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How To Make YouTube Streaming Significantly Faster On Windows

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I do not know about you, but in recent times, YouTube has been acting agonizingly slow across all my computers. I have a 1mbps connection, which should technically provide smooth streaming of 480p video, but it regularly has trouble even with 240p video. Thankfully, we have come across a very simple hack that will significantly improve your YouTube video-viewing experience. Check it out after the jump. Read More

Screenbird Is A Java-Based Screen Recorder With On-The-Fly ‘Do Over’ & Online Sharing

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One good web app can often end the whole ‘which platform has better apps’ debate, and Screenbird is arguably one of those apps. It's a screencasting tool that runs entirely in your browser and allows you to record anything and everything on your screen. Unlike most browser-based screen recording tools, Screenbird is not restricted to recording inside the browser window. The recorded videos can be saved locally and uploaded for sharing as well. The service’s free version allows you to upload up to 150 minutes of videos to the cloud. That isn't Screenbird's best feature though; it has a 'do over' feature whereby you can select any point in a recording and re-record from that point onward. The portion of the video before that point remains intact, while the rest is overwritten. Read More

Autorun Angel Is A Cloud-Based Security Analyzer For Startup Items

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My first hand experience tells me that Windows Task Manager is not the most efficient way to find out the integrity of currently running processes or applications that auto execute during Windows logon. Although it allows you to kill unresponsive applications or disable them entirely from running, you can never be so sure whether a process or service is malicious, or harmless to your system. This is where tools like Autorun Angel really shine. This nifty little app scans your computer for autorun entries against its own cloud database, and highlights only those services or autorun programs that seem dangerous to your system or may be the root cause of an ongoing problem. This can include all sorts of malware including spyware, adware, trojans, viruses et al. According to the developer, the scan engine is powered by NictaTech Antivirus Engine, which is the company’s native cloud engine for checking for viruses. Read More

How To Import RSS Feeds Into Microsoft Outlook For Windows

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As most of you must have heard by now, Google Reader is retiring this summer and we've guided you through the process of backing up your Google Reader RSS feeds as well as given you a healthy list of alternatives for Google Reader to switch to, once it's gone. Though our list focused on apps that were always meant to be RSS feed readers, and we purposely left out the ones that offered RSS subscriptions as a side feature. Outlook - one of the most popular desktop email clients out there that's known mostly for helping you organize your contacts, remembering appointments, and sending emails - actually supports RSS feeds natively. The feature has been ignored by most so far, but the death of Google Reader has finally brought it much attention. If you use Outlook for your email, contacts and calendar already, there's no reason why it can't take care of your RSS subscriptions. So let's take a look at how you can import your feeds from Reader to Outlook, and switch to it as your RSS app. Read More

QuiteRSS Is A Powerful, Multi-Tabbed RSS Reader For Windows & Linux

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Google Reader’s inevitable demise that’s only a couple of months away now has sent many on a wild goose chase to seek an equally good service that matches the quality and simplicity of this leading RSS platform. Feedly, for instance, is being considered as the top contender right now that goes neck to neck with Google Reader, but that doesn't mean we don’t have any other option. Just a couple of weeks ago, Fatima compiled a list of some of the best Google Reader alternatives for Windows, Mac and Web around. And today, I’m adding another one to list called QuiteRSS. Let’s take a closer look. Read More

WinX Premium HD Video Converter, Editor & Burner Free For Limited Time

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Video Converters date back to as long as I can remember, though their need has been greatly diminished lately due to most modern media players having the capability to play a truckload of formats, and a shift to handheld devices by many of us, most of which natively support a wide range of file formats. Still, there are times when you do need to convert a video for better comparability or compression. In the past, we have covered countless video converters including Freemore, Ace, EasyBrake and Video to Video, just to name a few. WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe is a premium video converter for Windows boasting support for a plethora of formats, and the application has recently gone free for a limited time as an Easter gift, from its regular price of $49.95. Let's take a look at its features in detail after the jump. Read More

Create Stylized Thumbnail Preview Sheets For All Images In A Folder

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Among the many advantages of internet is the platforms it offers to artists or photographers to sell their work independently without having to sign on to a label or publication. It’s a good practice that not only lets others buy media for their own websites, blogs and magazines at affordable rates, but also rewards the sellers with decent compensation in return for their hard work. If you’re an artist, photographer or designer who wants to share their work by giving others a glimpse of their creativity without really showing their full work due to the fear of plagiarism, Snap2IMG can come pretty useful. This portable application allows you to create thumbnail sheets of images and can come handy under various scenarios such as viewing a photo collection, publishing image thumbnails on photo sharing websites, or simply taking preview printouts for huge albums. Read More

Get Windows 7 Gadgets On Windows 8 Desktop With Gadgetarian

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Although Windows Vista was a major flop, the desktop sidebar feature that Microsoft introduced in the OS was really fascinating. This sidebar allowed users to place several useful gadgets in it,  such as calendar, clock, CPU and network monitor, photo slideshow, search, RSS feeds etc. that provided them with quick access to information as well as many tasks. Windows 7 also came with desktop gadget support, and Microsoft took it one step further by removing the constraint added by the sidebar. With Windows 8 though, Microsoft decided to totally remove this feature, which is a serious turn off for those of us who liked having them on our desktop. If you want to bring desktop gadgets back to Windows 8, Gadgetarian might be a decent solution. It works in a slightly different manner than 8GadgetPack, but the purpose is the same. It provides you with 14 different desktop widgets, and you can even download more of them from the developer's website. Read More

Copy Offers File Sharing, Cloud Storage & Sync With 12GB+ Free Space

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File sharing has become immensely easy over the past few years, thanks to the fast internet availability in many parts of the world, and services like Jumpshare and Dropbox. The aforementioned file sharing solutions help users share files with much more ease than they could just a few years ago. In addition, such services also provides them with virtual cloud storage to back up their content as well as access it remotely over the internet. Copy is a great new file sharing and cloud storage service that I recently discovered and took for a spin. Available for desktop, mobile and web, the service makes file sharing as well as collaboration simple and intuitive. Read More

Talk.to Brings Its Facebook Chat & GTalk IM Aggregator To Windows 8

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There have been countless instant messaging services around for nearly two decades. Social networking has also become incredibly popular during the past few years, particularly after the popularization of smartphones, and everyone wants to stay connected with their friends and family. Following this norm, services like Facebook also offer their own chat platform. Since a lot us now use multiple chat services, it can be quite tedious to handle all these accounts from different apps. Fortunately, there are multi-protocol chat clients for that. Previously, we covered the Windows 8 app of the renowned IM+ that allows you to chat on multiple services under one hood. Talk.to is yet another such app for Windows 8 and RT that has recently landed on Windows Store. The app lets you sign in to four different accounts simultaneously, and supports Facebook, Google, Windows (Microsoft account for Windows Live Messenger) and Pingpong. Read More

WeatherFlow Is A Windows 8 Weather App With Gorgeous Animated Backgrounds

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Whether you're planning a trip across the vast shores of Australia, doing some mountain climbing in the Alps, or just going about your daily routine,  keeping an eye on the weather forecast plays a significant role in determining what to do, when to do it, and what to wear for it. But given the amount of weather apps that are now available on both desktop and mobile platforms, it can be fairly difficult to select one as your daily forecast guide. Previously, we have covered some really fascinating weather apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Web, Windows Phone et al, and today we're taking a look at another such app - WeatherFlow. Contrary to our previously reviewed Breezy that looked quite minimalistic from top to bottom, W000eatherFlow sport a host of gorgeous weather effects that dynamically change according to the weather conditions in the selected location. Read More

Have Your PC Automatically Restore To A Defined State After Reboot

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People usually treat public PCs quite recklessly. Apart from use them for exchanging emails, transferring files, browsing websites, ogling at their social media profiles and streaming YouTube content, many also carelessly install crapware over them and mess up many settings. This not only leaves various traces of their activities and unknown software on the that PC that eventually bogs down its performance, but can also cause issues for other users of the machines. Since the usage of computers placed at public locations is high, it can be quite tedious to maintain them on regular basis. When it comes to such situations, Reboot Restore Rx can be a terrific solution. What this application does is automatically restoring the computer to a custom predefined baseline so that whenever a PC is rebooted, it reverts any changes made to the system during the previous session. This gives users complete control over PCs located at schools, internet cafes, hotels, kiosks etc., while making the task of maintaining them much easier for their administrators. Read More

Repeatedly Replace Backup Files With Current Versions Using FileRplacer

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With all the technological advancements over the past few years, primary storage mediums like hard drives and SDDs are becoming ever more reliable and efficient. But since data lose can occur without any prior warning, it’s always advisable to keep a backup of your important files on a separate disk, so that you can easily restore your important data should you suffer a data loss on your primary storage. There still can be one major caveat though, and that is the inconvenience of backing up a large number of files. If you constantly have to update a file and then create its backup to the required location, it can be an even more tedious task. Applications like FileRplacer really come in handy during such situations. The app can easily replace files in your backup with the files you're working on, all with just a single click. The application can prove to be quite a time saver whenever you require to replace multiple items in a batch. More details after the jump. Read More

NeechPad Is A Simple Rich Text Editor For Windows With Tab Support

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Microsoft usually rotates the generation wheel of its Windows operating system every 3 years. Not only does the company bring core enhancements to the OS related to its security and performance, but at times, it revamps a few native utilities as well. Take Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer for instance; both these apps are more feature-rich now than they ever used to be. One application that has remained quite static in terms of development is Notepad. Even though it's quite handy considering what it does, the app has barely changed since Windows 95. It’s still a basic notes taking utility with a limited feature-set. While Windows also offers WordPad for editing rich text files, its interface isn't as minimal as that of Notepad. This is where third-party note-taking applications like NeechPad come to the rescue. Read More

Send Digital & Printed Copies Of Your Photos From Windows 8 & RT With Kicksend

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Kicksend is a service that has made its reputation for letting users share high resolution photos with anyone. What sets Kicksend apart from other similar solutions or alternative methods like email and social media is that it doesn't compress images in the transfer process, thus the original quality of the photos remain intact. After earning its fair share of success on desktop, Android and iOS, the app has now landed on Windows Store. Even though it looks quite simple on the surface, the app still gets the job done the way it's been doing on other supported platforms. Read More

Launch, Backup & Uninstall Modern UI Apps From Windows 8 Desktop

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Those of you who have already joined the Windows 8 club should be aware that the Start Screen is the only place from where the OS lets you manage Modern UI apps. The Start Screen allows users to pin legacy apps to the Taskbar, unpin any app from Start Screen, uninstall them or change the sizes of their tiles. However, all that doesn't seem very convenient, particularly if you’ve also pinned additional items here, such as files, folders or desktop apps. That’s where Windows App Boss comes to the rescue. This freeware allows users to manage Windows 8 applications right from the desktop. It can also help developers and testers easily add signed packages for testing purposes. Keep reading past the break for further details. Read More

The Comprehensive ‘Photo Editor’ By Aviary Comes To Windows 8 And RT

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Photo Editor by Aviary is one of the most robust web-based photo editing platforms out there that lets you edit your photos to your heart’s content right from your web browser or mobile device. The app is fairly popular on iOS and Android platforms, receiving praise for its stellar photo editing plugins and a powerful standalone version that does a lot more than conventional photo editors normally do. After getting rave reviews on both these mobile platforms, the app has now landed on Windows Store as well, and it's no different from its counterparts when it comes to features and functionality. Simply labeled Photo Editor, the app provides you with a clean, easy to use photo editing environment so you can give your favorite images a quick makeover. Read on for our full review. Read More

View Info Stored In All Windows Jump Lists With Nirsoft JumpListsView

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Microsoft introduced Jump Lists feature in Windows 7 to provide quick access to the documents and tasks associated with your applications. It’s more like Windows XP’s recent documents feature, but only more enhanced, intuitive and easily accessible. Jump Lists also allow you to pin any frequently accessed or favorite items to the taskbar button for quick and easy access, acting like a history and bookmarks view of the files and program features to quickly open at any time. If you want to take a quick peek at the information stored by the Jump Lists, JumpListsView is a free portable tool by Nirsoft that makes the task easy for you. Lets take a closer look at the app after the jump. Read More

Create Encrypted, UAC-Independent Desktop Shortcuts With EnSC

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Just a few days ago, I covered a handy Windows application called ElevatedShortcut that is designed to get rid of UAC prompts for trusted apps while keeping them enabled for all other apps. UAC or User Account Control is a security measure integrated into Windows that keeps untrusted apps from running on your computer without your express permission. Today, we've yet another similar app at your disposal called EnSC. You might be wondering what EnSC offers over ElevatedShortcut that makes it worth recommending. The tool's flagship feature is its ability to also encrypt the shortcut created for running the app with elevated privileges, meaning even if elevation is granted by a user, the selected shortcut still remains safe from prying eyes. Moreover, the tool allows to create such shortcuts from network drives as well. Read More

Pokki Gets A Full-Featured Pandora App With Desktop Notifications

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Many of us get tired of our daily hectic work routine, and listening to music is a great way to keep oneself going all day and replenish that relaxation meter again. Speaking of music, there are countless number of services that let you listen to your favorite tunes. Services like Spotify, Last.fm & Pandora offer fascinating solutions to stream music off the internet at zero charge. If you’re an avid Pandora listener, Pandora for Pokki is a great app to use the service without firing up its webpage. This gorgeous app enables to sign in to your Pandora account to access your profile, playlists, radio stations and then some. Read More