tools

Apple today has made good on its promise to release its own tool that detects and removes any instances of the Flashback malware on Mac systems running Java. The tool is only available for systems running OS X 10.6 or later, and is bundled with a slightly updated version of the most recent Java runtime, but is a separate component that is installed and runs on its own.

When you download either the Java for OS X Lion 2012-003 or Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 8, the updater will install a small program called MRTAgent to … Read more

Yammer is expanding its repertoire of file-sharing and collaboration services for businesses with the acquisition of OneDrum.

The U.K.-based startup brings even more social-minded work tools to the enterprise social network. OneDrum has developed a peer-to-peer desktop application that connects Google Docs with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), enabling users to be able to collaborate, co-edit and share these documents in real time.

Thus, Yammer will be able to boost its own real-time document editor feature, Pages, with desktop sync capabilities, enabling file folders to be shared across multiple users' desktops. Furthermore, new versions and changes to … Read more

Wear and tear slows your computer down over time. With WinSettings Pro, not only can you clean up duplicate, temporary, and junk files, but you can also optimize system settings and remove unnecessary startups, cookies, and associations. What makes WinSettings Pro different from other utilities is that you are always in control. It lets you review and selectively delete individual files and cookies. Plus, it finds and fixes errors, ensures privacy and security protection, and maintains your computer's peak performance and reliability.

Rated 4-stars by CNET, you can save 90% for three days only and get it for just $… Read more

Twitter has had enough of TweetAttacks, TweetAdder, TweetBuddy, Troption, and Justinlover. So much so, that the microblogging site filed a suit against these five tool providers and spammers in San Francisco's federal court this morning.

"Our engineers continue to combat spammers' efforts to circumvent our safeguards, and today we're adding another weapon to our arsenal: the law," Twitter announced on its blog today. "With this suit, we're going straight to the source."

By working to shut down these tool providers, Twitter hopes to stop other spammers from using those tools. The tools function … Read more

Have you ever really thought about the difference between the way older and present-day recordings affect you? I'm not so much talking about sound quality; older recordings have a very different feel. They have more juice, more soul, more life, and that's why they connect with people in a completely different way than hyperprocessed contemporary music does.

Today, for example, Auto-Tuned vocals are so ubiquitous that my friend, mastering engineer Dave McNair, exclaimed, "The only way to know for sure a vocal hasn't been Auto-Tuned, is an out of tune vocal." So once a new … Read more

Maybe you've heard the phrase "Lean Six Sigma" in the news or at work. This management strategy was developed by Motorola in the 1980s to reduce manufacturing defects, but it's applicable to a wide range of business models. The "sigma" refers to defect rates; "six sigma" is the very low rate Motorola set as its goal, and it's also shorthand for the lean processes that achieved it. Lean6 from Leanmap is a set of free Excel worksheets for implementing Six Sigma techniques. While you might think it's geared strictly toward … Read more

Red-eye: In horror movies, it's usually a bad sign. It's a bad sign in your snapshots, too. Now that digital cameras are everywhere, so is red-eye. Fortunately, so are free tools to remove redeye from your digital snapshots. Like Free Red-eye Reduction Tool, which is both an accurate name and apt description for this simple photo editing app. LifeSniffer's free tool makes it supereasy to correct red-eye from portraits and groups, removing the (occasionally alarming) effect that can make family snapshots look like horror movie stills with just a few mouse clicks.

Free Red-eye Reduction Tool's … Read more

TheFormTool is a free add-on for Microsoft Word. With it, users can create attractive, personalized, professional forms and documents inside Word, using regular Word commands. It also adds many unique capabilities, such as the ability reuse old files as new forms. It's particularly useful to physicians, attorneys, engineers, administrators, and self-employed people--anyone who needs to create clear, legible, archival-quality forms, documents, letters, and records. It's a simplified version of a complex (and expensive) pro tool, but TheFormTool is fully functional and completely free, with no expiration date. TheFormTool requires Microsoft Word 2007 or better, though it's compatible … Read more

A researcher plans to demonstrate an attack on a smartphone at the RSA security conference this week that starts with social engineering via a text message and leads to a malicious Web link that triggers a browser exploit and silently downloads a Trojan.

"It's a demo of a new attack vector on mobile, using a Remote Access Tool" called Nickispy, which showed up a few months ago in China, said Dmitri Alperovitch, formerly of McAfee Labs who is chief technology officer at a brand new startup called CrowdStrike. "No one has publicly demonstrated an end-to-end attack … Read more