May 30, 2007
I’d wager that there are a huge number of Windows users who would probably be quite happy with Ubuntu Linux as their day-in day-out OS of choice. If only there were an easy way to try Ubuntu out on your windows machine without breaking anything, repartitioning or dealing with the diminished performance of a Live CD.
You’re in luck. Wubi takes the hassle out of installing Ubuntu on a loopback file system located on your Windows partition, while making it bootable just like a real-deal Ubuntu install. In fact, it _is_ a real-deal Ubuntu install, albeit in a slightly unconventional manner. If you go glassy eyed at the word “loopback”, don’t worry.. it’s just a fancy way of saying that your whole Ubuntu install is self-contained and stored in a single large file on your Windows drive.
source [downloadsquad]
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Posted by littlek
May 30, 2007
Pitaschio adds a few very basic window manipulation features to Microsoft Windows which probably should have been included in the first place. Essentially, Pitaschio tries to make Windows a slightly better neighborhood in which to live.
With features which allow you to minimize regular windows to the system tray, keep windows from opening with any part outside the desktop area, window transparency adjustment using the scroll wheel and a whole list more, Pitaschio goes a pretty long way towards enhancing the rather bland set of features available for window management in the world’s most common OS.
If you’re unhappy with the weak feature set in Windows, Pitaschio could help close the gap.
source [downloadsquad]
2 Comments | pc, tools | Permalink
Posted by littlek
March 22, 2007
We have compiled a list ten all-time favorite software programs from Microsoft that are free to download without any limitations.
Microsoft ZoomIt - Like a screen pen, ZoomIt lets you draw or write free-hand on the desktop screen in various colors. [screenshot]
Windows Live Writer - A must have WYSIWYG blog editor for Windows that is compatible with all popular blogging platforms including WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and LiveJournal.
WebCam TimerShot - lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate. Great for a spy camera or making stop motion animations.
Microsoft Time Zone Utility - It runs as a tiny icon in your system tray and allows you to watch the current date and time of upto 5 cities around the world simultaneously.
Microsoft SyncToy v1.4 - A free utility to help you copy and move files across folders or for keeping directory contents in sync with each other. SyncToy also keeps track of renames to files and will carry the changes over to the synchronized folder.
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series - a versatile screen capture and screencasting software from Microsoft. Windows Media Encoder can convert recorded audio or video to Windows Media format for distribution on the web.
Windows Defender - This free Windows AntiSpyware program can detect and remove spyware from your computer much like Lavasoft Ad-aware or Zonelabs softwae.
Microsoft Photo Story 3 - An excellent software for creating video slideshows of your digital photos with music and titles. The software also lets you create your own music loops. [details]
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 - This VMWare like software allows you to run multiple operating systems on the same computer simultaneously. For example, you can work on Linux, DOS, XP or even Windows 98 inside Windows Vista.
Microsoft Calculator Plus - This includes all the mathematical functions offered in the standard Microsoft Calculator plus conversions between different measurement units for area, temperature, volume and even currency.
source [digital inspiration]
2 Comments | pc, tools | Permalink
Posted by littlek
March 22, 2007
You may already have a widget for everything under the sun, but PC users, you might want to try this Systemetrix desktop software tool that not only tells you the time, but lets you know a whole lot of other stuff about your system as well. This clean-looking clock is not the only skin you can put on this sucker, and it can show you hundreds of things about your system, such as e-mail stats, system resources used, drive space left, your IP address and lots more. We loaded it up and it works great. Best of all, it’s absolutely free.
source [gizmodo]
No Comments » | pc, tools | Permalink
Posted by littlek
March 14, 2007
One of our favorite programs here at Download Squad HQ is Foxit Reader. It’s basically a replacement for Adobe Acrobat. Foxit reads PDF files, and that’s about it. But boy does it do it well.
Adobe Reader can take 30 seconds or longer to load, and tends to bog down Firefox or Internet Explorer when you want to open a PDF from a web page. Foxit loads in a snap and can handle almost anything Adobe Reader can. But the free version of Foxit won’t let you create PDF files.
That’s where doPDF steps in. It’s one of a number of programs that installs a virtual printer on your machine. Now when you go to print a web page, word document, photo or pretty much anything else, you can save it as a PDF file. You can set the resolution to anything from 72 dpi to 2400 dpi, and the “printed” files are text searchable.
Sure, doPDF’s not the only program that performs this function, but much like Foxit, it’s free and it just works. Really well.
source [downloadsquad]
No Comments » | pc | Permalink
Posted by littlek
March 6, 2007
Outlook on the Desktop is a free application built on .Net by Michael Scriv. It allows you to pick any one of the main Outlook views (Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, etc), and display it directly on your desktop. The display is shown in a mildly opaque way, so that you can still see your desktop wallpaper (or in my case, icons) beneath the Outlook display. However, the coolest part of this utility is the fact that the view on your desktop is active; you can double click on a day if you’re viewing the calendar, and up pops the standard appointment creation dialog.
It seems like there have been a number of recent attempts to set free the personal management information you’ve got locked away in Microsoft Outlook and expose it on the desktop of your computer. I personally have two problems with this. First, I almost never have all of my running applications minimized so I rarely see my desktop. Second, over the past 6 months I have been unable to reduce the number of icons on my desktop to the point where I can actually see the wallpaper I have set, never mind trying to read something displayed there.
If you’re looking for an Outlook widget type of utility on steroids, Outlook on the Desktop may be just the ticket.
source [downloadsquad]
No Comments » | pc, tools | Permalink
Posted by littlek
February 7, 2007
Windows only: The free Microsoft Time Zone app displays the current time from multiple locations in the XP taskbar.
If you haven’t yet upgraded to Vista but you would like its multiple clocks feature, the not-as-pretty, but just-as-functional Time Zone’s for you. Microsoft Time Zone is a free download, and requires .NET 1.1 to run.
Download Microsoft Time Zone from here.
source [lifehacker]
No Comments » | pc, tools | Permalink
Posted by littlek
February 7, 2007
We normally adjust the audio settings (mainly volume) of our Windows XP machine either by clicking the speaker icon in the tray or through the “Sounds and Audio Devices” icon available inside the Control panel.
The approach works but it’s probably not the best way to control the volume - you first need to move your mouse pointer to the sound icon, then open the volume settings, then change the volume by shifting the sliders, and finally close the audio setting window. Did you notice that it involved four steps.
Here’s something more interesting that gives you the best of both worlds - you get the ability to control your computer volume using the mouse wheel and you can still access the audio settings via the standard tray icon.
This is possible using a free utility called Volumouse that lets you increase or decrease the volume through a combination of Alt key and the mouse wheel. The process gets so convenient because the volume control appears just where your mouse pointer is. Leave the Alt button and the control disappears.
The program works with any media player including Quicktime and Windows Media player. The settings are configurable so they never collide with the regular scrolling tasks of the mouse wheel. Highly recommended.
Volumouse Homepage | Download Volumouse
source [digital inspiration]
No Comments » | pc | Permalink
Posted by littlek
January 4, 2007
Windows and Mac only: Software for Starving Students has released a 2007 edition of its collection of freeware and open-source software.
The collection includes well-known gems like 7-Zip, Audacity, Blender, and OpenOffice.org–all stuff you can easily get yourself, but here the legwork is done for you. Plus, it comes with an easy-to-use installer. The idea behind the project is to give students (or anyone else) a single CD containing all the software they’ll need to be productive.
Just one caveat: The download is a disc image file (DMG for Mac users, ISO for Windows), so you need to know how to burn that image to a CD. It’s pretty much a drag-and-drop affair for Mac users, but Windows users will need a program like Nero or Active ISO Burner, which is freeware. Software for Starving Students 2007.01 is free; it’s available for Windows and Mac.
source [lifehacker]
No Comments » | mac, pc | Permalink
Posted by littlek
