Test any app securely with Sandboxie

Sandboxie lets you run any program in a way so that it doesn`t interact with your data or settings, for example you could run your browser in sandboxie and any toolbar,malware,adware that gets installed why using it becomes trapped in sandboxie!,of course this make it a great tool for when you like to check something dangerous inside your computer without all the risk involved.

get it at http://www.sandboxie.com/

Gspot lets you know which codecs are needed to play a video file

Gspot lets you know which codecs are needed to play a video file, is an awesome utility if you keep downloading videos and need to know more info about them,Gspot is available for windows.

get it at http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

CPU-Z helps you being more informed about your hardware

CPU-Z gathers information about your computer`s hardware, with it you can know information about your CPU, cache, motherboard and memory. you can know very detailed data about your hardware like the CPU revision, latency of the RAM, core voltages, speed of the CPU, number of cores, Etc.
it supports most current and old hardware and its constantly updated so all new hardware will supported as well, even my crappy Pentium 4 with a 478 socket is supported as shown in the above screenshot (Yes my computer sucks...a lot).
CPU-Z is a simple but useful utility that will let you know more about your hardware, available to all versions of windows.


List of information you can know with CPU-Z:

CPU

• Name and number.
• Core stepping and process.
• Package.
• Core voltage.
• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
• Supported instructions sets.
• Cache information.

Mainboard

• Vendor, model and revision.
• BIOS model and date.
• Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
• Graphic interface.

Memory

• Frequency and timings.
• Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

• Windows and DirectX version.

Get it at http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Learn the english alphabet in sign language easily with Sign Lingo

Sign lingo is a very simple utility that shows you how to make a letter in the sign language, just type a letter and it will automatically show you how to make it with your hands.
Yes i realize this is a utility that probably none of you will use but i found it interesting, this particular program was found on a website of some guy who writes open source software, he is shutting down is site because no one donates him money, on one part i feel sad for him on the other i found his decision to shutdown his site stupid. You can`t write software and expect to roll in cash because most people don`t care about donating at all, unless your software is really good and unique no one will give a rat ass the effort you place in writing the software you create, you have to code programs for you i guess. most of the stuff on his site was pretty useless anyway because someone already beat him to the punch so i guess is not a big loss.
Sorry for this long rant that has nothing to do with the object of this blog but since the GTA 4 gameplay videos went online i have been hooked on them and i have been having trouble finding good freeware material to post.



Get it at http://gravityfx.org/2005/08/27/sign-lingo/

Mirror (In the likely case his site disappears) :

http://www.divshare.com/download/4342223-9e5

Kakasoft`s File encryption provides a quick but light way of encrypting your files

Overview:

Kakasoft`s file encryption is a very simple but efective file encryption utility

Review:

Kakasoft`s file encryption makes some promises that it doesn`t keep, for example it claims that it has:

1. Four encryption algorithms Blowfish, AES, MD5, Triple-DES.
2. Strong key support, handling and cryptographic implementations.
3. Encrypts megabytes of file data per second on modern machines.

the first i dunno if its true because when you encrypt stuff it doesn`t give you any option to select the encryption algorithm!, the second claim also can`t be verified without knowing the type of encryption and the third claim is the one i am willing to to concede its true because it encrypted stuff fast. So why i am posting this program if some of the stuff it claims can`t be verified?, well its because it works in a very basic but effective way. When you start the program you will see the interface of the picture i have uploaded into my post, click in "Add files" to add one or several files and type a password, if you select 2 or more files to be encrypted at the same time each one will have the same password which is a bad idea from a security standpoint, anyway after inputting a password click "Encrypt" and the selected files will have their extension changed into .encrypt and will have a new icon and also can only be decrypted by launching the file and inputting the correct password however the filename and the original extension will be visible to anyone , that is a problem if your filename is something like BIGBOOBIESANDASSES.AVI so you better rename the file you want to encrypt beforehand to something less conspicuous. Now after the file has been encrypted even if you change the extension to what it was originally and open it you will only get a message that the file has been corrupted. Kakasoft`s file encryption will probably stand low level users from getting into your files (read: your mom) but i dunno if it will stand high level users (Read: The feds) i wish i was an advanced computer technician in order to confirm this.
In conclusion Kakasoft`s file encryption is probably a good encryption utility but i wouldn`t recommend it for keeping your credit card info secret, it is better suited in my judgement to keep your porno videos secure from your mom,dad, or little brother`s prying hands. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://www.kakasoft.com/freeware.htm

HoverSnap is a small snapshot tool for windows

Overview:

HoverSnap is a a free handy snapshot tool with jpg, png, bmp and gif support.HoverSnap can take snapshots of the full screen, active window or a selected area. It can even capture layered windows alphablended ones under 2K / XP. You can even FTP upload your screenshots !


Features:

*You can set up the capture folder / filename and format.

*You can reduce the capture size.

*Auto-generate filename option will add the time stamp date/time to your filename in order to be able to take several captures without having to change the filename.

*Optional sound when capture is done.

*HoverSnap is FREE for personal use only !


Review:

Hoversnap is a small and very handy snapshot utility. It will sit in the system tray and will allow you to take various types of screenshots using the printscreen key with some keyboard combinations. For example you can use alt+printscreen to take a picture of the currently selected windows or use ctrl+printscreen in order to select the area that you want to take a picture of. The pictures that you take can be uploaded to a FTP server with the built in client which is good i guess if you have a need for that stuff. This program only has a couple of faults in my eyes. for one taking a screenshot of the currently selected window is not perfect, it will show some of the background around the edges of the window which is disappointing. Also the "auto-generate filename on new capture" is disabled by default which is stupid because without that option each new snapshot will overwrite the previous one.
In conclusion hoversnap is a good way of taking quick screenshots. Available for all Windows versions.


Get it at http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Recover deleted files with Undelete Plus

Overview:

Undelete Plus is a quick and effective way to restore accidentally deleted files. It can also recover files that have been emptied from the Recycle Bin, permanently deleted files within Windows using the Shift + Delete, and files that have been deleted from within a Command Prompt.


Features:

Undelete Plus allows the following tasks to be performed:

- Recovery of deleted files from NTFS/NTFS5, FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 volumes.

- Restoring deleted files on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2003, Windows Vista.


Review:

File recovery programs are everywhere these days but Undelete Plus stands from the pack with some well though out features. for starters after you have searched for salvageable files you can quickly sort the results by using the left pane tree view that shows the various types of files like text , pictures, word documents ,Etc. you can narrow the search even more by filtering the results by file name, modification date and size. tough the size field can only be filtered in kilobytes not in megabytes or gigabytes which is a shame. while testing Undelete Plus i found that it could indeed recover recently deleted files but you got to keep in mind that if some time has passed the recovery might be impossible or the file will be unusable after it has been recovered.
Undelete Plus comes with multi language support and doesn't need installation to run so you can carry it with you all the time making this is a very handy tool. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://undelete-plus.com/

Recover keys for games that have been installed in Windows using Game Key Revealer

Overview:

Game Key Revealer, reveals the CD-Key and Serials for installed games on computer. If you lost legal CD-Keys or Serials of your purchased games, you can find them with Game Key Revealer.


Features:

- Displays over 500 games
- Save to Text or Word (Word XP/2003/2007 only)
- Print
- Displays for 64bit-Edition releases


Review:

Losing the CD/DVD key of your favorite game because you lost the box and didn't save the key somewhere can be awful since there is no easy way to recover it. Game Key Revealer can prevent this by searching keys for games that are installed in Windows and save them in a text or word document. However if you lost the game box and you don't have installed the game in your PC you are totally screwed so use Game Key Revealer before you loose your stuff.
Because i don't have any games that use game keys in my system i couldn't test Game Key Revealer properly but according to the creator it supports over 500 games by the most popular developers. So give Game Key Revealer a try in order to backup your game keys. Available for all versions of Windows.



Get it at http://cakirbey.googlepages.com/

Recover your software keys with SoftKey Revealer

Overview:

SoftKey Revealer, reveals the CD-Key and Serials for installed softwares on computer. It also saves your money and time, free and easy to use.


Features:

- Displays over 700 software products
- Save to Text or Word (Word XP/2003/2007 only)
- Print
- Displays for 64bit-Edition releases


Review:

If you visited my blog a couple of hours earlier you might have seen the post where i have talked about Game Key Revealer, well SoftKey Revealer is basically the same as Game Key Revealer except for software. With it you can see all the keys of the programs that you have installed in Windows and save them into a text file. It was able to sucessfuly show the key for the only commercial program that i have in Windows XP which is great! SoftKey Revealer supports over 700 software products so your favorite programs may be supported, i can't be sure for certain tough. SoftKey Revealer is a good way of saving your software keys in case you loose them. Available for all Windows versions.


Get it at http://cakirbey.googlepages.com/softkeyrevealer

Get detailed information about your PC and run benchmarks with PC Wizard

Overview:

PC WIZARD 2008 is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.


Features:

• Can save, print, e-mail a report
• Can save a TXT, RTF, HTML, PDF or CSV report
• Can export any graphics as BMP file
• Can export text and graphic with the clipboard
• Web update Wizard
• Communicate with Motherboard Monitor
• Dump (Hardware registers, System BIOS, video BIOS ...)

Review:

PC Wizard is an utility for the detailed gathering of information about your PC. It can show both hardware and software information about your system like for example your motherboard model, brand of the CPU, multimedia codecs,Etc. There is also a wide variety of Benchmarking tools in which you can test your machine with tests for the CPU,RAM,hard drive,Etc. The results of these test can be compared with the results of various types of computers in order to check how strong or weak your PC is compared to them.
PC Wizard is fully portable so you can carry it in your pendrive and just works as it should. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

CD Recovery Toolbox Free will recover files from scratched CD/DVDs

Overview:

Recovery Toolbox for CD Free has been developed for recovering data from corrupted media of all types that are most common nowadays: CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. The program allows you to recover files of any types. The tool completely scans disks and saves as much information as possible. During the recovery process, Recovery Toolbox for CD Free uses a lot of different algorithms, which considerably increases the amount and quality of recovered data.


Features:

• Recovering corrupted data from all most common types of media for today
• Working with data that became corrupted both after a physical damage of the media and due to program errors
• Allowing the user to completely control the recovery process
• Giving the user as detailed report about the data recovery process as possible

Review:

CD Recovery Toolbox Free is a file recovery tool made specifically for optical media. Unlike the previously reviewed Copy Cat 2.0 CD Recovery Toolbox Free can select more than one file for recovery making the recovery process for whole CDs a lot less painful than with Copy Cat 2.0. CD Recovery Toolbox Free is easy to use and was able to recover files from a scratched CD that i have making this a good utility for recovering important files that otherwise would be lost forever. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/cd.html

Evil Player plays your music while keeping it's memory footprint low

Overview:

Evil Player is a fast, powerful and flexible media player for windows. Some of Evil Player's key features include Shoutcast, Icecast and Icecast2 support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular formats (MP3, MP2, MP1, OGG, AIFF and MOD).


Features:

• Easy to use
• Small (less than 1MB!)
• Audio formats supported: WAV, OGG, MP1, MP2, MP3, MOD, XM, IT, S3M, MTM, UMX, MO3
• Supports BASS plug-ins
• Low memory footprint
• Radio streaming (SHOUTcast/ICEcast/ICEcast2)
• SHOUTcast recording
• Completely free

Review:

Evil Player is a donationware music player with a very small memory footprint. It's not pretty like other players but it gets the job done. Just add a folder and play your songs. Unfortunately Evil Player doesn't support tags when viewing your playlist which can suck if you only use tags and keep your song's filenames all messed up. Evil player supports a wide variety of formats out of the box and you can even add more trough a plugins pack that is available for download. Oh besides playing music you can stream and record radio streams which is something that i have no use for however someone might like that. Finally Evil Player has last.fm support built-in which is great and something that more music players should have because i use last.fm a lot.
Evil Player used a little over 1Mb when playing music minimized to the system tray in my system which is awesome compared to other bloated software like Itunes. Oh and you can carry it around on your pendrive since Evil Player is fully portable. So in conclusion i liked this program even tough it's ugly because it's lightweight and it gets the job done. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://www.hakeem.gigahost.dk/index.php

MobaLiveCD offers a simple way of trying out your Live CDs

Overview:

MobaLiveCD is a freeware that will run your Linux LiveCD on Windows thanks to the excellent emulator called "Qemu".
MobaLiveCD allows you to test your LiveCD with a single click : after downloading the ISO image file of your favorite LiveCD, you just have to start it in MobaLiveCD and here you are, without the need to burn a CD-Rom or to reboot your computer.


Features:

* No need to burn the CD-Rom anymore
* You can use the right-click menu for an easy and fast start
* Program without installation that you can start from an USB stick
* A clear and easy to use interface
* Light and portable application, packaged in a single executable of 1.6MB only


Review:

MobaLiveCD is a virtualization program that can quickly boot Live CD ISOs from inside Windows. All you need to do is to select the Live CD image that you want to load and MobaLiveCD will run it in a Window. I found the emulation to be a little slower than when using VirtualBox but it was decent nonetheless. You can also optionally setup a virtual hard drive for the Live CD and install a context menu option to quickly load ISOs. Since MobaLiveCD comes packaged into a single executable you can carry it around in your pen-drive or other potable device making this a a very versatile tool in my opinion.
In conclusion MobaLiveCD is a simple way of testing Live CDs. Available for all Windows versions.


Get it at http://mobalivecd.mobatek.net/en/

Gsplit is the mother of all file splitting utilities

Overview:

This application is a free reliable file splitter that lets you split your large files (like Self-Extracting archives, Zip archives, disk images, multimedia, music, video, backup, image, archive, log, large text, document files...) into a set of smaller files called pieces.


Review:

Gsplit is a file splitter program with some very interesting features that put it above most other free splitters. For starters Gsplit can use two type of pieces when splitting files: Spanned pieces and Blocked pieces. Spanned pieces are used to split files directly into several disks like for example floppies. All you have to do is to to insert a new disk when prompted and Gsplit will automatically calculate the pieces size until it completes the splitting process. Blocked pieces are just your standard fixed size pieces. By default Gsplit creates a small executable (SFU) when you split files, this is used to unite all the created pieces otherwise you will have to use a small tool called "GUnite" to merge the pieces back to their original state. This SFU (self-uniting functionality) can be configured to display custom messages, set a default folder for extracting files and even set to work in silent mode among other things. You can store info into created pieces like dates and perform checks to see if a piece is corrupted and promptly replace it with a new good piece. Finally Gsplit is fully portable you can carry it with you all the time.
Gsplit is easy to use and is simple enough for the average user however it's large quantity of power features makes perfect for people that are just constantly sharing files on the web and need an advanced splitter. Available for all versions of Windows.


Get it at http://www.gdgsoft.com/gsplit/

UltraSurf will let you browse the web while using a U.S. IP

Overview:

UltraSurf is a free software which enables users inside countries with heavy Internet censorship to visit any public web sites in the world safely and freely. Users in countries without internet censorship also use it to protect their internet privacy and security. With UltraSurf started, you can use web browsers (like IE, Firefox) the same as before, but all are under UltraSurf's protection now.


Review:

Some while ago i talked about HotspotShield and that it allowed me to browse U.S. only sites without too much fuzz, well recently HotspotShield has been failing me. Every time it gets connected to the Virtual private network (VPN) i get horrible speeds and then i get disconnected. This sucks so i was forced to find an alternative, i ended up with UltraSurf. This small and portable program was originally created to allow people in information repressed countries to browse websites that are banned by their goverment. Just download and run the executable (u.exe) and UltraSurf will automatically open Internet Explorer using a U.S IP, extra options include the ability to delete the cookies and history of Internet explorer when closing UltraSurf along with IE itself. If you don't like using IE too much (i can't blame you) there is also a Firefox addon available but i couldn't make it work, maybe you'll have better luck than me. While using UltraSurf for browsing webpages worked well and fast (no ads!) i did encounter some problems on specific pages, sites Like Hulu and Pandora just won't work when trying to streaming content, maybe UltraSurf has them disabled so that they don't suck all of their bandwidth, it's a free service after all. In conclusion UltraSurf is probably more useful for bypassing your work's internet filters than for watching video on Hulu when you are outside the U.S. Available for all Windows versions (I think...)


Get it at http://www.ultrareach.com/