Open Hardware Monitor: it’s still alive!
After almost two update-free years, the Open Hardware Monitor project has jumped back to life with the release of version 0.8.
The open source project is a free tool for monitoring CPU load, clock speed and temperatures, fan speeds, voltages, video adapters, RAM usage and more.
Prisma-like NeuralStyler brings more creative control
Open-source video-to-art creator NeuralStyler has hit version 1.2 with some handy new features. A simple video trimmer allows selecting the scene you’d like to transform. It’s not precise -- you choose your start and end points by seconds, not frames -- but that’s still enough to save you a lot of time and hassle.
If you’re converting an image, a "Style Strength" slider instantly customizes the effect. Again, it’s basic, apparently just blending the converted image with the original, but we found it helped fine-tune the results.
(Un)colored is a rich content HTML and Markdown editor
#(Un)colored is a distraction-free HTML and Markdown-compatible document editor for Windows, Linux and Mac.
The program opens with an empty window, no toolbars, ribbons or anything else -- it’s just an empty frame where you can start to type.
Clean PC Smart is a fake Registry cleaner
Running Registry cleaners generally makes us nervous, as they're far more likely to remove some important setting than make any measurable difference to your system speed.
Most developers try to address this by building real intelligence into their code, but "Clean PC Smart" takes a different route: despite listing thousands of "issues" and claiming to fix them, it never deletes anything at all.
Capture and analyze your network traffic with Dripcap
Dripcap is a cross-platform open-source packet analyzer which allows even total network novices to inspect their network traffic.
The program is simple to set up, as there’s no installation or third-party capture tool required -- just unzip the download to any convenient folder.
LastPass is now available for free on smartphones, tablets and PCs
If you have considered LastPass in the past and deemed it too expensive it is now time to take another look at the popular service, as the password manager is finally offered for free across all types of devices it supports -- PCs, tablets and smartphones. Gone are the annoying limitations of before.
Previously, users who wanted to take advantage of the LastPass free plan were limited to syncing passwords only between devices of the same type -- for instance, only PCs. This was not only impractical, as few of us use only smartphones or PCs, but also a serious reason to give up on LastPass -- or free password managers altogether, for that matter. The move to a completely free LastPass is a big change in the right direction, however.
Explore malicious executables with Adlice PEViewer
Adlice PEViewer -- aka RogueKillerPE -- is a free tool for analyzing and exploring Windows executables.
The results can help you troubleshoot programs, find out more about what they’re doing, and perhaps identify malware that your regular antivirus tool has missed. It’s the free version of a commercial tool and a nag screen appears occasionally, but not enough to be annoying and there are no other major restrictions.
RealVNC rebrands as VNC Connect 6.0, switches to subscription-based model
RealVNC Ltd has unveiled RealVNC VNC Connect 6.0, the newly rebadged and updated version of its VNC server and client package for Windows, Mac and Linux.
There’s a shift from a perpetual license keys to a subscription-based model, plus a large number of new features, including cloud connections, team-based remote access and sharing, and support for improving remote access.
Analyze and compare video quality with QCTools
QCTools is an open-source cross-platform tool for analyzing and objectively measuring video quality.
The program is aimed at helping professional users identify problems with digitized footage, but it could also help to compare video codecs, conversion tools and more. QCTools is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. It’s a lightweight package -- a single executable and a few text files -- and installed easily on our test PC.
Prevent malware changing your DNS with DNS Lock
Freeware developer Sordum has released DNS Lock, a free tool which prevents malware (or anything else) changing your IPv4 DNS addresses. Launch the program’s single executable and it prompts you to enter your primary and secondary DNS IP’s.
DNS Lock offers you a choice of Open DNS and Google DNS Servers, too, although it only displays the raw IP addresses without identifying what they are.
AllDup 4 finds visually similar images
Freeware duplicate file finder AllDup has hit version 4.0 with some major additions and updates.
The program can now detect visually similar pictures in the image formats BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG and TIF, even if they’ve been flipped, rotated, reduced in quality or colors, or marginally cropped. Enhanced audio file scanning allows the program to find duplicate FLAC and MP3 files, even if they have different tags.
Automatically clear your clipboard with ClipTTL
You’re working away in one app, but realize you need data from another. So what? That’s what the clipboard is for: copy here, paste there and it’s sorted in seconds.
But the story isn’t over. The information you copied will remain in the clipboard until it’s replaced, visible to others, consuming RAM (maybe a lot, if it’s an HD image), and annoyingly appearing in other documents if you accidentally hit "paste".
Screen recorders for Chrome: ViewedIt vs Openvid
Recording what’s happening on your desktop can help you create presentations, share ideas, troubleshoot problems, or just impress others with your gaming skills.
Getting started is surprisingly easy. There’s no need for complex native clients, just installing a free Chrome extension like ViewedIt or OpenVid Screen Recorder could give you everything you need.
SoftPerfect File Access Monitor now freeware
The comprehensive hard drive activity tracker SoftPerfect File Access Monitor is now freeware. The program enables logging and filtering all the file system activity on a PC, including file creations, reads, writes and deletions.
Setup requires installing a service on your system. This isn’t as convenient as portable products, but does deliver more reliable results, and allows logging more of what’s happening as Windows boots.
DevOps is driving the move to cloud-first businesses
New research from cloud business management specialist ServiceNow indicates that enterprise cloud services have reached a tipping point, with 52 percent of respondents saying they would select cloud as the platform of choice for new business applications.
In addition 85 percent say they now are headed towards a cloud-first footing, with almost nine out of 10 saying they will complete the shift within two years.
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