Saturday, February 28, 2009

Advanced Alternative for ALT+CTRL+DELETE

Ideally, your computer should not come to the situation when it appears to be frozen or non-responsive. It might happen once a while, but it that comes a common issue, you should take a close look on your operating system and software integrity, or on your personal practices. At some point, the computer hardware might require the resources upgrades, as newer software utilities demanding more space, more memory, higher CPU utilization. But, if the freeze happens, and nothing else helps, AntiFreeze will offer you a supportive hand. No, it is not a magic solution, it will not be able to help you in all problem cases. But, if it even occasionally prevent the unavoidable computer reboot, while non-responding, it is already a valid reason to use it. Especially since it is free...

Program description

AntiFreeze offers a last recourse when you find your computer in a hung state. Because programs consume too much CPU or too much memory or too many programs have been started, your computer has become unresponsive. The mouse still moves but no programs are responding, you cannot switch to other programs or even close them. You have even tried to start the Windows Task Manager even that won’t work because it does not get enough attention from the scheduler to respond to your mouse clicks and keyboard presses. You are ready to press the reset button, instead you can press the hotkey of AntiFreeze. It will put to sleep all running programs except the most critical ones, giving you the opportunity to close down the programs which are causing problems. You may even be able to save or recover your work.

The problem

Everyone who has used a computer regularly has experienced it from time to time. You are running some very intensive tasks, running several programs simultaneously and suddenly you find that your computer does not respond to you anymore. For some reason the computer is so busy that it does not respond to your actions anymore. Your clicks and key presses are handled much later or not at all, giving you no chance to interact with the system. Your system is hanging.

Sometimes it may help waiting until the storm is over. But if after several minutes you are still waiting, and you are an experienced user you are likely to press the key combination ALT+CTRL+DELETE which allows you to fire up the task manager to see which programs are taking up all the CPU time and systems resources. At this point you may be able to recover the system and get it in a responsive state again by terminating the offending processes. If this works, then all fine. But very often the system is so busy that even the task manager will not help you. It just does not get enough processor attention to be able to handle your clicks or key presses. Then you are very likely to give up and press the reset button of your machine for a reboot.

This is where AntiFreeze offers a solution. AntiFreeze is a utility with a very small footprint, sitting in your tray, waiting for you to press the hotkey combination (ALT+CTRL+WIN+HOME by default). You should use it only in emergency situations, consider it an alternative for the reset button.

Emergency Task Manager

As soon as you press the hotkey combination of AntiFreeze, AntiFreeze will suspend most of the running programs so they stop hogging your systems resources. Then it will start a special type of task manager, very much like the standard Windows task manager except that it is designed for the particular task of letting you get the system in a responsive state again. If a program has consumed lots of CPU time it is an indication it may have been responsible for locking up your system. You can terminate the offending program by clicking the ’End Process’ button.

When will it work?

If your computer is hanging or becomes unresponsive because

* One or more programs are doing very intensive tasks, they consume so much processor cycles that the system becomes unresponsive
* One or more programs consume so much memory that the swapping file is heavily used, overloading the system
* Programs are running with a scheduling priority which is so high that they consume all processor resources
* Too many programs are running at the same time and they all have to compete for attention from the processor then AntiFreeze is likely to help you get your system to respond again.

If your computer is hanging or becomes unresponsive because of a hardware problem or the mouse cursor is not updated when you move it or some piece of kernel software or device driver is busy at an elevated priority level then AntiFreeze is not likely to offer you a solution. There are a few other situations in which AntiFreeze will not be able to help you out and you will still need to press the reset button and reboot to get your computer going again.

OS: Windows Vista/XP/2003 (x86 and x64).

License: Free for Personal use.

Developers’ website: http://www.resplendence.com/antifreeze


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

NexusFile - Fast Portable Windows File Manager

NexusFile is a free windows file manager that has a cool-looking interface. Instead of using boring beige / white as its default background, it uses black. It also intelligently color codes your files and folders with customizable color schemes.

NexusFile has a familiar, Explorer-like interface with dual, same sized panes for you to work on your files and folders. If you are familiar with Windows Explorer’s interface, NexusFile will get you going in no time.

Main features:
* Basic Functions: Copy/Move To, Copy/Cut/Past, Delete/Shred, Rename, Change Attributes/Time.
* Advanced Rename: Rename multiple files at once with many powerful options.
* Navigate Folders: Favorite Folders, Working Folders, Tabs, Smart Address Bar.
* Dual Panels: Open two folders at once.
* Archives: manages ZIP, ARJ, RAR, ACE archive files.
* FTP: basic FTP functions.
* File Join/Split: Split large file into many small files or Join small files into a large file. Merge several text files into a file.
* Save File List: Save file/folder list with many formats.
* Shortcuts: Most functions has a Keyboard shortcut so you can do everything fast.
* Multi-language: Multi-language supports with language files.
* Skin: you can change the look of a program.
* Disk Cleanup: Empty Recycle Bin, Delete temporary files, etc.
* Quick History: Get back to any previously opened folder much faster.
* Add Comment function: Mark specific files and folders with a meaningful note that is viewable on the status bar.
* Compare Folders: compare two folders.
* Function keys usage: Use of your fully configurable function keys (F1, F2, …) assigned to specific file management tasks.
* Unicode: Unicode file name supported.
* Software is portable, and does not require installation on your Hard Drive. Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Just launch NexusFile.exe.
* System Requirement: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
* License: Freeware

Developers Website: http://www.xiles.net/nexusfile/

Video Presentation:


Friday, February 20, 2009

The easy way to extract audio from video files

There might be many possible reasons why you need a soundtrack, or any part of it, from your favorite video clips or movies. While there are many free and commercial product, allowing to perform the required operation, in most of them, the operation requires specific knowledge, involves complicated settings setup, and at least calls for the manual reading.

AoA Audio Extractor is a very useful small tool with which you can extract the music/audio and other sound from your saved video files fast and easy way, and without any distortion. The output mp3 file will be kept in your specified folder and can be played with any of your players, or by the utility itself as a matter of fact, since there is a built-in player available. Just browse your hard drive and pick up the location, where you want to keep the output file, add the video file available on your disk, or one saved from inserted CD and click ’Start’. Within few minutes the required audio file is created.

Key features:

* Convert AVI, MPEG, MPG, DAT, FLV (Flash Video), WMV/ASF, MOV, MP4, 3GP to MP3.
* Convert AVI, MPEG, MPG, DAT, FLV (Flash Video), WMV/ASF, MOV, MP4, 3GP to WAV.
* Convert AVI, MPEG, MPG, DAT, FLV (Flash Video), WMV/ASF, MOV, MP4, 3GP to AC3.
* Batch conversion support.
* Ability to save any portion of the audio of a video file.
* Absolute freeware.
* You can easily convert the installation into portable utility. Download the installer and extract with Universal Extractor (another excellent freeware utility) to a folder of your choice. The application files are located in the {app} subfolder. Launch AoAAudioExtractor.exe.
* Designed for Windows 98/2000/NT/2003/XP/Vista.

Developers Website: http://www.aoamedia.com/audioextractor.htm

Direct Download: http://www.aoamedia.com/audioextractor.exe

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

PySolFC: 1048 solitaires for computer games addicts

Solitaires might be addictive as you know. You get to your arm-chair for 5 minutes to rest a bit, and you find yourself still at the same spot two hours later. So, think twice before you download the following free software, since you might be seriously hooked up.

PySolFC is a solitaire collection with 1048 games. Written in Python, it is cross-platform and carries GPL license.



There are games that use the 52 card International Pattern deck, games for the 78 card Tarot deck, eight and ten suit Ganjifa games, Hanafuda games, Matrix games, Mahjongg games, and games for an original hexadecimal-based deck. Among the supported games are classics like Aces Up, Baker’s Game, Canfield, FreeCell, Forty Thieves, Golf, Klondike, Pyramid, Scorpion, Spider, Yukon, and many more...

Access the PySolFC FunClub edition at http://pysolfc.sourceforge.net/ with link for software downloading.

On top of the basic configuration, you can download additional card sets for the game. It’s a .deb package, but you can extract it with UniExtract to get inside. Then, open data.tar.gz with WinRar or similar, go to ./usr/share/games/pysol and extract all directories into PySol/Data/

http://packages.debian.org/stable/games/pysol-cardsets

Not all sets are worth keeping, and they take up a lot of space, so you might want to sort through them before installing. Also, the cards are just .gif images, so you can easily edit them to your liking, or even make your own sets.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Free Support Utility for Microsoft Outlook

Often, Outlook options are hidden beneath many levels of menus. Worse still, there are some features of Outlook you may simply never find. OutlookTools aims to make configuring Outlook far simpler, and it does an excellent job of it. You’ll be able to quickly get access to all of your Outlook settings and file folders, as well as run troubleshooting tools, such as one to fix corrupt .pst files. You can also solve one of the more annoying problems with Outlook-the way the program blocks many file types, because it considers them insecure. OutlookTools will unblock any file type you want. In addition, it will let you start Outlook with any one of numerous switches, and let you customize when and how Desktop Alerts appear telling you that you have new mail. You can change the transparency of alerts, as well as determine how long they should stay visible.

Main Program Features

  • Easy access to Outlook settings and data folders
  • Easy access to troubleshooting tools
  • Start Outlook with a startup switch
  • Clear the Most Recently Used lists
  • Make the New Mail Alert stay up for longer than 30 seconds
  • Unblock attachments
  • Hides options not available for your Outlook version
The utility is absolutely free for both personal and commercial use.
Review details and download software at the developers’ website:
http://www.howto-outlook.com/products/outlooktools.htm

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