Drive Copy 9.5 Personal is offered for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. Some users might believe that Drive Copy is a backup software but it is listed under virtualization at the Paragon website.

Drive Copy can be used to create a virtual clone of the PC. This includes all data on the PC including the operating system, drivers, settings as well applications and files.

Drive Copy supports two virtual file formats: VMWare and MS Virtual PC. The user needs the software from the developer of the virtualization solution to use the virtual clone of the PC.

Drive Copy 9.5 Personal is offered as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition at the Giveaway of the Day website. Installation involves the usual registration at the Paragon website to receive the product key and serial number to register the product. This is done during installation.

Users can open the registration page for Drive Copy 9.5 right here to request the license information while they are downloading the virtualization software.

The Drive Copy interface lists the available tasks at the right hand.

• Migration: Migrate to another hard drive, adjust OS to new hardware
• Migrate to virtual machine: Migrate from a physical to a virtual machine
• Disk Copy and imaging: Copy partition, clone hard disk, create a compressed image of a hard drive
• Rescue and recovery: Burn recovery CD, undelete partition, file transfer wizard, log saver

Migration

The Migrate to another hard drive option allows the user to move the operating system, all files and settings from one hard drive to another on the same computer. This can be helpful if a new hard drive has been bought and connected to the computer that is either faster or more space than the old one. It could for instance be used to move the operating system to the new hard drive to get rid of the old hard drive at all in the end. All contents on the target disk will be overwritten.

Adjust OS to new hardware has to be used if the user connects a migrated operating system to another computer. This process makes the OS compatible with the computer hardware it was connected to.

Migrate to a virtual machine

This option basically creates a virtual image of the current operating system and data so that it can be used in a virtual environment.

Disk Copy and imaging

The copy partition option can be used to copy a hard drive partition to unallocated space on the same or a different hard drive.

Clone hard disk will create an exact copy of a hard disk to a different disk. All contents on the target disk will be overwritten.

Create a compressed image of a hard drive

This creates a compressed image of the hard drive which can be restored at any time using the Recovery CD. This compressed image cannot be used in a virtual environment.

Rescue and recovery

The user should start by burning the recovery CD which aids if something goes wrong.

Undelete partition can recover a partition that has been accidentally deleted.

The File Transfer Wizard can be used to copy files and folders from images.

Verdict

Paragon Drive Copy offers several interesting features. The option to migrate the operating system to a new hard drive or new computer system while adjusting the OS to the new hardware can be indispensable if a new hard drive or PC have been purchased.

Paragon Drive Copy 9.5 can be downloaded from the Giveaway of the Day website for free today. The developer website contains additional information about the software.

Process Lasso can be best described as a software that will automatically adjust process priorities based on a computer’s condition. Bitsum, the Process Lasso developers, call the feature ProBalance. ProBalance adjusts process priorities so that running processes will not impact the responsiveness of the PC.

The main Process Lasso Pro screen looks like an advanced version of the Windows Task Manager. The application displays a graph at the top informing the user about processor use, system responsiveness, process restraint and memory load.

The processes are listed in the middle with the possibility to switch between all processes and only active processes. Each process is listed with its name, user, application name, priority class, cpu affinity and several additional parameters.

The lower half of the screen contains a log and the status bar which lists the total number of processes, cpu utilization, responsiveness, memory load and system uptime.

Process Lasso works out of the box but there are lots of configuration settings and features available to optimize the computer system.

Differences between Process Lasso and Process Lasso Pro

The free version of Process Lasso includes ProBalance, the process management component of the program, a gaming mode and the ability to set persistent cpu affinities and process priorities.

The pro version adds a number of features to that including automatic gaming mode, cpu throttling, anti-sleep processes, high performance power scheme processes, running the core engine as a service and schedulers.

A right-click on any process in the Process Lasso window opens a context menu with lots of options to configure that process.

Among these options is the ability to set a priority class, cpu affinities, throttle levels, default process priority, cpu affinity and throttle level, limit the number of program instances, auto restart the process if it is terminated, always terminate a process whenever it is started or to restart the process.

Experienced users can tweak lots and lots of settings that are offered in Process Lasso. Those are not needed for the core functionality on the other hand.

Registration

Process Lasso Pro displays a window during installation where a license key needs to be entered. A button in the same window will lead to the developer website where a license can be requested by entering an email address. The license key is displayed on the next page without email verification.

Verdict

Process Lasso Pro is a helpful software program especially for users who experience system slowdowns regularly due to processes that are maxing out the cpu or computer memory.

The program is offered as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition which can be freely downloaded today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developers website can be accessed here. It contains additional information and the documentation.

AVG 9 Free offers the core features that one would expect from an antivirus software. It protects the computer system from viruses and spyware, offers basic rootkit protection, an email scanner, phishing protection and integrated Linkscanner module for protecting the computer user during online sessions.

AVG Anti-Virus 9 comes with all of those features plus some. It offers advanced rootkit protection instead of the basic protection offered in AVG 9 Free, an online shield mode which protects the computer when downloading and sharing files online and a game mode that guarantees uninterrupted playtime.

And that’s it. Both AVG 9 applications do not offer a software firewall, identity protection and anti-spam protection, both of which are integrated into AVG Internet Security only.

Update Just found out that the version of AVG Anti-Virus 9 offered at the Giveaway of the Day website is only a 90-day trial version of the program, not a full version that works for a year. It is therefor probably not worth the troubles of downloading it.

Positive

• Advanced Rootkit protection
• Online shield
• Game Mode
• Compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows

Negative

• Only a 90-day trial
• No Firewall and anti-spam

AVG Anti-Virus 9 can be downloaded today only at the Giveaway of the Day website. Additional information about the antivirus software can be found at the AVG website.

Both are provided in a suite but can be installed and started separately. PCHand Screen Capture is a sophisticated screenshot taking software that uses profiles for different jobs.

The software displays a list of already configured profiles after startup ranging from taking a screenshot of windows, the full screen, a scrolling window, freehand or rectangle.

Each profile consists of an input method, output setting and effect. Input methods define how and where the screenshot is being taken, output methods where it will be send to our saved and effects can be used to add additional information to the screenshot automatically.

It is possible to add new profiles to the program or remove existing ones in case they are not needed. The different profiles can be activated directly from within the software program or by configuring hotkeys to use the computer keyboard to trigger them.

Most of the preconfigured profiles use the editor that is shipped with the screen capture software. This editor comes with basic image editing options that include adding text, forms or arrows to the screenshot.

Additional options are provided in the file menu on top. There the user can select filters and other image manipulation effects like rotating or resizing the image.

PCHand Screen Capture is a sophisticated screenshot taking software that’s easy to work with and expandable thanks to the profiles that can be edited or created.

PCHand Screen Recorder is the second program in the software suite. It can record video and audio of a select region of the computer desktop. The program did not work correctly on our Windows 7 Professional test system.

When it was set to manual saving it seemed to record just fine but there was not an option at the end to save the video. If it was set to automatically save it stopped responding and had to be closed.

We will therefor only evaluate the screenshot taking software and not the screen recorder below.

Installation

The PCHand Screen Capture Recorder Suite comes with two setup files that need to be executed separately giving users the chance to only install one of the programs if that is desired. The programs can be registered by clicking on activate.exe after the installation of one or both programs have been finished.

Positive

• Uses customizable profiles
• Hotkey support
• Supports scrolling windows and freehand

Negative

• Some spelling errors in the application
• Effects cannot be configured when creating new profiles
• No option to send to another image editor

PCHand Screen Capture Recorder Suite can be downloaded from the Giveaway of the Day website. The program can be freely registered today only and is available for $49.99 regularly on the developer’s website.

SoftChronizer is a duplicate file finder for Windows that can scan the PC and compare files found to display the duplicates in its interface.

The left sidebar of the program contains links to the program’s options, search parameters and file filters. Each have to be configured and selected before the search.

The duplicate file filter can filter files by type with pdf, mp3 and pictures offered besides a wildcard search that displays and checks all file types in the selected directory.

SoftChronizer supports normal and binary comparisons and can also compare by file size and file name again with the option to do a basic size or name comparison or use Fuzzy Logic to do so.

The scan of the target directory is very fast. It is possible to select a partition of the computer or a folder on the hard drive. The duplicate file finder will automatically scan the subdirectories of the selected root folder as well, a parameter that can be changed in the program’s options.

All duplicate files will then be displayed in the program’s interface after the very fast scan of the selected folder. The application lists the directory, file name, size and other information in its interface.

A pulldown menu is available for each item in the results that can be used to delete or move the selected file. The duplicates are color coded to make the detection easier. It is however not possible to select multiple duplicates at once, use automatic duplicate file deletion, sort the results or to select another file filter.

This makes the program impracticable for large amounts of data that needs to be compared and cleaned of duplicates.

There is also no build in preview feature to take a look at pictures or documents right from the program’s interface. A double-click will launch the selected file in the default viewer which is not very comfortable.

Installation

This is not the usual Giveaway of the Day installation. The zip file contains the setup program to install the duplicate file finder, a readme with instructions on how to install, activate.exe to activate the program and the file gacasreg.bin which needs to be moved into the program directory after installation.

Positive

• Very fast scan
• Fuzzy Logic to find duplicate files even if their names are not identical

Negative

• Cannot scan multiple drives at once
• Results cannot be sorted, changing filters is not possible
• No build in preview of results
• No automatic cleaning
• Multiple selections not possible
• Duplicate file scan parameters limited to file size, name and binary comparison.

Clone Spy is a free alternative duplicate file finder that supports many of the features that Softchronizer does not. It can for instance automatically delete duplicate files, exclude files and folders from the scan and more.

Softchronizer is a fast duplicate file finder with several usability issues that make the program less than ideal for most uses. It is currently offered for free at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer’s website is accessible here.

MultiStage Recovery is a commercial file recovery software that supports most digital storage devices such as hard drives, flash drives and data cards providing that they are formatted with a Windows file system.

The application displays a list of drives, partitions, devices and disk images in the left sidebar on startup. The program will either start a scan automatically (when selecting a drive letter) or manually.

Different scans are provided to the user including low-level file scans, partition search, missing NTFS or FAT file scan and the default scan.

The performance and reliability is influenced by the scan type. The choices are displayed beneath the drive or partition selection in the sidebar.

• Default scan – the most effective method in most cases. It finds displaced chains in the file system.
• Search for missing NTFS files – This method is more time consuming than the default scan but detects files from formatted NTFS partitions and can recover names
• Search for missing FAT files – This method only performs a search for lost files and folders on FAT volumes
• Low level file search – This is used when a partition has been formatted and may have new software installed.

It is possible to mount and scan disk images. That is an important option as it is recommended to create a disk backup first if data has been lost on a drive to be able to work with the backup and not the original drive to avoid additional damages to the data.

The files and folders that are found during the scan are displayed in the interface afterwards. The left sidebar will list the folders while the main part of the interface the files and folders of the selected directory level. The footer area lists status messages, previews and search results.

Files can be recovered by selecting them directly in the main interface. The status messages and preview options usually indicate if a file can be recovered, a color scheme in the interface would make this step easier for the user. The dates the files have been created, modified and accessed are also displayed and can give an indication of the recovery chance.

Installation

The data recovery software can be installed by executing the setup.exe after unpacking the files. The product key and name that are needed for registration are provided in the readme.txt file that is also in the zip file.

Positive

• Supports disk images
• Various file recovery scan options
• Multi-threading
• Search tool

Negative

• Works only with Windows file systems
• No success indications
• Rather slow

MultiStage Recovery is an interesting file recovery software for the Windows operating system. It is not the fastest to begin with and can only scan Windows file systems but provides all the means to recovery those files effectively.

The data recovery software is provided for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer’s website is located here.

Paragon System Backup 2010 is a Windows backup software. The user has to configure a location for the backups on first startup. We ran into a little trouble in this stage as the software suggested our not yet mounted True Crypt volume for the backup storage which we could not mount because it was locked by the software. Only closing the backup software, mounting the volume and restarting the software helped overcome the issue.

The next problem we ran into after mounting the True Crypt volume was that System Backup 2010 would not allow us to select that partition for backup storage telling us that we needed about 900 Gigabytes of free storage space for our data and that we only had 987 Gigabyte at our disposal.

The program recommended buying a 1000 Gigabyte USB hard drive to use as backup storage. Part of the 987 Gigabytes on the drive were occupied with data which might be the reason why the program declined to use the drive as the backup location.

Well the problem for us now was that we could not select a backup storage location and therefor could not use the automatic snapshot creation at all as there was no option to exclude a partition, hard drive or files from the backup process. We guess that we will not be the only users who run into that problem with System Backup 2010.

The second option was to create a manual snapshot instead which was the only other option available.

Manual backup provides better options. It is possible to select or deselect partitions from the list of disks to backup. This makes it possible to only backup the main hard drive with Windows for instance and not a data drive or other drives.

The backup locations are also extended here as it is possible to backup to a local or network disk or network share. This is actually the only possible way of using the program if the automatic backup storage selection fails in System Backup 2010.

The program can calculate the required storage capacities for the snapshot

Backups can then be restored either from within Windows or by using the recovery option in the program.

Installation

A get free serial button will be displayed during installation. This button will lead to the Paragon website where a free account needs to be created to receive the product key and serial number for Paragon System Backup 2010. The key and serial will be send to the email address entered during the registration.

Positive

• Automatic snapshot creation
• Recovery CD
• Email notifications

Negative

• No drive or file filtering in the automatic backup configuration
• No ftp or online backup locations supported
• Can not backup single files or folders, only partitions
• Large file size (140 Megabytes) for a rather simple tool

Paragon System Backup 2010 has been created to provide Windows users with an easy to use backup solution. It has however been simplified that much that it became unusable for some users who have lots of data on their computer system.

Several free backup programs like Comodo Time Machine provide a better way of handling this.

System Backup 2010 is available for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The program’s homepage is accessible here.

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard is a commercial file recovery software for the Windows operating system. We reviewed Data Recovery Wizard back in 2008. Back then it was version 4.3.6. of the application, today’s giveaway is version 5.0.1.

Key Features

• Recover deleted or lost files emptied from the Recycle Bin.
• File recovery after accidental format, even if you have reinstalled Windows.
• Disk recovery after a hard disk crash.
• Get back files after a partitioning error.
• Get data back from RAW hard drives.
• Recover office document, photo, image, video, music, email, etc.
• Recover from hard drive, USB drive, memory card, memory stick, camera card, Zip, floppy disk or other storage media.
• Support FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS/NTFS5 file systems.
• New! Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/Windows 7

When To Use

• Hard Drives that have been formatted.
• Corruptted or missing critical file system structures.
• Accidental file deletion.
• File loss without reason.
• Unexpected system shutdown or application failure.
• Computer viruses and worms infection or corruption.
• Boot-up problems.
• Partition structures are damaged or deleted.
• Damage due to a power failure or surge.
• Various kinds of file system corruption.
• Recover files from devices with unknown file systems including Hard Disk, external ZIP/USB drive, removable SmartMedia, MemoryStick, SD cards, etc.

The startup screen of the software has not changed at all. It still provides access to the three core recovery options each providing tools for specific recovery scenarios.

• Deleted File Recovery
• Complete Recovery
• Partition Recovery

The first recovery option can be used to recovery files that have been deleted from the computer system. A list of all connected hard drives is displayed after selection.

The selected hard drive will be scanned by the application. This can take some time depending on the speed and size of the hard drive or partition. It took about five minutes to scan a 260 Gigabyte hard drive with Windows running on it.

The recovery software will display a list of files that it can try to recovery. Folders are displayed in the left sidebar while the actual deleted files that have been found during the scan on the right. Each file is displayed with its filename, file size, file type and dates.

Icons are used to distinguish between lost folders, deleted files or folders and lost or raw files. The top contains buttons to find a file by name, search the files or to preview files

Files or folders can be selected to be recovered and a click on the Next button will initiate the recovery process. It is recommended to save the recovered files on a different partition or hard drive to avoid data loss due to overwriting the wrong space on the hard drive.

Complete recovery can help if the hard drive has been formatted, if Windows displays a dialog to format the disk although data had been on it before, after virus attacks and software crashes.

The interface is basically the same as before with the difference that unformatted partitions are also displayed in the selection window.

The partition recovery mode can be used to recover partitions that have been accidentally deleted.

Installation

The installation of Easeus Data Recover Wizard is comfortable. The program will be registered automatically during installation if it is installed today.

Positive

• Recover files and partitions
• Option to search for and preview deleted files

Negative

• Search files option not working properly, find file by name however is.
• File preview limited to text and image files.
• No estimations on the chance of full recovery
• Saves files with their initial directory structure (can be confusing)
• Can only recover Microsoft file systems

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard is available for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The homepage at the Easeus website contains additional information and several how tos that might be helpful to users who want to recovery files or partitions.

The Cleaner is an antivirus software, not a suite which means it does not offer a firewall, email spam scanning or any of the other modules that security suites offer. It can therefor be best compared to other standalone antivirus solutions such as AVG 9 or Avast.

The developers have divided the program into a scanner and a resident program, both highly compatibly with other antivirus solutions installed on the computer system. The program uses a database of malicious software plus advanced heuristics to detect known and unknown threats on a computer system.

The Giveaway of the Day edition does not offer the TCActive module that monitors processes in the background. This version of The Cleaner is therefor only suitable for scanning the computer system for malicious software.

TCActive is available in the program directory despite the help file claiming that it is only available in retail versions of the security program. It needs to be started manually and will run in the background afterwards.

The tab driven program is easy to use. The user should start by clicking on the Update tab to update the program’s database, something that does not seem to be handled automatically by the antivirus software.

The scan tab provides the means to perform a smart scan that will only scan popular locations for malware or full scan which will scan everything on the hard drives selected by the user.

The only other options provided are to change the heuristics level from relaxed to paranoid in a slider, to whitelist files so that they are not scanned by the software and to take a look at reports and the log.

The Cleaner in this regard is therefor a solid addition to any security setup a user might already have installed on the computer system. The lack of the background process monitor make it not suitable as the only antivirus program on the system.

Installation of The Cleaner

Installation is straightforward. Just execute the setup.exe after extracting the files to the local computer system. The serial number for The Cleaner is located in the readme file that is part of the zip file. The program can be registered after the first startup. A restart of the software is required afterwards.

Positive

• Fast Scan
• Compatible with other antivirus software and security suites
• Background monitoring with TCActive

Negative

• No TCActive module means no background monitoring
• Updates have to be initiated manually

The Cleaner, well the crippled version without TCActive, is available for free at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer’s website is accessible here.

Ocster Backup Pro displays a wizard on startup that links to four program modules. Those modules can be used to create a new backup, restore an existing backup, manage backup plans which are the backups that have already been created and view backup reports to take a look at the reports of previous backups.

Wizards guide the user through creating and restoring backups on the computer system.

A new backup is for instance created by first selecting the backup storage which can either be a hard disk, external storage or network drive. There is also the option to store the data on a secure storage server provided by Ocster which comes as a price. This could be one of the reasons why no third party remote storage options are provided by the backup application.

The new backup plan can be created once the storage type has been selected by the computer user. It begins by specifying a backup location and backup name if local storage has been selected. The secure remote storage will open an authentication window instead.

The next screen of the backup wizard is used to select the files and folders that should be included in the backup. Ocster Backup 3 Pro offers several pre-selected folders and file types for a quick selection. This includes the MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyVideos and MyPictures folders as well as specific file types like photos, spreadsheets or text documents from all connected hard drives.

It is furthermore possible to select custom files and folders that the user wants to include in the backup.

The custom setting can be used to pick folders or files from connected storage devices so that they are included in the backup. Ocster Backup provides exclusion filters but not the hand inclusion filters so that only specific file types of a selected folder will be included in the backup.

The backup software offers to compress and encrypt the files of the backup to save storage space. Only proprietary compression formats are offered by the program which means that the backups can only be restored if the backup program is available and installed.

Backup plans can be scheduled so that they backups are created on a regular basis. Options are not that extensive as it is only possible to select a daily backup, weekly backup or no automatic backup.

Installation:

Ocster Backup Pro 3 is provided as a zip file that extracts into a setup.exe and a readme.txt. The program can be installed by double-clicking on the setup.exe. The program will display a Free Registration window upon startup. It is here that the user needs to request a free registration code by clicking on the Register for free button.

This will open a website with a short form where the name and email address need to be entered. The registration information will be send to the email address. This email contains another link to the Ocster website that will list the program’s serial number.

This serial number needs to be entered into the program to register the program.

Positive

• Easy to use thanks to wizards guiding the user
• Preset folders and file types that can be selected
• Reporting and logs
• Incremental backups supported (automatically)

Negative

• Proprietary compression formats, restore only possible with the backup software
• No file inclusion filters
• Insufficient scheduling options
• No remote backups
• No recovery CD

Ocster Backup Pro 3 is an easy to use backup program that lacks features and options in a few areas. The biggest problem for most users should be the proprietary compression options and the missing recovery CD in case the operating system fails to boot.

The Windows backup software is offered for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The homepage of the developer is available here.

The suite is offered for a price of $49.95 which includes a free upgrade to Hard Disk Manager 2010 once it is released.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Special Edition starts up with a wizard that makes it more comfortable to find and access the specific functions of the program.

The wizard divides the functions in a left sidebar that is divided into the buttons Backup and Restore, Maintenance, Rescue and Recovery, Wiping and Advanced Options.

The right side of the window displays the options that are provided by the selected category.

• Backup and Restore: Backup system/date, Backup files, Restore system/date, Restore files
• Maintenance: Hard Disk Optimization (defragmentation), Hard Disk Migration (migrate data to a new hard disk)
• Rescue and Recovery: Restore system/date from a backup image, Transfer Files from any file system and burn them to DVD, Burn Rescue Kit to create a bootable recovery CD
• Wiping: Disk Wiper to securely erase data on a hard drive so that the data cannot be recovered.
• Advanced Options: Advanced partitioning and hard disk management, Manage Backup Capsule to manage secure storage for backup images)

Backup and Restore

Backup and restore are one of the main features of Hard Disk Manager 2009. The program can be used to backup and restore partitions, hard drives or files and folders. A backup wizard will be displayed automatically after selecting one of the backup options.

One interesting option is the ability to backup the master boot records of the hard drives. The wizard will automatically display the size of the selected objects and the estimated archive size. The backup module will automatically compress the data to save disk space.

Advanced users can access backup settings where they can modify many aspects of the backup. This includes the compression level, splitting backup images, password protection, enable hard drive or partition raw processing which will perform a sector to sector copy, enable or disable hot processing and excluding files and folders from the backup.

The backup can be saved to a local or network drive or burned to CD or DVD. There is unfortunately no option to add servers as an option. Remote server backups are therefor only possible indirectly by saving the backups to a local hard drive first and then transferring those backups to the remote server.

Installation:

Hard Disk Manager 2009 Special Edition is provided as a 159 Megabyte zip file that extracts into a setup file and a readme. The setup.exe when executed will extract HDM2009Special_ea.exe to a location on the hard drive from where the hard drive manager can be installed.

A Get Free Serial button will be displayed during installation which needs to be clicked. This leads to a Paragon website with a form to request a product key and serial number. This product key and serial number will be send to the email account entered in the registration form.

The installation can only be completed after this steps as the product key and serial number need to be entered into the installation window. A restart is required at the end of the installation.

Verdict:

Hard Disk Manager 2009 Special Edition lacks several tools that one would expect from a hard disk manager. This includes for instance support for S.M.A.R.T., displaying hard drive temperatures and health levels or checking a hard drive’s performance. Even the professional version of Hard Disk Manager 2009 does not support this.

The features that are offered by the software program can aid a user although most can be substituted with free software as well.

Positive:

• Easy to use
• Rescue CD
• Combines lots of tools in one program making them more accessible
• 32-bit and 64-bit support

Negative:

• Huge file size
• No HDD Health or performance benchmarking
• No server backups
• Most tools can be replaced by free tools that do the job as well

Hard Disk Manager 2009 Special Edition is available for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The program needs to be installed today to register it correctly. The product page at the developer’s website can be accessed here.

Data can become inaccessible because of several reasons. It can be that the user accidentally deleted the data, that the partition or hard drive was formatted or that the partition headers became corrupt so that the operating system is not able to read the data.

The recovery software iCare Data Recovery provides a solution for all three scenarios. It can be used to recover formatted drives and partitions including external storage devices like flash cards (for instance to recover deleted photos from the digital camera’s flash card), ipods and basically any storage device that can be connected to a PC.

The second option of the file recovery software is the ability to restore partitions which have become corrupt and therefor unreadable by the operating system.

Data recovery options are provided as well. It is possible to restore deleted files and to run a deep scan recovery.

All levels of Hardware RAID supported.
Advanced and unique deep searching and scanning algorithm that recover lost files in seconds
Recover formatted sd card, hard drive partitions, ipod etc.
Recover files from RAW drives or file system; You do not have to convert file system back to FAT/NTFS
Recover photos, documents, video, music and emails.
Preview lost photos, office files before buy.

The data recovery software is relatively easy to use. It displays four icons in the main menu that lead to the program’s modules to recovery partitions, unformat drives and to recover deleted files. Beginners will notice the lack of information and onscreen aids. The deleted file recovery module will for instance display the partitions of the computer system and the options to perform an advanced or undelete recovery with no information on what these actually do.

The developer’s website offers a tutorial for some usage scenarios which is a recommended read for users who want to know more about the software’s capabilities.

• Formatted partition, camera card, usb drive, external hard drive – You should try iCare Data Recovery Software – “Format Recovery” wizard. It brings everything back from the formatted drives no matter quick formatted or regular formatted etc. It supports to recover formatted disk drive, external hard drive, digital camera card like SD card, flash card, cf card, memory card, usb drive, pen drive, ipod, iphone, etc. – If you deleted your partition by mistake, failed to see your partition in “my computer” or cannot find partition in disk management(lost without a reason), and there are important files/photos in the lost partition, iCare Data Recovery Software can help you take files back.
• Partition Deleted, partition lost, partition missing – If you deleted your partition by mistake, failed to see your partition in “my computer” or cannot find partition in disk management(lost without a reason), and there are important files/photos in the lost partition, iCare Data Recovery Software can help you take files back.
• Partition inaccessable, partition unreadable, Drive shows RAW file system, The disk in drive * is not formatted, do you want to format it now? – When your partition which contains important files are no longer accessable or becomes unreadable; when you try to visit a drive or try to open an external drive, or camera card etc, it says “The disk in drive H is not formatted, do you want to format it now?”; When you click the partition, it shows RAW, and the property says RAW in file system;
• Emptied Recycle Bin, shift+delete and files gone – when you deleted files and emptied the recycle bin, when you performed SHIFT+DELETE, you can retrieve deleted files via iCare Data Recovery Software

Installation

The zip file offered at the Giveaway of the Day website contains a readme with instructions and a setup to install the software. All that needs to be done by the user is to install the software which will be activated automatically at the end of the installation.

The download is provided today at the Giveaway of the Day website. Make sure to install the program today so that it becomes registered. The developer’s website is available here.

Positive

• Can recover partitions, formatted drives and recover files
• Can recover files from Raw partitions
• Full hardware raid support

Negative

• No documentation or online help
• Does not recover all partitions or drives connected to a system

ICare Data Recovery Software is a sophisticated file, partition and drive recovery software for the Windows operating system. It lacks documentation but makes up for that (at least for users who know what they have to do or those who try out until they know) with functionality and speed. Recommended.

Online Armor++ displays a safety check wizard after installation which will scan the computer system make sure that no malicious software is already on the system and to assess those programs that are deemed trustworthy. The user can either let Online Armor handle the assessment or select to be the one in control to fix issues that are found during the scan with the latter option recommended by the security software.

The wizard will scan the running processes, start menu items, startup objects, Internet Explorer extensions and system files during that initial scan. This can can take a while depending on the amount of files on the computer system.

Online Armor++ will display a list of programs that it was not able to identify giving the user the option to allow or block those programs and entries. It is possible to block or allow only some of the programs and leave the rest to the software.

A restart is required after that initial customization. The program interface is simplistic but well organized with menus on the left side that display system status information and links to the program modules like managing autostart entries, Internet Explorer add-ons, the hosts file and of course the firewall and antivirus modules.

All Online Armor++ features:

* Online Banking Mode
* Antivirus and Antimalware
* Rootkit Scanner
* Kernel Mode Security
* Automatic Updates
* Web Shield
* Mail Shield
* Phishing Filter
* Execution Protection
* Termination Protection
* Autostart Protection
* Firewall
* Standard Mode
* Advanced Mode
* Keylogger Detection
* Import/Export Settings
* Tamper Protection
* Transparent Blocking
* DNS Spoofing Protection
* Support
* Script/Worm protection
* Program Guard

Online Armor++ Reviews

Malware Research Group

Online Armor ++ is a full Internet Security Suite capable of protecting even the most demanding users. Its malware protection is just outstanding as it incorporates two very important segments, Emsi Software and Ikarus scanning technology and their own very powerful and effective HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System).

Matousec

Proactive Security Challenge: Online Armor Premium also confirmed its quality and is still on 99%, an Excellent result.

Softpedia

The Good

It is extremely easy to manage and the online help file won’t leave you with an unanswered question. From the beginning, it is easy to configure, the learning mode and OASIS database contributing immensely to guaranteeing you this level of comfort.

The firewall does an awesome job alerting you in case of an unauthorized connection and maintaining the information on your system. Configuring it requires minimum effort and even so, advanced users will have plenty to fiddle with in order to create the strictest and most specific ruling.

It features a backup and restore section that permits saving Online Armor settings in case of re-install. The three modes available ensure that both beginners and advanced users enjoy the suite and its features to the fullest without having to go through complicated settings.

Keylogger protection worked like a charm, while giving the possibility to run unknown applications in limited rights mode contributes to keeping your system clear of troubled waters.

The Bad

OASIS is not fully matured and there are plenty of popular applications that are not in the list. However, users have the possibility to contribute to expanding the database by anonymous sending of information to the developer.

The price may not exactly be among the likes of the users, even if the program offers great protection, clear rulings over the applications and solid restriction against unauthorized connections.

Installation:

The Online Armor download needs to be extracted on the local computer system. The package contains a setup.exe to start the installation and a readme that contains the registration information. We were asked if we wanted to install Software Informer at the beginning of the installation which we denied. Installation went on smoothly afterwards.

A registration at the company website is required before the installation can be completed as a license key needs to be filled in at the end of the installation with no option to skip that process other than to cancel the installation.

The Tallemu website was slow and displayed several timeouts before we were able to register the account. Users need to “buy” the Online Armor++ Single Edition which is today offered for $0.

The promo code GOTD-813-EMU needs to be entered during checkout to reduce the normal price of Online Armor++ to $0.

New customers need to fill out a registration form with a valid email address as the license key will be send to that email address.

Online Armor++ can be downloaded for free today at the giveaway of the day website. The developer’s website is available here.

Positive

• Easy to use
• Notifications reduced to a minimum
• Lots of options and settings
• Hotkey support

Negative

• No 64-bit support
• No Backup
• Some common programs were not be identified automatically

The second option does not seem to be available in this version of Riptiger. The last Riptiger setting is a slider that defines the compatibility mode which is by default set to off.

The downloading itself is handled automatically. This is a very comfortable way of downloading videos but it leads to a problem if the user does not want to download all videos but only selected ones. The only option in this case is to stop the download manually in the Riptiger interface.

Formats supported by Riptiger:

• Flash Video (HTTP and RTMP)
• Windows Media (HTTP, MMS and RTSP)
• Real Audio and Real Video (HTTP and RTSP)
• MPEG
• QuickTime
• Streaming MP3 (Shoutcast)

Riptiger is compatible with many popular video services such as Youtube, Dailymotion or Gametrailers. It does fail however to download videos from sites such as Vevo. Video urls can also be pasted manually in the application which might be interesting if automatic downloads have been turned off by the user.

Installation:

The Riptiger extracts to a setup.exe and a readme. Just start the setup and follow the onscreen instructions. The software can be registered by visiting the Buy menu in the applications’ interface. A click on Enter License Code will display the activation wizard screen with already filled out data. A click on Continue will register the program.

The automatic registration failed in our test. We had to visit the Riptiger website manually (link provided in the activation dialog) to create an activation code that we had to enter in the activation form.

The video downloader can be installed on 32-bit editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well as 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Positive

• Comfortable automatic downloading
• Compatible with many formats

Negative

• No information about shortcuts to quickly turn on or off automatic downloading
• Barely any settings provided
• Limited version of Riptiger that does not offer video conversions, previews or advanced ripping options

There are many tools out there that are more comfortable than Riptiger. These tools might not support automatic downloads but they offer the user a better manageability and options. Riptiger is available for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The (very slow) developer website is available here.

Alternatives are for example the Download Helper add-on for Firefox

The main interface of Platinum Guard 4 displays a list of cleaning methods and disk space statistics on the left and items that can be cleaned by the disk cleaner on the right.

The choice that the user makes on the left changes the display of the items that can be cleaned on the computer system on the right. The Smart Computer Clean option is selected by default which divides the items that can be cleaned into Internet Browser and Microsoft Windows cleanups.

Supported are Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozille Firefox and Google Chrome. It is however possible to create custom folders that can be selected so that they are cleaned up as well. This is interesting for portable installations or web browsers that are not supported by default.

Platinum Guard clears the web browser cache, cookies and history by default. Additional data that needs to be cleaned needs to be added as custom folders. The list is more extensive in the Windows category where it ranges from temporary files over system restore files to clipboard contents, recent open and save list to the run menu list.

It is by far not as extensive as the options provided by a hard drive cleaner such as CCleaner.

The My Custom Folder Clean menu can be used to add folders to the cleanup process. The location on the hard drive can either be cleaned immediately or saved so that it appears in the custom folder listing in the default view. It seems that only one folder can be added to the custom folder list which severely limits the use of this option.

The third menu offers an in depth disk cleanup by performing a scan of the computer drive. Only the main hard drive will be scanned by default which can be changed in the modules settings.

The drive and other scanning options can be customized in the – tiny – Modify Intensive Scan Settings link in the program’s header. Here it is possible to select another directory or hard drive, change the scanning depth, select the drive types that should be scanned (hard disk drives, removable drives, cd-rom drives, network drives or ram-disk drives).

The settings contain multiple scan preference with complete being selected by default. The user can switch to other scan modes that either scan only for specific files or ignore certain file types in the scan.

The additional cleanup tweaks menu is mostly interesting for Firefox 3 users as it offers an option to defragment and vacuum the Firefox databases.

Installation

Platinum Guard 4 is provided in a zip file containing the files setup.msi for installing the program, activate.exe for activating it and readme.txt for installation instructions. The installation itself is clean with no “junk” additions like toolbars being offered to the user.

Positive

• Easy to install and use
• Firefox database defragmentation options
• 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems supported

Negative

• Only one custom folder can be added permanently
• No custom cleanup parameters can be added to the intensive computer clean option
• Confusing interface, e.g. options for module in header or clean scan preferences not offered as a pulldown menu but a text list.
• Lacks customization.
• No “secure” cleaning options to make the data unrecoverable.

Platinum Guard 4 is offered for free at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer’s website is located here.

1AVCapture can record anything that can be heard or seen by the user sitting in front of the computer. The program displays a list of recording profiles at each startup which can be used to quickly configure a new media capturing session.

Those profiles range from recording the PC screen or region with or without audio, recording audio directly from the microphone, another device or all that can be heard or to broadcast the audio, the PC screen or a region live on the Internet.

The program has not been primarily designed to capture streaming videos but it can be used for that as well. A video on a video portal like Youtube for instance can be recorded regardless of the technology, digital rights management or encryption used on the website. As long as it can be seen and heard it can be recorded.

To record a video on a website one would select the appropriate profile, draw a rectangle around the video area to define the part of the screen that the video plays in, select a 30 fps framerate, start the recording and the video.

Some users might notice a flaw here very soon. The program records what is shown on the desktop. This means that the video or the recording area has to be in the foreground all the time. If something else is placed in front that is recorded instead of the video. The same is true for audio recordings.

1AVCapture can also be used to capture video and audio from video devices such as camcorders. The main application for most users is probably the use as a screen recorder which can be useful for creating demonstration videos or broadcasting part of the screen or the full desktop on the Internet.

Installation

1AVCapture is supplied as a zip file that contains the setup.exe to install the media capturing software, the file activate.exe to activate the program and a readme document that contains installation instructions.

Installation begins with the execution of setup.exe. Do not start the application at the end of the installation as you need to run activate.exe first to activate the software to make it a licensed copy.

The program found a new update during usage and recommended to download it afterwards. Installing this update will turn the licensed version into a trial version. Make sure to not download and install the update.

Positive

• Records anything that can be seen or heard by the user regardless of encryptions or protections
• Can broadcast on the Internet
• Extensive options

Negative

• Area that is recorded must be in the foreground
• No selection of video or audio codecs
• Slightly complicated to use
• No hotkeys for important tasks like starting or stopping the recording

1AVCapture is a complex screen recording software that is especially helpful when standard downloaders or screen recorders fail to capture the video or audio. Several free alternatives exist including the Open Source screen capture software Webinaria, the video capturing software Debut or Camstudio.

1AVCapture can be downloaded today from the Giveaway of the Day website. Make sure to run the activate.exe today to register the software. The developer’s website is accessible here. It contains demonstration videos on how to use the screen recording software.

The music that has been found is then listed in the main program interface. The left sidebar will by default list the artist and album names while the right larger area the music in the currently selected folder.

It is possible to change the view to various other formats like year and artist, genre and artist or by first letter. All of those information are taken from tags and the file names of the music.

The main window lists the songs with tags that include the title, artist and album plus others if available. A quick search is provided at the top which can be used to filter the music listing based on the tags and the keyword entered by the user.

The program offers an advanced search as well which can combine basic searches.

A double-click on a song will open the Edit track menu where tags and other information can be edited. It is here possible to download album covers and lyrics individually. A better way of adding covers or lyrics to the music collection is to select multiple tracks and use the Tools > Download track lyrics or Download album covers option to speed up the process.

AllMySongs Database does not seem to use cover art tags or lyrics that have already been added. The covers and lyrics that it finds are also only available in the program and not in other music players.

That’s a serious disadvantage for users who want to play the music with all the information that they have found in other programs and music players as well.

The program does offer additional options to download information about a track, album or artist including an artist’s biography and photo.

AllMySongs Database is an easy to use program to manage a music collection. It has some good options like the search and filters but its main disadvantage is the incompatibility of the downloaded information with other music players.

Installation:

AllMySongs Database is provided as a single zip file which extracts to a setup.exe and a readme document that contains the registration information. The setup of the program itself is straightforward. The program itself needs to be run as an administrator. Users need to register AllMySongs Database today. This can be done by going into Help > Register at the top and entering the name and code that is outlined in the readme file and the setup.

Positive

• Ability to download artist photos, lyrics, biographies and covers that are however only available in the program
• Single and mass edits
• Lots of filter and search options
• Playlist creation

Negative

• Information that are downloaded, like covers for instance, are only available in AllMysongs Database but not in other programs.
• Basic music player
• Needs admin rights to run

Alternatives:

Media Monkey or The Godfather are but two of the alternatives. Both write tags in a way that they can be read and used by other music players as well.

AllMySongs Database is free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer’s website is available here.

The user loads a DVD into the program by clicking on the Disc button in the top button row which opens a small drive letter selection window. WinX DVD Ripper Platinum will then scan the disc and display the contents of it on the right side. The program can rip normal DVD video disks but also copy protected DVDs including those protected with CSS, Sony ArccOS and newer copy protections like those used in blockbusters like The Dark Knight or Star Trek.

Each of the titles that are stored on the DVD are presented with information including the title’s playtime, the resolution and format and audio, video and subtitle information. Checkboxes are used to select those titles that should be ripped with the first title always preselected by the DVD ripper.

A small selection interface below the title listing can be used to change the output settings including the audio used in the output (if multiple audio tracks are stored on the DVD), subtitles, an alternative start and end time plus the output folder.

The default audio and subtitle language can be changed in the program’s options so that the preferred language selected by the user will be picked by the program automatically if available.

The lower half of the screen contains the formats that the DVD can be ripped to. This is divided into general formats like avi, mp4, mpeg or flv but also device specific formats including formats for devices such as the iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, PSP, PDA or 3GP.

Selecting a different video output format can change the available configuration options at the bottom of the screen. They usually consist of fine tuning audio and video quality settings but may sometimes contain multiple pre-configured profiles that can be selected.

This is for instance the case if the iPhone is selected as the output device.

A click on the start button after making the selection will start the DVD ripping process. This opens a new window that will display the progress of the operation.

Options to shutdown the computer when the conversion has been completed or to open the output folder are provided in the menu.

Installation and Download

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can be downloaded for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The product, if installed today, will remain free and fully licensed. The website of the developer of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum offers trial downloads of the software and additional information about it.

The software comes as a zip file which will extract a text document with instructions and a setup.exe. All that it takes to install and register the DVD ripper is to double-click the setup.exe and to follow the installation until it completes.

Positive

• Easy to use
• Can rip copy protected DVDs
• DVD ripping does not slow down the computer

Negative

• No preview option
• No custom DVD ripping profiles (only for devices but not general)
• No option to change the output file name

You might also want to take a look at our previews review of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum. The program is a very comfortable easy to use DVD ripper that worked fine with every DVD we asked it to rip.

The 1-click-maintenance module will scan the computer system for various problems and spyware. The main advantage of this over the individual modules is the ease of use. Five of the six possible scan options are selected by default. The computer user can make individual selections to add or remove options from the scan

• Registry Cleaner: Fixes invalid or incorrect Registry entries
• Shortcuts Fixer: Cleans up invalid shortcuts
• Startup Manager: Cleans up dangerous startup entries
• Temporary Files Cleaner: Cleans up temporary files and recovers disk space
• Tracks Eraser: Erases the activity history and Internet traces
• Spyware Remover: Removes spyware and adware

Each section will list the number of problems that have been found. A show details button is provided that will open a new window with all the issues and entries found. Checkboxes are provided that can be used to remove specific items from the cleanup process.

A click on the Repair Problems button will clean all issues that have been found by the program. It is therefor theoretically possible to perform a system cleanup with two clicks.

The Modules section offers a better selection of tools to optimize and cleanup the computer system. It uses a sidebar menu that changes the available options upon selection.

• Clean Up and Repair: Disk Cleaner, Registry Cleaner, Shortcuts Fixer, Uninstall Manager
• Optimize and Improve: Startup Manager, Memory Optimizer, Context Menu Manager, Registry Defrag
• Privacy and Security: Tracks Eraser, File Shredder, File Undelete, File Encrypter and Decrypter
• Files and Folders: Disk Analysis, Duplicate Files Finder, Empty Folders Finder, file Splitter and Joiner
• System Tools: Process Manager, Internet Explorer Assistant, Windows Standard Tools

Several of the tools offered are inferior to specialized software programs for that purpose. The Uninstaller provided by Glary Utilities will not scan for leftovers in the Registry or on the hard drive for instance which Revo Uninstaller does. A similar problem has the Startup Manager which does not display all startup items which programs like Autosruns do.

Other modules on the other hand provide exactly the options needed to work with them effectively. The context menu manager for instance provides an easy way of removing context menu entries in Windows Explorer.

Installation

Installation of Glary Utilities Pro is straightforward. It comes as a zipped file that extracts a setup.exe, activate.exe and the readme.txt. The setup of the program is started with setup.exe. Do not launch Glary Utilities Pro right away but start activate.exe first to register the product by connecting to the Giveaway of the Day servers. A successful connection to the servers will register the product.

Positive

• Two-click maintenance that can be scheduled
• Many different modules and options
• Compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows

Negative

• Some modules do not offer enough options to use them effectively
• No options to add locations or paths to the program that should be cleaned up, e.g. traces left by portable software.

Glary Utilities Pro is available for free today at the Giveaway of the Day website. The program needs to be installed and activated today for the free license to be issued. The developer’s website is available here.

Anvir Task Manager 6.2 is offering more than just the basic task manager functionality. This can be confusing for users as it offers security, performance, system monitoring and windows enhancement features.

The program uses a tabbed layout. The tabs are used to switch between the different options that the program provides. Available tabs are Startup, Applications, Processes, Services and Log.

Startup:

The startup tab aids the user in managing startup items. It consists of a sidebar that can be used to filter specific startup items like Internet Explorer browser helper objects or startup items found in the Windows Registry.

The left window lists the startup items. Anvir Task Manager will automatically rate each startup item and display a security risk level. These entries are also color coded to make identification even easier.

A double-click on an entry opens a footer window with extensive information about the selected startup item. This window with extra information is available in all tabs.

It is also tab based and provides extensive information including the security risks analysis, product information, dlls that are used by the entry, connections, drivers and performance information.

Applications:

The applications tab lists the running applications and their process.

Processes:

The processes tab lists all processes that are running on the system again with detailed information including the security rating. Many options are available in this tab. It is possible to kill, restart or start processes, block them from being run on the system, set a process priority or affinity, free memory and to suspend processes.

Services:

The services tab lists all know services of the computer system with information about their state, a security risk rating and additional information. Options available in this menu are to change the startup type, change the state of a service or to delete it.

Other options:

• Check files on VirusTotal.com with 30+ antivirus engines
• Delayed startup: speed up Windows startup process
• Tweaker that gives direct access to hundreds of XP / Vista settings
• Monitor processes, services, Internet connections, CPU, disk, memory, DLLs, drivers, locked files, windows
• Icons and tooltips in tray for CPU, memory, network, disk load, HDD temperature, and battery
• View download speed, upload speed, amount of transfered data per network connection and per process
• Find locked files and DLL
• Can replace Windows Task Manager

Installation:

Installation is pretty straightforward. Users should pay attention to the installation process as it will try to install another software called Registry Cleaner Pro on the system which is probably something that the user does not want.

The program will automatically start a configuration wizard after installation that can be used to configure some of the program’s features like hardware monitoring in the system tray or displaying additional control at the top of every window.

A click on Help > Enter Registration Key is necessary to complete the registration of the program. The values on the form are prefilled and a click on the OK button will register the product.

Positive

• Provides extensive information
• Security ratings
• Software and hardware monitoring

Negative

• Interface looks messy

Verdict:

Anvir Task Manager is a sophisticated task manager replacement that offers many of additional information and options. It can be downloaded for free at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer website is available here.