Build your own ransomware blocker with NoVirusThanks File System Protector
Constantly in the headlines, ransomware is the menace of the moment, and even the best antivirus engines can’t guarantee to keep you safe. NoVirusThanks File System Protector can help by restricting access to particular folders and file types, ensuring only trusted applications gets to open or modify your files.
You could create a rule which blocks any process from accessing the C:\Locked folder, for instance. Or you might just stop processes modifying all files in that location, or perhaps a specific file type.
Scan and audit your network with JDisc Discovery
JDisc Discovery is an industrial-strength network scanning, inventory and reporting tool. The program quickly checks your entire network (up to 25 devices with a free license), identifies hardware and devices, and collects details on hardware, software and device configuration.
JDisc Discovery is aimed at big business and network geeks, but its core features aren’t difficult to access. To launch your first scan, all you have to do is click a "Play" icon and watch as JDisc scans its way across your local network.
Flamory is a smart bookmark manager for web pages and local files
Flamory is a free-for-personal-use research tool which allows recording and searching web pages and local files. This starts with a simple screenshot function. When you’re viewing an interesting website or document, press Ctrl+Alt+A to take a screenshot, and it’s saved locally.
Open the viewer later and you’re able to browse captures and annotate them with a pen, shapes, pointers or text captions.
Batch image processor ImBatch gets new transparency tools
Powerful batch image processor ImBatch has reached version 4.90 with the addition of some handy transparency tools. A new Stroke feature outlines your image with transparency, using a customizable width and color.
ImBatch can now replace transparency with a white color when saving to an image which doesn’t support transparency (PNG > JPG, say).
Reduce Memory is a tiny RAM optimizer
Would you like a faster PC? One standard tip is to run a memory optimizer, which supposedly cleans, tunes and defragments your RAM, fixes memory leaks and more. Most of these claims are utter garbage, but the technology may help a little in a few situations, and Reduce Memory offers a quick and easy way to try this out for yourself.
The program is very simple. There’s no installation, no adware, no interface, no extra startup or system tray program -- it’s just a tiny executable which you run as necessary.
KeePass 2.34 released, tightens update checking security
Open-source password-management tool KeePass 2.34 has been released for Windows. The new release’s headline feature is a digitally signed version information file, which is used to check for updates.
The feature was unveiled after a potential vulnerability was discovered whereby hackers could dupe KeePass users into downloading malware through the online update check.
View and edit music file tags with AudioShell
AudioShell is a Windows Explorer extension which enables viewing and editing of ID3 and other tags. You may be able to do some of this already, depending on your Windows version and other software you might have installed, but AudioShell takes the idea further in several ways.
The first benefit is additional support for many more formats, covering both audio and some video formats.
Run DOS programs on Windows with MS-DOS Player
Windows hasn’t been able to run old DOS programs for a very long time. Double-click and you’re simply told "this app can’t run on your PC". MS-DOS Player for Win32-x64 is a tiny DOS emulator which enables running simple commands and programs (not full games) with the absolute minimum of hassle.
MS-DOS Player arrives with 8 binaries, each one emulating a separate processor and supporting 32, 64 or both types of Windows. If you don’t know which you need, just head straight for the i86_x86 folder where you’ll find a single msdos.exe file.
ScanFS is a speedy PC file finder
ScanFS is interesting desktop search tool, easy to use but with some unexpected extras. The program starts much like any other search app. Enter a file mask, a starting folder, click Enter to view the results: simple.
Your searches can be extended by entering multiple file masks (*.mp3;*.flac), and filtering the results by size ("more than" x, "less than" y), or created and modified dates.
Build, record and broadcast presentations with CyberLink PresenterLink+
CyberLink has unveiled the first public beta of CyberLink PresenterLink+, a simple tool for building presentations, running them locally, or broadcasting via common video conferencing services. The program is stripped back and extremely easy to use. Import one or more PowerPoint decks (if PowerPoint is installed locally) or images, rearrange as needed, and you can be ready to go within minutes.
Presentation tools allow annotating slides, quickly jumping to other slides out of sequence, sharing and annotating your desktop, adding your webcam as a PiP overlay, and switching to a projector or another monitor.
Shotcut is a versatile open-source video editor
Shotcut is a powerful open-source video editor for Windows, Linux and Mac. It’s quirky in places, not always easy to use, but spend a while learning the basics and you’ll find an array of high-end features to explore.
The program uses the popular FFmpeg to import source files, which means there’s no need to worry about format support: it’ll open just about every video variant that’s ever existed.
Explore deep space with Aladin
Aladin is an interactive sky atlas enabling users to visualize and explore a host of astronomical images and data. Or, if that sounds too complicated, you could just use it to look at gorgeous pictures of deep space. Which works for us.
As long as you have Java, there’s no setup required. Aladin is a single executable, and you can just download it and run on Windows, Linux and Mac.
Typora is a distraction-free markdown editor
Typora is a minimalist markdown editor for Windows and Mac. Markdown is a simple language which uses plain text formatting to create rich text documents, but you don’t need to understand any of that to get started.
Typora opens much like any other editor. Start typing and you can style text, copy and paste, find and replace, undo, open, print, save and more, with all the keyboard shortcuts you know already.
Cut your animated GIF file sizes with GIF Optimizer
If you’ve ever tried creating animated GIFs, you’ll have noticed that they can get very large, especially when using complex sources like TV footage. That’s no great surprise -- the format was designed for simple animations, not full color video -- but GIF Optimizer Free may help you shrink your file sizes.
Setup is easy, because there’s no installation required -- just unzip the download and run gifoptimizer.exe.
Manage virtual CD, DVD, HD-DVD or BD drives with ImgDrive
ImgDrive is a free tool which can mount multiple disc images as virtual CD, DVD, HD-DVD or BD drives. The program works with iso, ccd, cue, isz, mds and nrg images.
Everything is controlled from the program’s system tray icon. This opens with a single drive letter, and you’re able to mount a new image, then access it in Explorer just like any other disc. If the single drive letter isn’t enough, another system tray menu option reserves up to 7.
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