Screenshot Captor 4.00 supports webcams, adds free-hand painting
Donationcoder.com has released Screenshot Captor 4.00 and Screenshot Captor Portable 4.00, brand new versions of its powerful screen-capture tool for Windows PCs.
Version 4.00 builds on features introduced last year in version 3 with the addition of support for capturing images from webcams, a new -- and dockable -- QuickCapture bar, extended Undo support and rewritten image uploader tool.
System Mechanic 11.7 ekes more performance from your PC
Iolo Technologies has released System Mechanic 11.7 Free andSystem Mechanic 11.7, a minor update to its popular Windows system optimization tool that delivers refinements to existing technologies in order to eke more performance out of PCs.
Version 11.7 comes with three major new features, aimed at the paid-for versions of the software: streamlined startup speeds, more machine-oriented optimisation and Direct Expert Connection.
Google releases Chrome 26 -- get it NOW!
Google has released Chrome 26 FINAL for Windows, Mac and Linux. The latest release proffers three relatively minor new features, including improved spellchecking, plus 11 specific security fixes.
The most notable changes in Chrome 26 are improvements to the spell-checker tool. All supported dictionaries have been refreshed, while Korean, Tamil and Albanian support have all been added. Those using the Google Sync feature will be pleased to learn that any custom words added to the dictionary can now be synced to other devices along with other settings.
CCleaner 4.00 adds two new features but limits one to Pro version
Piriform has released CCleaner 4.00 and CCleaner Portable 4.00, major new release of its popular free cleaning tool for Windows users. Version 4.0 includes two new tools, but for the first time restricts one of these to paid-for users with Pro licenses only.
Version 4.0 also debuts a new program icon and tweaked user interface, added support for cleaning additional programs and the usual raft of performance and stability tweaks, including unspecified improvements to the program’s internal architecture for better performance.
ISO Workshop makes it easy to manage, convert and burn disc images
Glorylogic Software has released ISO Workshop 4.0, a major update of its disc image management, conversion and burning tool. Version 4.0 broadens the tool’s ISO format support to cover six different disc types: CD, DVD, Blu-ray, Bridge, DVD video and bootable.
The program also tweaks the existing user interface, adding new buttons to facilitate creating folders and editing files within ISO images. Other buttons have been added for loading and extracting files from ISO images.
You CAN use Office 2013 Trial for more than 30 days -- how's 180?
DiSTANT X has released Office Trial Extender 1.0.0.7, a new build of its tool for legally extending the trial period for Microsoft Office 2010or later to a maximum of 180 days. The new version adds support for the latest Office 2013 release, renames itself Office Trial Extender and ensures all its files are digitally signed.
The tool works by resetting your Office trial to 30 days, and can be used a maximum of five times, giving you a theoretical maximum trial period of 180 days -- with caveats, as we discuss below.
Better late than never, Free Studio 2013 v6.1 supports Windows XP
DVDVideoSoft Ltd has released Free Studio 2013 v6.1, a minor update for its freeware media tools bundle for Windows PCs. The tool, which provides a front end of no less than 48 different tools for recording, downloading, converting and editing both audio and video, comes with the promise of unspecified improvements and new features.
Notable changes include adding Windows XP support to the recently released Free Video Call Recorder for Skype, which is now also available in additional 12 languages, including Chinese, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
SugarSync now a little sweeter on Mac and Windows
Cloud backup, sync and sharing tool SugarSync 2.0.9 has been released for Windows and Mac. The tool, which provides desktop access to SugarSync cloud storage, has gained three notable feature improvements alongside general performance and stability tweaks.
Chief among these are drag-and-drop improvements alongside better visibility of features for showing folders from a specific computer. Windows users also get to choose which drive letter to assign to the SugarSync virtual drive.
Skitch for Desktop 2 gets a major UI update and new share feature
Evernote Corporation has unveiled Skitch for Desktop 2.0 for Windows, a brand new version of its photo annotation and sketch tool. The new version boasts a major update to its user interface, plus offers streamlined sharing options.
Skitch is designed to be used in conjunction with Evernote, allowing users to store annotated photos within their notes for future viewing and editing. Images can also be saved to the user’s hard drive.
XBMC 12.1 better supports Apple TV 2, iO6 and AirPlay
Team XBMC has released XBMC 12.1 FINAL, a major maintenance update for its open-source, cross-platform media server/center. Version 12.1 includes AirPlay optimizations, iOS 6 support on the AppleTV 2 and enables the full iPhone 5 resolution.
XBMC also recently unveiled the early developmental version of XBMC 13, codenamed “Gotham”. Early development for version 13 includes support for the UPNP “Play using…” feature, library improvements with new TV Show and Music Video tags as well as inbuilt support for alternative media art.
Dropbox 2.0.2 and Microsoft SkyDrive 2013 stomp the bugs
Cloud storage providers Dropbox and Microsoft SkyDrive have both released minor maintenance updates for their desktop applications. Both Dropbox 2.0.2 and the Windows version of Microsoft SkyDrive 2013 v17.0.2006.0314 are minor maintenance releases with no new features.
Both updates are the first since major releases -- Dropbox 2.0introduced a new sharing-friendly user interface, while SkyDrive 17.0 allowed users to selectively sync folders and sub-folders to specific devices.
Better manage your files with DropIt 5.0
Open-source Windows file management tool DropIt 5.0 has been released. Also available as a 64-bit build and in portable form, DropIt allows users to process folders and files quickly via drag-and-drop, with up to 15 different actions (including move, copy, send by mail and upload) supported.
Version 5.0 improves the way DropIt handles relative paths, tweaks the main context menu and Options windows and promises better performance, minor feature additions and a number of bug fixes.
Get more Firefox options with Pale Moon Commander and Configuration Mania
There’s only so much tweaking you can do from within Firefox’s own Options dialog. All the really juicy stuff is hidden away, accessible only by typing about:config into the Address bar, heeding the warning and then attempting to navigate the bewildering list of preferences from accessibility.accesskeycausesactivation to zoom.minPercent. This is fine for occasional tweaks, but if you’ve a hankering for some real deep-seated changes, you’ll want to consider a more user-friendly alternative.
If you’re a Windows user running Firefox or its performance-enhanced variant, Pale Moon, then the answer lies in installing the free Pale Moon Commander 0.6add-in. Also available for Windows, Mac and Linux, is Configuration Mania 1.6, aimed squarely at Firefox itself.
Apple BootCamp 5.0 only supports 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and 8
With release of OS X 10.8.3, the latest update for Mountain Lion, Apple upgraded the Boot Camp utility, which allows users to dual-boot Windows and OS X on a supported Mac, to version 5. Boot Camp 5 allows users to install either 64-bit editions of Windows 7 or 8 alongside their copy of OS X -- by downloading Boot Camp Support Software 5, you’ll have all the drivers you need to run Windows on your Mac.
One consequence of upgrading to Boot Camp 5 is that support for 32-bit versions of Windows – including XP and Vista as well as 32-bit iterations of Windows 7 and 8 – is no longer supported.
Turn off Windows 8’s most annoying features with Skip Metro Suite 3.0
What are you doing, standing there tentatively at the edge of the pool? Come on in, the water’s lovely and warm. What, it’s not as lovely and warm as the last pool you were in? Someone says it’s as bad as the pool you were in before that? Poppycock. It’s nowhere near as rubbish as that. What’s that hulking great thing in the corner, you say? Ignore it, you don’t need it.
All of this is a rather convoluted way of saying Windows 8 is not as bad as everyone is making out. But there is that one rather large elephant in the room in the form of the Modern UI, or whatever Microsoft’s calling it these days. But here’s the trick: you can ignore it all with the help of a free -- and now portable -- tool called Skip Metro Suite 3.0.
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