Articles about Free Software

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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DupeKill is a simple and fast duplicate file finder for Windows. The program manages to make NirSoft apps look bloated, thanks to a tiny 62.3KB download which unpacks to a single executable.

A very basic interface offers barely any search settings. There are no options to compare using file names or dates, no file specs to select, no file size ranges to specify, or anything else. All you can do is specify a starting folder and opt to search subfolders.

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Pdf Booklet is a free tool for reorganizing and rearranging the pages of a PDF file.

You could use the program to create a simple booklet. In a click or two it’ll shrink and rotate pages, then place two on each paper page, ready for assembling and stapling in the middle.

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The standard Windows "Photos" screensaver is a quick and easy way to create random slideshows of your own images, but it’s also very basic, with the bare minimum of features.

Endless Slideshow Screensaver uses the same core idea, but takes it much further, automatically building spectacular photo slideshows whenever it kicks in.

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Veteran video transcoder HandBrake has finally hit version 1.0.0, more than 13 years after development began.

The most obvious change is in the pile of new presets. Whether you’re after a quick general-purpose option (HQ 720p30 Surround) or something more device-specific (now including Chromecast, Fire TV and Roku), it’s only a click away.

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I’ve updated my Control Panel alternative nuePanel with five powerful new troubleshooting commands covering file monitoring, disk checking, DNS servers, filter drivers and keyboard testing.

You don’t have to download the program to try them out, though -- they all make use of regular Windows commands you can include in your own scripts.

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The superb freeware image viewer IrfanView has hit version 4.44 with a pile of tweaks and additions. A much-improved histogram is now modeless, and offers curves, RGB and other viewing selections.

The Batch Scan dialog supports scanning multiple pages to PDF files.

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Oculus Rift may be a powerful and well-designed VR system, but its file and application management abilities aren’t so smart. Early versions would only install on your system drive, games and apps are always installed to a library in the same location, and if you uninstall Oculus then all your software disappears as well.

AOMEI vrBackupper is a 64-bit Windows 10 program which can back up, restore or migrate your Oculus Rift installation or just your installed games and applications.

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If you own a Raspberry Pi, you’re probably familiar with PIXEL. The desktop environment is included in the Raspbian OS.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation describes PIXEL as the "GNU/Linux we would want to use" and understandably so. It offers a smart, clean interface, a decent selection of software, the Chromium web browser with plug-ins, and more -- and from today it’s available for PC and Mac.

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