HotShots (Windows)

Developer Quote: "HotShots is an application for capturing screens and saving them in a variety of image formats as well as adding annotations and graphical data (arrows, lines, texts, ...)."

I'm always... I mean ALWAYS, looking for a great new screenshot tool. I've tried many, kept a couple, but this one looks like it's got tons of annotation/editing tools, which are a big part of the utility of an application like this. The other big feature I look for is easy of use. How easy is it to bring up and use, etc. So if you find the need to capture your screen, or part of your screen, and then jazz it up, try this one...

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Radio Tuna (PC) - Awesome Desktop Radio Player

Developer Quote: "Discover awesome radio stations and great music with our online radio player. Discover internet radio effortlessly!"

Few things are more relaxing than listening to good music or good talk while you work on your PC. Check out this sweet Internet radio with a cool interface and tons of listening choices!

Features:

• Browse 300+ genres 
• Save preset stations 
• Hot key support

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Zinc Beta 3 - Free Internet video browser

There are many ways to get and watch video media on the Internet. This may be the best yet. From the web site:

"Zinc™ is a special software application designed to organize and deliver the best of internet video- we call it an Internet Video Browser. It’s easy to use, and offers fast access to prime time TV episodes, movies from streaming services like Netflix, and web-only content.

Now for the best news: Zinc’s colorful screens were styled for display on a big-screen TV, because more and more that’s where today’s online video is watched. Connect your computer to your HDTV, and unleash the full power of Zinc."

Zinc Beta 3

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Cabos - A free, clean, effective file sharing application

What to do when Limewire doesn't get the job done? When you can't find that song you can't get out of your head? Try Cabos.

A very simple, clean interface belies the effectiveness of Cabos, which has proven effective for me when other apps have fallen short.

"Cabos is Gnutella file sharing program based on LimeWire and Acquisition. It is free software. No spyware. No adware. Guaranteed.

Cabos provides simple sidebar interface, Mojito DHT support, firewall to firewall transfers, UPnP support, IP2Country support, iTunes integration, "What's New?" searches and more."

Cabos

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icoFX - An excellent, free, icon editor

Many people don't realize that creating and editing their own icons is well within their grasp. From the web site:

"IcoFX is an award winning freeware icon editor. It is an all-in-one solution for icon creation, extraction and editing. It is designed to work with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Macintosh icons supporting transparency.

With a wealth of tools and more than 40 effects at your fingertips, there’s virtually no limit to the icons you can create. You can easily convert your favorite images into icons, or icons into images. IcoFX gives you the possibility to create icon libraries or change icons inside exe files. Create a favicon for your website or blog.

Convert your Macintosh icons to Windows icons and vice versa. With IcoFX you can extract icons from other files, including Windows Vista and Macintosh files. You can easily work with multiple files using the batch processing capability of IcoFX. "

Give it a try at icoFX 

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EASEUS Partition Manager - Free, powerful partition manager

Not necessarily for novice computer users, disk management and partitioning tools are nonetheless an important part of a serious user's arsenal. Windows has a basic set of tools, but EASEUS offers a free and powerful way to do it better. From the web site:

"As Partition Magic alternative, EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition is a FREE comprehensive hard disk partition management software to let you enjoy free with all the powerful functions: Resize and Move partitions, Create, Delete and Format partitions, Hide and Unhide partitions and much more. What's more, the freeware works perfectly with hardware RAID and Windows 2000/XP/Vista Operating Systems. Your data is completely protected during all operations. Why not free download EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition now to enjoy it like the commercial program Partition Magic?"

Features:

# Support hardware RAID.
# Resize and move partitions without losing data.
# Create, delete and format partitions with simple step.
# Label partitions - assigned to a partition for easier recognition.
# View Disk/Partition property of each partition.
# Hide and unhide partitions - protect important data from unauthorized or casual access.
# Set an active partition - specify one partition to be the boot partition.
# Powerful safety features protect you against system failures while partitioning.
# Step-by-step wizard walks you through partitioning process.
# Preview any partitioning tasks before completing it.
# Change cluster size automatically and manually.
# Undo feature any partition step.
# Support hard disks from 2 GB to 1 TB.
# User-friendly interface.

Screenshot:

 

EASEUS Partition Manager
 
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Gmail Backup 0.104 - Fast, easy way to backup your Gmail accounts

If you have a brain, you'll be asking me why you need to backup your Gmail accounts. After all, you can totally trust Google with your life, right? I mean, they would never, ever screw up so badly as to decimate your precious Gmail.

On the other hand, why leave the safety of your important email in the hands of the monolith? Take charge and make regular backups with Gmail Backup.

Gmail Backup


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PcHelpware - Free and simple remote PC assistance software

Whether you're Nick Burns (of SNL fame), another computer guru from whom people often ask for help, or an innocent-but-clueless helpee, this software could be the answer to your prayers.

When friends and colleagues ask you for computer help, it can be nearly impossible to do them any good if you can't see or control their computers. Further complicating the problem is the fact that most remote control apps are too complicated for the people you're trying to help to set up.

This is the perfect place for PcHelpware. Massively simple to use and free, it fits the need so well it's uncanny.

From the web site:

"PCHelpWare is a free alternative to the various paying remote assistance services that can be found on the net

PCHelpWare is a powerful remote support software that allows you to control (right from your own PC) a distant PC connected to the internet. It is the ideal solution to provide quick remote assistance and help your customers, colleagues, friends and family members, even if they are on the other side of the world

PCHelpWare is customizable : you can create your own server package with your logo and -company- name

The individual you want to remotely assist only has to download and execute your customized package. That's all

No router/modem/firewall configuration is needed to access a remote PC even when it's standing on a protected network behind a NAT

If your PC is also behind Firewall/NAT routers, PCHelpware has the solution that makes everything simple anyway

Using the provided Repeater service, no router configuration is needed at all."

PcHelpware

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Facebook Firefox Add-ons - 2 excellent add-ons for Facebook addicts

Take a look across your office space at your colleagues. They look like they're deep into their spreadsheets, right? They're probably deep in Facebook.

If you are, too, check out these 2 Firefox add-ons that'll enhance your experience:

Facebook Toolbar

"Integrate your Facebook life into your browser..."

 

Boost

"Join more than 600K fellow Boost users and customize your Facebook experience with 300+ facebook skins, 30+ special features, selectable options, custom album viewers, video downloader and more!"

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Read It Later - A Firefox add-on lets you save pages for later reading

We all run across web sites that seem interesting and useful, but we don't always have time to indulge our curiosity right at that moment. And we don't want to bookmark them yet, either. Why jam up your bookmarks with pages you'll later decide are crap? This is where the Read It Later add-on comes into its own:

"This Firefox extension allows you to save pages of interest to read later. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest. A commenter below (Chris) summed it up very well: 'It’s a ’staging area’ for bookmarks.'"

Read It Later

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PicPick - An all-in-one design tool

Finding a great screen-capture tool that's also free has become a bit tougher, which is why I was thrilled to discover PicPick. Not only does it do screen-captures with ease and versatility, it also "has an intuitive interface and simple, elegant operation. After starting the software, you simply select one of the tools from the PicPick Tools tray icon menu when you want. It features a powerful capture tool, image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair, whiteboard, etc. You can use all these tools freely......."

PicPick 


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SideSlide - Make room on your desktop

This "advanced, portable, unobtrusive, dockable, skinnable, instantly accessible, highly configurable Desktop Extension" adds room to your desktop by providing a neat, tidy way to slide your shortcuts to the side.

SideSlide

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Money Manager Ex - Open source money manager

Don't want to shell out money for software that helps you manage the little you have? Try this open source version of the big, expensive ones.

Money Manager Ex

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Auslogics Disk Defrag - Get your disks humming again

There are now two schools of thought on the merits of defragging a hard drive. No, your strange twist on the topic doesn't count. The old school holds that excessive fragmentation that builds up over time will inevitably degrade the performance of a drive. The new school says, sure, that was true in your day, old dude, but drive speeds in this era make defragging superfluous. Who's to say which school is right?

In any case, if you want to smooth out and mellow the files on your hard drive, this is a very nice, free, way to do it.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

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inquisitor - Browser search add-on

This freebie adds smarts and beauty to your browser's search bar. From the web site:

"Inquisitor... speeds up your searches like no other. Start typing and websites appear instantly, along with suggestions to help refine your search. Inquisitor understands you, learning and tailoring your results as you search. You can also add more search engines with customized keyboard shortcuts. Inquisitor is fast, smart, flexible... and free!"

inquisitor 

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Split Browser - A Firefox add-on that tiles your Firefox tabs

Here's a nice way to have several tabs' worth of Firefox screens in a single window. From the web site: "This splits the content area of the browser window as you like. It will help you in various cases. For example, to compare multiple webpages, to show a calendar always, and so on."

Split Browser 

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Security Software - Install the right blend to protect yourself

This recent headline on CNET News should get you thinking about your PC security.

Study: Malware risks are growing exponentially 

Ask me, most folks are becoming less wary about potential threats, not more, which is out of sync with reality. Sending and receiving joke emails by the bushel, responding to "Send this to everyone you know" come-ons as if they'd never heard of malware or botnets. It's getting pretty darn blase out there.

Here are some quick tips on protecting yourself, software-wise:

Use a free yet robust anti-virus app like AVG or Avast. You can only use one AV app because they don't play well together. Avoid buying into fear-mongering ads for bloated, resource-hungry, expensive suites. Make sure your app is set to update itself automatically.

Use two, or even three, free anti-malware apps like Ad-Aware and Hazard Shield. No single app covers you 100%, but in combination, these apps can keep you relatively safe.

Finally, don't traffic in generic emails with subject headers like "This is sooooo funny!!!" or "McCain is a Liar!!!" Please, I'm begging you.

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Tree Style Tab - A Firefox extension for those with lots of screen width

With monitors going all wide-screen, some of us are lucky enough to have room to spare in the width category. This extension adds a tree-style tab bar to your Firefox installation. Having a hard time visualizing it?

From the web site: "This provides tree-style tab bar, like a folder tree of Windows Explorer. New tabs opened from links (or etc.) are automatically attached to the current tab. If you often use many many tabs, it will help your web browsing because you can understand relations of tabs."

Tree Tab Styler 

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Repair IE - Resurrect an ailing Internet Explorer

Man, Internet Explorer can jump the couch, can't it? (That's not good.) In no time at all IE can go zombie on you. What to do besides bury it (again) and start using Firefox, Safari, etc.? If you really need to breathe life into its dusty bones, try Repair IE. From the web site:

"Repair IE is a free but powerful repair utility for Internet Explorer, with Repair IE you can safely clean, repair and optimize the Internet Explorer registry with a few simple mouse clicks! By using this repair tool regularly and fixing registry errors your IE browser should not only be more stable but it will also help improve your IE browser performance."

Repair IE 

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Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 - Faster, prettier, better, et cetera

I can't help it. I'm a compulsive beta jockey. I suspect I am not alone. Anyway, I just went ahead with the Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 installation, even though it'll sideline many of my add-ons for awhile. It's already proven to be the fastest browser out there, has a very attractive 3D tab-switching interface, does java more efficiently. So if you can't resist, check it out.


Firefox 3.1. Beta 1 



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