Mac: There are a lot of tools that will convert videos for your iPhone, iPod or iPad (like our favourite, Handbrake), but they aren’t always easy for the average person to use. iConvert makes it as simple as drag, drop and click.
Windows only: If you’re a Windows tweak addict, you probably use tools like the Registry, Computer Management, Disk Management and Power Options often — apps that are extremely useful but don’t always have obvious or quick shortcuts in the Start Menu. WinPlusX puts them one keyboard shortcut away.
Windows 8 is on the way, but apart from a few tweaks here and there, it isn’t exactly packing lots of new features into the Windows desktop. If you’d rather pay $100 or so for a real feature boost, consider buying these five programs to get a truly new version of Windows.
Windows: If you’re worried that some application may be eating into your bandwidth in the background, or you just want to keep closer tabs on the bandwidth your computer is using, NetSpeedMonitor is a handy systray utility that lives in your taskbar. It shows you active upload and download speeds, which applications are using your network connection and what their endpoints are.
Have a website and want to know the minute your site is down? This simple Google Docs spreadsheet from Digital Inspiration can email you and monitor your website for free.
Mac only: iPackr is a free Mac app that, unlike many other unarchivers for OS X, gives you the option to preview and manually extract the files in an archive.
Android (Rooted): Once you root your Android phone, an app called Superuser jumps in every time an app requires root privileges, granting or denying these permissions. It works, but it can be a little annoying. SuperSU for Android is a free utility that will keep track of the apps you’ve granted those permissions to, so they don’t keep asking, and keeps track of how often the app uses those permissions.
Although Apple’s laptops offer pretty decent battery life, it’s not always enough. Getting the most out of your battery often means making a number of sacrifices like turning off Wi-Fi and lowering your display’s brightness. While you can’t get something for nothing, BatterySqueezer can extract a little more battery life by automatically throttling applications in the background so they don’t cause excess drain while not in use.
If you’ve been giving the Windows 8 Consumer Preview a whirl and just can’t get past the lack of a start button or you haven’t been able to fall in love with the start screen, Start8 is a new utility from StarDock that brings the start button back to the taskbar in all its glory.
Android: Battery life is the bane of every smartphone owner’s life. We’ve offered lots of suggestions to help Android owners deal with that problem, but Longevity Battery Saver adds one useful twist: identifying apps which are tough on battery life and warning users when they download them.
