The average PC user has a dozen or so applications which they completely
swear by – and rightfully so. What gets the job done is what matters
the most. There is, however, a treasure-trove of pint-sized utilities
and fully blown applications just waiting to be discovered. We’ve
scoured the Web to provide a list of 11 useful programs which you’ve
probably never heard of.
All of the programs in this article are either absolutely free of charge
or have a free alternative, so don’t hesitate to give them a shot and
see what you’ve been missing out on. We hope that by the end of this
list, you’ll have discovered at least one application that fills a void
you didn't even know existed.
Before delving deep into the realm of app discovery, you may also want to check our previous coverage on the top applications to install after a fresh OS installation.
Now that it’s becoming a standard to own 20”+ widescreen monitors and
dual displays are increasing in popularity, screen real estate is more
plentiful than ever. However, for those of us who itch to keep the
property lines of application windows in check, things are a bit more
complex.
Using your PC can ultimately feel like a never ending cycle of resizing
and dragging windows to fit them appropriately on-screen. That,
unfortunately, describes me at any given moment with more than three
applications open and I only have a 21.5” LCD sitting on my desk.
MaxTo is
a lightweight application that allows to divide your display into
sections. Upon maximizing a program within an individual section, the
window snaps into your predefined panes. It comes packaged with some
generic layouts, all of which you can alter to your liking. Getting
started on your own template is ridiculously easy and should only take a
few moments to complete.
If you’ve used Windows for any extended period of time, you’ve been
slapped in the face with various errors. Some of the most common include
those claiming that folders or files cannot be accessed or deleted
because they’re being used by another user or program.
I’m sure you’re tired of combing through your drive with a magnifying glass trying to isolate the conflict. Unlocker
is a small utility which provides a solution to that common headache.
You can simply right-click the troublesome file or folder and call upon
the aid of Unlocker. When the program opens, it will provide a somewhat
detailed list of “lockers.” It offers the ability to end an individual
process as well as unlock both a specific target and all found targets.
(v1.8.7) is not yet compatible with 64-bit operating systems, but the
developer is working on it. If that’s a bit of a letdown, pick your head
up and check out
This program succeeds in its attempt to provide simple, yet powerful, DVD creation. DVD Flick
converts and burns virtually any video file to a DVD that will work in
your home entertainment center’s DVD player. Impressively, it supports
over 45 popular file formats, 60-plus video codecs and more than 40
audio codecs. You can easily combine multiple files, add your own menu,
subtitles and audio tracks.
The user interface is very straightforward and intuitive, especially for
a tool in this category. To get rolling, you can literally just specify
a source file, and click “Create DVD.” Among the supported file types
are AVI, MPG, MOV, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV, MP4. Codec support includes
MPEG-1/2/4, Windows Media Audio/Video, MP3, OGG Vorbis, H264 and On2
VP5/6. Given its wide-spectrum functionality, I can nearly promise you
that you’ll be able to transform nearly any video file into a fully
working DVD.
Windows Start menu on steroids
When I first heard about Launchy
I thought it was just a third party tool that offered what was
basically already provided in the Windows Start menu search. Let me tell
you, I was wrong – very wrong. Launchy is everything the Start menu
search should be, and more.
From the get-go, Launchy runs behind the scenes and is displayed by
tapping alt+space (hotkey is customizable). By default the app catalogs
your Start menu and quick launch programs, and allows you to include
additional directories. It doesn’t stop there.
The vanilla installation includes several plug-ins which add another
layer of functionality, among them is Weby, which indexes your Firefox
and Internet Explorer bookmarks. It also allows you to bind a Web
address to a keyword. So for instance, I am able to bring up my Gmail
inbox in Firefox by typing “gmail” into Launchy.
In truth, I only have to enter “g” and Launchy automatically knows what
I’m looking for. There is quite a selection of user submitted plug-ins
as well, so you’ll undoubtedly find more substance to this program than
can be captured in a few paragraphs.
See how productive you really are
For self-employed procrastinators and deadbeat employees alike, a
detailed look of how your day was spent might be the jumpstart you need.
ManicTime tracks and records all Web and program activity.
The interface is particularly easy to use. Data is gathered and
presented in a very clear-cut manner. There is an activity bar which
remains green during periods of use and goes red if productivity halts.
Above that bar, you are able label a specific timeframe with tags. Below
it is a color coordinated bar displaying individual program activity.
ManicTime
takes note of application window names, so you’re not only able to see
that you were using Firefox, but precisely what site you were visiting
and so on. Below all the bars are two panes. One displays a look at the
individual program start and stop times, and the other displays a
summary of total time spent using each application.
After testing the program for a few days, I wasn’t at all taken back by
number of hours spent unfocused. Instead, I was shocked by the amount of
time I’m actually inactive altogether. As it turns out, I spend about
as much time away from my PC as I do in front of it.
Sync data seamlessly across all your PCs
The importance of having a PC on the run is made evident by the sheer
scale of today’s portable computing market. From smartphones and PDAs to
netbooks and notebooks. With multiple sessions logged across various
devices, coordinating data between them can be bothersome to say the
least. If that sounds like you to any degree, Dropbox might just be what you need.
Dropbox is an easy-to-use cross-platform utility which runs silently in
the background of your system. The program creates a dedicated folder on
your system, which you can interact with in the usual manner. By
placing a file within your Dropbox folder, it is automatically synced
over the Internet to other designated computers running the software.
Data is displayed with a checkmark and arrows to indicate
synchronization status.
The entire process requires no intervention and is a real breeze. Data
within your Dropbox folder is securely stored online and file changes
are saved incrementally so you’re able to access previous versions of
your data. While Dropbox is free, it’s limited to 2GB of storage, which should be enough for conventional office or personal use. Premium options include 50GB of storage for $9.99 per month ($99 per year) and 100GB for $19.99 per month ($199 per year).
Screenshots with oomph
I don’t want to hype this app up to be an all-in-one image editing station which will have you packing Photoshop and
GIMP away, because that’s not what it is.
PicPick
is an advanced screenshot program and as such, its tools are based
around that fact. That said, if you don’t use most of the features in
full-on graphic design software, PicPick may just meet your basic
demands in that realm.
Its densely featured screen capture module has support for dual monitors
as well as fixed region, freehand, active window or web page captures.
The software’s “Whiteboard” tool provides the ability to draw over a
window prior to taking a shot.
Its image editing functions don’t stray far from what you’d see in
Microsoft Paint, but they’re definitely suitable to the program. PicPick doesn’t require installation and is fully portable.
Top-notch Windows Explorer alternative
Debuting as Windows Commander in 1993, it formally changed its name to Total Commander
in 2002. The software started off as and still is in our opinion the
best alternative file manager. Its feature-set quite literally puts
Windows Explorer to shame and the only minus is that it costs $38 after
the first 30 days of use.
Total Commander is so brimming with functions that I really can’t do it
any justice in this brief mention. It offers multiple language support,
search, file comparison, directory synchronization, a split panel view
with bitmap display, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive
handling plus plug-ins and a built-in FTP client with FXP and HTTP proxy
support. The various available plug-ins add to its richness, with
abilities such as being able to access EXT2, EXT3 and Reiser partitions.
There are some cheaper and outright free alternatives, though none are truly on par with Total Commander in full comparison.
XYplorer and
Xplorer2 are $30, while
Xplorer2 Lite and
FreeCommander will cost you nothing.
Keep an eye on your bandwidth
ISP conglomerates are constantly trying to cap your monthly bandwidth
consumption – and so many already do. If you’re stuck with such a
service, the least you can do is keep an eye on your usage to avoid
costly overages.
NetMeter
is a network monitoring software that displays transfer activity in
real-time. In addition to the live graphic data, it is capable of
logging network activity extensively. Recorded data can be viewed in
daily, weekly, and monthly interval totals. It allows you to specify
which network device you’d like to be monitored, and can provide
readouts in KB/s, Kb/s, KiB/s and Kib/s.
You can also configure a traffic volume alert to warn you when your
usage is looking grim. The graph's colors are fully customizable and the
program looks great for as compact as it is (using 3.2K memory on
Windows 7). NetMeter
also makes it easy to catch piggybackers and suspicious software red
handed. It is often compared to and preferred over the paid software DU
Meter. Some other free traffic monitors are
NetWorx,
BitMeter,
iTraffic Monitor and
FreeMeter.
Create and encrypt PDFs from almost anywhere
Not to be confused with other commercial applications that are similarly named, this program is GPL-licensed free software. PDFCreator is geared toward converting documents into the PDF format. Similar to
CutePDF
and countless other utilities that sometimes will cost you money,
PDFCreator allows you to "print" documents to PDF from nearly any
application, but its abilities stretch a bit further.
PDFCreator supports BMP, EPS, JPG, PCX, PNG, PS and TIFF file types. It
also supports 40-bit and 128-bit encryption for PDFs as well as the
designation of two password tiers – user and owner. The first permits
access to read the file while the latter is necessary to change
permissions and passwords. You’re able to send generated files via
email, merge multiple files into a single PDF and PDFCreator will run on
Terminal Severs.
As a friendly heads up, the latest version of
PDFCreator (0.9.8) is packaged with an annoying toolbar that can be opted-out of during installation.
What’s eating your storage space?
Ever stop and wonder just where the hell all your disk space has gone? A
300GB hard drive just isn’t what it used to be. There are quite a few
utilities which can provide a glimpse at what’s eating your storage.
That said, not many can match Xinorbis’ portability and rich feature-set.
When you first run the application, you’ll be given the opportunity to
scan a drive. To test the software out, I chose to scan a 750GB storage
drive which contains a healthy mixture of music, videos, pictures,
programs and documents. The summary provided a useful peek at what was
occupying my drive, but the program’s true prowess was unleashed when I
accessed the more detailed synopses.
The summary report presents information by applying a label to the file
types found occupying the drive (video files are shown as “Movie” etc).
While you’re able to dissect those preset labels and determine exactly
what’s what, I found it easier to just switch over to the “Folders”
view. This shows how much space your actual folders are occupying,
complete with a graph and the number of files within the folders. In
addition to the various methods of looking at your data, reports can be
compiled, saved and printed in HTML, XML, CSV and TXT formats.
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