Just two more Software Updates post to make in this year before the new year will hopefully bring some awesome new programs and applications to use and write about. As usual the list is made of applications that have been introduced here at my site before and have been updated in the last seven days.

Some of the versions might be Beta but this is mentioned clearly so that you can make the decision if you want to install a Beta or wait for the release version.

If I have missed a program let me know about it in the comments. Everything that has not been written about has received it’s own article in the last seven days already which means that you are not missing out any great new programs if you visit my website regularly.

continue reading "Software Updates Week 51 2007"

I’m using a desktop PC and a Toshiba notebook at home, sometimes both at the same time which is the case when I write an article about Windows Vista. The desktop PC is running Windows XP and I use the notebook with Windows Vista to test what I’m writing about. I do my research on the Windows XP PC however and find it convenient to use the clipboard across the network.

This means that I can do the research on my XP computer, copy a link to a website there and paste that link on the second computer to open the website in question. It does not stop here. The network clipboard works on Windows and Linux which means that you can share data between different operating systems as well.

Usage could not be easier. Simply select a network interface and port and you are ready to go and use it. Windows users might have to download the runtime files which are also available at Sourceforge before they can install the Network Clipboard.

I have been looking for a flexible file rename for a very long time. I found some, tested some, wrote articles about them here at Ghacks but was never really satisfied. This has changed with the discovery of PFrank File Renamer. Stupid name ? Yes for sure although PFrank is an acronym for Peter’s Flexible Renaming Kit.

The functionality however is making more than up for it. First of all, PFrank supports wildcards and regular expressions making it an excellent tool for both beginners and advanced users alike. You might now wildcards from your operating system, they are normally substituted with the char *, a search for all mp3 files of a folder would look like this for instance *.mp3.

Regular expressions on the other hand offer a wider variety of meta characters suitable for advanced file matching needs, it is for instance possible to exclude files with certain chars.

continue reading "PFrank File Renamer"

The Windows hosts file is one of the major files on the system that malicious scripts, trojans and spyware programs use to manipulate the host system to redirect website or IP requests. It could be used for instance to redirect the website of Google, Ebay or Amazon to a different server while the correct url would still be visible in the address bar.

The host file can also be used to block advertisement on websites by changing the IP of the ad servers to localhost (that is your own system). Hosts Man is one of the better host file editors, scanners and protectors. A very nice feature is the ability to update the local host files with hosts files on the Internet that block advertisements and malicious websites.

Four different hosts files can be downloaded in HostsMan by default, amongst them the well respected MVPS Hosts file and Mike’s Ad Blocking Host file. Other options that are included are the possibilities to backup the host file, add additional update sources, scan the host file for errors and possible hijacks.

continue reading "A Windows Hosts Manager"

Autocomplete is being used in many browsers to offer the user suggestions of what he is going to type into the box giving him the opportunity to select one of the suggestions without having to type the full address. Mobile Phones have a similar function that suggests words when the users begins typing them in when writing a SMS for instance.

Let Me Type is a Windows application that puts the autocomplete feature in a bigger context. It uses input from all applications to offers suggestions to the user. I’m for instance currently writing this article in Wordpress and Let Me Type records the words that I use and offers suggestions if I begin typing a word that looks similar to one that I already used.

It is a little bit confusing at first because lots of suggestions pop up but it is possible to simply ignore them. They disappear automatically when a new word begins. The settings make it easy to change the default behavior of Let Me Type.

continue reading "Autocomplete for all applications"