Tag-Archive for ◊ Software Review ◊

Best Free Windows Driver Backup
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 | Author: admin
Introduction
Whether or not you do a full system backup, it’s a good idea to backup your windows drivers. It provides an easy way to protect you when testing new drivers and recovering if a driver is mistakenly deleted or corrupted.You can also improve performance by removing outdated or conflicting drivers and you can restore them if it turns out they were needed. It is suggested that before backing up it’s a good idea to use Windows Device Manager to check that all your drivers are working properly.
Discussion
DriverMaxThere are a number of free solutions. My favorite is DriverMax. It has a nice clear GUI, lets you backup, restore, generate reports that include if there is a newer version available and even gives you the option of storing your backup in a zip file.

Recently updated to support Vista, they are working on updates that will allow you to quickly find updates for your drivers.  Note it does require free registration to get full access to all of its features.

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Best Free PDF Writer
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Author: admin
Introduction
All of the PDF writers in this review are programs that function by creating a pseudo printer on your system.  When you want to create a PDF document from pretty much any application you just choose to print it to the PDF printer and it creates a PDF document.  The thing that distinguishes one product from another is the number of options and flexibility available.  The one problem with this approach is that you need to have a program that will open the file on your system.  If someone sends you a file created with a program you do not have and you can’t open the file then you can’t print it and if you can’t print it then you can’t convert it to a pdf using a pseudo printer technique.  The two online products do not suffer from this problem but are limited only by the file formats recognized by the online vendor.

After eliminating those PDF Writers suggested by readers that were not free, were limited time trials, and basically adware (the product was free but forced the user to endure various ads as a punishment for using it), there were only six candidates left.  These were (alphabetically) Bullzip PDF Writer, CutePDF, doPDF, PDFCreator, PrimoPDF, and TinyPDF.  Which one of these is best?  That really depends on the options you need.

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Category: Software Review, Top Software  | Tags: , ,  | 11 Comments
10 Firefox extensions you can’t live without
Monday, February 08th, 2010 | Author: admin

Whether you want to speed access to the Web sites you regularly visit, keep better tabs on your tabs, or protect your system from potentially dangerous active content, there’s a Firefox extension ready to help you out. Jack Wallen shares his list of favorite time-saving, browser-enhancing add-ons.

One of the nicest aspects of Firefox is the ability to add extensions. And there are plenty to choose from. Some do little more than alter the aesthetics. But you’ll find others out there that you can’t browse without. No matter what your purpose in browsing, there is a killer-app extension just waiting for you. Let’s take a look at my top 10 extensions.

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Category: Software Review, Top Software  | Tags: , , ,  | 7 Comments
10 great new features in OWA 2010
Monday, February 08th, 2010 | Author: admin

Outlook Web Access can come in quite handy, but it’s always been a little feature-deprived and difficult to configure. Now at last, OWA delivers a more Outlook-like experience.

I admit it: I’m an Outlook junkie. I live and die by my email. It’s the primary way I get new business, submit my articles, receive feedback from readers, communicate with vendors, conduct personal business, and stay in touch with family and friends. I rely on Exchange and Outlook to deliver my messages and attachments to me (often hundreds per day), to organize them in a way that fits my priorities, and to manage them so that I can find them when I need them. I also depend on the calendar to keep me apprised of what I’m supposed to be doing and when and where I’m scheduled to do it.

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Category: PC Tips, Software Review  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 14 Comments
Tips & Tricks: VLC Media Player
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | Author: admin

VLC 0.9 has released to widespread acclaim. The media player of choice for many, has packed in a horde of new features and marked changes in the design and interface. There are only two issues we have with the new design, which we will put out of the way first. The playback bar has jazzed up buttons, which won’t appeal to those who went for the minimalist charm of VLC. They have also inverted the direction in which the scroll works with the media, you scroll down to go backward, and scroll up to go forward which is counterintuitive to everyone and irritating to the long term users. Now for the good stuff.

Take Snapshots Of The Video

Go to Tools > Preferences > Video. Under video snapshots, enter the directory, a prefix, check ‘sequential numbering’ and choose a format. The default is .png.

To take the snapshot while the video is playing, go to Video > Snapshot.

Alternatively, you can take a snapshot using the keyboard with the hotkey [Shift] + [S].

To use a button to take a snapshot, go to Tools > Advanced Controls. The snapshot button appears on the playback bar.
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Category: Software Review  | Tags: , ,  | 13 Comments
2010 Security Suites: The Best and Worst
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | Author: admin

We’ve reviewed nearly a dozen 2010 security suites—find out which will keep you safe and which to avoid.

The 2010 “model year” for security suites got started early, with a couple of products already out in June. Panda Internet Security 2010 made a decent showing, but eScan Internet Security Suite for Home Users Version 10 isn’t ready to provide serious competition for any of the better-known contenders in the U.S. market. Much the same is true of K7 TotalSecurity Version 10.0: It’s popular in Japan, but doesn’t live up to the standards set by other major products here—at least it didn’t bog down my test systems. Through the summer the suites kept rolling in, keeping me busy with all-out evaluations.

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Category: Antivirus & Security, Software Review  | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  | 5 Comments
Picasa 3 for Windows
Friday, December 18th, 2009 | Author: admin
Picasa is a free photo organization and editing tool from Google, and for a free program, it really has a lot to offer. Picasa is desktop software that runs on Windows, and it can be downloaded from http://picasa.google.com/.

Find Your Photos

After you install Picasa, it asks you if you’d like to scan your entire computer or if you’d like to scan just the desktop, my photos, and my documents folders. I’d really suggest restricting your search to just those folders, unless you’ve got more than one hard drive or you’ve been storing photos in odd locations.When Picasa scans your entire computer, you’ll get cached Internet files, graphics from computer programs, and other images that you probably don’t need in your photo album. You can remove files later, but it’s easier not to import them in the first place.

You can also import photos directly from a digital camera, which is a handy way to keep them organized from the start.

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Category: Graphics Software, Software Review  | Tags: , ,  | 52 Comments