Usually when you want to delete such file you get a pop up which says: “Cannot delete file: Access is denied” or something similar. In this cases you are left with 2 options:
1: Restart your computer and try to delete the file
2: Using LockHunter!

When using LockHunter you’re able to see the processes which has locked the file or folder. Beside that LockHunter (which is available in both 32 & 64 bits version!) allows you to unlock, delete, copy, rename a locked file or kill the locking process! All you have to do to unlock a file (or folder) is click with your right mouse click and there it is: LockHunter: What is locking my file and you’ll get a screen like here below:

Now you can choose to unlock the file or perhaps delete the file. If you’ve chosen for the last option; then the file will be deleted and put into your recycle bin.

Publisher: LockHunter
Version: 1.0 Beta
OS: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 (both 32 & 64 bits)
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download size: 1.22 MB
Download LockHunter: Click here…

The Gimp’s manipulation tools can be accessed via the toolbox, menu paths, and dialog boxes. Beside this “basic” stuff, you also have access to include filters, brushes, transformation selections, masking tools and my favorite: Layers! Having that mentioned you can see that The Gimp is pretty much like Adobe Photoshop, only this one it’s free!

If this isn’t enough for you and you would like to read more about The Gimp’s features, feel free to look here…

Publisher: Gimp
Version: 2.6.6
OS: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, GNU/Linux (i386, PPC), Mac OS X, Sun OpenSolaris, FreeBSD
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download size: 15.31 MB
Download The Gimp: Click here…

So you can see that the often you use your computer, the more fuller the registry gets. I mean think about all the junk and temporary files stored on your computer, all those broken registry, which Windows forget to delete, etc. So that’s why your computer is getting slower and you notice a loss on your computer performance. However this doesn’t have to mean that you have to accept this, right? Luckily the registry can be cleaned up using a registry cleaner. One of them is: Auslogics Registry Cleaner.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner is  a free software which will clean Windows registry for you. It will analyze it by searching for broken entries, non-existent file associations, uninstallation leftovers, and other elements that can turn the Registry into a real mess.

One of the good points of Auslogics Registry Cleaner is that it’s very easy to use for everyone, no matter your technical knowledge.  When you run the program you get to choose between a quick scan and an advance one, where you get to choose which registry categories you want Auslogics to scan.

The results are displayed in a basic or detailed format. It will also show you your computers performance before the clean up and the percentage gained after the clean up, which is always good to know! Auslogics Registry Cleaner offers you a backup function too, just in case!

As mentioned above, this is just a great and simple software which is good for everyone. Make sure to  use it once in a while in order to keep your registry nice & clean!

Publisher: Auslogics
Version: 1.3.9.145
OS: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and even Windows 7!
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download size: 1.81 MB
Download Auslogics Registry Cleaner: Click here…

You might like to check out our free PDF-to-Word service too — http://www.pdftoword.com. You do it all via our website rather than downloading and installing software.

Well, as it sounds good to me and it made me curious so I went to check it out. The first thing I noticed was that PDFtoWord.com is another free software from Nitro PDF Software. Yes, the creators of “PDF Download Add-on For Firefox“. So before I started writing this post I wanted to check and see how the service works and submitted a pdf file containing images and off course texts just to see how it works. Converting a pdf to a word document file using this free online converter is very easy and it’s done in 3 very easy steps:

1. Select your pdf you want to convert.
2. Now make a choice; convert the pdf file to .doc or .rtf (Rich Text Format). Personally I would suggest to go for .doc.
3. You’re almost done.. Now fill in your email address and the converted file will be e-mailed to you.
   Within a couple of minutes you’ll find the converted file in your inbox. Now you can open the .doc (or .rtf) file and start editing and/or using the file!

Pdftoword.com is another great service from Nitro PDF software and I have to admit that this works much easier and faster then having a software installed! Now go ahead and try it out yourself! 

Now just a couple of days ago I recieved an email from Foxmarks (like many other Foxmarks users) about a very important news about Foxmarks.

Foxmarks is becoming Xmarks. We’re not just changing our name, we’re also enhancing our browser add-on and web site with new capabilities.

With Xmark you’ll still enjoy bookmark sync and all other “previous” feature but there are some new cool features like;

1. Smarter Search
   From now on Xmarks will highlight the 3 sites in your Google results that have been bookmarked by the most people; this is a quick and easy way to tell which sites are most valued by real people like you.
2. Site Info
   Xmarks adds a small blue information icon in your browser location bar. Click it to learn more about the site you are on and see recommendations for the top 5 similar sites. This is a great way to uncover the best of the web.
3. Xmarks.com
   Visit Xmarks.com from any browser to write your own site reviews and to see even more similar site recommendations.

To learn more about Xmarks click here. So if you liked Foxmarks, you’ll love Xmarks too!

Ow I almost forgot: In order to manage/edit your bookmarks from any computer, you’ll have to log in via login.xmarks.com.
NOTE: Xmarks is currently Firefox only, but it syncs perfectly with your existing Foxmarks account and Foxmarks add-ons for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Requires: FireFox
OS: Windows 95,98,98SE,NT,2000,XP,Vista, Mac OS X, Linux +
Language: English, Dutch and many more!
License: Freeware
Download: Click…

In order to transfer files using FTP, you need:

• The FTP Server address;  This could look like “ftp.domainname.com” or it could look like “11.231.231.234″.
• Username and password. Some FTP servers let you connect to them anonymously so you don’t need a username and password.
• An FTP Client.

Now, there are a lot of FTP Clients, some of  them you have to pay for and some of them are freeware. One of the free FTP clients is FileZilla.
FileZilla is powerful Open Source, so it’s free, FTP/SFTP client with many features. FileZilla is a fast and reliable FTP client with a lot of useful features, such as:

• Resume support for downloads and uploads.
• Site manager to store all your connection details and logins.
• Available in many languages.
• Configurable transfer speed limits.
• Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X and more.
• Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
• Firewall support and many more.

Installing FileZilla is very easy and using is even more easier! FileZilla is a great FTP Client with a clean design and I suggest tring it. I use FileZilla at work and at home and I’m really happy with this free FTP Client.
So if you’re looking for a FTP Client with a lot of great features which comes in for free, then you really have to try FileZilla!

Publisher: FileZilla Project
Version: 3.2.3
OS: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Linux,  Mac OS X, BSD.
Language: English, Dutch, Chinese and much more!
License: Freeware
Download size: 3.89 MB
Download FileZila: Click here…

• Write image to Disk – This option enables you to burn images files like: *.bin, *.cue, *.di, *.dvd, *.gi, *.img, *.iso, *.mds, *.nrg & *.pdi
• Write files/folders to Disk – With this option you can burn audio cd’s (ImgBurn supports any file type supported via DirectShow/ACM including *.aac, *.ape, *.flac, *.m4a, *.MP3, *.MP4, *.mpc, *.ogg, *.pcm, *.wav, *.wma and *.wv) but you can also burn DVD’s (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray (from a BDAV / BDMV folder)
• Create image file from disk – This option enables you to create an image file from any CD/DVD/Blue-Ray or HD DVD.
• Create image file from files/folder – With this option you can create an image file from any file/folder located on your computer.
• Verify – Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
• Discovery – Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

ImgBurn supports Unicode folder/file names, so you shouldn’t run in to any problems if you’re using an international character set. It also supports all the latest drives without the need for updates (including booktype / bitsetting / advanced settings on many of the major ones – i.e. BenQ, LiteOn, LG, NEC, Plextor, Samsung, Sony).

So you see, there’s no need to buy any expensive burning software. ImgBurn will do everything for you for free!

Publisher: ImgBurn
Version: 2.4.2.0
OS: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 2008 (including all the 64-bit versions).
Language: English, Dutch, Chinese and much more!
License: Freeware
Download size: 1,87 MB
Download ImgBurn: Click here…

Don’t worry about burning your favorite movies, you’ll be able to watch them whenever you want when you sign up for the best satellite tv deal around from dishnetwork. Check it out at Internetlion.com, and if you sign up today you could get a free satellite dish!

After searching and trying a lot of multimedia players I think I’ve found the great software I was looking for: VLC Media Player.

VLC media player is multimedia player for various audio and video formats such as: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg.  Beside those VLC can also play DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. VLC can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network and it doesn’t need any external codec or program to work. A full feature list is available here.

So instead of paying for a DVD/Multimedia Player you really should try VLC!

PS: VLC can also be used on Mac OS X, Linux, BeOS and Syllable.

Publisher: Videolan.org
Language: English, Dutch, Chinese and much more!
License: Freeware
Download size: 15,5 MB
Download VLC Media Player: Click…
Screenshot:

When you have portable applications installed on your USB key a small menu would be very handy, a menu with autorun to be exactly. A menu which could start when you insert the USB key in the computer. Well, that’s possible with Pstart!

PStart is a simple tray tool to start user defined applications. Designed to run portable applications, you can start anything runnable from USB key devices or removable disks. Unlike Windows shortcuts, PStart uses relative paths, when installed as a portable application. If your USB key drive gets another drive letter when you insert it into another computer, your portable applications still can be started properly. This means you can also use PStart to start applications you burn to a CD (and don’t know the drive letter either).

So if you have a usb drive and you have portable application installed on it then PStart is really a must! Off course You can use Pstart also on your pc too.

Publisher: Pegtop.de
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download size: 768 KB
Download Pstart: Click…
Screenshot:

While surfing on the net I found a great small application for those who don’t want to disable the UAC. This application called Tweak UAC offers three options:

1. Turn the UAC off
2. Switch UAC to the quite mode
3. Turn the UAC on

The first and third option speak for them selfs but what about switching UAC to the quite mode? This options does not turn off UAC. Instead, it only makes UAC to operate in the quiet mode. In the quiet mode, UAC does not display the elevation prompts for the administrators. So when you attempt to do an administrative task, you will be allowed to proceed automatically without prompting you to confirm the operation.

As for the other user who haven’t administrator rights, this means that they still will see the elevation prompts.

So if you don’t want to turn off the UAC, then this might be a great outcome for you!

Note: If you turn UAC off or switch it to operate in the “quiet” mode, Vista starts displaying a warning message in its taskbar. You can turn this message off by: double clicking on the shield icon in the taskbar to open Windows Security Center. Then click on the “Change the way Security Center alerts me” link, in the left panel. Finally, choose one of the “Don’t notify me” options.

Publisher: Tweak-UAC
Requires: Windows Vista Home Premium and up version
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download size: 84 KB
Download Tweak UAC: Click…

Well, if you would like to be prompted before FireFox opens a pdf file then you really should use PDF Download, a great add-on for your FireFox.

What does PDF Download actually do? The answer to that question is really simple! It notifies you when you click on a pdf when surfing around the net. So when you click on a pdf file you’ll get a pop-up which let you choose between 5 options, as shows as below;

1. Download the pdf file
2. Open the pdf file
3. View the pdf file as HTML
4. Bypass pdf download
5. Cancel

It doesn’t actually matter which choice you make cause you’re back in control of your Firefox again with this small and great add-on for FireFox!

I almost forgot: PDF Download enables you to save and share Web pages as high-quality PDF files too, so make sure you give it a try! I sure love it!

Publisher: Nitro PDF Software
Requires: FireFox
OS: Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download PDF Download: Click here…

“Vista is cool. I like it well maybe I don’t use a lot of programs just the basic programs. The only thing is that vista uses a lot of battery power if you are using it on a laptop.”

Well, as I don’t have Vista running on my laptop so this wasn’t an issue for me. However while I was surfing around I came across this website: Vista Battery Saver.

Vista Batter Saver will save up to 70% of your battery by disabling those nice, but greedy Vista features. Vista Battery Save runs in task bar with private workset of 5.5M and 0% CPU and it will do all the work for you. By enabling and disabling customizable features when power source changed or battery power fall under certain percent.

Like I said: I don’t have a laptop with Vista installed on it, but this can be a good and great tip for those with vista running on there laptops!

Publisher: Tamirk
Requires: Windows Vista Home Premium and up version, running on notebook computer
Language: English
License: Microsoft Permissive License. (According to the Free Software Foundation, it is a free software license and is compatible with the GNU GPL version 3)
Download size: 941 KB
Download Vista Battery Saver: Click…
Screenshots:

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer which is MUCH faster then Adobe Acrobat Reader. Some features of Foxit Reader:

• Incredibly small: Foxit is just 2.55 MB while Acrobat Reader is about 25 MB!
• It’s fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches much faster! No splash windows displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: You can annotate or comment on a PDF document when you are reading it. This option is only available in Acrobat Reader Pro version but Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background without users permission, Foxit PDF Reader doesn’t do that.
• Tabbed Viewer: you can open several PDF’s in the same window, much like Firefox! Something which I really like!

Like I said, If you’re fed up with Acrobat Reader and you want to try something better, then you really should try Foxit Reader!

Publisher: Foxit Software
OS: Windows ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista, Linux, Mac, Windows Mobile, Symbian
Language: English
License: Freeware
Version: 2.3
Download size: 2.55 MB
Download Foxit Reader: Click…

ColorfulTabs doesn’t only color every tab in a different color and has some more features:

• Colors by site domain – Color each tab depending on its server/domain for identifying the website.
• Custom tab color – Give your tabs a color of your choice.
• Enhanced tab highlighting – Fade the background tabs to identify the currently selected tab
• Colors each tab using a unique and randomly generated color.
• Colors each tab using a unique color depending on the site domain using a formula.
• Allows user to chose colors.
• Allows to fade the background tabs for easy identification of the selected tab.
• Allows quick identification of the tabs.
• Increases usability and visibility for people with visual challenges.

This simple add-on is pretty cool and I bet you’ll love it!

Publisher: Shivanand Sharma
Requires: FireFox
OS: Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Language: English
License: Freeware
Download ColorfulTabs: Click here…

Wouldn’t be a great idea to give each folder another color? That would make thing a lot easier, right?  This is one of the things which I really miss in Windows XP, but thanks to iColorFolder it’s possible to customize the color of each Windows XP folder!

After downloading iColorFolder which is just 1.48 MB, this little tools enables you to colorize and customize a folder with a single right-click, easy & simple! If you don’t like the selected color much you can change it back to the standard yellow color!

When installing iColorFolder you can choose between three appearance :

1. the default appearance of WindowsXP folders
2. Mac OS X skin
3. Snow.E2 skin

In case you want to use and try out some other appearance, you can download and install an Additional Skin Pack, which regroups several skins (13 to be exactly ) from various authors from the publisher’s website.

iColorFolder is highly recommended. With just a right click you can colorize your folders and you can organize files in a more efficient way! So a quick view will be enough to identify the folder you are looking for. Give it a try I know you’ll like it!

Publisher: iColorFolder
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Language: English, Spanish, French and Chinese
License: Freeware
Version: 1.4.2
Download size iColorFolder: 1.48 MB
Download size the Additional Skin Pack: 7 MB
Download iColorFolder: Click…
Download the Additional Skin Pack for iColorFolder: Click…

Off course you can make backup manually, file or folders at a time, but this can be time consuming and not a very safe method cause. There’s always a file or folder which you forgot to backup! I’ve been there myself a couple of times and I can tell you this: that pissed me off!
However there are a lot of software (both shareware and freeware) which can do the job for you. One of those freeware tools is Cobian Backup.

Cobian Backup is very easy to use. It allows you to build a backup task. In the task you can adjust settings like:
- Including subdirectories
- Creating separated backups using timestamps. (Which is just great in my opinion!)
- Use file attributes logic and more!

But that’s not all! In the task (you can have multiple tasks if you want) you can specify:
- Which files and folder you want to backup (the source) and the destination of your backup.
- Making a Daily, weekly, monthly, Yearly, Timer and manually schedule for you backup.
- Compression methode
- Encryption type if needed.

So when you have build your task you can make a backup by pressing a single button. This way you’re sure that you’ve selected every file and folder. When you’re backup has been created you can keep the backup on a save place like burning it on a dvd or on an external harddrive in case you ever need to restore them.

I forgot to mention that you can use Cobain Backup to backup your files and directories to other computers in your network and also backup to a FTP server.
The program uses very few resources and can be running on the background on your system.

Publisher: Luis Cobain
OS: Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista
Language: English, Swedish, Spanish, French, Dutch and much more
License: Freeware
Version: 9.1.1.178
Download size: 9.04 MB
Download Cobain Backup: Click…
Screenshot:

So stop using the standard add/remove program in XP and start using Revo Uninstaller. Revo Uninstaller is a replacement to the standard add/remove program in XP and it also includes some other useful tools to keep your system clean and fast!
Here below you can view the list of tools included in Revo Uninstaller:

• Auto Start Manager
• Windows tools manager
• Junk Files Cleaner
• Browsers history cleaner
• Office history cleaner
• Windows history cleaner
• Unrecoverable delete tool
• Evidence remover.

Publisher: VS Revo Group
OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Language: English, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch and much more
License: Freeware
Version: 1.6
Download size: 1.52 MB
Download Revo Uninstaller: Click…
Screenshot:

Some features of Defraggler:

• Defrag Individual Files
  Most defragmentation tools only let you defrag the whole drive. Defraggler gives you the power to select individual files and folders to defrag. So you can get the job done in seconds, rather than waiting for the whole drive to complete. Of course if you want to defrag the whole drive Defraggler will let you do that too.
• Compact and Portable
  Defraggler was written in the same compact architecture as other Piriform products (CCleaner and Recuva). This results in a compact single EXE application, which can be copied to a thumbdrive and then used whenever you need it, without a complex installation process. The EXE itself is less than 1MB!
• Vista Support
  Defraggler supports all OSs released since Windows 2000, this includes Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. 64-bit support has also just been added! Additionally Defraggler supports both NTFS and FAT32 file systems.
• Locate Files on the Drive
  After analysis Defraggler lists all the fragmented files on the drive. Selecting one or many will highlight their location on the disk. Allowing you to visually see the location of files on the disk.

Publisher: Piriform
OS: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
Language: English
License: Freeware
Version: 1.01.058 BETA
Download size: 384 KB
Download Defraggler: Click…

So how can you convert a file??
To convert a file located on your computer : Check File mode, click Browse and choose the file, select input format (if auto detection fails) and output format, submit the form.

To convert a file located on a webserver : Check URL mode, enter the file URL, select input and output format.

And why should you use Media-Convert??
Simply because Media-Convert is the best manner of converting audio files, video, presentation, document, spreadsheet, etc. But it prevents hours searching for the right tool to do the job!

Some Media-Convert advantages:

• More secure because you do not have to install software on your computer, which can contain viruses, spywares, etc.
• Access from everywhere in the world through Internet. You can use Media-Convert at the office, in a cybercafé, or with the PC of a friend, and then download the result quietly to your cell phone, mp3 reader or any other hardware.

Supported file formats?
A lot! Too much to list here, but almost every Document, text, image, archives, movie and sound file format!

Are there any limitation??
Yes, you can convert files up to 150 MB!

Gimme the link so I can check it out!
Ok, just click here!

I have tried this and I have to admit it runs extremely fast and does a good job of identifying files for recovery! It scanned my 80 GB hard drive in just 45.99 (!!) seconds and found 30512 files which I’ve deleted in the past and could recover. Beside that this application is really fast, it’s also extremely easy to handle by any type of user! Another great thing about Recuva is that you can view images before recovering them. Recuva also displays a lot of information which makes it easier for you to recover your file. The information contains: filename, path and size!

Publisher: Piriform
OS: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
Language: English, Dutch and much more!
License: Freeware
Version: 1.11.257
Download size: 679 KB
Download Recuva: Click…