January 2009 Archives

PIM is a file compression utility that targets a new "PIM" archive format that features high performance executable and image compression. It also supports the extraction for various archive formats, including ZIP, JAR, PK3, PK4, QUAKE PAK and QUAD.

FEATURES

• High compression ratio with the all new PIMv2 format
• Extract support for BALZ, QUAD, ZIP, JAR, PK3, PK4 and QUAKE PAK archives
• Advanced ZIP archive support featuring PPMd, BZip2 and DCL Implode decompression

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

• It is a free cross-platform media player
• It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
• It can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...)

Adobe Reader is free software that lets you open, view, search, and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The latest version of Adobe Reader includes additional features such as:

• Provides better overall performance for faster launch times and real-time zooming and panning
• Enables you to fill out and submit PDF forms from a variety of devices
• Helps you download and organize digital editions (formerly known as eBooks) on a variety of devices, with full support for portrait or landscape viewing
• Lets you display and share Adobe Photoshop Album slide shows and electronic cards, and export images for online photo processing (Note that online photo services vary regionally.)
• Allows you to save a range of files attached to PDF documents, such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, and multimedia files, and open them in their native applications.

Adobe® Reader® 9 software adds much new functionality, especially relating to collaboration, PDF file creation, security, and an enhanced user experience.
Improved launch speeds

Looking for faster launch speeds? Adobe has enhanced general performance and, in particular, has reduced launch times with Adobe Reader 9. Try it: You'll notice the difference.
PDF Portfolios

Packages, introduced in Adobe Reader 8, have been greatly enhanced and renamed. Portfolios provide easy navigation when you work with multiple PDF documents and other document types. They also enable you to work with a collection of materials such as drawings, e-mail messages, spreadsheets, and videos as a single file, which makes distribution, storage, retrieval, and collaboration easy for end users.
Native Adobe Flash® support

Adobe Reader 9 can natively display rich media content, which you'll notice immediately with Portfolios. Interested in viewing SWF and FLV files? Adobe Reader 9 is the answer.
Acrobat.com (beta)

Included with Adobe Reader 9 is Acrobat.com (beta), an exciting new set of online services from Adobe. With Acrobat.com, you can create PDF files online; create and coauthor documents with others; host live web meetings; upload and share PDF files and other types of documents and control who has access to them; and even embed a rich, interactive preview of your document in a web page. All of these services and more are provided online, so you can access them from anywhere. And you'll find easy access points from within Reader 9. As an added convenience, Acrobat.com leverages Adobe AIR", so you can interact with Acrobat.com from your desktop. Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR is a small application that is included with your download of Adobe Reader 9. Available in select languages. Learn more
Improved CAD and geospatial functionality

CAD and geospatial functionality have been greatly enhanced in Adobe Reader 9. For instance, CAD designs or geospatial maps that have been converted to PDF offer Adobe Reader users access to CAD features, such as dimensions, or map features, such as longitude and latitude, for powerful collaboration and interaction.
PDF Standards Pane

When a PDF/A or PDF/X standard compliant file is opened, a Standards Pane appears and provides important file details.
Security enhancements

Adobe Reader 9 provides new digital signature functionality for an improved user experience. The new version also adds support for 256-bit AES encryption.
Accessibility enhancements

Adobe Reader 9 significantly improves the viewing of XFA forms for accessibility, while providing greater screen reader support.
Adobe Reader 9 MUI

Adobe Reader 9 MUI is Adobe's Multilingual User Interface version. This product is capable of installing any combination of supported languages. So, for example, you can install French, German, and Spanish simultaneously and then have the capability to switch among those languages within Adobe Reader. The user interface changes to the appropriate language on the fly.

More than 15 million users worldwide trust in the reliable protection of Avira AntiVir. And this is no coincidence at all: Avira has gained several awards. The product combines first-class detection rates and ease of use with a top performance that protects your computer safely and hardly burdens older PCs. Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic reliably protects your private computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.

Features

• Protection against viruses, worms and Trojans
• Protection against expensive dialers and phishing
• Detects and deletes root kits

If you care of health of your files, this tool is  for you. With VirusScan Integrator you can scan the same files with several antiviral programs.
Standard product setup includes English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish languages.

Key Features:
Some antiviral programs are good for one type of viruses, other programs for other viruses. With VirusScan Integrator you multiply strengths of each antiviral program.

• Auto search for installed virus scanners - this feature helps you to configure Virus Scan Integrator to work with the most popular antiviral packages.
• Multi-Language Support - the program supports our MLS technology. Just choose from the language list inside the program, and it will appear to you in  the preferred language. Languages are changed on the fly, no additional plug-ins required, everything is in the same installation.
• Integration with HandyBits EasyCrypto - You can automatically check your files for viruses before encrypting or immediately after decrypting.
• Drop Target Window - To make drag & drop really convenient, you can use a little drop target window which always stays on top of other windows.
• Custom Backgrounds - You can choose between eleven different window backgrounds, so you can customize the product appearance.
• Useful tips banner - Context sensitive tips are shown in the top section of the window, here you will learn how to use the program in the most convenient way.
• Online services - You can go to the help menu click on "Product Support", and get connected to our support service via the web.

With PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition you are protected against the most nefarious cyber-threats attempting to gain access to your PC and personal information. Going online without protection against the latest fast-spreading virus and worms, such as Netsky, Mytob and MyDoom, can result in infections within minutes. Once infected, the virus will usually attempt to spread itself to your friends, family and associates by accessing your email contacts and networked PCs. The infection may also allow hackers to access files on your PC, use it to launch attacks against other computers and websites or to send mass SPAM email.

That's why PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition provides world-leading protection, with rapid database updates, OnGuard™ real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your system remains safe and virus free. PC Tools products are trusted and used by millions of people everyday to protect their home and business computers against online threats.

Eliminates Viruses, Worms and Trojans from desktops and networks

• Detects and eliminates viruses from desktops and networks
• Constantly protects with real-time On Access scanning
• Proactive Heuristic analysis intercepts unknown threats
• Host Intrusion Detection blocks malware before it can run
• Daily, automatic updates of virus definitions
• Simple to use: install and forget

BitDefender 8 Free Edition is your chance to use one of the world's most effective antivirus engines for free!

Virus scanning and removal: On demand scanning - Powerful scan engines ensure detection and removal of all viruses in the wild every time you need it.

Scheduled scanning: The Scheduler lets you plan ahead, and schedule full system/drive scans in the off hours, when you won't be using your computer.

Immediate scanning: With just a right click you can check your files and folders.

Skinable interface: You can express yourself, designing new interfaces, or you can use those drawn by others.

Do you use a virus scanner before opening your email? Do you run a virus scanner while you're surfing or reading your email? All this takes time and slows your machines down; and a virus scanner may spot a virus, but it may have already started infecting your machine. If your virus definitions are out of date or if the virus is a brand new virus your virus program will not be able to help you.

Your virus scanner and firewall cannot stop a script on a page you are viewing from changing your Internet setting or your home page. Repellent can!

Your virus scanner cannot delete Cookies, Repellent can! You can surf the Internet in confidence, no one can tell where you have been unless you want them to. Repellent can delete all Cookies as they download.

Repellent can solve all your email and Internet virus worries with the click of a button. You can disable all VB and Java applets and scripting, as well as all Registry files, REG. You can disable all JS, JSE, WSH, VBS,VBE, VB, PIF, SCR, BAT, files from running, and more. This means that files that run automatically when viewing your email cannot run unless you want them to.

Worried about the MyDoom worm? Repellent can protect you from the attachment automatically opening.

Script viruses do the real damage, like "Melissa" and "KAK". A virus scanner can miss a new virus because it does not know the signature yet. Repellent does not need to know the signature nor does it need to use up your CPU looking for them. It simply disables the all scripting capabilities. And to ensure that an Active Server page (asp file) cannot re-enable them by editing the Registry, Repellent also disables the files that run the scripting.

When you're viewing a web page that contains a script you want to run, just click on "Restore" in Repellent and refresh the browser; the script is now running. Before opening your email, click on "Repel" in Repellent and it is now save to read all your email without fear of the email containing a virus. Complete and total protection from script viruses. Of course, you should never open a file attachment that your receive from anyone unless you are expecting the file. A virus inside of an executable (.exe) file is not a script virus so you need to scan these attachments before running them.

If you are paying for a virus scanner, it can only find the latest virus after it has been released, you need to get an update. Repellent is FREE and no dat signature updates are required. It simply disables the Scripting. All new Script virus are disabled.

Repellent allows you to disable and enable scripting with the click of a button. You can setup Repellent to automatically disable scripting and start your email program, all in one click. This allows you to view your email without fear of having all your files erased. If the attachment or body of the email contains a VBS or Java script, they will not be able to execute. If the email contains a VBS file or a DOC file with a script and you decide that the email is safe, you can click "ENABLE" and view the file. Melissa, Prilissa, KAK, and the Love Bug are VB Script viruses.The W32/Sobig.f@MM worm is a PIF and SCR file. It creates email attachments like Thank_you.pif, Thankyou.pif, details.pif, your_details.pif, document_9446.pif, approved.pif, doc_details.pif, movie28.pif, password.pif, ref-394755.pif, screen_doc.pif, screen_temp.pif, your_details.pif, and wicked_scr.scr.

Repellent can also protect you while you're on the Internet. Selecting the option "manual" allows you to repel and enable whenever you want. Repellent sets the Internet options to disable Java in the Control Panel and disables all functions of the MSJava.dll. Many sites that use Java will not be effected, the same is true for VB Script.

Repellent is disabling files that have free run on your machine. To prove this to you use Repellent and click on "Repel" then rename any file to have a VBS or VBE file extension and double click on it; you will get the "Open With" dialog window. Windows does not know what program is needed to run the file. Even if it did, Windows would not be able to execute the file.

Repellent works on Microsoft's Internet Explorer Outlook and Outlook Express (All Versions). It works with any browser or email program that uses the Microsoft setting and components. It also works with all programs that are Skins for Microsoft or programs that use the scripting files: Msjava.dll, Wscript.exe, Cscript.exe, Scrobj.dll, VbScript.dll, and Jscript.dll.

ThreatFire features innovative real-time protection technology that provides powerful standalone protection or the perfect complement to traditional signature-based antivirus programs. ThreatFire's patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers protection against both known and unknown viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows, spyware, adware and other malware. It uses behavioral analysis to hunt down and paralyze threats that are too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional "signature-based" antivirus software. Powerful protection against zero-day and emerging threats.

PCs are under constant attack from viruses, spyware and identity theft. Every day you hear about a new threat to your PC. They're coming faster than ever before, they're getting harder to stop and traditional antivirus products are not able to keep up.

Will your antivirus software catch the latest malware that just came out today? In most cases, no, because it simply does not know how to detect it yet. But ThreatFire's ActiveDefense technology does, and has proven to provide up to 243% more protection when combined with traditional AntiVirus products. See the table below.

Ashampoo AntiVirus offers comprehensive protection against viruses, worms, Trojans and dialers. Set it, forget it, and get on with more important things. It protects against viruses, worms, Trojan horses and dialers and includes advanced heuristic-analysis algorithms that can identify as-yet unknown threats on the basis of their behavior. It checks and protects all the relevant system areas of your computer. A background scanner provides real-time protection for your entire system. Automatic daily virus-signature updates offer maximum protection.

Version 1.5 adds Windows Vista Gadget, improves guard, scheduler, signatures update and recovery.

WinSCP is an open source SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is the secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager functionality. It uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports, in addition to Secure FTP, also legacy SCP protocol.

• Graphical user interface
• Translated into several languages
• Integration with Windows (drag&drop, URL, shortcut icons)
• U3 support
• All common operations with files
• Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2 and plain old FTP protocol
• Batch file scripting and command-line interface
• Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways
• Integrated text editor
• Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key and Kerberos (GSS) authentication
• Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH
• Windows Explorer-like and Norton Commander-like interfaces
• Optionally stores session information
• Optionally supports standalone operation using a configuration file in place of registry entries, suitable for operation from removable media

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3 is the new managed code programming model for Windows®. It combines the power of the .NET Framework version 2.0 with new technologies for building applications that have visually compelling user experiences, seamless communication across technology boundaries, and the ability to support a wide range of business processes. These new technologies are Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows CardSpace.

The .NET Framework 3 is included as part of the Windows Vista operating system; you can install it or uninstall it using Windows Features Control Panel. This redistributable package is for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

The latest version (3.5) contains many new features building incrementally upon .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0, and includes .NET Framework 2.0 service pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.0 service pack 1.

.NET Framework version 3.5 Service Pack 1 provides the following new features and improvements:

• ASP.NET Dynamic Data, which provides a rich scaffolding framework that enables rapid data driven development without writing code, and a new addition to ASP.NET AJAX that provides support for managing browser history (back button support). For more information, see Whats New in ASP.NET and Web Development.
• Core improvements to the CLR (common language runtime) that include better layout of .NET Framework native images, opting out of strong-name verification for fully trusted assemblies, improved application startup performance, better generated code that improves end-to-end application execution time, and opting managed code to run in ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) mode if supported by the operating system. Additionally, managed applications that are opened from network shares have the same behavior as native applications by running with full trust.
• Performance improvements to WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), including a faster startup time and improved performance for Bitmap effects. Additional functionality for WPF includes better support for line of business applications, native splash screen support, DirectX pixel shader support, and the new WebBrowser control.
• ClickOnce application publishers can decide to opt out of signing and hashing as appropriate for their scenarios, developers can programmatically install ClickOnce applications that display a customized branding, and ClickOnce error dialog boxes support links to application-specific support sites on the Web.
• The Entity Framework is an evolution of the existing suite of ADO.NET data access technologies. The Entity Framework enables developers to program against relational databases in according to application-specific domain models instead of the underlying database models. For more information, see Getting Started with the Entity Framework. The Entity Framework introduces some additional features, including support for new SQL Server 2008 types, default graph serialization of Entities, and the Entity Data Source. This release of the Entity Framework supports the new date and file stream capabilities in SQL Server 2008. The graph serialization work helps developers who want to build Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services that model full graphs as data contracts. The Entity Data Source provides a traditional data source experience for ASP.NET Web application builders who want to work with the Entity Framework.
• LINQ to SQL includes new support for the new date and file stream capabilities in SQL Server 2008.
• The ADO.NET Data Services Framework consists of a combination of patterns and libraries, which enable data to be exposed as a flexible REST (Representational State Transfer)-based data service that can be consumed by Web clients in a corporate network or across the Internet. The ADO.NET Data Services Framework makes data service creation over any data source. A conceptual view model of the underlying storage schema can easily be exposed through rich integration with the ADO.NET Entity Framework. Services created by using the ADO.NET Data Services Framework, and also compatible Windows Live (dev.live.com) services, can be easily accessed from any platform. For client applications that are running on Microsoft platforms, a set of client libraries are provided to make interaction with data services simple. For example, .NET Framework-based clients can use LINQ to query data services and a simple .NET Framework object layer to update data in the service.
• Windows Communication Foundation now makes the DataContract Serializer easier to use by providing improved interoperability support, enhancing the debugging experience in partial trust scenarios, and extending syndication protocol support for wider usage in Web 2.0 applications.
• The .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (SqlClient) adds new support for file stream and sparse column capabilities in SQL Server 2008.

DivFix++ is yours AVI video repair and preview software. It designed for repair and preview files which are on download from ed2k(emule), torrent, gnutella, ftp. web or any other source on the internet. It can repair AVI and DivX files (for now.) DivFix+

DivFix++ checks and repairs broken AVI files by rebuilding its index. This is very useful when trying to preview movies with missing or broken index.

ArsClip is a FREE (freeware) utility for the windows clipboard. ArsClip monitors the clipboard and keeps track of the entries. Press a configurable hotkey and select an item (or items) to quickly paste into a program.

ArsClip used to be barebonez, but I think I can safely say that it has become a nicely featured program (due to user requests for changes). ArsClip remembers the last 15 (default) or more text entries entered into the Window's clipboard and can be configured to monitor non-text items. Delphi 6 (Personal) source code is included - modify it freely for any non-profit use. NOTE: The newer versions are compiled with Turbo Delphi for Win32 (also a free download).

Features
- Multiple permanent items groups
- Picture, RichText, File Copy, Unicode, HTML support
- Keypress emulation
- Form Mode for pasting multiple fields
- Highly configurable

New: "Search" popup item
New: Recently Clicked popup submenu item [only shown when not empty]
New: Full/Configured Icon open "Show Order" configuration window
New: "Edit Permanent Items" added to submenu of All Items submenu and Switch To submenu
New: Edit button show on Popup for currently highlighted Permanent Item
New: Sound Enable is now a configuration item (requires registry write when enabled)

Fix: "Make Permanent" failed on the very first run
Fix: New popup menu items don't require a reset of the Show Order user configuration options
Fix: Clipboard Watcher causing constant monitoring refreshing
Fix: Shortcut key for "Last" is now reserved even when not currently shown
Fix: Using the Windows Key as hotkey could cause other hotkeys to execute
Fix: "Permission denied" message incorrectly shown for programs with no text fields
Fix: Dragged Permanent Items with keystrokes problem
Fix: "All Items" was not displayed if last group was empty
Fix: Menu item renamed to "Permanent Groups"
Fix: Right-Click on Non-text Items was not working

MiniReminder is a small, fast, and simple program for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista to remind yourself of important yearly events, like birthdays, anniversaries, renewals, etc.
You can add short comments, customize the colors, and choose the font type and size.
It can start automatically and hide in the system tray until the day a reminder is due.
Easy installation and uninstallation thanks to the included installer engine.
100% freeware: no ads, no spyware, no limitations, no registration required.

I have placed it on the web hoping someone will find it useful.

You want to use all Opera features also in this version - no problem !

- there are no unwanted effects on IE or other browsers
- existing Opera versions are not affected
- make no entries to the registry
- works with every Windows PC (company,Internetcafe, friends,..)
- leave no data on the host computer

What do i need for Opera@USB ?
- a computer with an internet connection
- a USB Flashdrive with about 15 MB space left

JPEGCrops is a Windows program, created for preparation of a batch of images for printing. It provides lossless cropping with fixed aspects using jpegtran.

The program is freeware for private use and is localized to danish, english, finnish, german, polish, portuguese, galician and japanese. Partly localized to czech, dutch, french, hungarian and italian.

Note: If you came here looking for Jpegcrop, then you're in the wrong place. Please visit the Jpegcrop page instead. Jpegcrop and JPEGCrops are two different programs.

News: I've started work on RoboCrop, which is a total rewrite of JPEGCrops. No promises on delivery dates.

Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extends the abilities of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically installed by the operating system, but there are also many other applications that install additional shell extension components. For example: If you install WinZip on your computer, you'll see a special WinZip menu when you right-click on a Zip file. This menu is created by adding a shell extension to the system.

The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.

This utility is released as freeware. You are allowed to freely distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM, Internet, or in any other way, as long as you don't charge anything for this. If you distribute this utility, you must include all files in the distribution package, without any modification!

This version has been cooking up for quite some time now. Version 2.0.0 brings you a complete rewrite of the application. I got to the point where I exceeded the limits of the scripting language I was using and the program was becoming a maintenance nightmare. This isn't to say anything bad about the scripting language, in fact, it's one of the coolest tools I've used. However, it just wasn't designed for what I needed to do.

Features
The PC Decrapifier will uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many of the PCs from big name OEMs. Here is the current list of software and items that the PC Decrapifier can detect and remove. You get to see the list of items it detects and then choose what will be removed automatically.

Additional Commercial Version Features
The commercial version has the additional ability to automate itself. If you would like to include the PC Decrapifier in another script, you can pass additional parameters on the command line. The parameters are as follows:

Usage: pc-decrapifier-CU.exe [/h] [--verbose] [/autoremove ] [/autoremovespecific ] [/l] [/f]

• /h, --help: show this help message
• /autoremove: Specify to remove either ALL or DEFAULT only items that were detected. BE CAREFUL! Specifying ALL may remove anti-virus, security and office software! Example: --autoremove default
• /autoremovespecific: Automatically removes all items specified in
• /l, --list: Outputs possible programs to remove to pc-decrapifier-list.txt. To be used as input for autoremovespecific
• /f, --feedback: Automatically provide feedback to pcdecrapifier.com without prompting

MyUninstaller is an alternative utility to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system. It displays the list of all installed application, and allows you to uninstall an application, delete an uninstall entry, and save the list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML file.
MyUninstaller also provides additional information for most installed applications that the standard Add/Remove applet doesn't display: product name, company, version, uninstall string, installation folder and more.

This utility works on any version of Windows - from Windows 98 to Windows Vista. You should log-in to the system as admin user, so the uninstall process will work properly.

When you uninstall a software, MyUninstaller utility is not directly responsible to the uninstall process. MyUninstaller simply run the uninstall module provided by the software that you want to uninstall. So, if from some reason the uninstall process fails, you should contact the author of the software that you want to uninstall, not to the author of MyUninstaller.

This utility is released as freeware. You are allowed to freely distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM, Internet, or in any other way, as long as you don't charge anything for this. If you distribute this utility, you must include all files in the distribution package, without any modification!

The software is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential or indirect damages due to loss of data or any other reason.

By default, each time that you run MyUninstaller utility, it automatically scans and analyzes the installed applications on your computer. On computer with dozens of installed applications, this loading process may be quite slow. If you want to load MyUninstaller in much faster way, turn on the quick mode option. When quick mode is enabled, the information gathered by MyUninstaller is saved into a special INI file under your 'Application Data' folder, and in the next time you run MyUninstaller, the installed applications information will be loaded from that INI file, instead of reanalyzing your system. However, if you have installed new software since the last time you ran MyUninstaller, you have to refresh the software list by pressing F5 key.

VirtualDub Portable is a desktop video processing and capture application.

VirtualDub Portable is a video capture/processing utility. It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party video filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle sets of BMP images.

Codecs Note: VirtualDub uses a combination of plugins for codecs (see the VirtualDub Portable Plugins Pack linked at the top of this page) and codecs on the local machine, so if you wish to use a non-standard codec like DivX or XVID, you'll need it installed. This is unavoidable at the moment.

Multi Virus Cleaner is a free, stand-alone utility used to detect and remove major viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when cleaning infected systems.

Multi Virus Cleaner is regularly updated and can detect over 6,000 common viruses, worms, trojans and dialers (including all variants of the Sober, MyDoom and Bagle viruses).

The program boasts a fast, user-friendly scanner that requires minimal processing power and is an excellent choice for repairing a compromised system.

AptDiff is a visual text / binary files comparison and merging utility for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.  It is highly useful for web designers, software developers, and other professionals.
AptDiff features a double-pane view that allows for side-by-side comparisons, with customizable color-coding indicating whether each line/byte is added, deleted, or changed.  AptDiff can also export the side-by-side comparison to a nicely formatted HTML page for publishing on the web.
AptDiff can be installed on FLASH or other portable drives.  All user configurations are saved in the movable drive.  You can carry AptDiff with you wherever your travels or business take you and run it on almost any computer.

General Features

• Compares directly from Windows Explorer.
• Easy navigation through the differences.
• Automatically detects file changes.
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
• Adjustable pane splitter with smooth synchronized scrolling.
• Synchronized horizontal and vertical scroll.
• Command Line Support.
• Automatically move to the first difference when loading.
• Merge all for text comparison.
• Switch the comparison type between text and binary.
• Add the shell menu items ("Select First Item to Compare...", "Compare As Text", "Comapre As Binary") if enabled in options.
• Multilingual User Interface, now support English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese (Options | UI Languages) (new).
• Customize Toolbars (new).

If you prefer the CAB archive distribution and are experiencing extraction problems, you can download this utility for free. With PSPInst you simply extract PSPad into a selected directory and create a link on the desktop.

Place the utility into the same directory as the downloaded CAB archive.

Universal Viewer is an advanced file viewer with wide range of formats supported. Implemented view modes and corresponding file formats are:

• Text, Binary, Hex, Unicode: any files, of unlimited size (even 4Gb+ sizes are allowed)
• RTF, UTF-8: RTF and UTF-8 encoded texts
• Image: all general graphics formats: BMP JPG GIF PNG TGA TIFF... plus all formats supported by IrfanView/XnView external viewers
• Multimedia: all formats supported by MS Windows Media Player: AVI MPG WMV MP3...
• Internet: all formats supported by MS Internet Explorer: HTML XML DOC XLS...
• Plugins: all formats supported by Total Commander Lister plugins

Application is fully Unicode-compatible and can be integrated into Windows Explorer's context menu, so there is no problem to call it from anywhere in Explorer: right-click a file and select the "Universal Viewer" item. It can also be integrated into other popular file managers.

Generally, Universal Viewer is an application similar to Total Commander Lister. But, comparing to Lister, it has some major advantages:

• Full support for Unicode filenames
• Built-in functions of several popular plugins: images, multimedia, webpages view
• Support for multiple codepages: ANSI, OEM, EBCDIC, ISO, KOI8, Mac etc.
• Toolbar, status bar, other interface improvements
• Auto-reloading of file on changing, "Follow tail" option
• Displaying of line numbers
• Displaying of non-printable characters
• Combined Unicode/Hex mode (call Unicode mode twice)
• More modern RegEx search library
• Print preview
• EXIF viewer

In the Lister plugins section you will find the list of rather good Lister plugins to use in conjunction with UV. These plugins are developed by 3rd parties and are not included into UV installation.

FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take FreeCommander anywhere - just copy the installation directory on a CD or USB-Stick - and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.

Main features in FreeCommander:

• Dual-panel technology - horizontal and vertical
• Tabbed interface
• Optional tree view for each panel
• Built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format
• File viewer inside archives too
• Built in archive handling: ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read)
• Nested archive handling
• Built in FTP client
• Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu
• Copy, move, delete, rename files and folders
• Multi rename tool
• Wipe files
• Create and verify MD5 checksums
• File splitting
• File properties and context menu
• Calculation of folder size
• Folder comparison / synchronization
• Modification of file date and attributes
• Folder / program favorites
• File searching (inside archive too)
• File filters for display
• User defined columns for detailed view
• DOS command line
• Multiple language  support

is a utilities program-gone-mad. It can list all legal WAVEFORMATEX control blocks for the PC it is running on (right-click the little globe button on the right-hand side of the window to activate report procedure), and do TCP/IP connections to any port and ip address, if allowed. You can "talk" to your POP3 server if you know the POP3 protocol, for example. Give it a URL and it will get whatever is there, into a file on your PC with the same name, but in the directory this program runs in. It factorises numbers, has a calculator, VU meters for the currently-selected input source, and a bonkers colour selector. Some of the functions are only knowable from reading the pop-up hints on certain controls. For example, there is an NIC information getter, but I'll leave that for you to find. The Middle Window is an anagram and crossword solver, and also does the "Numbers Game" in Channel 4's Countdown (you enter 6 numbers and a target, separated by spaces and press Enter).

• framoligen,8 will give all words from these letters with 8 letters or more
• dnrefainlto,8,9 will give all words with between 8 and 9 letters
• b*n??t will give all words starting with b and ending in n--t (eg. blanket)
• 4 6 8 3 7 2 275 might give 3+4*(8*7+2*6) = 275 or 3+2*8*(7+6+4) = 275

* means any sequence of letters and ? means any single letter
Press Alt-D to lookup selected word at dictionary.com
Enjoy!

MJ Registry Watcher is a simple registry, file and directory hooker/poller, that safeguards the most important startup files, registry keys and values, and other more exotic registry locations commonly attacked by trojans. It has very low resource usage, and is set to poll every 30 seconds by default, although you can adjust this to anywhere between 0 and 600. A configuration file stores all your settings for future use. MJRW not only polls the system, but it also hooks it, so that most changes to keys, files and directories are reported instantaneously. Key deletions are still caught by the polling loop though, since they cannot be hooked. Exactly which keys and files are protected can be completely configured by the user, although the sets I supply with MJRW will cover most standard PCs.

To install it, extract the files with pathnames, and you'll have a self-contained .exe file with a small help text file, the keys and files lists, and a couple of exclusion files in the MJRegWatcher directory. Create a shortcut to C:\MJRegWatcher\RegWatcher.exe and launch it. Then, use the Options, Settings, Automatic Startup Options screen to install it either just for the current user, or for all users. From this screen, you can also choose which key set to start it up with, or even uninstall it. Please note that under Vista, MJRW will need to be configured with Administrator privilege to write to the registry. To do this, go to the RegWatcher.exe file in Explorer, right-click to Properties, and go to the Compatibility tab. Check the admin box. Whenever the Vista PC is restarted, you will have to OK MJRW to start with admin rights. Unless you disable UAC, the only way round this is to use the task scheduler to launch MJRW with administrator rights and set it to run at log on.

If a trojan attempts to change your startup settings, you will be alerted, and you can prevent any changes being made. You can also configure MJRW to email the alert details to, for example, an administrator. It is fully configurable as to what keys and files are monitored, so, if you have a vested interest in protecting your file association for the mailto protocol (your default emailer), so that your preferred app loads them, and something else is trying very hard to undermine this association (Outlook for example), this will popup, offering to stop a new association attempt, after Outlook had loaded, say. The key that stores this association is hkey_lmus\software\classes\mailto\shell\open\command, and you could protect other associations by changing "mailto" to the desired type, for example, "jpegfile".

It assumes write access and directory create rights for the path the .exe file sits in (ie. wherever you installed it). The default set of keys and files should ensure that nothing gets run at startup without you knowing about it, and important boot up files don't get changed behind your back. When monitoring, keys are opened in Read-Only mode, and the application only needs Write Registry access when it has detected a change. It keeps a log of any suspect activity, and displays any such information for the current session in the bottom panel. A log file has this appended to it and can be viewed by pressing the Log button. The file keeps a complete history of alerts.

You can also visit a Wilders Security forum thread dedicated to this application. My moniker is Graphic Equaliser and the thread was started on November 13th 2004.

The default set of keys was chosen to balance security against intrusiveness. However, you can experiment by selecting different security levels on the Options menu, and see the impact on PC performance. The higher you set it, the better the coverage, and also, the more warnings you'll get (especially with the openwithlist keys monitored). This list is based on some invaluable work done by Hojtsy documented in Hojtsy's compiled list of the security hotspots in the registry.

FreeOTFE is a free, open source, "on-the-fly" transparent disk encryption program for PCs and PDAs

Using this software, you can create one or more "virtual disks" on your PC/PDA. These disks operate exactly like a normal disk, with the exception that anything written to one of them is transparently, and securely, encrypted before being stored on your computer's hard drive.

Features include:

• Source code freely available
• Easy to use; full wizard included for creating new volumes
• Data encrypted on your PC can be read/written on your PDA, and vice versa
• Powerful: Supports numerous hash/encryption algorithms, and provides a greater level of flexibility than a number of other (including commercial!) OTFE systems
• Available in English and German, with support for other language translations
• Hash algorithms include: MD5, SHA-512, RIPEMD-160, Tiger and many more
• Cyphers include AES (256 bit), Twofish (256 bit), Blowfish (448 bit), Serpent (256 bit) and many more
• Cypher modes supported include XTS, LRW and CBC (including XTS-AES-128 and XTS-AES-256)
• "Portable mode" included; FreeOTFE doesn't need to be installed before it can be used - making it ideal for carrying your data securely on USB drives!
• Security tokens/smartcards supported for extra (optional) security
• Operates under both PC (MS Windows 2000/XP) and PDA (Windows Mobile 2003/2005 and Windows Mobile 6) platforms
• Linux compatibility (Cryptoloop "losetup", dm-crypt and LUKS supported)
  "Hidden" volumes may be concealed within other FreeOTFE volumes, providing "plausible deniability"
• FreeOTFE volumes have no "signature" to allow them to be identified as such
  Encrypted volumes can be either file or partition based.
  Modular design allowing 3rd party drivers to be created, incorporating new hash/cypher algorithms
• Decryption software available to improve transparency, and allow even the most junior software engineer to prove data is being encrypted correctly
• Supports password salting (up to 512 bits), reducing the risks presented by dictionary attacks.
• Allows users to backup and restore the critical areas of volume files.
• Keyfile support included; store volumes and their associated metadata separately.
• Uses per-sector IVs, including support for ESSIV
• Volume file timestamps and attributes are reset after dismounting, increasing "plausible deniability"
• Supports volumes files up to 2^63 bytes (8388608 TB)
• Comprehensive documentation
• Naturally, fully supported by SecureTrayUtil.
• Plus more...!

DeskLook for Lotus Notes is currently available only as a beta version that is fully functional and completely free to use until May 1st 2009 when it will stop working.

You are more than welcome to download and use DeskLook for Lotus Notes during free beta period and let us know your thoughts, problems, ideas and wishes for it.

DeskLook for Lotus Notes is a productivity assistant for Lotus Notes. It will read your calendar data and the to-do list directly from Notes and show them conveniently on the desktop.

A reference calendar is also included in the layout that is available in two different views with changeable transparency. The side bar view is fully customizable, while central view is fixed. In terms of design both views are offered in blue, green and brown style.

Double click on the program's taskbar icon will pop-up the quick view. One more notable feature allows DeskLook for Lotus Notes to work as a launcher for Notes so everything is started automatically with the computer startup.

DeskLook for Outlook is a productivity add-on for Microsoft® Outlook® that shows your appointments, tasks and number of unread messages on the interactive desktop.

DeskLook for Outlook connects directly with your Outlook, reads tasks and appointments you have in the calendar, counts unread messages in selected folders and shows everything on the interactive desktop accompanied with a calendar for three months: current, next and previous.

DeskLook for Outlook reads and displays data from Outlook according to settings you have for Outlook Today. So, to make adjustments simply open your Outlook, go to "Personal Folders - Outlook Today" and click Customize Outlook Today. There you have options to set how many days in the future you want to have displayed in the Calendar section, choose what kind of tasks to display and how you want them sorted and select folders to display in the Messages section.

You can choose between two data views for the desktop, central data view and side bar view. Both views are available in three different color schemes known in the program's settings as blue, green and brown data styles. Note that the central data view has all components fixed depending on the chosen data style, while for the side bar view you can customize the size and components to show by yourself.

Everything you see on the desktop is interactive so you can simply double click an appointment to get it opened in Outlook, or double click the contacts link to bring up Outlook Contacts, etc. One more way to interact with the program is by double clicking its icon on the taskbar when the central data view pops-up and allows you to click on its components and open those items in Outlook.

• Enjoy full desktop interactivity with your data.
• Get a three months calendar displayed along with your data.
• Choose between central and side bar data views, both available in three different styles.
• Check today's date on the program's icon on the taskbar.
• Set the level of transparency to best fit with your desktop background.
• Use pop-up data option to get quick central data view.
• Install native 64-bit version for your 64-bit Windows.

Pocket Voice Recorder is freeware sound recorder that records equally well from microphone and any other input line available with your sound card. Recordings are organized as messages and may be easily exported to standard WAV sound file format.

The program has 10 minutes of recording capacity (when filled up simply use export to WAV option to archive recordings that you want to keep and then delete them from the program to free space for new recordings).

BestPractice is a musician's practice tool, to slow down or speed up music, either from an MP3 file or directly from a CD. Ordinarily the sound is distorted when slowed down our sped up - you get the effect like when playing a 33 rpm record on 45 rpm speed (remember the Chipmunks?). BestPractice tries to correct this, so you can slow down and speed up music, while keeping the original pitch. It is also possible to change the pitch of the music without affecting its tempo. Play along with for instance Eb tuned guitars without retuning your own, or slow down that high-speed guitar solo on a CD that you like to learn.

This splits up in two parts: "why is BestPractice made?" and "why would I use it?"
To start with the first: I saw that there were programs available on the internet that do this, and you have to pay for them ($20 to $50). Since I thought: 'I can do that', I had to prove it, right?

And for part two - well, there are probably more reasons, but those I can think of are:

• Your favorite musician plays a solo that you want to study, but you can't figure it out on normal speed
• You'd like to transcribe music, but need to slow it down to hear it right
• You can tune the song to your instrument instead of the other way around
• You'd like to sing along, but you need to change the key to match your voice
• You're learning a foreign language and you'd like to slow down the spoken examples
• You're like me and like to fool around with audio and/or digital signal processing
• You think that playing Celine Dion at rave speed is fun =D

Natty is a small tray mail checker/notificator.
It deletes spam directly from your server.

Natty is a very small system tray application which runs in the background. It silently checks for new mail. The amount of new mail is displayed in the system tray. Double click opens your mail program.

Natty contains a mailserver viewer, which helps you to manually delete spam and contaminated e-mails directly from the server.

Features

• Multiple mail accounts
• Extremly low cpu and mem usage
• POP servers only

Kelly is a desktop calculator

How simple can a calculator be? I tried to build the simplest one without any garbage. Don't get distracted by it's size. I am doing all my tax on it :) It stays on top and works well with Excel.

Features

• Very easy interface
• Use numpad to use
• Hotkey to toggle between an amount with and without tax
• Hotkey to toggle between 2 currencies

Hawk is an ultra fast hex file viewer.

Add a shortcut to Hawk in your "Send To" menu. So you can always right click on a file and view it quickly with Hawk.

Features

• Ultra fast
• Hex based and ascii based view
• Refresh (F5) reopens file.
• Read only
• Handy app for quick viewing a file.
• Runs stand alone, no registry.

Diana is a very basic agenda.

Add notes to certain days, and view them when needed. This program was not made to impress but to have a simple way of organizing daily to-do lists.

Features
Todo list or text entry for each day.
Quick report of the upcoming entries.

Billy is a lightweighted no nonsense audio player that allows you to quickly play an entire directory of MP3 files.

Billy is an audio player that allows you to quickly play an entire directory of MP3 files. It can usually load files 2 to 8 times faster than winamp or media player. Billy plays music albums without any gaps between tracks, so an overlapping applause or beat will continue. The player is 100% controllable by keyboard and its easy finder and special rename functions help you to find and organize your files quickly.

Features

• Freeware (no adware)
• Runs on Win 95/98/NT/Me/2000/XP/2003
• No skins, no mp3 tags, no equalizer, no nonsense - pure audio
• Supported formats: MP3, WAV, OGG
• High quality sound engine, by Un4seen Bass
• Extremely fast, loads 1000 mp3 files in a second
• Gapless trackchange of mp3 files
• Directory based or playlist based
• Filenames renamer to organize your music albums
• Calibrated dB level meter
• 100% controllable by keyboard
• Low memory and cpu usage
• Queueing your next songs
• Find a specific song quickly
• Sleep timer
• Drag & drop

How many feet is a kilometer, how do I convert Fahrenheit to Celtigrade? So many times we need these basic simple calculations. Abby does this job quickly. Check the screenshot to see what the application looks like before downloading it.

Features

• All possible conversions in one screen
• Time conversions
• Weight conversions
• Distance conversions
• Temperature conversions

AudioPlayer is a DirectShow based media player capable of playing MP3, MPGA, WAV, MIDI, AU, WMA and ASF sound files as well as WPL, ASX, WMX, WAX and M3U playlists. AudioPlayer also utilizes Internet media so you can listen to files from the net without changing applications.

Volume and file seeking controls allow you to find and listen to the best parts of the music at a sound level to suit you. A handy mute option also provides silence on demand without stopping the music.

AudioPlayer also has your computers' health and multi-tasking at heart. Taking up only 158 KB of hard disk space (even less on compressed NTFS drives) and typically using 50-90% less CPU power with 2 to 5 times less memory usage than Windows Media Player 10, AudioPlayer allows you to use your computers resources the way you want. Now there's more, you can minimize AudioPlayer into the system tray which removes the taskbar button freeing up precious real estate.

Wait, that's not all. After you've finished your work and listening to the best choons, you need to shutdown your computer in the time honoured way of going to the "Start" button. Not no more; Audioplayer has built in functions so at the click of just one button, you can log off, restart, or completely shut down your PC.

Let your friends see what you're listening to by turning on the improved MSN Messenger integration, sing along with your favourites by viewing the lyrics, and never miss out on future updates by using the built-in update feature. AudioPlayer even allows you to make and save your own playlists, change the background colour independant of your Windows theme, and the use hotkeys to control the application without the use of a mouse.

So what's the catch? Simple, there isn't one. Completely free and full functionality today, tomorrow, in 30 days, next year, forever.

Written in C and pure Win32. Windows 98 users may need to download DirectX 6 or above, Internet Explorer 4 or above, MSXML 2 or above (only required for playlists), and from version 0.97 up, the Windows Media Format Runtime 7 or above (not needed if you have Windows Media Player installed). These items are installed by default on Windows XP, Windows 2000 users may need one or two of the requirements.

Welcome to the world of Internet Radio, where thousands of stations broadcast ad-free music covering all genres and tastes in beautiful high definition. ESP not only enables the listener to enjoy and harness this free resource, but offers exclusive interactive features and free MP3 downloads.

ESP is an Internet radio player which gives the listener access to thousands of stations covering all genres over the ShoutCast network. Delivering outstanding sound quality, ESP is very light and can even be run from a Flash/USB drive.

Exclusively, ESP makes available for download, mp3's that the currently playing artist has uploaded to social-networking sites. No other player offers this unique feature. So the next time you hear and artist or band who you would like to hear more of, ESP will quickly search for mp3's uploaded by that artist to their official social networking sites and makes them available for download.

In addition, the currently playing stream, can be ripped and recorded, saving each track broadcast as a seperate mp3, with the artist and song title making up the filename of the mp3.

Encounter2003 Release 4.1 is the first and only fully multithreaded sound editor in the Windows world today.

Load files and work on files while other filters are still running in the background. Encounter2003 also features the EncounterExtension plug-in architecture, which works similarly to plug-in architectures that are know in the graphic world for years. Encounter2003 can add functionality directly via it's web plug-in.

This software is freeware! Featuring several fixes on user reported bugs, a new stylish XP compatible user interface update and more.

This software is designed for Microsoft Windows XP. To install under Windows 95/98/Me download and install the Microsoft Installer 2.0 first available here. For Windows 2000 (pre-SP3) and NT4 the Microsoft Installer 2.0.

Please note that development and support of the Encounter software has ended as of mid-2006. Thank you for your understanding.