Articles about Free Software

IObit has announced the release of Advanced SystemCare 7, its flagship PC maintenance suite. The package now integrates IObit’s Driver Booster, which locates and reports on missing driver updates.

The Program Deactivator aims to free up system resources by disabling startup entries and scheduled tasks for programs you’re not using, and a ManageMyMobile feature helps you "manage, clean, optimize and back up your Android device", or so IObit claims. In reality it just allows you to remotely install the company’s Advanced Mobile Care Android app, so doesn’t add much to the suite, although it may be helpful if you didn’t know the app existed.

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Nir Sofer has announced the release of QuickSetDNS 1.0, a compact and portable tool which makes it easy to change the DNS servers for your Internet connection.

The program’s built-in options are rather limited. It can only configure your Windows 2000-8 PC to use Google Public DNS; to automatically retrieve DNS details from your router, or to restore whatever custom DNS settings you have when QuickSetDNS was first launched.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 25.0 FINAL for Windows, Mac and Linux. The big splash in version 25 is official support for the Web Audio API, which allows developers to manipulate and play audio assets within a web page or app using HTML5 rather than a plug-in.

Mozilla has also confirmed that it plans to continue supporting Windows XP. This means XP users will continue to be supported by two major web browsers -- Chrome is the other --– after Microsoft pulls the plug on support next year.

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Does the world need another system cleaning tool, even if it’s on the Mac? IObit thinks so, and the result is MacBooster 1.0.1, the company’s first foray into the Apple market. This paid-for tool, available as a 14-day download, attempts to provide a one-stop shop for cleaning and optimizing your Mac.

Its subtitle is "For the Maximum Speed", and to that end bundles a selection tools to help clear out junk, improve security and free up system resources.

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Microsoft Sysinternals has released Sigcheck 2.0, the latest edition of its digital signature verification tool.

Okay, it’s true, a command line utility which scans for signed executables doesn’t exactly sound interesting. At all. But wait: this version’s new VirusTotal support means it could be a very useful addition to your malware-hunting toolkit.

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Apple took center stage this week. At a special event the new iPad Air, iPad mini, Mac Pro and a raft of free software were all revealed, and we liveblogged through the whole thing. Not to be outdone by Microsoft, Apple decided to give Mavericks away free of charge along with iWork and iLife. But it was the iPad Air and mini that stole the show, sharing the same innards as the recently announced iPhone 5s, but boasting a redesigned exterior -- at least in the case of the Air.

Of course, no tablet launch would be complete without matching cases. There was also the interestingly designed Mac Pro which looks delightful and is a serious powerhouse, but has a price tag to match. After the big launch of the iPhone 5s, Apple showed off the latest addition to the iPhone range in a TV commercial.

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Free photo transformation tool FotoSketcher has been updated to version 2.6 with a couple of welcome new features.

The first is a gorgeous new "Painting 1" (watercolor) effect, which replaces the previous offering. Open a photo, choose "Painting 1 (watercolor)" as the "Drawing Style", and click "Draw" to transform your photo into a painting.

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The WordPress team has announced the release of WordPress 3.7 (code-named "Basie", for Count Basie), a notable upgrade with some worthwhile maintenance, security and usability tweaks.

Top of the list is automatic updates for maintenance and security updates. This should work just fine for most people, but if you’re out of luck then you’ll be informed after updating to 3.7, and instead you’ll get email alerts of new security releases.

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Piriform has released its regular monthly update to CCleaner with the release of CCleaner 4.07. Also available in portable form, version 4.07 adds official support for the recently released Windows 8.1 update, plus supports the Release Preview of IE11 for Windows 7.

The new build also adds a new option that enables users to free up drive space by clearing out old folders left behind by previous versions of Windows.

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Following good password policy is a key part of staying safe online. You should be using lengthy passwords, for example, with mixed case, numbers and special characters, as well as ensuring you use a different password on every site.

All of this will be entirely useless, of course, if your system has a keylogger which is recording everything you type. Your antivirus package should detect and block any attempt to install one, but if you’d like an extra layer of protection then Oxynger KeyShield could be very interesting.

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If you’ve tried a few undelete tools then you’ll know most offer nothing more than the core basics: choose a drive, they’ll scan it, display any deleted files and you can select and recover them with a click. Nothing too inspiring, then, but still enough to be useful, most of the time.

The free (for personal use) Puran File Recovery follows the same core approach, but just takes it further, with more options, more flexibility, and probably more successful restorations than many of its competitors.

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BillP Studios has released a major new update to its system monitoring and security tool with the release of WinPatrol 29.0. Version 29 sees its alert screen completely revamped in an attempt to simplify the process of dealing with numerous system changes -- typically caused by malware -- as they occur.

Version 29 also tweaks font handling for improved display as well as moving alert messages to the top right of the screen to make them less intrusive.

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Comodo has launched a revamped version of its cloud-backup and sync service with the release of cCloud 3.0 and Comodo Backup 4.3. Part of the service’s unique offering is support for a generous 10GB free storage space, with the ability to potentially double that based on user referrals, with 200MB additional space being granted per successful signup.

The update is accompanied by a complete revamp of the cCloud website as well as support for free home and business user accounts with different feature sets.

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Facebook fans running Microsoft's tiled OS need no longer turn to third party solutions -- the official Facebook app is now available in the Windows Store.

It has been a very long time coming, but the social network finally has its own official app, arriving just in time for the release of Windows 8.1. The app has the look and feel of Modern UI apps and includes a live tile that is used to display updates.

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Oracle has released VirtualBox 4.3.0, a major update to its open-source virtualization tool for Windows, Mac and Linux. Version 4.3 introduces a virtual multi-touch user interface, adds new virtual devices including webcams, as well as a session-recording facility, plus offers improved networking functionality.

In addition, VirtualBox 4.3.0 also extends official support to the latest builds of Windows, OS X and Linux, including the forthcoming Windows 8.1 and Max OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

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