Review - MailStore Home v7.0.7.7671

Every now and then a server goes down. It's a fact of cyber-life. For a simple website hosting a video game, a song, a video or the like, this won't be such a big deal, but what if it was your email that was unaccessible?

I present to you the free version of MailStore. It will fetch mail from your accounts using POP3 or IMAP4 and store them on your hard disk for searching and reading. It comes ready to access many popular servers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and can export to text files or certain email client database formats.

Of course this won't let you read new mail while the servers are down, but at least your old messages will be there.

Free, easy to use, small learning curve. The rest will become a habit that you won't regret the next time you'll need to find that bit of info that you didn't write down when your email goes offline.

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URL: http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx/

Review - Nocs v2.3

I like writing things in plain text files such as to do lists, memos, quotes, etc. Since they have ridiculously small file sizes and are universal, so to speak, being compatible with any system. 

When I'm not at my computer however I cannot access them. I could use an online service to store them, but what if the server is offline when I need it? Let's make all this much simpler... 

Nocs is a tabbed plain text editor which allows you to save your files to disk like notepad, but also to your Google docs (now Google drive) account, allowing you to access them when not at your PC. As a bonus, since you can save the files on your hard disk, you could also sync them with a client installed, such as the one from Dropbox. Copies and backups everywhere! 

Nocs hasn't been updated in a while, but runs smoothly on my machine none the less. It's free and requires .NET 4. 

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URL: http://code.google.com/p/nocs/

Review - F.lux

We all wind up staying at the computer late at night from time to time, be it to read up about something interesting, chat with some friends or just mindlessly surf around. During this time however, our eyes are staring at a bright light for hours on end. Not a good thing. Here's a nice "set it and forget it" type program that will help ease their pain. 

By telling f.lux your location you allow it to automatically change the warmth of your display when the sun has set, which in turn lets your eyes relax instead of being burnt. This is not the same as turning down the brightness however. This is much nicer. 

You can adjust the lighting settings and disable the effect for an hour if you are doing color-specific work. 

Give it a try, it comes in Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad and Linux versions. You've got nothing to lose, but much to gain! 

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URL: http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Review – Avira AntiVir Personal v9

I've tried many anti-virus programs in my day.  Some were too slow, some were too resource intensive, others just became so bloated that it was darn right silly.  Why, in a time where computers had much less RAM and hard drive space, would you make your security program so big and laggy?

The computers we use today no longer have such limitations, but it is no excuse to stop using well-made software.  Avira Antivir is a commercial anti-virus which also comes as a very good free version.  In fact, it rates highly in the av-comparatives.org test results every time.  The only price to pay for such security is a pop-up window once a day during definition updates.  But that's not that bad now, is it?  You have a small, fast scanning, regularly updated anti-virus to protect you.

I've tried others and yet I keep coming back to Avira.  Why use anything else when you have a free product that is as good as or better than pay products after all?  Save yourself some money and get yourself some peace of mind.

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URL: http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Review – CCleaner v3.04

Privacy on a computer may be an oxymoron, but a bit of help never hurts.  Enter Ccleaner (formerly called Crap Cleaner), a small and fast utility that can be used to remove certain traces of your computer usage to give you back a bit of privacy from snooping eyes.

The most basic function that this program offers is to clear out MRU (most recently used) lists from Windows and supported apps on your computer, such as text editing programs and web browsers.  It also goes beyond that to clear out temp files, invalid registry entries and your DNS cache.

Two other included features are basic control over what programs start with Windows and an alternative to the Add/Remove control panel list which loads up faster than the OS equivalent.

As with all system utilities however, caution must be used so that your system doesn't get pooched, but I am including this review for the more tech-savvy user anyhow.

Enjoy!

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URL: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/

Review – Defraggler v2.03

Although I have previously reviewed MyDefrag, I wanted to quickly mention Piriform's Defraggler.

This program can defrag a drive for you the same as other defrag apps, but what I like about it is the option to defrag individual files.  This way if you only have a dozen or so files that are fragmented you won't have to run through the entire drive.  There are some disadvantages however to foregoing a proper defragmentation and optimization procedure, so a program like MyDefrag is usually prefered.

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URL: http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/

 

Review – FileMenu Tools v5.8.1

Now here is a great tool for the power user.  Power-up your context menu with a list of handy built-in functions and add in your own too!

Split and join files, create new folders with ease, select certain file types in the current folder or even securely delete files, just to name a few of the built-in functions.  The real power is that you can add in shortcuts to other programs when selecting folders or files, or running a specified editor of your choice when you right-click on a file.  You could add in a few web browsers and choose which one to launch with the HTML file you just clicked or select all images and move them to a folder of your choice.

These are all just quick examples but there is so much you can do with this program it's almost unreal.

Definitively recommended for any serious user for extra control and for saving time.

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URL: http://www.lopesoft.com/en/fmtools/info.html

Review - Dropbox

If you ever need to share or sync your files with different computers, users or even on smartphones then this app is for you.

Dropbox creates a folder on your hard drive and monitors it for changes.  Anytime a file or folder is created, modified or deleted in it the program syncs it with your Dropbox account online.  From there, any other Dropbox client set up with it will automatically update its own copy.

Another nice part of this service (which uses Amazon S3 so it is fast and has good uptime) is that you can easily share links to files that are placed in your public folder.  You can send these to other people who do not have a Dropbox account and the link will always point to the updated version of your file.  Public links cannot be searched so people can't stumble upon your other files, and you have 10 gigs of bandwidth a month for your shares.

You also have a gallery folder which can be used to create and share image galleries with others.

Your free account will give you 2 gigs of space but you can refer people to the service and get more quite easily.

An excellent service at an excellent price (free for basic) I suggest you try it out if anything in this article has caught your eye.  After all, having an offsite backup can always come in handy, and Dropbox lets you recover deleted files and even go back to earlier versions if you wanted to undo file changes.

One last note: If you click the Alternate URL link below when you join up and install the program, we will both get 250MB extra space.  I’d appreciate it.

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URL: http://www.dropbox.com/

Alternate URL: http://db.tt/tBUR9hJ

Review – FluffyApp v1.05b

Mac users have a nice little utility they can download called CloudApp that let's them upload files by simply dragging and dropping them on the icon in the taskbar.  FluffyApp is a windows program that allows you to do the same thing.

When you drop a file on the cloud icon in the system tray it will be uploaded to your CloudApp account (also free) and the link for it will be copied into your clipboard, ready to be pasted into a post on a forum, in an e-mail or an instant message.  It serves its purpose well, taking a few steps out of a usually boring and repetitive process.

It requires the .Net runtime to work, and takes about 40 megs of memory.  If you need to share images, links or text often with others online then this app just might be for you.

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URL: http://www.fluffyapp.com/

Review – CoreTemp32 v0.99.8

This is a handy utility that stays in the system tray and shows you the temperature of your CPU core(s).  I have it set to show me the highest value at all times so that I can passively check how hot my PC is running.

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URL: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Review – ImgBurn v2.5.5.0

For times when a barebones disc burner won't do, give ImgBurn a try.  It handles the main media types (CD/DVD and Blu-Ray) and allows you to pick details such as the disc filesystem and  if it will be bootable, for example.

You also can make copies of your current discs with it, either directly or after saving the contents as an ISO image file on your hard drive.

The program is small and free of cost.  When an update comes out, you can be sure that the list of changes and additions will be about a page long, too.

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URL: http://www.imgburn.com/

Review – JDownloader v0.9581

Are you a heavy user of file-sharing websites such as Rapidshare, Megadownload, Fileserve and the like?  This program just might be for you.

Requiring the Java runtime environment, this program will allow you to paste in all of your download links and it'll do the rest.  No more waiting for the seconds to count down before clicking on the download link, just hit the start button and do something else on your PC or around your home.  What fun to wake up or come back from work to find all your downloads complete and waiting for you?

This app supports a whole slew of sites, can also be used for premium accounts, regular file downloads from websites too, and it auto-updates, making sure that you can always get the files you want.

(Quick edit!) A friend pointed out to me that if you hand JDownloader a YouTube URL it will allow you to download the video in any format and quality that it comes in on the site.  I've tried it out and must say it works great!

A must for any serious downloader.

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URL: http://www.jdownloader.org/

Review – KeePass v2.14

These days it's so frustrating trying to remember all of your logins and passwords for the sites you visit.  That is of course IF you can remember all the sites where you have created accounts!

KeePass helps with this problem quite nicely.  It lets you create an encrypted database file in which you can store your login credentials, notes and even some files if need be.  You can encrypt it all with a password and even a key file for extra security.

There are many nice options in this program: You can specify details in the way it will encrypt your data, it can protect its memory from snooping, when you copy a username or password to paste it elsewhere it will clear it out of memory after a few seconds, and the very handy autotype feature which lets KeePass send your login credentials to another program safely.

Some users even copy their database file to their Dropbox folder so that any computer they use can get access to their passwords in a safe way.

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URL: http://www.keepass.info/

Review – MyDefrag v4.3.1

This time I present to you a defragmentation utility.  Formerly known as Jkdefrag, this app has been vastly improved with the addition of scripting. 

You can now select the defrag and optimization rules from a simple GUI instead of having to rely on the command line. The disk drive is presented in a slightly odd way, with a barebones interface that shows the drive's contents from end to beginning.  It comes with scripts to allow you to analyze a drive, defragment or optimize it (choosing either system disk or data disk as the type of contents of the partition).

The nicest part is that you can write-up your own scripts to make it optimize your drive the way that best suits you.  You have plenty of document on the official website, and the forum consists of members posting their own scripts or helping you with yours.

Some say that with the computers people have today defragmentation no longer makes a noticeable difference on a system, but I've always felt that it doesn't hurt it, either.

An important note of interest though:  Never defragment a flash-based memory drive, such as an SSD drive, flash drive or memory card (so that rules out MP3 players and iPods, cameras, etc.) Because it will quickly wear them out, leaving you on the losing end.

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URL: http://www.mydefrag.com/

Review - Notepad++ v5.8.7

I've tried a few notepad replacements hoping to find one that really does the trick.  My current one is called Notepad++ and it's quite popular.

It has highlighting for different programming languages, tabs and an exhaustively long list of plugins to extend its functionality.  Using the plugin manager you are able to install, update and uninstall any supported plugin from the website.  Spellchecker, FTP, even live collaboration over the net.  Most impressive.

Check it out if you are looking around for a replacement to the most basic text editor out there.

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URL: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Review – Rainlendar v2.8.1

I didn't like having to hover the mouse over the clock in the system tray to get today's date, nor double-click it to see the current month.  And when I started to use XP I noticed that with a limited account I wasn't even allowed to open the calendar view in the first place (odd).

Using Rainlendar however lets me see the current date and month on my desktop, along with any upcoming tasks or events that I have set.  Now when an event is 6 days away or less I will see it in a simple window on the desktop's background image so that I will be sure that I won't forget.

You can change the user interface using skins, have it sync with your Google calendar too.  In fact it exports to the iCalendar format, so I can see my events and dates when looking at the calendar on my iPod.  Most useful.

If you have trouble keeping up with dates or simply want a nice way to remember when you have scheduled things, this app is a keeper.  Never miss another anniversary!

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URL: http://www.rainlendar.net/

Review – Revo Uninstaller v1.91

Sometimes you need something that provides a little extra "oomph" than the alternative. Something that will add more than just basic functionality.  In this post, I present to you Revo Uninstaller.

I used to be content with the Add/Remove control panel entry when I was using Windows 95 and 98, but once I upgraded to Windows XP I got fed up quite quickly with how long it took to simply load and display the list of installed programs on my system.  I just never could understand how such a simple task could take up so much time (both mine and the CPU's).

What makes this program stand out for me is quite simple: the speed at which it loads up the entries, that it can back up your registry using system restore before running an uninstaller and the nice file and registry scan it performs afterwards to make sure that there is no junk left once a program has been removed.

Oh, let's not forget the very special "hunter mode" that let's you click on a program that is currently running (even in the system tray next to the clock) to close and uninstall it.  Quite nice when you just want to get rid of useless apps for good.

As always, use caution when using system tools like this.  Otherwise, enjoy and happy cleanup!

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URL: http://www.revouninstaller.com/

Review – Secunia PSI v2.0

Keeping software up to date can sometimes be tricky, other times it can be a pain.  Using Filehippo's update checker is a good start, but what if an important security exploit becomes known publicly and you don't know about it?

Secunia PSI is another software update checker, but it has a focus on security fixes, bugs and patches.  There is an online version of this scanner, but it catches fewer items.  I suggest you run it now and then, as you are sure to be informed of any serious exploits right away and directed to the proper updates.  Better safe than sorry.

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URL: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

Review – SizeMe v2.0.0

If you're like me then you tend to download or create a lot of stuff on your computer.  Some friends have said that I've downloaded the entire internet!

Well, free space on a hard drive doesn't last forever so eventually you're going to have to back it up.  SizeMe is a very nice program to have around because it helps you space out your files to optimally fill your media.  What this means is that if you've got, let's say, a total of 9 gigs of files, it will separate it to perfectly fit two blank DVDs and you can keep the remaining files for the next time.  This way you never end up with discs that are filled up to 70 or 80 percent which would make you lose money and waste blank discs.

The interface is a little odd at first but once you get used to it you can sort your files to backup discs in no time.  Yet another free little program to add to your collection!

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URL: http://lars.werner.no/?page_id=2

Review - Sysinternals

I've always found it handy to keep a few system utilities on hand since after all you never know when you're going to need them.  Sometimes though you'd need one or two that were a little more advanced.  That's where the SysInternals suite comes in.

The great tools in this set let you do pretty much anything you could need: there is a utility that monitors file access, one that monitors open net connections, another that wipes files securely off your hard drive, and even one that can be used as a replacement for the task manager that comes with Windows.

Overall I can't think of a reason why you shouldn't take a look and see what's available on their site.  There are easily 30 or so utilities there, all of them are free too.

One last note for fun: the apps are so good and handy that Microsoft went and bought the company!  Enjoy.

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