1.61

Review: BetterDesktopTool integrates hot key commands to enhance your desktop

BetterDesktopTool integrates a tool sorely lacking from Windows--the ability to instantly move, adjust, and compartmentalize desktops on your computer. While there is similar functionality in Windows 8, BetterDesktopTool makes it more intuitive and easier to manage than Microsoft's default controls--much closer to what you can do in OS X. The result is a powerful background application that can improve productivity and control, while working.

After installing BetterDesktopTool it immediately goes to your tray to run in the background. Despite this, it uses only a small amount of memory--a fraction of what your Web browser does. Open the menu and … Read more

Free HDD LED 1.61 Review

It's extremely reassuring to see that hard drive activity light flashing to the beat of moving data. But suppose you have no activity light? With no LED, how will you know if everything's okay with your PC's HDD? Easy: Try Free HDD LED and see the light. My Portable Software's freeware displays the activity of your system's disk drives, including portable drives, in three places: a flashing system tray icon, a desktop gadget, and even your keyboard's scroll lock LED. It also monitors disk space and can even issue warnings when free space is … Read more

Colorblind Assistant Color Identifier

Identifying the correct name of a color online can be hard, and not only for colorblind individuals. Colorblind Assistant, freeware from Achronism Studios, hopes to make this process simpler and more accurate with a streamlined approach and minimal options.

Colorblind Assistant, once installed, has a small unassuming interface that will provide color information on the spot where the mouse is pointed on. The hexadecimal and RGB (red, green, blue) values are displayed under the name of the color. The application is capable of zooming in for even closer color identification, but you won't find any other settings or options.… Read more

Change time stamps with NewFileTime

If you've ever viewed all your image or music files sorted by date, you may have wondered how you ended up with a picture you apparently saved 10 years before you bought your first PC. That may not be as bad as those mysterious files from the future. These things happen when a file's time stamp is incorrectly entered, deliberately changed, or corrupted. Nenad Hrg's NewFileTime is freeware that can modify the time stamps showing when a file or folder was created, changed, or accessed. You can add files and folders by dragging and dropping them into … Read more

Rapid resize

No one wants to open a huge suite of photo editing tools just to perform one simple task like resizing an image. Fortunately, with tools like Minh's Free PhotoResizer, we don't have to. This basic program can resize and convert images, and that's about it. It's the perfect tool for anyone looking for a quick, no-hassle way to resize images.

The program's interface is plain with just a small gray square with three menus across the top. A text box lets users enter the desired maximum width or height of their image in pixels. Users … Read more

Video and DVD converter

Prism is a shareware video file converter from NCH Software. It can convert files from and to most common formats, including AVI, MPG, VOB, WMV, and FLV, singly or in batches, and it also converts any file format based on a DirectShow codec into AVI and WMV files. Basically, if you can play it with Windows Media Player, you can convert it with Prism, according to the developer. It also fetches and converts files directly from DVDs and multimedia devices.

Prism's gridded main view and control icons have the familiar look of most such tools, largely dictated by function … Read more

Nifty system monitor

Moo0 SystemMonitor Portable is a compact tool that monitors numerous system properties and displays them in an unobtrusive, completely customizable desktop widget. In fact, pretty much everything about this portable freeware is customizable, from dozens of skins to a staggering array of selectable processes to monitor, such as three temperature monitors in Fahrenheit and three in Celsius and no less than five fan RPM displays. You can create custom entries, too. It's totally portable and can run from a USB drive or other devices, making it a useful tool for your fix-it kit.

Moo0 SystemMonitor Portable's default view … Read more

Music to our ears

We approached Express Rip warily after a morning of reviewing some absolutely dreadful audio software. Would this be yet another semifunctional, poor quality application? Fortunately for us (and you), Express Rip is a refreshingly functional and well-designed piece of software.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, with graphical buttons representing its major features. We inserted a CD and the program immediately connected to the MusicBrainz database and grabbed the track names and other album information. Ripping the CD was as easy and choosing a destination folder and choosing from among 21 output formats. The program quickly ripped the … Read more