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Did you have plans to get anything done any time soon? Other than playing Copter Game, that is? Because that's what's going to happen as soon as you install the free Copter Game extension for Google Chrome: Your productivity will crash, and so will you, or at least the helicopter you'll be flying will. It'll crash a lot--into the ground, the ceiling, and obstacles--as you learn to master the art of flight using nothing but your left mouse button. One more thing: You'll have a lot of fun.

As with all Chrome extensions, Copter Game … Read more

There seems to be no end to the variety of gadgets that the Windows Sidebar enables on the desktop in Vista and Windows 7. Language Translator for Windows Sidebar localizes the proven usefulness of Web-based translators on your desktop, with the flexibility of a gadget. Like most Windows gadgets, it's free.

Windows gadgets tend to be small by design, and at 260KB, Language Translator is no exception. Like other gadgets, it's as easy to manage as your screensaver or desktop background: right-click anywhere in the desktop and select Gadgets from the menu. The tool itself is a compact, … Read more

Scheming teenagers, wayward spouses, and other sneaky computer users sometimes inspire someone to keep an eye on them. BlackBox Security Monitor Express can do this task for you, keeping track of the Web sites, keywords, and text that are entered by each computer user. Whether or not you should be snooping is something we'll refrain from weighing in on; all we'll say is that this program works.

The program's interface is plain and pretty easy to figure out. A wizard walks you through the process of selecting which users or computers are to be monitored; these can … Read more

Why bother with Facebook if your "face" looks like everyone else's? There's no reason your Facebook page can't be as stylish (or as junky; why not?) as you want it to be. We looked at Naevius Facebook Layouts, a free tool that works with Internet Explorer. It makes customizing your Facebook look as easy as picking a theme.

A strange error message prevented Naevius Facebook Layouts from opening immediately after installation, but the program ran normally when we clicked the desktop icon, and subsequently, so we pretended we hadn't seen it. It opened with … Read more

Most modern computers have the processing power to run lots of programs at once with no problem, but that leads to a new issue: a desktop cluttered with open windows. Chameleon Window Manager Lite is a clever program that adds extra ways to handle windows without making major changes to the way your desktop functions.

The program's interface is plain and easy to figure out. When it's first launched, Chameleon Window Manager displays a configuration menu where you can customize the way the program acts. Once it's running, the program simply adds extra buttons to each window'… Read more

We tend to find puzzle games addicting, and Softendo Cradle of Persia is no exception. There's nothing particularly remarkable about this game, but it's lots of fun.

The program's interface is plain and attractive. The object of the game is to collect money, materials, and food to build a new city. In practice, this simply means solving a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. Cradle of Persia is another variation of the ever-popular tile puzzle; in this instance you drag your mouse over at least three matching tiles to make them disappear, and to advance to the next … Read more

Duplicate images can take up a lot of space on your hard drive, but identifying and deleting them can be a major hassle. Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder promises to make this process easier, and it does, to some extent. Depending on the number of duplicates you have, this may or may not be the program for you.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive. Users simply select the folders they want to scan for duplicates and then click the Start Search button. Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder scanned our hard drive quickly and then displayed the results as a list … Read more

The search tool built into Windows shows how hard it is to satisfy everyone with one tool: either it's too simple or not simple enough. Ultra File Search is a freeware system search tool from Stegisoft. It can search your system, network, and disks, including CDs, DVDs, and flash drives. It doesn't use background indexing, but it does offer useful search configuration parameters, such as text, date and time, and attributes, and Simple and Wildcard search modes. It can export search results in a variety of formats, including texts, HTML, and XML.

Ultra File Search's small, tabbed … Read more

Nitro MemOptimizer is a simple program that does a simple thing: flush the system memory at regularly scheduled times, freeing up resources and making your PC run more smoothly. It's great for older systems and those with limited amounts of RAM, which typically need more help than newer PCs. It's free, too.

Nitro MemOptimizer's diminutive interface has just two controls, one to set the time interval between the program's operations, with a Reset button; another labeled Optimize Now. The interface displayed our current memory usage; time to the next optimization in hours, minutes, and seconds; and … Read more