Articles about Free Software

Converting regular 2D images to 3D can be a very effective way to give them some extra impact, and it’s simpler than you might think.

PhotoAnim is a formerly commercial, now free application which helps you edit, morph, transform and animate 2D objects, then share the results online, in videos and various 3D formats.

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NirSoft has announced the release of WirelessConnectionInfo, a free tool which displays detailed stats on the active Wi-Fi connection under Windows Vista and later.

The WirelessConnectionInfo report displays 90 items, including network SSID, PHY Type (802.11n, say), signal quality, security algorithm, channel and more.

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If you’d like to share a set of images then you could email them to a few recipients, maybe upload them to Facebook or Twitter.

But if you need more professional results then you might be interested in Arclab Thumb Studio, a powerful freeware tool for building HTML galleries, slideshows and more.

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Scrabble is a classic word game, every bit as engrossing today as when it first appeared back in 1938.

That’s our view, anyway. But if you’re tired of the regular game, would like to mix it up a little, then you might be interested in the open source Scrabble3D.

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If you’d like to share files between devices then you could connect them to the same network, but this can be tricky to set up, especially with devices of different types.

Lenovo’s SHAREit is a simpler solution which enables PCs, iOS, Android and Windows Phone users to share files locally over Wi-Fi, no network hassles involved at all.

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Site Monitoring is a Java-based tool which provides various ways to monitor websites and their content.

Launch the program and it opens a page in your default browser. The interface is a little basic, but conveniently it comes with a couple of example site checks to help you figure out how everything works.

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Utilities developer NirSoft has announced the release of ExecutedProgramsList, a portable PC forensics tool which lists programs and batch files previously launched on a PC.

For every program, ExecutedProgramsList displays the .exe file name, product name, version, description, and -- sometimes -- when it was last executed.

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The HOSTS file is an important element in most networks, a simple structure which maps host names to custom IP addresses.

HOSTS can be used to block ads, or prevent access to certain sites. It’s occasionally used by viruses to redirect web access from legitimate sites to somewhere more malicious. Windows doesn’t make it easy to view or control any of this, but fortunately the free BlueLife Hosts Editor provides just about everything you’ll need.

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If your PC won’t start then you might try to recover the situation by booting from some other recovery environment: your Windows DVD, an antivirus disc, backup tool, whatever it might be.

If you can’t find that disc -- or maybe your computer doesn’t have a working disc drive -- then you can alternatively boot from an ISO image held on another computer, with a little help from AOMEI’s new PXE Boot Free.

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Set up an email, web or FTP account in any internet software and it’ll probably store your login details, ensuring you won’t have to remember them in future.

You’ll still need your user name and password at some point, though, if only to reinstall your software or enter your details elsewhere.

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Keeping your Windows software up-to-date is almost always a good idea, bringing new features, perhaps improving security and fixing bugs.

The benefits of updating your device drivers aren’t quite as clear-cut: it may be worthwhile, but if the new driver is buggy -- or you just make a mistake during the update process -- then you could seriously mess up your PC. It can still be worth checking for updates, though, especially if you’re currently having any hardware-related problems, and DriveTheLife is a free tool which automates the process for you.

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Firefox is an excellent browser, and its configurability is a major plus. If you don’t like some aspect of the program then there’s probably a tweak which can help.

Keeping your preferred settings can be more of a challenge, though, especially if an extension changes one or more of them without asking. Preferences Monitor is a Firefox addon which can help by monitoring all your about:config changes, warning you of any that seem dubious, and allowing you to undo them with a click.

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Twitter, Facebook, emails, eBay -- any web-enabled PC has a pile of distractions to prevent you doing real work.

FORCEdraft is a free text editor which offers an unusually strict solution: it just won’t let you access any other programs until you’ve finished the job.

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Anvisoft has released Anvi AD Blocker Ultimate 3.2, the latest edition of its web adblocker, and announced that the product is now free.

It didn’t look that way when we installed the program, unfortunately, as a web page opened post-setup inviting us to buy it.

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HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, aka H.265) is an amazing video standard which is just as good as its name suggests, routinely producing videos half the size of their H.264 equivalents.

It’s becoming more widely supported, too: the iPhone 6 can use it for FaceTime, Android Lollipop and Windows 10 handle it out of the box, some major applications (CyberLink’s PowerDVD, for example) added support last year.

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