Best Free Download Manager

You have several good choices in this category. To me a good downloader is one that does the job, is well integrated into your browser and is not intrusive.

That's why my top recommendation for some time has been Star Downloader [1]. Unfortunately the freeware version has been effectively frozen at version 1.44 with future enhancements restricted to the shareware version. It is however, still a fine choice.

After trying half a dozen other products, I've settled on "Free Download Manager" [2] as my current top selection. It's fast, stable and integrates well into both Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox though the later works best with the free FlashGot extension installed. "Free Download Manager" offers simultaneous multi-part downloads, easy restarting and recovery, a powerful scheduler, downloading from mirrors and just about everything else you need in a download utility. Additionally, there is no embedded adware or nag screen. I've had some reports that the author's site shows up red on McAfee site Advisor but I've recently double checked the download file and it is 100% clean. However the cautious may want to download it from Softpedia [3] who also rate it as "spyware free."

After using it for a couple of weeks, I've decided that it's actually just as good as Star Downloader with the advantage that it's still being actively developed. Indeed, version 2 released in April 2006 adds even more features to this already impressive product.

If you are looking for another option the commercial FlashGet [4] program is now available for free. It's certainly full featured and nicely integrated but I find it overly complex to use. The product has a bit of a history of bundling in other products with the install but when I tried V1.72, it was totally clean.

Another excellent choice is the time-proven LeechGet [5] program which is free for personal use. Again it's got pretty well everything that you want in a download manager. Some folks find its colorful graphical presentation attractive; I find it a little gaudy and intrusive. Looks aside it certainly does its job well. Note that the indicated download rates are a tad optimistic, so don't mistake this for superior performance. There is a separate plug-in for Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera integration.

Finally for Firefox users there is the superb free add-in called DownThemAll [6]. It's not as configurable as some of the other products I've recommended but for most users it's all they will ever need.

LINKS
[1] http://www.stardownloader.com/downloads.php Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.34MB
[2] http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm Freeware, All Windows versions, 1.59MB
[3] http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Download-Managers/Free-Download-Manager.shtml
[4] http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.43MB
[5] http://www.leechget.net/en/ Free for personal use, All Windows versions, 2.9MB
[6] https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/201/ Free Firefox extension, 425KB

Free Operating System

The Open CD site [1] offers for free a wonderful collection of just about every application software product you need to run a PC including the latest version of OpenOffice. Many of these freebies substitute admirably for expensive commercial products. There is Abi Word as an alternative for MS Word, OpenOffice for MS Office XP, Thunderbird for Outlook, The Gimp for Adobe Photoshop, 7-zip for WinZip and many more. If you then add to this collection some of the other utilities from my "46 Best-ever Utilities" collection you will have all the software you'll ever need without spending a cent. Note: All of the Open CD utilities can be downloaded for free as a CD ISO image. If you have a slow connection you can purchase the CD for a as little as $1.99. In addition to the Windows versions, the CD also contains the same collection of programs implemented under a version of Linux called Ubuntu that can be booted and run directly from the CD. That way you not only get to try all these great programs you can try Linux as well, without interfering in any way with your current Windows installation.

Update: the folks at Ubuntu [2] are now giving away free CDs containing the latest version of Ubuntu Linux together with most of the programs on the Open CD. They will send you the full Ubuntu installation CDs plus a live CD where you can run Ubuntu directly from the CD. You can order as many CDs as you want and you don't even have to pay the mailing costs! When you get your CDs read this this simple introduction to Linux [3] before starting.
LINKS
[1] http://theopencd.org
[2] https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
[3] http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/10/24/how-to-ubuntu-linux-for-novices/

SS Registry Fixer 2.0

Registry Fixer scans the Windows registry for incorrect or obsolete information and allows you to safely clean and repair registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks. Your applications run faster, your operating system loads quicker.

Windows Registry is an important part of your computer system. With regular use of window registry keeps growing, and will attracts unnecessary information that will make the system cluttered. Thus for the better performance and to ignore spyware and adware, you need to clean registry with regular interval.

Everybody needs Registry Fixer. Problems with the Windows Registry are a common cause of Windows crashes and errors. By using a registry fixer regularly and fixing registry errors your system will be more stable and help to improve your system performance.

Features:

* Scan the Windows registry for errors
* Clean and fix registry errors
* Improve registry performance and consistency
* make a backup of the Windows registry

Download Here
SIZE: 588 KB

Shutdowner v2.0

Program your computer to shutdown, restart, run file or log off.
Download Here
SIZE: 60.2KB

Free Flv to AVI Converter 1.5

Free Flv to AVI Converter is a tool to convert Flash FLV video files to AVI, MPEG, WMV video files so that they can be played in Windows Media Player or edited by video editing software. You can set output video´s bitrate, framerate, output audio´s bitrate; Change output video size as you like or keep the same. Convert batches of Flv files to AVI/MPEG/WMV files with high speed. And the program has a user-friendly interface so it´s very easy to use.

Key Features:

* Convert Youtube, Google Video Flv video files to AVI, MPEG, WMV video files.
* Supports batch flv video files conversion.
* Can choose output video´s framerate, bitrate, size, audio´s frequency.
* Convert flv video with high speed and best quality.
* Can auto-rename, overwrite or skip output file if exists.
* User-friendly interface and easy to use.

Download Here
SIZE: 4.12MB

Any Video Converter Free 2.06

Any Video Converter is an All-in-One video converting tool with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed and excellent video quality. It allows you to effortlessly convert video files between every format, for FREE!

It can convert almost all video formats including DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone.

It also supports any user defined video file formats as the output. Any Video Converter makes it easy for anyone to enjoy the any format video with your iPod, PSP, mobile phone or MP4 player.

Features:

* User-friendly interface that is easy to use.
* Converts all video formats to Apple iPod Video, Sony PSP and more
* Batch convert any video formats including avi, wmv, asf, mpg, mp4, etc.
* Support DivX and Xvid avi format as importing and exporting video
* Support default video/audio settings or user customized parameters for video and audio.
* Has the option to preview the video in real-time before conversion .
* World´s fastest video conversion speed with stunning video and audio quality.
* Supports adjust many video/audio options for MP4 files. For example, video/audio sample rate, bit rate, video size...

Download Here
SIZE: 13.11MB

The Ultimate Cell Phone For Women: Not Pink, But With A Pregnancy Test!

Marie Claire magazine asked Popgadget founder Mia Kim to come up with the ultimate cell phone for women. But the results did not please Sonia Zjawinski at Wired's Underwire blog. In fact, they made her gag. The shePhone has pill storage, condom dispenser, vibrator, corkscrew, atomizer for perfume or mace, and a home pregnancy test. Um, peeing on electronics? Really? We kind of like the pill pod, the "voice analyzer" (is your BF where he says he is?) and the universal remote, which overrides other remotes. As for Zjawinski, she writes that what she really wants in a phone is outstanding audio quality, a distress signal (with GPS), an option to block certain numbers from calling or texting and a mini compartment for money and ID.



We've been thinking about what we want in a cellphone and we agree with the money/ID compartment. Carrying less is more! Maybe we're crazy, but we'd actually like a way for our phone to be waterproof and embedded under our skin. Maybe in our hand? Or wrist? It might sound like some scary futuristic nightmare, but just think -- it would never get lost, left in a taxi or dropped in a hot, bubbly pedicure bath -- fates that proved deadly for our previous cell phones.

Beware of Creating Fake Web Ids!

In a bid to save the Draft Information Technology (IT) Act of 2006 from its 'toothless tiger' reputation, the government is planning on a new clause that will make the furnishing of fictitious information on the Internet a 'punishable offence'.

Typically, providing false information on the Internet to get new or alternate email ids on the same Web site is common practice -- especially so, since most email service providers refuse to provide two ids to one and the same person.

However, if the government gets to have its way, the proposed new 'Section 66A' will make perpetrators of such activities liable to punishment of up to two years of imprisonment.

Not only that, all clauses applicable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for similar such offences will automatically become applicable to the offenders.

Information regarding fake email identities will be established with the help of Internet service providers and IP addresses. However, it will remain up to investigating agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to establish that a person is using false or misleading information on the Internet.

Currently, the Department of Information Technology is in the process of reviewing the draft Information Technology (IT) Act 2006, and has sought feedback on proposed changes from all its stakeholders.

Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

The Wi-Fi Detector shirt does everything you'd dream it could do: detect Wi-Fi signals and share them, via your chest, with the entire world. Spotting both 802.11b and 802.11g networks, signal strength is displayed in real time (big animated gif post-jump). After you are done broadcasting your (super ability?) to the world, just slip the AAA batteries out of the built-in pouch and unhook the decal, and you can wash the sweat away of a hard day's work of bandwidth theft.
The Wi-Fi Detector shirt is a Think Geek exclusive and will be available this October for $29.99.

Coming soon: automatic Linux driver upgrades

Linux users want two things for their hardware: drivers; and easy access to those drivers. The first is finally happening; and now, thanks to a Dell Linux project called DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support), the other is on its way.

Dell and Linux distributors have been working on DKMS for about five years now. Its purpose is to create a framework where kernel-dependent module source can reside, so that it is very easy to rebuild modules. In turn, this enables Linux distributors and driver developers to create driver drops without having to wait for new kernel releases. For users, all this makes it easier to get up-to-the-minute drivers without hand compiling device drivers.

According to Dell, this separate framework for delivering drivers will remove kernel releases as a blocking mechanism for distributing code. The net effect, Dell hopes, is to speed up driver development by enabling quicker testing cycles. This also means that better tested code can be pushed back into the kernel at a more rapid pace. It's also nice for developers and maintainers, as DKMS only requires a source tarball in conjunction with a small configuration file in order to function correctly.

What makes this project more interesting for all Linux users is that another project related to the DKMS project, mkrpm (make RPM), now adds automatic lines with modalias information. Modalias, for those of you who aren't Linux device driver developers, is a data structure that's used to hold the information that a device presents to the kernel.

Important updates for Windows Vista

Microsoft has released 2 very important & required updates for Windows Vista for X86 & X64 versions. These updates fixes lots of performance issues & increse compatibility with old updates.

1.
This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are:

• Improves performance in resuming back to the desktop from the Photo and Windows Energy screensaver.
• Resolves an issue where some secured web pages using advanced security technologies may not get displayed in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista.
• Resolves an issue where a shared printer may not get installed if the printer is connected to a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system and User Access Control is disabled on the Vista client.
• Resolves an issue where creating AVI files on Vista may get corrupted.
• Improves the performance in calculating the ‘estimated time remaining’ when copying/moving large files.
• Improves performance in bringing up Login Screen after resuming from Hibernate.
• Resolves an issue where synchronization of offline files to a server can get corrupted.
• Resolves a compatibility issue with RAW images created by Canon EOS 1D/1DS Digital SLR Camera which can lead to data loss. This only affects RAW images created by these two specific camera models.
• Resolves an issue where a computer can lose its default Gateway address when resuming from sleep mode.
• Improves the performance when copying or moving entire directories containing large amounts of data or files.
• Improves the performance of Vista’s Memory Manager in specific customer scenarios and prevents some issues which may lead to memory corruption.


2.
his update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the reliability and hardware compatibility of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are:

• Improved reliability and compatibility of Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
• Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
• Increased compatibility with many video drivers.
• Improved visual appearance of games with high intensity graphics.
• Improved quality of playback for HD-DVD and Blue-Ray disks on large monitors.
• Improved reliability for Internet Explorer when some third party toolbars are installed on Vista.
• Improved Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
• Improved the reliability of Windows Calendar in Vista.
• Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from XP to Vista.
• Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
• Increased reliability and performance of Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.

These updates will go Public on the next Patch Tuesday. I have them installed & they work fine, however I don't know whether I can provide link to download these or not cos right now they are not public from Microsoft. Oh! & unlike some other OS manufacturers who release a new OS just to release a new File System, this is free update.

Warning : If you install these updates on Windows Vista X64 then all your unsigned drivers will stop working. You will need to press F8 everytime during boot & select to load those unsigned drivers

Now Install IE7 on XP, WITHOUT WGA Validation ... legally !

Microsoft makes available NEW IE7 build.

Beginning October 4th, 2007, Microsoft will make available a new IE7 build; "the IE7 Installation and Availability update (IAU)" for Windows XPSP2, x64 Server and Windows Server 2003. With this update, IE7 now installs without WGA validation, offering a streamlined First Run Experience and includes some minor enhancements to the browser and tour based on user feedback from folks like you. The updated IE7 will be available on the Windows Download Center (DLC) and the IE site.

Internet Explorer 7 is the first and only browser to natively support Extended Validation SSL Certificates to help prevent online fraud. The primary modification consumers will notice is the Menu bar is turned on by default. For first time users, the first-run experience includes a new, easily accessible Internet Explorer 7 overview, and the on-line Internet Explorer 7 tour has been updated to include how-to’s on great new features like tabbed browsing. This is an update to the availability of Internet Explorer 7 and not a new version of the browser.