Category: Geek Software of the Week

Talk about the “Swiss Army Knife” of Geekdom! This suite of freeware programs totally rock!

Creative Elements Power Tools

“Creative Element Power Tools is a collection of productivity tools for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows Me. Creative Element Power Tools is a suite of tools and settings for Windows. Some of the tools are stand-alone programs, some run invisibly in the background, while others appear merely as extensions to Windows.”

Check out this list:

* Control Panel – a simple interface for all the tools in Creative Element Power Tools. Use it to turn on or off any tool, configure all the tools, and even change some Windows settings.

File Tools

* Power Rename – Rename multiple files in one step using a variety a powerful shortcuts. Just right-click any file or group of files and select Power Rename…
* Change File Dates – Change the ‘Created,’ ‘Modified,’ and ‘Accessed,’ dates and times of one or more files. Just right-click any file or group of files and select Change Date…
* Copy or Move files anywhere – Right-click a file or folder and select Copy To or Move To to copy or move a file without having to navigate to the target folder in Explorer; create the target folder on the fly, if applicable.
* Comparator – Compare the contents of two text files, the contents of two folders, or two lists of any kind. Right-click two files or two folders to compare their contents, or more to compare lists of their names.
* Copy file and folder names to the Clipboard – Right-click one or more files or folders and select Copy Filename to copy their names and full paths to the Clipboard. You can also optionally add JPEG EXIF data and MP3 tag data to your listings!
* Copy file contents to the Clipboard – Right-click a text or graphics file and select Copy File Contents to copy the file to the Clipboard without opening it.
* Show shortcut targets – Right-click a shortcut and select Show Target to open the folder containing the file or folder to which the shortcut is linked. Or, select Copy Target Location to copy the full path and filename of the target to the clipboard.
* Delete in-use files – Right-click any file and select Delete In-Use File to queue Windows to delete the file the next time you start your PC. This tool can be used to remove stubborn programs, such as spyware and viruses.
* Change file attributes – Right-click any file and select Attributes to turn on or off the ‘Read Only,’ ‘Hidden,’ ‘System,’ or ‘Archive’ bits without having to open the Properties window.
* File Type Doctor – Right-click any file and select Edit File Type to modify the applications used to open files of that type. Use File Type Doctor to choose default programs, add or remove file types from Explorer’s New menu, and customize files’ context menus.

Internet Tools

* Bulk Downloader – Download many files at once, without having to do it manually with a web browser. Just right-click one or more Internet Shortcuts and select Bulk Download.
* FTP Files on the Fly – Quickly send files and folders to any FTP-capable Internet server; great for quick updates to web sites. Just right-click any file or group of files and select FTP To.
* Copy Internet Shortcut information – Right-click an Internet Shortcut file and select Copy URL or Copy Hyperlink to copy the URL or HTML hyperlink to the Clipboard.
* Extract HTML page content – Right-click an HTML file and select Extract Page Content to copy the HTML-formatted page content to the Clipboard, minus the HTML headers and other extraneous codes.

Search Tools

* Find and Eliminate Duplicate Files – Search for duplicate files using a variety of criteria, and selectively remove unwanted duplicates. Special built-in filters help you find duplicate image files (jpg, gif, etc.) and compare them side-by-side.
* Search and replace Registry entries – Perform quick Registry searches, view the results in a convenient list, and optionally search-and-replace Registry keys and values.
* Fix the Windows Search Tool – Make searching for files easier and more convenient by having the search tool open in a new window rather than replacing the current view when you press Ctrl-F or F3 in Windows Explorer.

Folder Tools

* Open a Command Prompt in any folder – Right-click a folder and select Command Prompt to open a Command Prompt window in that folder.
* Clear out the Temp folder – Recover wasted hard disk space by automatically deleting temporary files that are no longer being used.
* Copy folder listing to the Clipboard – Right-click a folder and select Copy Folder Listing to copy a list of the filenames of the items inside (with details) to the Clipboard.
* Print folder listing – Right-click a folder and select Print Folder Listing to print a list of the items inside (with details).
* Create folder shortcuts – Right-click a shortcut to a folder and select Create Folder Shortcut to convert the shortcut into a mirror of the folder. Right-click an existing folder shortcut and select Dismantle Folder Shortcut to remove it.
* Quickly select files – Right-click an empty spot and select ‘Select’ to automatically select files in the folder based on your criteria.
* Quickly create new folders – Press Ctrl-N in any open Explorer window, single-folder window, or on the desktop to create a new folder on the spot.

File Dialog Tools

* Show the full path in file dialog title bars – Display the full path of the current folder in any File -> Open or File -> Save dialog box.
* Quickly access recently-used folders – Add a special button to the upper-left corner of all File -> Open and File -> Save dialog boxes that provides access to a list of the most recently-used folders, plus any folders being viewed in Windows Explorer.
* Save file dialog size and view settings – Remember the size of all File -> Open and File -> Save dialog boxes, along with the view settings (e.g., Icon, List, Details) and sort order.
* Customize the Places Bar in file dialogs – Choose your own folders to appear in the gray bar that appears on the left side of most file dialogs.

Interface Tools

* Disable Autoplay for CD, DVDs, and removable drives – Stop Windows from automatically scanning for and starting CDs, DVDs, flash memory, and other removable disks.
* Change the Windows setup defaults – Modify the registered user and other information gathered when Windows was installed and used during subsequent Windows installations.
* Change the size of the Alt-TAB window – Change the number of icons displayed on each row of the Alt-TAB window. You can press Alt-TAB to swtich between running applications, which is usually more convenient than using the taskbar.
* Control menu speed – Make menus more responsive by eliminating the delay before they’re opened, or tame them by requiring a click to open them.
* Configure Hotkeys – Replace a complex series of keystrokes with a simple keyboard shortcut, useful for automating repetitive tasks”

So, you want a free way to convert any document that you can print into a PDF (Portable Document Format?) Well, look no further! All you have to do is download this freeware tool, called “CutePDF” and it’s companion utility, the free GPL Ghostscript, and install BOTH! There is a link on the CutePDF page below to download both parts:

CutePDF Web Page

“Create PDF documents on the fly — for Free! Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world. CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a “printer subsystem”. This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents – with just a push of a button! FREE for commercial and non-commercial use! No watermarks! No Pop-up Web Ads!

Installation Requirements:

* Supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista (x32/x64).
* Requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript (recommended).
You can get the free GPL Ghostscript 8.15 on the site (link above.)

How about a free “next generation” icon editor/creation tool? If you write programs, or, if you just want to enhance your current programs with cool icons, this is a neat tool!

Pixelformer Web Site

“Pixelformer is an advanced icon editor which is designed to give you full control over every pixel of your images. With its predictability and subpixel precision you can easily create professional quality icons and bitmaps.

The main features of Pixelformer are:

– no restrictive limits for image dimensions
– support for different color depths up to 32-bit RGB with alpha channel
– lossless target color depth switching
– semi-transparent colors
– free-form masking
– multiple layer support
– in-place supersampling
– dynamic palette generation
– multiple file format support
– plugin extensible architecture
– icon extraction capability
– PNG size optimization
– Vista icon optimization
– alpha premultiplication
– deep undo buffer

Normally, we give you one Geek Software of the Week pick… but this week, we follow the story of my son, Ben… the GameMaster himself… who was downloading files to update his M.U.G.E.N. software (a free and Open Source 2-D game.) He got a really nasty piece of spyware on his system that kept popping up a message that said he needed to buy a product to remove spyware. This was actually spyware itself! So, he came to me and said, “Fix it!” OK… OK… here’s some links… YOU fix it! And he did. Made his old man proud! So… here are the links:

SmitFraudFix

AVG Free Anti-Spyware

So… if you run into similar problems… here’s your fix! AVG Anti-Spyware used to be called Ewido Anti-Spyware… but it is even better, and, to my mind, easier to use! Check it out!

OK, so this week I had to rebuild a Windows Me system for a customer. (I know… I know… bear with me!) It was a 500 mHz system with 192 meg of memory. (Ouch!) They were connecting it directly to the Internet with a cable modem, and NO router/firewall between them and the evil, cruel world! (OK, it was BAD!) So, I needed a firewall that would run on Windows 98 variants, and keep the PC safe (well, safer!) So, here’s what I used:

Jetico Personal Firewall

“Jetico Personal Firewall v.1 is the most powerful and flexible personal firewall for legacy Microsoft operating systems: Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0. Jetico Personal Firewall is designed to give the user full control over the networking subsystem. The key principles are rule based stateful filtering, open configuration, detailed logging and live statistics. Open configuration means: no hidden rules or dependencies. User can inspect and modify every bit of Jetico Personal Firewall configuration. In conjunction with rule based filters it gives the user unprecedented control over network related events. Fine grained logging and statistics simplify both network events and firewall configuration analysis. The unique live statistics display which firewall rules are applied in the real-time. All these things combined together makes more that powerful firewall – the ultimate tool to protect and monitor your system. And last, but not least: Jetico Personal Firewall v.1 is FREE! Supported operating systems: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP”

In Citrix, we sometimes rename the “C:” and “D:” drives on a server as other drive letters. However, some apps want to be installed on “C:”. Well, what if the system drive is now “R:?” You need to create a “symbolic link” to that drive. In the old DOS days you could do it with the “SUBST” command. Now, in Windows, along comes a freeware Visual SUBST! Here it is:

NTwind’s Visual Subst

“Visual Subst is a small tool that allows you to associate the most accessed directories with virtual drives. It uses the same API similar to the console ‘subst’ utility, but makes it easier to create and remove virtual drives in a GUI way. Personally, I use virtual drives everywhere – I always prefer to press ALT+F1 in the file manager and switch to a project directory where hundreds of various files are kept. Using virtual drives, these files can be quickly accessed at any time. Generally, a virtual drive is just a symbolic link in the Local MS-DOS Device namespace. It is just one more Windows feature added for backward compatibility with old programs. Virtual drives are therefore objects of the operating system, and Visual Subst can create, enumerate and delete these objects. All local MS-DOS device names are removed when the user is logging off. To handle this issue, Visual Subst saves the list of virtual drives into an INI-file and is able to load them the next time. This program runs only on Windows 2000/XP and newer operating systems.”

OK, have you ever created an account on a web site, and had your browser “cache” the password… but then you forgot the password that you used? Later, you want to log in from another computer, and the password is not cached on that PC; what do you do?

Well, it wouldn’t be a problem if you used AsterWin! It doesn’t work in all cases, and there are some caveats, but it is better than nothing!

AsterWin 1.20

“This utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks (‘***’) in standard password text-boxes. It supports the following operating systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. This utility works fine with most password text-boxes, but there are some applications that don’t store the password behind the asterisks, in order to increase their security. In such cases, AsterWin will not be able to reveal the password.

The following applications and OS components don’t store the password behind the asterisks:

• Netscape 6.x (Passwords in the Web page)
• Dialup and network passwords in Windows 2000
• Windows NT/2000/XP user management tools.

Asterwin also cannot reveal the passwords in Internet Explorer Web pages, Because they are stored in different way than in other applications. if you want to discover the passwords behind the asterisks in Internet Explorer, you can download the AsterWin IE utility.”

I have recommended Spywareblaster for a long, long time… but this new version is even better! Spywareblaster is one of the utilities I put on EVERY system I build… period! Version 4.0 is BRAND NEW! Check it out!

Javacool Software’s SpywareBlaster 4.0

“Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today. By simply browsing to a web page, you could find your computer to be the brand-new host of one of these unwanted fiends! The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available.

• Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.
• Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
• Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the ‘good side’ of the web. And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.”

You can defrag your hard drive, but what about your pagefile? “But it is locked… you can’t defrag it!”, you say. Well, now you can with PageDefrag! Check it out!

PageDefrag v2.32

“One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system. PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop). PageDefrag works on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003.”

So… first off, I LOVE the VLC Player, and I am still using that… but if there was a second choice for me, it would be this one… the GOM Player! You may say, that isn’t exactly a rousing recommendation… well, it is and isn’t… players are personal preference, and I just like VLC Player’s features and such… but this one is really nice too and you may find it more user friendly!

GOM player Web Site

“GOM Player supports most popular codecs (AVI, DAT, MPEG, DivX plus many more) with its own embedded codec system that you won’t have to look for appropriate codecs everytime you can’t play a certain video format. For those codecs that require a license that cannot be distributed, GOM will automatically lead you to an open-source codec web-site. Watch video files while you are downloading them! GOM has a registered patent for playing broken AVI files and files that are still being downloaded. So try one of your broken AVI files or one that you are downloading right now. You’ll find it amazing! GOM supports a lot of advanced features for advanced users. You can customize the player by creating your own skin, setting toggle keys, VMR modes, detailed resolution among others. It also provides features such as an overlay mixer, real-time index rebuilding for AVI files, unicode support, key frame based RW/FF and many more!”