Articles about Free Software

Image to ZX Spec is a free Java-based application which shows you how your pictures and videos might have looked on the classic old ZX Spectrum home computer.

Never heard the Spectrum? It was released almost 35 years ago so that’s no great surprise, but all you really need to know is its extremely basic graphics specs: a cramped 256×192 resolution, about a 20th of a megapixel, and a palette limited to 7 colors at two levels of brightness each, plus black.

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Opera Software’s first release of 2017 sees Opera 44.0 Developer made available for Windows, Mac and Linux users. The Developer edition is the Alpha branch of the browser’s development cycle.

Version 44 launches with four new developmental features, not all of which are available for preview (but likely to be switched on in subsequent builds over the coming weeks).

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HashCheck is a lightweight, open-source tool for creating and verifying file hashes. The program is tiny (an 85KB download), has no frills, and as the last version came out in 2009, probably won’t be extending its feature list any time soon. And yet, it still does a worthwhile job.

Ease of use is a plus. Select and right-click a folder or a group of files, choose "Create checksum file", and the program quickly saves their hashes to a "checksums.md5" file.

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MiTeC has released an updated edition of its freeware Task Manager DeLuxe with new disk and I/O charts, extra CPU stats and a memory map.

Sounds good, but does the program really have the power to tear us away from Process Explorer and Process Hacker? We grabbed a copy to find out.

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By default Windows Explorer displays drive names first, letters second, like "OS_Install (C:)", but if you mostly use the letters this might not make much sense.

DriveLettersTool is a tiny portable application which tweaks Explorer settings to use one one four name and letter ordering schemes.

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Cloud storage-friendly screenshot tool CloudShot has just hit version 5.7. An improved OAuth implementation means you can now directly upload your screenshots to Google Drive and OneDrive, as well as Dropbox, Imgur or your own FTP server, as well as saving it to local or network drives.

The autoupdate system is now based on the open-source Squirrel framework, as used by big-name projects like Slack and Visual Studio Code. Keep in mind that this isn’t supported in the portable build.

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Cloud storage-friendly screenshot tool CloudShot has just hit version 5.7.

An improved OAuth implementation means you can now directly upload your screenshots to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Imgur or your own FTP server, as well as saving it to local or network drives.

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Classic freeware HOSTS manager HostsMan has seen its first update since November 2015. The new release now supports eight HOSTS file update sources, including hpHosts, MVPS Hosts, Cameleon and -- new this time -- "Dan Pollock’s host file".

The URLs for "Peter Lowe’s AdServers List" and "Malware Domain List" have been updated, so they should be working again.

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Algodoo is a 2D physics simulator which aims to be easy to use, educational and fun. "Physics", "easy" and "fun" aren’t words that everyone would link together, but Algodoo gets a lot closer to delivering on this than you might expert.

The program opens with what looks like a regular drawing tool. Select, click and drag and you’re able to draw cartoon-like boxes, circles, gears, ropes, chains and more.

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SingularLabs has updated its PC maintenance tool System Ninja to version 3.1.6. New features include a Duplicate File Finder which can locate matches to a particular file or MD5 hash, as well as finding all duplicates in a folder tree.

The Junk Scanner now supports cleaning Vuze, Steam and .NET Framework logs. Windows 10 improvements include fixes for icon resolution issues, and better cleaning of Internet Explorer.

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REX is a streamlined chess-like digital board game that’s easy to learn and quick to play.

The board is a compact 5×5 squares, and each player starts with only 5 pieces: two "Guards", two "Priests" and a "King".

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Switching your website to HTTPS improves security, reassures your visitors and means you won’t be affected by those "not secure" warnings Chrome 56 will soon display on some HTTP pages.

Making the move isn’t always easy, unfortunately -- there’s a lot to consider.

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System utility developer Resplendence Software has released WhySoSlow 1.0, a "performance and responsiveness analyzer" for Windows 7 and later.

The program’s analysis function monitors various performance indicators, including CPU clock speed, temperature and load; memory load; hard page faults; application responsiveness; latencies, BIOS interrupt delays and more.

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UMark Video Watermarker provides a quick and easy way to add text or image watermarks to videos. Choose an image or enter your preferred text and you’re able to set the watermark position, transparency, font, text style and more.

Unusually, your watermark doesn’t have to be static. You can have it move to a random position after a predefined time, or scroll across the screen, making it much more difficult for others to remove later.

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The future is Ultra HD, or 4K as it’s known to its friends. Ultra HD TVs and displays are slowly coming into the mainstream, and of course they’re being joined by 4K-capable cameras. But how can you edit that 4K video feed without having to splash out on expensive software?

The answer lies with OpenShot 2.2, the free (and open source) video editor for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s now capable of supporting 4K video editing, giving you all the tools you need to produce slick home video that looks great on your big-screen TV.

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