The VNC technology uses remote capabilities to control another computer over a network. Everything is seen/done in real time, so there is no lag time on applications, installations, etc. By using this type of technology, you can successfully manage your client accounts or interact between computers.

In order for the VNC to have a successful connection, it requires a setup on the server on your home computer, and a setup on the viewer that’s on the remote computer.

The steps to work with your computer using a VNC platform are:

1. Install the VNC server, and
2. Install the VNC client.

Both of these would need to be present and working on their respective ends for it to be successful.

Installing the VNC server

A comprehensive VNC server and client software that is effective to use is RealVNC. It allows for file transfers and uses your Windows passwords and usernames to authenticate the VNC server connection. Usually, the VNC server will be your host computer, the place where you will be retrieving and accessing the information that you’ll need.

Mac users can also access a free download to use that is very effective called OSXvnc. You simply download the software, install it and initiate a password. After this process has begun, you then start the server then to begin the connection.

Installing the VNC client

With your Windows installment, you can also download and install the RealVNC software, but make sure to start the viewer but not the server. Once that has finished downloading, you are ready to begin managing and using any computer.

Ideally, these basic steps will work in setting up this process. It may be necessary to tweak something, but that will just be to make things flow smoother. For instance, if you have a computer that has a slower network connection, “best” is the ideal compression setting which will give you a quicker connection response. It’s also a good idea to use a USB memory stick with a VNC viewer on it each time you remote access a computer so you don’t have to download and install it each time.

For this software, wireless mobile technology offers more beneficial features that will appeal to many people. The VNC technology is also available to use in a mobile device environment. The RealVNC software is platform independent and can be used anywhere. Users can use it to link their mobile devices or other smart devices to their cars and use it to manage files, transfer files and even troubleshoot any computer problems.

The VNC technology is a comprehensive and adaptable tool that is great for managing systems in any environment, whether that’s on a desktop or mobile, and doesn’t require any lengthy or complicated steps to get right into the process.

Olivia is a tech blogger for PsPrint, an online printing company specializing in high-quality printing services. Follow PsPrint on Twitter and Facebook

However, optimization apps can be dangerous for the everyday computer user. Some require careful decision-making before cleaning up because deleted files can mess up the registry or be something you need. Although you can do many of the cleaning activities yourself, they’re time consuming because you have to locate them in different places on your computer.

TuneUp Utilities 2012 brings everything together in one user-friendly interface. It also includes Economy and Turbo modes. Economy is for optimizing battery life and power consumption on laptops, so you can compute longer. Turbo speeds performance. Standard mode is how your computer performs without any adjustments.

The well-organized and clean TuneUp Utilities interface has five components:

• Status & recommendations: Optimize performance for hardware, software, Internet and visual effects, fix problems and change settings for undoing TuneUp Utilities changes.
• Optimize system: Disable programs not in use, remove unnecessary programs from startup, uninstall apps, managing Economy and Turbo modes and running individual maintenance tasks.
• Gain disk space:  Delete unneeded files, remove old backups, turn off unwanted Windows features, find the largest data files and delete data so it can’t be restored.
• Fix problems: Are icons showing up weird or is the taskbar invisible? Get help with fixing common programs, check hard disk for errors and restore deleted files. TuneUp Utilities has a detailed version of Windows Task Manager, the window that opens when you press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
• Customize Windows: Microsoft adds fancier features to Windows’ interface with every release. The older window interface was blocky, bland and hard on the eyes. The new looks cooler, but sacrifices performance and system resources. With TuneUp Utilities, you can find a happy medium between Windows performance and good looks.

Some apps like Adobe Reader quick launch, iTunesHelper and QuickBooks default to start up so they load faster or automatically check for updates. The apps may load faster, but they affect performance even if you rarely use them. It’s easy to find where to disable startup programs in TuneUp Utilities and it also provides more information than System Configuration Utility’s Startup options tab does. Besides, we always forget how to open it. (Click Start, Run and enter “msconfig.”)

You can also disable programs that you want to keep, but only enable them when you run the program. For example, QuickBooks Pro runs a process whenever Windows boots. Disabling the app turns off the process until you actually run QuickBooks. After closing QuickBooks, TuneUp Utilities 2012 turns it off.

To see how TuneUp Utilities 2012 affects performance, we use PC Mark, AppTimer and good old-fashioned manual tracking of program load times. The answer to the big question is no. The app doesn’t improve PC performance. The results are minimal despite our best efforts to replicate all tests before and after running TuneUp Utilities 2012. This isn’t a surprise because this is often the case with most optimization apps.

While we notice little performance improvements from running TuneUp Utilities 2012, its simplicity in providing access to all optimization features saves time and cuts clutter. It also makes solid recommendations for cleanup, an area of weakness with some optimization apps. Always take care when using any optimization software in checking recommendations before accepting them.

Have you used TuneUp Utilities or other computer optimization software? How did it work out for your computer? What do you like and don’t like about it?

Whether you’re on vacation or just around the corner, you never know when you might need to take a peek at a file stored on your home machine. If you’re in the market for a useful remote desktop tool, take a look at these feature-packed programs:

1. RealVNC: The Cross-Platform Solution

Once you install the VNC server portion of the RealVNC remote control solution on your desktop, you can control it from any other computer as long as both devices are connected to the Internet. The two computers don’t even have to run the same operating system! On the remote machine, you have the option of installing the VNC viewer software or using the browser-based Java viewer.

2. TeamViewer

In mere seconds, you can connect to any PC or server anywhere in the world through the power of the Internet. Control the remote machine just as easily as if you were physically sitting in front of the keyboard.

3. Mikogo

This is a great, easy-to-use remote desktop tool that allows both private users and businesses to set up online meetings, web conferences, and remote support sessions. With this tool, help is just a click away.

4. Remobo

This remote desktop tool was designed with security in mind. As you connect to the remote machine, an Instant Private Network (IPN) is established to make sure that no one is listening in as you access sensitive information across the Web. This is a perfect solution if your work or personal machine includes any data that should be protected.

5. Ammyy Admin

With no need for pesky installation or configuration, the Ammyy Admin remote access tool allows its users to offer help from a distance to anyone with an Internet connection. This tool is both reliable and user-friendly. If you need a way to offer remote assistance or remote teaching, this could be the perfect solution.

6. Windows Remote Desktop

Use this software tool to connect to your desktop using a standard Internet connection from just about any device. From any computer, Smartphone, or Netbook, you can use Windows Remote Desktop to control the mouse and keyboard while viewing everything that is displayed on the monitor.

7. LogMeIn Free

As long as your PC or Mac desktop has an active Internet connection, you can use LogMeIn Free to control it from anywhere in the world with another online device. View the screen, run a program, or open a file just as easily as if you were sitting at the keyboard. There’s nothing you can’t do from across town, or around the world, with LogMeIn Free.

Once you try a remote desktop tool, you’ll be amazed at how light and carefree your life becomes!

Sonia Tracy is the content editor for PsPrint and editor of PsPrint Printing and Design Blog. PsPrint is an online printing company, which you can follow on Twitter and Facebook.

Once upon a time, we didn’t always connect to the online world. We didn’t have to worry about the network going down because all of our emails and apps were available on our computers.

With more people signing up for web-based email services like Gmail, not having 24/7 Internet access turns into a problem. Google has come up with a solution for its Gmail users with Offline Google Mail. The app syncs with your device so that you can read your messages and write emails when not connected to the Internet .

Offline Google Mail, like its name, only works with Gmail. Considering it’s a Google product, it only works with Chrome, Google’s browser. (An earlier version used to work with Internet Explorer and Firefox 3.x, but that has since gone away.) When going offline, you can read, write and search emails as if you were online. The only difference is that new messages won’t come in and you won’t be able to send any until you reconnect to the Internet.

Going offline won’t be exactly like using Gmail especially since some Gmail features aren’t available in Offline Gmail. For example, when you compose a message, it looks like Offline Gmail doesn’t add your signature when it will show up in the sent message. While offline, you also won’t be able to download some file types, use some keyboard shortcuts or modify importance markers.

You can customize what Offline Gmail syncs with your device based on attachment size, date and labels. The more messages you sync, the more it affects Gmail’s performance.

Using Offline Gmail should be seamless. If you’re in Gmail while connected and lose your connection, Gmail switches to Offline Gmail. It should do the same when you reconnect. Because it’s in beta, Offline Gmail doesn’t always work as expected.

Glitches include the disappearance of offline messages and the inability to view images in emails. A more serious issue is that it can lose messages that you write offline. That’s lost time spent in drafting a message.

Another offline option — especially those who don’t use Chrome — is to sync Google Mail with a stand-alone email app like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird through IMAP. You must run the email app to ensure your email app has the latest Gmail messages. Thus, when you lose connection, you may not have the latest messages.

Glitches aside, Offline Gmail does what you expect in that it syncs messages with your device and switches you to offline email when you lose your Internet connection. It will sync your messages as long as you have Chrome open. You don’t need to have Gmail or Offline Google Mail open for synchronization.

Offline Google Mail offers a viable yet imperfect option for those who rely on Gmail and need a way to manage email while offline.

How do you manage your emails when offline? Or do you just wait until you’re connected to the Internet or access Gmail on your smartphone?

Local Network Drive

Another option is backing up to a local external hard drive. (These are also known as network attached storage or a personal cloud storage drive.) This keeps your data off the Internet cloud and the only time you can’t access it is during a power outage. Some external drives work with your network so you can sync with it through your private and secure Wi-Fi connection. If the Wi-Fi goes down, you won’t be able to access the drive.

The only thing this drive would contain is your data from applications. It won’t have applications, registries or any of the little things involved in running a computer. Your data remains safe on the external hard drive regardless if your computer breaks, catches fire, becomes flooded or gets a virus or malware.

However, what if the external drive and the computer live in the same house or building and something happens? The data is lost. One more option is to buy a fire-safe waterproof data storage safe. This removes concerns of losing data to fire and water. But, can it handle tornadoes and hurricanes?

Go Local … and Cloud

For the best chance of keeping your data safe and accessible, do both. This means saving computer data to an external drive and to the cloud. A local storage drive is a one-time purchase that costs less than $200. Rates for cloud services depend on the service provider, type of service and the amount of data backed up. It can easily cost less than $10 per month for a typical user

If you choose to go with the local drive and cloud option, here are simple steps to making it work. Before moving forward, research and buy a storage drive and select a cloud service.

1. Install the external drive to the network per manufacturer’s instructions.
2. Connect to the external drive through your computer’s file explorer. (The external hard drive instructions should explain this step.)
3. Select the files to backup to the external drive using software that comes with the external hard drive, or use Bart from Zhorn Software.
4. Schedule backups using the external hard drive or other software. (Another option is to search for “windows schedule tasks” for help with scheduling a task in Windows.)
5. Follow the cloud service’s directions for installing, selecting files and running backups on the cloud service.

If you schedule both external drive and cloud backups, you won’t need to remember to do it. The only time you may need to change is when you add data on your hard drive that neither back up. In this case, update the apps to add the new data for backing up. Furthermore, you may receive large files that you don’t need to backup, you can tell the apps to skip backing up those files.

How do you back up your data? What apps do you use?

All of these applications are free, with some having paid upgrades available. They won’t tease you by promising they’ll find all the problems, but will only fix them if you pay up.

Other applications work well, but who has time to search, download and try software? If you go with the apps on this list, you’re done and your computer stays protected.

1. Microsoft Security Essentials

Some people avoid using Microsoft apps because of feature and system bloat. Ironically, other anti-virus apps have bloating problems, but this one is worth considering and it doesn’t have the bloat problems others have.

An IT manager reported that Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) caught a virus before another popular application did. Because the tech giant has many resources at its disposal, Microsoft can get a lead on security problems before many others. In addition to catching viruses, MSE defends your computer against malware, spyware and other badware.

2. Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes removes all forms of malware, including viruses, Trojans, spyware, adware and rootkits. Why recommend another security app when MSE also catches the same things? The truth is that it’s impossible for any single app to catch everything and quickly.

Having two solid applications protecting your computer should do it. Moreover, these two run together without any conflicts. The free version requires you to update and run the application to scan your computer. The paid version runs in real-time that constantly watches for threats.

3. WinPatrol

MSE and Malwarebytes react when something bad comes in. Scottie, WinPatrol’s watchdog, barks when something tries to change to your computer’s settings. Non-critical apps like QuickTime, iTunes and Adobe Acrobat typically run every time you reboot or turn on your computer. These use unneeded system resources.

WinPatrol shows the details for each app that runs on startup. The paid version of WinPatrol provides more information about the startup program so you can decide if you need it or not. Scottie also watches for Browser Helper Objects (BHOs), scheduled tasks, malicious Windows Services, hidden files, active tasks.

4. CCleaner

Every time you open an attachment from an email, it adds another item to your temporary folder even if you save it elsewhere. Not everyone remembers to clean the temp folder, recycle bin, Internet cache, download history and other spots.

Your computer can do all the things CCleaner does, but CCleaner gives you everything in one package so you don’t have to open each application or utility to empty the garbage. All you need to remember is to run it on a regular basis.

CCleaner wipes browser temp files, history and cookies. It sheds recent file lists, log files, dead registry items and other holdovers from different applications. It scrubs the registry for unused entries such as file extensions, outdated shortcuts and invalid paths.

These four apps have been around for a long time and do a good job ensuring your computer stays lean and clean. All work with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

What other apps do you recommend? What are your essential apps for keeping your PC clean and safe?

Nitro PDF Pro v6 Illustrated & Product Marketing Message - Credit: NitroPDF.com

This is a review of Nitro PDF Professional, version 6 — from Nitro PDF, Inc. The software is intended to enable the user to create .pdf files, convert other formats to .pdf, edit those files, secure them, combine multiple documents into a single .pdf file, enable form-fill options, and more according to the company’s website.

Disclaimer: When I review products I like readers to know how I got my hands on them so they know about any potential conflicts of interest. In this case I personally purchased a copy of Nitro PDF Pro v6. The review was not requested by the company itself. And while I was compensated by my client — the owner of this website — to write this review, Nitro PDF in no way compensated me or my client. This review like all reviews at Gadget Advisor is based on honest experiences and opinions.

Summary:

I tested the trial version of Nitro PDF approximately two years ago and I loved it. But at that time I wasn’t publishing enough .pdf files to justify the purchase. Now I write and publish white papers for clients. I’m the author of numerous e-books which I publish in .pdf format. And I frequently create and distribute .pdf forms, templates, and worksheets for visitors of the sites I run.

I decided it was time to purchase new .pdf editing and creation software. I was extremely excited about purchasing Nitro PDF. They claim to be a “complete Adobe Acrobat replacement.” And while I’m not one to believe marketing hype on the surface due to my own marketing and PR background, I still had high hopes for the software. Unfortunately it failed to meet my expectations from the very first test.

Here are some specific observations and comments based on my testing of the software and my interaction with the company’s support team.

Highlights:

1. Word Conversions

The Microsoft Word .pdf conversion buttons / toolbar work like a charm for me every time. I should note however that I disliked the UI of Word’s versions 2007 and 2010 enough that I’ve chosen to stick with 2003 for the time being. So I cannot speak to the conversion capability with newer versions of Word.

2. Opening .pdf Files

I had no problem opening any .pdf file from any source. That included files I created myself — very simple e-books to heavily formatted white papers and reports — as well as e-books, reports, and forms downloaded from independent third party sources.

3. Form Fill

The form fill feature worked as intended when I tested it with a .pdf form from the IRS website (IRS.gov).

4. Document Combinations

I was impressed with how Nitro PDF handled combining multiple documents. I like to use Word when writing e-books, but sometimes you need drastically different formatting for different sections of the document and Word doesn’t always make that as simple as it could (such as a title page, table of contents, and the body of the e-book). The software combined them flawlessly into a single .pdf version.

Drawbacks:

1. “Save As”

The “save as” option was not visible by default. I consider that a drawback because if an average user doesn’t know to go digging in settings to add the button, they may be forced to accidentally save over a file when they really wanted to save it under a different name. For example, I tested the form fill feature with the IRS’ W-9 form. Without the “save as” option it saves over the empty form when you likely would want to keep a copy of that empty form in your system.

2. Slow Loading

When selecting sections of the document to edit, the program “hangs up” for a few seconds as though there’s a delay in processing your command. It’s a bit annoying, but hardly a deal-breaker. You just have to remind yourself to be patient each time so you don’t freak out, thinking your system just froze on you (because that’s what it mimics).

3. Data Deletion

Now here is a deal-breaker for me. When you target business customers (which anything labeled “professional” does by its very definition), you know you’re dealing with potentially sensitive and / or valuable information. So when you provide software with a main function of editing those business documents, I think as a customer you have the right to expect the program not to “eat” your file contents or your edits. And maybe it’s just me, but I consider a program’s “undo” function to be incredibly basic and heavily-used. Yet there is a major flaw in the “undo” function of this version of Nitro PDF.

When editing a line of text, let’s say you make a mistake and you hit the “undo” button. It should reverse the last action you took. That is not the case with this software. In my case hitting “undo” deleted the entire line of content, except for the first letter. This was also the very first thing I tested with the software, so imagine my surprise to find that once it removed my material, there was no way to get it back. (And no, hitting “redo” or the “undo” button again didn’t help — then it just beeps at you.)

Demonstration of deleted content line after using Nitro PDF "undo" function.

Fine. I figured it was a good opportunity to test Nitro PDF’s support for the review. I submitted the issue online. To their credit, I heard back via email in less than 24 hours and the technical support rep was a pleasant fellow. However, the company’s response to the issue of their software destroying customer data was in no way pleasant.

I sent a copy of my original file as well as a screenshot showing the problem to their tech support people. They were able to replicate the problem quickly and confirm that it was a bug within the software. Fine. “So fix it and let me know when you have a patch,” I thought. Well, no….The response instead was that they didn’t have time to fix the problem before the next release for this version of the software. And therefore it would “probably” (yes, not even definite that they would fix it then) be included in the next major release — version 7.

So here’s what that amounts to: customers using this version of the software have to deal with the “undo” feature removing lines of content and that data being irrecoverable. If you want to have software that works without destroying your business documents, you can pay for Version 7 months down the line when it’s released.

Um, no. You do not inform customers that they need to buy another version of your software if they want extremely basic functions to operate properly and not destroy business files. And I told them as much. I don’t care what your excuse is. If you find out it’s happening, you fix it — even if it means delaying a minor release. We aren’t talking about feature requests here. We’re talking major problems with a very basic function of the software.

Just for the record, I also tested and confirmed the bug on numerous .pdf files — different sizes, formats, and sources to make sure it wasn’t just an issue with my own conversions. The problem happened in more than 60% of the documents checked. That’s significant enough to warrant a more legitimate response from their QA Manager or programmers.

But wait. It gets better. I let the support rep know that was an unacceptable response, and asked for confirmation one last time before writing the review. Their grand solution? Just close your file without saving it and your “eaten” data will magically appear again. The problem with that response Einsteins is that closing without saving also means you lose any edits you made to other lines (or the line that was deleted). As an independent publisher and business writer, I write a heck of a lot. And I can tell you that most people do not save documents after every single line they edit. So any way you cut it, this version of Nitro PDF may cause you to lose potentially important data if you dare to use the “undo” function.

At this point I gave up trying to be reasonable with the support rep who clearly didn’t fully understand the implications of this problem (you know — costing more money to complete projects when edits might have to be completed multiple times or losing potentially sensitive business data). So I tweeted about it. I have a reasonable network in the writing and small business community — people who very frequently use .pdf documents for e-publishing, reports, and more. I shared my dissatisfaction to put it mildly.

Then I thought Nitro PDF reps were back on their game briefly. Whoever manages their Twitter account got in touch on the site and assured me they would speak to the development and support folks about the problem. Days have gone by and I haven’t yet received any kind of response. (Is it maybe too much to expect to hear at least something when a company tells you they’ll look deeper into a problem?)

It’s possible I still might. It’s possible they’ll pull their heads out of you-know-where and think about how serious an issue like this is for current users and not just those who might use the software months down the line. But for me, my patience is wearing thin very quickly. I need software that works now. I would have been more than happy just to hear that they were working on it and they’d roll out a patch in the foreseeable future. But no. That’s not what happened. And that makes me question whether or not I could trust the company enough to even want to use them when the new version is released. I’ve already seen how highly they “value” users’ data. And I’m not impressed.

Conclusion

I would love to tell you that I recommend Nitro PDF. I used to! But now I’m sorry to say that I cannot. I wish I knew of a worthwhile alternative to point you to, but sadly I’m back on that hunt now myself. After all, I have publishing projects in the works, and they won’t wait for months. I really wanted to like this software. I was excited when it arrived, and I couldn’t wait to begin using it on the series of e-books and reports I plan to release. Unfortunately what might seem like a minor issue to some is too significant for me to overlook. Then again, I guess the last straw was really how they dealt with the issue, and not the bug itself.

As with everything, make up your own minds. You might luck out and never have this issue. You might not have to deal with support. Or who knows? Maybe you never do anything that you want to “undo” anyway. If so, go for it. There’s no harm in at least testing out their free trial. Most of the features worked exactly as described. I just wish I could trust the software enough to be willing to continue using it. Maybe if they eventually care enough to get it patched. We’ll have to wait and see.

The very first version of the Rome Reborn product went under construction 10 years ago, and the task was finally finished last year. Included in it were 250 highly detailed structures, and a total of over 7,000 structures in all. They used a 1:250 scale model of Rome that took forty years to create (from 1933 to 1973). This smaller scale Rome was actually constructed out of Plaster of Paris. Using laser scanners they scanned the Plaster of Paris model and created the virtual model. The original use of this model was to be utilized in a theater at UCLA. Since last year the Rome Reborn Project has seen many faces, it’s most recent being Rome Reborn 2.0 which improved the detail significantly. Google then joined in and offered to include Rome Reborn in Google Earth.

With Rome Reborn in Google Earth, it’s the equivalent of an virtual time machine, which can be used to study the history of Rome and other great cities of the world. If you currently have Google Earth (any version), you can enjoy touring ancient Rome. Not only can you navigate around the structures, but you can also go in them, and enter areas like the Colosseum and even the Roman Senate. With more time, more information will be added researches believe. They also hope that by pioneering this research into the past – other researchers will catch some inspiration and create 3D models of other forgotten cities.

User interface Features

User interface features affect nearly every user.  While it is not the most important part of an OS, user interface features often go a long way towards the impression of an OS, and will likely draw many comparisons to other Microsoft operating systems.  Windows 7 comes with a stylish end-user interface. You can expect icons to respond with quick animated movements, which is done to enhance the user experience. So far, compliments for the speed and ease of use of the user interface have been dominant for the new OS.

The desktop is clearly much cleaner and better organized, and comes with docking options that are similar to the Mac’s OS.  New applications and improvements to existing applications have been added as well. For example, you will find the calculator to be much improved and more powerful. It supports real life conversions and calculations, like weight and length converters.

If you are in the habit of placing sticky notes all over your monitor and work area, you will surely welcome the new stick notes application that comes with the desktop. You can stick as many virtual notes on your desktop, and delete them as you work. Now your workstation will certainly look cleaner and more organized. You are also saving trees by using less paper!

A new version of Windows Media Center will also launch with this release. New gadgets are being integrated into the Media Center and Windows Explorer. Gadgets are standalone applications that sit on the desktop (some are hosted on another server). There are web gadgets, sidebar gadgets, and sideshow gadgets (run on external displays).

System Performance Features

Windows 7 now offers support for virtual hard disks and boasts improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, improved SSD support and performance, and improved kernel performance.  Obviously, performance is a key goal for Windows 7.  With the current pre-release version, even at an unfinished state, it appears that Microsoft is doing extremely well in achieving this goal.  The pre-release version tested is remarkably stable and offers noticeably better performance than Windows XP with the latest hardware.

If you visit the control panel, you will find that many new items are added, including Accelerators, Display Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, and more. Windows Security Center is now known as Windows Solution Center, and it is responsible for maintaining the security of the system.

Unique Features

The touch screen feature is a new and unique feature that enables many interesting touch applications. For instance, you can have a touch app that works exactly like a keyboard. This means you can type an entire document without the use of an additional piece of hardware. You can also use this feature to play the piano or do a painting. The feature is something that has not been previously available in earlier versions of the Microsoft OS.

Other unique features include speech and hand writing recognition. Hand writing recognition technology can help convert human handwriting into digital text.

Developer Features

Developers can look forward to using a new networking API to develop SOAP based web services in native (or machine) code. There are also new features that reduce application install times. Development of installation packages is simplified in the new OS as well.
 

Still in beta, Google’s "Chrome" has attracted less than 2% of the Internet browser market at its peak, but Google engineers are working to enhance the software to make it more appealing and useful to its users. One very popular idea for improving Chrome is the addition of an extension system, which will enable third-party developers to produce plugins for any number of add-on features, ranging from browser enhancements to RSS readers, calendar/reminder extensions, etc.Chrome users can then install the plugins to complete tasks that Google did not integrate into the web browser.

Mozilla Firefox, a browser that holds the record for the most downloads in a single day, has the ability to integrate third-party plugins, which has been perhaps the greatest factor in achieving its 20% web browser market share.

One of Google’s developers made the announcement that Google is looking into integrating third-party browser plugins for Chrome. They also released a design document that provided an outline for what needed to be done in order to add plugin support.  This functionality is certainly at the top of the wishlist for most Chrome users, and Google seems to be working on providing the support as quickly as possible.  The first plugins planned for integration include Flash and an ad blocker (ironic), which are some of the more popular plugins for Mozilla Firefox.

Unfortunately, Google has yet to announce when this implementation will be complete, but at least we know that they plan on offering extension support in the near future.
 

CyberLink PowerCinema 6

With Schedules Recording and Time-Shift Playback, PowerCinema 6 turns your computer into a personal television recorder, which frees users from the chains of regular television.  The software offers support for MPEG-4 AVC hi-def video.  Multiple subtitles and audio tracks can also be recorded, which enables you to change the language while watching recorded television.

PowerCinema 6 also comes loaded with a number of new usability features. The Entertainment Interface categorizes your media, including Entertainment which would be DVDs, music, radio, TV and Memories that consists of videos and photos. It also automatically detects the size of your screen and sets video display to either 4:3 playback or widescreen. With color-coded hotkeys, you can easily navigate your way to key features of the software. You can use these color keys either on the screen or by separately purchasing the Cyberlink Remote Control. You have the option to Quick Review your recent photos/videos/music, and PowerCinema 6 also enables you to select a group of files to play or edit.

PowerCinema 6 provides quick access to your favorite audio as well. You can easily locate your music using Quick Music Search, which uses meta data information to find the desired track. Power Cinema 6 supports MP3, WAV, WMA, and Audio CD (CDA) formats.

The audio and video is high quality, though.  Since Google Talk’s video traffic goes through Google servers, it’s expected to be more consistent as far as the connection then Skype since Google has endless bandwidth and server space. If you’re using an older computer, the PC may suffer poor performance during usage since the application utilizes a lot of resources.  There are no such issues with any recent system, however.

Straying from the path of other video chat products, Google Voice and Video uses a proprietary plug-in instead of Flash. A miniscule download of 2MB supports Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google’s own Chrome on a PC as well as Firefox on a Mac.  Details have not yet been released on support for other platforms, such as Linux, but ports for them may come later. Google Video and Voice made its official public debut at midday on Tuesday, November 18th. Now that Google provides Voice and Video, users have access to a vast array of tools with one login, including email, voice, chat, and soon even SMS. If Google ties in Youtube and Google Docs better in the future, the Google account will be nearly unstoppable.

Google’s Voice and Video is quite simple to use.  When the option is available, a "Video & More" button is shown in the chat messaging window.  Once selected, the plug-in will be installed and immediately accessible for video calls with friends.

AutoImager

With over 150 configurable command-line options, it’s easy to create batch files to automate routine image editing/conversion tasks. You can run the software on a schedule and leave the routine image processing tasks to AutoImager. Entire in-house imaging procedures can also be automated with ease, utilizing the command-line support provided.

Download AutoImager Here
 

Joe Tex from Shareware Junkies has written a review for AutoImager that gives newcomers an idea of what to expect.

"The installation of AutoImager is easy and intuitive, you can place the program files where you want them. The first time you run AutoImager you are informed that you have 15 days to try AutoImager before you must purchase it. Fair enough.

First of all I want you to take a look at this:

Pretty neat, huh? As you can see AutoImager is "Batch are Us" IPlus you can also tell from the screenshot that not only can you process a whole bunch of images at once, you can preview the effects. Take a look at the bottom part of the Screenshot, there you see in the "Apply Filters" section all of the filter effects you can apply. Nice stuff.

Batch Image/Photo Editing Operations:

Add Noise, Anti-Alias, Auto-Trim, Average Bending, Border Remove, Brightness, Buttonize, Color ResolutionColored Gray, Contour, Contrast Crop, Cylindrical, Deskew, Despeckle Dilate, Dot Remove, DPI Resolution, Edge Detector Emboss, Erode, Etch, Flip Gamma Correct, Gaussian Blur, Glow, Gradient Grayscale, Half-Tone, HistoContrast, Hole Punch Remove Hue, Impressionist, Intensity Detect, Invert Invert Text, Laplacian, Line Remove, Line Segment Max Filter, Median, Min Filter, Mirror Mosaic, Motion Blur, Multiply, Oilify Old Photo, Pixelate, Polar, Posterize Prewitt, Punch, Radial Wave, Resample Resize, Ripple, Rotate, Saturation Sharpen, Shear, Smooth, Sobel Solarize, Spherize, Stretch Intensity, Swirl Underlay, Unsharp Mask, Waggle, Wave Wave Shear, Wind, Zoom Blur, Zoom Wave and more!

You can work with and do conversions on these file types AFP, ANI, AWD, BMP, CAL, CGM, CLP, CMP, CMX, CUR, CUT, DGN, DIB, DRW, DWF, DWG, DXF, DWG, EMF, EPS, EXIF, FAX, FLI, FLC, FPX, GBR, GEM, GIF, ICA, ICO, IFF, IMG, ITG, J2K, JBIG, JIF, JPEG, JTF, LBM, MAC, MDA, MPG, MSP, PBM, PCD, PCT, PCX, PDF, PGM, PNM, PPM, PSD, PLT, PLT2, PBM, PCL, PDF, PNG, PTK, RAS, SCT, SGI, SHP, SMP, SUN, SVG, TIFF, TGA, XBM, XPM, XWD, WBMP, WFX, WMF, WPG, and more!

Well if you got this far you are probabaly drooling in delight with how much work AutoImager is going to save you. Plus I’m sure that you are thinking of the things that with AutoImager you can do that you didn’t even think possible before.

Run don’t walk to get AutoImager!"

Graphics

IrfanView

IrfanView is a free, small, and fast image viewer that can handle virtually any image file format (some require additional plugins). It offers an arsenal of image manipulation features (crop, resize, color adjustment, etc.), as well as a multitude of special features usually found only in expensive packages. There are too many to list here, but some of the best features include complete effects (sharpen, blur, etc.), paint capabilities (draw on images), desktop/window capturing, thumbnail viewer/creator, multimedia player, batch conversion (optional image processing), support for Adobe Photoshop filters, and many plugins available to add even more features.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Irfan Skiljan

Internet

AI RoboForm Pro

AI RoboForm is a powerful, yet easy to use password manager and web form filler that automates password management and form filling. It can save passwords, log in to sites automatically, fill long registration and purchase forms with a single click, encrypt passwords for security, generate random passwords, and much more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $29.95 (Free Version Also Available)
• Developer: Siber Systems, Inc.

CuteFTP

CuteFTP is an intuitive application for transferring files between a PC and remote server via the FTP protocol. Features include an easy-to-use interface, connection wizard, automatic-transfer-resume functionality, Turbo Transfer, transfer queue, built-in HTML editor, advanced search capabilities, backup for a local machine to a remote server, directory comparison, custom commands, firewall and proxy support, path bookmarks, and filtered listings.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $39.99
• Developer: GlobalSCAPE

FeedDemon

FeedDemon is a free, easy-to-use RSS feed reader that makes it quick and convenient to stay up-to-date with the latest news and information. The software is highly customizable, including the way feeds are organized and displayed. Custom news watches based on keywords can be setup, and podcasts can be easily transferred to portable audio devices.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: NewsGator

Group Mail Business Edition

Group Mail Business Edition is a feature-rich, powerful, and flexible email marketing application that allows users to send bulk email with ease. Options are provided to ensure rapid mailing as well as address validation, group merging and purging, backup, Habeas support, and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $349.95
• Developer: Infacta Ltd

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox has now become established as an exceptional web browser. Due primarily to its extension capabilities, we highly recommend use of Firefox. In addition to the comprehensive extension support, Firefox also offers fast browsing, browser tabs, pop-up blocking, advanced privacy and security, smart searching, and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Mozilla

Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail, newsgroup, and RSS feed client that offers a simple solution for online communication and information retrieval. The software is also highly customizable and expandable via a massive collection of available extensions.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Mozilla

MozyPro

MozyPro is a software/service combination that provides secure, enterprise-level online backup via a highly customizable, powerful, yet easy to use software application.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price:USD $3.95 + $0.50/GB Monthly
• Developer: Mozy, Inc.

NewsBin Pro

NewsBin is a multi-threaded news robot that automatically downloads and decodes binary posts from Usenet newsgroups. The software takes full advantage of high-bandwidth Internet connections with multiple, simultaneous connections to news server(s). NewsBin offers resume functionality to recover from lost connections. It can also reassemble multi-part posts across multiple servers and provides a thumbnail display when downloading images. Additional features available include Internet and local search, built-in RAR file handling, SSL support, NZB message ID file support, and advanced connection management. The settings are a bit daunting, but once configured, it provides the very best solution for binary newsgroup access.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $35.00
• Developer: DJI Interprises, LLC

PocoMail

PocoMail is a powerful email client that offers many useful features, such as strong spam filtering, flexible message editing, and ultra-fast search capabilities. PocoMail’s greatest strengths are PocoScript, the advanced filtering capabilities, events, and Message Templates. PocoScript allows for pre- and post-processing incoming and outgoing mail in virtually any way imaginable. It also store a message in a temporary file for processing by an external application, and notify upon completion. Filtering allows messages to be processing in many different ways based on any defined criteria, such as directed into different folders based on the recipient email address. Message Templates are pre-defined blocks of text that can be quickly and easily inserted into messages via a context menu or hotkey, which is very useful when you have to reply to the same questions a lot of send repetitive bits of information. The text inserted can be customized before sending, of course, to more closely fit any particular case.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $39.95
• Developer: Poco Systems, Inc.

Trillian Pro

Trillian is a full-featured, skinnable IM client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, IRC, and Jabber/GTalk (via a plugin). It offers features that are not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard capabilities, such as file transfers, audio chat, group chat, chat rooms, buddy icons, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, tabbed chatting, system-tray notifications and alerts, and privacy settings.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $25.00 (Free Version Also Available)
• Developer: Cerulean Studios

Multimedia

AnyDVD

AnyDVD is a Microsoft Windows driver that provides decryption of DVDs on-the-fly, as well as targeted removal of copy prevention and UOP. AnyDVD runs in the background, making discs unrestricted and region-free. In addition to removing digital restrictions, AnyDVD also handles Macrovision analog copy prevention.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: EUR €49.00
• Developer: SlySoft

Blaze Media Pro

Blaze Media Pro is a powerful all-in-one audio and video converter for CD, MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, WMV, MOV, Flash (SWF and FLV), iPod, PSP, 3GP, etc.; editor; recorder; CD/DVD ripper; audio, video, data CD/DVD burner for DVD, VCD, and SVCD; and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $50.00
• Developer: Mystik Media

ChrisTV PVR Professional

ChrisTV PVR Professional is a highly configurable TV/video capture and PVR application that provides high quality image and sound output. The software supports all TV cards based on the BT8x8, Philips SAA713x, and Conexant CX2388x chipsets as well as TV cards with MPEG hardware encoder functionality. A few of the supported devices include the Hauppauge PVR series, Leadtek PVR2000, and ATI TV Wonder cards, and it also works with Web cams and graphic cards. Features include multi-tuner support, time-shifting, advanced recording settings, advanced scheduler, recording profiles, FM radio support, channel autoscan and fine tuning, support for the DScaler deinterlace DirectShow filter, and zoom functionality. ChrisTV can also broadcast your favorite TV shows, movies, and radio stations to friends through local networks and the Internet. ChrisTV supports MPEG-1/2 and AVI recording (using any audio/video codecs).

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $49.95
• Developer: Chris P.C. srl.

Replay Media Catcher

Replay Media Catcher is a streaming video and audio/music downloader that allows users to easily download virtually any type of online video, including YouTube video. It can also capture streaming MP3 files, automatically name and tag songs and video files, edit and change MP3 tags, extract MP3 tracks from FLV video files, and more. Recording can be performed with a single click.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $39.95
• Developer: Applian Technologies, Inc.

Replay Video Capture

Replay Video Capture is an easy-to-use screen capture application that creates high-quality videos from anything you can see on your PC screen, including website content, any streaming video protocol, DVDs, Webcam sites, PowerPoint presentations, Skype video conversations, video chat sessions, and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $39.95
• Developer: Applian Technologies, Inc.

TMPGEnc Xpress

TMPGEnc XPress offers video conversion for many formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, AVI, QuickTime, MPEG 4-ISO, H.264, DVD-Video, DVD-VR, HDV camcorder, and Blu-ray discs. The powerful software provides features for cutting and extracting video selections as well as video filtering and effects. TMPGEnc XPress will also be among the first video encoders to utilize GPU acceleration.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $99.95
• Developer: Pegasys, Inc.

Productivity

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is an open source productivity suite that serves as a replacement for Microsoft Office. It contains the same basic feature-set, but saves you hundreds of dollars since it is free. With that being said, OpenOffice.org does not include the grammar checking, macros, and a replacement for Microsoft Outlook. However, it does offer PDF output, Writer macros (Writer’s own macro and scripting feature), smaller file size documents than Microsoft Office, and simplicity. The suite includes Writer (replacement for Word), Calc (replacement for Excel), Impress (replacement for PowerPoint), Base (replacement for Access), Draw (replacement for Visio), and Math (replacement for Equation Editor).

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Sun Microsystems

Utilities

Autoruns

AutoRuns displays the programs that are configured to run during system bootup or login. These programs include those in the startup folder, Services, Run, RunOnce, and other registry keys. Users can highlight a startup item and click the "jump to" button to launch Regedit at the location the selected entry is specified. In addition to startup programs, Autoruns also displays a list of Services, scheduled tasks, Winsock providers, Internet Explorer BHOs, and more that can all be enabled/disabled with ease. 32-bit and 64-bit versions are both available.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Microsoft Corporation

CCleaner

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy, and cleaning tool that removes unused files from your system, which allowing Windows to run faster and frees up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities, such as Internet history. Additionally, it contains a full-featured registry cleaner. The tool is fast and easy to use.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Piriform, Ltd.

CPU-Z

CPU-Z is a handy tool that provides quick, convenient access to a load of information about your system. Information available includes CPU details (name and model, core stepping and process, package, core voltage, internal and external clocks and clock multiplier, supported instruction sets, cache information), motherboard details (vendor, model, and revision, BIOS model and date, northbridge and southbridge chipset and sensor, graphic interface), memory (frequency and timings, module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect): vendor, serial number, timings table), system (Windows and DirectX versions), and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: CPUID

Dependency Walker

Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, scr, sys, etc.) and displays all of its dependent modules. For each dependency located, the application lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more. Dependency Walker is very useful for troubleshooting applications that will not start or system errors related to loading and executing modules. Dependency Walker detects many common application problems such as missing DLLs, invalid modules, import/export mismatches, etc.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Steve P. Miller

Directory Opus

Directory Opus (DOpus) is an extremely powerful and highly customizable file manager application that features single or dual-panel display, folder tree (either shared or two separate for dual-display), tabbed explorer panels, built-in ZIP and RAR processing (browse files as if they were folders), built-in FTP support (can be browsed in the same fashion as local folders), built-in image viewer, comprehensive file selection and renaming tools (with advanced regex support), configurable toolbars, menus, file types, and file type groups, preview panel and thumbnail previews (including video), and file collections (virtual folders that contain links to the original files, but allow direct access to the source files. Directory Opus can replace Windows Explorer, including Windows shell connections.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: AUD $85.00
• Developer: GPSoftware

EVEREST Ultimate Edition

EVEREST Ultimate Edition is an advanced benchmarking and diagnostics tool that helps users maximize security, performance, and trouble-shooting capabilities for home and home office PC environments, PC Professionals, and consulting firms. It offers comprehensive system information as well as system stability testing and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $34.95
• Developer: Lavalys Consulting Group, Inc.

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a free, light-weight PDF reader that is quick to load and easy to use, without sacrificing features. Foxit Reader offers annotations, text conversion, privacy and security options, bookmarking, multi-tab support, callouts and text boxes, commenting, rulers and guides, magnifier, automatic scrolling, and more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Foxit Software Company, LLC.

HWMonitor

HWMonitor is a handy tool that provides comprehensive information and monitoring for the CPU, motherboard, video card, memory modules, hard drives, and more. 32-bit and 64-bit versions are both available.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: CPUID

Process Explorer

Process Explorer is a free Windows Task Manager replacement that offers features above and beyond the standard Windows utility. It can be set to show much more information about running processes, such as start time, file version, window title, the .dll’s they have loaded, highlighting (such as for distinguishing services), and much more.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Remind-Me

Remind-Me is a simple, easy-to-use tool that is designed to store and present reminders of important events before they pass. Remind-Me handles holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and any custom event (one-time or reoccurring). The software’s interface is shown in the form of a list or traditional calendar. Reminders can be shown when the computer starts or any pre-defined time. Remind-Me can play a custom sound or send email when a scheduled time is reached. The program is customizable to function the way the user wants. The program minimizes to the system tray so that it functions constantly, out of the way.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $24.95
• Developer: Beiley Software, Inc.

TweakUI

Tweak UI is a free user interface customization application released by Microsoft to help with customizing the Windows operating system. Although it is not supported by Microsoft, Tweak UI offers a more convenient way to adjust settings that would otherwise require manual registry editing. Most significantly, the software enables users with older, slower systems to turn off components of the operating system, such as menu fading, drop shadows, and cursor shadows to improve performance. Tweak UI also includes many features for customizing the way various aspects of the Windows interface function, such as the taskbar, desktop, and start menu. The program also allows users to move the location of special folders in Windows, such as My Documents, Music, and Pictures, as well as other system folders. It also offers tools that help users repair components of the Windows operating system, such as icons, hotkeys, the font folder, and file extension associations. Tweak UI can be used to disable AutoPlay on one or more drives as well. Tweak UI provides the capability to set up Xmouse for those familiar with the X Window System.  Note:  This tool is for use with Windows XP.  It is not designed for Windows Vista.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: Free
• Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Type Pilot

Type Pilot is a simple tool that helps users input frequently used text quickly and easily via a pre-defined trigger word. Once the trigger word is typed, Type Pilot automatically replaces it with the corresponding phrase or paragraph. Type Pilot is useful for writing standard phrases, such as signatures, email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, addresses, frequently used sentences, letter templates, etc. The program will work with any text editor. The software’s tree-like interface structure makes it easy to keep information organized.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $29.95
• Developer: Two Pilots

VMWare Workstation

VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 based computers that allows users to setup multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual computers for application usage, software testing, or any other operation where it is practical to have a fresh system to use or a system at a certain state. Each virtual machine can be configured with its own guest operating system, hardware components, disk space, RAM capacity, etc. In short, VMware Workstation allows one physical machine to run multiple operating systems simultaneously with any desired hardware configurations and software installed. It is also easy to revert a virtual machine back to a previously saved state.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $189.00
• Developer: VMware, Inc.

Web Development

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver is an industry-leading web development tool that provides users with an intuitive interface for web page design and maintenance, but also allows access to advanced features and the latest technologies for those that want to utilize them.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $399.00
• Developer: Adobe Systems, Inc.

HTML Search and Replace

HTML Search and Replace is a handy, powerful tool for webmasters (or anyone that needs search and replace functionality within text files of any format) that offers advanced search capabilities and the option to replace any amount of text in multiple documents with ease. Folders can be processed, with or without subfolders included. The software includes a built-in offline browser for previewing files before and after adjustments and an internal editor with HTML syntax highlighting.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $19.00
• Developer: Alentum Software, Inc.

Web Site Promotion

Advanced Web Ranking

Advanced Web Ranking is a search engine keyword ranking, analyzing, and research tool that helps web site owners determine current rankings for any number of web sites. The software also functions as a link popularity analyzer, assists with manual submission to over 400 search engines, and helps users find relevant link partners.

• Website: Visit Official Site
• Price: USD $199.00
• Developer: Caphyon, Ltd.

Gadget Advisor is proud to offer the free Google Cache Checker extension for Firefox.  The extension is lightweight, and high performance, residing conveniently in the statusbar.  It displays a checkmark icon if the current page is Google cached. If it is not, the extension displays a red X.  This makes it very quick and convenient to see if a page is Google indexed. For example, if you’re visiting a directory to see about submitting, you can see if the page you’re going to be submitting into is indexed. Or, pages for advertising, etc.

If you would like to post about the Google Cache Checker extension, please do not host the extension file on another server.  Instead, link to this page for downloading.

Download the Extension Here (original version for best performance)
Download the Extension Here (version that features cache date on tooltip)

Whether you’re a long-time web directory submitter, or just getting started, web directory submission can be a benefit for any business’ web site (or any web site, for that matter).

While we highly recommend AI RoboForm for any other task, it can be frustrating to setup and inadequate (especially for deep links) for web directory submission.  This extension is specifically designed for web directory submission.  It saves enormous amounts of time by quickly and easily completing web directory form submissions with a single click (no typing required).  The extension also features convenient submission management via a sidebar submitters can use to stay organized.  When you come to a new directory, add it to the sidebar, and mark your submissions as complete as you go.  The extension is proven to be a massive time-saver, and helps tremendously in staying organized. Main title rotation, category support, and category filtering are all supported. The extension fully supports deep links, with deep link title rotation as well as cycling of deep links to prevent the same ones being used on forms with less fields than the number of deep links entered.  If you come to a form that is not properly detected, simply right click in the text fields to assign the correct values.  Those definitions will be remembered for future submission to the directory.

Although this demonstration is not up-to-date with the very latest version of the form filler extension, it does provide an excellent guide for getting started and usage.  If you should have any questions/comments or need help, do not hesitate to let us know.
 

Download the Extension Here

The smartest decision Mozilla made when building the Firefox browser was the robust extension support. The extensive collection of extensions now available are the key to its success and a prominent factor in what makes the browser great. As most of you know, extensions are browser addons that build on the functionality of the Firefox browser. It can be as simple as adding toolbar buttons, or as complex as a complete application, such as a RSS feed reader. Extensions enable Firefox to be customized to meet individual needs and preferences.

We have compiled a list of what we consider to be the best extensions for Firefox. When evaluating extensions for recommendation, not only do we consder the functionality and features of the extension, but we also test to ensure it works well with all the other extensions we recommend. This has been a lengthy evaluation in which we have taken great care to recommend high quality extensions that serve a useful purpose. The recommended extensions will also be updated on an ongoing basis. Therefore, be sure to check back for updates periodically.

Adblock Plus

Adblock Plus does an exceptional job of blocking ads and annoying content in pages. It is very customizable and can also easily eliminate any desired elements of a page on command. A complete subscription-based, automatic update solution is available for the block list, free of charge, as well as the ability to setup custom block lists. The only downside about Adblock Plus is that on occassion, it can also result in a page not displaying as designed, often ommitting necessary content. However, it is easy to either disable Adblock Plus temporarily or set it to always be disabled on certain sites only.

• Download Extension

Adsense Notifier

If you operate one or more web sites, chances are that you are currently or have in the past used AdSense for web site revenue. If you're currently using AdSense, the Adsense Notifier extension is very handy. It provides quick, convenient access to the revenue for the date range of interest. It can be set to show the revenue for the follow ranges: Today, Past 7 Days, This Month, All Time, Yesterday, Two Days Ago, Last Month, This week, Last Week, Last Business Week, and Since Last Payment.

• Download Adsense Notifier

AI RoboForm

As we have mentioned before, we're big fans of AI RoboForm. If you use RoboForm for web form filling, site logins, and/or password management, be sure to use the extension for Firefox.

• Download AI RoboForm

Always Remember Password

By default, when a web site instructs the browser to never allow a password manager to retain the login information, Firefox will honor this. However, if your PC is not accessible to others, it can be very handy to have these passwords saved. This extension will enable passwords to be saved on any site, including Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and banking sites. Note: This extension was not updated for later versions of Firefox by the author. We have modified the extension so that it will work flawlessly with the current version of Firefox.

• Download Always Remember Password ( modified version )

AutoAuth

When your password has been saved for a HTTP authentication dialog, using this extension will cause the login to occur automatically, without you have to click the OK button on the dialog.

• Download AutoAuth

Converter

The Converter Firefox extension offers unit conversion from any page. For example, if a page contains the text "15 m", you can select it, and right click. It will show the length in yards and feet. The extension supports a wide range of unit conversions.

• Download Converter

Copy Link Text

When you right click a link in Firefox, it shows an option called "Copy Link Location", which is very handy for copying the URL of a link. Likewise, the Copy Link Text extension adds an option called Copy Link Text. When you right click a link, and select the option, the anchor text of that link is copied to the clipboard. This is a quicker method than selecting the text and then copying, plus it works on sites that block copying normally.

• Download Copy Link Text

Download Statusbar

Instead of showing a dialog for your downloads, this extension includes downloads conveniently in the Firefox statusbar. Downloads can be easily paused/resumed; double click a download to run it; right click for an option to open the containing folder; download speed display; and much more. The extension's options also provide the ability to automatically clear files of certain extensions from the bar to keep it tidy, such as files that open automatically.

• Download Extension

ErrorZilla Mod

We have not been using this extension for very long, and do not have a lot of experience with it yet, but what we have seen of it seems quite handy. When a page fails to load in Firefox, ErrorZilla Mod will show options for "Try Again," "Google Cache," "Coralize," "Wayback," "Ping," "Trace," and "Whois", which can be used to gain access to the page, even with the site down or access information about the site.

• Download ErrorZilla Mod

Fireshot

The Fireshot extension makes taking a screen shot of a web page a snap. Even if entire page is not visible, Fireshot can still capture the entire page. If you prefer, it can also capture just the visible area of a page. With a single click, Fireshot can capture the page and upload, copy, mail, print, or open the file for editing (in the internal editor or an external editor of choice). The internal editor provides the ability to add shapes, pointers, text, another image, or draw on the image.

• Download Fireshot

Flagfox

The Flagfox extension shows a flag icon for the country in which the current web site is hosted in the statusbar or address bar. A tooltip is provided that also offers the name of the country, in case the flag is not familiar. The extension uses an IP address database rather than relying on the top-level domain. When the flag icon is clicked, GeoTool will be loaded, which provides a location map, as well as information on the ISP, city, IP address, local time, country code, region, postal code, and more.

• Download Flagfox

Google Cache Checker

The Google Cache Checker Firefox extension automatically checks visited pages to determine if the current page is Google cached. The result is immediately shown conveniently in the browser statusbar. This extension is available exclusively from Gadget Advisor.

• Download Google Cache Checker

Highlander

When you click a link to a URL that’s already open in another Firefox tab, the Highlander extension will cause the already opened tab to be focused, rather than duplicating the URL in a new tab.

• Download Highlander

IE View Lite

The IE View Lite extension provides a context menu item for opening the current page in IE. The extension also has the ability to enter sites that will always open in IE. It can close the tabs for pages being opened in IE automatically, and send any additional parameters to the of the page to the Internet Explorer EXE. As much as we like Firefox, every once in a while, we run into a page that will not work properly in Firefox, which makes this extension handy.

• Download IE View Lite

Navigational Sounds

When this extension is enabled, Firefox will play the Windows OS start and end navigation sounds when pages start and finish loading (the "click" from IE when a page navigation begins).

• Download Navigational Sounds

Nightly Tester Tools

We recommend this extension only for those who are experienced or desperate. If you've been using Firefox for a while and use a number of extensions, you have no doubt experienced the anguish of an extension no longer working after a Firefox update. Even worse is when the extension's developer decides not to update it anymore. This extension can be used to force extensions to work with the new Firefox version. Most extensions will work normally with minor Firefox updates (some even work properly after major version upgrades), and you can always disable an extension again if needed. However, we do recommend being careful when using this extension, nonetheless.

• Download Nightly Tester Tools

Oldbar

For those who dislike the new "AwesomeBar" introduced with Firefox 3, the oldbar extension will cause Firefox to maintain the familiar address bar from earlier versions of Firefox. The browser will still benefit from the enhanced autocomplete algorithm of Firefox 3, but with the appearance of Firefox 2.

• Download Oldbar

OpenBook

The OpenBook Firefox extension provides customization for the Add Bookmark dialog, including the ability to automatically open the bookmarks tree and resize the Add Bookmark dialog.

• Download OpenBook

SearchStatus

The SearchStatus extension provides extensive search-related information about visited web sites, including Google PageRank, Google Category, Alexa popularity ranking, Compete.com ranking, Alexa incoming links, Alexa related links, and backward links from Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The key information is all presented conveniently in one discreet and compact area, with the remaining data available via a right-click. The information displayed is also customizable. For example, if the Compete.com ranking is not inportant to you, it can be easily disabled, thus making more room available.

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Tab Mix Plus

Tab Mix Plus is a very robust extension that enhances Firefox's tab browsing functionality. It provides options for controlling tab focus, link opening, many new tab display capabilities, tab clicking behavior, undo closed tabs and windows (as well as a list of previously closed tabs), advanced session management, and much more.

• Download Tab Mix Plus

Text Link

The Text Link extension enables URLs that are not linked on web pages to be easily launched via a double click. Settings are also provided that enable URLs to be executed with different key and/or mouse combinations.

• Download Text Link

WeatherBug

The WeatherBug extension provides quick access to local weather conditions and forecasts. Icons representing forecast are shown in the statusbar, and more information is available via tooltips for the icons. The current temperature (or other information) can also be shown directly on the statusbar. The data presented as well as its placement is highly configurable.

• Download WeatherBug

Web Directory Form Filler

The Web Directory Form Filler is a web form filling extension that is similar in functionality to AI RoboForm, except that it is designed specifically for use in submitting to web directories. It is feature-rich and easy to use. The extension features title rotation, deep link support, and even deep link title rotation. The sidebar also provides exceptional submission management.

• We are making this extension available free here exclusively

OpenOffice.org 3.0 can import Office 2007 OOXML files that have extensions such as .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx.  OpenOffice.org does not yet feature the ability to save into these, though.  Therefore, users will need to save into another supported format.

The writer component of the suite can now display multiple pages side-by-side, and the Calc spreadsheets component supports as many as 1024 columns (up from the previously supported 256). The Impress presentation component has also been updated with the ability to insert tables with ease. Performance is not among the improvements the suite can claim, however, as the new 3.0 release is the same in that area, if not a little slower.

The new version offers numerous new features, including the Opera Link tool, which synchronizes browser bookmarks and options among different computers and/or operating systems, as well as visual previews for RSS feeds.  The email client boasts a new highly optimized "low bandwidth mode" and message prioritizing.

Opera’s speed has also been increased from the previous version, offering an experience similar to that of Firefox 3, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 8 beta.  Opera 9.6 can be downloaded here.