Articles about Free Software

Foxit Software has unveiled Foxit Reader 8.0, the latest version of its PDF viewer and creator for Windows PCs. The reader, renowned for its lightweight and speedy nature, introduces support for Foxit’s new online ConnectedPDF Document Management System.

The new release also adds support for Touch Mode on supported models as well as Dropbox integration. Users also gain a handy new auto-save PDF option to protect against crashes or power failures.

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If a Windows program doesn’t have the rights to access a file, Registry key, or carry out some other task, running it as an administrator might solve the problem -- but this won't always be the case.

RunAsTrustedInstaller runs programs with the same privileges as TrustedInstaller, an even more powerful account, giving you extra control over many system objects.

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ExtraBits is an Explorer extension which adds some time-saving commands to the file and folder right-click menu. The program is free for non-commercial use, but has a notable limitation: it only works on up to 100 files or folders in a single operation.

ExtraBits doesn’t make any obvious changes during installation, but if you select and right-click multiple files or folders you’ll find a new ExtraBit menu with several options.

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As we’ve reported numerous times before, and with increasing levels of frustration, Microsoft won’t ever seem to take no for an answer when it comes to Windows 10. When the Get Windows 10 app appears to users of Windows 7 or 8.1 they might reasonably expect to have the choice of saying "yes" or "no" to the free upgrade offer. Except while "yes" means "yes", "no" apparently means "yes, but you’ll need to trick me into installing it".

It’s not just Microsoft which pulls this kind of stunt either. This is a recent experience I had when installing Auslogics Disk Defrag.

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Word Doctor’s developer says it’s a word editor and writer’s aid, "designed to analyze both writing content and style". At first glance, that seems hard to believe, because the editor looks only marginally more powerful than Notepad. But start exploring and you’ll begin to change your mind.

Type or click a word, for instance, and an instant definition appears in the status bar ("word -- noun -- a unit of language"). Select a word, right-click, and there’s a synonym finder, a more detailed definition, even an audio pronunciation guide.

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There are hundreds of screen capture tools for Windows, covering just about every possible need and situation. Do we really need any more? Well, maybe not, but Image DeCap has just enough interesting and unusual features to deserve a closer look.

Captures can be quick and easy. Press a customizable hotkey, hit Enter, and you can save the current screen or window locally, copy it to the clipboard, upload it to Imgur or your own FTP site.

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High-performing DevOps organizations are widening their lead against lower-performing ones according to a new report.

Compared to low performers, high-performing organizations deploy 200 times more frequently, have 2,555 times faster lead times, and recover 24 times faster from failed changes.

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Super-fast MFT-based search tool UltraSearch has hit version 2.10 with some major improvements. The program can now search for file content, as well as file and folder names.

A File Type list enables searching for particular groups of files: audio, video, text, database, mail files and more. You can edit these groups or add new ones as required. Searches may be run on specific folders, drives, or whatever combination you need.

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Piriform Software has released CCleaner 5.19 and CCleaner 5.19 Portable for Windows PCs. Once again, it’s a minor release, focusing on improvements, optimizations and some small bug fixes.

The new release has no new features or supported applications, instead focusing on tweaking existing cleaning routines and improving the System Monitoring tool on the Professional edition.

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Wordaizer is an intriguing tool for creating Wordle-like word clouds, gorgeous works of art where text is organized and arranged to fill a shape.

We have some simple examples below, but the idea gets more interesting when you add some personal meaning, for example celebrating someone’s 100th birthday by filling a tree shape with the names of all their family.

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You’ve downloaded what looks like an interesting program, but it’s not working. Is it for 32, or 64-bit Windows? Maybe it needs a different Windows version? There’s no built-in way to find out. ExeProperties is a tiny free Explorer extension which displays an EXE or DLL’s minimum requirements in a couple of clicks.

The program has no interface, doesn’t add any background processes or system tray icons. Install it and there’s no immediate sign that anything has changed at all.

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Windows 10 saw Microsoft replace the old-style Solitaire with a Windows app which pesters you with ads every time it runs.

This could be much worse -- the ads are only at launch, not while you’re playing -- but if you’re looking for an alternative anyway, here are three fun competitors for Windows XP/ Vista and later.

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Windows package managers like Npackd provide a single interface where you can find, install, update or remove hundreds of popular PC applications.

Sounds great, but there can be complications. PowerShell dependencies, a GUI to explore, command line switches to learn, repositories to browse– not so easy, after all.

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Khan Academy is a great learning resource which provides free video-based courses on everything from math to history, science to music, computing, economics and more.

Most users access Khan Academy content via their website, but if you've limited bandwidth that might not always be possible.

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Acronis International has released the first public beta of Acronis True Image 2017, its popular backup and file sync suite. The new edition adds support for wirelessly backing up iOS and Android devices to your desktop.

An Archiving module moves large or old files to an external drive, or the Acronis cloud. They may now be protected with 256-bit AES encryption.

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