Jkwebtalks

Which is the Fastest DNS? (OpenDNS or Google Public DNS)

2009-12-06T12:52:00.006+05:30

Most of the web surfers might have heard about Open DNS and newly launched Google Public DNS resolution services. Currently they are the most popular and can use as an alternative to your current ISP’s DNS for faster and secure web surfing.

But, how to find out which DNS service is fastest for you? Here is a free benchmarking tool to determine the performance of local and remote DNS nameservers.

Here is how to use it. Download GRC's Domain Name Speed Benchmark tool. The tool is already comes with OpenDNS and many other different domain name servers. Add your ISP’s DNS and Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) by clicking on ‘Nameservers’ – ‘Add/Remove’ buttons, then click on "Run Benchmark".

After analyzing you will get final benchmark results sorted by nameserver performance (average cached name retrieval speed, fastest to slowest).

On clicking the ‘Conclusion’ button, you will get detailed information about your current DNS settings and required recommendations. Download GRC's Domain Name Speed Benchmark [Via]

Easily Locate and Download Correct Drivers for Your Devices with Device Doctor

2009-12-03T19:39:00.004+05:30

Sometimes it is quite difficult to find correct driver for a device, especially if your hardware is an old one. Because, either the hardware manufacturer gone out of business or they don’t provide the drivers for the old devices.

Device Doctor might be a solution to this. It is a free tool that will scan your computer and check to see if there are new driver updates available.

The best part of this tool is that, instead of directing you to manufacture’s site, it will provide correct driver from their database itself.

Currently their database has drivers for over 13 million individual devices and computers, so finding a driver file will not be a problem.

Moreover, the tool can also recognize some unidentified devices in the Windows Device Manager.

DeviceDoctor works with Windows 7, Vista, XP (64-bit or 32-bit) and is available for free download from here (Portable / Standalone)

Tabbed View for Notepad

2009-12-02T21:28:00.005+05:30

NotepadTabs is a free text editor that will help you open tabs in Notepad. Unlike classic Notepad, this tool lets you view/edit multiple text files in a single notepad, which saves you from the mess in the taskbar.

With this tool you can easily switch from one file to another through tabs and allows you to save all opened tabs at the same time.

To open a New Tab you can use the keyboard Shortcut Ctrl + T and to close the current tab you can use the keyboard Shortcut Ctrl + W. [via]

Download NotepadTabs.

Download WinX HD Video Converter Worth $39.95 for Free

2009-12-02T19:59:00.004+05:30

As a holiday gift now you can download a professional HD video converter called WinX HD Video Converter worth $39.95 absolutely free (Limited time offer- Dec.1 – 16, 2009).

WinX HD Video Converter is designed specially for high- definition video conversion. It has a friendly user interface and is extremely simple to use. With this tool you can convert videos into HD videos mutually with no loss of image & sound quality.

It supports video formats like MTS, M2TS, TS, HD MP4, MKV, HD WMV, and HD MOV, etc. Besides, it also lets you convert between HD videos and regular AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV, etc.

To get the full version for free, please download the program and register with the Information available at: http://www.winxdvd.com/giveaway/ . [via]

Find Correct Driver for Unknown Devices in Device Manager

2009-12-02T14:14:00.003+05:30

Unknown Device Identifier is a handy tool for identifying unknown devices (those with yellow question mark) in device manager.

It lets you know the manufacturer name, OEM name, device type, device model and even the exact name of unknown devices.

Moreover, you can find correct driver for a device by just clicking the F4 key (direct you to manufacture’s site) or can find more information about the device on internet by clicking the F3 key.

Unknown Device Finder (download it here) supports Windows 98, 2000, XP, Server 2003, 2008, Vista, and Windows 7 and identifies USB 1.1/2.0/3.0 Device, IEEE 1394 Device, ISA Plug&Play Device, AGP Bus Device, PCI, PCI-E, eSATA Device, etc.

Note: Remember to backup the driver file before do anything with the device driver.

TouchFreeze Automatically Disables Laptop’s Touchpad While Typing Text

2009-12-01T08:13:00.004+05:30

TouchFreeze is a freeware program for Laptops that automatically disables TouchPad while typing a document.

Disabling touchpad is often necessary, because accidentally touching your hand on touchpad may change the cursor position in your document or click on an option that you don’t need.

Although it is possible to disable touchpad manually, this tool will automate this. You need not to do anything, just install the program and run it (or start with Windows).

Whenever you start typing texts it locks the Touch Pad, and the moment you stop typing, the Touch Pad is enabled back again.

The program works on Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista and 7 and there are some known issues for some VAIO Synaptics touch pads and Windows 7.

Download TouchFreeze for free

Download New Identity Finder Home Edition and Protect your Personal Information

2009-11-30T08:06:00.004+05:30

If you have ever used any passwords, credit card numbers or such personal information they might be still there in files and hidden areas of your computer without your knowledge.

As Identity theft can have big financial impact on you and it poses a security threat to your privacy, here is a free /paid security program that will find out unprotected instances of passwords or such information on your PC. You may then take action to secure anything you find.

Identity Finder Free edition provides following benefits for consumers:

Identity Finder for free will determines whether or not Credit Cards, Debit Cards, and passwords exist on your computer in an unprotected manner. You may then take action to secure anything you find.
Browser clean up tools: Remove personal information from your web browsers (Firefox and Internet Explorer).
File shredder: permanently delete any file or folder on your computer
Password vault: This tool allows you to securely store and manage usernames and passwords for websites, encrypted files, and other locations inside of Identity Finder and protect them with a single, master password.

Download Identity Finder Home edition

Bookmark Toolbar Auto hider

2009-11-30T08:00:00.003+05:30

Bookmark Autohider is an extension to Firefox which is useful for people who like to have a simple interface and more space to their browser.

Bookmark Autohider hides the bookmark toolbar until you move the mouse above it.

When you drag your mouse above bookmark toolbar it appears, and disappears after a few seconds (you can set the time from the Bookmark Autohider Option menu). [via]

Download Bookmark Autohider

Remove Old Driver Leftovers From Your PC

2009-11-29T14:24:00.003+05:30

If you have recently upgraded your hardware and installed new drivers, it is necessary to properly remove old driver leftovers from your computer. (This article show you how to view and uninstall old drivers)

Driver leftovers can cause stability, startup and other problems to your PC. Driver Sweeper is a free tool to remove driver leftovers from your system.

The following steps are the best way to clean the drivers from your system.

Use the official uninstaller(s) of the driver(s) you want to uninstall.
Reboot your PC in Safe Mode (Optional).
Run Driver Sweeper and select what to clean.
Analyze lists all the entries to remove, where cleaning removes the entries select

The current supported drivers are: ATI (Display), Creative (Sound), Microsoft (Mouse), NVIDIA (Chipset), NVIDIA (Display), NVIIDA (PhysX) and Realtek (Sound)

Driver Sweeper 2.0.0 and higher requires Windows 7, Vista and XP with at least .NET 3.0 installed. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported. Download Driver Sweeper.

Photo Slideshow Maker for iPhone 3G, iPod and PSP for Free

2009-11-29T08:05:00.005+05:30

If you own an iPhone 3G, iPod or PSP, there is a cool giveaway for this holiday season. Ourpix.com is offering you Slideshow Maker (worth $30 each) absolutely free as a holiday gift for iPhone, iPod and PSP.

Another free offering is Spring StylePack (for Wondershare Photo Story Platinum) which contains a variety of style effects to let you make a holiday photo story in seconds.

The free giveaway includes:

1. Spring StylePack: Each style comes with a variety of effects to let you make a holiday photo story in seconds
2. iPhone 3G Slideshow Maker: Free photo slideshow maker to make some holiday movies for your new iPhone 3G.
3. iPod Slideshow Maker: Make something new for your iPod. It's not only a mp3 player, but a home movie theatre on the go.
4. PSP Slideshow Maker: Like the iPod, PSP could also be a home movie theatre for playback your home-made movies.

Download the free offers from here

Download Paragon Total Defrag 2010 for Free (until Nov 29, 2009)

2009-11-28T08:23:00.003+05:30

Paragon Total Defrag 2010 is a new comprehensive product for total file system defragmentation and optimization. Built on original Paragon technologies, it performs complete low-level defragmentation that provides almost zero fragmentation level.

Paragon Total Defrag 2010 allows you:

1. Perform a complete low-level defragmentation that provides almost zero fragmentation level.

2. Speed up and optimize all critical system files and metadata including MFT (Master File Table), directories, paging files, registry hives and others.

The program supports Windows 7, Vista and XP. You can download Paragon Total Defrag 2010 absolutely free (Until Nov 29, 2009)

Detect Hard Drive Errors with CheckDrive

2009-11-27T08:35:00.003+05:30

CheckDrive is a free utility for detecting hard drive errors that might appear on system crashes or when switching off your PC without a proper Windows shutdown

If you ever had a system crash then check it with CheckDrive It shows info about your drives and determines if your hard drive needs to be cleaned or defragmented.

CheckDrive detects current fragmentation of your hard drives and shows the amount of garbage on your disks

Download CheckDrive (required free registration to use the tool)

Fix for BitLocker Enabled Computer that Hangs on Shutdown

2009-11-26T19:50:00.004+05:30

There is a problem that BitLocker enabled machine that is running Windows 7 (Ultimate and Enterprise) or Windows Server 2008 R2 may stops responding when shutting down.

And also, the operating system seems to have already shut down, and the screen turns black. However the computer does not turn off completely. Its fan and other devices are still turned on.

If you have experienced such a problem, Microsoft has released a hot fix for that. More details and download is available at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=975496

Free Process Freezer lets you suspend a process instead of terminating it

2009-11-26T14:33:00.002+05:30

Free Process Freezer is a very simple to use tool that works similar to Windows Task Manager, but instead of terminating a process it suspend the problematic process and resume it later.

It is handy when a process is consuming lots of system resources, but you do not want to terminate it.

That is you can use Free Process Freezer to suspend a process without losing any data, and resume it later whenever you wish.

To install the program required Microsoft .NET Framework installed on your machine. Download Free Process Freezer from programs homepage.

Download Advanced SystemCare PRO Edition for Free

2009-11-25T17:51:00.005+05:30

Advanced System Care Pro is an advanced maintenance and optimization utility for Windows that can fix many computer problems and ensures maximum computer performance automatically.

It lets you clean junk files, delete invalid registry entries, wipeout internet surfing history, defrag hard disk, remove spyware from your computer – overall a perfect tool for maintaining your PC.

As a thanks giving gift, you can download a free licensed version of Advanced System Care Pro from IObit today.

However, remember that while installing the program, don’t forget to uncheck the installation of ‘Unnecessary’ Toolbar option.

Visit here to get Advanced SystemCare PRO Edition for free.

Having Recycle Bin Handy Despite a Full Desktop (Windows 7, Vista & XP)

2009-11-25T07:42:00.009+05:30

Recycle bin helps us deleting files using drag & drop. But the view of the desktop must be free, or else it is annoying.

But if you can place the taskbar in an always visible area, that is, on the left side of your taskbar (quick launch bar), you will always have access to it. So you can easily drag & drop files into it to delete.

In Windows XP and Vista you can do this very easily by just dragging and dropping the recycle bin to the quick launch bar.

1. Before doing that, right click on the taskbar and uncheck ‘Lock the Taskbar’. Enable Quick Launch bar, if not enabled (Right click on the Taskbar – Toolbars – Quick launch bar)

2. If you have many items on the quick launch bar, drag the Separator (vertical bar) to the right side to accommodate the recycle bin.

3. Finally right click on the taskbar and check ‘Lock the taskbar’.

However in Windows 7 you have needed some other tricks to place the recycle bin to the taskbar. Do as described below.

1- Right click on the taskbar and uncheck ‘Lock the Taskbar’

2- Now create a new folder on your desktop and name it you like (Right click, select New and Folder) and Drag & drop the Recycle Bin on it.

3- Right click on the taskbar and select Toolbar - New toolbar. Navigate to the New Folder just created and select it and click on the Select Folder button.

4- Now you can see a new Toolbar and a Separator (see image below) on the taskbar.

5- Right click on the Separator and uncheck Show Text and Show Title, and also select View and Large Icons by right clicking on the Separator

6- Now left click on the ‘Separator’ and drag it to the left side of the taskbar.

7- Finally right click on the Taskbar and check ‘Lock the Taskbar’

However, you must take care that the mouse key is released exactly above the recycle bin, or else an additional shortcut will be created on the quick launch bar.

Remove Google Chrome Installation ID

2009-11-24T07:27:00.003+05:30

Each Google Chrome installation contains a unique ID that allows identifying its user. If you want to browse ‘anonymously’ with Chrome browser you need to remove this id.

Google doesn't make it an easy job to remove this ID. Here is a freeware tool called UnChrome which helps you with this task.

It replaces your unique ID with Null values so that your browser can no longer be identified. The functionality of Google Chrome is not affected by this. You only need to apply UnChrome once.

Download UnChrome from here.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-11-24T07:19:00.003+05:30

Keyboard shortcuts always help us to speed up work, save time and it significantly improves productivity.

Microsoft has published important shortcut keys for Windows 7 that can help make your computer easier to use.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcut Keys complete lists

F-Secure Updater and Tuneup Utility (give feedback and win F-Secure Internet Security 2010)

2009-11-23T15:00:00.006+05:30

F-Secure recently launched a tool called F-Secure Updater and Tuneup that helps keep our system up-to-date and make it stay optimized by defragging the drive, checking the registry, etc.

Maintaining a computer can be a chore sometimes, especially if you're the kind of person that's always on the go. Keeping all the programs on a computer up-to-speed with the latest updates can be a hassle.

Periodically 'housecleaning' the system (like defragging the hard drive) in order to optimize performance is even less exciting.

This single tool can handle both these tasks. Updater and Tuneup is a Technology Preview program and can be used free till the end of January 2010.

F-Secure offering the following items as prizes (by lucky draw) to users who give feedback about F-Secure Updater and Tuneup : 5 boxes of F-Secure Internet Security 2010 and 15 VIP Cards for F-Secure Internet Security 2010 and F-Secure Mobile Security

Record Skype Conversation with iFree Recorder

2009-11-23T07:43:00.004+05:30

iFree recorder is a simple tool for recording (automatically/ manually) Skype voice conversations. You can use this freeware tool for recording Skype2Skype calls, SkypeOut/SkypeIn calls, and Conference calls.

iFree recorder works with Windows XP/Vista and 7 and you need Skpye installed on your computer.

Key Features of iFree recorder

- Automatic or manual recording capabilities.
- Choice to record different side - Skype2Skype calls, SkypeOut/SkypeIn.
- Store your calls to MP3 format (Using Lame MP3 Encoder).
- Easy to track record history.
- Built-in audio player.

Download iFree Recorder

Set Processor Affinity Automatically with Core Affinity Resident

2009-11-22T20:57:00.002+05:30

If you have a multi-core system (dual / quad core, etc), there is a great potential to increase the performance of applications, for example, assigning a single core or multiple cores to an application.

Although it is possible to manually modify the cores assigned to an application using the 'Task manager (core affinity), the freeware tool called Core Affinity Resident will automate this.

Core Affinity Resident is a portable tool. After executing the tool, left click on the tray icon, you will see all applications running in your system that are able to be reassigned to one or more cores.

Once your target application is selected, its core affinity will be shown. Now proceed to check or uncheck the desired cores and then push 'Save'.

Now your application will use only the cores you want to, and will remember your preferences in the future.

Download Core Affinity Resident (for Windows7, vista and XP)

Get Access to Linux Files From Windows

2009-11-21T07:33:00.005+05:30

Accessing Linux partition (Ext2/Ext3 file system) from Windows is not possible without special software. If you have installed both Windows and Linux as a dual boot on your computer, there may be many situations that you have need files stored on your Linux installation.

Previously we mentioned about a free tool called Paragon ExtBrowser, which lets you read, write, modify, create, and delete files and folders under Windows. Here is another freeware tool called DiskInternals Linux Reader that allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems from Windows and extract files from there.

DiskInternals Linux Reader provides for read-only access and does not allow you to make records in Ext2/Ext3 file system partitions. This guarantees that the interference in an alterative file system will not affect the work of Linux later.

Apart from this, it is necessary to note, that it gives you an opportunity to use common Windows Explorer for extracting data. A preview option for pictures is one more pleasant point, which is worth mentioning.

While saving, it ignores file security policies. It means that it is possible to access absolutely any file on a Linux disk from Windows. The program can create and open images of Ext2/Ext3 disks.

Download DiskInternals Linux Reader

Avira Switches to New Update System to Solve the Recent Update Issues

2009-11-20T21:39:00.003+05:30

Recently there have been a number of complaints about Avira anti-virus updating problems. Users of the free Avira AntiVir Personal had issues fetching the Updates in time because of the overloaded server.

To solve this issue Avira has changed the update scheme, they switched their current virus definition files (called iVDF) to a new format called nVDF.

iVDF consists of 4 VDF files, while nVDF uses at least 32 files - need to transfer less data for updating virus definitions.

Another change is using an additional Content Delivery Network (CDN) in order to redirect the update requests to servers close to the user’s location - Read More

Users of Free AntiVir Personl visit here to solve current issue.

Securely Delete Files and Folders with Blank And Secure

2009-11-20T07:49:00.004+05:30

Just deleting data by dragging and dropping into the recycle bin is not able to destroy it permanently. Anyone can recover it with special software.

Here is a tiny, portable tool for deleting data permanently from your hard disk. The free tool called ‘Blank And Secure’ overwrites the data with zeros before deleting it, so recovering became impossible.

Using Blank And Secure is very easy. Run the program, drag and drop files and folder into it. Select overwrite times (Overwrite the data X times with NULL), and click delete button, that’s all.

For a security reason, this type of tool is necessary. It allows users to completely remove sensitive data from their hard drive by overwriting it several times. Download Blank And Secure

Similar tools: 1). Eraser 2). Hard drive eraser.

Get Fast Video Converter PRO for Free (Till Nov 30, 2009)

2009-11-19T21:04:00.004+05:30

Fast Video Converter PRO is an all-in-one, easy to use video converter that lets you convert almost all video formats into any video formats.

With this tool you may easily get the specific video format watched on TV, played on portable media players, loaded to mobile phones, or put on websites, etc.

Fast Video Converter PRO supports video formats like AVI, ASF, AVC, DIVX, FLV, H264, MP4, MOV, MPEG1/2, OGG, RM, RMVB, VOB, WMV, XVID, 3GP, 3G2, etc., and also for creating fascinating photos from video files.

DVDFAST is providing "Fast Video Converter PRO" absolutely free, which normally sells for $24.95 as a holiday gift. This offer is valid till November 30, 2009.

Features includes:

Converts Videos between Popular Video Formats
Supports Batch Conversion
Extracts Audio From Video
Converts Multiform Videos to Portable Multimedia Devices
Fastest speed to convert video

Just visit this link http://www.dvdfast.net/gift/thanksgiving.php to get a free license key (for 10 PCs) and the download link. [via]