featured windows download
Desk Drive Creates Desktop Shortcuts to Your Removable Media
8:30AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Freeware application Desk Drive monitors your computer for new media—like a new CD, DVD, or thumb drive—then automatically creates a desktop shortcut pointing to your newly mounted media. Disabling autoplay is safer and less annoying than leaving it enabled, but that means you have to open up My Computer every time you plug in a thumb drive or insert a new disc. Desk Drive gives you quick and easy access to that media from your desktop as soon as you plug it in, similar to the default (and arguably better) behaviour found on Macs. The downside: Desk Drive takes up way too much memory (around 17MB in my test), so it may not be worth it unless you’ve got boatloads of RAM. Desk Drive [Blue Onion via FreewareGenius] More »
vmcNetFlix Streams Watch Now Videos to Your Xbox 360
7:00AM Adam Pash | Windows Vista only: Freeware Vista Media Centre plug-in vmcNetFlix streams Netflix Watch Now videos to Windows Media Centre extenders, including the Xbox 360. You can also manage your queue, browse movies, and do just about anything else you’d want from a Netflix plug-in. Previously mentioned MyNetflix incorporated all of these features, but so far it does not support streaming to extenders. If you’ve been tempted by the new Netflix streaming box but don’t want to throw down cash when you’ve already got a 360 in your home theatre, vmcNetFlix is a sure winner. It’s in beta and still a touch buggy, but it’s very promising. Hit the jump to check out a video of vmcNetFlix in action. More »
UltimateDefrag Moves Apps and Files for Quicker Access
5:30PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Put your high-priority programs and files in the most easily-accessed parts of your hard drive with UltimateDefrag, a free Windows utility. The program does all the normal data-ordering of a standard defragmenting app (and probably runs at roughly the same speeds), but lets you choose which data to place on the outer, or faster, portions of your disk. You can also ask UltimateDefrag to analyse your drive and see which files have been most recently accessed, which works best for drives or partitions set aside for data, or automatically try to improve ease of access. UltimateDefrag can also run as your default defrag tool, and run only when a screensaver is active. UltimateDefrag is a free download for Windows systems only. UltimateDefrag Freeware Edition [FreewareGeeks via gHacks] More »
HomeCamera Turns Your Webcam into a Surveillance Camera
8:30AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Web site and software HomeCamera turns your desktop webcam into a web-enabled surveillance camera. Just sign up and download their desktop software to get started. In just a few minutes, you can check an image or video from your webcam in real-time from any browser. Even better, you can set up motion-detecting alerts that will email you with a shot or short clip of what triggered the alert. The Windows-only HomeCamera is completely free during their beta and will remain free with limitations once they leave beta. HomeCamera [via MakeUseOf] More »
FreeSnap Maximises Windows Horizontally or Vertically
7:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Freeware application FreeSnap maximises your active window one edge at a time through a handful of simple keyboard shortcuts. If you’re obsessed with making the most of your screen real estate, don’t want to maximise windows to take up the entire screen in all directions, and manually resizing windows to the edge of your screen is too much of a hassle, FreeSnap is a perfect solution. Windows-Left/Right/Up/Down will expand your window to the corresponding side of your monitor, while other shortcuts resize windows to specific dimensions or move windows to pre-defined positions on your screen. FreeSnap is freeware, Windows only. FreeSnap [Blue Onion Software via FreewareGenius] More »
Desktop Teleporter Keeps Your Desktop Clean
6:50AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Donationware application Desktop Teleporter automatically moves files and folders from your desktop to user-defined folders to keep your desktop clean and neat. Desktop Teleporter is serious about keeping your desktop clean, moving any file that you don’t add to the exclude list. If you want more advanced options and support beyond the desktop, check out Lifehacker’s very own Belvedere. If all you want is a clean desktop and don’t need more advanced options, Desktop Teleporter looks like a winner. Desktop Teleporter [Donation Coders via Techie Buzz] More »
Some PDF to Word Converter Does What It Sounds Like
7:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Freeware application Some PDF to Word Converter takes your PDFs and—as the name implies—converts them to Microsoft Word documents. It’s always been a cinch to print Word documents as PDFs, but going the other way around is generally more difficult. Many online tools can handle PDF-to-DOC conversions, but most of us don’t want to upload our sensitive docs to the web for third-party conversion, so desktop tools are preferable. We’ve featured one other PDF-to-Word converter in the past, but Some PDF to Word Converter requires no registration, has more options, and seems to perform better. If you’d like different PDF conversions, check the download page for PDF-to-HTML or text converters. Some PDF to Word Converter [via FreewareGenius] More »
SimpLite Seriously Encrypts IM Conversations
6:45AM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Need to make sure your instant message chats can’t be intercepted or read by third parties? SimpLite, a free suite of encryption packages, allows for fully encrypted chats over AIM, MSN, Google/Jabber, or Yahoo-based clients. Grab the appropriate package for your chat program, create a secure encryption key, and have anyone you’re talking to do the same. It’s not quite as easy as GAIM/Pidgin’s encryption plug-in, but it works on the most popular IM clients and with industry-standard protocols. SimpLite chat clients are free downloads for Windows systems only. Thanks Vince! SimpLite [Secway] More »
HP Smart Web Printing Saves Tons of Paper
7:30AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Freeware application HP Smart Web Printing combines clips from any number of web pages into one page, so you don’t have to print five different pages of filler to get one page worth of information. The tool—which despite its HP origins works with any printer—integrates directly with both Firefox and Internet Explorer, so clipping text, images, or any part of a page is as simple as clicking a button. Before you print, you can edit, resize, and adjust all of your clippings to your liking. The result is more useful printouts and less wasted paper. If this freeware, Windows only download tickles the environmentalist in you, check out other easy ways to go green and save money with your computer. HP Smart Web Printing [HP via Shell Extension City] More »
