Free Software: Desktop Maestro2 by PC Tools

In an agreement between vnunet.com and PC Tools, "Desktop Maestro" is being made available as free software. Desktop Maestro is a registry cleaner, defragmenter and optimizes your system in an easy-to-use format.

The "Scan Your Computer" is speedy and is ready for the next step in nothing flat. Scan Your Computer will display a list and tell you how many errors there are. I had 402.

But I get ahead of myself - the first thing I think you should do is go into Settings and configure the system...most importantly, configure the system backup so you can restore should anything go wrong. There may be a few other checkboxes you'd like to mark as you go through Settings.

After scanning, Desktop Maestro compacts the registry - I saved 6% of my hard drive and cut the errors down to three.

There's a Privacy Guardian in this program, too. To get your activation code, click the "Register" button within the software and select "Get Free License". The code will be emailed to you and you can copy & paste it into the application.

vnunet.com is your only source for this program. Given my experience with PC Tools programs, this is surely another to take advantage of. It sure beats the plethora of programs that offer a free scan but make you buy it to clean out your registry.

Mint: Track Expenses, Budget Your Money with Virtually No Bookkeeping!

Would you like to know how much you're spending, available to you on a daily basis, without keeping books? Want to start saving but don't know how to budget? Mint will teach you, and let you know if you've exceeded your budget via email or text message. In fact, Mint will let you know all these things without you ever making a bookkeeping entry.

This web-based application allows you to enroll in about 5 minutes. You don't have to give your name, social security # or address, and money can't be transferred within mint. You give it your banking #'s, your credit card accounts, and Mint downloads daily your transactions. It will notify you of a change in interest rate and notify you of purchases above a limit set by you to guard against fraud.

Mint has graphs that show your expenditures, comparison graphs and sends you an email report weekly that shows all your activity. The automatic expense categories are customizable. The blog is full of money-saving tips and advice for getting out of debt.

The downside of Mint could be that your spending habits are being tracked for later marketing, but I think it's a small price to pay for the convenience of gathering this information without entry time. Check it out at http://www.mint.com, read the fine print, and see if this program is for you!

iClone 3.0 EX: Freeware for the Interactive Fans

Short & sweet today - just wanted to tell you about Reallusion's iClone 3.0 EX, a "Play to Create" 3D program for filmmaking.

To appeal to gamers and those into interactivity, here's your chance to make 10 second movies. The Standard and Professional versions still exist for a fee, but the 3.0 EX version is partially upgradeable. This program aims to make things simple, you're in either editor or director mode. Too bad my nephew has a Mac, I'd tell him to "Play to Create" rather than "Play to Play".

Free Software Energy-Saving Solutions: Edison

A company based in Seattle WA, Verdiem, has come up
with a software program, aptly named "Edison", for the individual user and they're giving it away for free. Highlights of the program include working and non-working hours, options to change Verdiem's recommendations, and estimate calculations of how much money and carbon dioxide you save by using the program.

For Windows XP (with servicepack 2) and Vista, Verdiem recognizes that on a newer PC the savings may be just a few dollars, but machines with mileage on them are likely to see considerably more in savings.

Verdiem works with energy waste from large corporations the world over. Half the energy of a home computer is wasted. Not only that, but a typical PC uses enough electricity to emit 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide.

Computers account for 1-2% of energy used in the United States. Go to www.verdiem.com/edison/. Click on download, and go thru your settings. If you go out of Edison's parameters, they won't be able to estimate your savings. Install Edison on all your home computers and then celebrate: you did something green today!

Adeona - Free Software, Hope of Recovering Stolen Computers

Adeona is named after the Roman goddess of safe returns. It exemplifies what the University of Washington has been researching, with help from the University of California San Diego and the University of California Davis. Thanks to them, there is now a free service in place to track stolen computers (if the thief isn't too tech-savvy). It works on Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, Linux,
and Windows XP/Vista. Mac and Linux have been tested on both 64 & 32-bit machines, only 32-bit on Windows while the program is still beta.

All you need to do is download a free software program. You give a password during installation. The program generates a file and puts it on your desktop, you transfer the data as recommended by the program. Then the software anonymously sends encrypted notes about the computer's location to internet servers approximately averaging one every 30 minutes. If your computer is stolen, you download another program, enter the password, and get the IP address where it was last used as well as data on nearby routers it used to connect to the internet. With that information, law enforcement could track down the thief.

Mac's even have a freeware program that will photograph anyone using the computer (you can find a link to this program in Adeona's "Overview"). The documentation section has the retreival process on their site with screenshots and steps you through the process. The FAQ's are a must-read. Something great out of acadamia once again!

Free Software MPlayer for Windows (Full Package): Sound, Sound, Sound

MPlayer for Windows (Full Package), an open source audio and video player recently released under GNU Public License is sound to behold. MPlayer supports over 192 video and 85 audiocodecs. Including Quicktime and RealAudio, this is a fistful of megabyte savings, MPlayer takes 26 MB's in comparison.

When you install MPlayer, you'll be asked about your CPU - the player has been optimized for certain AMD and Intel chips. I'm convinced that this is a major reason MPlayer sounds so vibrant. I have a Logitech "surround sound" system with subwoofer on my computer, and my teeth grate at how some of the music sounds. Now that I have MPlayer, I'm smiling one great big smile. The music is bright, the background stands out - it's a huge improvement over my default player, "Slacker".

After you've loaded the player, you'll have 2 new icons on your desktop: MPUI plays audio, and SMPlayer (pictured above) plays audio and video. I tried a sample video that came with the application and Vista put up a yellow balloon saying "The color scheme has been changed to Windows Vista Basic" which I didn't understand. I surmised that I couldn't play a YouTube video from url because it didn't have an extension.

If you're going to have a player on your system, I'd say at this point, this is the one to have. It makes Logitech sound great! And yes, I've gone the whole nine yards with room correction so I hear all my speakers. This MPlayer is something to be enthused about!

To Download and read a little more about the player and see the specs, go to:
http://www.dailyfreeware.net/2008/07/28/mplayer-for-windows-full-package-2/

Free Software Icon Winamp Upgrades to 5.54

If you've never had the pleasure of hosting Winamp on your desktop, now is the time to go to http://www.winamp.com and download it, especially if you have speakers. The 10-year-old audio/video program just gets better with age.

Or follow the links to the video online tutorials and see the new redesigned "Now Playing" experience. There's also videos on:

• making your own Winamp skin
• Winamp Remote on your mobile phone

and they're planning many more "how to" videos.

But back to the "Now Playing" experience. You use search and access artist biographies (complete with similar artists and discographies), songlists, photos, videos, and radio stations on the internet that play the searched artist. I put in "Sting" and saw 4 videos (also one movie trailer and a commercial). Most disappointing was the songlist - out of 74 listings, about 1/2 were "Best of Sting & the Police", and that was the listing. I saw other songs I'll go back for, though. The discography was missing many works, I hope that's not the case with all artists!

Besides audio and video, Winamp has a Podcast Directory, CD recorder and handles DVD Drives. It features playlists, bookmarks, SHOUTcast and can work in conjunction with your iPod or Creative Zen.

To read more about Winamp's newest version:
http://lognot.blogspot.com/2008/07/download-winamp-media-player-554-pro.html
http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2685/206