Free Utilities

[7/26/10 frwr_news 8/6/09] Partition Wizard Home Edition is a free partition manager designed by MT Solution Ltd. It supports 32/64 bit Windows Operating System including Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Home users can perform complicated partition operations by using this powerful but free partition manager to manage their hard disk partition such as Resizing partitions, Copying partitions, Create partition, Delete partition, Format partition, Convert partition, Explore partition, Hide partition, Change drive letter, Set active partition and Partition Recovery.

[7/22/10 frwr_news] Snowbird is a simple file-searching utility that seems to be a bit faster than the regular Windows Explorer search.

[7/18/10] A couple of promising-sounding utilities from the 7/29/09 frwr_news.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner v1.5.11.155 - 2208 KB
Keeping the Registry clean and error-free is the key to optimal computer performance. Auslogics Registry Cleaner will help you get rid of registry errors and make your computer as fast as ever, all of this for FREE.

Virtual CloneDrive v5.4.3.2 - 1516 KB
Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive.

[6/9/10] Partition Assistant Home Edition is completely FREE partition manager software. It allows you to manage partition, redistribute disk space easily, and you can use it to perform more complicated partition operations on your hard disk, which like the commercial Partition Magic.

[6/8/10] DirGraph provides a graphical view of the space used by your files and directories. It allows you to navigate around this view - zooming in to see greater detail and zooming out to see the bigger picture. [see my separate entry for more]

[1/23/10 frwr-news] EASEUS Partition Master Professional is comprehensive hard disk partition management tool and system partition optimization software; it can let you enjoy all the powerful basic and advanced partition functions for Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 32/64 bit users.

[7/1/09 frwr-news] ImageScaler - "I wrote this program because I've got tired of the poor quality image scaling (i.e. resizing) in image manipulation programs like: PhotoShop, PaintShopPro, Picture Publisher, ACDSee etc. which only offer the crappy bicubic algorithm."

[4/18/09 frwr-news] Paragon Hard Disk Manager Special Edition v8.5 -
Partitioning, cloning, backup, defragging, recovery: managing your hard drive throughout its life normally requires many different functions, and a library of tools. But there is another way. Install Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 SE and you'll get all the most useful hard drive tools collected together in a single, easy-to-use interface. [3/25/12 - no longer offered, so see next paragraph]

[3/25/12 frwr-news] Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free Edition v11 - 43041 KB
Partitioning is not for amateurs. That is why millions of people have
trusted our safe, stable technology and professional software solutions for
over 15 years. Our latest 11 version easily organizes your hard drive and
redistributes free space to enhance system performance.

[12/26/08 frwr-news] Unknown Device Identifier enables you to identify the yellow question mark labeled Unknown Devices in Device Manager. And reports you a detailed summary for the manufacturer name, OEM name, device type, device model and even the exact name of the unknown devices. With the collected information, you might contact your hardware manufacturer for support or search the Internet for the corresponding driver with a simple click.

[7/1/12 frwr-news] Undelete 360 v2.15 - 2697 KB
Powerful but easy to use data recovery software that can restore files and
folders lost due to virus attacks, human errors, software or hardware
failures.

Software supports recovery of files deleted from computers, flash drives,
cameras, and any other data storage. With an optimized algorithm and smart
built-in cache system, the tool has incredibly fast scan of hard drives.
Operating system: Windows 2000 / XP / VISTA / Windows 7 / 2003 or 2008
Server.
[12/22/07 frwr-news] Glary Undelete is a free and easy-to-use yet powerful file undelete solution for FAT and NTFS file systems. It will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. It will even recover files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

Glary Undelete works under Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista operating systems. The program supports all Windows file systems for hard and floppy drives including FAT12/16/32,NTFS/NTFS5 and image recovery from CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia and Secure Digital cards.

Absolute Uninstaller is similar to standard Windows Add/Remove program but more powerful.The standard Add/Remove program can't uninstall applications completely which often leaves broken registry keys ,unnecessary files on the hard disk.The more junk files your computer have ,the slower it runs. Uninstall Manager can wipe off all the junk files clearly in seconds.It offers a more user-friendly way to remove unneeded applications and to improve your computer efficiency.

[11/11/07 frwr-news] filehippo.com is a good source of freebie utilities

[10/7/07 frwr-news] Drive Rescue is a program for exploring your hard disk, and locating lost files on it. The idea for this program originated from processing a disk with Scandisk--which suddenly contained no data. Since off-the-shelf Windows methods could not recover any of it, this program was successfully created.

[9/14/07 frwr-news] Undeletion Wizard is a file undeletion program for windows. It can recover (undelete) deleted files from your hard disk. Currently Undeletion Wizard supports undeletion only from fat 32 partitions. It can search your hard disk for undeletable files. Advanced Search options allows you to search deleted files by specifying their file names (whole or part) or by their extensions. Undeletion Wizard can also undelete files from deleted directories. It can scan recursively your disk's directory structure.

[1/17/07 frwr-news] Slawdog AquiMem is a small utility for Windows 95-XP that allows you to defragment your system's physical memory. Have you ever noticed that it is nearly impossible to keep your computer running over a week without a crash or system slowdown occuring? Defragmenting RAM is necessary to keep the operating system stable and healthy without the constant need to reboot.

Slawdog AquiMem's purpose is to regain that lost memory and make it available to the application again. This is done by instructing the operating system to remove portions of unused memory and relocating it to the hard drive swap file.

[11/12/06 frwr-news] Ultimate Data Recovery will quickly and easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure

[11/12/06 frwr-news] Cute Partition Manager (CPM) is an advanced hard disk partition management utility. Using Cute Partition Manager, you can easily add, edit, delete and manage the partitions in your computer.

[11/1/06 frwr-news] Directory Lister will create a file listing the files in your directories. Or simply try

Start --> Run --> cmd
cd \your_directory_here
tree /f > All_Files.txt

[10/31/06 frwr-news] Regular use of computer makes the registry fragmented and cluttered with obsolete and invalid data. Fix My Registry software keeps this critical part of your PC in perfect condition.

[10/27/06 frwr-news] DriverMax is a new program which allows you to easily reinstall all your Windows drivers. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Simply export all your current drivers (or just the ones that work ok) to a folder or a compressed file. After reinstalling Windows you will have everything in one place! [for Vista and XP]

[9/27/06 frwr-news] SoftPerfect File Recovery is a free and useful tool to restore accidentally deleted files from hard and floppy disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media. It supports the popular file systems such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and NTFS5 with compression and encryption. If your important files disappeared and you can’t find them in the recycle bin, try this software product and get the files back to life. Easy to use, no installation is required.

[9/20/06 junk mail] Registry Defender is a complimentary and easy to use program that can scan for and correct problems in your computers registry. Correcting such problems can provide benefits such as:

• Faster Computer Speeds
• Faster Computer Startup (Boot)
• Fewer Computer Crashes and Internet Freezes
• Fewer Computer Crashes
• Fewer Trojans and Spyware

It's limited to fixing 20 problems at a time, so I just reran it again to fix the problems it didn't fix the first time. As to how well it works, I don't know. But I haven't had any program yet that has fixed the slowdown the my Windows ME inevitably experiences after running for a while (especially after deleting email in my overloaded Outlook Express deleted folder)


[9/10/06] What is gone is gone? Far from it! Avira UnErase recovers data that have been deleted from the hard drive – either accidentally or as a result of a virus infection, an uninstaller or defective software. The danger of important data being lost forever is averted with Avira UnErase.

[9/01/06 frwr-news] Floppy Image v1.5.2 - 135 KB. Creates image files of floppy disks and back (for backup, storage or transfer). You can choose to save the image file compressed, uncompressed or as a self-extracting exe file. You can also add descriptions to your image files.

Floppy Image Creator v1.4.1 - 244 KB
This program allows you to make an exact image of a floppy disk and save it to a file, and of course restore the image to disk when ever required. It is especially useful for making backups of system and/or boot disks.

[8/11/06 frwr-news] AntiCrash a system utility that’s designed to free memory and prevents Windows from crashing. Primarily, the program works by monitoring every application running in the background. It goes further by displaying processor threads, DLL files and other system items you won't ordinarily find in the Control-Alt-Delete menu.

Making Windows more stable must be one of the holy grails of programming. AntiCrash, its designed to spare you from countless boot-ups. Essentially, it provides access to several functions and tasks that tend not to crash the operating system. It controls memory threads and virtually forces commands to reach the system Kernel. AntiCrash is completely multi-threaded, allowing you to work with applications without the usual instabilities and grinding slowdowns.

This utility use an ‘Application Protection Engine’ that can potentially repair problem applications or system files. For example, it automatically fixes annoying memory links that slow your system.

[I'm using it now and it seems to have somewhat improved the slowdown of my system so far. But maybe it's coincidence because it did slow down the second day.]

[7/27/06 frwr-news] With Double Driver you can view which drivers are installed in your system and you can backup the drivers you choose, save and print the drivers list, and more.

(Unfortunately, it found nothing on my Windows ME system)

[6/16/06] What Abexo Free Registry Cleaner? A.F. Registry Cleaner is a utility software to make your computer run smoother and faster. What is registry? Registry is a database where Windows and programs store their data. Why do I need to clean the registry? When data changes i.e. you delete a file, the registry doesn't remove the invalid data, thus in this case a reference to a non-existent file remains in the registry. As the registry gets filled with invalid data, Windows and programs consume more system resources to search the database for any data. Therefore your computer gets slower and slower. [haven't tried it yet, frwr-news, 6/11/06]

[6/16/06] ADRC Data Recovery Tools contains a collection of DIY recovery tools that supports a wide variety drives and file systems.

The software incorporates extremely simple GUI with novice users in mind. The software zooms in to do only critical recovery functions with minimum complexity. It gives you full control to undelete files, disk image back up, restore a backup image, copy files from hard disk with bad sectors, disk cloning, backup, edit and restore your boot parameters. [frwr-news, 6/13/06]

[6/1/06] Driver Magician Lite identifies all the hardware in the system, extracts their associated drivers from the hard disk and backs them up to a location of your choice. Then when you format and reinstall/upgrade your operating system, you can restore all the "saved" drivers just as if you had the original driver diskettes in your hands. [frwr-news, 2006-06-02]

[5/6/06] Apparently Partition Logic now supports resizing [frwr-news, 4/25/06]

[2/24/06] HDClone Free Edition enables you to move the content from an entire hard drive to another, larger one. The program installs itself on a bootable floppy or CD, and include it`s own operating system, so it runs completely independent from Windows. Once HDClone has created the bootable floppy or CD for you, you can use it to boot your computer and copy the drive content to the new (installed) drive, using a graphical interface. The free version is perfectly suitable to upgrade your existing drive to a larger one. It supports IDE/ATA/SATA hard disks and is able to copy up to 300 MB/min. The software does not recognize a USB mouse or keyboard (after boot), so you need to connect a non-USB mouse and keyboard to operate the copy interface. License: Freeware Windows: 98/ME/2000/XP [from frwr-news]

[11/6/05] Partition Logic is a free alternative to Partition Magic. One big drawback is that it doesn't look like it supports resizing. - frwr-news, 11/5/05

size does matter

A research team led by Syracuse University biologist Scott Pitnick found that in bat species where the females are promiscuous, the males boasting the largest testicles also had the smallest brains. Conversely, where the females were faithful, the males had smaller testes and larger brains.

"It turns out size does matter," said Pitnick, whose findings were published in December in "Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Science," an online journal.

looking for something?

The number of online searches in the U.S. soared to nearly 5.1 billion searches in December from 3.3 billion a year earlier, despite just a slight uptick in the total number of Americans connecting to the Internet, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

The number of Internet users in the U.S. rose merely 3 percent year-on-year in December to 207 million people.

more traffic than Google

The Internet has a rising star whose name isn't Google. Just over 2 years old, MySpace now has 2 1/2 times the traffic of Google Inc., and it quickly eclipsed Friendster as the top social-networking site where users build larger and larger circles of friends.

-- from frwr-news (of all places)

Homemade Wind Power

is wind power something that could become feasible on an individual home basis? Will you ever see turbines mounted on the roofs of your town? The answer, surprisingly, may be yes, if a small company in the president's home state has anything to say about it.

Sometime this month, Plano, Texas-based Mag-Wind Co. LLC will install the first of its five pre-production model rooftop turbines. The customer: Fort Worth real estate developer Ross Perot, Jr., who is putting one atop his office building in downtown Dallas.

digital cameras

My digital cameras are quite old. My Sony Mavica (with floppy!) still works but the picture isn't that clear. My other camera is a Fuji FinePix 1400Zoom which takes sharper pictures but seems to be flakey with the power often shutting down. (Maybe it needs newer batteries, but they test OK.)

Anyway it may be soon time for a new camera. I'd like to get a camera with a 10x or better zoom (since that's what my Sony has), but those are pretty expensive. Maybe I'll try for a a cheaper camera for general use.

Anyway, I'm writing this because I see that the Fuji FinePix F10 has won the Digital Imaging Websites Association's Platinum Award as "Best Digital Amateur Camera".

Here's a review. It has a 3x optical zoom and has a video function. It uses an XD Picture card and an NP-120 Lithium-Ion battery. The price? Amazon lists it at $289.99 (sold and shipped by TigerDirect). That's actually kind of higher than I was looking for because I can get a higher zoom camera for not much more.

metapad

I've been using editpad for a while as a text editor replacement for notepad. The main problem with notepad is that it has a size limitation. The other main limitation for me is that it doesn't allow one to change the background color (though I see now that it does allow one to change the font).

EditPad fixes that problem, however, the "old" editpad has a bug where linebreaks occasionally appear mysteriously in large files. The newer version, EditPad Lite, fixes this bug, but highlights URLs which is a feature not always desirable to me.

I'm trying out metapad (as mentioned on frwr-news). It seems to handle both of these problems OK. The only quirk I notice so far (on my 1 minute of trying it out) is that that text begins one column over from the left.

Actually, looking again at EditPad Lite, I see I can turn off the syntax coloring for html documents. OK, maybe I'll stick with EditPad Lite then.

Ubunto Linux

Recently a new version of Linux has been climbing the rankings of users'preferences: Ubuntu.

Promoted and supported by Canonical Ltd., it is named after an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others."

- from frwr_news

[5/14/08 frwr_news] Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way.

[1/20/09] After about like four hours for the wubi install, nothing happened on reboot. I found out wubi doesn't support Windows ME.