WhoStalksMyCam.200.175

Block unauthorized webcam usage with Who Stalks My Cam

Who Stalks My Cam is a free Windows application which alerts you to dubious software attempting to access your webcam.

The download unzips to a regular installer, but there’s also a portable version if you just want to take a quick look. Once it’s running, Who Stalks My Cam displays an audio alert and a popup whenever a program tries to access your webcam.

By Mike Williams -
NVIDIAInspector.200.175.b

Identify, monitor and overclock your GPU with NVIDIA Inspector

NVIDIA Inspector is a versatile tool for checking, monitoring and overclocking NVIDIA graphics cards.

This can be a complex area, but smart design ensures the program has something to offer every level of user.

By Mike Williams -
VTM.200.175

Video Thumbnails Maker 9.0 adds animated video contact sheets

SUU Design’s Video Thumbnails Maker 9.0 has shipped with new support for creating animated video thumbnail sheets. You’re able to choose which thumbnail is animated, and the duration of the animation (2-10 seconds).

The finished results may be saved as WebM or APNG, and a scaled-down version should be embedded here.

By Mike Williams -
PDF.Reducer.200.175

ORPALIS PDF Reducer cuts document sizes by up to 80 percent

ORPALIS PDF Reducer is an effective tool for optimizing PDF documents, reducing their size by up to 80 percent.

Unlike some of the competition, the program doesn’t just cut your document DPI: it applies multiple techniques to deliver the best results. This starts by checking individual PDF objects. Any which aren’t used are stripped out of the file, and you can optionally remove other items you may not need: annotations, bookmarks, embedded files and more.

By Mike Williams -
WindowInspector.200.175

Take a low-level look at your PC desktop with Window Inspector

Binary Fortress Software has released Window Inspector, a free tool for examining the low-level details of any application window.

Move your mouse cursor over any window and a detailed display lists its class, text, icons, owning process, command line, Style and StyleEX flags, and more.

By Mike Williams -
ProcessLoggerService.200.175

Record everything launched on a PC with Process Logger Service

Process Logger Service is a Windows service which logs every process launched on your PC. It’s a useful tool that can help answer a range of questions. Like, did the email you open launched something? What did that installer do? When was a particular program last run? And more.

The service must be set up manually. It’s not a difficult process, but does involve a little more work than we expected.

By Mike Williams -
WebTorrent.200.175

Stream torrents before they’re fully downloaded with WebTorrent Desktop

There’s nothing new about the idea of streaming torrents before they’ve finished downloading, but WebTorrent Desktop does a better job than most of making that happen.

It’s open source, and installs on Windows, Linux or Mac with minimal hassle. No adware, no browser extensions, no complicated options to consider: just run the installer and it’s finished within seconds.

By Mike Williams -
EagleMode.200.175

Eagle Mode: not your average file manager

Tired of Windows Explorer? There are alternatives around, but most use a very similar core interface with a few extras bolted on.

Eagle Mode is more imaginative. There’s no folder tree, no file pane, in fact it doesn’t look much like a file manager at all. Until you begin to explore…

By Mike Williams -
SmartDefrag5.200.175

IObit ships Smart Defrag 5

IObit has shipped Smart Defrag 5, a major update of its freeware disk optimizer. A new defrag engine supports multi-threading for maximum performance.

New defrag types allow users to focus on large files only, or to consolidate free disk space. If you’re unsure which defrag type to use, IOBit’s Smart Defrag/Optimize Technology will intelligently select if for you.

By Mike Williams -
ON1.200.175

Add style to your photos with ON1 Effects Free

ON1 Effects Free 10 is a collection of professional photo filters and effects which can be used stand-alone, and as Photoshop or Lightroom plugins.

Beginners can use the package much like other apps. Open an image, choose a preset -- Cinematic, Color Grading, Haze Reduction, more -- and just click a thumbnail to apply that effect.

By Mike Williams -
Vivaldi200-175

Vivaldi 1.0 arrives, promises uniquely customizable web browser for power users

Vivaldi Technologies has unveiled Vivaldi 1.0 FINAL, the first stable release of a web browser aimed squarely at those who want full control over their web browsing experience.

Vivaldi has been developed by a team led by Jon S von Tetzchner, co-founder of rival Opera, and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Vivaldi’s moniker -- "Not for everybody, just for you" -- highlights its different approach to other major web browsers.

By Nick Peers -
Diskovery.200.175

Get the lowdown on your PCs storage devices with Diskovery

Bvckup 2 developer Pipemetrics has released the first beta of Diskovery, a free system information tool which reveals all about your PC’s storage devices.

It’s a familiar idea, but Diskovery stands out for its thoroughness, using multiple technologies to discover and talk to drives.

By Mike Williams -
HostedNetworkStarter.200.175

Turn your PC into a wifi hotspot with NirSoft’s HostedNetworkStarter

NirSoft has released HostedNetworkStarter, a free tool which turns your wifi-enabled PC or laptop into a wireless hotspot.

There's no installation required, no network drivers or anything else involved: the program is just a simple front-end for the standard Windows wifi hosted network feature.

By Mike Williams -
YACReader.200.175

Adjust PDF brightness, contrast and gamma with YACReader

Text-based PDFs are generally easy to read, with high contrast, crisp fonts, and a zoom tool if you need to check the small print.

PDFs of scanned images can be very different, especially if they’re old documents, maybe handwritten, and have faded over the years.

By Mike Williams -
ATM.200.175

Investigate your PC’s RAM use with ATM

ATM is a portable tool which gives an in-depth, low-level look at your PC's system memory use.

Forget the usual Task Manager clones, this is more about memory standby lists, the system file cache, Superfetch performance, page file effectiveness, even (on Windows 10) memory compression.

By Mike Williams -
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