Repair, clean, and optimize your Windows with 2 clicks

If you use your computer and do not perform regular maintenance, eventually it will show the warning signs: slow operations, occasional crashes, freezing windows, etc. If you use your computer not just for email and Internet, but try new software and games, this process might lead to the serious system clogging. Computer guru have the detailed maintenance plans how to keep their systems on the top of performance results. One of my friends reinstalls Operating System once every 6 months to keep it clean and fresh.

Regular user, as I am, is too busy to spend time on the computer preventive maintenance up to the point, when the performance troubling signs cannot be ignored any more. At this point we are falling to the panic mode and starting all the available magic tricks to restore the lost power.

There are so many software titles available, including freeware and open source, that it is hard to choose one for the service operations. In this publication, I want to present a descent solution for resolving all computer troubles. Advanced WindowsCare Personal is a comprehensive PC care utility that can be characterized by a “one-click approach” to the tasks of protecting, repairing, and general optimizing of your computer. Software will perform the following operations with your PC:

* Removing Spyware and Adware modules, running on your PC.

* Preventing potential Security Threats, altering appropriate settings.

* Privacy Protection.

* Fixing Registry Errors, and optimizing registry.

* Cleaning temporary files and orphans.

* Cleaning startup options, removing unnecessary applications from initializing.

* Repairing Windows operating system.

* Speeding up operating system and optimizing RAM use.

I would not say, that the program is the most effective on the market, but it is definitely one of the most easiest, if not the easiest, to control and operate. If you run into trouble, the Restoration option can return your system to its original configuration.

Software is absolutely free and designed for Windows Vista, XP and 2000.

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

A very brief half-minute video tutorial will show you the software operation:

Advanced WindowsCare Personal in 30 seconds

Cleaning your Windows context-menu with MMM

Mmm small freeware utility will be handy to those, who are dealing with multiple software titles on the computer, having computer applications for every occasion and need, or potential occasion and hypothetical need (like I am) at some point in the future.

Many modern programs, for user convenience, add their own items to the windows right-click menu. After a while, this menu will grow big, consisting from the items that you might never use thereafter. Sometimes, you may even download the program, but the program reference will be still forgotten in the list.

Use MMM to resolve the issue by configuring your windows menus. You can finally remove menu-items you never use and put rarely used functions in a separate sub-menu, keeping afloat just several functions you frequently use in a small, tidy base menu. Configuration is very simple, just drag and drop the menu-items where you want them to go. Indeed, this is one of those cool utilities you did not know you needed until you tried it! No adware, no spyware, no nag-screens - just free!

Access home page for more information and installation file downloading:
http://hace-software.com/MMM.shtml

Free Portable Music Collection Organizer and Tag Editor

TagScanner is a free, portable, versatile program to assist in organizing large music collections. It can edit tags on the fly, rename files based on the tag information, generate tag information from filenames, and perform any transformations of the text from tags and filenames. Also you may get official album information through free online databases like freedb or Amazon. Software fully supports MP3, OGG, Musepack, Monkey’s Audio, FLAC, AAC, OptimFROG, SPEEX, WavePack, TrueAudio, WMA, MP4 files and ID3 1.0/1.1/2.2/2.3/2.4 tags, APE v1 and v2 tags, Vorbis Comments, WMA tags and MP4 (iTunes) metadata formats. Among additional functions available are: playlist editor with ability to export to HTML or Excel, Multilanguage interface, and built-in multi-format player.

Website: http://www.xdlab.ru/en/

Download and Convert YouTube Video in 100 seconds

Save2pc, formerly known as YouTube Downloader, is a free simple tool that downloads files from YouTube, Google Video, or some other video hosting sites (MySpace Video, Break, Daily Motion, and couple of porn sites downloading is available in the paid PRO version) and saves them to your disk as Avi, Mpeg, and Flv (or in the mobile devices files formats (mp4, 3gp, mov) as the additional option, available in the PRO version).

If I would do the detailed software review, the most common word would be “Simple”: simple computer program, simple interface, simple operations. But, for this program, the detailed review is unneeded. Simply paste the URL of the clip you want to download and select the output video format. User interface of the program is very simple, so you do not need to have any technical knowledge to use it.

The Light version is portable, and does not require installation. Download from authors’s web site: http://www.save2pc.com/download-portable.html

Miro - free Internet TV and Video Player

Sometimes, the product name might influence the product fate. When Democracy Player has been first released in February 2006, the software name drew negative responses from many Internet and computer users.


Americans associated the name with standard image of yet another left wing media project, and to the rest of the world it was, for some reason, being associated with the Bush administration policy. Under massive consumer pressure, the player was recently renamed to neutral Miro.


Miro is an open-source free Internet television application, supported on major Operating Systems as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It can automatically download videos from RSS-based "channels", manage them and play them with descent quality. The application is designed to mesh with other PCF products such as Video Bomb, a social tagging video website, and the Channel Channel, a TV guide for internet television. It integrates an RSS aggregator, a BitTorrent client, and media players (VLC media player under Windows, QuickTime under Mac OS X or Xine Media Player under Linux).

Among program prominent features:


* Miro’s provides perfectly organized list of over 1,500 podcast channels, with content filtered by popularity, editor picks, genre, tags, and language.


* Miro has a built-in search function which accesses content from YouTube, Veoh, Google Video, Blogdigger, Revver, DailyMotion, and Blip.tv, with possibility of the following clips downloading.


* Miro is compatible with most common video file types: DivX, Xvid, QuickTime, WMV, and AVI.


* Miro has a built-in BitTorrent client.


Download the software from authors’ Web Site: http://www.getmiro.com/


Additional Reading:
http://www.last100.com/2007/07/17/democracy-player-is-dead-long-live-miro/
http://www.webtvwire.com/miro-open-source-video-aggregator-in-depth-guide-to-the-new-democracy-player/

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Update 05-01-2012:


Once awhile, I am checking the old posts to see, if the software promoted is still alive and well. The freeware market is constantly evolving. Some players disappear, other may change focus or switch to a new product. 


So, Miro is alive and continues constant development. 


The software version 5 is available for downloading from the developers' website.


Here are the main features of the latest product (you will notice many new capabilities reflecting the new market demands):



1. Works with your current music library
It's very easy to switch from iTunes to Miro -- without any copying. Just point Miro to your music and video folders and those files will appear. If you don't like Miro (impossible!), nothing's changed.
2. Converts and syncs to Android & Kindle Fire
You'd have to be crazy to use a music player that doesn't sync to your phone. Miro is simply the best music and video player for Android phones and tablets.
3. Buy Music and Apps inside Miro
The Amazon MP3 store is built-in to Miro. Buy, download, and listen, seamlessly. Buy Android apps from the Amazon or Google app stores and they will sync to your device.
4. Download and play almost any video
Do you still use separate programs to download, play music, play videos, and sync to your phone? Miro plays almost any video or music format and downloads from YouTube, podcasts, Amazon, and bittorrent.
5. Convert any video
You can convert almost any video with Miro into mp4/h264, with presets for almost any device you can think of (including iPhones, iPods, iPads, Android phones, and more).
6. Share Your Media on your Network
When two Miro's are on the same wifi network, they can stream and transfer music and videos to each other. It's the easiest way to watch a video or play music upstairs if the file is downstairs.
7. Open-source - don't lock yourself in!
Unlike some other media players (cough, cough), Miro is not trying to run your life! Not only is Miro 100% free and open-source, it's made by a non-profit organization. You don't need to be locked down by one corporation to have a great media experience.
8. Ultra-fast torrent downloading
Miro has some of the fastest bittorrent downloading in the world, built in. Try us head-to-head with any bittorrent application!

Operate you iPod with ease of USB Drive with SharePod

It is a dream of every music player owner to be able to use its device as USB stick. It would be nice, if the iPod can be connected to the computer, and the songs and videos transfer between computer and player can be achieved with the same ease as transfer inside the computer. With no need to synchronize content of iPod with computer’s music and video library.

SharePod is application that makes the process easy and reliable. The new software version 3.8 has been released on April 2, 2008.

So, what is SharePod? SharePod 3 is a lightweight music management program for iPod. You can copy music and videos between your iPod and computers without any additional conversion and synchronization procedures and with no extra software installed.

Software is easy to use. Download SharePod and extract the contents of the zip file to your iPod drive. As this procedure is completed, your iPod will appear as a Removable Drive in My Computer when it is plugged in.

Program features:

1. You can copy songs and playlists from your iPod to your PC.
2. You can copy songs from a PC to your iPod with no need for iTunes.
3. Customize and optimize organization of copied files - you can choose your own folder and filename structure.
4. While software can be used without iTunes, if needed, integration with iTunes can be easily achieved - once you have copied music to your PC, you can easily add it to your iTunes library.
5. Software has built-in media player for your convenience.
6. Searching capabilities by various criteria: by Title, Artist, Album, Genre (or any combination).
7. You can create Winamp playlists from the music on your iPod so you can listen without copying the mp3 audio files to your computer.
8. iPod Network File Sharing - If you are on a network, and you enable the special feature, other users can run your copy of SharePod from their own computers, and download music directly from your iPod.
9. No messy install/uninstall process - SharePod is just a couple of files, and is running directly from the iPod, so you do not need to install anything in the computer you are using.
10. User-friendly and intuitive interface with drag-and-drop capabilities.

Link for downloading (from Tom's Guide): http://www.tomsguide.com/us/download/SharePod,0301-1954.html

Additional Reading:
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/07/06/how-to-use-sharepod-to-copy-files-to-and-from-your-ipod-in-windows/
http://jeff-dev.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharepod-38-released.html
http://www.freewarefiles.com/Sharepod_program_26104.html

Carry all Office Utilities on tiny USB drive

I am used to carry all the time quite a big USB drive “just in case”, so, for me, a small size of the application is not a decisive factor. But for those, whose USB drive space is tight, the following software will be very handy. Tiny USB Office is a small (2.31 MB), portable productivity software suite which offers a collection of unique standalone free applications. If you find yourself working on different machines and like the idea of having portable software that you can access hassle-free from any computer, then this is the package for you. You will not have to rely on the utilities installed on the computer you need to work with: in the friend’s house, in the Internet Cafe, or on the Cruise Ship.

Whether you need to create rich-text word processing documents, share files across multiple computers, transfer files, create MS Excel compatible spreadsheets, comma-delimited database files, email your contacts, talk to your friends or co-workers on MSN, create PDF files, or securely encrypt or delete files - this is the perfect software package for you!

Tiny USB Office features all of these programs, which are accessible with one click with the included Qsel portable program launcher software:

• Database Creation - with CSVed
• Data Encryption - with DScrypt
• Email Client Software - with NPopUK
• File Compression - with 100 Zipper
• File Sharing - with HFS
• File Transfer - with FTP Wanderer
• Flowchart Creation - with EVE Vector Editor
• MSN Messenger Client - with PixaMSN
• Tree-Style Outliner Software - with Mempad
• PDF Creation - with PDF Producer
• Password Recovery - with XPass
• Secure Deletion - with DSdel
• Spreadsheet Creation - with Spread32
• Text Editing - with TedNotepad
• Word Processing - with Kpad
• Program Launching - with Qsel

I hope, you understand that so small package does not plan to compete with Microsoft Office in terms of the available features, and cannot be considered as MS Office replacement, however, it is the perfect basic portable office solution for anyone who is on the road a lot, or who finds themselves working on different or older, sluggish computers.

You can get more information and download the software on the author’s Web Site: http://www.xtort.net/office-and-productivity/floppy-office/