Need a better text editor? Try Jarte
As text editors go, Notepad and Wordpad are clearly just a little too basic, which is why a host of developers have made their own replacements available online. But if you’re just a regular user then many of these may seem too complex, with syntax highlighting, code folding, regular expression support and many other features which may not rank high on your priority list.
There are also some mid-range editors around, though, and Jarte is one of the most interesting: portable, free and feature-packed, yet also concentrating on the kind of functionality that matters to most people.
Use Emsisoft Emergency Kit 3.0 to heal your PC
Emsisoft has updated its freeware portable anti-malware scan-and-remove tool, Emsisoft Emergency Kit 3.0. The new build, which is designed to be run directly from USB stick, has been updated to include two of the latest anti-malware engines from Emsisoft and BitDefender.
The new build also promises significantly less false alerts, new performance settings for advanced users and optimized malware cleaning.
If simple, fun editing is all you need, try Toolwiz Pretty Photo
The best photo editors are generally quite complex tools, and learning how to use them properly can take considerable time and effort. Which is fine if you’re a professional photographer, say. But if you just want to play around with some photos you took last night, before you share them on Facebook, perhaps, you might prefer something simpler -- like the free Toolwiz Pretty Photo.
This really isn’t a serious photo editor, and the chances are you’ll realize this almost immediately. Open an image of any significant size (greater than around 2,000 pixels on an axis) Pretty Photo complains that it’s “too large” to be processed, and demands that you resize it.
Need smaller JPEGs without giving up quality? Try jStrip
If you want to cut the size of your JPEG images then reducing their image quality setting (usually accessible in the Save dialog or your program settings) will usually deliver spectacular results, but it’s not the only option.
Just about every JPEG also contains additional information, beyond the core image data itself, which further increases its size. And so if you’re in a situation where every byte counts, as with JPEG web graphics, say, then it may be worth using jStrip to remove these unwanted extras for you.
Need simple OCR or speech recognition? Try Capture2Text
You may often come across on-screen text that you’d like to grab, quote, or otherwise reuse in a document, and it’s annoying if that isn’t possible (the text is contained within an image, for instance).
This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to retype the text manually, though. Just point the free optical character recognition tool Capture2Text at the image, and it’ll quickly grab the text for you and copy it to the clipboard.
re7zip remotely extracts files from online archives
Although ISO files are a very convenient way to distribute software, then can often be very large, perhaps gigabytes in size. And if you only need maybe one or two files from the image, having to download the whole thing first will probably seem just a little annoying.
There could be an alternative, though. Re7zip is an interesting Java-based tool which can remotely extract files from an http-hosted archive, without having to download the full archive first -- and in some situations that could save you an enormous amount of time.
VirusTotal Scanner offers near-instant malware scans
If you’re worried about the safety of a file on your PC then uploading it to VirusTotal.com is a great way to get some piece of mind. The site will run it through more than 40 of the top antivirus tools -- GData, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, they’re all here -- and let you know if any of them have raised a red flag.
There could be a lengthy delay while the file is uploaded, of course. But you don’t have to put up with that, because VirusTotal Scanner delivers the same results without having to upload the file at all.
StaxRip is a video conversion tool with real power
Converting videos from one format to another can be an extremely complicated process, which is why most transcoding tools do their best to protect you from it. You might drag in a movie, choose the iPhone profile and click a button to begin conversion, say – all very easy.
If you have a good understanding of video basics, though, this handholding can become annoying, and you might occasionally wish you had access to something more powerful. Sounds familiar? Then you might want to take a look at the open source StaxRip.
Adobe releases Reader XI, Acrobat XI
Adobe has announced the availability of its next generation PDF reading and creation tools, Adobe Reader XI and Adobe Acrobat XI. And this looks like a useful upgrade, with plenty of interesting additions and extensions on offer.
Adobe Reader XI offers more drawing and annotation tools, for instance: sticky notes, stamps, file attachments, audio recordings and more. Form support finally works at it should, too, with you able to fill, sign, send and save PDF forms as necessary.
What's filling up your hard drive? JDiskReport can tell you
When you’re looking to free up a little hard drive space, then you might start by using something like CCleaner to find and remove logs, leftover temporary files and assorted other junk.
But if that doesn’t help very much, then your next step should be to try and get a better understanding of exactly what is filling up your drive. And the free, Java-based JDiskReport is the ideal tool to help.
Got big files to backup? Try Split Byte
Shoot a video, run a backup, create a virtual machine: there are all kinds of programs and operations that can create truly massive, multi-gigabyte files. And while these monsters remain on your hard drive, there’s no problem.
But if you want to back them up, perhaps share the files with others, then life could become a little more difficult. Unless, that is, you use a tool like Split Byte to separate your files into smaller, more manageable chunks.
FileOptimizer can compress 33 different formats
Recently we took a look at PNGGauntlet, an excellent tool which could compress PNG files by up to 50 percent without any apparent loss of quality.
If you found that program useful, but wished it had more scope, then you might want to take a look at FileOptimizer. This tool can compress images, documents, archives, audio files, executable files, 33 formats in total: AIR, APK, APNG APPX, BMP, CBZ, DOCX, DLL, EPUB, EXE, GIF, GZ, ICO, JAR, JPEG, MNG, MP3, MPP, PNG, PPTX, ODT, OGG, OGV, PDF, PUB, SCR, SWF, TIF, VSD, WEBP, XAP, XLSX, and ZIP.
Comodo Internet Security Premium 2013 Beta is touch friendly
Comodo Group has announced the first public beta of Internet Security Premium 2013, an early look at their next generation of products. And the first change you’re sure to notice is the bright, colouful and touch-friendly interface, which has been completely redesigned to make sure that even novice users can navigate the package without feeling intimidated.
In general it works well, too, with core features like Scan or Update available directly from the main display, while more complex functionality is kept at arm’s length (mostly behind the “Tasks” button, so start there if you can’t find something). Elsewhere, greatly improved and more reliable sandboxing has delivered the Virtual Kiosk. Essentially this works as a sandboxed desktop with its own apps, ready to help you securely access all kinds of popular websites and services (Google Maps, YouTube, EverNote, Hotmail, Picasa, TweetDesk and more).
When Task Manager isn't enough, try Process Liquidator
When you need to view or close a few running processes, then Task Manager isn’t too difficult to use. A quick Ctrl+Shift+Esc, the Processes tab will show you precisely what’s running, and you can close whatever you like with some assistance from the “End Process” button.
But if you need something even easier, though, there’s always Process Liquidator, a simple Task Manager alternative which claims it can display all your running processes, and delete your preferred choice with a single click.
ExamDiff makes comparing text files easier
If you need to figure out the differences between two files on a PC then you’ve always been able to use the COMP command. And we do mean always: it’s been around for 30 years, since the days of DOS 1.0. COMP isn’t exactly the most intuitive of tools, though, so if you just want to compare a couple of HTML files, say, then we’d recommend something a little more up-to-date, in the shape of the free ExamDiff.
Launch the program and you must first point it at the files you’d like to compare. Only text files are supported (the commercial Pro versions can compare binary files, directories and add many other features: see the author’s website for details). Click OK, and both documents are displayed, side-by-side, with added, deleted or changed files highlighted.
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