Category: Geek Software of the Week

So, it is always a hassle to convert video from one format or another! I use (and love) the Free Video Converter, from Koyotesoft, available here:

Koyotesoft Free Video Converter

BUT… our good friends at Participatory Culture (the folks behind Miro) also have a free video converter… it is free, AND Open Source… gotta love that! It is available here:

Miro Video Converter

“A super simple way to convert almost any video to MP4, WebM (vp8), Ogg Theora, or for Android, iPhone, and more. 100% Free and open-source. Miro Video Converter has presets that will convert video to the correct sizes and formats for popular phones, iPods, and other media players. Just convert your video and copy it to your device.”

It is designed mainly for folks that download video and then want to convert it to run on a hand-held device, like your iPhone, Droid phone, etc. Good stuff!

OK, so this is mainly a neat tool if you own a web-site, but, hey, a lot of folks do these days! Since re-starting the Video Netcast/Podcast, “Dr. Bill – The Computer Curmudgeon” I figured I needed to “neaten up” and repair my web-site. I lost a TON of images in a server crash, and there were many missing pieces I had to replace. I don’t know about you, but I just hate seeing a web-site that has broken links! It is like the site owner is saying, “I don’t care if my site looks tacky!” Take pride in your site, man! It is a representation of YOU on the web! Anyway, to this end, here is a great tool… by a unique developer! He calls himself “Xenu” and that brings to mind conspiracy theory dewds! But, it is VERY cool software! Check it out!

Xenu Link Sleuth

“Xenu’s Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link verification is done on ‘normal’ links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets. It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by different criteria. A report can be produced at any time.
Additional features:

Simple, no-frills user-interface
Can re-check broken links (useful for temporary network errors)
Simple report format, can also be e-mailed
Executable file smaller than 1MB
Supports SSL websites (“https:// “)
Partial testing of ftp and gopher sites
Detects and reports redirected URLs
Site Map”

“Active@ KillDisk – Hard Drive Eraser is powerful and compact software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It’s a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

If you use FDISK, FORMAT utilities, or DELETE standard operating system command for data removal, there is always a chance to recover deleted files (using undelete or unformat tools) and use against the owner’s will. We highly recommend you to run this FREE utility for the hard and floppy drives you want to dispose of, recycle, re-use, sell or donate to somebody.

Active@ KillDisk conforms to US Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard DoD 5220.22-M. The most secure Gutmann’s data destruction method is also implemented.
Both WIPE and KILL functions support 17 security standards from various countries such as USA, Canada, Germany and others. You can be sure that once you clean up with Active@ KillDisk, sensitive information is purged out forever.”

Active KillDisk Web Site

OK, here it is, as promised in the most recent Video Netcast! Now, the Space-Time Continuum is safe! (Listen to the Video Netcast for an explanation!) Check out this neat software… free, and VERY useful! Now you can easily convert your M4A (such as from iTunes) to MP3s!

“Do you need to convert AAC to MP3? M4a to MP3? MP4 audio to MP3? Your favorite player doesn’t support M4a audio? Then take a look at the new tool from ManiacTools, Free M4a to MP3 Converter.
The program supports a number of input formats, like the above mentioned AAC, M4a, MP4 audio, M4b (audiobooks), and some other MPEG-4 based audio formats. You can convert those types of audio files to MP3 or uncompressed WAV. The latter can be used as an intermediate format for further converting (with tools like AudioConverter Studio).
Free M4a to MP3 Converter combines professional quality with high speed and user-friendly interface. You can simply drag and drop your M4a or AAC files from Windows Explorer and then hit “Convert” (or F5 on your keyboard). On the other hand, it is also possible to fine tune quality parameters for output files. The program supports full range of MP3 settings: bit rates up to 320 Kbit/s and sample rates up to 48 KHz. This way, you can get high quality audio files along with the portability of MP3 format (which is supported now by virtually every player, hardware or software).
The program has also a built-in audio player, which allows you to listen to your AAC and M4a files even without converting them.
And last, but not least: our converter is distributed as freeware. No need to register and to enter codes. Just download and start converting your AAC and M4a files to MP3.
Main features of Free M4a to MP3 Converter:
AAC to MP3 converter.
Convert M4a to MP3.
Audio books M4b to MP3 converter.
MP4 audio converter.
3GP audio converter.
AAC, M4a, M4b player.
MP3 quality settings up to 320 Kbit/s, 48 KHz.
Drag&Drop.
Batch processing of multiple M4a, AAC, M4b, MP4 etc. files.
User-friendly multilingual interface.
Meta information (ID3 tags) is copied from source files. Converted files contain all necessary data: title, artist, album (if the data was present in the source files).
AAC to WAV converter.
M4a to WAV converter.”

M4A to MP3 Converter

“MagicDisc is freeware. It is very helpful utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD drives and CD/DVD discs. For anyone who deals with CD-based programs – it is a MUST. MagicDisc allows you to use almost all CD/DVD image without burning them onto CD or DVD in order to easily access your favorite games, music, or software programs —- It works like a real CD/DVD-ROM: You can run programs, play games, or listen to music from your virtual CD-ROM. Allowing you to run your game images at over 200x faster than from a conventional CD/DVD-ROM. MagicDisc is a powerful utility that uses a unique combination of options to ensure a perfect back-up every time. Partner with MagicISO, Your original games/program discs can be safely stored away, MagicISO mean that you always have your expensive media stored safely as CD/DVD image file on your hard drive, and use them with MagicDisc just like using the original discs. At the office: Program discs and many other applications generally require the original disc to be in the computer’s CD-ROM drive. This restricts the amount of people in your office who can have access to the same software at the same time without the cost of additional discs. MagicDisc virtual drives resolve that problem for you. No more hunting around the offices for that elusive disc you need to run your application, everything you require is just a click away.”

MagicDisc ISO Drive Mount Utility

Awesome! This really helped me out when I needed it! I had a computer with no DVD drive, but I could move the ISO of the DVD to the computer, mounted it with MajicDisc, then, boom! I had the data! REALLY handy!

This is the software I describe in the Netcast on the site… check it out!

Keepass Password Software

“What is KeePass?
Today you need to remember many passwords. You need a password for the Windows network logon, your e-mail account, your homepage’s FTP password, online passwords (like website member account), etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Also, you should use different passwords for each account. Because if you use only one password everywhere and someone gets this password you have a problem… A serious problem. The thief would have access to your e-mail account, homepage, etc. Unimaginable.

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).”

I know, the end has come. Dr. Bill is recommending a Microsoft security product! Yes, it has come to that. I used AVG for years, but they recently started “dunning me” on their free version to buy the full version. Over and over again! Man. Anyway, I started looking around, researching and such, and guess what? M$’s own FREE security, anti-virus, and anti-spyware system is actually good! M$ bought Giant Software some time back… and this has led to MSE – Microsoft Security Essentials … Again, I gotta admit… a recent good product, totally free, and it updates regularly. So… maybe M$ is coming around!

This one is cool! I like it, not only because it is free, even with free support, but the free version ALSO automatically updates! Usually with free versions you have to discipline yourself to do the updates! Rock on!

Spyware Terminator

“Free Spyware Removal

Spyware Terminator will scan your computer for known threats and report findings in a manner that is easy to read and interpret. Every entry is given a rating and a classification, which makes it very easy to decide if a detected item should be removed. Unlike some free software titles, Spyware Terminator will remove all threats for free.

Free Automatic Updates

Spyware Terminator offers the ability to download and install updates automatically. Users are free to dictate how often Spyware Terminator checks for updates and how they are applied.

Free Scheduled Scans

Spyware Terminator gives users the ability to schedule spyware scans on a regular basis to ensure computer integrity. Scans can be scheduled on either a daily or a weekly basis at any hour of the day.

Free AntiVirus Integration

Spyware Terminator has included the popular award winning open-source antivirus, Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV), for optional integration to achieve a higher level of security. ClamAV can be integrated into spyware scans, updates and the real-time protection.

Free Support

Not only is the Spyware Terminator free, but support is included for free as well. Support is provided through e-mail and our public forum. Our highly qualified support team responds to all issues in a timely manner.

Free for Personal & Commercial Use

Spyware Terminator is licensed for free for both home and business use.”

The fact that it integrates with Clam AV (an Open Source Anti-Virus) also endears me to this great product!

Wow. Again…. wow! This one rocks! Every so often I run across a free (for personal use) program that just changes the paradigm… this one does! (For me anyway!) It allows you to set up your FTP connection to be a local drive letter on your system. Now, at first that doesn;t sound so interesting… but this makes it look like it is truly local, file attributes, dates, file size amounts, etc., etc. Dewd! Imagine using a “local” PC backup program to back up your FTP site! Oh yeah!

Check this one out fer sure!

NetDrive – the Network Drive for Windows

“With NetDrive, managing your remote FTP and WebDAV servers will be as easy as any old file folders on your PC. Once you mount the local drive, you don’t need to run an application or an FTP client interface but a simple drag-and-drop in your Windows Explorer will be sufficient to transfer and manage files.”