OpenOffice.Org 3.1 for Windows

OpenOffice.org 3.1 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

Great software

OpenOffice.org 3.1 is the result of over twenty years' software engineering. Designed from the start as a single piece of software, it has a consistency other products cannot match. A completely open development process means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software. The result: OpenOffice.org 3 does everything you want your office software to do, the way you want it to.

Easy to use

OpenOffice.org 3.1 is easy to learn, and if you're already using another office software package, you'll take to OpenOffice.org 3 straight away. Our world-wide native-language community means that OpenOffice.org 3 is probably available and supported in your own language. And if you already have files from another office package - OpenOffice.org 3 will probably read them with no difficulty.

And it's free

Best of all, OpenOffice.org 3.1 can be downloaded and used entirely free of any licence fees. OpenOffice.org 3 is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose - domestic, commercial, educational, public administration. You may install it on as many computers as you like. You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees - anyone you like.

File size: 155 MB (freeware)
Platform: All Windows

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Instant Memory Cleaner

If you need to free up system memory or if you think you do, but aren't sure this little tool will provide the help you need.

Instant Memory Cleaner provides an easy-to-use front-end interface for Microsoft's command-line ClearMem and FreeMem commands (for XP and Vista, respectively). This free download installs an icon to your system tray, and its color provides a handy clue about your system's memory use. For instance, when the icon is green, the system's free memory is more than 30 percent of the total physical memory; yellow means less is available; and red means its time for action.

We liked the informative small pane that opened when we clicked the tray icon. This pane displayed the megabytes of free physical memory and included a check box that verified whether Instant Memory Cleaner would launch at boot. Also included are buttons for launching a memory-cleaning session, opening Help, minimizing the pane, or exiting the utility. A final button opens a fresh pane (again, nicely designed) with details on current memory use, including megabytes of Total Physical Memory, megabytes of Memory in Use, and percentage of Memory in Use.

File size: 1.7 MB (freeware)
Platform: Windows XP/Vista

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Predator - Lock Your Computer Using USB Flash Drive

Predator is a freeware utility which allows you to lock and protect your computer using a USB Flash Drive. With PREDATOR, you can use the USB Flash Drive as a key to your computer’s lock. In order to unlock and use the PC, you would need the same USB Flash drive.

PREDATOR is a small utility which allows you to lock your computer using a USB Flash Drive. It is free to download. Predator even allows you to set a password which can be used in scenarios when you have forgotten your password.

In order to get started with protecting and locking your computer ( while you are away) using the USB Flash Drive, follow the steps below

1.) Download and install Predator

2.) Next, launch the program by navigating to Start Menu -> All Programs ->Predator. A dialog box will ask you to enter a password and to prepare a USB flash drive.

3.) Insert your USB drive and click OK to continue. Note: the current contents of your flash drive will be unchanged by this operation. Files on your USB drive will not be deleted nor modified in any way

4.) Next, a Preferences dialog is shown. Here you need to enter the password of your choice in the “New Password” field. You will use the password to unlock your session if you lose your USB key.

5.) Check that the drive letter displayed under “USB key drive” actually matches your flash drive or choose the correct letter from the dropdown list.

6.) Click the “Create key” button.

7.) Finally, click OK.

8.) The window closes and the software is now in operation. You can check this by looking at the padlock icon that flashes in the taskbar. After you have configured Predator and the USB Flash Drive by creating a key, you can continue to work on your PC as usual. Whenever, you wish to lock your PC and move away, just remove the USB Drive, once it is removed, the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. When you return back to your PC, you need to put the USB flash drive in place and keyboard and mouse are immediately released, and the display is restored.

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Not Just Browsing

Not Just Browsing is part of the "third generation" and is designed specifically to improve the usability of network content, and improve the way you access that content (the way you view it and organize it).

These are some of the most important characteristics:

* Collections of visited links.
* Various skins to personalize the graphic look.
* Multiple browsing via cascading windows.
* Unified references for stored content on both local nets and the Internet.
* Messaging encrypted by images.
* Add notes and comments to stored links.
* Share web addresses with other users.
* Block pop-ups.
* Possibility to have different start-up pages.
* Use it as a personal virtual library.

NOTE: For Not Just Browsing to work correctly, it needs Microsoft .NET Framework installed on your PC.

File size: 14.5 MB (freeware)
Platform: Windows All

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Defraggler

Defraggler is a disc defrag tool that´s different from the rest, as it lets you defrag specific files or hard drive areas that you want. There is no need to defrag the whole drive, which these days are usually very large and would take too long.

Defraggler is free and also easy to use. You only have to select the file you want, and you´ll have it defragged in seconds. Now you don´t have to fight anymore with the obsolete standard defrag tool from Windows.

Defragmenting your hard drive is typically considered good housekeeping to keep your computer running smooth. Today we take a look at Defraggler which is a free utility that allows you to defrag an entire drive or just individual files.

Installation is quick and easy following the installation wizard. You will be up and ready to roll in a few seconds.

When first starting up Defraggler you get an overview of the different drives on your computer. Before starting a defrag session you can click on the Analyze button and see the amount of fragmented space.

Under Help there is a legend so you can identify what the colored blocks represent.

The graphical display allows you to click on each fragmented section and see how many files are in that block.

Click on the Defrag button to start the defragmenting process. There is a graphical display to view the progress of the session.

Click on the File List tab to see exactly which files are fragmented. You can then select the specific files you want to defrag rather the entire drive.

In the Options section you can schedule when you want Defraggler to run.

There is the ability to skip files and folders as well. This is handy for skipping large multimedia files that can take up a lot of time.

Defraggler is developed by Piriform, the company that has brought us the trusted utilities Recuva and CCleaner. It will work with all versions of Windows from 2000 through Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit versions). If you are looking for a free utility to defrag your hard drive and want more options than the native Windows utility, Defraggler is worth a look.

File size: 809 KB (freeware)
Platform: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

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JAlbum

JAlbum makes web albums of your digital images and aims to be the easiest to use and most powerful tool in this category - and free!

With JAlbum you have full control of the look of the generated album, not just color theme and basic layout, still making an album is just a matter of drag and drop + a button click if you prefer to use one of the many existing looks.

JAlbum will make index pages, slide show pages and process your images and even upload the final album to the Internet for your friends to see.

Here are some key features of "JAlbum":

Easy to use User Interface:
· Explorer-like user interface. The order of the buttons left side reflect the workflow. You can easily manage your images, rotate, comment and arrange as you want.

Runs on many systems:
· Jalbum was developed in Java, therefore it runs on every operating system which is capable of running Java, including Windows (all versions), Mac OSX, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, OS2.

32 Languages:
· Jalbum most likely speaks your language - it comes with 32!

Skins - endless customization:
· Skins define the gallery look and functionality. Jalbum has 13 skins built-in with another 120 skins available for download. Add images with drag & drop
· Adding your images to Jalbum is simple: just drag and drop!

Add comments:
· Use the Comments button to add comments (which may even contain HTML formatting).

IPTC and EXIF support:
· Most Jalbum skins support IPTC and EXIF data to display in your web album. Look for special features, like integration with Google Maps & Earth.

Apply filters:
· Apply filters to your images, like Tint filter, Border, Grayscale, Watermark, Fixed shape, Logotype, Text, Blur, Sharpen, Zoom

Other Filetypes:
· Jalbum supports various types of files*, not just JPG images, and many skins also support movies and audio. * (avi mpg mpeg mpe mp4 mov wmv asf asx wvx 3gp divx xvid qt mp3 wma ram rm swf flv tiff psd zip arj sit rar xml pdf doc xls ppt mdb djvu djv odt ods odp odg odb)

Make album:
· When you are happy with the choice of skin, comments and other settings, simply hit the Make album button. Jalbum builds your album and prepares it for the web. Check the result with the Preview button.

Share straight from your computer:
· If you don't want to publish your album to the web, Jalbum has a built-in web server. Simply use the Sharing tool, which will make your album visible to others straight from your PC without the need to upload.

Publish to the web:
· Publishing your album to the web is easy; use your free Jalbum hosting account or any other provider. Your personal page: yourname.myjalbum.net
· With Jalbum's free hosting you get a unique url: yourname.myjalbum.net. Jalbum will create your account and upload your albums to your new web album page.

Upload the album:
· At the click of a button, Jalbum will upload your albums! The Smart upload option will only upload changed files.

Tell Jalbum community:
· If you would like to add your album to the jalbum.net community site, click the Tell the Jalbum community button. Your album will be added to your Albums page. If you want to notify your friends, click the Email your friends button.

Manage your albums:
· You can manage your albums - add new, delete, password protect - straight from Jalbum.
Your uploaded album:
· Voila... Your album is up and running.

Create your own skin:
· If you still haven't found what you were looking for, develop your own skin! Jalbum skins use a simple method

File size: 12.9 MB (freeware)
Platform: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

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