Windows 8 has managed to do a pretty decent job of putting all of your favorite and most-used applications right in your face with their rendition of the startup screen. Not all of us fancy it though. I personally skip straight the desktop. With all of these commonly-used applications so separated, daily tasks can seem like a hassle. Ubiquitous Player makes an attempt at alleviating that and serving as your Swiss Army Knife of application goodies.

Download Ubiquitous Player

Ubiquitous Player is a completely portable application that runs on any version of Windows from XP onward. It’s 100% free and even works on tablet or touchscreen devices. This application aims to serve every purpose of your daily PC routine. It’s packed with a media player, image viewer, file manager, text editor, browser, bookmark manager, notes keeper, calculator, color picker, screenshot tool, clipboard monitor, and even more.

Ubiquitous Player’s interface is very sleek and attractive. Let’s pick apart some of its many uses.

Music Player

The music player offers pretty much everything the average user needs to enjoy their music collection. You can organize a playlist and view album art (in the top-right corner) within Ubiquitous Player.

You’re able to play an entire folder, play random tracks, set a track to just play once, and skip to the next album in your folder to play it in its entirety. Ubiquitous Player includes all basic media keys to start, stop, skip, go back, and change the volume of its player. Ubiquitous Player’s music player isn’t entirely impressive, yet it’s everything you should need.

Notes

Ubiquitous Player’s take on notes is very bare and straightforward. As you can see in some of the examples above, note-taking is composed of “folders” (which simply act as a header describing a list of notes) and then line-by-line notes beneath them.

Obviously this doesn’t compare to an Evernote or CintaNotes, but it’s very quick, good for jotting down simple things, and even supports searching your notes.

Image Viewer

The image viewer offers some interesting features. Just using your left-click button, you’re able to navigate through to the next image in a folder. With each individual image, you have options to view it at its actual size, cut the image, rotate it, change the backdrop to black or white, or resave the image as either PNG, JPG, BMP, or JPEG. All images show the dimensions, size, and date modified.

When you’re hunting through a cluttered folder, Ubiquitous Player’s image viewer is a great way to look at images quickly and easily.

Text Editor

Ubiquitous Player’s text editor is a very straightforward alternative to Notepad. You’re able to format your text in a few ways, such as changing the font face, size, and color. You’re able to immediately access a special characters map from within the interface. You can also view your text in HTML format using the built-in browser.

The settings allow you to activate a touchscreen mode, change the interface scaling, and even set hotkeys related to screen capturing (all of which I used to take the screenshots in this post).

Conclusion

Ubiquitous Player isn’t the type of application to exceed your expectations. It definitely isn’t going to be a replacement for any of the dedicated applications that exist as alternatives for some of its built-in features, but it does well for bringing so many elements together in a single interface. It’s the kind of application that could work best on low-resource machines (like a netbook).

What do you think of Ubiquitous Player and the features it provides? What can Ubiquitous Player do better? I think it’s a really solid application that deserves some attention, and I hope you give it a try if it interests you. Let me know what you think about Ubiquitous Player in the comments section below!

The post Ubiquitous Player Is An Everything-In-One Portable Suite appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Now, the Windows System Control Center itself isn’t really that amazing, it’s just an interface that gives you access to two different suites of tools, and categorizes those tools according to their functions. But when you realize what two suites we’re talking about, you start to realize just what a dynamite combination this is. Think of this as the IT world’s version of “You got chocolate in my peanut butter.” That’s right, when they come together they are worth more than the sum of the parts. We’re talking about SysInternals and NirSoft.

Installing WSCC

Once you have WSCC downloaded, simply unzip the package. Inside, you’ll find an executable file called wscc.exe with an icon that looks like a lifesaver. A very apt icon indeed. To install wscc.exe on your USB thumb drive, simply copy the file and paste it onto your thumb drive. That’s it. Takes about 2 seconds. If you go ahead and do it now before you run into any Windows’ issues, you’ll be glad you did!

Running WSCC

On the first run, WSCC will prompt you to download all the latest versions of all the utilities. You may as well do that to be up-to-date. Because most of these utilities are very lightweight, well under 500KB for most of them, the process is quite quick.

Unfortunately, if you have good antivirus software, the process can take a bit longer. Some of the NirSoft utilities will get flagged and quarantined because they do gain access to intimate parts of the operating system. These are false positives, rest assured.

Setting WSCC Options

There are four tabs with options in WSCC: General, Software, Network, and Console. I’ve chosen some different options for my setup, and I’ve highlighted those in yellow below. By default, these options are not checked. It’s up to you if you want to select them or not, I can’t say that they make a great difference, it’s just a matter of preference.

General: I’ve chosen to have Windows System Control Center Minimize to Tray, when not in use. I just prefer it to be there rather than in the task bar. I’ve also chosen to Show Hidden Items, just because I don’t like hidden things. I like to know ALL of my options.

Software: I’ve chosen to utilize Windows Services as well. Again, just because I like to know all of my options.

Network: Under Update Manager, I’ve also chosen to Include new software when checking for updates. Again, it’s about having options. The Use the 64-bit version if possible option seems like another nice-to-have since most 64-bit machines will also run the 32-bit versions.

Console: I see no sense in changing things here, it’s just window dressing.

What Can You Do?

More like, what CAN’T you do?! The utilities are organized in a directory fashion based upon their functionality. The major categories of tools are:

• File and Disk – For anything related to file recovery, file access, disk usage, disk or file defrag, etc.
• Network – Anything related to network functions such as Active Directory viewing, remotely opened file viewer, whois, network adapter tools, etc.
• Process -  Covers the gamut of viewing open DLLs, what programs are set to autorun at startup, file process dependencies, etc.
• Security -  Registry keys, password utilities, scan for root-kits, etc.
• System Information – Active logons, system clock, process monitor, system info, etc.
• Console – Includes a command line console, available by clicking on the New Console button in the bottom-left corner. Perfect for running command line utilities from your USB drive.

SysInternals

Mark Russinovich was an independent general computer god who got tired of not having the tools he needed to solve his Windows problems. So like any god, he created them. Like any other god, he also created a trick that was funny to some and very distressing to others, the iconic BSOD Screen Saver. Somehow it was the trick that got him the attention he richly deserved for his work on the Windows tools. At least, that’s how I came to know of him.

When people started realizing how powerful and simple to use Mark’s tools were, word spread to the progenitors of Windows and there was a deal struck. Now SysInternals Suite is an official, and free set of tools for computer techs to use. There are 70 tools in the SysInternals suite, of which I only make regular use of about 3. To date, I have not used all the tools, but it is a comfort to know that they are there.

Let me show you how powerful a tool this can be for someone to have. Let’s say you’re at a friend’s house and they just can’t get their computer to boot very quickly. You’ve got your USB flash drive with you. Plug it in, start up WSSC, go to SysInternals, click on Process, then click on Autoruns…well, watch the video.

Of course, there are several other very powerful and useful tools in SysInternals. Really, we’ve written so many articles on the different components of SysInternal Suite, that I can’t even point you to one article. Please, do the search on SysInternals on our site, you’ll find so much. Now let’s take a little look at NirSoft as well.

NirSoft

NirSoft is another Windows god in the same sense as Mark Russinovich. It is the brainchild of Nir Sofer, a software developer with an excellent knack for cryptography and reverse engineering. In his spare time, he develops these applications that he would find useful, posts them on his website and we all get to benefit. That’s a sort of altruism that I don’t completely understand, but am very grateful for.

Much like Mark Russinovich’s tools, NirSoft’s tools are already portable in the sense that they don’t have to write to the Windows registry in order to be able to use them. Which makes perfect sense. If you’re having Windows issues, you need to be able to fix them from outside of Windows.

Where NirSoft goes that SysInternals doesn’t go, is into things like Password Recovery and Web Browser information. Recently we’ve been talking about technology after you’ve passed on, on MakeUseOf.com. Morbid as it is, it is a reality for all of us. So perhaps your friend has passed on and his widow needs to access somethings on the Internet, but he didn’t leave any information. Or, maybe he told you to delete stuff, so his widow wouldn’t see it! Either way, NirSoft has a strong suite of Password Recovery tools. With the tools available, you can get his passwords from Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Firefox. You can also get them from his Outlook or even online mail service. You can recover a stored WEP key for your wireless configuration as well. Pretty powerful, possibly even scary.

The password recovery tools only touch the tip of the dozens of NirSoft utilities available through the WSCC interface. How handy to have these tools in your pocket! If your looking for more on NirSoft utilities, check out Tina Sieber’s article on another USB-based NirSoft utility launcher.

The Take Away

If you are a budding computer tech, you need this tool on your emergency USB flash drive. It’s that simple. Yes, there are other tools that you need, but this is certainly an excellent start to your portable toolbox. The price is right – free – and the size is right too – 3 MB, so why wouldn’t you? If you like the software, please donate to the folks that helped make it possible.

I hope you enjoyed our journey through this handy tool. Have you ever used it before? If so, I’d like to hear how and what the outcome was. Do you know of other excellent portable tools like this that we should know about? Plug them in the comments and we’ll have a look at them. We are IT, and we’re here to help.

The post Get a Head Start On Your USB Toolkit With Windows System Control Center appeared first on MakeUseOf.

If you read our password management guide you will know the importance of having diverse passwords. Sure, using one password for all of your online services is simple…until someone compromises one of your accounts. If all of your passwords are identical your online life is a house of cards.

KeePass Password Safe is a completely offline approach to password management, though you can combine it with cloud services like Dropbox if you want.

Using KeePass

Before you can use KeePass you need to create a database. You’ll be prompted to do so the first time you run the program, and the main thing you need to do is specify a password.

Take this password seriously – it’s going to be the one thing protecting your various passwords from anyone who gains physical access to your computer. It’s the key that will encrypt your database, so the longer – and the harder to crack – the better.

Once you’ve set up your account you’ll see the main interface of KeePass – essentially, a list of user accounts.

Creating a new entry is simple – just click the new entry button in the toolbar (I, after years of using this, frequently hit the button that creates a new database, but whatever). When you do, you can enter everything you need to know in order to access a particular account:

Give the account whatever “title” you want – that’s there for your purposes. You’ll obviously want to include the Username and password, but including the URL can also be helpful – especially if you plan to use browser plugins. More on that later.

Your password will be rated for security, and if you’re having trouble thinking up a secure password there’s a generator. Relying on such services is sometimes not recommended – no such software is perfectly random, meaning hackers could potentially exploit a pattern – but the optional entropy option can help.

If you currently use one password for every online account…stop. While you’re setting up KeePass, it is a good time to lock things down, and the password generator can help you make secure passwords. Adding your accounts, one at a time, while changing your passwords, can take a while – but real security takes work.

KeePass doesn’t just store your passwords – it also makes it easy for you to retrieve them. Right-click any entry and you’ll see the option to copy your username, password or URL immediately:

Learn the keyboard shortcuts indicated here for quick access – you’ll like it.

It’s also worth noting that there’s a search function. If you only use KeePass to store a few passwords this isn’t a big deal, but believe me, when your collection grows to 200 or 1,000 you’ll be thankful this feature is here.

KeePass Plugins

Do you like the idea of offline, encrypted password management, but also want browser integration? KeePass has you covered. A large collection of plugins allows you to automatically fill in forms on Firefox, Chrome and even Internet Explorer – and do a lot more.

Check out the KeePass plugins here. There’s a lot to explore here, and it goes well beyond browser integration. Be sure to explore if you want additional functionality.

Download KeePass

Ready to check out KeePass Password Safe for Windows? Head to the download page at KeePass.info. You’ll find both an installer (EXE) and a portable version (ZIP). You can also download a portable version at PortableApps.com, if you want.

Other Operating Systems

Are you not a Windows user? Then you should check out KeePassX, which works on Linux and OS X. There are some incompatibilities, so be sure to check out our KeePassX review to work all of that out.

There are other versions of KeePass, including KeePass Android. Check out the download page at KeePass.info for a complete list.

More Tips

Do you love the idea, but wish you could sync your database to other devices? You can easily use Dropbox to sync your database, and because it’s encrypted you’re protected from vulnerability. Any syncing service will do, too – you’re not limited to Dropbox.

Do you know of any other good KeePass Password Safe tips? Share them below, so everyone can benefit. I’m looking forward to reading your ideas.

The post KeePass Password Safe – The Ultimate Encrypted Password System [Windows, Portable] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The animated GIF just might be older than you – it’s been around since 1987, and really took off in the early days of the web. It declined at the end of the 90′s, and to some it’s an obsolete way to show animations online – but you wouldn’t know that to look at the web today. Animated GIFs are everywhere. From the endless scrolling of Tumblr to reaction shots on Reddit, GIFs are probably seen by more humans today than any point in their history. Even Twitter’s Vine seems to be inspired by the prevalence of GIFs – short, looping videos with no sound.

We’ve shown you 6 places to create amazing, memeworthy GIF animations. We showed you how to make GIFs using GIMP or using Photoshop. These methods work, but all require you to do a lot of the work yourself.

GifCam, on the other hand, could not be easier: just set up the frame where you want it and hit record. Your mouse will work within it, just as before, meaning you could use this to add quick demonstrations to documents – but you could just as easily use this app to make GIFs of scenes from your favorite online videos or even TV shows. The only limitation is “things you can see on your computer screen” (or, if you’re in Windows 8, “things you can use in Desktop mode”).

Making GIFs The Easy Way

GifCam looks like any other window – except you can see through it. Think of the window as the frame of your virtual video camera – one you can resize and move however you like.

You can use this to record just about anything. Your favorite YouTube video. Yourself playing video games. Or highlights from a hockey game.

It’s just an idea, of course – you could just as easily use it to record a light-switch rave.

(Of course, The Cheat shouldn’t be doing that – we had that light-switch installed so he could turn the lights on and off, not so he could throw light-switch raves.)

You get the idea – position the window over what you want to record, then record it. Once you’ve made your recording you may want to make changes. For example: you may have recorded too much, and want to remove some frames so you can get the perfect loop. Making GIFs, after all, is an art – one you respect. You want to get this right.

Don’t worry, it’s easy: just hit edit. You’ll be able to scroll through all of the recorded frames and delete whatever you want.

Scroll to the right to see more frames, then right-click any you want to edit. As you see above: you can even delete every image before your after the one you’ve selected. This makes the process quick, and you’ll have your ideal GIF in no time.

You can also save space by applying color limitations. Click the arrow beside the “Save” button to see that option:

Once you’ve adjusted everything to be just right you can save your GIF. Congratulations: you’ve brought a new GIF into the world. Treat it kindly, spread it widely.

Download GifCam

Want to try this out? Check out this blog post at BahraniApps.com. It outlines the creator’s usage for the app, using (of course) animated gifs to demonstrate everything.

As for me, I used this to capture John from You know I’m a fan of Crash Course US History being shocked, because that’s something I feel like the Internet needs a GIF of.

You’re welcome.

What are you GIFing with GifCam? Share links in the comments below, because there is basically no point to reviewing this app if I don’t get some GIFs out of the deal. I’m looking forward to checking out your creations…and might contribute a few of my own. Let’s do this!

The post GifCam – The Easiest Way To Make Animated GIFs Ever [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

If you’re always sorting through your files or managing your Dropbox, file management can be made incredibly easier if you look into something other than what Windows offers by default. In this article, I’d like to introduce you to one of the newest pieces of software that I’ve come across in this category.

Download Just Manager

Just Manager is a huge solution to Windows file management packaged together in one small application. It works on every modern version of Windows, both 32 and 64-bit, and even comes available as a portable application.

A lot of these alternative file managers are only available as a hard installation, and often even completely replace Windows Explorer as the default management system. This bothers me and I see it as completely unnecessary. With Just Manager, rather than having it forced upon you, you can simply launch the application whenever you’re ready to manage your files.

The interface is clean and nothing entirely special, but exactly what you’d expect from a multi-pane manager like Just Manager. Above each pane are shortcuts to your connected drives and your network. You also get an immediate snapshot of the available disk space for the drive you’re currently in.

More than just panes, which Just Manager can support up to 16 of, tabs are also a quality feature. By double-clicking in the blank space beside your tabs, a new tab will be opened that mimics the location of the tab before it. This effectively allows you to browse through multiple different folders on a single drive without opening several different panes.

Font highlighting is also a very appreciated and interesting feature. This allows certain files and folders, such as hidden folders and executables in the screenshot above, to be set apart from other items in a pane by taking on a different font color. This really allows you to save time and see important items at just a glance when scrolling through a tab.

The bar across the bottom of the interface gives easy access to buttons that offer file and folder manipulation options. These are prefixed by a hotkey, which allows them to be called by simple keyboard commands as well.

Under the View menu, you can change the tab layout per pane. In the above screenshot, the left pane is using small icons and the right pane is using standard icons. The default option shows details.

One feature that really impressed me, and surprised me to realize that I’ve yet to see before, is FTP support. With Just Manager, you can open an FTP session in a separate pane and essentially use Just Manager in the same way that you’d use a multi-pane FTP client such as FileZilla. This brings an entire new functionality to this file manager and allows you to completely replace another separate piece of software (if the basic FTP features it offers is enough for you).

Network drives are completely supported in the same way. It takes a matter of seconds to map a network drive and configure it so that you can have it opened in a pane within Just Manager.

Just Manger’s settings are extremely deep. The application is configurable in practically every way, and outlining all that is available in the configuration would require an article in itself. Shown in the View tab above, you’re able to hide or show certain panels or toolbars, change the number of rows and columns in the panel layout, and shift around practically every element of the interface.

The Shortcuts tab shows an extensive list of operations that can be triggered by shortcuts (or hotkeys). Just Manager does an incredible job at ensuring that every action can be performed right at your fingertips.

Just Manager is one of the least popular Windows file manager alternatives, but I can’t see why. It’s got all of the features that many others offer, plus more. It’s portable and free, too. I highly recommend that you give this application a try if you’re fed up with using Windows Explorer. Let us know what you think of Just Manager in the comments below.

The post Just Manager – A Free & Portable Alternative To Windows Explorer appeared first on MakeUseOf.

I’m huge on RSS tickers and scrollers. I’ve known of two or three, and my preferred software has always been Feed Notifier. It does a fantastic job of getting news to your eyes right when it happens, and it isn’t very distracting. I recently came across a very interesting alternative software that presents RSS feeds in a completely different way. Maybe some of you will enjoy it.

FeedRoller

FeedRoller meets all of the requirements to get my seal of approval – it’s free, it’s compatible with all modern versions of Windows, and it is portable. Portability in a software like this is a pretty key component to me. Being able to configure all of your favorite RSS feeds and tweak the application to perfection feels so much better when you know that you’ll be able to bring it to you on any desktop or laptop, permanently.

Feed Notifier approaches reading your RSS feeds in the form of notifications that pop up (by default) at the bottom-right corner of your screen. FeedRoller is completely different. It’s a true RSS ticker that gets right in your face.

As you can see in the above screenshot, FeedRoller defaults to docking at the top of your screen. Unlike Feed Notifier, it doesn’t go away when it’s fed you your news. It continuously scrolls. Hovering your mouse over it will cause it to immediately hide.

FeedRoller docks to the system tray, where almost all interaction with the program itself will occur.

First worth noting are the hotkeys. I will admit, I was a little confused and bothered when trying to take a screenshot while the application was running, because the PrintScreen key is actually bound to an action within FeedRoller. Keys like ScrollLock and PrintScreen shouldn’t be used as hotkeys (at least in my opinion), but once you’ve learned them it’s quite easy to adjust to.

The 15-minute DND mode that FeedRoller offers is much appreciated. Once the time passes, feeds automatically begin scrolling again. It’s good that it works this way, because if you’re new to the application you’d likely forget to reactivate FeedRoller. It’ll surprise you the first couple of times you see it pop up.

Managing your feeds is incredibly easy. Here, you see all of the default feeds that ship with FeedRoller. It’s very thoughtful that you can tick or untick certain feeds, rather than having to completely delete and read them. Being able to temporarily disable feeds is a far better approach.

Adding a feed takes a matter of seconds. Leaving the Name parameter to its default will automatically name the feed. You’re able to then configure a maximum number of items to display per feed, a maximum age per item (in hours), and a time (in minutes) to keep feeds cached. One feature that I wish FeedRoller supported, that Feed Notifier does, is the ability to change the interval at which each individual feed is checked and refreshed.

FeedRoller’s options are incredibly extensive, but let’s go over some of the more important parts.

Changing around the interface is important. In the Interface section, you can set a padding and margin to your ticker. You’re also able to add extra summary rows, which can add a little beef to how much you’re able to read at just a glance. Most importantly is the ability to snap the ticker to the bottom of the screen rather than the top. We all have different screen arrangements.

The Colors section offers more visual enhancements. I find it pretty important to differentiate between each part of the feed’s data, and this will allow you to do that.

I mentioned how unfortunate a few of the default hotkeys are. Luckily, you can change all of them in the Hotkeys section. You’re also able to change the length of your DND period and the action that occurs when the tray icon is double-clicked.

Feed Roller is an awesome and unique way to digest your RSS and Atom feeds. It’s tough to miss news when it’s always there for you to read up on and I appreciate the features it offers. What do you think of Feed Roller? Let me know in the comments.

The post FeedRoller – One Of The Most Interesting Ways To Read Your RSS Feeds [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

I’ve preached on my loyalty to Winamp Lite in a previous article. It’s old and many would consider it to even be deprecated, but it’s always done the job for me. When I’m listening to music downloaded to a local drive, I don’t need Spotify or iTunes in charge of my music. However, for the past week, I’ve slowly started to fall in love with a new, free, and portable alternative to Winamp Lite that seems to incorporate the same elements of simplicity while also offering some really awesome extra functionality. Let me tell you about Hokrain!

Download Hokrain

First worth mentioning is the website that Hokrain calls home. Though I’ll echo and help explain much of it in this article, Hokrain’s website is one of the best examples of a one-pager that I’ve ever seen. All of the information that you’d be interested in, including a direct link to download the application, exists on a single page.

It saves you from wasting time and makes you want to download and give it a try. It’s one click away and you know everything that it has to offer, so why not?

Hokrain is completely portable and can be run from a flash drive. Hokrain runs perfectly on any version of Windows, from 98 onward. It’ll cost your disk 600 KB of space and I’ve yet to see it go over about 7 MB in RAM usage. Compared to one of the applications I mentioned earlier, Spotify or iTunes, the difference in resource intensity is extremely significant.

Out of the box, Hokrain’s interface is very simple and clean.

One quick glance and you’re able to see practically everything you need to begin listening to your music. Hokrain supports the following formats:

• MP3
• MP2
• MP1
• MPA
• OGG
• WAV
• AIFF
• MO3
• IT
• XM
• S3M
• MTM
• MOD
• UMX
• AAC
• AC3
• APE
• MAC
• CDA
• FLAC
• MIDI
• MID
• RMI
• KAR
• MPC
• MP+
• MPP
• TTA
• WMA
• WV

Navigate to a folder, double-click a track, and it will immediately begin playing.

Let’s break down a few of the more interesting parts of the audio player’s interface:

• Hokrain has a nice CPU usage monitor that shows just how much processing power it is consuming while playing. It’s near the top-right of the interface, and just 0.42% in the above screenshot.
• Hokrain’s volume slider is very large, running all the way up the right side of the interface. Unlike many audio players, it’s vertical rather than horizontal. Being so large, it really allows you to easily set an exact volume percentage, if you’re into round numbers like me.
• There is also a quality spectrum that lets you visualize the current track’s visual quality.
• Below the spectrum, you’re able to graphically seek your track. Some audio players have a simple slider that lets you seek through the track, but a graphical seeker really lets you pinpoint a particular part of a song at just a glance. No more hearing around and wasting time to get to the part of a song that you want.

The application’s settings are filled with goodies. Hokrain comes stocked with six different themes that you can choose from. Here is the Windows XP theme:

The General tab offers a lot of information and lets you set more than just your theme. There is an OSD (on-screen display) every time you change tracks to notify you of what is currently being played. It can be turned on or off. You are then able to toy with shell integration options, your tray icon, and a few other small tweaks.

Another great thing about Hokrain lies within the two Hot Keys tabs.

If you’re using a media player, you need to use hotkeys. It’s just that simple. Hokrain supports a ridiculous amount of hotkeys that let you control playing, stopping, pausing, muting, seeking, and plenty more. I’d argue that there are possibly even too many hotkeys!

The coolest part of the settings is something that I’d consider to be a “quality of life” feature, one that isn’t exactly necessary but it’s really nice to have: Scrobbler.

If you’re not big on Last.fm, Hokrain lets you keep local records on what tracks you play, how long you’ve listened to them, and how many times you’ve played them. You can sort these records to make out what your favorite songs are. It’s just an example of Hokrain thinking outside the box and doing more than the average audio player.

Hokrain is an audio player that I’m happy I’ve found. Even if you’re pleased with your current audio player, it’s a piece of software really worth appreciating. Give it a try and see if you like it. Let me know what you think in the comments!

The post Hokrain Is The Coolest Audio Player That You’ve Never Heard Of [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

There are actually two versions currently available and I will cover both of them in this article.  Fotografix is currently only available for Windows, but Mac & Linux users don’t leave yet – if you like what you read, you’ll be able to use this program in the future.

Ease Of Use – Quickly Learn How To Use Fotografix

If Fotografix could be described in one word it would be simplicity. Everything from the website to the installation to the photo editor application itself reflects simplicity. The interface, particularly in version 2, might not seem very feature-packed at first, but you’ll soon discover that there’s a lot under the hood.

Portability – Take Fotografix With You

Fotografix is most definitely portable. The developer’s core principles encompass simple software. Here’s an except from the webpage:

I believe in simple, portable software that “just does the job”, as opposed to bloated software that many commercial applications have come to be. To this end, many of my applications are replicas of popular programs, only smaller, portable and free.

Version 1.5 downloads as a ZIP file and version 2 gives you the option to download as a standalone installer or in a ZIP file format.

Wide Range Of Languages For Fotografix Users Worldwide

Another very important attribute in a program is versatility in languages – Fotografix does that too and is currently available in 19 languages at the time this article was written. Keep in mind, however, that certain versions are limited to select languages and the preview of version 2 appears to only support English at this time.

Features & Interfaces Of Fotografix Versions 1.5 & 2

The majority of this section will be focused on version 1.5 since it is considered the most stable. Version 2 does have a few additional features, however, and those will also be mentioned.

Below is a comprehensive list of features via the Fotografix website:

• Enhance photos by correcting exposure and color.
• Improve composition by cropping and rotating photos.
• Use multiple layers for complex compositions.
  • Apply adjustments non-destructively using adjustment layers.
  • Add text using text layers that can be edited at any time.
• Create special effects using a variety of filters.
• Work with images in most popular file formats, including Photoshop (PSD) and GIMP (XCF).

So as you can see, Fotografix has a lot of versatility and isn’t the tiny program it appears to be at first glance.

Fotografix 2’s clean interface is a feature in itself – it’s even more simple than the first. It seems that photo editors are notorious for crowded “feature-packed” interfaces. Not that being feature-packed is a bad thing – it’s not – but organizing the features so they aren’t overwhelming is essential and that is what Fotografix 2 does.

It should be noted, and you’ve probably noticed, that Fotografix 1.5 doesn’t have a poor interface – it is actually quite well organized. It just appears slightly dated and is definitely in need of a facelift, which is what Fotografix 2 did very well.

The features of Fotografix 2 Preview include:

• An all-new graphics engine that allows for fast and fluid previews of image adjustments.
• Image histograms.
• Sidebar panels of adjustment dialog boxes.

Upcoming features of Fotografix 2 include:

• All the features from Fotografix 1.5.
• Support for 16-bit images.
• Third-party filter and file format plugin support.
• Linux and Mac support via the Mono platform.

So, does Fotografix 2 Preview have all the features of version 1.5? No, not currently. But it does have a good start and depending on your need, you can base off what version would be best for your needs. And remember that more features will be added soon.

Download Fotografix

Earlier in the article it was mentioned that Fotografix, versions 1.5 and 2, are both available in ZIP format. Version 2 Preview is also available as a standalone installer.

Download Fotografix 1.5

Download Fotografix 2 Preview

Conclusion

Fotografix certainly isn’t the only photo editor available, as we’ve reviewed many, but with its vast versatility and simplistic approach it is doing quite well at holding it’s own and competing with the more well-known versions. Also, don’t forget to check out more of the best free and portable software.

Have you used Fotografix yet? If so, we’d love to hear your input on it. If not, do you think it could replace what the image editor you’re currently using right now?

The post Fotografix: Edit On The Go With This Portable & Lightweight Photo Editor [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

It’s a classic, but it received its most recent update back in 2009. Is that because the developer lost interest, or because at version 4.3, it’s just deemed “done”? Read on for the full review and make up your own mind. Is portable Treepad Lite a good fit for your computing style?

Tiny, Free & Portable – What’s Not to Like?

This is a screenshot from Treepad’s Download Page, showing where you should click to get the portable version. It comes as a 1.3MB ZIP files with just a handful of files. Only two of the files are executable – install.exe (which we obviously don’t want right now, since we want to use it as a portable app), and Treepad.exe, which is the program itself. Unzip the file anywhere you want your data to live (your Dropbox folder would be a good spot), and start it up.

The application itself is very conservative-looking: You get a tree on the left, and notes on the right. Each node on the tree can have a note associated with it, and you can nest notes several levels deep.

One Gotcha – Portable Settings

If you have sharp eyes, you might have noticed one thing in the screenshot above. By default, Treepad Lite doesn’t store its settings in the program folder, but in the Windows Application Data folder. So, to use Treepad as a truly portable app, we need to tweak this setting. It’s under View > Options > TreePad > Settings:

Change the default setting (shown above) to “in the same directory as the TreePad program“. Now would be a good time to go over the rest of the settings and tweak things to your liking. Specifically, you might want to click through to Article > Font and change the horrible default, MS Sans Serif,  to something a bit friendlier (say, Calibri).

Once You Got The Settings Right

In actual use, Treepad Lite is as simple and no-frills as can be. You can link to other tree nodes using syntax like this:  [node://TreePad Lite Manual/Quick Start guide] – the brackets resemble traditional wiki link syntax, but it’s not exactly the same. You can also link notes to files, websites, email addresses, and FTP locations.

If you find the tree distracting and want to focus only on the current article, just hit F12 to make the tree go away and find yourself in a Notepad-like environment. To bring the tree/article split view back, hit F10. F11, in case you’re curious, collapses the article pane and brings you into a “tree only” mode, which can be useful for navigating a complex tree.

Not Cutting Edge, But It Gets The Job Done

If I don’t seem all that excited about Treepad Lite, that’s because I’m not. Still, sometimes it’s good to notice steady workhorses still going strong after years, even if they’re not flashy and in-your-face. If you need a really simple way to keep plaintext notes organized in a tree, Treepad Lite is one portable option that can get the job done.

The post Keep All Of Your Notes Organized And Off The Cloud With Free, Portable, Treepad Lite appeared first on MakeUseOf.

MUO readers who know my articles or know me as a person can testify that two of my favorite things in the world are portable applications and automation. How great would it be if a portable application could automate the process of organizing your folders?  Download Mover has been one of my best-kept secrets for a while now, and in this article it’s time to shed some light on exactly what it’s capable of doing.

Download Mover

Download Mover is an application that was originally coded up to maintain folders that users regularly download to. While this is the most obvious type of folder that needs a babysitter, Download Mover can monitor and organize any folder on your entire hard drive. Unlike the name seems to imply, it is in no way exclusive to downloads.

The download is less than 400 KB in size and, as aforementioned, extracts as a completely portable application. While making use of this application across multiple machines can be tricky, due to the folder-specific nature that we’ll get into soon, it is completely possible to do so by managing common folders in static locations like your Dropbox, or by using separate configuration files for each machine. Nonetheless, Download Mover requires no hard installation and is portable by my definition.

Download Mover was tested by the author under Windows XP but works perfectly fine on Windows 8 for me. That being said, it’s safe to assume it’ll work for any version in between there, 32 or 64-bit.

The application’s interface is extremely straightforward and simple.

To begin using Download Mover, determine what folder you intend to monitor and watch for new downloads. This should be a folder you’re always saving files to or commonly downloading to. After you’ve selected a folder, you’ll then need to determine what type of files you want to move from that folder and to where.

In this field, you’re only able to enter a single extension. Don’t create a list. You’ll have to create a seperate rule for each extension if you need to use multiple extensions.

In the above screenshot, we can look at the more extensive options as well. By default, boxes are checked to show a message when a file is moved and to show error messages. Above this is a field where you can enter an interval (in seconds) that the watched directory will be checked at. Depending on the number of files you’re moving and how frequently, I recommend keeping the first checkbox ticked.

You can then proceed to set up as many different watched directories as you want. They’ll be displayed in a dropdown menu.

Download Mover minimizes to the tray, and be advised that the application needs to be active in your processes for the checks to be run each interval. Right-clicking the tray icon will allow you to disable Download Mover while not completely closing the application, which is convenient. Left-clicking the tray icon a single time will achieve the same goal.

Right-clicking the tray icon also gives you access to the file log and error log. Both are useful for seeing what is going on with the application.

Download Mover’s filtering options aren’t the greatest, only allowing you to move files based on extensions, but it’s a great tool for automating basic organization. I use it almost every day.

What do you think of the application? Do you know of any better alternatives? Let us know in the comments!

The post Download Mover Helps Keep Your Folders Neat & Organized [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Those keys live inside that hard drive of yours. Anything that you download, upload, type and send, save and store exists somewhere on your hard drive. You’ve just got to know where to find it. That being said, let’s look at three portable applications that ought to make finding those keys a little easier for you.

Magical Jellybean Keyfinder & Enchanted Keyfinder

I’m grouping these two applications together because, well, they’re nearly the same! Enchanted Keyfinder is actually just a fork of Magical Jellybean Keyfinder with a few tweaks and adjustments. Both applications look and function just the same. The only difference is the results that each pull.

Magical Jellybean Keyfinder comes with a paid version that can apparently seek out more of your serial keys, but I’ll be going over the free version in this article. The portable installation is just a little over 400 KB.

You can see the basic functionality of the application right here. In the status bar, you can see 169 locations were loaded and 6 keys were found on my system. Applications are listed in the left frame and key information is shown in the right. The amount of information shown is completely dependent on what application you’re looking at. Some will show the serial key alone. Be advised that some entries listed here could be blank. MJKF has a habit of including unregistered entries that require license information.

Under the File, you have the option to save or print your found results. Entries will be saved as a text file and printed in the same format.

As aforementioned, Enchanted Keyfinder functions exactly the same. The only difference is that you may find that it discovers keys that MJKF has left behind. When you’re searching for a key in specific, if one of the two don’t have it then I recommend you check out the other.

Both applications are fairly limited in the amount of keys that they’ll reveal to you, but it’s surely better than nothing!

LicenseCrawler

LicenseCrawler is inherently more extensive than both MJKF and Enchanted Keyfinder just by its nature. It does a complete scan of your registry and isn’t limited by any restrictions a paid application may impose.

Upon launching LicenseCrawler, you’re promoted with the following disclaimer:

The main application interface may come across as comparatively intimidating and more confusing than our last two.

LicenseCrawler actually has network support, and you can search for keys on another computer on the network. Other than that, I recommend scanning using the default options you can see in the above screenshot (assuming you’re on a 64-bit system). You may find the white list or black list features useful, and these settings work best for the average user.

Click the Start Search button to begin your scan. You should get a popup similar to the following:

Don’t get flustered by it! LicenseCrawler is not adware. This is how the author of LicenseCrawler makes a modest living from the application, I’m assuming. To disable the popup, you’ll need to register a copy of LicenseCrawler. I’d just recommend ticking Close after time-out, as your scan will take longer than the enforced 20 seconds anyway.

From here, LicenseCrawler should be busily scanning your registry for keys.

LicenseCrawler actually found 26 keys on my system when the scan was complete, which is plenty more than what the other two applications in this article had to offer. Nonetheless, there are still a few that MJKF and Enchanted Keyfinder found that weren’t found in this scan. Again, it’s best to have a range of solutions in case one fails you.

After the scan has completed, you can check the File or Tools menus to save, encrypt, and encode or decode LicenseCrawler dumps.

None of these three solutions are perfect and not any of them will reveal 100% of the serial codes that exist on your system. Nonetheless, they may be able to get the job done where your memory, email, or printed documents have failed. It’s good to have these options.

Also, please be advised that these applications are safe and virus-free. I’m sure you can imagine why many anti-virus applications would see an application that reveals serial keys and crawls sensitive system areas as malicious. It is simply a false positive.

Let me know what you think of these key finders in the comments!

The post 3 Portable Applications To Help You Find Serial Keys On Your PC [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

A case can be made against the use of a portable MP3 music software when one has online streaming and music enabled smartphones. But heck, 496 KB of space isn’t even worth having an argument about. That’s the size of the unzipped CoolPlayer in your portable drive.

Recently, my friend Craig brought out a bit of nostalgia when he brought me back to Winamp Lite. Lite yes, but I don’t think it is as light as CoolPlayer. Let’s hit play and find out.

Free, Open Source, and Decent

These three are the first adjectives that will strike you when you go to the developer’s site, download the player from Sourceforge, and launch it with a simple click on its icon. I am using ‘decent’ for the first interface it presents to you. You may or may not like it (I think it’s going to be the latter), but bear with me because CoolPlayer has no pretensions about looks.

But if you don’t believe that beauty is skin deep, here’s the good news – CoolPlayer is skinnable and there’s already a wide variety of skins you can cloak it with. Here are two screenshots of a skinned CoolPlayer. I have a preference for the minimal…like the ones on the right. Yes, they are skins – in two varieties – white and black.

Installing extra skins is a simple process. The CoolPlayer site links to quite a few mod sites like DeviantArt and Wincustomize.com. Extract the zipped downloads to a folder. Select the skin file from Options (right-click on interface). When you have more than one skin, you can select any on the fly from the Options menu.

The Simple Interface & The Features It Carries

The interface is tiny by audio player standards. But it displays the basic controls you would expect to find in any media player – play, pause/stop, eject, plus shuffle and repeat features. The display gives you progression, volume bars, and an eight-band audio equalizer. You can also check out the duration and the quality level of the song with a glance.

You can load songs by using the Eject button or load entire directories with the Playlist window. The Playlist Editor gives all the tagged information (ID3) on a song like genre, length, along with the basic album information. Cover art is conspicuously absent. You can edit the tag information by highlighting the song and right-clicking the fields to open them up for editing. You can use it as a file renamer.

CoolPlayer can also be used to listen to streaming audio for e.g. Shoutcast streams. It supports MP3, OGG and M3U streaming.

CoolPlayer supports MP3 (MPEG-1,2,& 3), OGG, and Wav out of the box. A few other formats like AAC and MP4 can be supported with the help of plug-ins that are available on the site. CoolPlayer also comes with OGG Vorbis and WinAmp plugin support.

Clicking on the interface gives you access to Options and there’s some scope for personalization here. The screenshot below gives you an idea.

For me, a few of the must haves are – Load ID3 tags; Remember playlist; and Remember last played. You can also check Scroll Songtitle and Rotate System Tray Icon to keep CoolPlayer in play as it is so small, and some skins like simple_bar make it practically invisible! If you want to make it the default player for all your MP3 files, click on Register File Type.

Is It Too Simple A Player For You?

That’s what you have to ask yourself. At around 400 KB, hardly anything is as small or lightweight on system resources. It is a portable player…period. There’s nothing fancy about it except maybe the skins. So, if you are looking for a big sound blaster, this is not it. CoolPlayer has all the basics in place (except maybe cover art and volume normalization). I am not sure if the developer has any plans to upgrade the player in the future as it seems to be a bit dormant now. But if its current state is enough for you or your portable drive, do give this tiny player a tryout. Just like another music player we covered before, you can use it with your music collection in your Dropbox folder too. There must be a reason why our readers recommended it on our Best Portable Apps page.

Is CoolPlayer the smallest music player you have come across? Are there any better audio alternatives for the portable drive?

Image Credit: Free Digital Photos

The post The Tiny CoolPlayer Could Be The MP3 Player Of Choice For Your Portable Drive [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

If you are one of the many like me who still use the humble Notepad (or a Notepad alternative), you could do with some help from ResophNotes. ResophNotes is not a Notepad replacement, but a fast note-taking tool for Windows that offers you organization and backup in a small portable bundle.

Desktop or Portable Version? It’s Your Call

ResophNotes offers you an installer and a portable version. I usually go for the portable versions because I believe lesser the load on the Windows Registry the better. ResophNotes is a 6.5 MB download for your Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista, or Windows 7 machine.

As I don’t need to install anything, I can just click on the ResophNotes application file to launch the dual paned but absolutely barebones interface. Take a look at the screen above. I have entered a few sample lines to show you that there is a list of notes on the left (you can place it on top too with a change in the Options) and a larger text editor pane on the right for viewing and editing notes in full. ResophNotes can stay out of the way minimized in the System Tray.

The Program

You don’t need a detailed help file to make your way around the simple program. Just start writing your first note and you will see that the first line becomes the title of the note. You can make out the timestamps next to each title, which also tells us that ResophNotes automatically arranges notes with oldest one on top. You can add tags to each note; with a bunch of notes, tags will help you organize similar notes.

The bottom of the text editor pane indicates the time of the last modification as well as the word count. I consider the time of last modification more informative than the word count.

The left pane which displays the complete list of notes offers a few options. You can Pin a note that you want to keep at the top of the list. This should take care of all the important notes which you don’t want to get away from you as the list grows. You can view your notes in the Markdown mode and save them as HTML files.  Two other options let you Email and Print the current note.

Writing Your Notes

With ResophNotes you can create plain text notes and list notes. The items on the list can be checked off. Here’s a sample list note below:

ResophNotes also allows you to import text notes, Outlook CSV files, and ToodleDo CSV files, which is basically a to-do task list for any GTD thoughts. ResophNotes supports a range of keyboard shortcuts which should be the thing for keyboard virtuosos. For instance, you can press CTRL+B to add double quotes and format a text string in Bold. Or CTRL+I for italics.

The best use of putting all your scattered notes under a single interface is brought to the fore when you type and search for something using the Search bar. ResophNotes instantly starts narrowing down the results even as you type the entire search string. Search also supports AND or OR operations.

Saving Your Notes & Also Online Sync with Simplenote

From the Options dialog under the Storage tab, you can set the program to back up your notes to a local database. Alternatively, you can sync them to a folder as plain text files.

But the choice for easier portability falls on backing up your notes to Simplenote. Simplenote as we know supports a range of third-part clients; ResophNotes is probably the better ones among them. You can quite handily set up a sync frequency to place all your notes in the cloud. Your list-styled notes require a Simplenote Premium account though, if you want to view them online on Simplenote.

A Recommended Freeware

Note taking is a very integral part of our everyday digital existence. ResophNotes ticks quite a few boxes. Its simplicity, negligible learning curve, speed, and its focus on one thing alone – note taking, make it a worthy application. It’s not Evernote, but it’s not Notepad either. Our readers also felt so and gave it a few stars that put it on our Best Windows Apps page. But your opinion also matters. Give us a few.

Image Credit: Free Digital Photos

The post Retire Notepad! Organize All Your Scattered Notes Neatly On ResophNotes [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

I have gone through quite a few myself. But time and again, I have relied on a little piece of portable freeware called Notepad2.

The conventional Notepad is unremarkable to the extreme. Notepad2 introduces a few frills (if I can call them that), and gives it a bit of oomph that sits well with a novice as well as a seasoned programmer. Use it with bits of code or just use it to copy-paste text, Notepad2 covers the based well. But is it ready to replace your choice of Notepad alternative? Let’s give it a run.

First Install and Launch

Notepad2 is a free portable software that’s just about 300 KB in size. That’s tiny, but the small size packs a big punch. You can run it straight after unarchiving it from the Zipped file. And I don’t have to reiterate that you can include it in the suite of portable USB tools. Before we go on to talk about what’s there, let’s see what’s not there, and is also one of the most requested features for the tool. Notepad2 lacks a multiple tabbed interface, something that other Notepad alternatives like Akelpad , NotepadTabs, or the more powerful Notepad++. The programmer explains his reasons and I think I agree with him, as the single window of Notepad2 also lends the work some focus.

As you can see, the interface looks plain Jane enough. The features all lie under the menus. It would be an exercise in ‘Logorrhoea’ if I go into all the features. So, I will cut a few bytes at the corners and give you the highlights of the software.

Notepad2 Is Perfect Is You Are Want To…

For power users, notepads are meant to be more than plain text. Here’s looking at five main uses of Notepad2.

Edit HTML and other programming code

The chief feature that’s touted is syntax highlighting. Syntax highlighting is a programming aid that displays code in different colors and helps to differentiate between correct and incorrect syntax. Notepad2’s customizable syntax highlighting covers HTML, XML, PHP, ASP (JS, VBS), CSS,     JavaScript, VBScript, C/C++, C#, Resource Script, Makefiles, Java,     Visual Basic, Pascal, Assembly, SQL, Perl, Python, Configuration Files, Apache Config Files, PowerShell, Batch Files, and  Diff Files.

You can set the scheme and even customize them with user-defined colors if you so wish. Before you close, save your customized settings.

Learn a programming language

With syntax highlighting support extended to the above languages, Notepad2 is also a good tool to learn programming from scratch. One of the quicker ways to learn a programming language is by editing source code. Hit F12, select the syntax scheme (see screen above) and press OK.

Notepad2 is comparatively more barebones as compared to Notepad++ as it misses out on some features like code folding (which is available in some modified versions of Notepad2). You might also miss libraries of functions and symbols. Automatic source code formatting is a no too. Sounds limiting as a learning tool, but these do put the onus on the learner to code more by hand. for the sake of neatness, you can use indentation guides and long line markers.

Quickly search and replace

Along with the usual Find and Replace search feature, Notepad2 also includes the flexible regular expressions search. You can search by using patterns of strings (called regular expressions). It is a bit limited and is restricted to single lines currently. One of the everyday uses would be to replace tab characters using find and replace.

Turn editing into a productive chore with drag n’ drop text and also rectangular selection

Copy pasting and re-arranging blocks of texts becomes easier on Notepad2 as it supports drag and drop of text, and the very useful rectangular selection (or vertical selection). Rectangular selection is a time-saver when you want to exclude some part and only select a column of text from the middle and paste it elsewhere.

Go with useful line, block, brace, and convert text functions

Continuing with text editing features, Notepad2 allows you to manipulate lines and blocks of text. For instance, you can move lines up and down. Entire blocks of text can be modified by prefixing or appending text to lines. You can remove blank lines, strip characters from the front or remove trailing blank lines. Brace matching is a must-have feature to compile correct code and it helps the programmer to navigate through complicated nested codes.

The Notepad2 Text page gives you an overview of all it features and functions. Do tell us about the feature that appeals to you along with the above five.

Notepad2 is lightweight and its tiny footprint enables it to be very fast out of the blocks. This gives it a point over Notepad++ (also based on Scintilla) that’s comparatively less light on resources. This is one of the requirements of any software that wants to be a Notepad replacement. Personally, I like the fact that it is relatively uncluttered unlike some of its brethren. The absence of multiple tabs is a focus boosting feature. It is simple, but also hands out powerful features which someone with programming leanings can use. A Google search also reveals other fans who have taken the Open Source code of Notepad2 and tweaked it with modifications (like syntax support for more languages). All of these are freely available too.

Notepad2 has been well recommended by our readers and thus finds a place on our Best Portable Apps page. Do you agree? If not, which is your favored text editor that knocks this Open Source text editor off its perch?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The post The Portable Notepad2 Lays Claim To Be A Worthy Notepad Replacement With Text & Syntax Highlighting Tools appeared first on MakeUseOf.

You’re probably familiar with tools like EVEREST, Speccy, and HWMonitor. They do a really great job at taking heaps of system information and pulling them together for the user to analyze. One of the best tools that you’ve probably never heard of in this same field is LookInMyPC, and I’d like to introduce that to you in this post. After taking a look, you may find it a better alternative than the ones you’ve known and trusted for so long.

LookInMyPC

LookInMyPC works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008 and Windows 7. The application is available as an installation or portable archive (which I love). They are 3 MB and 1.8 MB (compressed) in size respectively.

The portable version comes with a license (as a text file) and the EXE file, and you’ll want to make sure to put those files in their own folder as your profiles and reports will also generates their own folder. It could get messy on the desktop or in your Documents folder.

The application’s main interface is extremely easy to grasp.

The labels beside each checkbox here show you the power of LookInMyPC. Just by ticking the box beside each label, you’re able to include that information in generated reports.

At the top right of the interface, you can see the default profile name (which should be your PC’s name). You can save multiple profiles for a single PC or this acts as a great way to differentiate between multiple systems (if you’re using the portable version).

At the bottom left of the interface, the blurred area will show your local and public IP address. You can also see above that area that you can actually set this report to automatically send out an email to you or someone who is helping diagnose your system.

Upon generating your first report, you’ll receive a pop-up alert letting you know that this will be your baseline report for this profile and it’s best that you have all of the checkboxes ticked. Do that. Depending how beefy your system is, this should take a few seconds, but give it up to two minutes.

A massive report will be generated and should automatically open as a tab in your default browser.

There’s far too much to include in this article, but you can see a sample report on the LookInMyPC website.

Back to the main application interface, the Tools/Info tab offers just that.

The highlight of this tab is the ability to open your reports folder and compare reports. Comparing any two reports will then open a Notepad log that shows you a list of very, very extensive differences.

LookInMyPC offers free, portable, and very effective system analysis with more depth than a large portion of similar applications. There are many ways that generating and comparing reports can help you maintain a healthy system.

What do you guys think of LookInMyPC? Is it on par with better-known alternatives? Let me know in the comments!

The post LookInMyPC Generates A Complete Report On Your System [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.