Free Software

If you don’t use it regularly, the Caps Lock key can be a real nuisance, just a way to introduce cASE eRRORs if you accidentally hit it while typing.

SmartCapsLock provides a simple solution -- just select the messed-up text, hit Caps Lock again and its case is immediately reversed.

Password manager provider LastPass has unveiled LastPass 4.0, a major new release of its cross-platform tool for securely storing and syncing passwords using the cloud.

Version 4.0 unveils a major new redesign, focusing on a simpler, more visually pleasing vault, plus unveils two new tools of interest: Emergency Access for trusted contacts, and a new Sharing Center.

Sysinternals has developed some of the best Windows troubleshooting tools around, and if you’ve the tiniest technical interest in PCs then you’ve probably downloaded some of them already.

But there are more. Lots more. And if you regularly work on other people’s PCs, you’ll need speedy access to these at any time -- one-off downloads just won’t do.

"Copyright" isn’t a concept that means much online, and we’re not just talking about the latest movies: put your own photos on the web and people will be reusing them in no time at all.

GFXMark Free is a versatile Windows application which can protect your copyright with a range of image watermarking tricks.

There are plenty of tools around for customizing Windows icons, but they usually fall into one of two groups: very basic specialist apps which just replace a few things, or low-level powerhouses packed with complicated options.

CustomizerGod tries to take a middle route, with point-and-click ease of use for beginners, and some interesting icon-replacing extras for everyone else.

Bootable USB key creator Universal USB Installer has been updated with new support for Windows 10.

The developer says it’s "untested", but we pointed the program at a Windows 10 setup ISO, and it built a bootable USB version without difficulty.

Windows 10 is a solid update with some excellent new features, but if you’re happy running Windows 7/8 then the constant "Get Windows 10!" alerts are probably getting annoying.

Fortunately you can disable them in seconds with the free GWX Control Panel, which has just been updated for even more reliable and long-lasting results.

Windows provides many ways to help reposition and resize your desktop windows -- cascading, tiling, aero snap, more -- but even the latest editions won’t always give you the control you need.

WindowGrid is an ultra-lightweight tool which allows users to precisely snap and resize individual windows to a customizable grid, using just the mouse.

If you’ve tried more than your share of Windows 10 telemetry blockers recently, then we know just how you feel, but wait -- W10Privacy is more interesting than most. No, really.

There’s a lengthy list of tweaks you can apply, for instance -- approaching 100 -- all neatly organized across several tabs: Privacy, Telemetry, Network, Services and more.

Resplendence Software has unveiled the first public beta of WhySoSlow, a smart Windows tool which analyses CPU and memory usage, power settings, devices, drivers, BIOS responsiveness and more for performance issues.

The program opens as a system monitor, displaying CPU usage, RAM load, hard page faults and other low-level indicators in real time.

While there used to be a wide range of specialist rootkit detectors available, most of the projects have been abandoned in recent years, with even apps like Bitdefender’s Rootkit Remover quietly forgotten.

But if you need some extra help in detecting stealthy malware, don’t give up -- Resplendence Software’s SanityCheck is still alive, and last week added support for Windows 10.

It’s important to use strong passwords to secure web accounts, and there are plenty of free generators around to help.

But most produce random results, and although cryptic garbage like "gKlephjjDe" will be hard to guess, it’s also not what we’d call memorable.

Windows 10 brought us Cortana. Edge. A brand new Start Menu. Oh, and a host of new and extended ways for Microsoft to capture data on your activities.

Fortunately 2015 has also seen the growth of a whole new market for programs to turn these technologies off again, and Win10 Spy Disabler is the latest example.

High Motion Software has shipped ImBatch 4.5.0, the latest edition of its free-for-personal-use image batch processor.

This release is mainly about the "Save to PDF" task, which now has more power than many specialist image-to-PDF tools.

Designing mobile apps is always going to be difficult, but there are ways to make life easier -- and building a prototype of your interface is a good place to start.

Pixate Studio is a capable prototyping platform which allows designers to create 100 percent native prototypes of mobile apps, without the need to write any code.