete their account. First of all, if your deletion process is going to be handled by customer service representatives, do you have the manpower to do so? If you suddenly have a thousand members who want to delete their accounts, do you have the resources to handle that?

Do you expect users to regularly delete their accounts just to sign up for a new one a week later? If it’s complicated to delete their account, they may never sign up for another one, not wanting to go through the process again.

Inactive accounts can also eat up your system resources. Server space can become an issue, especially on very popular sites (or sites with very low budgets). Plus, it makes maintenance and backups more intensive, since there’s more data to deal with. Making it easier for people to delete their accounts if they’re not using your service can help relieve that load.

The level of complexity for the account deletion process is something that needs to be considered on a site-by-site basis. In general, the easier the process is, the better; however, it is important to make sure that users may be having a bad day and make a mistake by closing an account and so they will be happy about getting the account back a couple of days after it was closed.

Making the process way too difficult and time-consuming will turn annoyed customers in angry ones, the ones who will be very likely to spread negative word out there, while annoyed users would probably just close the account and move on, and even maybe come back to the service later. In either case, one way to minimize your worries about it, though, is to keep your users happy and conduct your site’s business in a transparent and open way.

(vf)

Tags: captcha, Facebook, Google, social

46 Free Computer Pranks

2011-07-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

The free software listed here is perfect for the most mischievous pranks and computer gags. This software is great for playing jokes on those unsuspecting users. Click on any of our computer pranks below to get more information and download them.

Add/Remove

Pretends to remove all of the software from your machine using the standard Windows Add/Remove Programs.

Avoid

A harmless prank that makes your Windows start button avoid your mouse!

Backwards Mouse

Backwards mouse will reverse all mouse movements on the desktop.

Blue Screen of Death

This prank simulates the Windows

Bomb

Use the Bomb program when you want to display that dreaded Windows Illegal Operation message dialog box.

Click Me

Want someone to have fun chasing a button around the screen? This Click Me jumps out of the way each time someone tries to click it.

ClickStart

The ClickStart prank will click the users start button every 45 seconds. This is a very annoying prank!

Clippy

Prank someone with this fake, customizable Clippy assistant.

Copy Cursor

Replicate the mouse cursor to random positions on the screen.

Crazy Num Caps Scroll

This program is truly a jokesters dream. It will allow you to setup the toggling of the Caps, Num and Scroll lock keys.

Cursor Fun

Cursor Fun is a hilarious gag program that randomly changes the appearance of the mouse cursor.

Dirty Mouse

Prank someone by making them think their mouse ball is dirty or their optical mouse is not responding.

DownHoax

DownHoax is an Internet Explorer compatible download simulator. The servers it accesses, as well as the files it downloads, are completely bogus.

Email Fun

Email Fun is an amusing prank simulates emailing everyone in your address book.

Fake Delete

Fake Delete is the perfect prank to play on any unsuspecting user. It simulates deleting a specified directory from the machine. Very realistic, even power users will be fooled.

Fake Format

Fake Format was created by popular demand, and pretends to format a specified drive. Very realistic dialogs, summaries, and even hard drive chatter.

Fake Shutdown

Fake Shutdown is a gag that looks like you tried to shutdown Windows.

Fake Start Menu 95

Fake Start Menu replaces the Windows 95 Start Menu (task bar) with a fake one that will not respond to anything.

Flasher

Flash a subliminal message to the computer screen.

Flip It

Flip It is the craziest Windows message you have ever seen!

Floppy Madness

Drive someone MAD with this random floppy drive cruncher.

Follow Me

With this software your Windows Start Button will horizontally follow your mouse cursor across the task bar.

Gas Gripe

Gas Gripe is a fun program that spoofs current gasoline prices.

HeadAche

HeadAche is a program that will give you a headache. Don't believe it? Run it and see.

Mime Mouse

If you want mouse mischief this is the program for you. Mime Mouse will randomly limit the mouse cursor to an area on the screen.

Mouse Droppings

Make your mouse poop all over the screen with this dirty little prank!

Mouse Mayhem

Ever wanted to take control of your friends mouse and make it simulate mouse actions? Well you can with Mouse Mayhem.

Mouse Move

Want to randomly move the mouse cursor? Download this free software.

MouseClicks

A fun prank program that will disable the users mouse clicks!

Password Prank

Password Prank displays a bogus password dialog screen, then errors when keys are pressed.

Pirated Software

Make someone think they are installing pirated software with this prank.

Popup Prank

Fool your friends into thinking their photo is in an online popup advertisement.

PowerSave Prank

A harmless prank that puts your screen into power save mode.

Print Me

Print Me is a bogus print dialog prank program that is thorough enough to trick the most skillful user.

Program - WAV Launcher

This program is a hidden launcher that will puzzle any user as to why programs or .wav files are randomly being launched.

Random Burper

This hidden software will randomly play disgusting burp sounds every minute.

Random Farter

Random Farter is a hidden fart sound player. It will randomly play disgusting fart sounds every minute until it is closed.

ReplaceKeys

The ReplaceKeys prank replaces key presses with other keyboard keys.

Rotate

If you want to randomly manipulate the desktop, Rotate is just for you.

Screen Screw

Want to screw with someones screen? Download this free prank!

Shakedown

Never fear, Shakedown is here! Rattle your desktop on wild and crazy ride.

Show - Hide Desktop

Show - Hide Desktop is a prank that will show and then hide your Windows desktop icons.

The Finger

The Finger is a hilarious joke program that will flash the mouse cursor to a hand with the middle finger up and then back to the normal cursor again.

Time Traveler

The Time Traveler prank changes your system clock to a random time, every 30 seconds.

Vista Upgrade Prank

Gag that simulates an upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista.

Y2K Joke

Y2K is the perfect joke for anyone familiar with the millenium bug. This program has it all - from changing all letter Ys to letter Ks, to pretending to correct the mouse's Y2K problem. This gag is hilarious!

50 Fantastically Clever Logos

2011-07-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

I know everybody and their brother does logo roundups so you’re probably sick of them, but I don’t believe I’ve ever done one and there is a particularly impressive brand of logo design that I wanted to point out.

Today we’ll look at 50 logos that are the result of going beyond the typical thought process and injecting a little wit and hidden symbolism into the design process.

Like the article? Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter to stay up on recent content.

What Makes a Logo Clever?

To explain what I mean by “clever” logo design, let’s take a look at a typical logo, (i.e. one that isn’t clever).

The logo above is a nice piece of work. The colors are perfect, the lettering is masculine, the overall feel is athletic and the glossy effect works well. It’s everything that it needs to be.

However, my favorite type of logo design is that which takes the assignment one step further. Rather than just making something attractive, these designers look at the design process with a pinch of added intelligence and a perspective that skewed enough to see things differently than the rest of the world.

These types of logos make you smile at the brilliance of both the idea and the execution and have several layers of meaning that can hit you in waves. Some are amazing in their obviousness to all who see them and some find excellence in hidden secrets.

I’ve broken down this collection into three categories: visual double entendres (two things in one), word and character art, and ambigrams. Ambigrams definitely also fall into the word art category but I wanted to give them special recognition because they’re so difficult to pull off effectively (if you don’t believe me, try to make one!).

Visual Double Entendres

Lion Bird

If you stare straight at the bird’s feet for a second, a stunningly clear lion’s face emerges. Brilliant design!

Chad 2010

I love this one. There’s a sort of ribbon theme that makes both a face and the continent of Africa.

Spartan

Simply beautiful use of negative space. The golfer and his swing double as a soldier’s face.

DesignTent

A tent and a pencil.

Pepperhorn

A pepper and a horn.

GreenLabs

Green here is symbolized by a tree and labs is represented by the brain. That’s a sharp looking tree brain!

Airtistic

Another pencil idea very similar to the one above. This one is a parachute and a pencil.

Ecotaste

A tongue and a leaf. A little creepy but a great idea!

Guitarshop

The letter “G” and a guitar. Simple but effective.

Mr. Couch

This is definitely one of my favorites. The couch has cleverly been crafted to also be a face with a mustache. Excellent work!

Eco Pup

The dog’s ears are leaves. Sometimes subtle is better.

Mailhouse

The open envelope creates a house shape.

WordRefuge

The open book makes a tent. Not my favorite but it makes for a good visual read.

Australian Pork

This one makes me laugh. Australia has been turned into a pig’s snout!

MetroMobile

The city skyline doubles as a row of cell phones.

PokerHills

I love that the shape of the hills genuinely matches the shape that cards make when you peak at them while they lie face down on the table.

Match

This one goes on and on. The matches come together to make a heart. There are two of them (they match). Fire represents passion. etc. etc.

ThinkTank

Ideas are often represented by lightbulbs. Turning the phrase “think tank” into a lightbulb tank was genius.

Rockit

This one is an excellent piece of art. The rocket blasting off and leaving smoke trails clearly makes a guitar shape.

Suitcase

This one is simple but so incredibly effective. It looks like both a suitcase and a folded dress shirt with a tie. The latter really emphasizes the “suit” aspect and therefore represents professionalism.

AirTime

Another really subtle double entendre. The hands on the clock make an airplane.

Uptown

The buildings in the city skyline are all arrows pointing upward.

Country Living Dentistry

The white picket fence is a perfect picture of country life, here it’s been turned into a toothbrush to symbolize dentistry.

Push the Bottle

Another excellent use of negative space. The hand pushing a button makes the shape of a bottle. Notice how the fingers of the fist create the liquid in the bottle.

Pencil

It’s amazing how little had to be added to make a pencil appear (just a triangle!). Some logo designers really have a gift for simple touches that change everything.

Spice Mountain

It definitely looks like both a mountain and a pile of spices.

Night Golf

Not only does the round shape of the golf ball reflect that of the moon, the little dips look like craters! A great visual simile.

Maritime Law

The logo says everything it needs to. Scales are a clear representation of law and justice and the bowls have been turned into boats to represent the maritime aspect.

GradBooks

This idea seems a little obvious but I’m sure it took a lot of tweaking to get to this point.

Antisocial Network

The sort of abstract skyline design is a cliche for community and has been transformed into a familiar hand gesture.

Mars

Another one of my favorites. The carrot has been beautifully crafted to make a rocket ship.

Nurd

The car’s headlights make it look like a big nerd with glasses. Yet another example of the use of subtlety in wit.

Bananas Films

The film strips have been hung to mirror the shape of a group of bananas.

Food Writers

The negative space in the tip of the old style fountain pen has been turned into a spoon.

SparkPlug Creations

This is definitely not the best logo in the world, but the whole lightbulb spark plug idea is pretty clever.

Word and Symbol Art

Fish

The word fish has been crafted into the form of a fish. What more could you want in a logo?

Bipolar

A few simple typographic characters that perfectly represent the word below.

CodeFish

Coding is all about characters so it was perfect to build the fish out of typography.

Inequality

The equality symbol has been slightly modified so that the bottom is shorter than the top; a perfect statement of inequality.

Fuel Quoter

The quote has been simply turned on its side and it looks remarkably like a gas pump.

Infinity Crime Studio

The symbol for infinity has been altered to look like pair of mischievous eyes.

Octave

If you’re at all familiar with music theory you know that an octave has eight notes (hence “oct”). Here the “o” and “c” have been stacked to make an eight.

Nosey

The impressive part here is how naturally the word seems to make a face. It’s an excellent designer that makes complex ideas look effortless.

Twins

The two has been pushed over to look like an “n.” Since the word is “twins,” hiding a two in the logo was a great decision.

Upside Down

This one you have to stare at for a second to really appreciate. All the letters are upside down. The “w” is an “m”, the “d” is a “p”, etc.

Spork

The obvious solution was to make a spoon and a fork illustration. However, putting the ampersand in represents an extra step in the thought process that makes the idea really unique.

Umbrella

At first glance this logo says “brella.” Can you spot the other two letters?

Ambigrams

In case you’ve never heard of them before, ambigrams are words or phrases that you can spin around 180 degrees and still read them. They often require quite a bit of work and thought in order to make them easily readable.

Awesome

That sort of Old English look is definitely one of the styles you see the most with ambigrams. Notice how the “e” and “o” have been heavily transformed but still read well in the context of the word as a whole.

Edge

It’s not easy to create an “e” that still looks like an “e” when you spin it around. Well done.

Eveva

This one feels like an ambigram, but as one astute commenter pointed out, it actually isn’t. The beginning “e” and ending “a” are the same, but the letters in between don’t work when flipped. Nice illusion regardless!

Conclusion

I hope the collection above isn’t just another “list post” but instead is a healthy dose of inspiration that encourages you to put a little thought into your logo creation process. When appropriate, consider how you can infuse something unique and witty to make the logo that much better.

Leave a link below and tell us your favorites. Also point us to any logos that match this style that you’ve seen on the web.

10 Websites To Make You Think

2011-07-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Supposedly browsing the internet requires more brain power than watching television. Although judging from some of the websites we’ve come across that assumption is cast into doubt. Here’s some of the sites we like that might get your brain to sit up and listen.

	TED A conference that started in 1984 bringing together experts in technology, entertainment and design quickly grew into so much more. The conference itself is invitation only, but the website features all the talks at the conference in high res video format.
	New Scientist The New Scientist website carries new articles from the magazine as well as the NS archive of over 76,000 pieces.
	Big Think The Big Think website is a collection of ‘global thought leaders’ who offer their thoughts and analysis on world events and other important developments
	Cafe Scientifique ‘for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology’ The idea behind Cafe Scientifique is that anyone can go to one of the many events organised throughout the world for a layman’s explanation of a scientific subject by a scientist involved in the area.
	Breathing Earth This fantastic website by David Bleja demonstrates CO2 emissions and world population growth in real time on a global map.
	XKCD It is a web comic, but it’s in a league of its own. XKCD by Randall Munroe (A former NASA contractor). The comics follow a theme of ‘romance, sarcasm, math and language.’
	Arts & Letters Daily A great collection of articles, essays, disputes and reviews by a select collection of bloggers and publications.
	How Stuff Works An enormous website that explains the workings of everything from electronics to déjà vu.
	Academic Earth Free university video courses spanning a range of subjects including history, chemistry and computer science.
	Eyewitness To History A collection of eyewitness accounts and media from the ancient world through to modern history.

35+ Awesome Black Business Cards

2011-07-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

First Impressions are the most important! Black business cards never go out of style because they look very elegant, luxurious and stylish. Black is the color of stability and power, authority and strength. It is also the color associated with intelligence. Black clothes make people appear thinner. Black is a serious color that evokes strong emotions. So, here is a collection of the best black business card designs for your inspiration. To know more about each business card, such as the designer, print company, process used to produce it, just click on the preview illustration provided for each business card.

1. Black Business Card by Beast Pieces

2. Black Business Card by Beast Pieces

3. Black Business Card by Beast Pieces

4. Black Business Card by Beast Pieces

5. Business Card by Wooconcept

6. Black Business Card by I am Cheapskate

7. Black Business Card by blush

8. Black Business Card by dolcepress

9. Black Business Card by ericksondesign

10. Black Business Card by I am Cheapskate

11. Black Business Card by Roberto Aiello

12. Black Business Card by TDH STUDIO

13. Black Business Card by Aaron Gibson

14. Black Business Card by Fuse Design

15. Black Business Card by Cranky Pressman

16. Black Business Card by charlotte saunders

17. Black Business Card by Cameron Moll

18. Black Business Card by BE VISUAL

19. Black Business Card by I am Cheapskate

20. Black Business Card by Helena Liu

21. Black Business Card by Destiny Guerra Photography

22. Black Business Card by SURGERY7

23. Black Business Card by BonZipper

24. Black Business Card by studioish

25. Black Business Card by Krzyho

26. Black Business Card by rizn

27. Black Business Card by Destiny Guerra Photography

28. Black Business Card by conoreoinnolan

29. Blac Business Card by val head

30. Black Business Card by Print Pinball

31. Black Business Card by BE VISUAL

32. Black Business Card by Hello Harbor

33. Black Business Card by tangerinestew

34. Black Business Card by Beast Pieces

35. Black Business Card by David Boni

File Recovery Can Also Recover Deleted Files Permanently

2011-07-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

While some important files have been deleted by you, you're in big trouble. This can be seen at any time by anyone. Normally, when a file is accidentally deleted, marks a huge problem for you. Important data are lost. But do not be angry. No need to lose hope. Today, it is easy to recover deleted files, even if these files are permanently removed from Recycle Bin. File Recovery Software allows you to retrieve files. These tools perform file recovery very well.

A big mistake is that when you delete a file from your computer, it's gone forever. But in reality this is not true. When you delete a file, it is in your system. When the delete operation is performed on a file, the operating system marks the space occupied by deleted files as free space. These files become inaccessible to you through the operating system, but the file data remains intact on the disk.

If you're a Windows user, you have the advantage that the search for deleted files to the trash. Restore the deleted file (s) of the basket, just find the trash and the option "Restore" to restore the selected file. Although trash plays a central role in the recovery of deleted items, a bitter truth about the trash is that it does not save all deleted files. If the files are too large or the space is devoted to the bin below the deleted file, the file is not saved, but are permanently deleted.

If you used the Shift + Delete command to delete the file and deleted files are still recoverable. As mentioned above, the data stored in these files are intact, if you recently deleted. But there are times when the operating system requires space for other files. If such a situation was encountered, so that data may have been crushed. If you do not replace the file and the file deleted and all data can be recovered. And this can be done using third party software file recovery. A number of tools used to perform file recovery. All file data is easily recovered using any of these programs.

Stellar Phoenix File Recovery Plus is a versatile tool used to restore files. It recovers deleted data files without changing the main structure. It restores files regardless of file removal in September. This software works with all versions of Windows operating systems including Windows 7, Vista, XP, Server 2003 and 2000.

Learn more about file recovery utility | online storage service | technical support services | network backup software

Disabling Windows Pagefile & Hibernation to Reclaim SSD Space

2011-07-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

With the storage space offered on traditional HDDs, SSDs can leave a bit to be desired. Making matters worse are the Windows hibernation mode and pagefile, responsible for hogging at least 8GB (22GB in my case) of your precious SSD space. We're taking a look at the caveats of disabling both, and discuss the fixes.

A couple of weekends ago, I spent some time cleaning up my OS SSD in order to make room for some large benchmarking files I needed. After running Windows' Disk Cleanup tool, and making sure there were no gargantuan files or folders in my Users folder, I had a mere 20GB free. For the record, that's not much.

After spending some time going through my drive trying to find out what it was that could be hogging so much space, I discovered two simple files in the root folder (C:\) that in all regards could be considered hogs: hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys. The pagefile is of course expected, but it's not one I considered up to this point. After all, with 12GB of RAM, a pagefile has limited use.

hiberfil.sys is the file that saves the current OS image to disk for the sake of using the hibernation mode. If you don't ever use hibernation, but instead use sleep or simply turn off your PC, then that file becomes nothing more than a space-eater, and a big one at that.

Generally, a pagefile in Windows will be the same size as the system RAM. Have 8GB of RAM? Your pagefile.sys file will be just about the same. The file's purpose is to act as a cache to speed up performance, but if equipped with a lot of RAM and also an SSD, the need for it in most cases, is nil, and thus can be removed.

There are a couple of caveats with this, however. Your pagefile.sys is what stores all of the information that gets echoed into a system log file after a crash. If the pagefile is either disabled or stored on another drive, specific information will not be stored. In the event of the pagefile being moved or disabled, and you experience continuous crashes that should be logged, it will take little effort to reactivate the file temporarily.

On a big hard drive, the need to disable or move the pagefile almost doesn't exist, because hard drives can store a lot more than an SSD at this point in time. 12GB means nothing on a 500GB drive, but it does mean something on a 120GB drive, especially when Windows itself can take about 15GB on its own. You have a couple of options:

Disable the pagefile.
Limit the size of the pagefile.
Move the pagefile to an alternate drive.

If your PC is equipped with a lot of RAM, 8GB or more, disabling the pagefile might not be a bad idea. But, if you are a super-heavy multi-tasker, another option is to move the file off of the SSD to a hard drive in the system, or limit how large it can become. In my case, I'm keeping the pagefile on the same drive, but configuring it to start out at 16MB and top out at 4GB. Since doing this, I have yet to see the pagefile grow larger than 16MB.

Modifying the Pagefile

To access the pagefile (or virtual memory) configuration, you can click the Start menu and type in 'advanced' into the field, and when "View advanced system settings" appears, click it. Another way to get here is to right-click Computer in your Start menu, right-click it and go to Properties, and then access the option to the left. Once loaded, click on the Settings button under the Performance section, and then click on Advanced. Under the Virtual memory section, click on Change. You'll see a screen like this:

Here, you can see that I have disabled the option to have Windows automatically manage the pagefile size, and instead set it to start out at 16MB and cap at 4GB. For me, this has worked out well, as the pagefile so far hasn't been touched at all. Another option, as mentioned, would be to disable paging on the C: entirely, and instead have Windows create one on another drive. Just be warned that if the pagefile does get accessed on a hard drive, it might result in some slower performance, but I believe that noticing the performance difference would be near impossible.

For those with 4GB or 6GB of RAM, or less, I might recommend keeping the pagefile on the C:, but still change both the initial and maximum sizes. There's no need of a pagefile using up many gigabytes when it serves no purpose.

Disabling Hibernation

That takes care of one problem. What about hibernation? Hibernation, in the simplest terms, stores the current OS image to the hard drive, allowing the PC to be put into a powered-off state while retaining the ability to resume from where you left off. This is a bit different than sleep, which does the same sort of thing, but stores the OS image to the RAM. Sleep draws some power from the socket, however, although it's minimal. It also doesn't require the need for a huge file to be stored on the hard drive.

Unfortunately, while a pagefile can be located on a non-OS drive, the hiberfil.sys file can't be. It's OS drive or bust, so if you do use hibernate, then you're effectively stuck with this monolithic file. For those who don't use it (like me), it can be disabled with one simple step. Open up a command-line by typing "cmd" into the run line or Start menu field and once opened, type in 'powercfg -h off' without quotes.

Couldn't be easier. Once that's done, the hiberfil.sys file on the C: drive will cease to exist, freeing up precious space on your SSD. In my case, reducing the pagefile size and disabling hibernation restored a staggering 22GB. When we're talking about a 120GB SSD, that's not minor. I went from having 20GB free to having 42GB free. Much, much better.

So, if you have an SSD and want to get the most out of it by getting rid of two things you might not even use, spending a couple of minutes fixing the problems can really pay off.

http://techgage.com/article/disabling_windows_pagefile_hibernation_to_reclaim_ssd_space/

Free Screen Recording Software 6

2011-07-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Fraps is an awesome software for gamers to show off their skills and tricks to their friends. It allows the user to record their in-game video easily and effectively. Although it’s perfect in the job but the main short coming is that the application is not free and one need to buy it for $37 to use its full potential. Although you can use the trial version with limitation but if you are ready for a change and try other similar application similar in objectives here are some free alternative to record your in-game videos.

1. CamStudio

If all you want is an application to record the audio and video of your PC games, CamStudio is the best freeware alternative. With basic feature of saving the recorded video in AVI file type it include some advanced features such as ability to compress your files, toggle audio on/off , custom cursors and video annotations. The program works flawlessly with all the variants of Windows.

2. WeGame

WeGame is also a decent working alternative to Fraps. Apart from video recording it can also take in game screen shots to save your favorite gaming moments. WeGame allows user to upload their videos and screenshots online to public servers to show off their skill to friends in social networks.

3. Growler Guncam

Growler Guncam is a nifty application to simply record your games into AVI standards. One can also take screen shots of in the game and convert into animated GIF images. You can even normalize the video using program inbuilt option.

4. Taski

Apart from saving the in-game video and screen shot, Taski can also be used to record working of software using DirectX and OpenGL. It sits in the system tray and can be invoked using custom set keys. Video files are encoded in AVI where as screen shots are saved in PNG format.

5. HyperCam

HyperCam is powerful video capture software that can record anything and everything going on your computer screen and save it as AVI file. It can be used to create software presentations, software training, demos and game tutorials. User can set the frame rate for and compression quality prior to video capture. The program in compatible with all the variants of Windows.

6. GameCam

GameCam is an excellent screen recording software and comes with very basic features. It allows user to record on screen videos and take multiple in-game screenshots. Although it include features like brightness, saturation and zoom control, user will have to compromise with sound as all the recorded videos are high in quality but mute in nature.

Filed in: Software Tags: fraps, fraps alternative, free fraps alternatives, free software, screen recording, video recording tools

by hamad

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2sX2Hb/www.itechmax.com/2010/12/18/6-free-screen-recording-software/

Awe-inspiring Digital Art & Illustration

2011-07-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is third part of my weekly design inspiration featuring the best digital illustration around the web. The following list of arts are well detailed and high quality masterpiece of its respective artist that will make you say wow!

New Frontiers

Dreamland

Three Kingdoms-Zhang Chun Hua

Nimue

Postman

The Workstation

Pepper-IFX

Market mood painting

Darwinamic

The Nutcracker

The City-painted

Big Bad Bunny Eater

Colour

Kill The Spider

Don’t be afraid

Around the world

Women Riders

HR NIN

Jane

Big Mouth

Naturally Create

Autumn Herald

Street ScreenShot

Mosquito

Drug Free Zone

Desecrated Source of magic

Colorless

8 Cheat Sheet Wallpapers for Designers and Developers

2011-07-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Web designers and developers have a lot to remember, from keyboard shortcuts to function names. That’s why it’s handy to have cheat sheets near by for a quick reference. Most people like to print out there cheat sheets on paper and have them sitting on their desk, but another convenient place for a cheat sheet is right on your computers desktop in the form of a wallpaper. Here we’ve rounded up a few very useful cheat sheets for web designers and developers that can be used as desktop wallpapers.

Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

Color Theory Quick Reference Poster

Periodic Table of Typefaces

The Anatomy of Type

Web Accessibility Checklist

TextMate Shortcuts

jQuery 1.3 Cheat Sheet

WordPress Help Sheet

Track Mouse Activity On Your Computer

2011-07-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Anatoly Zenkov provides this nifty tool (Mac and PC) to track your mouse pointer. Really simple. Just start it, let it run, minimize the window, and carry on as usual. In the end, you get this image that looks something like a Pollock. Circles show areas where the pointer didn't move while the tracks show movement.

The above is my own activity during the past couple of hours. I was just randomly browsing while watching the Laker game, so it's kind of all over the place. Run while using a single application for a while, and you might see something like Zenkov's tracks on Photoshop.

How to Fix PC Game Problems With Music & Sound

2011-07-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Print this article

Fix PC Game Problems With Music & Sound

Part of the enjoyment of a PC video game is the audio that is playing along with the game. If, however, the music and sound of the game is not properly playing, you lose a large amount of the gaming experience. The exact problem behind the video game sound issue is going to vary, but you may go about fixing the problem in several ways.

Difficulty:: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Sound card driver installation CD

- 1
  
  Restart the computer. If the sound problem just started, it may be due to the computer not booting properly. Upon restart, launch the game and check to see if the audio problem is corrected.
- 2
  
  Click the sound icon in the lower-left corner of the desktop, then deselect any sound option that is set to "Mute."
- 3
  
  Check the sound options in your video game. Make sure these are turned up (launch the video game, choose "Options," "Sound," then adjust the sound so nothing is muted).
- 4
  
  Reinstall the sound card driver. If the driver has been accidentally removed, the card is not going to function properly. Insert the driver installation CD into the disc drive, then follow the prompts of the installation wizard to install the drivers back onto the computer system.

Online Sentiment and Link Building

2011-07-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Some of us have a negative (or at least not fully glowing) mention in the top 30 rankings for our brand or name. My agency has one from the time when our site was hacked, and even though it’s not a listing that I think would ever prevent anyone from hiring us if they read it, I’d still prefer that it’s not in the top 10 for my brand. I’ve pushed it down a bit with some new social media profiles but not invested any real effort into anything further. However, if this result was truly detrimental, I would spend a lot more time on this.

Reviews and user/customer feedback are becoming more and more popular every day. Plenty of people understand that what ranks the highest is not always the best. As users learn more about how to find what’s best for them, they’ll be looking for other users’ feedback and as we know ourselves, the top ten results in Google (at least for now) are critical. Obviously actively building links to sites that you want to rank higher can help (and many social media sites are powerful enough that your listing will rank well for your name/brand based on that alone) but remember that having a good online reputation can help you indirectly accrue more links, in what could be seen as one of the most natural ways possible.

For example, if I wanted to stay at a bed and breakfast, I’d research them in the area where I was heading. I’d see a few good listings, then type those into Google in order to see what the general thoughts are about the places. If one had a few negative reviews listed I’d probably not risk it. Let’s say that I find one really good one with few bad reviews. I go, have a great stay, and write a post about it, giving them a link They’ve done nothing but provide good service in order to get positive mentions, which led me to them, which led them to a link.

Note: We know that it’s a good idea to own our social media profiles of course, but actively using them to help your marketing takes time. You can rank for a profile that you don’t take much time to work on, but as soon as a user visits your empty Facebook page or sees that you haven’t posted since April 2009 on Twitter, you may lose credibility.

Get Listed

First of all, are you listed on the following sites? Are you listed but not actively using them? These are the 6 that I think are critical, at least when you’re starting to build up your profiles.

Google Places
Bing Local
Foursquare
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Track and Respond

Secondly, are you keeping track of your reviews and mentions on blogs, review sites, and in social media? Alert tools abound for this and from what I’ve seen, while many of them provide the same alert functionality, some are just more likeable than others so I’d say that as long as you are monitoring things, you’re doing well.

Do you respond to both positive and negative mentions? If you don’t, you need to start. Take a look at the statistics grabbed for some reviews here. You’ll see that one third of people who posted negative reviews turned around and posted positive reviews after a response to their issue. That’s powerful stuff.

I posted a negative review of my former pediatrician on 12/6/10. As of today, no one from the office has responded to my review. It’s the first one that pops up for them on Yelp, and it’s in the top 10 in Google for their name, so that’s not so good from my perspective. If your brand is showing a negative review in the top 10, you really need to address it in some way. They also have a Yellow Pages review ranked at number one in Google with both positive and negative reviews. Again, no responses to the reviews. Their Google Places listing is pulling in the Yellow Pages reviews, also. Bottom line: they’ve lost several chances to respond to both positive and negative input, which will get them nowhere with today’s focus on customer service and feedback. They’re not getting a link from me.

As you can see, with the way people choose to vent and praise online, securing a good reputation should really be quite easy. If someone’s fussing about you and you are keeping an eye on things, there’s absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be able to turn the situation around, unless the person fussing is truly nasty and just won’t be placated. If people take the time to praise you, it’s a good idea to thank them. I remember writing an email to a grocery store praising their customer service at one particular store.

I received a fantastic response saying how much they appreciated my taking the time to compliment them. I appreciated them taking the time to thank me. You can choose to actively build links to positive mentions and reviews of course, but as you’ll hopefully see, you can also keep an eye on what’s being said and further the customer/brand engagement. Both should boost your overall online sentiment.

Written By:

Julie Joyce | Link Fish Media | @JulieJoyce

Julie Joyce owns the link development agency Link Fish Media, is one of SEO Chicks, and contributes to Search Engine Land and Search Marketing Gurus.

The Free GOOD Software List

2011-07-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

If you want software that works, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, contains no spyware and just plain doesn't suck - you're at the right place.

If you don't see a program listed here, it is probably not a good idea to download it. However if you know of a good piece of software that's not listed, please let me know so I can test it. If it passes all the testing, it will be added.

I am always updating and testing free software. I will not add something here unless I approve of it. None of these carry ANY - spyware, ad-ware , pop-ups. All "trial" software includes FULL functionality. If your software made it to this list, congratulations. We appreciate your work.
If you know where to look - there is no reason to "buy" software. Please donate to the makers of the software if you use it.

Newly added *
Updated: 8.28.09

Quick Menu

Viruses - Worms - Spyware - Hijacks - Spam

Admin Tools

Viruses - Worms - Spyware - Hijacks - Spam

Viruses

Comodo AV: - A great free anti-virus. Just be sure to un-check firewall during install. Also turn off the registry changes once installed. *
Avast: Another free Anti-Virus software. Just as good as AVG. However this one is more system intensive than AVG or NOD.
Bitdefender: Popular anti-virus software- Free of charge. (Free- NOT real time scanning -only manual scanning)
ClamWin: Small and non-intrusive anti-virus. Like Bitdefender (Free- NOT real time scanning -only manual scanning)
AntiVir: An anti-virus that has been around for a long time - still free for home use.
NOD32: The absolute BEST anti-virus protection. (I know, I clean scumware for a living). Enter "ramsinks" as a Discount Code and save 5%
Kaspersky: A very sweet anti-virus software with a 30day trial. Be sure to JUST get the AV, not the full suite of bloatness.

Worms/Trojans

TheCleaner: This finds/prevents trojan horses. This is on a 30day trial, however very recommended - try it.
DiamondCS: Many high-end programs for worm/Trojan detection, 30day trial.
Windowsecurity: Free online Trojan scanner.

Spyware/Hijacks/Malware

Ad-Aware SE: Great for getting rid of spyware and malware - the items that can cause annoying pop-ups.
SpyBot: Similar to Ad-Aware, however more aggressive. Clean up spyware and hijack attempts.
SpyCatcher: Active Protection. One of the most advanced antispyware solution available as a free service.
AVG AntiSpyware : Clean annoying malware such as spyware, Trojans and hijackers. Great compliment to an anti-virus.
MalwareBytes: Since programs like Ad-Aware have become.. crap, this is a GREAT replacement for cleaning.
CounterSpy: Probably the best shield against spyware. The best database cleaner there is. Period. 30day trial.
Comodo BOClean: This is more of a "real time" (run the the background) anti-spyware. Not a fan of TSR's, but this works.
ComboFix: Takes care of many hijacking software - run if you get many pop-ups/redirecting pages.
HijackThis: Tool to find out if there is "hijack" software on your system. Use the logfile analyzer if your not sure.
SuperAntiSpyware: A popular antispyware for cleaning infected machines.
KillBox: Very nice for taking care of "Abetterinternet" and other n00bish software.
a² free: This bridges the gap with anti-virus and malware. This free scanner cleans Trojans, worms, spyware (all malware).
SpywareBlaster: Active prevention against spyware, adware, browser hijackers and dialers.
HitmanPro2: Incorporates all major Anti-Spyware software and updates/runs them all for you. Too cool.
WinDiz: Windows updates with FireFox. Great if ActiveX is damaged by spyware.

Spam

POPfile: Perfect/Free ani-Spam tool. Involved installation, but once it's set - it's good.
IHateSpam: For Exchange (V5.5, 2000 and 2003) was uniquely developed to be both user and admin-friendly. 30day trial.
Spamihilator works between your E-Mail client and the net. Useless spam mails (Junk) will be filtered out.
SpamBayes: is a tool used to segregate unwanted mail (spam) from the mail you want (ham).
SpamPal: Mail classification program that separates your spam from the mail you really want to read.
OSpam: A great and simple spam solution for any POP account.

Security

Firewall

Caution: Do not install a software firewall. Great for testing security and diag if your a tech: - My clients - please ask me about it before doing it.

Sygate. Just bought by Symantec - now it's going to be crap. Hurry and get this before it happens.
Tiny: Tiny is a free firewall. It is designed for the more advanced due to the heavy features included.
Comodo: Great little personal firewall. This is pretty new and robust.
OutPost: An Opensource based firewall. Works very well protecting against worms, trojans and hackers.
Kerio: Smart, easy-to-use personal security technology that fully protects PC's against hackers and internal misuse. The best.
Protowall: Very small application that blocks IP address. Very cool.
Prevx: Stops the attacks that bypass anti-virus and firewall products.

Data Encryption/Passwords

PowerCrypt 2000: Encrypted files, folders and E-mails. This free file lets you hide all your data.
PGP: "Pretty Good Privacy". Actually it's probably the best encryption software out there. Free - PC/MAC
Cryptainer LE: Secure your data and ensure absolute privacy with Cypherix's powerful 128bit encryption.
BitCrypt: A sophisticated tool allowing for encryption of plain text within a bitmap image.
EasyCrypto: Encrypt both standalone files and entire folders. Many cool options here.
Truecrypt: Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows XP/2000/2003.
MD5HashGen: Simple application that can generate one-way MD5 hashes - Great for password generations.
PerfectPasswords: GRC's Ultra High Security Password Generator.
RoboForm: A free password manager and one-click web form filler. Just be carefull who uses your PC.
Password Safe: Allows you to have a different password for all the different items that you deal with - remembers for you.
CutePasswordManager: Form filling software that auto fill user/password. Stores info with 256-bit AES encryption - 1click login.
PIN's: Storing of any secure information like passwords, accounts, PINs etc. 448 bit Blowfish. Does not install.

Data Destroyers

Eraser: FBI just kick in the door? This little program will erase data to a level that the Dept. Of. Defense uses.
KillDisk: KillDisk conforms to US Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard DoD 5220.22-M.
AutoClave: Hard drive sterilization on a bootable floppy.
SuperShredder: Shred's individual files. It's stronger than DOD specs.
DBAN ("Darik's Boot and Nuke") is a self-contained boot floppy that makes it an appropriate utility data destruction.

IP Spoofing

Anonymizer: Installs a small toolbar into your browser. Moves your connection to proxies around the word. Slows connection.
Proxify.com Spoof your IP address without installing software. The paid version is much faster.

Tuning

Monitor System Resources

SpeedFan: Allows you to see your CPU temperature. Good for overclockers and modders.
Motherboard Monitor: Like speedfan, reads temperature and fan RPM data - alerts you when there's trouble.
Si Meter: Great/free/small application that does live monitoring on system resources.
TDIMon: Lets you monitor TCP and UDP activity on your local system.
InterMapper: Gives a visual in real-time view of traffic flows through and between critical network devices and links.
WinBar: A compact program that lets you monitor your system and provides easy access to frequently used controls.

System Cleaning

RegSupreme: Clean up the registry from old entries, speed up your system. 30day trial.
RegSeeker: Very tiny - does not install. I have tested this and trust it. Many tweak options with it.
RegscrubXP: A great free registry cleaner for XP. Fix those "weird issues" with Windows.
Beclean: is the complete suite of system cleaner. Registry to history - cleans many things.
CCleaner: Removes unused and temporary files from your PC - allowing it to run faster, more efficiently and saving space.
MyUninstaller 1.0: Uninstall anything,clean out old video drivers, uninstall programs that are not in "add/remove".
DriverCleaner: Made to fully clean out the drivers of ATI and NVIDIA.
MSconfig: Get rid of startup programs that slow your PC down. This would be for Windows 2000.
Starter: It's better than Msconfig. Also works with Windows 2000, which is nice due to the fact that 2k doesn't have msconfig.
PreFetch cleaner: A pre-fetch scrubber to clean out files that are used commonly - can be corruption or spyware hiding.

Diagnostics

Belarc: Takes a snap-shot about a PC (hardware-software) with a full profile report. This is very handy.
SIW: A small .exe that when ran - gives you all kinds of info about your PC and software. Need this on your tools disk.
PcpBios: Very tiny script that looks at all BIOS related information. RAM, CPU and motherboard instant info.
EVEREST: (recently AIDA32). Like Belarc, gives full system summary of hardware and software/keys.
SpaceMonger: A tool for keeping track of the free space on your computer. It shows a graph of files and sizes.
IP subnet calculator: A diagnostics tool to calculate your network latency and subnet information.
CPUid: A very small application that tells you about your specific specs. (FSB, core clock, dual channel etc.).
PC Pitstop: A good site to check how your doing on fine tuning your computer. It will also help you fix your issues.
PowerMax: Diagnostics for hard drives made by Maxtor. Download, put on a floppy or CD and test your HDD.
MemTest86: Diagnostics for your RAM. Download, put on a floppy or Cd and test your RAM.
Monitor Asset Manager: A Plug and Play monitor information utility. Provide detailed technical information about the target display.
ShieldsUP: Port scanning of all ports or custom scans. See how good your firewall is doing.
BandwidthTest: Test your internet connection speed.

Customizing

TweakUI: Perfect for somebody who really wants to customize there XP. Made my Microsoft
X-Setup: Like TweakUI but with more functionality and options. Very slick.
ResourceHacker: Get in and really tweak or fix Windows. Great registry GUI hacking.
RenameRecycleBin: I made this registry value in notepad, download/double-click/"yes"/throw away, rename your recycle bin.
Matrix Screensaver: Best (only) Matrix screensaver out on the web. Great options. Here is actual text (change name for you)
FOOOD's Icons: Great free icons for XP. Default is boring.
Strokit: Advanced mouse gesture recognition engine and command processor.
ReForce: Windows 2k and XP have an issue with Hz in games. This will allow you to set all games at a specific Hz setting.
Keyboard Remapper: Remap your keyboard keys. Easy enough.
ClocX: Analog clock for the desktop.
Xpadder: Map your game pad or RC TX to keyboard keys. Wokrs great for customized controllers.
Alarm: A digital clock that you can set to display a message and play a sound at a time of your choice. AlarmClock
WeatherPlus: Display satellite images and video around the globe, stay updated on current and expected weather conditions.
Nlite: Remove or add Windows components to your Windows CD - for next time you re-install Windows.
AutoStreamer: Just like Nlite, this is specifically for adding Service Packs to your Windows install CD's.
Digital Blasphemy: Probably the best wallpapers and images on the net.
Konfabulator: Engine that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to.

Tasks

Data Recovery

File Recovery: This is free software made by PC Inspector. Really, Really nice if you lost or trashed a file and need it back.
Smart Recovery: Recover data from flash drives: CF, SM, Thumbdrives, micro drives - etc.
Disk Investigator: Discover all that is hidden on your computer hard disk, recover lost data.
File Scavenger: Undelete and data recovery utility for NTFS volumes. 64KB or smaller files can be recovered with free trial.
CDCheck: Utility for the prevention, detection and recovery of damaged files on CD-ROMs and error detection.
Restoration: Tiny program that doesn't install. Perfect if you trashed a file (even emptied the recycle bin) and you need it back.
RecoverOutlookMail: A little trick for recovering those corrupted .PST files.

Browsers

FireFox: Drop Internet Explorer and get a superior browser. Check out the add-ons.
Google Chrome: A great webkit based browser by Google. Very fast.
Opera: If you don't use FireFox, use Opera. Now that it is free and Ad-free - it is now recommended.
Safari: Apples web browser now for Windows. Great web browser next to Firefox.
Reload Every: Extension for FireFox. Allows you to set reload times on your browser windows so you won't be logged out.

FTP/Remote Administration

FileZilla: An FTP program that is superior to "Cute", and is Free.
WinSCP: Open source SFTP client for Windows using SSH and SCP protocol's. Secure FTP.
FireFTP: If you use FireFox browser (like you should be) - use this plug-in for FTP functionality in your browser.
Hamachi: Setup two or more computers with an Internet connection into their own virtual network for direct secure communication. How-to's
FolderShare: Securely keep files synchronized between your devices and remotely download your files from any browser.
LogMeIn: Easy to log into a PC from a PC, MAC or linux machine. No port forwarding involved! Just like terminal services but easier.
Avvenu: Remote connect to your PC from another PC or any web-enabled handheld. Perfect for getting those files you forgot.
Crossloop: Secure screen sharing utility designed for people of all technical skill levels. Basically, TightVNC but no port forwarding needed.
TightVNC: Remote control software- see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard.
RemoteDesktop: Microsoft remote desktop client side installer for older Windows versions.
RDPortX: A small app I made to change the defualt 3389 port that Remote Desktop ueses. Great for multiple RD servers on the same network.
eMando: Client/server package which you can use to control and manage a computer over a LAN or the Internet.
DirectUpdate: Get an Email of your WAN IP address changes even behind a router (for dynamic ISP's). 60day trial ($15.00 - buy).
DynDNS: A full list of dynamic IP administration software tools.

CD Burning

CDBurner-XP Pro: Just like it sounds, burning program for Windows. Free.
ImageBurn: A lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application.
ISORecorder: Small program to burn images of CD's. Once installed, right click an .ISO's or a ROM drive and "create CD image".
DeepBurner: A full featured Burning app for CD's, DVD's and ISO's. Much like Nero only totally ~~Free

File Sharing/Communications

LimeWire Pro : Great GNU file sharing application. Never pay for this type of software.
Shareaza: Like kazaa, however it combines all good P2P networks into one. This is an open source application (GPL).
uTorrent: A great torrent client to download "items". Offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems.
Skype: Make phone calls for free (VOIP). Sounds better than your normal phone.
HFS: This is an instant HTTP web server. Very tiny. File server and web server - easy to setup GUI.
Pando: Personal P2P software that makes sending and receiving large files a breeze
OpenWengo: Phone calls and video chat from PC to PC. (for free). Also supports SIP.
Orb: Stream all your live and recorded TV, your photos and your music to any web-connected device. Secure login to your drive content.
iTalk2U: Basically like Skype, but with some advanced features. WebClick2Call is great for site admin's.
Gizmo: Internet telephone. Like Skype however better quality and custom add-ons. More options and cheaper to call normal phones.
Trillian: Perfect for friends and family who use different instant messaging clients. This combines them all into one.
Pidgin: The Open Source AOL IM client -but without the ad's. Combines IM clients all into one.
Jabber: Open protocol instant messenger. Setup your own internal server. Great universal client.
GoogleTalk: Much like GAIM and Skype. With VOIP and mail capabilities. (It will add a TSR for itself - fyi)
TeamSpeak: Talk to one another with voice. 1on1 or a bunch of people. Great for multi-player games.
AllSeeingEye: (ASE)- Find your friends playing any popular multi-player game.
XFire: Like "Messenger", however for gamers. Find your friends and join the game they are playing- all in real time.
Agent Newsreader: The best newsreader there is. free
Juice: Great "pod casting" software. Subscribe to some good audio. Don't every pay for podcast software.
Miranda: A multi protocol instant messenger client. Very tiny - does not install. Great for portable USB drives.

Office Applications

OpenOffice: Free Office suite and is back-ward compatible with Microsoft Office docs. (It's better too). Templates. Templates 2.
OpenOffice Extensions: Tons of add-ons for OpenOffice. Why even use Microsof Office?
NolaPro: web-based accounting. POS system that is just great. Using open standards.
Palm Organizer: Now have the awesome Palm organizer for Windows. Easy to use and nice for free. (choose PalmV in the list)
7-Zip: A file archiver with high compression ratio. OpenSource GPL. Much better than WinZIP. Free no ad's.
DOCX Convert: Convert the annoying proprietary X format to a nicer format. Ignore the "Tune up Your PC" - it's spyware.
IZark: IZArc is the ultimate archive utility supports many archive formats. Supports most formats. Bit bigger downlaod than 7-Zip.
PDFcreator: Create PDF's. Download a ghostscript and the patch - print to PDF.
Foxit Reader: Reader/viewer/printer for PDF documents - has a size less than 1M, needs no installation and opens up immediately.
ThunderBird: ThunderBird replaces that Outlook mail client with a real mailbox.
SunBird: Want the nice calendar in Office 2003? This stand-alone calendar is very sweet. Or just get the Thunderbird calendar add-in.
TinySpell: A very small application that spell checks for you while you type anywhere - I need it. ;)
Google Calendar: Online calendar that can be shared with clients, friends and family. Easy to print, share and modify.
AceMoney: A freeware personal finance manager. Like MS Money or Quickbooks - free.
ESBCalc: is a Freeware Scientific Calculator.
FireFox remiders: Tiny Firefox extention for easy reminders through the day. Very handy (aways on - no extra TSR).
Thunderbird minimize to tray: Great extension to make Thunderbird run in system tray- not task bar.
OnsiteTag: I created this for onsite tagging use. It's what we use to do field work and tag work orders. *

Backup Solutions

BackRex: Outlook Express and Outlook backup tool. Most features in the free version.
Mozbackup: Simple utility for creating backups of Firefox, Thunderbird profiles. It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history etc.
IMAPSize: A great tool to transfer Thunderbird e-mail to Outlook/Outlook Express (not sure why you would - but it's here).
NasBackup: Is a great backup solution. Designed to be easy for end desktop users, yet scalable to enterprise setups.
DriverBackup: finds and collects the drivers for the hardware. After it collects them, the program backs them up to a specific folder.
CopyX: This little customizable backup/copy utility is in Windows by default - but this makes things easy.
Gmail Drive: If you have a Gmail account you can use this to create a drive on your system to drag-n-drop files for backup.
Box.NET: A free data storage that is online and can be accessed anywhere in the world. 1GB is free. Works perfect.
Cobian Backup: Backup program that can be used to schedule and backup your files - drives, directories and FTP.
SyncBack: Powerful program that backups and synchronizes your files to: same drive, different drive, CDRW, Network, Zip.
SyncToy: Customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and PC's. Automated sync as in "RAID1".
Replicator: Automatically backup files, directories, even entire drives!
HTTrack: Download a web site from the net to a local directory, building all directories, getting HTML, images and files from the server.
Comodo BackUp: Easily create backup copies of files. Includes complete file and folder-duplication to local network drives and FTP servers.

Text Editors/HTML Editors/Development

--Text--
Crimson Editor: is a professional source code editor for Windows.
jEdit: A mature and well-designed programmer's text editor that has been in development for over 5 years
Vim: Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. - voted best text editor
Notepad++: Source code editor and Notepad replacement, which supports several programming languages
--HTML--
Matrix Y2K: A free and very slick GUI Website builder like Dreamweaver.
Nvu: Web editing environment based on the Mozilla platform and its Gecko layout engine.
FirstPage: HTML editing software gives you unsurpassed freedom to create and edit web documents with absolute code control.
--Development--
Jitterbit: Client and server designed to configure, test, and deploy integration solutions. Connect ERP and CRM data -ect.
PHP DESIGNER 2006: A freeware IDE for coding PHP for both professional and novices.
Sun JSC: Sun Java Studio Creator development environment is the next-generation tool for Java application development.
Google WebToolKit: Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications (Google Maps,Gmail) easy.
Netbeans: Open-source project dedicated to providing rock solid software development products.
NSIS: A professional open-source tool for the development of Windows installers.
Zip2Secure: Create .ZIP into .EXE. Great for letting somebody download a self extracting zip. Even .ico icon settings.
MyGeneration: The free code generator / mapping and architectures tool.
SketchUp: Simple but powerful tool for quickly and easily creating, viewing and modifying your 3D ideas.
FreeMind: A mind-mapping software written in Java. Great for flow-charts, networks, layouts etc. (much like Graphviz).
Graphviz: A way of representing structural information as diagrams of abstract graphs and networks. Automatic graph drawing.
Maguma: Full-featured, modular Integrated Development Platform. Full feature set for PHP and Python, can be customized for your project.

Misc.

FSRaid: Want to read and reconstruct your PAR files? Get it now.
WiGLE and Jwire: WiFi Access Locators. Before traveling, take a look at access points you can get on for free.
Stellarium: Planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
VirtualBox: A good free virtualization software much like Parallels. *

Multimedia

Media Players

QuickTime Alternative: No need to download and install "QuickTime", use this instead. Much smaller application.
RealPlayer Alternative: Don't ever install "real one player", just use this instead.
MediaPlayerClassic: Slim down hacked version of old Media Player. Has pretty much all codecs - can play anything.
Democracy: Download and watch all the best internet TV shows and videos. RSS feeds including podcasts, video blogs, BitTorrent feeds.
VLC Player: VideoLan is a perfect DVD/Divx media player. Much like PowerDVD. The only video player needed for everything.
MediaMonkey: Very powerful media player. Much like iTunes, however this gives much more flexibility. Drag items back and forth from an iPod.
SongBird: A desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Supports extensions, built from Mozilla and open source.
iTunes: A digital jukebox with a download music store inside.
JetAudio: Play most all types of media files with internet broadcasting and a nice alarm clock.
MediaPortal: Turn your PC into a media center. Like Windows Media Center - but free.

Codecs/Rippers/Converters

MP3DirectCut: Fast and extensive audio editor and recorder for compressed mp3. No need to recompress.
SLD codec pack: All Dvix, Xvid etc. codecs combined in one install. Great for using Windows Media Player for these file types.
K-Lite: KL is a large "all-in-one" codec pack.
HandBrake: Great DVD ripping tool for OSX and Winodows. Rip DVDs to the hard drive.
FormatFactory: a multifunctional media converter.
FFmpeg: cross platform command-line encoding tool that powers many of the more popular graphical applications *
DVDFlick: Turn almost any video file and make it into a DVD to play on your DVD player (TV). Simple and easy.
CDex: A free tool allows you to Rip you CD's into MP3's.
DVDFab Decrypter: Rip DVD's to your hard drive. This will decrypted DVD's to files to be stored (as .VOB files).
DVD Shrink: Remove extra features and compress to fit a DVD (VOB file) to a single blank DVD.
DVDbackup: Free DVD backup tool.
dBpoweramp: Called the Swiss army knife of Audio. Rip and convert any CD into any format. Great app.
Super: A simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file. Easy-to-use with 1 simple click.
Bink Rad Video: Perfect tool to rip movie's into an executable player. End-users don't need special codecs to use.
VCDgear: Designed to extract MPEG streams from CD images, convert VCD files to MPEG, correct MPEG errors and more.
StaxRip: Easily convert your DVD's, DVB or DV captures or almost any other source format.
Dr. Divx 2.0: Unofficially the Official DivX encoding tool to create DivX media files for playback on DivX hardware and software players.
MediaCoder: Audio/video batch transcoder. Capable of transcoding among different audio/video formats with many extras.
EphPod: Manage your iPod music and more. Drag and drop music back and forth.

Photography/Imaging

UnFREEz: Make animated .GIF's very easily and free.
Movie13: .GIF animator with 98 animation wizards including text and actor wizards.
GimpShop: Want PhotoShop but don't want to pay for it? Get GimpShop.
Paint.NET: Image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP.
ArtRage: A painting package designed to provide a realistic and fun simulation of using paint on a canvas.
TuxPaint: It's like Photoshop for kids!. Very basic however much more powerful than Windows "Paint".
Inkscape: Open Source vector graphics editor - a powerful and convenient drawing tool.
MWSnap: For snapping (capturing) images from selected parts of the screen. Does not install. Very powerful.
ColorCop: Sample color - programs like firefox have color samplers, but you're limited to that program; with this you can select anything on your screen.
IrfanView: Modify, organize and add effects to almost any image format.
Picasa: Photo organizer that allows you to share photo's easily online with others- very powerful program made by Google.
Artweaver: Program for creative painting, i.e. Artweaver makes all artistic effects, which you need for your work.

AV Editing

Pivot: Make stick figure animations!. This is cool.Audacity: Audio/sound mixer, that is of course FREE.
AutoGK: Video compression and converting. Divx, Xvid and DVD support. (Like "Dr. Divx" as for understanding).
Wink: Make flash tutorials for websites or software "how-to's". 'Teach mom how to use OpenOffice by watching.'
Anim8or: A free "Maya" program. Very tight software that lets you make your own "Toy Story".
Blender: A free GNU 3D manipulation tool. Make movies and effects. Tutorials.
Avid: Perfect for students, DV camera owners, video enthusiasts or anyone exploring video editing.
Zwei-Stein: A non-linear, non-destructive video compositing and editing system which offers many advanced features.
DAZ|Studio: 3D figure posing and animation software package. Think Nvidia "Dawn" creation. (like).
ABC VideoRoll: Easy to use, free video editing. Company no longer exists and some experience bugs with it. Seems ok.
WAX: High performance and flexible video compositing and special effects software. Look at there other free software too!
VirtualDub: Great for capturing and editing your .AVI movies and converting to Divx. Many more features.
ZS4: Combine a variety of media types (currently photos, videos and audio files) into one (or more) output file(s).
Movica: a graphical user interface to edit .mpg and .wmv.
Doom9 and Videohelp: Both are great sites to get any other software/help you may need for video encoding.

Games

Enemy Territory: A free and great multi player FPS game. The best in my opinion. Find me [GF]Burke. (system intensive)
Alien Arena: Free client for the online deathmatch. Game includes 26 levels across five different game modes. (system intensive)
Americas Army: A very good FPS game that is absolutely free. Play online, sharpen your skills. (system intensive)
Tux Racer: Race downhill on your belly. A solid and pretty game.
Frets on Fire: A free "Guitar Hero". Just turn your keyboard around and use it as a guitar. Very fun.
SuperTux: Basically it's Super Mario Bro's 3. Just the linux penguin instead of a plumber.
Desktop Tower Defense: A very fun flash game. It will suck hours from your day.
TankTrouble: This nice classic tank shooter brings back memories for a second, then you see new things - very fun
PitFighters: Accually, this is about to come out. Seems to be like CS or even Team Fortress type of play. (system intensive)
TurboTanks: Yes, "Tanks" from the Atari 2600. Web based (no install needed). Memories.
RumbleBox: A fast paced 3D action beat-em-up. Very interesting. Quite fun.
Netrek: multi-player battle simulation with a Star Trek theme, team-oriented strategy game with a first person perspective.
Pocket Tanks: Remember Gorilla with the bananas? This is an all new 3D graphical war with a friend or PC-Turn based fighting.
LinCity: Like SimCity? Well, this is the OpenSource free version. For all platforms. Fun times.
Civilization II: It's "just like" old skewl Civ. Under the GPL licence. Open is everything.
Battle for Wesnoth: A turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme. Fight battles or take hand in any number of other adventures.
BZFlag: A free multiplayer battle tank action game. They even have a CTF leage.
Aqua Bubble: "Tetris like", launch colored bubbles to match like colors.
FlightGear: is an open-source, multi-platform flight simulator.
Head over Heels: More of a platformer (ala Mario). Graphic and cool.
Think Tanks: Comical fast action. Play against online buddies or against the PC.
Ricochet Xtreme: "Breakout" like. - Cool graphics.
SubmarineS: Blowing up stuff is cool.
Dark Throne: massively multiplayer online fantasy game you can play right through your web browser.
PacMan in the office: Yes, a "mini" Pac-Man game.
SolorWolf: is an action/arcade game written in Python. Gather blocks and avoid fireballs.
Many Flash games: Don't need to download or install, just fun flash games. Flash - 1 pop-up.
All free online multiplayer games. Well, here they are.

101 Free Alternatives to Commonly Used Paid Software

2011-07-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

If you’re running a business, then one of the highest costs you may be faced with is equipping your IT systems with the relevant software.

However, over the past few years, independent programmers and companies alike have developed free software that have come to replace their more expensive, well-known counterparts. Below are 101 free alternatives tocommonly used paid software that could help save you or your business a lot of money.

Operating Systems

Ubuntu (as an alternative to Windows)
Based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, Ubuntu is an open source operating system named after the South African principle that means “humanity towards users”. The OS has received heavy praise for its ease of installation and usage.

Fedora (as an alternative to Windows)
Like Ubuntu, Fedora is a Linux based operating system that is built around an open source community.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (as an alternative to Windows)
Another Linux based operating system, Red Hat is an open source operating system that gives users unprecedented levels of operational flexibility.

Haiku (as an alternative to Windows)
Haiku is a new open-source operating system that specifically targets personal computing. Inspired by the Be Operating System, Haiku aims to become a fast, efficient, simple to use, easy to learn and yet very powerful system for computer users of all levels.

Email/Communications

Thunderbird (as an alternative to Outlook Express)
A cross-platform email system that allows users to bring together all their electronic correspondence as well as any news feeds.

Google Mail (as an alternative to Outlook Express)
An easy-to-use email system that has rapidly grown over the past few years to become as popular as MSN’s Hotmail. The system can also be used with Google’s other accounts.

XChat (as an alternative to MIRC)
XChat is an IRC chat program for both Linux and Windows. It allows you to join multiple IRC channels (chat rooms) at the same time, talk publicly, private one-on-one conversations etc. Even file transfers are possible.

Project Management / Organisation Tools

Mindmeister (as an alternative to Microsoft Visio)
An online mind mapping application, Mindmeister allows for real-time brainstorming sessions to be conducted all over the world with users able to share ideas and thoughts instantly.

Sync.in (as an alternative to Project Place)
In order for staff to collaborate in real-time on any potential project, Sync.in allows for multiple people to edit text with efficiency.

ClientSpot (as an alternative to Project Place)
Allows users to share and tracks tasks as well as other project files. Ideal for virtual professionals and small businesses.

37signals Basecamp (as an alternative to Project Place)
Tackling project management from a different angle, Basecamp allows people from around the world to come together to share ideas and discuss projects online. It is arguably the most popular project collaboration tool on the web today.

24SevenOffice (as an alternative to Project Place)
An ajax-based ERP/CRM-solution that includes a project management module.

DeskAway (as an alternative to Project Place)
Project and task software ideal for small creative firms, looking to allow its staff to create, manage and track projects from one source.

Free Mind (as an alternative to Mind Jet)
FreeMind gives you the flexibility to organize thoughts on a page as they connect to each other and to the larger picture.

Dia (as an alternative to Microsoft Visio)
Dia is inspired by the commercial Windows program ‘Visio’, though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It allows you to sketch your favorite structured diagrams.

Office Programs

Google Docs (as an alternative to Microsoft Office)
Google Docs has most of the programs that Microsoft Office has, such as word processing, spreadsheets and calendars, and not only is it free, but it can be accessed anywhere thanks to cloud computing.

Docs.com (as an alternative to Microsoft Office)
Docs.com is a Facebook and Microsoft collaboration, which allows users to create and share documents across Facebook.

OpenOffice (as an alternative to Microsoft Office)
As an open source office suite, Open Office allows for the utilisation of the best office programs online such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics and databases. User contributions can be made to the project, which means that it is constantly growing and evolving.

Think Free (as an alternative to Microsoft Office)
ThinkFree Office includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program. ThinkFree is compatible with Microsoft’s Office formats and has a low learning curve for users of Microsoft’s products who want to switch over.

To Do/Task Management Software

Evernote (as an alternative to Orbisoft)
Working on computers, phones and other handheld devices, Evernote allows for quick and easy memos/notes, and updates all your devices accordingly.

WikiPad 1.8 (as an alternative to Orbisoft)
Part of Wiki’s ever-growing range of applications, WikiPad is a fast way to cross link information using WikiWords, a standalone notepad application. Any ideas or memos you need to remember can be added for easy access and management.

Remember the Milk (as an alternative to Orbisoft)
A useful task manager, Remember the Milk sends you reminders, connects with your Google Calendar, receives email and SMS, and is also accessible from your phone.

Toodledo (as an alternative to Hub List)
A useful task manager, Toodledo has grown so popular it is now even available on iPhone’s, which means that users can quickly and easily add ‘to do’ tasks on the go.

Google Calendar (as an alternative to Outlook Express)
Part of Google’s cloud service, Google Calendar allows you to easily keep track of your appointments and meetings wherever you are.

Anti-virus/Security

Avast! (as an alternative to Norton Antivirus)
This free anti-virus and anti-spyware software is constantly updating itself with new protocols to ensure your computer is safe from the latest threats.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (as an alternative to Norton Antivirus)
A popular download, AVG Free enables users to download a basic form of anti-virus and antis-pyware protection on their computers, including a LinkScanner for online malware.

TOR (as an alternative to Norton Antivirus)
If you are wary of network threats, then TOR is for you. A free software program that defends computer against hacks after confidential and private details.

Spybot Search and Destroy (as an alternative to Norton Antivirus)
If you think your system has spyware on it, instead of buying expensive software, Spybot searches the whole of your computer, or just a specific section, to identify, quarantine and delete it.

Microsoft Security Essentials (as an alternative to Norton Antivirus)
Provided free by Microsoft, Security Essentials gives your computer real-time protection against malicious software such as viruses and spyware.

Lastpass (as an alternative to Password Manager)
LastPass is an online password manager that protects your system from malware as well as securing data on your computer.

KeePass (as an alternative to Password Manager)
An open source password manager that allows you to keep track of your assorted passwords in a secure database, which is locked with a master key or key file.

TrueCrypt (as an alternative to Symantec)
An easy to use security protocol that encrypts any software you may use on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.

Website and Application Building

Wordpress (as an alternative to Expression Engine)
Why use an expensive CMS or website builder when Wordpress allows for the creation of stylish, easy to use sites? Wordpress has grown to become one of the most popular website builders on the Internet.

Bloodshed Dev C++ (as an alternative to SlickEdit)
A fully integrated development environment for the C/C++ programming language, utilising Mingw port of GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) as its compiler.

Anjuta (as an alternative to SlickEdit)
Another integrated development environment for or C and C++ on GNU/Linux with a number of advanced programming facilities including project management.

Notepad++ (as an alternative to DreamWeaver)
This free source code editor runs on Windows, and claims to reduce emissions due to optimizing many routines in its program.

Eclipse PHP (as an alternative to Zend Studio)
The PDT project provides a PHP Development Tools framework for the Eclipse platform. This project encompasses all development components necessary to develop PHP and facilitate extensibility.

Quanta Plus (as an alternative to DreamWeaver)
A web integrated development environment for or HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, XML and any other XML-based language.

Aptana (as an alternative to DreamWeaver)
A complete web development environment, Aptana Studio combines authoring tools with a series of online hosting services.

NetBeans (as an alternative to DreamWeaver)
An open source integrated development environment for software engineers that allows for the creation of professional desktop, web and mobile applications with the Java language, C/C++, and even dynamic languages such as PHP, JavaScript, Groovy, and Ruby.

Graphics/Photo Editing

Pixlr Editor (as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop)
Pixlr Editor is a free online photo editor with a professional touch. Fix, adjust and filter your images. Manage your images in your browser.

Photoscape (as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop)
Rather than spend a lot of money on Photoshop and other Adobe products, Photoscape is a free alternative that allows you to easily edit photos or images.

GIMP (as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop)
Also known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP allows for easy image composition, retouching and photo authoring. It also works on all operating systems.

Mockingbird (as an alternative to Omnigraffle)
Like Omnigraffle, Mockingbird allows you to create and share mock-ups of a website or an application for colleagues and clients.

Paint.net (as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop)
Although it only runs on Windows, Paint.net is a solid piece of software for free image and photo editing.

Inkscape (as an alternative to Adobe Illustrator)
An open source graphics editor that is similar to Illustrator and CorelDraw. The program allows for the creation of standard Scalable Vector Graphics.

Google Sketchup (as an alternative to 3DMax)
Something different from the usual photo-editing software, Google Sketchup is a 3D modeling software that allows for the creation of online 3D designs for free.

Blender (as an alternative to 3DMax)
An open source 3D content creation suite that works on all major operating systems, Blender can be utilized for modeling, texturing and UV unwrapping.

Media Programs

Boxee (Alternative to Cable TV)
Boxee is the best way to watch movies, TV shows and clips from the Internet on your TV. You can navigate Boxee from your couch, you can use an Apple Remote or one of several PC-remotes available (or even your iPhone).

YouTube Movies (Alternative to Netflix)
An internet phenomen that has grown to incorporate videos of every type, be they home videos, TV shows or full length movies. Ideal for saving money on movie rentals.

Reddit Documentaries (Alternative to Netflix)
Another money-saving tip if you want to watch online documentaries, Reddit’s Documentary subreddit is the place to go for crowd sourced recommendations and links to interesting online videos.

BBC iPlayer (Alternative to UK TV Licence)
If you wish to watch the best of BBC programming on TV, you will need a licence unless you want to incur a hefty fine. However, iPlayer allows you to stream the latest shows online for a week after their release, giving you seven days of the latest must-see TV programmes (and even movies).

Audio and Video

VLC (as an alternative to Quicktime Pro)
A player that is capable of playing almost every file and media codec, the VLC player means that you don’t have to open and close different programs to run DVDs, VCDs, CDs, web streams and other forms of media.

The KMPlayer (as an alternative to Quicktime Pro)
A media player that plays most types of media formats such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg Theora, OGM, 3GP, MOV, WMV and RealMedia.

Winamp (as an alternative to Quicktime Pro)
A well-established media player, Winamp is beloved by many for its ability to play all sorts of video files and its compact size.

CinePaint (as an alternatve to Adobe Premier Pro)
First created as part of the GIMP project, CinePaint has grown to become an application used by the movie-making community. The application allows for professional graphical editing with support for up to 32-bit colours.

Avidemux (as an alternative to Adobe Premier Pro)
A free video editor that allows for simple cutting of footage and its encoding. The program supports multiple file types including AVI, DVD and MPEG files.

Cinelerra 4.0 (as an alternative to Adobe Premier Pro)
An advanced piece of technology that allows for in-depth video editing including compositing. Compatible with most forms of graphic cards, Cinelerra is one of the most professional open source video editing applications available.

Audacity (as an alternative to Code It Wave Editor)
Audacity allows for easy recording and editing of sound files, as well as the conversion of tapes and other media formats.

Pencil (as an alternative to Pixar Renderman)
If you’re a budding animator, this application is for you. Allowing for the easy creation of four types of layers including graphics, bitmap, camera and sound. Each can be manipulated and removed easily to make silky smooth animations.

Camstudio (as an alternative to AllCapture)
Able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer, CamStudio is an excellent tool to create video files in order to show program or application demonstrations.

Plex (as an alternative to Xbox Media Centre)
If you wish to play your media content on your home theater system as opposed to your Mac, Plex allows you to do so immediately, playing audio, video and photo formats.

Music

Spotify (as an alternative to iTunes)
Rapidly becoming one of the world’s most popular music services, Spotify allows you to access millions of songs for free, but at the price of the occasional advert.

Last.fm (as an alternative to iTunes)
Dubbed “the world’s largest online music catalogue’, Last.FM provides music videos, radio stations and anything else you could possibly want to listen to.

Grooveshark (as an alternative to iTunes)
Available all over the world, Grooveshark is a free music streaming service that allows users to create playlists and search through millions of songs.

MuseScore 0.9.5 (as an alternative to Sibelius 6)
A fully integrated music scorewriter and editor for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac that boasts an unlimited number of staves, up to four voices per staff and easy note entry with mouse, keyboard or MIDI.

Online Storage

Dropbox (as an alternative to Nirvanix)
An easy and efficient way to store, share and sync your files, Dropbox is a cloud service that allows users to access their files anywhere in the world.

37signals Backpack (as an alternative to Nirvanix)
Designed by 37signals, Backpack is a simple business intranet that allows for teams to easily store and retrieve any files or documents they may need. It was declared ‘Editor’s and Reader’s Choice’ by BusinessWeek.

SpiderOak (as an alternative to Norton Online Backup)
An easy and secure free online backup system that allows instant access, sharing and syncing.

CloneZilla (as an alternative to Norton Backup)
An open source solution to backing up your computer should it be corrupted by a virus or other forms of malware. CloneZilla can be used on a single or multiple computers to make sure all your information is backed up securely.

Flickr (as an alternative to PhotoShelter)
Used by companies all over the world to showcase their infographics and images, Flickr is also used my amateur photographers to display their work. Can also be used to source imagery, provided that the author gives the relevant permissions.

Picassa (as an alternative to Photoshelter)
Google’s photo sharing application, Picassa allows users to easily share photos with family and friends.

Microsoft Skydrive (as an alternative to Nirvanix)
SkyDrive is Microsoft’s cloud computing system that allows users to upload files to their profiles and access them anywhere over the internet.

Tools/Utilities

Foxit Reader (as an alternative to Nitro PDF)
Foxit is a free PDF document reader that is an alternative to more expensive PDF readers. Easy to use and fast, Foxit is an essential Windows file reader.

FileZilla (as an alternative to CuteFTP)
This free FTP solution – which consists of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server – is available on Windows, Linux and the Mac OS X.

Sumatra PDF (as an alternative to Nitro PDF)
A simplistic and easy to use open-source PDF viewer, Sumatra is small, fast and designed for portable use.

Defraggler (as an alternative to Windows System Tools)
Like Window’s Defragging Tool, Defraggler allows you to compress your hard-drive, however it also allows you to defrag the files you want, as opposed to your whole drive.

Brasero (as an alternative to Nero)
For the Gnome Desktop, Brasero allows users to burn CDs and DVDs easily.

Imgburn (as an alternative to Nero)
An application that allows users to burn information to any CD/DVD/Blu Ray and HD DVD easily and efficiently. Not only does it burn information, it reads and verifies it as well.

InfraRecorder (as an alternative to Nero)
A free CD/DVD burning tool for Windows, that is easy to use and is able to be integrated with Windows Explorer.

CDBurnerXP (as an alternative to Nero)
A free application that allows you to burn any CDs or DVDs you wish, as well as the creation of ISOs.

Recuva (as an alternative to RecoverMyFiles.com)
Ever deleted a file by accident? If so then Recuva could be the solution to your problem. The program is designed to ‘undelete’ and ‘unerase’ any file that might have been accidently removed.

OpenVPN (as an alternative to Barracuda SSL VPN)
An open source piece of software that implements virtual private network (VPN) solutions in point-to-point connections.

7-zip (as an alternative to WinZip)
Like WinZip, 7-zip allows for the compressing of files, but unlike WinZip 7-zip can unpack 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR files.

WinRAR (as an alternative to WinZip)
A powerful compressing tool that allows for easy backup and file storage.

CCleaner (as an alternative to Windows Cleanup)
Like ScanDisc on Windows, CCleaner is a system optimization and cleaning program that removes unused files on a system, clearing up hard disk space. It can also erase your Internet browsing history.

Accounting/Bookkeeping

Invoice Bubble (as an alternative to Kashflow)
Instead of having numerous invoice documents on your computer, Invoice Bubble allows you to create and store web based invoices, and send them immediately to clients.

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 (as an alternative to Kashflow)
Surprisingly free considering it’s from Microsoft, the Account Express allows small businesses to easily manage their finances by creating invoices and keeping track of sales and refunds.

Paymo (as an alternative to Kashflow)
A free and effective way to keep track of how time is allocated to clients and projects. Also allows for the creation of invoices.

PostBooks (as an alternative to Kashflow)
This open source piece of software allows businesses to fully integrate their accounting at a lower cost. PostBooks features an accounting model with a powerful real-time general ledger, that can be defined with an unlimited number of accounting periods within the fiscal year.

Mint.com (as an alternative to Xero)
By creating an account on Mint.com, you can easily manage all of your personal financial transactions, be it loans, credit cards, savings or investments.

Education

Khan Academy (as an alternative to University)
Khan University is a not-for-profit website that provides education to anyone who needs it wherever they may be. An open source project, the Khan Acadmey, created by Salman Khan, is leading the way for other free classrooms around the world.

iTunes U (as an alternative to University)
Not everyone goes to go to university, but iTunes U allows users to sample some of the best lectures from around the world, including global institutes such as MIT and Standford. The system allows people to download lectures and lessons straight to their iPod or iPhone, so they can listen to them whenever they wish.

Moodle 1.9 (as an alternative to Blackboard Learning System)
An easy-to-use application that lets people create online learning communities, allowing a teacher to potentially reach thousands of students. Moodle also customises online learning by allowing teachers to create modules for pupils all over the world.

Octave 3.0 (as an alternative to MathWorks MATLAB 7.6)
An easy-to-use software that allows students to do numerical computation easily and efficiently. Used worldwide in commercial and traching applications, Octave allows users to do arithmetic using complex interger-valued matrices.

Sakai 2.5 (as an alternative to Blackboard Learning System)
Like Blackboard, Sakai is an open source learning system that allows for collaboration and learning within education communities. However what makes Sakai different from most free education applications, is that many academic institutions have aided in its development.

Sage Math (as an alternative to MathWorks MATLAB 7.6)
Open source mathematics software for advanced theory such as cryptography, algebra and advanced algebra. Sage provides access to other free software applications, such as Octave, for optimum efficiency. The program can be run from a web browser on any operating system.

Gaming

Flight Gear (as an alternative to Microsoft Flight Similutor)
Gaming is a big part of the digital world, but if many games are out of your price range, then there are a few cheaper options. Flight Gear, for example, is a free open source flight simulator project that can be played on any major operating system.

0 A.D (as an alternative to Age of Empires)
A historical real-time strategy open source project, published by Wildfire Games, that allows the user to build and manage their own ancient world and see it, potentially, grow into an empire.

OpenTTD (as an alternative to Transport Tycoon Deluxe)
OpenTTD is an open source clone of the Microprose game “Transport Tycoon Deluxe”, a popular game originally made by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible whilst also extending it with new features.

Freeciv (as an alternative to Civilization)
Freeciv is a multiplayer, turn-based strategy game for workstations and personal computers, inspired by the commercial proprietary Sid Meier’s Civilization series. The game’s default principles are closest to Civilization II, both in gameplay and graphics.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/29aIhf/www.promotionalcodes.org.uk/18517/101-free-alternatives-to-commonly-used-paid-software/

Unnecessary Roadblocks in the Windows Software Logo Program

2011-07-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is running a survey about the Windows Software Logo Program to find out how it can be improved. For Windows 7 the program was streamlined for developers to make it easier for them to get on board. There is, however, one area that remains challenging for smaller development shops - you know, precisely the one's that IT admins would love to have focused on building platform compliant software? You can help by showing your vote...

Microsoft has wisely eliminated submission fees for the software logo program, but there is one place where some odd play of self-interest continues to create a challenge. When you submit your software for logo certification, you must code sign your software - which helps with the ever prevalent problem of code-injection into executables. You may sign your software with an Authenticode signing certificate from any recognized Root CA. If you do your home work you will find that there are inexpensive options as cheap as $99/year.

Many software developers start making headway toward the logo certification by obtaining one of these certificates only to run into a challenge when they go to submit their software for the logo program. It turns out that you must also signup for the "Winqual" website to be able to submit your software for logo certification. Part of this process is to sign an EXE and submit it. For this purpose, only a Verisign code signing certificate is acceptable. There are no technical or security reasons given for this and years of requests by software developers seem to fall on deaf ears.

For a software developer who has invested the time and energy into obtaining a certificate from a different CA, it is very disappointing to consider spending that time and energy again. The ongoing cost is much higher as well, although Microsoft has a discount that allows the Verisign certificate to be purchased for $99 for the first year, the yearly renewal is over $300/year.

If you feel relieving this requirement would help all of us with better quality software, please take the survey here before April 9th. At any time you can vote for this change on the Software Logo Program Feedback item here.

Topic: Application Management,Windows Installer, Win7 / Vista

AIR development tools

2011-07-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

The Adobe® AIR® runtime includes both the WebKit HTML and Adobe Flash® engines, enabling you to build applications using HTML, JavaScript, Flash Professional, or Flex. Because Adobe AIR supports these technologies equally, you can use the tools with which you are already familiar to build web applications in the browser.

Download the software, software development kits (SDKs), extensions, and frameworks you need to build, package, and deploy AIR applications in your preferred development environment.

Adobe tools with integrated support for Adobe AIR

Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5 (supports AIR mobile development)

Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5 software provides integrated support for delivering interactive experiences on the desktop with Adobe AIR.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 (supports AIR mobile development)

Adobe Flash Builder® 4.5 software, an Eclipse™ based IDE, provides integrated support for delivering rich Internet applications (RIAs) outside the browser with Adobe AIR. Flash Builder 4.5 includes support for Adobe AIR enhanced capabilities.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5

Adobe Dreamweaver® CS5.5 software provides integrated support for delivering web applications on the desktop with Adobe AIR. The Adobe AIR extension for Dreamweaver CS5.5 enables the use of Adobe AIR enhanced capabilities.

Adobe Fireworks CS5.5

You can package and preview AIR application files from within Adobe Fireworks® CS5.5 software for delivering web applications on the desktop with Adobe AIR.

Adobe RoboHelp 9

Adobe RoboHelp® 9 software provides integrated support for publishing online help on the desktop with Adobe AIR. The generated AIR application includes a table of contents, an index, a glossary, search, multiple topic tabs, RSS feeds, bookmarking, and a social commenting platform. Download a sample application.

SDKs

Flex SDK (supports AIR mobile development)

If you prefer working with a text editor or another development environment, the free Flex SDK has all you need to build and deploy applications for the Adobe Flash Player or AIR runtime using the open source Flex framework. Flex developers should review the How to overlay the AIR SDK for use with the Flex SDK TechNote.

Adobe AIR SDK (supports AIR mobile development)

If you prefer working with a text editor or another development environment, the free Adobe AIR SDK provides the tools you need to package and deploy Adobe AIR applications built using HTML, JavaScript, or Flash.

Next steps

72 Programs For A Freeware Only PC

2011-07-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

BEST FREE FONT VIEWER

AMP Font Viewer – Font manager, view, install, uninstall, organize your fonts. an interesting feature is that you can “test” fonts before deciding to install them.

Alternatives: – FontPicker, Fast Font Preview

BEST FREE MOVIE CATALOGING SOFTWARE

Personal Video Database – Simply the best movie collection manager. It can retrieve information about your movies from several internet databases, includes loan manager and full unicode support. And it has a nice layout too.

Alternatives: Ant Movie Catalog

BEST FREE AUDIO CONVERTER

Any Audio Converter – The name says everything, it converts audio files, WMV, MP4, WAV, WMA, OGG, AAC, MP3, M4A, MP2, etc. The interesting feature is that it can extract the audio track from video files such as AVI, MPEG, MP4, WMV, ASF.

Alternatives: – MediaCoder

BEST FREE AUDIO EDITING PROGRAM

Audacity – Open source audio editing and recording program, the best free on you can get. It is very easy to use and works on Mac OSX and Linux too.

Alternatives: – Wavosaur

BEST FREE ANTIVIRUS

Avast! – The home edition is a free antivirus solution, provides resident real time protection, basic antispyware protection and doesn’t take to much memory while running in the background (a lot less than BitDefender, that’s for sure).

Alternatives: AVG, Antivir

BEST FREE SCREEN SESSION RECORDING UTILITY

CamStudio – Free screen session recorder, can record audio too, records to avi or swf files.

Alternatives: Jing

BEST FREE CODEC PACK

Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) – Essential codec pack, no spyware, Media Player Classic included.

Alternatives: K-Lite

BEST FREE REGISTRY CLEANER

Advanced Windows Care 2 Personal – great system repair and cleaning program, which also includes antispyware protection.

Alternatives: CCleaner, EasyCleaner ,Glary Utilities

BEST FREE CODEC UTILITY

CodecInstaller – Analyzes your video or audio files, tell you which codecs are needed, finds codecs, installs or unistalls codecs from your system.

Alternatives: -

BEST FREE HARD DISK HEALTH MONITORING UTILITY

Crystal DiskInfo – Real time hard disk monitoring utility, provides awesome in depth information about your hard disk drives.

Alternatives: – HD Tune, HDD Health

BEST FREE INSTANT MESSENGER

Digsby – Although it is still in beta it’s a very interesting instant messenger client. Supports AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber, and Facebook Chat Accounts. But the great feature is that it supports multiple e-mail accounts, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, IMAP, and POP. It is also a great tool for social networking, it supports Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace accounts so far, with more of them coming up.

Alternatives: Pidgin

BEST FREE DISK BACKUP UTILITY

12. DriveImage XML – Great freeware program, you can backup your hard disk data and then restore the image if needed.

Alternatives: – Acronis True Image

BEST FREE DVD RIPPING PROGRAM

DVD Shrink – This one is a classic, everybody knows it, some people even sell copies of it. A great tool for backing up your video DVDs.

Alternatives: DVD Decrypter

BEST FREE DVD AUTHORING PROGRAM

DVD Styler – Free DVD authoring tool, supports PAL and NTSC. Very easy to use, just drag and drop an mpeg file and make your video DVD. You can also make decent menus with it, even with audio. It also has a Linux version.

Alternatives: DVD Flick

BEST FREE AUDIO CD RIPPING PROGRAM

Exact Audio Copy – Great audio CD ripper, extracts your audio tracks from all kinds of CD and DVD drives are supported (including USB, Firewire, SATA and SCSI drives). Supports many output file formats, including flac through external encoders.

Alternatives: CDex

BEST FREE RSS READER

FeedDemon – It wasn’t free, now it is! Looks nice, works well and has a bunch of nice features that will make your RSS feeds reading better.

Alternatives: RSS Bandit, RSS Owl

BEST FREE FONT FINDER

FontNetInstaller – This one can help you search for fonts over the internet as it has the best websites indexed and lets you search through them within the program. Doesn’t require installation, just unpack and run.

Alternatives: -

BEST FREE UNIVERSAL TRANSCODER

Format Factory – Universal transcoder, converts almost any video, audio and graphic file formats. Can also extract DVD Video to avi.

Alternatives: MediaCoder, SUPER

BEST FREE IMAGE EDITING PROGRAM

GIMP – The best freeware alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It’s an open source image editor, very powerful and quite stable.

Alternatives: – Inkscape

BEST FREE VIDEO PLAYER

GOM Player – The best video player in my opinion, supports almost any video file format and subtitles, solid and nice looking.

Alternatives: VLC Media Player, Zoom Player

BEST FREE PARTITION EDITOR

Gparted (Gnome Partition Editor) – Open source partition editor, very powerful, can be used on a bootable CD, USB stick, PXE server and Hard Disk.

Alternatives: – Cute Partition Manager, EASEUS Partition Manager

BEST FREE IMAGE VIEWER

Picasa 3 – Fast and reliable image viewer, can open various file formats and also has some basic editing capabilities.

Alternatives: IrfanView

BEST FREE DISK DEFRAGMENTER

JKDefrag GUI – Awesome disk defragmenter, fast and reliable. Can run scheduled defragmentation sessions or run as a screensaver, only defragmenting when your system is idle.

Alternatives: Auslogics Disk Defrag, Defraggler

BEST FREE VIDEO CONVERTER

MeGUI – Powerful video encoder, supports the best formats and encoders, great tutorials available.

Alternatives: AutoGK, StaxRip

BEST FREE MEMORY TESTING UTILITY

MemTest – Tiny freeware program that allows you to test your memory from Windows.

Memtest86+ – Open source advanced memory diagnostic tool, runs at boot-time from a bootable CD or other media.

Alternatives: – MemScope

BEST FREE BROWSER SETTINGS BACKUP UTILITY

MozBackup – Great freeware tool, backs up your Firefox ot Thunderbird settings, bookmarks, etc. If something goes wrong you can restore your precious settings in only a few seconds.

Alternatives: – Google Chrome Backup

BEST FREE WEB BROWSER

Google Chrome – I like it better that Firefox because it’s a lot faster, more reliable although less customizable.

Alternatives: Mozilla Firefox, Opera

BEST FREE TEXT EDITOR

Notepad++ – Powerful open source text editor written in C++, supports a wide range of programming languages, great multi-document and multi-view features.

Alternatives: – Emerald Editor

BEST FREE OFFICE SUITE

OpenOffice.org – This open source package replaces my Microsoft Office installation. Is it as good? I think it’s better! You won’t have any problems with adjusting to it, the basic features are similar to those in Microsoft Office.

Alternatives: IBM Lotus Symphony, Oxygen Office, Jarte (word processor only)

BEST FREE DOWNLOAD MANAGER

Orbit Downloader – Great download manager with the unique feature that allows you to grab video and audio files from websites such as YouTube.

Alternatives: FlashGet

BEST FREE FILE RECOVERY UTILITY

PCInspector File Recovery – Very good data recovery tool, supports all file systems (FAT and NTFS), finds partitions automatically, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged.

Alternatives: Recuva

BEST FREE PDF READER

PDF XChange Viewer – Very good PDF reader, a lot faster than Adobe Reader. And there’s even more: you can convert your PDF files to various file formats, including BMP, JPG, PNG or TIFF. It can be integrated with Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Alternatives: – Foxit Reader, Sumatra Reader

BEST FREE PDF WRITER

PDFCreator – Very good freeware PDF writer, can create PDF files out of any printable document. It can be installed as standalone or as a server application – install on a single computer and have it available on all the machines in your network.

Alternatives: BullZip, CutePDF

BEST FREE AUDIO PLAYER

Quintessential Player (QCD) – Great audio player, my favorite, highly customizable with the various plugins that are available.

Alternatives: – Foobar

BEST FREE DRIVER UPDATE UTILITY

DriverMax – Finds driver updates for your hardware, downloads and installs them. Although it’s not flawless it’s still a very useful tool.

Alternatives: RadarSync

BEST FREE FILE RENAMER

ReNamer – Very easy to use drag and drop file renamer, it offers all the standard renaming procedures: prefixes, suffixes, replacements, case changes, as well as removing contents of brackets, adding number sequences, changing file extensions.

Alternatives: Lupas Rename 2000, Flexible Renamer

BEST FREE SCREEN CAPTURE UTILITY

Screenshot Captor – Great screenshot capture program, lots of capture modes – Multimon (multiple monitors), Desktop, Active Window, Region, Windows Object. Supports multi-monitor and includes editing features for the screenshots.

Alternatives: Screen Hunter Free

BEST FREE SYSTEM INFORMATION PROGRAM

SIW (System Information for Windows) – Great free system information tool, provides info about the components and software environment in your computer. Also has some interesting extra features like network bandwidth monitoring and password manager.

Alternatives: Everest Home Edition, PC Wizard 2008

BEST FREE DVD BURNER

StarBurn – I’ve been using Nero before. I don’t need it anymore, StarBurn is free and pretty good. I’ve burned several DVDs with it (including DVD video) and it never failed. Supports CD, DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray discs.

Alternatives: CD Burner XP, ImageBurn

BEST FREE SOFTWARE UPDATE PROGRAM

SUMo (Software Update Monitoring) – Identifies the software that you have installed in your system and checks the internet for updates. The latest version seems to have corrected most errors, works pretty fine.

Alternatives: FileHippo.com Update Checker, UpdateStar

BEST FREE ANTISPYWARE

SUPERAntiSpyware – The best antispyware solution that you can get for free. It doesn’t provide resident protection, but if you just scan your computer with it once a week or so you should be fine.

Alternatives: Spybot Search and Destroy

BEST FREE MEMORY OPTIMIZER

SweepRAM – Outstanding tiny freeware memory optimizer with an unique approach. What you should do is, after you’ve turned your computer on, and started all applications that will be running all day long (antivirus, etc) run SweepRAM. That way, all running applications will reduce their memory use to the required amount, giving you as much RAM available for your work as possible.

Alternatives: Free RAM XP

BEST FREE SYSTEM RESOURCE METER

SysTrayMeter – Tiny resource meter that sows you the CPU and memory usage. You can easily close it by double clicking on the icon in the system tray.

Alternatives: – TinyResMeter

BEST FREE FILE COMPRESSION PROGRAM / ZIP UTILITY

TUGZip – Very good free compression utility, works fine with almost any archive file format, fast and reliable.

Alternatives: jZip, 7zip

BEST FREE WINDOWS TWEAKING PROGRAM

TweakUI – Free from Microsoft? Well, it’s for real A must have for any Windows XP user, allows you to tweak the setting you wouldn’t have access to normally.

nLite – freeware tool that allows you to customize your Windows installation bootable CD. That means you can remove Windows components that you don’t want to be installed right from the start.

Alternatives: -

BEST FREE BITTORRENT CLIENT

uTorrent – Best BitTorrent client, lightweight and reliable. The new version brings better functionality and some new features.

Alternatives: Azureus, BitLord

BEST FREE VIDEO EDITING PROGRAM

VirtualDub – Legendary open source editing tool, great for cutting and transcoding your video files for best quality avi output.

RichFLV – A very good freeware tool for basic flash video files editing.

Alternatives: – ZS4, Jahshaka

BEST FREE DICTIONARY

WordWeb – Great free dictionary and thesaurus, I’m already in love with it. It can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples, has spelling and sounds-like links.

Alternatives: – Lingoes

BEST FREE FILE SHARING PROGRAM

DropBox – allows you to share files with the world quickly and easily. The bad thing is that the free account has a 2 GB limitation.

Alternatives: GigaTribe, TeamViewer, Waste

BEST FREE WYSIWYG HTML EDITOR

Kompozer - easy to use “what you see is what you get” html editor, simple but powerful.

Alternatives: – PsPad

BEST FREE INTERNET CONNECTION OPTIMIZER

T CP Optimizer – great freeware tool that allows you to tweak your internet connection in order to get the most speed out of it.

Alternatives: – DrTCP, SpeedNeed

BEST FREE BROKEN LINKS CHECKER

Xenu’s Link Sleuth – very good freeware program for webmasters. Just type in your website adress and scan it for broken links.

Alternatives: – Link Evaluator

BEST FREE PROCESS MANAGER

Process Tamer – great tiny freeware tool that allows you to control the processes that are running in your system.

Alternatives: – Process Explorer

BEST FREE PROGRAM UNINSTALLER

Revo Uninstaller – uninstalls your programs and helps you to clean the leftovers that remain after the uninstalling is completed.

Alternatives: – MyUninstaller, ZSoft Uninstaller

BEST FREE CONTEXT MENU MANAGER

Mmm Free – freeware program that allows you to tweak the windows context menu.

Alternatives: -

BEST FREE HARD DISK BENCHMARKING TOOL

CrystalDiskMark – You can use it to test your hard disks and even USB sticks and external hard disk drives.

Alternatives: – Active@ Hard Disk Monitor

BEST FREE DISK SPACE ANALYZER

Sequoia View – Innovative freeware program that gives you the tools you need to analyze the files and folders on your hard disks and find those huge files that you forgot to delete.

Alternatives: – jDiskReport, WinDirStat

BEST FREE FILE MANAGER

FreeCommander – A very good alternative to the standard Windows file manager.

Alternatives: – xplorer² free

BEST FREE PROGRAM LAUNCHER

Launchy - Open source Windows and Linux program that helps you to launch the program you need without browsing through your Start Menu or looking for a shortcut on your desktop.

Alternatives: – FARR (Find and Run Robot)

BEST FREE ACCOUNTING PROGRAM

GnuCash – Powerful open source accounting program, suitable for both common and advanced users.

Alternatives: – AceMoney Lite

BEST FREE COLOR IDENTIFIER

ColorCop – Helps you identify the colors on your screen and gives you the respective code for each color. Very useful for webmasters and designers.

Alternatives: – Just Color Picker, Pixeur

BEST FREE WEATHER INFORMATION PROGRAM

Weather Watcher – Fast, lightweight, reliable. I don’t know if you could ask for more.

Alternatives: Weather Pulse

BEST FREE LYRICS FINDER

Evil Lyrics – Automatically searches for lyrics as your song is played in your player, it works great with Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, MusicMatch, Foobar, MediaMonkey, Real Player, QCD, AlbumPlayer, Y!Music, XMPlay. It even has a karaoke mode.

Alternatives: -

BEST FREE GAMES

Frets On Fire – Outstanding open source game, similar to the very popular Guitar Hero.

BEST FREE STICKY NOTES PROGRAM

Stickies – Once you get used to it you won’t be able to live without it. Easily creates sticky notes on your desktop.

Alternatives: – StickyPad

BEST FREE AUDIO FILES TAG EDITOR

TagScanner – Complex tag editor that supports almost any audio file type you might think of.

Alternatives: – Mp3Tag

BEST FREE TASK MANAGER

Task Coach – Open source, multi platform, you can easily create and manage “to do” lists and monitor your tasks.

Alternatives: – Project Timer

BEST FREE PROGRAM SCHEDULER

System Scheduler – An alternative to the Windows Task Scheduler, with more features and flexibility.

Alternatives: – XStarter

BEST FREE FIREWALL

Zone Alarm – The most popular free firewall, lightweight and easy to use.

Alternatives: – Sunbelt-Kerio Personal Firewall, Comodo Firewall

I almost forgot… I’m going to continue searching for, testing and reviewing freeware programs, and the list will be updated every time on this page! Happy New Year and have a speedy download!

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Why Is Facebook Disabling Apps Without Warning?

2011-07-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular use of Facebook. you may have noticed the disappearance of a number of applications across the site in the last week or so—including Social Interview, Photo Effect and God Reads—and be wondering what's going on. It's been officially explained as part of a widespread operation responding to complaints of an increase in spam:

"Recently, we started getting a lot of user feedback, spiking significantly over the past week, on the amount of application spam people are seeing in their feeds and on their walls. As a result, we turned on a new enforcement system yesterday that took user feedback much more heavily into account. This resulted in a number of applications with high negative user feedback being disabled or having certain features disabled. We've posted a link for developers where they can appeal if they feel they've been disabled in error."

Others believe that it's actually the first step Facebook is taking in launching the much-rumored Project Spartan, which will allow the site to more easily control its content and apps and allow a potential power grab from Apple.

(MORE: What Decline? Facebook May Have Just Reached 750 Million Users)

Some—but nowhere near all—of the affected apps have been reinstated; Good Reads, for one, although Otis Chandler, CEO of Good Reads, still seems somewhat in the dark about what actually happened:

"We were shut down on Thursday around 6pm. We appealed, and were rejected Friday morning, and told to create a new app, sacrificing nearly a million installs we'd built up over four years.

We didn't know the reason we were shut down, but audited our app and cleaned up a few things just to be sure, and appealed again. We were happily restored Friday late afternoon. A great reminder of the power Facebook has over all of us developers."

But has Facebook learned the Peter Parker Principle, or will that great power come without any responsibility to all the app-makers it could be about to put out of business?

MORE: Head Fake: Winklevoss Twins Resume Facebook Attack

Related Tags: apps, facebook, Project Spartan

Tools Free Backup Software The Computer Users Must Have

2011-07-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Data backup process for the computer is complicated & time consuming. Many users take for granted & sometime choose not to do any data backup. This is however very risky, in the event of virus or hacker attack, data may become irrecoverable. In short, data should be backup regularly.

There are many free data backup software available for download. If you haven’t done anything to your computer, go & backup your data now.

1 AceBackup

AceBackup is a free & powerful software backups of your data. It allows your data to be stored on any local storage device, such as CD, DVD or on your remote FTP server. You may also store multiple versions of backup for you data using AceBackup.
Link: http://www.acebackup.com/

2 FBackup

FBackup is a free backup software. It allows for both personal and commercial use. It backup your important data to any USB/Firewire device or to any network location. The backed up data can be in compressed (using standard zip compression) format.
Link: http://www.fbackup.com/

3 GFI Backup Home Edition

You may use GFI Backup Home Edition to backup of all your important files for FREE. It features includes Easy-to-use wizard-driven interface for beginners, restore your data in minutes using common ZIP format, back up to most popular storage devices, fast, efficient, full-featured backup solution.
Link: http://www.gfi.com/backup-hm

4 Yadis! Backup

Yadis! Backup is a free backup application that will protects your private data in your computer. It’s friendly interface will guide you through the process.
Link: http://www.codessentials.com/

5 Cobian Backup

You may use Cobian Backup to schedule & backup your files and directories from their original location to other directories/drives in the same computer or other computer in your network. FTP backup is also supported in both directions (download and upload).
Link: http://www.educ.umu.se/%7Ecobian/cobianbackup.htm