freeware
Bump iPhone App Review
January 12, 2010
‘Bump’ is a free application available for both iPhone OS and Android that allows people to exchange contact information, or other files, by bumping hands while holding their device.
I tested the application with an iPhone and iPod Touch, which transferred data from one device to the other in seconds. Both users need to have Bump on their device, and when you want to transfer information, both users have to confirm the transfer.
When you launch Bump for the first time, you’ll be prompted to enter contact card information for yourself. When you ‘bump’ with someone, you can transfer just certain information such as your phone number, email or address.
Continue reading »PortableApps Review (Applications For Your USB Memory Stick)
December 11, 2009
Some things in life are truly frustrating… Having to use Internet Explorer on a public PC, being without an e-mail client that has all my settings already saved – you get the idea, but what’s the solution? Actually, I think I’ve just found it, and all you need is a USB memory stick!
In case you hadn’t already guessed, I’m talking about the PortableApps platform, which is a completely free download, and allows you to install portable versions of many applications on your USB pen drive so that you can take them with you, and can use them on any PC. When downloading PortableApps, you have three packages to choose from: “Platform Only”, “Suite Light” and “Suite Standard”.
Continue reading »CopyTrans Photo Review (Transfer Photos To iPod / iPhone)
December 9, 2009
CopyTrans Photo is a utility from WindSolutions that allows you to manage the photos on your iPod or iPhone by dragging and dropping them to and from your PC. The interface is extremely easy and simple to grasp with the window split into 3 sections – the first showing the photos on your iPod or iPhone, the second showing the photos in the currently selected folder and the third offering an explorer view of all the folders on your hard drive.
When testing with both an iPod and iPhone I found managing photos on the devices very straight forward and intuitive. It was a great utility when wanting to transfer photos taken on an iPhone to my PC and vice-versa, with easy to view thumbnails.
Continue reading »EASEUS Partition Master Review (Free Hard Disk Partition Software)
December 2, 2009
I’ve never enjoyed the prospect of editing the partitions on my PC; my data’s too precious and I’m a computing malfunction magnet! So I was naturally cautious when I downloaded EASEUS Partition Master to review, which is available as a free download from EASEUS’ site. I’m always slightly wary about editing/creating/deleting partitions, but Partition Master gave a good impression from the offset, in fact it works better than a lot of paid solutions I’ve come across.
Partition Master does everything you’d expect from such a piece of software – you can manage partitions on internal and external drives (both USB and Firewire) and even copy entire partitions and disks, which makes a very nice feature list for a free piece of software. The user interface is extremely simple to navigate for both beginners and professionals whilst still offering more than enough features to keep even the most demanding consumer happy (although no one can complain at the price).
Continue reading »Thunderbird 3 RC1 Review (Desktop Email Client)
November 29, 2009
I’ve used Mozilla Thunderbird for as long as I can remember; I much prefer desktop e-mail clients to their web counterparts and Thunderbird’s my number one choice on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. When I downloaded the Release Candidate 1 of Thunderbird 3, I was faced with a plethora of new features to sink my teeth in to, so where do I start?
After mourning the loss of my many incompatible add-ons, I struck up the courage to create an account in Thunderbird 3, and if you’re new to Thunderbird or you’re setting up another account, you’ll appreciate how easy it is to get up and running.
Rather than manually input the details of your email provider, all you need to do is type in your email address and password and Thunderbird sorts the rest out for you. I tested this with 3 email accounts, each on different providers and Thunderbird set up each one with no problems. If you want/need to set up an account manually, don’t worry, you can still do so!
Continue reading »AppFresh Review (Mac OS X Application Updater)
November 27, 2009
I love the ease of updating applications in Mac OS X, be it third party or system applications, but ensuring every one of your apps is up to date is a hard thing to do, especially ones you don’t see often but do a key job.
When I was looking for something to update every application I have, I came across AppFresh, a free download that not only checks to see if there are any updates available for your programs, but downloads and installs these updates for you, helping to keep not only your programs up to date, but even your widgets, preference panes and plugins, which I thought was a great addition. It’s similar in idea to Filehippo application updater for the PC, but perhaps even better!
Continue reading »CopyTrans Manager Review (iTunes Alternative)
November 24, 2009
Apple’s iPod has never been as popular, accounting for over 70% of the MP3 player market in its many forms and having a larger library of games than the PSP and Nintendo DS put together. That means that over 70% of MP3 owners are using iTunes to manage music on their iPod’s then right? I personally don’t know anybody who doesn’t use iTunes to manage their digital music collection, in fact I use iTunes myself, but there are more alternatives than people think. One of these alternatives is CopyTrans Manager, which offers a bulk free way to get your music on and off your iPod and is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
During my testing, CopyTrans manager worked great with everything I threw at it, namely an iPhone 3G, iPod Touch (1st Gen), iPod Nano (4th Gen) and an older iPod Nano (2nd Gen). The interface is fairly easy to navigate and brings up the contents of your iPod almost immediately after connection.
Continue reading »Google Chrome Operating System Demo – Will It Be Any Good?
November 22, 2009
Chances are that you are reading this on a Window’s machine, or that failing that either on a Mac or some species of Linux – it’s pretty much a three horse race, and a biased one at that. So obviously when Google decided to enter the operating system market with Google Chrome OS there’s always going to be some excitement especially when they promise to ‘revolutionise’ the way we use our computers.
Aiming to be more in sync with the way we use computers today (i.e. on the web) it focuses more on speed, security and simplicity which Google are hoping will help it to break into the O/S market – but what makes Google Chrome OS special, and will you be throwing your Windows away when it’s released? Let’s have a look!
Continue reading »Windows Live Essentials Review: Family Safety
November 22, 2009
For those over-protective parents out there, the final Windows Live Essentials application I’m taking a look at is Family Safety. Personally, it looks like more hassle than it’s worth, especially considering that Windows 7 and Windows Vista both have Parental Controls built in that work very well! If you use the Parental Control’s in Vista or 7, you can already stop the kids from using certain applications, going on the computer at certain times and applying a web filter.
Windows Live Essentials Review: Toolbar
November 21, 2009
Internet toolbars… I’ve never liked them, and always associate them with two words: useless and malware. So what makes Live Toolbar different? Well, apart from integration with every other Live application, not a lot. For some reason, Microsoft felt compelled to give you another search box to go along with the one you already have in the top corner of IE, which is utterly pointless and tends to get in the way a bit.
Another gripe I have is the fact that you need Internet Explorer to use the damn thing, which puts me off straight away – I much prefer Firefox or even Safari to Internet Explorer, and unfortunately for Microsoft, a toolbar isn’t going to change that!
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