Download and play free games on Steam.

Steam is a digital game distribution service developed by Valve Corporation. It allows us to purchase and download latest game releases and play them on our computer whenever we want without too much trouble.

Currently, there are 1492 (January 2012) games available through Steam. With more than 40 million active users, it is the most popular service of this kind.

Steam has a few quality free games, allowing you to download and play them completely for free. Play all these games below with an integrated Steam social features right now.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 Free Game

TrackMania Nations Forever

TrackMania Nations Forever Free Game

EverQuest II

EverQuest II Free Game

America’s Army 3

America's Army 3 Free Game

Alien Swarm

Alien Swarm Free Game

Champions Online

Champions Online Free Game

Rise of Immortals

Rise of Immortals Free Game

PoxNora

PoxNora Free Game

APB Reloaded

APB Reloaded Free Game

To play any game above, you need to have Steam client installed.

All games works under Windows operating system without problems. I do not know it any support cross-platform.

There are more free games on Steam, but I think these are the best at this moment. And remember, you need to download any game in order to play it. So it might be quite hard for you if you do not have a broadband connection.

Access and watch restricted websites from any country.

I have shown you previously how to watch Hulu outside USA completely for free. Now, I am going to show you how to visit practically any country-based restriction website out there.

I am going to show you how to watch the following:

Watch Crackle outside US

Watch Hulu.com outside US

Play Pandora radio outside US

Watch BBC iPlayer TV outside UK

With these steps below you can watch any website with a proper working IP proxy address. I will show you how to make this work in both, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers.

Find Working Proxy IP Address

Today, you can basically find a working proxy IP address easily on internet. I recommend you to go and search for Proxy IP List on Google.

Remember we are looking for Proxy IP addresses and not Proxy websites which allows us to enter address and surf the web through them. You can easily find a few good sites on Google first page.

Most of these sites are going to show you the IP address, speed of it, type and, of course, in which country is based.

Private Browsing Mode

Both web browsers allows us to browse in privacy-protected mode. This is a very good thing to do when watching these websites, simply because your web browser is not going to leave the trace on your computer.

Here is how to enable private browsing mode:

• Incognito mode (Chrome)
• Private browsing (Firefox)

This is a very important step because some of these websites may leave cookies on your computer. So you do not need to clear up cache every single time you try out new IP address.

Watch in Google Chrome

Google Chrome is my favorite web browser. First thing we should do is to find a very good Proxy extension. I would recommend you to use the following:

Proxy SwitchySharp

This extension may work with multiple IP proxy addresses and it is extremely easy to use for anyone. When you install this extension, you need to enable it to work in incognito mode. You can do that by following these steps:

Type in this in your address bar:

chrome://settings/extensions

This will open your Extensions management. Find Proxy SwitchySharp extension in the list and check “Allow in incognito” option:

Allow Chrome extensions in incognito mode.

This will make your extension available in incognito mode. Next step is to open new incognito window (as shown above) and setup your proxy addresses.

To setup new proxies, click on your Proxy SwitchySharp icon and select Options. New window appear where you can enter proxies you find previously. You can do that easily by entering your address and port in application and simply click on the Save button:

Proxy SwitchySharp options in Chrome

Make sure to check “Use the same proxy server for all protocols” just to avoid any complications. And in case you do not know, port address is that number after : divider in any proxy IP address:

So if proxy goes like 123.45.678.9:8080, port is 8080 and proxy address is the rest.

You can enable your proxy in real time by clicking on extension icon and choosing appropriate proxy from the list! Simple as that.

Watch in Mozilla Firefox

Although the most popular Proxy switcher add-on for Firefox is FoxyProxy, I would recommend you to use this, way easier add-on instead:

ProxySelector

This is a very good add-on which allows you to simply setup new proxies and switch to them when necessary. It can be integrated into your statusbar, toolbar and even your right-click menu.

However, you do not need to enable Firefox add-ons to work in private browsing mode. So after installation (and browser restart), you can automatically switch to the Private browsing session.

To add proxies right click on add-on icon and choose “Manage Proxies”. A new window appear where you can choose Add, Edit and Remove. Of course, press on Add button:

Add new proxy IP address in Firefox.

As you can see, configuration is pretty much the same as with Google Chrome browser extension. Click on OK button to submit your changes. Make sure to check on “Use this proxy server for all protocols” when you adding a new proxy address!

And there you go, you can now switch to your proxy server easily. You can make it work in your right-click menu by visiting add-on options. There you can set up to clear cache each time you switch to another proxy as well.

Conclusion

Remember that every proxy is not going to work. If you found a lot of non-working proxies on the same site, it is better to switch to another one.

The most important thing is to find a decent website with a daily-updated proxy IP lists and make it bookmarked if some proxies on your list stop working.

Play Grooveshark.com music without annoying limitations.

Most of us actually use Grooveshark to play our music online. I actually use it pretty often and already have an active subscription on it. By using some of these tips you may improve your Grooveshark experience for free!

You can listen Grooveshark from your web browser completely for free. But it has a few annoying features for all free users:

1. Probably the most annoying thing is their playback warning which comes every 30 minutes of your inactivity on their website. This requires an action if you want to continue playing your queued songs.
2. It shows a huge advertisement on the right sidebar. It does not bother me, but some people might not like this of course.
3. Only subscribed members have opportunity to download, install and use their own Desktop application.

These features are automatically enabled and active for all default (free) Grooveshark members. But you can bypass them legally by installing a few free extensions below.

I will include extensions only for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers here. So you need to use these if you want these tips to work for you!

Google Chrome Grooveshark Extensions

Grooveshark Non-Stop: A very good and simple extension that automatically disable Grooveshark 30-minutes playback limitation completely for free!

Grooveshark Ad-Free: Sidebar with ads on the right side of your window bothers you – this extension is going to get it disapear automatically.

If this ad-removal extension does not work, try out Groovelet

Grooveshark Enhancement Suite: A suite of handy modules that improve the Grooveshark experience. Including duplicate song remover, song lyrics integration, support for keyboard shortcuts and much more.

Mozilla Firefox Grooveshark Addons

Grooveshark Premium: I don’t know how this extension works, but it does (at least at the time I am writting this article). It will automatically give you most functions as a premium subscriber but on your free account. Including playback limitation removal, no ads on sidebar and even using premium themes and tools for free!

Groove Shredder: This addon will give you an opportunity to download any song on Grooveshark as Mp3 format! It is created only for educational purposes!

If some extensions are not compatible with your Firefox, you can force them to run on your newest browser version!

Play Grooveshark from Desktop

The easiest way to do this is to use Google Chrome integrated feature. Simply install these Grooveshark extensions for Chrome and then go to grooveshark.com.

While you are on their website click on Tools > Create application shortcuts and press Create button.

Grooveshark working as free dekstop app!

Icon of your Grooveshark should be now on your Desktop. You can open it and listen your Grooveshark music from your desktop without opening your web browser window first.

I strongly recommend you to go and purchase your Grooveshark subscription. With only a few bucks per month you get all of that above and much more!

Best online free file storage and backup services.

Making your files stored securely on internet has never been easier. Using these services to store your personal files killed off the need to backup your files to CDs or the USB flash drives.

Files stored on these services are hosted on encrypted and secured servers. They are usually stored in the cloud (multiple servers), providing you fast access on secured location.

Dropbox (2GB for free)

2GB free space on Dropbox

This is probably the most popular free online file storage service. It is available for all popular platforms and have a very nice and functional sync client.

SugarSync (5GB for free)

5GB Free space on SugarSync

This is another quite popular online file storage service. Available for Windows and Mac OS platforms. Has a very nice features and it is quite easy for usage.

Box.net (5GB for free)

5GB Free space on Box.net

Box.net is one of the first online file sharing services on internet. It is very easy to use and available on most popular mobile devices. For me it is one of the best online file sharing services on market.

Asus Web Storage (2GB for free)

2GB Free storage on Asus

Asus allows you to sync your files using their cloud-based file hosting and backup service. Giving you 2GB of free storage and it is available for multiple platforms. Gives you a very low price ($8.99) for their unlimited storage plan!

Windows Live SkyDrive (25GB for free)

25GB Free storage on SkyDrive

SkyDrive gives you a generous 25GB of space completely for free. 5GB of that space can be used for sync. This service can be integrated with most popular Microsoft services and products.

Minus.com (10GB for free)

10GB Free space on Minus

A very simple service which allows you to easy store, backup and share your files online. Has own applications for all popular platforms and mobile devices. Gives you a generous 10GB of free space to backup your files easily.

Amazon Cloud Drive (5GB for free)

5GB Free storage-only space on Amazon Cloud Drive

Amazon provides you with a very fast and clean interface. Additionally allows you to play stored video and audio files directly via Amazon Cloud Player. However, file-sharing opportunities are disabled and you need to manually upload files.

Remove duplicated photos, music, videos and any other file type on your computer.

Some people store thousands of different files on their hard drives. These files are usually some photos, mp3 music files or videos. If you are one of them you know how hard it is to find the exact files on your computer by yourself.

Thanks to these little (and free) software apps below you are going to find duplicated files in seconds. This way you may save a lot of time and some free space on your hard drive.

Remove Duplicate Photos

An Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder is one of the best free software which may find and remove duplicate photos on your computer easily and fast.

Awesome job from awesome duplicate photo finder.

As you can see, this program is capable to display either pictures that found similar or the same. It supports drag and drop functions and all mayor image types, including JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP.

Download Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
Downloaded 17 times so far…

Another duplicate photo removal tools:

• VisiPics – Supports more image formats (including RAW files) and works a bit faster than the one above. Works on all image sizes and have a bit old user interface.

VisiPics is a “Donation-ware” product!

• Picasa – Yes, this great software tool from Google is experimenting with a feature that can display and find duplicate images within your photo gallery. It works pretty well.

Remove Duplicate Music

Most people store their favorite music on their own hard drive. And that can (and usually is) be a quite large collection of files.

Similarity uses an acoustic fingerprint technology to find duplicate music files.

For those who want probably the best tool to remove duplicate music files a tool like Similarity comes in handy. This software scans your music files using the “acoustic fingerprint” technology and provides a quite good accuracy.

Similarity can work with all popular music files, including Mp3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, AAC, M4A, WMA, APE, WV and MPC.

It comes in both, free and paid subscriptions. But most of us are going to be extremely satisfied with features of the basic free version for sure.

Download Similarity
Downloaded 53 times so far…

Remove any Duplicate Files

There are some tools which allow you to work with multiple file types from one place. One of the most popular tools of that purpose is a simple and free tool called Anti-Twin.

AntiTwin can work with multiple file types at once.

This software can search for practically any file type by using several algorithms. Including byte-by-byte comparison, search by same or identical file names and pixel-based image comparison algorithm.

It is available in several world languages and it may help you remove unnecessary file copies by providing a very nice user interface.

Download Anti-Win
Downloaded 14 times so far…

Another multiple duplicate file removal tools:

• Duplicate Cleaner – This duplicate removal tool can work with all file types. Using MD5 checksum, same file name, date or size and uses audio tags for music files.

Install Windows 7 themes on Windows XP and Vista

Windows 7 comes with a very nice collection of themes and backgrounds you can easily download and install completely for free. Windows also allows you to create and share your own customized themes and share it with other users.

If you are still using an older Windows version like Windows XP or Vista, you can still download and install a native Windows 7 theme on your computer.

Use Windows 7 Themes on XP and Vista

The first thing you should do is to visit the official Windows 7 themes gallery and download some themes you like on your Windows XP/Vista computer.

Windows 7 themes gallery - Download and install themes for free.

These themes are having a unique .themepack file extension which can be natively opened by Windows 7 operating system only. But this is just another archive which contains all of the elements of a selected theme. This includes background images, colors, cursors, icons and so on.

To use it on your Windows XP or Vista, you need to extract the theme archive on your computer. You can do that either by changing a file extension from .themepack to .cab and then extract files with a right-click, or by installing a 7-Zip free Windows software which can recognize .themepack archives.

Extract themepack with file archiver.

Once you extract your theme all necessary files will be available under separated folder, named the same as your original theme. We can now continue applying these themes on our Windows XP/Vista operating system.

Windows Theme Restrictions

The first thing you should know is that you can not add an Aero Glass border effect on your Windows XP since it is not supported by this system. However, this effect is supported and it can easily be applied on your Windows Vista system.

Thanks to some third-party software you can practically add almost any theme function on your Windows XP or Vista. Additionally, some Windows 7 screensavers might not work on your Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system.

Aero Glass Effect and Desktop Background

This effect is available on your Windows Vista system. There is no software available for Windows XP which can give you an exact Aero Glass effect support. So there is no way of adding or changing this on your Windows XP system.

Windows Vista: To add this effect into your Windows Vista, simply double click the .theme file presented in your extracted theme folder. As you can see, your Windows border color is changed as well as your desktop background.

Windows XP: You can only change your desktop background in this step. You can find all desktop backgrounds inside the theme folder itself or in a folder named DesktopBackground. To add it as your main desktop background simply right-click on image you want to use and select “Set as Desktop Background”.

Desktop Slideshow and RSS Photo Feed

Most Windows 7 themes have multiple desktop backgrounds. This is because Windows 7 has a native support for background switching. Neither Windows XP nor Vista supports this feature, but you can easily bring that feature up using the excellent and free John’s Background Switcher software.

Add random background image from the folder on your computer.

To create a desktop slideshow you need to click on “Add > A folder on your computer” once you run this software. Now select the Windows 7 theme folder that contains all the background images, select the change interval and you are ready to go.

Some Windows 7 themes download images from the internet, using RSS feeds and switch them as your own desktop backgrounds. We can easily discover if our theme supports this feature by opening our downloaded .theme file in a text editor like Notepad and search for RssFeedstring inside:

Some themes download backgrounds from internet using RSS feed.

When we know the URL, we can easily add it by using the above desktop background switcher. But instead of adding images from our computer, select you want to add images from the RSS photo feed option:

Add desktop background RSS feed.

Thanks to this great software we have added a very good and effective slideshows on our Windows XP or Vista operating system.

Cursors, Screensavers, Icons and Sounds

Most Windows 7 themes only contain an aero glass color and desktop backgrounds. But some of them may contain some additional elements like screensavers, cursors and their own customized icons. Of course, you can change this in your Windows XP/Vista systems.

Cursors: If your theme supports customized Windows 7 cursor files (.cur or ani file extensions), you can copy them inside your C:\Windows\Cursors folder inside your Windows XP or Vista systems. Once you done that go inside the mouse settings in your Control Panel and set your default cursors manually.

Sounds: If you install a theme in Windows Vista by clicking on .theme file, sounds are automatically imported into your system. If you want to use them in XP, you need to copy all the .wav sound files in default C:\Windows\Media folder. In both cases you need to manually change your sounds from the Control Panel (once they are properly imported).

Screensavers: To use Windows 7 screensavers on your XP or Vista, all you need to do is to add a screensaver files (.scr) into your Windows system folder C:\Windows\System32. Now you can change your screensaver using the usual method.

Icons: If your Windows 7 theme contains a different set of Desktop Icons (.ico files), you need to change them manually inside your Windows XP and Vista:

1. Change icons in XP: Right-click on your desktop and select Properties > Custom Desktopunder the Desktop tab. Select what do you want to change and click on the “Change Icon” button and browse to the location of the icons from your Window 7 extracted theme.

2. Change icons in Vista: Right-click on the desktop and select Personalize from that window. Now select the items you want to change and click on “Change Icons” button below. After that, simply browse to the location of the new icons.

This method is used only when default system icons are changed (My Computer, My Documents, Recycle Bin and Network).

However if you want to change icons of any individual software or a folder, you can simply do that by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties. From that new window simply click on the “Change Icon” button and browse to the new icon location.

Find out which internet browser is fastest

Two years ago, I have done an interesting test to show you which web browser is fastest. I think it is the time to update these results and show you which internet browser is fastest right now!

This time, I am going to include the most popular browsers right now. Using their latest stable versions under Windows operating system.

Internet Explorer 9.0

Mozilla Firefox 6.0

Google Chrome 13.0

Apple Safari 5.1

Opera 11.51

During these last two years, internet browsers are developed into powerful applications. Most of them now supports an advanced technologies and render pages much faster.

This test is done on Windows 7 SP1 (with all latest updates installed) 32-bit system with 4 GB DDR2 memory installed.

Startup Time

A web browser startup time might be extremely important for some users. It is very useful if someone wants to browse the internet fast and re-open browsing session multiple times during the day.

Web browsers startup time graph

As you can clearly see, Opera (1.88 sec) has the best startup time, followed by Internet Explorer (3.54 sec). Firefox startup time is the highest (4.27 sec).

JavaScript Tests

In this test I used several online tools for each web browser on this test. This test includes the following tests:

And here are the results:

JavaScript benchmark test results graph

Interestingly, in the JavaScript library test Safari web browser has the best results, followed by Firefox. Apple has done a very good job by optimizing their browser engine for these popular JS libraries.

When it comes to another two tests (SunSpider and V8), The winner is definitely a Google Chrome, followed by Mozilla Firefox.The last two places are divided by Safari and IE.

When we summarize all JavaScript results, we can proudly say that Google Chrome is the fastest in JavaScript, followed by Mozilla Firefox.

Memory Usage

Memory usage is extremely important if you tend to use your web browser on a daily basis. Web browsers who use a lot of memory may cause your computer to slow down, especially if you are low on memory.

Web browser memory usage chart

Internet Explorer is a definite winner in this area with a lowest memory usage (38.6 Mb), followed by Apple’s Safari (44,8 Mb). The highest memory usage is measured with Opera, with even 187,3 Mb of used memory.

And the winner is…

When we take all these information and compare it with each other, I would choose a Google Chrome web browser as the fastest browser on earth at this moment.

I would go with Mozilla Firefox as mine second choice. Yes, you may wait a bit before it loads and it may use more memory than most browsers – but you will get a very fast rendering engine.

As it was expected, Internet Explorer has provided us with the worst results on these tests. But we can see that Microsoft is putting a lot of effort to improve it.

Download Google Chrome – the fastest web browser on the earth!

The best games on Google+

Google Plus is a popular social network, similar to Facebook. It is launched on June 28, 2011 and developed by Google. There are already some quality games you can play on this service, so I am going to show you my favorites.

Google Plus still works as an invite-only service. I have some invites left, so you can contact me to get one for free!

Angry Birds

Angry Birds on Google+

This is definitely my first choice. If you have not played this game, you should do it right now. It is a very addictive arcade-style game with nice graphics and interesting gameplay.

Dragon Age: Legends

Dragon Age: Legends on Google +

This is free online RPG game by EA Games and Bioware. Dragon Age Legends gameplay will unlock items within Dragon Age II. The game features character customization and an upgrade system that is similar to the real game.

Bejeweled Blitz

Bejeweled Blitz on Google+

It is an addictive game which is playable on Facebook and Google Plus too. Offering a very nice visuals and an exciting game experience.

Zynga Poker

Zynga Poker on Google+

You probably know this popular game from Facebook. As from now, you can play this free online poker game on Facebook completely for free.

Edge World

EdgeWorld on Google+

A very good online RTS (Real-time strategy). There you can build up your space empire, fight with others, do quests and much more. A very good visuals and addictive gameplay.

The most popular file archivers under test!

File archiver is a computer software that combines a number of files together into a single archive file, or series of archive files. All of them has different performances, and that is why we are going to put them under this test.

Most file archivers has their own formats that can reduce the size of the archive by applying lossless data compression technique.

Testing Process

I tested these programs on my home computer. Using them on your computer may give you different results.

The whole test is based on compression percentage and required time for archiving process. I used each test 3 times and take an average result.

I used the following files for archiving:

• Test 1: 1 EXE file with 104 Mb in size
• Test 2: 20 different files (images, mp4 video, mp3 audio and documents) 58.8 Mb in total.

It is important to note that I used the best compression settings for each archiver. These values may be different if you use any other settings. I leave all other options on default.

Archiving Time Process

Time to complete compressing some files might be important for some users. The more size you try to compress, the more time it takes.

According to these two tests, there are the results:

As you can see on these graphs above, both tests uses different time to process. Surprisingly, the fastest file archiver on our test is FreeArc.

As you can see, this little free archiver actually works much faster than any other. For users who look out for fast compressing, this is probably the best choice.

Compression Results

File archivers can reduce the size of your compressed files. On our test, we have came to some interesting results which you can see on these graphs below.

As you can see, compression is also different for every file archiver on this test. I have used these file types on purpose – just to see how they would work.

WinRAR is the best choice if you want to compress and archive EXE (or similar) file types. When it comes to the multiple files, 7-Zip is the winner.

How to: Download and read Wikipedia (any language) offline!

How would you like to download the entire Wikipedia on your computer, or any other device and read it offline wherever you are? Well, here I am going to show you how.

Download Wikipedia database

Wikipedia is the word’s largest online encyclopedia, containing over 3,7 million of articles (English version). You will find all about practically every single term you could think about on this online encyclopedia.

Now, this largest encyclopedia offers downloadable copies (known as database dumps) which you can use for offline reading and learning new stuff from the places where internet is not available.

You can view and download any database dump on the following address:

http://dumps.wikimedia.org/enwiki/latest/

As you can see, database bumps are frequently updated and include every single article that is available on Wikipedia website!

To download articles in your language (for example French), you would need to change the /enwiki/ URL path to /frwiki/… This works for every localized Wikipedia version.

How to read Wikipedia offline

As you can see, download may highly depend on your database dump selection and Wikipedia localization you want. Of course, English version might take a lot of space simply because it contains more articles than any other version.

The dumps are available as .xml.bz2 files. To open them you need to download and install some specialized software like WikiTaksi.

WikiTaksi is a very good portable application which enables you to read, search and browse Wikipedia offline, from the previously downloaded dumps.

A very good alternative to this software is Kiwiks – which is also free software available on multiple platforms. The only downside of this software is it uses different format .zim to read Wikipedia articles.

This way, you are able to download a few popular Wikipedia localizations, and they are not frequently updates as these above. But, they are much easier to use definitely.

Other ways to read Wikipedia offline

There are some other ways with which you can read Wikipedia offline. If you have an iOS device (iPhone, iPad), you can download Wiki Offline app ($9.99) and carry Wikipedia in your pocket easily.

Another way to read Wikipedia offline is to use some specialized hardware like WikiReader. This small 3.9 x 3.9 inches device offers the entire English Wikipedia in your pocket. The updates for this device are released every quarter.

Counter-Strike 1.6 Full Free Download

Counter Strike is one of the most popular online action games. This is the older version of the game, which you can play completely for free.

Well, the add-on files are completely free, while the base game (Half Life) is a paid game.

However, you can buy a Counter Strike pack for less than €8.00 from there.

If you want to play Counter Strike on all servers, you need to have licensed copy of Half Life/Counter-Strike!

Anyway, did you know you can play Counter Strike off-line? You can do that by using some specialized bots, especially created for this game.

Counter-Strike Bots

I would recommend you two good and popular bots for this great multiplayer game:

1. Counter-Strike 1.6 bots – Play versus computer AI in 3 difficulty levels. You can easily install and run these bots on your computer.
2. Counter-Strike Z-Bot – This is another quite popular bot for CS 1.6 version. With it you can adjust bot difficulty levels, weapons, controls, numbers, navigation commands, and more.

Note: Use these bots at your own risk. I did not try them out since I have a valid game license.

These bots are not created by Valve, so they are not officially supported. They are created by Counter-Strike gamers and fans, and they should do their job well.

Counter-Strike 1.6 Screenshots

CS 1.6 Requirements

Since it is a very old (but addictive and still widely played) game, you can play it on almost any computer you can find today.

Official requirements are:

• Operating System: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• CPU: 800 MHz
• RAM: 128 MB
• Video RAM: 32 MB

Of course, to play it online you need internet connection. Same as a computer requirements, this game does not consume too much bandwidth.

Download Counter Strike 1.6 Full
Downloaded 324 times so far…

Convert or Transform your Windows 7 to Windows 8

Previously, I have told you what to actually expect in new Windows operating system – Windows 8. Fortunately, you can add some attractive features into your Windows 7 system using these tools below.

Of course, this would not convert your Windows 7 into the new Windows 8 operating system. But using these tools you can experience the most attractive features of the new operating system from Microsoft.

Win 8 Transformation Pack

By using this free tool below you can easily add some good Windows 8 features in your Win7 computer. All you need to do is to run the installer and all work is done automatically.

8 Skin Pack (32-bit & 64-bit)

Windows 8 Skin Pack

This is actually a very good Windows 8 transformation pack. Supports both, 32-bit and 64-bit systems. This installation is very simple and enables you to choose the elements you want to customize.

Adds pretty much all look-and-feel aspects of the new Windows 8 to your older system. Including Windows 8 theme files, login screen and more.

Add Windows 8 Features Manually

If you want to add some of the new features manually, there are some tools which allows you that.

Aura

This is a specialized application that calculates average color of your desktop background image, or an active window icon and sets it as Aero Glass color.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It actually works pretty good, as you can see from the above video demonstration. However, it is free and very easy to install and use.

Taskbar UserTile

This software is still in Alpha stage, but it may work good for you. This little application adds an avatar of current user to the notification area – just like in new Windows 8 operating system.

Add Windows 8 UserTile in Win7

By clicking on this image you can open control panel, log off, switch user or even lock your PC.

Omnimo UI

This is one of my favorite add-ons for the popular Rainmeter application. Adds a very good, effective and highly-customizable Windows 8 Start Screen on your Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It looks absolutely great. You can also download some extra add-ons for this app completely for free.

How to watch online movies with subtitles of your choice?

You found some online streaming movies online but you can not understand a word? No problem, I am going to show you here how to watch nearly any online video with subtitles – just like you watch regular movies on your computer.

For this you would need two free applications installed on your computer: Mozilla Firefox and VideoLAN media player. You can download and install both software for all popular platforms.

1. Install Mozilla Firefox and VLC Player

First thing you should do is to install latest Mozilla Firefox and VideoLAN Client player. These apps are cross-platform supported and works great on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

2. Install Free Firefox Addon

Now open your Firefox and go and install a simple and free extension called Video Download Helper. After installation restart your browser.

3. Find video you want to watch

Now go and find some online streaming videos you have an eye on. For this test, I used this movie from DailyMotion.

When Video Download Helper extension discover an online video, you will get notified by an animated icon:

Click on the right arrow, next to the icon and a few source video files are going to show. In this case, extension has discovered 2 different video streams – standard and high-quality:

The second video is in high quality (check the last hq letters in the name).

Hover video source you want to watch and go to “Copy URL” sub-menu which will open automatically. Do not click on video source because then you will start to download it.

4. Open VideoLAN Client

Now open your VideoLAN player and go to Media > Open Network Stream… submenu. Or simply click shortcut Ctrl+N to open this window in a short way:

Paste your copied video URL into Please enter a network URL field and simply press on Play button.

That’s it, now you can watch an online video in your VLC media player. You can add any subtitle and watch movies like they are stored in your computer.

Of course, to play videos without any problems you need a good internet connection. Enjoy watching online movies with your own subtitles!

Five best free Mac OS X game classics.

According to my previous Game Classics list for Windows, I decided to create another one only for you. But this time all games are downloadable and playable easily on your Mac OS X system.

You will find here some very good and addictive games you can install on your Mac OS. These games are completely free and they are easy to install. So, what are you waiting for? Try them all out right now.

1. SimCity 2000

SimCity 2000 allows the user to build and manage a metropolis. You’re given a plot of barren land to zone into industrial, residential, and commercial areas where people work, live, and play.

Download SimCity 2000 (MacOS X)
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2. Worms (Free)

Worms combines the best elements from the very best games ever created. Worms is one of the most popular games in this genre. Download and install this free version right now.

Download Worm (MacOS X)
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3. The Secret of Monkey Island

The Monkey Island saga is known throughout the gaming world and is considered some of the best adventure games ever. The Secret of Monkey Island is the game that started it all.

Download Monkey Island (Mac OS X)
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4. Monkey Island 2

Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck’s Revenge is the most famous adventure ever! How do you improve on the funniest, most original game ever? Easy! You release Monkey Island 2! Mind-bending puzzles, Laugh-out-loud humor, likeable characters, beautiful locales.

Download Monkey Island 2 (Mac OS X)
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5. DOOM 1

Welcome to DOOM, a lightning-fast virtual reality adventure where you’re the toughest space trooper ever to suck vacuum. Your mission is to shoot your way through a monster-infested holocaust. Living to tell the tale if possible.

Download DOOM (Mac OS X)
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Best 10 free online multiplayer games

Internet has become one of the most important gaming places. While most of the games requires money to play, some of them are playable completely for free.

That is why I am going to show you the best 10 free online multiplayer games of my choice. I am going to show you my favorite 10 games, including FPS, MMORPG and other game genre.

Online First Person Shooters (FPS)

There are my best free online FPS multiplayer games you can download, install and play completely for free on your own computer.

1. ArmA 2: Free

ArmA 2: Free - Realistic First-Person shooter.

This is the free version of one of the best tactical shooters in industry. This free game version features full multiplayer integration, but does not support add-on and HD graphic textures. [Read full review]

Download ArmA 2: Free
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2. Battlefield Play4Free

Battlefield Play4Free - Free Battlefield Online FPS

This is a first-person shooter developed by EA and Easy Studios. This free game is based on the popular Battlefield game series and it is built on a modified version of Battlefield 2 game engine.

The game has full multiplayer ability, featuring an unique leveling system, in-game shop (buy items for real money) and some basic customization options.

Download Battlefield Play4Free
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3. FEAR Combat

F.E.A.R. Combat - Free online multiplayer component.

A completely free multiplayer component from the original game is available for download. Anyone with a full retail copy of the game can play on servers with players who download this free component.

This is a stand-alone multiplayer component which means you do not need an original product to register and play the game online.

Download FEAR Combat
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Online MMORPG Games

Like World of Warcraft? If yes, then I am sure you will like some of these free online massively multiplayer online role playing games.

4. Age of Conan

You can now play Age of Conan MMORPG for free!

This is one of my favorite online multiplayer games. A couple years ago I have played (and enjoyed playing this game) it for a monthly fee.

But right now you can download, install and play AoC completely for free! You will have some limitations but you will be able to level up your character to max level with this free game version.

Download Age of Conan
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5. Lord of the Rings Online

LotR - Free2Play online MMORPG game.

This is another top-quality MMORPG game for which you have to pay money to play before. It is switched to the micro-payment model now and you might be able to level up your character completely for free.

This is a very good and quality game. I am sure you will like it – especially if you are Lord of the Rings fan.

Download Lord of the Rings Online
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6. Runes of Magic

One of the most popular free MMORPGs today.

This is probably the most popular free online multiplayer game. With over 5 million players worldwide in database it is one of the largest online multiplayer games today.

You can progress through the game completely for free, but if you want to explore a full potential of it, you would need to use an integrated game store system.

Download Runes of Magic
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Other Free Online Games

There are some other free online multiplayer games that does not fit in any other genre above.

7. Need for Speed: World

NFS: World - Free online multiplayer racing game.

This is a free online multiplayer racing game. You can progress through the game completely for free. For additional cars and purchases you would need to use in-game.

This game is built on a very quality engine, letting you choose some popular car brands completely for free. Game is available worldwide and only for Windows.

Download Need for Speed: World
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8. BattleForge

Online card-based game, based on micro-payment module.

This is an unique free online RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game published by Electronic Arts. It is an online card-based game, based on a micro-payment system.

It is built on a very powerful engine which supports even DirectX 11. Game is playable in PVE (Player versus environment) and PVP (Player versus player) game modes.

Download BattleForge
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9. World of Tanks

A free 3D team-based MMO game shooter.

This is a free 3D team-based massively multiplayer online game featuring historically accurate fighting tanks from the 1930s to the 1950s.

World of Tanks includes more than 90 armored vehicles from America, Germany and the Soviet Union. This game holds a Guinness World Record in the category of Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server.

The record was registered on January 23, 2011 when the number of players on the game’s Russian server totaled 91,311. Pretty impressive.

Download World of Tanks
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10. Tiger Woods PGA Tour

Play Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online for Free

This is just another quality game from EA which is available for free. Players may take part in single player modes or in tournaments in this golf game.

Each day a player logs in, on their first login they receive 10 micro-transaction points and they receive 5 micro-transaction points for completing the first round of the day.

To get unlimited access to the game, you would need to pay for individual rounds through micro-transactions.

Download Tiger Woods PGA Tour
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