Encrypt any file type with advanced encryption algorithms, and lock it down with password up to 32 characters. This is not the only thing Andreas FileProtector offers to you. It also enables you to do quick protection by integrating itself with Windows explorer's right-click menu. The protected files are converted into .afp format.

Here are some of its other features that you may never find in other similar free programs:

1. Password strength indicator to help you know how strong your password is.
2. Password hint to provide you a clue in remembering the password.
3. Optionally compress files before the encryption takes place.
4. Optionally create a self-decrypting archive for the protected file's portability. This archive can be extracted with the proper password in a system where Andreas FileProtector isn't installed.
5. It creates back-up before the protection process is started in case any error happens that might result in the loss of the original file. The back-up file can be automatically deleted if the protection runs successfully.
6. The original file can be optionally deleted with a choice of three methods: normal deletion, rapid secure deletion, or deletion with overwriting up to 3 pass.
7. It supports three encryption algorithms: AES 256/192/128 bit, TripleDES 192 bit and DES 64 bit.
8. And the other important thing is it is also easy to use for anyone.

There are other free protection programs that offers high security for your files, but generally it either takes more time to learn how to use them or doesn't offer portability for the protected files.

Publisher: Androsa
For: Windows XP/Vista/2000 (Service pack 4 required)/Server 2003
License: Freeware
Version reviewed: 1.40

Go to the homepage to download the newest version

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Custom Skin Clock lets you to place an analog clock on your desktop.

What can you do with it?

- put a favorite image as the clock's background
- the image can be zoomed and its position is adjustable
- change the color of clock hands and frame
- change the size and color of the clockface number
- make it transparent and the transparency is adjustable
- make it bigger or smaller

I see this as an alternative way to make your desktop more beautiful and interactive. I love to see my favorite image on the background of the clock. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer other frames such as triangle or other shapes. However, it is still nice to see how the clock integrates with your desktop environment.

Publisher: UpClock Software
License: Freeware
For: Windows

Go to the homepage to get the newest version

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Are you searching for RSS icon for your blog? You can stop searching now as I have found these 51 creative RSS icons which are freely available for anyone. Most of them are unique with different size and color. Below are just 3 examples of them.

So, if you're already bored enough with the standard orange RSS icon, or seek for one that fits your blog's design, go see the complete list of the icons immediately.

Get 51 RSS Buttons now

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No antivirus can guarantee a file is free from virus or other malwares even though the file passes the scanning. Each antivirus may have different level of capability in detecting virus. Sometimes an antivirus is able to detect a virus while another isn't able to.

Suppose that you have a crucial file to be sent to your colleague or customer, do you trust your antivirus's capability to state that the file is completely clean from any virus? If you don't want to take a risk, use the free service of VirusTotal. This online service will scan a file using 32 antivirus engine!

What antiviruses does it use? Check this out:
Symantec (Norton Antivirus), Kaspersky Lab (AVP), McAfee (VirusScan), Norman (Norman Antivirus), Panda Software (Panda Platinum), Softwin (BitDefender), Sophos (SAV), F-Secure (F-Secure), Grisoft (AVG), ALWIL (Avast! Antivirus), ClamAV (ClamAV), Avira (AntiVir), Bit9 (FileAdvisor), FRISK Software (F-Prot), AhnLab (V3), Aladdin (eSafe), Authentium (Command Antivirus), Cat Computer Services (Quick Heal), CA Inc. (Vet), Doctor Web, Ltd. (DrWeb), Eset Software (ESET NOD32), ewido networks (ewido anti-malware), Fortinet (Fortinet), Hacksoft (The Hacker), Ikarus Software (Ikarus), Microsoft (Malware Protection), Prevx (Prevx1), Rising Antivirus (Rising), Secure Computing (Webwasher), Sunbelt Software (Antivirus), VirusBlokAda (VBA32), VirusBuster (VirusBuster).

VirusTotal provides you three ways in sending a file:
1. You can upload it via its webpage and optionally can use the SSL for more security level
2. Download its uploader to be able to send a file directly from your system using right-click menu
3. Attach a file in an email addressed to scan@virustotal.com.

To keep the privacy of your file, you can choose not to distribute it to the participant antivirus companies if it is found to be infected.

Keep in mind, though, that this superior scanning still can't give you guarantee that your file is 100% clean from any malware infection. I myself see it as a way to make me more confident in sending a file to a friend of mine.

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Thanks to the rapid movement of technology, now our computer can run multiple tasks simultaneously. One of its consequences that you may experience almost everyday is that your taskbar is overwhelmed with running applications.

To solve this you can expand the width of the taskbar by dragging the edges, but it may look bad or odd to some of you. Luckily, TrayDevil offers a neat and interesting solution. It can minimize all opened windows to the tray.

TrayDevil lets you to minimize all to tray just by pressing Ctrl + left-click on the title bar of an application's window. The application will be iconized in the tray which will be visible if you click it.

The interesting part of it is that when you minimize the window that has already been iconized, it will always go back to the tray until you restore it to the original state. To restore, just right-click the application's icon in the tray and select the "Restore" command.

TrayDevil also comes with many other features that some may interest you:

1. Disable the min, max, and close buttons of an application's window.
2. Set a window to be always on top so another application won't be able to steal focus.
3. Show a small calendar icon instead of TrayDevil icon.
4. Restart, Log Off, Hibernate, Stand By, or Shutdown options.
5. Turn off the monitor from the tray.
6. Support command-line.
7. Restart, Shutdown and LogOff can be delayed by an adjustable countdown
8. Hotkeys can be personally configured.
9. Still more...check the complete features at its homepage.

Publisher: Ton Jenneboer
For: Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista
License: Freeware
Version reviewed: 1.4.4
Additional requirement: Windows 95/98/NT4 users will need to install the VB6 runtime files, and Windows NT4 users will need a copy of pdh.dll in the program or system folder (all needed components can be downloaded via the download page of TrayDevil)



Go to the homepage of TrayDevil to download the newest version.

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First time I found this software I couldn't stop wondering why anyone would use this kind of program. I mean, you know that we can add almost any shortcut we want in the Send to directory manually and there is nothing complex at all in doing such a task.

However, I kept downloading it anyway to satisfy my curiosity. Now, thank God I have discovered this one. It makes my file management a lot easier than before.

To see the improvement, let's compare the traditional way with this nifty app in placing a folder in the Send to.

Using the traditional way
1. You've got to show the hidden files and folders from the Folder Options to display the hidden Send to directory.
2. Copy whichever folder you want.
3. Open the Send to of your Documents and Settings. Then paste the folder copied before as a shortcut within.

Using Send To Toys
1. After instalation, you only need to right-click any folder you like and select Add to Send To menu.

A lot more practical, isn't it? There are still other benefits offered by this program:



- It will send the folder copied as a copy within its destination. You can change this to move instead of copy. Copy it as a shortcut is also possible.
- Add any file and folder to Favorites list directly from right-click menu.
- Place any file and folder as a shortcut on the quick launch area.

The program has several places to send file or folder within by default. For me, I just love the facts that I can add a folder without having to do the 3 steps above, and that I can move a file/folder instead of copy it.



Publisher: Gabriele Ponti
For: Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server, and Vista
License: Freeware
Version reviewed: 2.5
Visit the homepage of Send To Toys (Scroll down to the middle to find it)

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Remarkable. FastStone Image Viewer (FIV) is a remarkable freeware letting you to view, manage, and edit images, and build some creations such as slide show with so many features that some are rarely found on other similar graphic freeware.



Save as... option
When you decide to save an image to a different name, the Save as.. dialog gives different options for you to do some adjustments to the image before saving. The option given depends on what image format you choose. Saving an image in BMP format results in options different from options when you save it in JPEG, for example.



What interests me more is that it provides two windows for comparing the image you're about to save with the original. The images compared can be viewed in its actual size, full-screen, be fitted to window, or you can zoom it in and out.

See the arrow button I mark with red box? This arrow lets you to preview the image-saving setting's result right on the original image. When you hold it down, you're able to identify the image's elements change better. This provides you a greater help in setting up the configuration for the image, especially when you view it in full-screen mode.

Moreover, you can compare the image size as well.

Comparation
You may sometimes save an image several times in different settings and formats for certain purposes. FIV makes you possible to compare up to 4 images. All are compared directly side-by-side within one window at a time in different view options you can choose.



Wallpaper Anywhere
Wallpaper Anywhere lets you to produce a wallpaper consisting of many images. Each image is resizeable and can be freely put in any area.

It has 88 frames which you can choose from to be applied to each inserted image. The result can be saved into a different file as well.



Full-Screen State
Unlike other freeware, in full-screen you can display the program's features just by moving your mouse pointer to screen edges. Each edge displays different functions:
- moving mouse pointer to bottom displays the control bar where you can access options such as screen-capturing, printing, or saving.
- moving mouse pointer to top displays thumbnail browser window
- moving mouse pointer to right displays the image's properti and EXIF metadata
- moving mouse pointer to left displays the image editing options

Other functions will let you to build slideshow with approximately 156 effects and music support, very flexible magnifier setting, powerful batch image convert, and do many more.

Website: FastStone Image Viewer
Version reviewed: 3.4
License: Free for home use
For: Windows 98SE, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista

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Other freeware like IZARC can extract multiple archives at a time, so what is special from this one?



Since ExtractNow is specifically design for extracting many archives simultaneously, it has some functions that you can hardly find on programs that do both archiving and extracting.

One of the functions is it allows you to enqueue archives into its main window to be extracted later. The enqueue operation can be done by simply from right-click menu in Windows explorer or by dragging and dropping files into the program's main window. This feature will be very helpful if you plan to extract archives located in several separate locations. After all archives are ready, you can extract all of them into a single location or into their original locations.

You can even set it to extract archives into a different location automatically without adding them in the application's main window.

There are several behaviors you can activate to run automatically right after the extraction is finished. It can be delete or recycle archives, open the destination folder, move archives, close program, or clear extracted archives from the program's window.

It supports ZIP, RAR, ISO, IMG, IMA, IMZ, BIN, 7Z, ACE, JAR, GZ, LZH, LHA, and TAR.

Website: ExtractNow
Version reviewed: 4.39
License: Freeware
For: Windows

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It doesn't only make Windows drive icon looks nicer, but also adds a horizontal bar under each as a free space indicator.



This horizontal bar color will turn red if there is only a little space left on the drive. However, you can only see the graph in "My Computer" section. You won't be able to see it under the drive icon in tree panel.

Make sure you set the view to "Thumbnails, Tiles, or Icons" as the graph won't be displayed in other view types.

Get Vista Drive Icon now

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In my previous post about changing Windows XP drive letter, the tool used is Computer Management utility. Now, if you want to hide the letters and just display the name, then we need to use the Registry to add a new setting. Is it difficult? No, it is just another easy process.

Now, here is what to do.



First, open the Registry from the Run box by typing regedit followeb by pressing the OK button. On the left panel, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Explorer (see screenshot). On the right panel, right-click on any empty area and select New, then DWORD value.

Name the value ShowDriveLettersFirst. After that double-click it to show up the Edit DWORD Value window. Insert value 2 in the Value data and click OK. Now close the Registry and restart to apply the new configuration.



To restore or to show the drive letter back to its previos state, just delete the created DWORD value, ShowDriveLettersFirst, and restart your computer.

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In my post about ways to open Firefox tabs quickly, one of the tricks is by pressing Ctrl + (1-9). The weakness of this shortcut usage is when you open many tabs. Which one is the 5th, or the 7th tab? This shortcut is made for speeding up the browsing, but if the tabs themselves only have the close buttons and don't have any "ID", how one can be expected to know which is which? If you force to use this shortcut when having many tabs opened, you end up counting from tab to tab. Tell me then, is it quicker or slower than to use mouse to open?

Luckily, Chris Gaunt was aware about this flaw and is giving the solution away to public. His work, called Fancy Numbered Tabs, is a Firefox extension that replaces the close button with number. The numbers are of course depend on the each tab's position (see screenshot below).

To close the buttons you still can use the combination of Ctrl + W. Or, you can mouse over the tab to display the close icon to click.

For a reminder, Ctrl + 9 doesn't mean that you open the 9th tab. It is to open the last tab by default.

Download for Firefox 2.0 to 3.0a9

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By displaying explorer in full screen, there will be a wider space to manage your files. This will allow you to focus on the management task. In case you need to move to another application window, you can use the combination Alt and Tab without having to exit the full-screen state.

The simplest way to make it happens is pressing F11 button. Another way is to set up a full-screen button, and this can be arranged by right-clicking the icon toolbar and select Customize. Then look for the button on the left panel and move it to the right. Close when you're finished and the button will be on the toolbar area.



As you see, the taskbar, title and menu bar are hidden by default, leaves only the toolbar when you switch to full-screen.

This looks simple, but I bet some of you forget or even still don't know that the standard full-screen state can be improved. How? To find out, right click the toolbar area to display the menu. There is one command that can only be seen in full-screen state, Auto-Hide. Select this and you will have a complete full-screen. Unlike the menu bar and taskbar, the toolbar can still be seen by moving your pointer to the upper side.

What if you want it the other way? Instead of hiding more, you want to see more and hide only the title bar and taskbar. It's easy. Right click the toolbar again and choose what you want to display.

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There are a number of free screen capturers out there offering you the capability to grab a screenshot of a web page, but most of them only capture the visible area. Only a few can grab the entire page. Unfortunately, I sometimes find problem with the result of the capturing. Even some well-known commercial products I have tried don't do well about taking a screenshot of entire web page.

Now, I find another free screen capturer that works as a Firefox extension, Fireshot. It is definitely the one you should use if you want just to take an image of a web page. As it is specially designed for the purpose, the operation is very simple and straightforward.

After installation, you should find two commands within your right-click menu in Firefox:
- Take screenshot (entire page)...
- Take screenshot (visible area)...

Choose what you need and click it to start the action. The capturing process, especially for entire page, is faster than the other screen capturers I have used before.

Some simple editing tools are also available to:
- add any explanatory element to the captured image like giving annotation
- applying certain effects such as glowing or blurring selected text
- crop an area in eclipsed or rectangle shape

The result can be saved in jpeg, png, bitmaps, and compressed bitmap.

Install Now

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