Useful utilities ...

Quoting and adding.

 

Low level formatters:- http://www.hardwareheaven.com/appli...king/202109-delete-data-permanently-help.html

 

PC Format's freeware favourites 2011

DOSBox
So you've picked up an abandonware game, but it ain't gonna work on your modern system! Sucks to be you! Say hello to DOSBox, it's a DOS emulator for helping 'Ye Oldie' games work. For making DOSBox easier to use, check out D.O.G, a front-end GUI for DOSBox. (free)

CDBurnerXP
CDBurnerXP is the premier freeware disc burning application bar none. The software will take care of all burning needs; data, music, duplication, complete with ISO support. The intuitive UI appears to have been borrowed from early Nero. Thankfully before Roxio decided to jam it full of unessential bloatware! (free)

Granola
The job of Gronola is to help you converse energy, which ain't a bad thing these days. The program is essentially a superior power management solution that monitors system activity and activates tailored Windows power saving features when necessary. Our other energy saving favourites are SmartPower and TimeComX. (free)

SSD Tweaker
Solid state drives is the future of PC boot drive storage, according to us. With prices tumbling, capacities increasing, things are getting ever closer to becoming a viable standard option over just being an enthusiast only luxury. To ensure the SSD is set up for Windows correctly you'll want SSD Tweaker. A number of basic Windows tweaks can applied to increase the life expectancy of an SSD. SSD Tweaker packs them all into a single interface and only takes a few seconds to set and then a reboot to apply them. (free)

XMBC
XMBC is the rather excellent media center software that comes in versions for Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. Designed to work smoothly with handset controllers, operations feel swift and interface layout is easy to navigate. Within the menus you'll discover the addition of custom Add-ons. Essentially mini-programs to bolt new functions within the media center itself. Anything from video/music feed browsers and RSS feeds to unexpected entries like the Gmail checker and MAME emulator frontend. (free)

Revo Uninstaller
Unused applications aren't a good thing so get rid of them with Revo Uninstaller. This utility is superior to Windows Add/Remove where often redundant files, folders and registry entries are left to clutter the drive and registry. Revo digs around and removes all these rogue junk files. (free)

Recuva
Why doesn't Windows already have an option to recover accidentally deleted files? Not to worry, Recuva does a stellar job on both regular drives and removable Flash based media at raising files from the graveyard! (free)

Easeus Todo Backup Free
One day your hard drive will knacker. It may be tomorrow, next week, or in two years time. If you're irreplaceable files aren't backed up then you'll always regret how complacent you became. With Easeus Todo Backup free, backups are no more effort than running a virus scan. It offers a potent set of functions covering file and folder backup syncing, boot drive backup and restoration, plus total system migrations. (free)

Fences
Your Windows desktop is the hub of your PC use, with all of your favourite programs, pictures, games and documents spread across it. Fences makes navigating those favourites super-easy by allowing you to setup multiple areas, give them titles, size them as you wish and have them fade into the background to keep from distracting you. If you feel like you need to clear your mind, double-clicking on empty desktop space will hide everything. (free)

Screamer Radio
When faced with labour intensive brain-dead computer tasks, nothing helps more than zoning out with some background tunes to distract from the ordeal. Screamer Radio plugs into 1000's of online streaming broadcasts, categorised into regions, music categories, and popular networks. I love it's unpretentious interface, and who really needs skins and other bloatware functions just to listen to Internet stations. (free)

KeePass Password Safe
With all the passwords we collect over the years, it easy to forget one or two of them, and using the same one for everything becomes a fine line of risk versus convenience. Keeping all your passwords in a text file is also quite mad, so securing all this sensitive data and keeping a record is a major personal security problem. KeepPass Password Safe eliminates this issue by storing all passwords safe within a single password encrypted database. Solved! (free)

Game Fire
Once activated the software alters operating system settings, by disabling a number of unnecessary background operations while gaming. This in turn will free up extra resources and improve gaming performance. Configuration options are included, though its default settings should do the trick for almost all games, making Game Fire a button click of win! (free)

WinPatrol
How's this for an idea, rather than trying to fix slowdowns, just prevent them from occuring in the first place! Problem being knowing what hidden junk is being installed, or already running in the background is often hidden from you. Say hello to WinPatrol and Scotty the virtual dog. Don't fear he's not annoying like the paperclip guy. WinPatrol operates in the systemtray alerting you to any new unusual activity, giving you the option to allow or deny it from running. For other background startup programs, WinPatrol allows you selectivity disable any of these; paid users get the additional feature of detailed information of what each of these often unidentifiable files really are. (free)

Glary Utilities
Glary Utilities describes itself as "An indispensable friend for your PC", so think of it as the one who holds your PC's hair back as it is kneels hunched over in the bathroom, 'uploading' its guts into the toilet. One-click maintenance is the name of the game here, and as you'd expect it offers basic settings for casual users as well as more in-depth choices for the self-proclaimed expert user. (free)

Simple Port Forwarding
For some, port forwarding can be a difficult concept to truly get your head around. Fortunately your don't have to be a skilled network administration to configure this feature. Download and install this software and you'll be able to select to have the whole process done automatically for your thanks to it supporting over 190 different routers. From Zyxel to Belkin and NetGear to Linksys, there's a very good chance your hardware will be recognised. (free)

Transmute
This great little utility backups up browser bookmarks, for archival purposes or migration to other browsers. Transmute provides support for every popular browser, and comes in both installable and flash drive friendly portable flavours. (free)

Find and Run Robot
Locating an application in your Windows system can often be unnecessarily awkward. If something hasn't installed to your expected location, it could be almost anywhere. FARR operates an intelligent real-time (no indexing required, therefore saving your CPU usage) search of all applications, and presents the top ten results for you to choose. It has a wide range of customisable features, such as weighting options, heuristics employed per search and even caches file locations to speed-up locating them next time. (free)

HotKeyz
While HotKeyz is running in the System Tray you can apply unique keyboard combinations to launch applications, operate system commands such as shutdown / restart / hibernate / close / maximize / minimize etc. The flexibility is incredible with pleasing functions like copying a URL to the clipboard and then launching your browser to that URL, or opening your email client and automatically composing a new message, and many other smart ways to trim down everyday computer tasks into keystrokes. (free)

WhoCrashed
PC crashes can be like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and then some! BSOD messages and Windows 7's attempts to offer useful explanations can be far from helpful. WhoCrashed should at least unravel issues relating with drivers causing instability. It's dead simple to use, click the 'Analyze' button after an incident and let the software tell you what the heck has caused the smack down. (free)

Pidgin
Pidgin is the instant messaging client built to solve the very real problem of the many different proprietary instant messaging platforms your friends may be using. So instead of installing and running MSN, ICQ AIM, or one of the 14 other supported clients, just use Pidgin. Of course you'll still need to register accounts with any IM services you want to connect with. (free)

TweetDeck
The ultimate desktop application for keeping abreast of all your tweeting activities giving power to group people into categories and making full use of your monitor real-estate. TweetDeck also includes support to follow Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and Foursquare. A mobile edition of TweekDeck is available for smartphone owners. (free)

PC Format's freeware favourites 2011

 

Good site for finding free software that Rob showed me:-

Freebies | dotTech

 

Leawo Tunes Cleaner

Free till tomorrow!

 

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Get a $151 Mac app bundle for free

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33153_7-57595724-10391733/get-a-$151-mac-app-bundle-for-free/