files

Everyone needs a little zip in their life, but computer users need a little unzip, too; and they can get it from NCH's Express Zip File Compression Free, a compact file compression utility. At just under 1MB, Express Zip is small, but it's big on the features users expect in a zip tool, such as Explorer shell integration and compatibility with many types of archive files, including 7Z, RAR, and ISO. Small means fast, too: Express Zip loads and runs quickly. Express Zip File Compression Free is compatible with Windows versions XP to 8: And, as the name … Read more

Before I bought a Macbook Air, I began to fear the hassles that could potentially come with sharing files between my other devices, particularly my Android phone. What's the easiest way to transfer files between my two most beloved devices? Droid NAS is one elegant solution.

Droid NAS lets you send files back and forth between your Mac and Android phone. The app makes this possible via Wi-Fi and the built-in Bonjour protocol inside OS X.

Download and launch Droid NAS from your Android phone. Make sure that your Android device and your Macbook or Mac are all connected … Read more

Today's stable release of Mozilla Firefox 22 (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android) includes a variety of back-end technical updates and relatively minor tweaks (to be honest, the word-wrapping of plain-text files is the most relevant to me).

The most notable news is Firefox's new default support for WebRTC (the RTC stands for real-time communication), a set of API components that allows developers to create browser-to-browser applications without plug-ins. WebRTC was developed by Google for Chrome and open-sourced back in 2011, so Google Chrome (Windows, Mac, Android) of course supports it as well.

In real terms, WebRTC enables features such … Read more

Espionage for Mac adds basic security to file folders in a streamlined application. The program comes with a free trial version with a 14-day use limit.

After an easy installation, Espionage for Mac opens a setup assistant that prompts the user to enter a master password. The application rates it for its level of security, and encourages the user to enter those that have additional characters. After passing this screen, the program asks the user to enter the password one additional time to start the application. This brings up a small window where the user can drag and drop folders … Read more

Apple's CoreStorage disk encryption technology has a small bug that will keep a disk unlocked, even after it has been ejected from the system.

In OS X Lion, Apple introduced a drive management technology called CoreStorage. When enabled, CoreStorage will create a "logical volume group" out of one or more physical drive partitions, and then create usable "logical volumes" from this group to serve as storage for your system. This setup allows the logical volume to span multiple physical partitions (as is seen with Apple's Fusion Drive), and support features like encryption for Apple'… Read more

FilePop is one of the better video converters on the market, and has some neat extras in it, too. It has a very clean, attractive layout, tons of statistics, and even a built-in YouTube downloader. Its impressive speed really pushes it over the edge, making it one of the best converters you can find.

This download organizes file types based on what gadget uses them. It's a neat feature, but it would be nice if you could change what files were associated with each device. As for actually converting, FilePop is faster than many other downloads on the market. … Read more

The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) was Apple's default networking protocol in the classic Mac OS as well as in OS X, but it has fallen out of favor with the advent of SMB2 in the upcoming OS X Mavericks.

Server Message Block (SMB) is a file transfer protocol that has been the main networking protocol for Windows-based systems. Having different default protocols has made the use of both Windows and Mac systems on the same network frustrating, since until Apple introduced native SMB support in OS X, users had to rely on third-party SMB support for sharing files with … Read more

PC Files offers a unique tool for transferring files between a PC and iOS device, but with enough extra steps that it's hard to justify leaving alternatives like cloud storage or Bluetooth transfer behind. Considering the second client required on your desktop and the limited storage interface on your iOS device, there are quite a few solutions that offer more flexible methods for sharing those files.

After downloading PC Files, the first step is to install the companion app on your desktop. From there, you can set up both apps to transfer select files between devices. The process is … Read more

Think of how you share files with friends and family. Do you send it to them in an e-mail, through a Skype conversation, or upload it to Dropbox and share a link? Now you can use Pipe on Facebook to send files up to 1GB.

Pipe, a newly launched app for Facebook lets you send files to friends and family, even if they aren't online at that moment. The great thing about using an app that integrates with Facebook over another service is that both parties are probably using Facebook already. You won't have to instruct a friend … Read more