(UPDATED) Batch Offer: Get Ashampoo Burning Studio, Photo Commander and Magical Snap For Free!

UPDATE: Corrections made to the version of Ashampoo Burning Studio. Instead of typing v2010 i typed v10. What a blunder...

Here's a batch offer that will get you off your feet: Ashampoo is giving away their Ashampoo Burning Studio v2010, Ashampoo Photo Commander v6.6 and Ashampoo Magical Snap v2.5 for free. They are actually paid-for software but for now you can get it free - and hurry, for i have no idea how long will these offers remain available.

Ashampoo Burning Studio v2010 is the latest version of Ashampoo's image and disc burning utility; a really good paid-for replacement for those who didn't like Nero. I am previously using v9 and it has served me incredibly well.


Ashampoo Photo Commander v6.6 is an image management and information tool. It has photo and image management capabilities like ACDSee and FastStone but it provides additional abilities such as batch file rename and convert tools.


Ashampoo Magical Snap v2.5 is a screen capturing utility; a powerful replacement to the Print Screen function of a user's keyboard. Like Techsmith Snagit, Magical Snap gives user the ability to capture only what matters in a screen and not the entire screenshot, while preserving capture quality in the process. There's a built-in editing tool where you can edit your snapshot immediately after capture.


Here's how to get these Ashampoo offers above for FREE:


1. Ashampoo Burning Studio v2010
Download this free version of Ashampoo Burning Studio v10 installer and install it. Leave the "Get full version key" box checked during installation to start the process of receiving your free registration key.

2. Ashampoo Photo Commander v6.6
Download this free version of Ashampoo Photo Commander v6.6 installer and install it. Leave the "Get full version key" box checked during installation to start the process of receiving your free registration key.

3. Ashampoo Magical Snap v2.5
Download and install this free version of Ashampoo Magical Snap v2.5. Immediately after installation, you will be prompt to get your free license key but if it does not appear automatically, manually visit this website and get your free license key.

Enjoy!

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Delete Hidden GIMP Thumbnails Easily Using A Custom Windows Batch File

 For GIMP users on Windows only:

Some users of GIMP might not realize this, but GIMP stored a history of the different images opened and edited by it in the form of thumbnails in one of its hidden folders. As mentioned, since it is a hidden folder, users will not be able to see and browse through it without toggling on the 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' in the Folder Options menu.

After you toggle the 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' option on, you will be able to locate GIMP's thumbnail folder at your Personal Folder area (where by default held other folders such as My Document, My Pictures, My Music etc).

Here's the full path of the folder where the thumbnails are located:

C:\Users\(Your Personal Folder's Name)\.thumbnails\normal

In my opinion, those thumbnails do me little good:

1) When accumulated in large numbers, they only suck up precious disk space. 

2) The incredibly small image size of the thumbnails means that it is obsolete, not even worthy of being backups in case users want to recover the image they've edited. 

3) I consider the thumbnails as a breach of privacy to a certain degree. Heck, why should anyone know what images had we been editing with GIMP?

Due to these three issues, i strongly suggest users of GIMP delete their GIMP thumbnail folder's contents. Manually deleting the contents will do, but here's an easier way to delete the contents without  turning on the 'Show Hidden Files and Folders': using a Windows Batch File!

Here's how to create a Windows Batch File that delete GIMP's thumbnail folder's contents:

1. On your desktop, right-click and create a new Text Document.

2. Notepad will launch. Now insert the following line into notepad:

     del C:\Users\Owner\.thumbnails\normal\*.* /Q

3. Go to 'Save As' and rename the text file to something like 'Delete GIMP Thumbnails' (without quotes). Immediately after the last word of your filename, type '.bat' as extension. The extension will convert the text file into a batch file. Click 'Save' to save the batch file. Place the batch file at any location you like.

 4. You have just created a Batch File that will delete all contents in the GIMP thumbnail folders' contents at a simple double-click!

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Customize GIMP by hacking the GIMP Splash Screen

This is a trick i discovered by myself out of interest since i'm a GIMP fan, but a simple search had revealed that this trick has in fact been taught by others. Anyway, today i'll tell you how to change or in a professional-looking term, hack, the GIMP splash screen.

For those not being friends with GIMP, i must first show you how its splash screen looks like:

Now after doing some hacking you can get it to look extremely small like this:

Or this, which is the optimum size:

Or even large-sized Splash Screen, so gigantic, it even exceeds my monitor screen!

So how do we customize the Splash Screen? It's easy. Just navigate to the 'images' folder located in C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\images and identify the splash image 'gimp-splash'. Delete the image (make a backup if you intend to re-use the default splash screen) and replace it with some other PNG-extension image which are renamed to 'gimp-splash' (this is important, because GIMP only recognize a splash screen by this name). If there is something wrong with your hack, GIMP will start without the splash screen.


To enhance the customization experience, it is best for you to use an image which is at the original splash screen's default image size, 275x400. If you are good in graphic editing and image creations with Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET or other image editing tools, you can even create a custom GIMP splash screen with the GIMP logo on it!


Note: Do not worry that this customization will damage GIMP. The startup splash screen is intended to create some sign of activities for users of GIMP, so that users will know what is loading in the background; GIMP will work fine regardless of whether the splash screen is there or not!

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Freewares From the Aviassin Project!

I have been thinking for a long time whether I should just handpick one of Aviassin’s software to write on, but later decided that it would be appropriate to mention all software, since all software are interesting, plus Aviassin is an open freeware project, meaning that all levels of users can participate in the development of these software.
 
The Aviassin Project is actually a team of software developers dedicating themselves to creating innovative new software free for use, simply because they, like us, hate big companies charging software that should be free. The development team stressed that no spywares and adwares are bundled with their products, which I deemed quite true after trying all their software myself, and they also stated that they will continue developing new software apart from their current software projects.

Here is a list of their currently available and developing software:

1.    Superbar Savior

 
Superbar Saviour is a small application for Windows 7 which aims to fix issues or enhance functionality of the current Windows 7 Superbar. It can be used with the taskbar on any side of the screen and with any taskbar size. Only a tiny amount of RAM & CPU power is used, so it will not noticeably affect PC performance while open. Users can do a lot of things with Superbar Savior, for example, middle-clicking to close windows, double-click on Superbar window to open similar window and drop files on Superbar icon to open them.
Superbar Savior works with all version of Windows 7, including the Beta and RC release version.

2.    iPhone Drift

iPhone Drift is a web browser emulating the looks of an Apple iPhone. This is a great news for users who loves Apple’s flagship products. Users can easily browse the web, check out how the web page will look like on a real iPhone and many more interesting iPhone-like features, such as rotating the web browser to view it in landscape or portrait mode, use Google Maps and Youtube on its homepage screen and many more.
iPhone Drift comes at a small file size with less than 1MB installation package, plus it works on Windows XP, Vista and 7. Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 is required to run this software.

3.    Taskbar Eliminator

Aviassin Taskbar Eliminator is a great utility which will simply and efficiently remove the taskbar from Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista and 7.
 
With just the click of a button or a hotkey, the taskbar is disabled from any side of the screen, providing the freedom to use any dock application, increase local computer security, or allow all sorts of Windows customizations. The taskbar can be toggled on and off in real-time, providing the flexibility to quickly view the taskbar to perform an action.
 
The application interface is simple and easy to understand, allowing it to be used by even the most novices of users. Simply press and hold Control+Alt+T to bring up the Preferences window, from which all options can be adjusted. Press and hold Alt + T to immediately show or hide the taskbar directly. It can also be set to run during Windows startup so users can hide it immediately when the log in to their desktops.
 
4.    iCalcy

Another good software for Apple fans who uses Windows: iCalcy looks and acts exactly the same as the iPhone 3G or iPod Touch calculator does, allowing you to perform all standard calculator operations on Windows. iCalcy is a standalone application, meaning that it is portable and so, users don’t have to install it to use it!
 
You can rotate iCalcy into either portrait or landscape orientation, just like an iPhone. Scientific calculation functions are not available, though the team promised that it will be added in later version. Until then, Vista and 7 users wanting scientific calculators are better off with the Windows Calculator.
 
5.    Edgeswap

Aviassin EdgeSwap is a task-switcher for Windows, allowing you to switch between windows simply by moving your cursor to the top left edge of the screen. This creates an entirely unique Windows experience, allowing users to move effortlessly and quickly between their open programs. When in use with Windows Vista or Windows 7, EdgeSwap displays live thumbnail images to choose between open windows, and shows application icons in Windows XP.
 
Just hold your mouse cursor in the top left edge of the screen until the window you wish to open is highlighted, then move your cursor away to open that window.
 
6.    PaintRibbon

Aviassin Paintribbon is a third-party drawing and application for Windows which imitates the Windows 7 Paint interface, utilizing the ribbon interface first seen in Office 2007. Like Windows 7’s Paint, Paintribbon offers users all the basic drawing capabilities including various shapes (line, circle, square and star shapes), different line widths, a variety of fill and stroke colour options plus the ability to move drawn shapes.
 
Paintribbon however, has a few issues that need to be ironed out. Currently the 0.1.5 version of Paintribbon can only open and save .pic (pict) image files, although it is stated that additional file types will be supported in later releases. All buttons present in the ribbon in Windows 7 Paint are displayed in paintribbon so as to replicate the interface, however only a limited number of buttons are fully functional in version 0.1.5.
PaintRibbon works on Windows XP, Vista and 7. Microsoft .NET Framework is required to run the software.

Aviassin Development Team had also opened a forum at their site to encourage user feedbacks and bug report. Currently, my favourite Aviassin software is Edgeswap which I find more convenient than the ALT+ TAB function, especially if my hands are not on the keyboard. All in all, I like where all this team’s software is heading and wish the Aviassin Project a healthy and innovative future! 

Visit the Aviassin Project website and download your favourite freeware of theirs!

Read more >>

Murgee Logon Controller: A Logon Bockground-Changer Compatible With Both Windows Vista & 7

Some users are interested in customizing their PC up and down, which includes the logon screen as well. For users not knowing this technical term, logon screen refers to the background image displayed where you logon to your computer during the final part of a Windows startup. The Logon background is displayed regardless of whether your computer is configured to auto logon or not.

I used to share two posts on two different logon screen changers, LogonStudio Vista and Tweaks.com Logon Changer.  While both are fully functional, both have their own limitations. For LogonStudio Vista, it is capable of running with both Vista and 7, but in order to make some of its functions work on 7, you’ll need to do adjustments on its compatibility. Tweaks.com Logon Changer works just perfectly on Windows 7 (with the additional benefit of not tampering with the digital signatures of Windows 7’s system files), but the problem is it is not designed to run on Vista. 

These issues with the two separate logon tools forced me to go out in search for another working and more flexible Logon Changer and mercifully, I came across a really nice one after a full month of search.

Murgee Logon Controller is another logon screen changer like LogonStudio Vista and Tweaks.com Logon Changer, but it works on both Vista and 7 without experiencing any compatibility issues. The software can be used to change Windows 7 or Vista Logon background by selecting default background images from your computer hard disk. The Logon Background can also be specified by browsing to an external image file (bmp, jpg etc.). As the Logon Background is shared by other users of the computer, the software download would require admin rights to run and change the background image of the login screen.

The software is easy to use, with a ribbon interface in place and only two tabs present due to its rather few functions. Users can customize the interface colour by clicking on the large Start button and browse through various picture folders specified. To verify that a logon screen has been changed, users are required to logoff to view the changes. The only problem is its slightly lagging reaction while browsing for folders with images, but that is no serious bug.

Murgee Logon Controller is now one of my favourite logon background changer because of its stability and flexibility between Vista and 7. It is highly recommended to everyone.

Download Murgee Logon Controller by clicking on this download link.

Read more >>

Get Free VirtualDrive Home 11.8 + PC Shower 2009 + Nitro PDF 5 + ArtStudioPro Vol.2

Yesterday, I could not write any article. The reason is, I was working on some new explored web sites. I explored many active promotions. At the moment, I can not share all the promotions but you can easily figure it out how to grab UNTOLD promos, just comparing promos URLs. Instead of writing about each promo separately and killing time, I will write a small but compact article which you can easily understand. There may be some mistake. So, your may ask for correction.

Before requesting for license, you should read the full article. The reason is info about one software is not at one place. The article is divided into 3 parts: Grab it, Download and Installation. The reason is if I write separately for each software, better to write four different articles but I will not do it. This is a good thing.

These promos are from different German sites major one is Computerbild.de and many others.

Lets run to promos before these will be over.

Grab It:

1: Open the URL written under the respective software name and fill a short form as shown in snap . Remember! The form layout is same. This means different promos with different URLs are using same form layout. (URL copy n paste)

VirtualDrive Home 11 .8
http://registrieren.nobox.de/20090811.php

PC Shower 2009
http://registrieren.nobox.de/20090814.php

ArtStudioPro Vol.2
http://registrieren.nobox.de/20090831.php

Nitro PDF 5
32bit
http://registrieren.nobox.de/20090821.php
64bit
http://registrieren.nobox.de/20090822.php

2: At the next page, you will be told in German language that a verification email has been sent to your email. Now check your email and verify the link by clicking on it. The email will be sent to you from nobox.de - Der Downloadshop. Check snap P4 to find confirmation link. It will open a new page telling you that your license has been emailed you. Now check your email again and you will have a license key for your requested software. Find word SERIENNUMMER, your license will be on right side of this word. If you received two licenses, try both, at least one will work.


Download:

Below are the download links of respective software.

1: Open the URL of respective software into your browser and download it. (URL copy n paste)

VirtualDrive Home 11 .8
http://www.farstone.com/software/virtualdrive.htm
OR
http://www.farstone.us/download/virtualdrive/VirtualDrive-home11.8.exe
You can also download it from the following URL but it will be in German language.
http://www.computerbild.de/download/VirtualDrive-4259827.html

PC Shower 2009
The first link is tested and worked.
http://www.nobox.de/arafasoft-pc-shower.htm
http://www.arafasoft.com/PC-Shower.htm

ArtStudioPro Vol.2
http://www.virtualpainter5.com/tpasp2index.html
Update: David Colbert has provided two direct links to download ArtStudioPro. Here are:
http://artstudiopro.software.informer.com/download/
http://www.virtualpainter5.com/downloads/ArtStudioPro_Setup.exe

Nitro PDF 5
There is one problem that I could not find Nitro PDF 5 download link. The reason is Nitro PDF 6 is released. You may need to find Torrent or RS for Nitro PDF 5 or if you know any working download link for Nitro PDF 5, share it with us. Update: Lalavava shared the download links of Nitro PDF 5:
32bit:
http://www.nitropdf.com/professional/builds/nitro_pdf_professional5.exe
64bit:
http://www.nitropdf.com/professional/builds/nitro_pdf_professional5_64.exe

Installation:

VirtualDrive Home 11 .8
The only care is you will be asked your license/key during installation. So keep it ready when you are installing VirtualDrive Home 11.8.

PC Shower 2009
If you download from tested site, After installation, you will be asked to enter license which you received into your email. Look at P3 to find license into your email and P2 to enter license in appropriate place.



ArtStudioPro Vol.2
Use the license which you received into your email.

Nitro PDF 5
The license will not work in v6. So, license grabbed by this way is only acceptable in v5 and all updates related to Nitro PDF v5 (32bit-64bit).

Enjoy it.

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Get Free Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.02 (Save EUR 9.99)

Yea, once again I am going to save your money. Could you tell me how much you have saved your money? LOL. Nevermind. The main theme of my work is to save money for some other very important things of life like family, studies, health, etc. BTW, you will find many free and better software than Ashampoo Photo Optimizer but commercial software has its own taste. It is not the latest release v3 but as I said many times Something is Better than Nothing. There should be no point to hesitate.

I will add one thing in this article i.e. if you are creating your account on Ashampoo's website first time through the registration link (it is in German) of Photo Optimizer, I will give here a detailed illustration as help to register new account at the end of this article. The license acquired through following procedures, can be used on English release of Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.

Those who have tried the programme once don’t ever want to work again without it. This is also because of the advantage of time. Whole picture folders can be automatically read and optimised in one go. While doing so, the programme greatly values data safety. The original data will automatically be saved to a backup folder, and even then, they will only be deleted when the user is completely satisfied with the optimised photos.

Those who notice that their photos are lying on their side, or on their head, can turn them straightaway with a click of the mouse. In this way Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2 also makes sure that the individual photos are in the correct position and order after the optimisation.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2 supports the following formats: BMP, JPEG, PNG, TGA and TIFF

Features:
· Support of digital cameras
· Direct jump to important folders (My pictures, connected cameras, USB flash drives, etc.)
· Multiple use of the automatic optimization
· Manual readjustment of brightness, contrast and gamma for experts
· Print function
· The large thumbnail view provides a better overview
· Directory tree for a comfortable search for files
· Maximizing function for the picture view
· Easy switch between the original and the optimized version for direct comparison
· Backups of the original files are stored at a central location and not in the directories
· Photo optimization with only one mouse click
· Improve the contrast, brightness, color intensity and sharpness
· Picture preview
· Possibility to undo the picture optimization at any time
· The untouched original remains as a backup
· Batch processing of all pictures in one folder is possible
· Turn pictures to the right or to the left
· Much More...

Grab It:
There are two methods to get your free license.

Method 1:
1: Open the any of the following link into your browser (copy n paste). You will see a form like in sanp P1. Enter your email and press button Senden. (If you do not have already account on Ashampoo, new account creating procedure is given at the end of this article).

http://www.ashampoo.com/frontend/registration/php/trial_step1.php?session_langid=1&edition_id=4870

Or

http://www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/trial_step_1_4870_1_EUR.htm


2: After completing step 1, you will be in your Ashampoo's account. Look at snap P2 to find your license. You will also receive your license into your email account.


3: Download Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.02 and use the license to register it.
http://www.ashampoo.com/dl/0157/ashampoo_photooptimizer2_se.exe

Method 2:
1: Open the following webpage into your browser and press big blue button Zum Download. Snap P3. You will be directed to new page P4. Look at snap P3 n P4 where you should click to download Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.02. Now I suppose you have downloaded Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.02.
http://www.chip.de/downloads/Vollversion-Ashampoo-Photo-Optimizer_34778493.html



2: During installation, you will be shown that this download is a full version. You should not uncheck the option telling you to get free full version license. Check snap P5a and P5b as given below.


3: After installation, your default browser will open a webpage (same link as shown in method 1 step 1) to register your free license. Now the procedure is same as described in Method 1 (step 1 n 2).

You have grabbed your free license of Ashampoo Photo Optimizer v2.02. Enjoy it.

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Get Free Ashampoo Photo Commander 6, WinOptimizer 4 and Burning Studio 9 (Adv) n 6

Now this is the time to grab some free software from Ashampoo. Previously, I have share about burning studio, AntiVirus and AntiSpyware from Ashampoo. Now I will share how you can Get Free Ashampoo Photo Commander 6, WinOptimizer 4 and Burning Studio 6 n 9 (Advance). These are being offered by Computerbild.de, a German site, but there is no need for any translator to find out the download link. Respective webpage of each software is given below. On each page, you will find a big blue button DOWNLOAD. Just click on it and you will be directed to new webpage. You download will start automatically. This tip is for all the four offers.

Ashampoo Photo Commander 6:
"Ashampoo Photo Commander" is an all-round solution for your digital photos. It has much to offer: photo calendars, greeting cards, collages, photo albums for the Internet, photo slideshows, burning function for CDs and DVDs, and numerous effects and extra functions. And thanks to the convenient thumbnail display ( "Thumbnails" view). Lets see new features:

* New interface: Ribbon style tabbed interface with Vista style buttons on XP
* Adjustable dialog box sizes: user settings are saved
* Quick-Fix Tools: All common operations with a couple of clicks
* Editable objects: New file format stores objects you add on editable layers
* Unlimited Undo/Redo: For all changes
* Browser EXIF mode: Shows all the photo’s EXIF/IPTC information directly under the picture
* Quick 5-star ratings: Just click to rate photos with 1-5 stars, supports sorting by rating
* Enhanced thumbnails: Better looking thumbnails stored with lossless compression
* Enhanced searching: In subfolders and by EXIF and IPTC data
* New screen capture technology: Capture free-style shapes, Vista Aero Glass effects and more, full multi-monitor support
* Improved Wizards: Wizards guide you through procedures with a clearer, even more intuitive layout
* Email to PDF: Mail multiple images in a single PDF file
* Batch optimization: Apply the new One-Click Optimization tool to all your selected photos in one quick and easy process
* Slide shows with audio: Add more than one audio track to your slide shows
* JPEG-XR support: The program supports the new Windows HD Photo format

Download:
http://www.computerbild.de/download/Ashampoo-Photo-Commander-6-Kostenlose-Vollversion-911864.html

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 4:
The system optimization program WinOptimizer 4 can remove unnecessary junk data, defragment the hard drive or optimize Windows, memory and Internet access.

* System Benchmark: The module tests the processor and measures the performance of the system memory. A nice feature is that the results from your own computer can be compared to those of other PCs.
* Visual Styler: It's important to many users that their Windows system has its own unique look. That's where the visual styler comes in. The module can switch out existing icons for new ones and make the individual windows look transparent.
* Hard Drive Defragmenter: This module also runs under Vista, reconnecting files which have been broken into fragments to restore them to their original form. This increases performance when working with Windows.

Download:
http://www.computerbild.de/download/Ashampoo-WinOptimizer-4-Free-Kostenlose-Vollversion-431127.html

Ashampoo Burning Studio 9 Advance:
This is my favorite CD DVD burning software along with CDBurnerXP. The Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 Advanced burns "music and other data to CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. Even you can create best covers, booklets, and labels with this free software to design and print. There is not a big difference between this one and the one at Ashampoo's own site.

* Burn and update data discs
Burn data to CD, DVD or Blu-ray discs and update previously burned discs by adding and removing files and folders.
* Back up your data to single or multiple discs
Back up your valuable data to one or more CD, DVD or Blu-ray discs. Single backups can span multiple discs. Restore your backups in a single easy operation.
* Rip and burn music
Rip music from CDs and burn music to audio CDs and MP3 or WMA discs on CD, DVD and Blu-ray in a variety of formats.
* Burn movies and photos to DVDs and data discs
You can create slideshow DVDs with photos and video clips and you can author and burn video DVDs, Video CDs (VCD), Super Video CDs (SVCD) and data video discs. Video files are automatically converted to the necessary formats.
* Movie editor with DVD authoring
Edit and assemble your movies, add transitions, titles, texts, images and background music and then burn them to DVDs.
* Create high-quality DVD slideshows
Turn your photos into impressive DVD slideshows with titles, transitions and background music.
* Copy CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs
Just insert a disc, select Copy and go to make a perfect copy.
* Create and burn disc images
You can both create and burn ISO, CUE/BIN and Ashampoo’s own special ASHDISC image formats.
* Erase rewriteable discs
Quick and easy erase functions for reusing rewriteable discs.
* Expert burn functions for full control
Burning experts can create modified copies of existing discs (read in data structure and make changes and additions) and burn discs of all kinds with full control of all main configuration options.
* Create covers and labels
The full-featured cover and label designer prints to labels or directly to printable discs. It comes with a selection of point-and-click themes for instant results and easy-to-use creative tools for designing your own layouts.

Download:
http://www.computerbild.de/download/Ashampoo-Burning-Studio-2009-Advanced-Kostenlose-Vollversion-430765.html


Ashampoo Burning Studio 6:
It is an old version which was available free to download and use at Ashampoo's own site for a long time but no more available. But Computerbild is offering it again. If you are still using some pretty old computer, it would be best choice.
Download:
http://www.computerbild.de/download/Ashampoo-Burning-Studio-6-Free-Kostenlose-Vollversion-2311969.html

Note:
If your download does not start automatically, click on word "hier" as shown in snap P. This tip is for all the four offers.

Read more >>

Get Acronis True Image Free for Western Digital Hard Drives

This is just for Western Digital Hard disks. Acronis True Image Western Digital Edition is based on Acronis True Image Home Edition 2009. It let you clone your WD hard disk to create an exact copy of old hard disk on WD hard disk.

# Drive Cloning - Copies the source drive to a new WD drive, leaving all data on the source drive.
# Drive Migration - Erase the source drive after the new WD drive has been imaged.
# Drive Deployment - Enables users to prepare a WD drive so that selected folders or partitions can be excluded from the destination image.
# Drive Image Backup - The long-term usage of the Drive Kit software will be to provide full drive image backups of a source drive at any time. Backup drive images will be stored as a file, which can be copied to any direct attached drive, network attached storage drive or optical media (CD/DVD).
# Drive Image Recovery - The Recovery Manager enables users to restore a drive image from a direct or network attached drive. The Recovery Manager can also either erase just a portion of the drive to be used for the restored drive image, or all of the previous OS.
# Create a Bootable Standalone Recovery Manager - With the Drive Kit software, users can create a bootable ISO image file, which contains the WD Drive Kit Standalone Recovery Manager software.
# Recover a Drive Image from the Bootable Recovery Manager Software - The bootable Standalone Recovery Manager enables users to recover a drive image from either a CD/DVD drive, a direct attached drive, or a network attached drive.

Access the info page here (copy n paste into your browser):
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp

Supported operating systems are Windows XP and Vista.

Read more >>

UNetbootin Let You Create Bootable Live Linux USB Drive

Majority of people still uses CDs/DVDs to install and keep backup of their operating system installer. The use of USB drives to keep such installer is not common, yet. It has many reasons but the big one is the installation through USB drive is slow compared to CD/DVD. On the other hand we see USB drive is more secure to keep data compared to to CD/DVD.

Normally, we download Linux installer (using common word instead of writing each Linux distro name) and burn it on CD/DVD and install it. But with the help of UNetbootin we do not need CDs and DVDs any more. We can create bootable installer through UNetbootin. We can use it on Linux as well as Windows platform to create live bootable USB drive containg Linux image.

To create bootable USB drive containing live Linux image, we have two options; we can let it download any Linux distro (we will choose from a list) from Internet or if we have an ISO image of Linux distro, we can use that image. There is no restriction of using specific Linux distro. We can use any Linux distro but it should be in ISO image format. There are many different Linux dirstros available online to download through UNetbootin. We need to choose one or use our ISO image which is not in the list. Some famous supported Linux distros are; Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, openSUSE, Fedora, etc.

UNetbootin can be used for many other useful purposes like loading System Utilities, etc. Read full detail HERE and Here. It is a portable tool. Just download it and run it.

Requirements
* Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, or Linux. If you are having trouble with the Linux version, try the Windows version, it usually works better.
* A broadband internet connection to download the distribution's .iso file (unless you're using your own files)

» See Home page.
» See List of distributions for which UNetbootin has built-in support.
» See List of all distributions known to work with UNetbootin.
» See List of Custom UNetbootin Versions and Plugins.
» See Using a UNetbootin Plugin.

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PhotoScape - A Free High Quality Photo Editing Program

I do not take much interest in photo editing and it may be a reason of not writing many articles about photo editing software. But believe me, if you Google "Free Photo Editing Software", you will get around 23,300,000 results. Not every link leads to separate software site, there can be hundreds of links just for Google's Picasa. If we lessen the number of links, there should be thousands of photo editing software available if not hundreds thousands. The matter is quality effects. PhotoScape is one which has quality, clarity, ability and usability.

PhotoScape is much better than many paid software (I will not write names of such software because paid software are out of scope). It has lots of tools to play with. You can edit a single photo as well as batch editing. You are given over 110 frames to merge different photos with each other. The best thing is it provides you over 150 photo frames which you can use with your photos. It let you resize your picture up to 300% of original size.

Viewer: View your folders photos, slideshow

Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming

Batch editor: Batch editing multiple photos

Page: Make one photo by merging multiple photos at the page frame

Combine: Make one photo by attaching multiple photos vertically or horizontally

Animated GIF: Make one animation photo with multiple photos

Print: Print portrait shot, carte de visite, passport photo

Splitter: Divide a photo into multiple parts

Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it

Color Picker: Zoom in screen on images, search and pick the color

Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode

Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JPG

Paper Print: Print lined, graph, music, calendar papers

Face Search: Find similar faces on the internet

Copy n paste the following links into browser to follow the desired link.

Home Page: http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php
Download Page: http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php
Help Page: http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/help_editor.php

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MAGMe Allows You To Read Free Magazine Publications Online!

We can do a lot of things online; watching movie, listening to music, polling, chatting...but have you ever considered reading a free magazine online? Certainly, you can find a lot of website that will publish magazines for subscribed readers once every while. However, for most of the time, users must pay a subscription fee in order to read them. How about reading magazine online for free?


MAGMe is a 100% free online service site dedicated to users who want to read various types of magazines online without having to pay anything. Technically speaking, MAGMe displays full scans of popular magazines directly in your browser, covering every possible topic from computers and lifestyles magazines to art, fashion, and photography magazines. MAGMe mainly covers well-known publications of magazines, but it also covers some not-so-popular ones. To be honest, i think that most of the magazines it published are pretty rare in the market.


Most impressively however, online full scan magazines rendered by MAGMe are dynamic, interactive & realistic; it is as though a user is really reading a real-life magazine by flipping across a page or turning over a page partially to preview the next page’s contents. All of this realism is courtesy of MAGMe’s brilliant use of Flash to display real-life magazine-reading scenarios. If you sign up for a free account, you will be given the privilege of higher quality browsing experience. If you prefer to read the magazines as guest reader, you are also given the access, although the experience might not be as good as when you are a registered user.

The only weakness I found with MAGMe so far is its magazine scans' ‘very small font size. As the browsers’ zoom feature does not work with Flash in Magme, I had to utilize the Magnifying utility of Windows 7 to read the words properly.


MAGMe is currently still in beta stage and thus, you can expect minor glitches and bugs here and there. Still, Magme can be considered a nice, free service on which I think is useful if you love reading (wonder how many people enjoy reading, by the way...=)). Of course, if you are using the contents of Magme’s magazines for your report, thesis, projects, assignments etc. and are therefore required to quote them in a reference list, you are also given the ability to copy its link and refer to its page easily!

Visit Magme’s official site here and start reading!

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IESnapshot: The Right Tool for Web Page Capturing

I was lucky as to be approached by TechGeek, the author & administrator of Computelogy who suggested three software tools on which I could write for his & my blog. I remember taking fair interest in the first two software links he sent me but was immediately attracted by the link to the third tool, IESnapshot which is developed by Accalio s.r.o., a company based near Vienna, Austria. I accepted his offer without a second thought and dived straight into learning IESnapshot.

IESnapshot is in a simple explanation, a webpage-capturing tool capable of grabbing an entire chunk of image-based detail from a webpage and transform it into a PDF or graphical image file. It can be described as a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) tool, meaning to say that it can actually duplicate what is exactly the same thing it captured, providing realism to the users. Therefore, it is not to be confused with screen-capturing tools such as TechSmith’s SnagIT or the built-in ‘Print Screen’ function of Windows, which only captures a portion of the screen & not the web page in its entirety.

Although not stated in the company's website, IESnapshot runs fine on my 32-bit Windows 7 & on the latest Internet Explorer 8. The company also cited some of the unique features of IESnapshot which are the ability to store all background images, even images inside the style sheets or dynamic content such as Flash and Java.

Other main IESnapshot features include:

• Save almost any webpage - for archiving or multimedia presentations
• Create multiple page PDF or singlepage GIF, JPG or BMP files
• Unique file naming ability - automatic or manual
• Compression ratio settings (quality vs. size)
• Capture any portion of the viewed webpage - automatic or manual
• Captures full pages, capture longer pages than screen resolution (whole page / scrolling) in to one picture or PDF page.
• Ability to capture the web page at specific moments - capturing pictures from live action animations
• Capture pages from URL lists
• Application is fully compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer(r)

On first impression, IESnapshot works like a simple web browser, with the back and forward button plus the home page and refresh button. However, the additional switch and sidebar-like, scrollable preview screen makes it a powerful 'browser'. Users can grab an entire webpage during any phase of its loading and save it as a PDF file by default. IESnapshot also provided a column beneath the window for IT professionals to debug a faulty script in a web page before they capture it in its entirety. If users does not want to save a web page as a PDF file, they can save it in other graphical image format such as a JPG format. They are also given the power of choosing the default file saving location, selecting the quality of the snapshot and adding custom headers with customizable font size, types and colors.


There are also some notable weaknesses. IESnapshot will not debug nor skip a faulty script automatically. It will be up to those skilled in debugging web pages to debug the web page so as to allow IESnapshot to load the page completely. Besides, IESnapshot also inherited the weakness of IE-based browsers in terms of memory consumption, which can impact performances of computers with low amount of RAM onboard.

A script error dialog box by IESnapshot whenever it comes across a web page with script errors

Obviously there are some issues with the script of my background image,because it seems to take forever for IESnapshot to load the background image...

Regardless, IESnapshot at its minimum function level is going to be extremely useful for people who does not have enough online time but wanted to read a lot of stuffs on different web pages. They can simply download the snapshots & read the contents offline without having to browse the web. Incidentally, this software is also going to prove useful as a training ground for IT professionals in debugging a web page!

To learn more about IESnapshot, visit their official website here.

To download IESnapshot now, click on this download link.

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Download from Flickr easily via zFlick

There are many software which offers download functions to picture and image file, but none has been as exciting as this software. zFlick, powered by the famous application, Adobe AIR, enables you to search for, view and download pictures on Flickr using a simple drag-and-drop function!

The software spots a clean and stylish search bar, with a column where pictures from Flickr animatedly pop into places when the application starts. Users can go through every picture and click on them to enlarge the image. Download is simply accomplish by dragging and dropping the pictures which it does instanteneously.

zFlick's simple user interface, almost like a search engine toolbar.

Images of 50 popped out in animated forms as the search unfolds

Whe users click on an image, it will automatically scale to a larger size

There are some minor enhancements that i would like to see, but otherwise, it is a great and truly inspirational product.

zFlick works with Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. Adobe AIR is a pre-requisite for installation, and will be automatically installed before installing zFlick.

To download zFlick, visit their official website HERE and click on the download link.

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