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Comodo Programs Manager is a free, handy tool for Windows that lets you wipe-out all broken installation and un-installation of programs, unwanted driver files and services and returns your computer back in shape. This application is simple to use and no special knowledge is required. Following are the main features of this program: With this program you can safely uninstall unwanted driver files and services from your computer Completely remove failed and partial uninstall programs Remove locked files and registry entries automatically at the next Windows restart. Comodo Backup function lets you backup applications, drivers and services before uninstalling so you can be easily restored if uninstalled mistakenly. Real-time scan for malware infected setups using the malware detection engine from Comodo Cloud Scanner. You can manage windows updates by choosing your own updates to make sure you're using the latest software More details and download available at Comodo

Because of the recent security issues and other reasons many people prefer Foxit Reader as an alternative to Adobe reader. Although Foxit Reader has not affected as Adobe Reader, it comes bundled with unnecessary third party apps. SlimPDF is a new, free PDF reader that just weighs only 1.4Mb to download and offers basic features that the Adobe reader offers and free from third party apps. One notable feature of SlimPDF is it is really fast and can view any PDF file just like Adobe Reader - increase or decrease text size, copy text to clipboard, search, etc. Readers can download this smallest desktop PDF Reader for free at source.

The amount of power consumption of a PC or laptop depends on many different factors like connected devices, running software and games, operating system, etc. Microsoft released a software based system for measuring the power consumption of PCs, laptops, servers and virtual machines and let you know the total energy used by your system. The application called Joulemeter (currently alfa version) analyzes your system’s resources like CPU utilization, screen brightness, etc (CPU, disk, memory, screen etc) and estimates the power usage. According to Microsoft “Joulemeter can be used for gaining visibility into energy use and for making several power management and provisioning decisions in data centers, client computing, and software design”. Interested readers can download it free at Microsoft Research. More details at here .

If you are a regular blog reader, probably you have heard about the recent Windows Shortcut Exploit . Also known as CPLINK , it is a zero-day vulnerability in all Windows versions that allows a Windows shortcut link to run a malicious DLL file. This vulnerability can be exploited via a malicious USB drive, or network shares and WebDAV. Even if you have AutoPlay and AutoRun disabled, it will affect the PC, if you insert a malicious USB drive. But unfortunately, at the moment, there is no patch from Microsoft to fix this exploit available. However there are certain solutions to block the exploit from running, such a Trend Micro’s Sysclean Tool , Sophos Windows Shortcut Exploit protection tool and Microsoft Fix it tool. Sophos Windows Shortcut Exploit protection tool is a free application that will detect Windows shortcut Exploit and blocks it from running. You can read more about Windows Shortcut Exploit from here. Download Sophos Windows Shortcut Exploit protection tool

Glarysoft Disk SpeedUp is very fast and intelligent defragmentation tool for Windows that analyses, defrag and optimize your hard drive for peak performance. As you may know, the most important reason for slow speed of a PC is hard disk fragmentation. It is said that for a better performance your hard drive needs to be defragmented once in a week or month depending on the PC usage. Windows have built-in defragging tool, but its performance is poor, especially in the older versions of OSs. Disk SpeedUp intelligently reorganizes most fragmentation in seconds and rearranges files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations. It will speeding up access speed, quickening applications launch, increasing search speed, shortening system startup times and enhancing overall system performance. - Supports FAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 , NTFS + EFS file systems - Quick and Optimized Defrag - User-friendly Interface and Interactive Drive Map - Defrag Automatically and Intelligently - Sm...

There are several reasons for losing data from your, USB drive, pen drive or hard drive like accidental deletion, format, and system or drive crash. Restore Deleted Files Now is a freeware tool that lets you quickly and easily restores deleted files from your hard drives, USB drives or flash drives. How this is? Even if you deleted files from your hard drive or pen drive, Windows doesn't immediately overwrite the space from the deleted files. So there is a strong possibility to restore deleted files. Restore Deleted Files Now can restore deleted files (after emptying the Recycle Bin or using delete actions that bypass the Recycle Bin) on FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file systems. The 'Scan' option can detect deleted files on a hard drive or removable drive within minutes creating a list of deleted files. The 'Restore' module allows you to restore deleted files as well as their original names and paths leading to files. If a file has been partially overwritten, Restore De...

Browser Checking is a plug-in for Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox that scans and detect potential vulnerabilities and security holes in your browser and lets you fix the issues discovered by the scan. This is similar to Mozilla’s plug-in Check that checks your browser for installed plug-ins and lets you know if they need to be updated. However, currently Browser Checking tool checks only a few plugins and browsers such as flash player, Adobe reader, Sun Java, Windows media Player, Silverlight, etc, but they are very critical to the system security. The tool created by the security company Qualys can be downloaded at source. [ via ]

Emsisoft just released an Emergency Kit, which is a collection of programs to scan and clean infected computers for Viruses, Trojans, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Dialers, Keyloggers and other malign programs. It can be run from a USB drive that means no installation is required, and is able to detect, quarantine and remove more than 4 million known dangers. Emsisoft Emergency kit has included their popular two applications HiJackFree and BlitzBlank and quite simple to use. Just unzip and double click on a2emergencykit.exe to run the tool. Emsisoft Emergency Kit (beta) is completely free and can be downloaded (100Mb)at source.

It is an annoying situation if we lost all of our work done on an office document or any other application due to a sudden crash or restart of the system. How can we get over this frustrating situation? Well! AutoSaver might be the answer. It is a handy, portable tool that can automatically save the file on which you are working. It works on all applications that support the hotkey CTRL + S and save your work after an interval of time (10 sec, 1Min……10Min) that you can set. Using AutoSaver is very simple. Download and run it (no installation needed, but .NET Framework 3.5 required for Windows XP) Click the floppy icon appears in the system tray, then choose the save Interval from the list and Hide button to Hide the tool. You can free download AutoSaver at source

Formatting a USB thumb drive or memory stick is not a big job. Anyone can simply do this by just right clicking on the USB drive and selecting a format option. Martik USB Disk Formatter makes this even simple. It is a small and portable utility for Windows that lets you format your USB drive into FAT 32 or NTFS file system. The main benefit of this utility is Windows XP users can now effortlessly format their USB drive into more secure NTFS format, if they like. Because, in Windows XP there is no straight way to format a USB drive into NTFS mode. Interested readers can download it free at source.

Safe Mode is a troubleshooting option for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. In this mode technicians can do a lot of work to fix computer problems such as removing virus, uninstalling applications, etc. However, in Safe Mode there is no straight way to uninstall most programs as in the normal mode. Because when the computer is in safe mode, the required Windows Installer service isn’t started so most programs can’t be uninstalled. If you trying to uninstall a program in Safe Mode, you will get a message as shown below Here is a simple, portable tool called SafeMSI.exe designed to let you easily uninstall programs in safe mode. This utility will do a registry tweak and launch the Windows Installer service with a click; you don’t need to edit the registry by hand. If you want to uninstall a program in safe mode, just run the tool SafeMSI.exe in Safe Mode. The tool is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 (I tested it with windows 7) and can be download it free...

There are hundreds of freeware and shareware applications available for keeping your private file in a password protected folder. We have already covered many of them in previous posts. Here is another very simple to use application called My Lockbox, to hide, lock and password almost any folder on your computer. One of the most distinguishing features of My Lockbox is its easiness to use. Any level users can configure and protect their personal data from prying eyes in a folder. Just install and run the program, input a password, select a folder and click lock button. The application has two versions, a free version and a pro version. Free version lets you hide one folder only. It supports Windows XP, Vista and 7 including 64-bit editions. Interested readers can free download it at source .

We have previously reported about malware serving Firefox add-ons , now here is another malicious add-on called ‘Mozilla Sniffer’ which was uploaded on June 6, 2010 to Mozilla add-on website and discovered on July 12, 2010. "This add-on contains code that intercepts login data (password and username) submitted to any website, and sends this data to a remote location". According to Mozilla, "the add-on Mozilla Sniffer has been downloaded approximately 1,800 times since its submission and currently reports 334 active daily users". Users shouldn’t panic, uninstalling the add-on stops this behavior. Anybody who has installed this add-on should change their passwords as soon as possible. Moreover, all current users should receive an uninstall notification within a day or so. More details at blog.mozilla.com

To get infected by viruses or malware, you don’t even need to visit a malicious website, clicking a link or advertisement from reputed sites like Facebook, YouTube, or clicking a link in an email or auto updating a program sometimes leads to that. Yes, your Antivirus software can defend against most malicious programs from installing and running on your PC, but what about if can you prevent even getting this program in the first place? Sunbelt Software’s ClearCloud can do that. ClearCloud (beta) is a DNS service that can filters out malicious websites. It will check every website address your computer is trying to access, whether you’re browsing the internet, clicking a link in an email, or a program trying to access internet and block if anything went wrong. If you’re interested just replace your current DNS server to ClearCloud - Preferred DNS server: 74.118.212.1 - Alternate DNS server: 74.118.212.2 More details and how to implement this on your Windows 7/Vista and XP systems avai...

Paragon Software Group has released a new, free, very easy to use application called Paragon Go Virtual that allows you to make a virtual clone of your PC quickly and without any technical risk. One benefit of Paragon Go Virtual is that, by creating an exact clone of your old PC, you can use any old applications on your new PC in a virtual environment. It support any Windows operating system since Win2K (excluding server). Another benefit is you can safely test new operating systems, software and patches in an isolated environment without damaging your host operating system. Moreover, you can create virtual clone of your PC, including operating system, drivers and settings, all your applications and files on a USB hard drive and use it on any computer, just as if you're working from your own PC. To use Paragon Go Virtual, virtualization applications like VMware Player (can be download it free at VMware) required on a computer. Install a virtual player or VM Player and launch you...

Nero just released a new free version of burning software called Nero BurnLite 10. Like its previous version, this version also a restricted version contains simply data burning and disc copying features for CDs and DVDs. Even though there are several similar applications, many people still rely on Nero, because it is one of the most capable applications in its field. Note: You can’t install Nero BurnLite on Windows XP SP2; it requires Windows XP 3, Vista or Windows 7. Moreover, the free version comes bundled with unnecessary Ask browser Toolbar, which is pre-checked, so take care while installing. As I said it is a restricted version, additional features and functionality are available with an upgrade to Nero Burning ROM or Nero Multimedia Suite 10. You can free download NeroBurnLite at source.

PC Checkup is a free utility from Tee Support that lets you identify your PC’s protection status, performance and viruses, spyware or any malware threats. This tool is similar to Norton PC Checkup . Once installed Tee Support PC Checkup will run a quick scan for essential protection of your computer and indicate the status. Next, PC check up will scan the key parts of your computer, such as Windows registry, startup items, junk files, and disk defragment and identify issues that might impact speed and stability of a PC. It can also check your whole system for viruses, spyware and other malware that threaten your pc security. However, once the checkup finishes, it will not give any suggestion; instead, you can talk to Tee Support Online experts to remove the unwanted program and leftovers. Interested readers can download it free at here.

Game Protector is very useful application for people who want to password protect any games or any application like Instant Messenger, browser, etc installed on their PC. When any user tries to open protected apps it will prompts for a password, so that only you can launch it. Parents can use Game Protector as a Parental Control tool to prevent their kids from playing games, chatting, etc. And also, it is a very helpful tool for people, who share their computer with others and want to protect sensitive applications from an unauthorized usage. The application works with Windows XP/Vista/7. Windows 7 requires administrative right to protect a program. You can download Game Protector at source . [ via ]

Modern browsers have the ability to block web forgeries (also known as phishing pages) and malware attacked web sites. Usually these two settings are enabled by default on your browser. However, if somebody has changed the settings or these two features are not working properly in your Firefox, here is how to test them. To test web forgery (phishing), just enter at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/its-a-trap.html . You should get a warning message as shown below. And to test Malware attacked site, just enter at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/its-an-attack.html . You should get a warning message as shown below. If your Firefox not detecting anything just check whether above two settings (Block Reported Attack site and Block Reported Web Forgeries) are enabled by going to Tools – Option – Security [see screenshot below]. OK, what are web forgeries or phishing? It is a process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by hiding as ...

Microsoft just released a free, lightweight web development solution called WebMatrix which gives everything you need to build Web sites using Windows. It includes a Web server (IIS Developer Express), a database (SQL Server Compact) and a Web framework (ASP.NET) and makes it easy to start Web sites from scratches or from popular open-source apps like Wordpress. WebMatrix lets you download an application from an application gallery, customize it for your needs, analyze it for broken links, optimize it for the web, and deploy it to your hosting provider. WebMatrix is designed for developers, students, or just about anyone who just wants a small and simple way to build Web sites. [ Via ] More information and download (currently beta) at Microsoft

EdgeSwap is a portable application for Windows that lets you switch between opened windows just by moving your mouse cursor to the top left corner of your computer screen. If you have several opened windows and want to select one from the group is often a hard job. With this utility you can do this quickly and effortlessly. Its working is simple. Run the program (no installation required) and move your mouse to the top left hand corner of your computer screen. Hold your mouse cursor in the corner until the window you wish to display is highlighted on the popup which appears, then move your cursor away from the corner and that window will open. When in use with Windows Vista or Windows 7, EdgeSwap displays live thumbnail images to choose between open windows, and shows application icons in Windows XP. You can download the application (currently beta)at the source

In certain situations, you need to check what computer-related activities on your PC at your absence were performed. For instance you may want to track the computer activities of your employees, your family members or friends. There are few programs that could monitor system activity, visited sites, send/ received emails, IM chat, open windows, computer usage time, etc. BlackBox Security Monitor is one such freeware tool. It is designed to collect information from multiple computers and report it immediately to your email or cell phone. Following activities can be monitored by BlackBox Security Monitor Every Program launched: when program was started/ended, what is the program name, what is the text in program title Every Web site visited: the web site address, when it was, even the IP address All Web Searches: what was this search for Computer usage time All E-Mails sent and received All Web Mails sent and received on HotMail/LiveMail, YahooMail, Google GMail, AOL Web Mail Instant Mes...

CheckDrive is a free application that offers you an easy way to check your hard drives for errors and those errors can be fixed immediately with this application. The application is able to detect and fix hard drive errors that might appear on system crashes or when switching off your PC without a proper Windows shutdown. If you ever had a system crash, just try CheckDrive to find any errors on your hard drive and solve it immediately. CheckDrive is completely free, but requires a free registration. It works well on WindowsXP/Vista/7 and .NET Framework 2 or above required for installation. It can be downloaded at Ablesoft.

There are several reasons for a browser to crash; it could be some applications that are incompatible with the browser, malware, some plug-ins, add-ons or extensions, older browser, and many. Google has released a list of software programs that crashes Google Chrome and fixes for the crash at their help forum. If you have any of the following software, you may try temporarily disabling it to see if it resolves your issue. - SpeedBit Video Accelerator - Folder Guide - NVIDIA network access manager - NVIDIA NTune - Venturi Firewall - WinMount - PPLive - IS3 Anti Spyware There are some other software such as IDM (Internet Download Manager), NOD 32 2.7, FolderSize, etc are also have incompatibilities with Google Chrome, but you may be able to solve your crash issues without disabling the entire software[Details ]. Google has also identified malware that Crashes Chrome: To find and remove wrong libraries, go to Start > Run, enter “cmd”, and check in %windir%\system32 for userlib.dll,...

Trend Micro Browser Guard is a Windows Internet Explorer plug-in designed to detect zero-day vulnerability and malicious scripts and prevent their execution in real-time. It offers the most advanced heuristics and emulation technologies by communicating with the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, bringing you the latest protection when you surf the web. Browser Guard is a handy, freeware tool and works on Windows 7, Vista and XP with Internet Explorer 6.0 and above. Here are some key features of "Browser Guard 2010": Protects against zero day exploits Detects buffer-overflow and heap-spray attacks Protects against execution of shell code Analyzes and protects against malicious JavaScript Connects with Trend Micro Smart Protection Network to maximize detections You can download it free at Trend Micro