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Hide & Password-Protect Personal Windows With Window Hider

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It is quite usual to have multiple windows open on the same desktop if you have a single monitor. Multiple browsers windows, music player, instant messaging services, Windows Explorer and many other programs are part of our daily routine and prove as ingredients for most of the mess on our desktop screens. In this mess, if there’s a window displaying sensitive information, it is easy to lose track of it when you are leaving your workstation. You can lock the computer if you are going away, but what if you just have to show something to your boss or colleague and don’t want them to see contents of another window? Even when you minimize it, its icon can be easily seen in the Taskbar. Window Hider is a portable application for Windows that lets you hide open windows, both with and without a password. It is a simple tool that allows you to remove clutter from the desktop, and keep your privacy even when showing your desktop to someone else. Read More

‘Should I Remove It?’ Helps You Decide Which Windows Apps To Uninstall

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Free apps are a great way to get more out of your computer without spending a dime. Even though paid applications often contain more features, there are a lot of free apps that surpass them in usability. However, free software often comes bundled with other free software, such as unnecessary browser toolbars and programs. Previously, we have covered some very useful applications that allow you to remove unwanted software from your computer, such as SlimComputer and Toolbar Cleaner. Should I Remove It? is another Windows application that performs the same function, but in a different manner. Instead of automatically deleting the software, it analyzes your installed programs and provides you suggestions regarding the ones you can safely remove. Read More

Holiline Displays A Ticker Of Reminder Alerts In Windows Taskbar

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Holiline Reminder is a simple task reminder utility for Windows that aims to help you in keeping a tab on your daily agenda. It lets you specify various types of reminders for important tasks or events such as your best pal’s birthday, or a long anticipated concert of your favorite artist. The application displays event notifications directly on the Taskbar - a neat feature that makes it stand apart from other similar apps, most of which employ notification bubbles or sound alarm for the purpose. This minimalistic approach also keeps things less cluttered and confusing for the users. Read on for more details. Read More

Search & Browse The History Of All Web Browsers On A PC From One Place

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Every major internet browser saves the history of all the webpages that you have visited, including all your web searches. The purpose of this feature is to let you easily locate a web page that you have visited in the past, and can be a lifesaver if you have forgotten an important URL. A lot of people use more than one browser (I myself use Mozilla Firefox as my main browser and Google Chrome as the secondary one). Sometimes when you are looking for a particular URL in your browser history, you forget which browser you originally used to access the webpage, and Windows does not allow you to search the history of all browsers at once. Internet History Browser is a free portable tool for Windows that changes that, by letting you view and search your complete browsing history across all major browsers including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Safari. Read More

Add ‘Keep On Top’ & Other Handy Options To Application Window Menu

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In the past, we have covered several tiny Windows utilities that help you with your workflow by providing quick access to certain actions. For instance, Peek Through allows you to make any window transparent and even click elements of the underlying window through it, and Volumouse lets you control several system components using the mouse wheel. Applications like these give you greater control over your system without interfering with its normal functionality. WindowMenuPlus is another similar tool that adds a set of options to the right-click context menu of every window. These extended options allow you to keep the window on top, move or  maximize it to a particular area of the screen, change its transparency, kill its process, view extended information about the program, change the process priority, and minimize the window to system tray. Keep reading to find out more about WindowMenuPlus Read More

Easily Correct Perspective & Vertical Line Distortion In Photos

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Whenever we go on holidays, most of us snap a lot of pictures and bring them back to share them with our friends and family, or just to preserve our precious moments. Digital cameras have allowed us to capture thousands of images without worrying about the camera reel running out. However, due to the lack of any such limitation, most people don’t put a lot of thought or spend a lot of time in getting that perfect shot just right, and many of our pictures turn out to be a bit out of proportion. You surely wouldn't go back to the place just to retake the picture from a different angle, but what you can do is try to fix the original image. Previously, we covered an application called ShiftN that automatically fixes line distortion from images. Today, we have an open-source tool for you called PerspectiveImageCorrection that lets you correct the image perspective, but this one allows you to manually select the 4 points for specifying the correction criteria. You can draw a 4-point polygon for perspective correction and thus, have more control over the correction process. Read More

8StartButton Is A Unique Modern UI Start Menu App For Windows 8

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During the last year, we have seen a large number of free and paid Start Screen modification and replacement tools for Windows 8. Some provide you with a Windows 7-like Start Menu and disable the Start Screen, while others change the way the Start Screen looks. Back in October, Waqas compiled a list of the best Windows 8 Start Screen modifiers and Start Menu applications to get back the old Windows 7 feel. However, several new applications from the same genre have appeared since and if a new tool offers something different, we try to review it for our readers. 8StartButton is one such Start Screen replacement utility that caught our attention. It allows you to replace the Start Screen with a highly customizable Start Menu providing you full control over the system. You can access all the installed programs as well as system options, and pin your favorite programs as tiles inside the Start Menu. You can choose to open Start Menu or the Start Screen as the default function for the button, disable the Start Screen hot corner, and choose to boot Windows directly to the desktop. Read More

My Computer Tweaker: Massive Collection Of Windows Registry Tweaks Under One Roof

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There are several ways to change the look and feel of Windows, the easiest among them being applications that modify different aspects of the operating system. Windows Tweaker is one such application with 100+ tweaks for system utilities and UI related components. However, many power users go beyond just mere apps and manually tweak the group policy editor and Windows registry to achieve the level of customization that is not possible through regular means. A lot of times, soon after a registry hack becomes common, someone makes a one-click tool for it, allowing novice users to take advantage of the tweak. Though that requires you to install a different tool for each registry tweak. Today, we present you a portable application called My Computer Tweaker that allows you to choose from a large number of handy registry tweaks to apply on your Windows 7 computer without worrying about not having a fallback plan.The tweaks are divided into several categories, including Desktop and Taskbar, System, Security, Visual Effects, Media Center etc., making it easy for you to choose the ones that best suit your requirements. Read More

Give Your Windows RT Desktop A Facelift With Rainmeter

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Windows RT has been around for a few months now, with Microsoft's own Windows Surface being the primary device this tablet-friendly OS has been running on so far. Recently, when XDA member clrokr successfully jailbroke Windows RT, it resulted in opening up doors of possibilities for the homebrew community to run ported x86 desktop apps on ARM architecture. By now, a multitude of app have already been ported to the platform by various users, and one of the awesome additions to the ported apps library is Rainmeter. For those who don't know about it yet, it's a fascinating desktop customization utility that allows you to give your desktop a complete makeover. In what follows, we will guide you through the process of changing that boring desktop look and spicing it up with Rainmeter’s plethora of gorgeous skin packs. Read More

Quickly Uninstall Unwanted Windows Apps From Right-Click Menu

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Here at AddictiveTips, we try to bring our readers several application reviews each day. Before writing the post, we test the application in question extensively to make sure that whatever we are writing depicts the truth about the tool in question. The process involves installing a number of apps, testing them, and then picking out the best ones for the day to share with our readers. By the end of the day, all this ends up in a lot of unneeded software installed on the system, adding to the clutter and making the computer run slower. The default Windows uninstall utility allows you to uninstall applications from your computer, but you have to open the dialog box and look through the list of installed application before you uninstall them. We have covered some very useful uninstallation utilities such as Revo Uninstaller that includes additional clean-up tools, and Geek Uninstaller that removes all residue along with the application, including registry entries and context menu integrations. However, today we present you a simpler solution called Windows Uninstaller that lets you perform the task right from the context menu of installed applications, without ever opening another dialog box. Read More

Get Multiple Virtual Desktops On Windows RT Tablets With VirtualWin

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Virtual desktops allow you to have multiple workspaces without having to spend money on extra monitors. If you are one of those people who are easily distracted by multiple applications open on the desktop, virtual desktops allow you to compartmentalize your work by grouping related windows together on different virtual screens. This in turn lets you avoid the clutter and distraction created by opening multiple utilities, decreasing the time wasted in maximizing and minimizing different apps and ultimately increasing your productivity. As we know, Windows RT - the tablet-only version of Windows 8 with ARM processor - does not support x86 applications, and every useful tool that you normally use cannot be installed on an RT device. However, the guys at XDA have developed workarounds for some of the applications. VirtualWin is one such application that has been modified to run on jailbroken Windows RT devices. It is a desktop manager that allows you to take advantage of multiple workspaces and increase your screen real estate. Read More

Create Simple Photo Collages With Ease On Windows 8 With Cool Collage

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Photo Collages are nice. No wait, they are great in fact. You can stick all your favorites images over one large background, and show them to your friends & family whenever you’re in the mood to recall those amazing moments you once captured. Collage making apps are widely available on several platforms including Windows, and we’ve covered plenty of them already including PictureCollageMaker, Shape Collage and Collageit, just to name a few. Today, we are bringing you a Modern UI photo collage maker for Windows 8 and Windows RT. Meet Cool Collage - a simple and easy to use app that lets you create gorgeous photo collages from your Windows 8/RT device in just a few clicks. Grab your coffee and read on. Read More

How To Browse & Launch Windows 8 Store Apps From Desktop

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Since the release of Windows 8, we've been seeing a lot of apps and hacks that allow you to access the functionality of the Modern UI or Start Screen from the desktop, or vice versa. For instance back in November, we covered a tip on adding an 'All Apps' shortcut to windows 8 desktop and taskbar. Even though Microsoft has aimed to transform the way people use Windows, there are a lot of people unwilling to embrace the change and simply want to use the OS conventionally. Some of the best examples are the sheer number of Start Menu tools that allow you to disable the Start Screen and bring back the Start Menu in Windows 8. While the desktop is still the default workspace for most people, one cannot deny the usefulness of Modern UI, specially Windows Store apps. However, if you have disabled the Start Screen, accessing these apps can be a bit difficult. Today, we will guide you through the process of enabling access to all your Modern UI apps right from the Windows desktop environment. Read More

Popular Search Engine DuckDuckGo Releases App For Windows 8 And RT

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DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine that promotes privacy as its key feature and aims to burst the ‘filter bubble’, which the company believes limits search queries by profiling people on the internet. Profiling means that search results are displayed according to a person’s taste, habits, occupation, country etc. and the information regarding these is extracted from a user’s previous queries and a web browser’s cookies database. While most of us tend to Google our way through nearly all our web searches, many might not know that the world's leading search engine uses tracking algorithms to instantly filter the results and display suggestions custom-tailored for you. DuckDuckGo believes otherwise and presents the exact same results to everyone searching for the same query. The company has now released a Modern-UI app for Windows 8 and RT platforms. Sporting a very minimalistic and elegant design, DuckDuckGo allows users to search the internet using DuckDuckGo search engine, check on daily Water Cooler stories, and much more! Read More

Undelete Navigator Is A File Recovery Tool With Better, Structured Browsing

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When you delete a file or folder from your hard disk, only the reference to the file data in the File Allocation Table is market as deleted and until more data is written over it, the content is not actually erased from the disk. From a security perspective, this can prove to be a problem if you don’t permanently delete the data using file shredders such as Super File Shredder and Eraser. However, this feature can be quite good to recover files that are accidentally deleted from the drive. You can use a file recovery application that checks the free space for deleted files and provides you with a list of files that can be restored, letting you restore the original file if new data hasn't been written in its place yet. Undelete Navigator is another app that allows you to browse for and recover deleted files from your hard drive using this method. The key feature of the app is the ability to browse different partitions in a way similar to a normal file browser, and recover any of the files that you want. Read More

Run Android Ice Cream Sandwich On Your PC With WindowsAndroid

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The Android platform has come a long way since the first Android phone was released in 2008, but it still primarily remains a platform for mobile devices, smart TVs, in-vehicle entertainment systems and a few small computers like the Raspberry Pi. Having access to Android on your PC can be quite useful considering its huge app ecosystem. Back in 2011, we covered BlueStacks that allows you to run numerous Android apps in full screen mode on yoru PC but if you want to use the complete Android operating system on your Windows computer, emulation is the answer. WindowsAndroid is an Android emulator that allows you to do just that, bringing you the full Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich experience within Windows, complete with apps, widgets and settings. Keep reading to find out more. Read More

Download Android App APKs From Google Play Store To Your Desktop

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Back in February 2012, we reviewed a Google Chrome extension that lets you download APK files of Android apps from Google Play directly to your PC, to be able to manually sideload them to your device. This method helps you grab any app that you are otherwise having problems installing to your device due to regional restrictions. Though that extension required some tinkering after Chrome's latest updates, and stopped working for some altogether. Today, we're bringing you a Windows app called Real APK Leecher that provides a more convenient way to download Android applications to your PC by similarly using your Google account associated with your device. Read More

Tonido Allows Remote File Access & Cloud Sync Across All Major Platforms [Review]

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Syncing files between two computers isn’t a novel concept and services like Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive and many others have simplified it greatly. If you want to able to access files from your PC on your smartphone; you can sync them over one of these services. The only problem here is that given the limited storage space, you can’t sync all your files; and you will always have to choose the files to sync by adding them to your cloud storage folder, or setting a custom folder to sync (offered by only a few such services). Tonido is service with free apps available for Mac, PC, and Linux and free mobile clients for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry that allows you to access all your files on any device from another. Additionally, it lets you sync 2GB of files between your devices for free. Though instead of offering both these services from the same apps, Tonido splits file access and file syncing between two different apps. Here is a simple breakdown of how you can set it all up. Read More

How To Set Windows To Automatically Wake Up From Sleep

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Like many other operating systems, Windows also offers a useful sleep mode to save power during system inactivity. Once in sleep mode, you can easily wake the device up by moving the mouse or pressing any key on the keyboard. It’s also possible to remotely wake up the computer from another PC connected to the same network by sending the wake signal. Though what if you want to wake your Windows 7 or Windows 8 machine at some specified time, perhaps to automatically launch an early morning exercise video, or trigger a wake-up alarm? You can easily do that by using Windows’ native Task Scheduler utility. In what follows, we will guide you through the steps involved in setting up the automatic wake up task on Windows. Read More