Defragmentation (like backing up) is one of those chores I don't think about doing all that often. And I really should, since my desktop at work is a cluttered mess of downloads, screenshots, temp files, and other digital flotsam.

When Auslogics mentioned they've got a new version of their Disk Defrag tool available for download, I figured why not take it for a spin? My drive could use the TLC, after all. The app is available with an installer or as a portable app and is free for home use.

One small feature worth a mention is that Disk Defrag supports Windows 7's superbar progress indicator. You can choose to defragment your entire drive or target specific files or folders. It's also got a number of other smart features, like free space consolidation and intelligent system file placement. Disk Defrag can also be set to run automatically when your system is idle.

The installable version can also clean up your temp files prior to defragging, minimize to the system tray, run scheduled jobs, and integrate into your right-click context menu.

Tidying up my drive's 130Gb+ of disorganization took about 25 minutes. Disk Defrag also includes a new optimization feature which Auslogics recommends running once a week. It takes quite a bit longer, but if it helps keep your drive healthy and running at peak performance it's time well spent.

Auslogics Disk Defrag buffs up, adds disk optimization in v3 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Firefox Army clashes with IE in Central Europe, wins browser share crown originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Microsoft introduced us to Silverlight 4 the other day, the demoed a slick Facebook application. It's called Fishbowl, and it's now available for download. Not only does Fishbowl provide a nice, clean display of your stream (read: free of sidebar annoyances), but it's packed with excellent features, responsive, and extremely intuitive to use.

It's also ready to add some sizzle to your Windows 7 taskbar with jumplist and Aero Peek goodness. Read on after the break!

Continue reading Fishbowl is a kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7

Fishbowl is a kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ask DLS: Now that you've seen Chrome OS do you still care? originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Canonical plans to let the GIMP off his leash in Ubuntu 10.04 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gladinet updates to 1.4, now with added cloud backup kung-fu originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hot on the heels of Flash 10.1, Microsoft unveils Silverlight 4 beta originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Weird Wednesday: Billy Mays app awesomes up your CAPS LOCK KEY! originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Windows 7 taskbar previews to be disabled by default in Firefox 3.6 originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chrome Extensions gallery draws nearer, coming tomorrow? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Open source Adobe Reader alternative Sumatra PDF hits version 1.0 originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Canonical working on an iTunes-like music store for Ubuntu? originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adobe Air 2 goes beta, adds tons of new features, sucks a whole lot less originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's been plenty of buzz today about the Office 2010 public beta. Download links have gone live for Technet and MSDN subscribers, but as for the general public - they're left browsing yet another Microsoft tease.

Head over to the Office beta download page, and you'll see three links to chose from. Pick any one you like. The result's the same, a redirect to a page that says "Hey, Office 2010 beta is coming soon!" I guess that's fine, right? I mean, it's not like anyone clicking a download button would expect 1) direct access to a download or 2) a form they can fill out to get at the files.

Now, I don't run a big fancy website like Microsoft's, but is it really that hard to keep pages like this offline until the files are available?

The good news in this is that yes, the public beta is coming soon. It'd be nice if that landing page actually had "coming soon" buttons instead of shiny green "download" buttons. That seems like a distinction which is important to make.

As a bonus, it might save your servers having to deal with 12,000,000 page refresh requests.

Once again, Microsoft puts a download page live with no downloads to back it up originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I've been using Mozilla Weave to keep my Firefox profiles synched across different machines and platforms for quite some time. Today, Mozilla Labs has announced that the add-on is finally ready for official beta testing.

Version 1.0b1 is out now and available for installation. Version 0.8 is still listed in the Firefox add-ons directory, but it should install the newest release. If you're already running Weave, just head to your Firefox add-ons and check for updates.

What's new in the latest version? More speed, a simplified interface, and smarter syncing in the background. Weave's settings screen is nicely integrated into the Firefox options menu, so there's every chance we'll see it integrated in a future version of Firefox - like its Labs cousin Personas.

Mozilla's Weave browser sync add-on for Firefox hits beta originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google preparing to launch Chrome Extensions gallery? originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chromium bookmark sync now cross-platform, lands on Linux originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Windows 7 RTM "improved" activation bypassed by hackers originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are plenty of wallpaper-changing applications out there, and plenty of them can tap into photo sharing sites like Flickr and Photobucket for access to a plethora of images. Still, not many of them are quite as well-connected as Wally.

Even fewer are cross-platform. Wally, though, is happy to share its background-rotating skills with Windows, Mac, and Linux users alike. It's built using Nokia's Qt4 framework and supports an insane number of image sources: local and remote folders (via FTP), and popular photo sites like Flickr, Yahoo!, Panoramio, Pikeo, Ipernity, Photobucket, Buzznet, Picasa, Smugmug, and Bing. You can use any combination of sources you choose by adding and removing them on the settings screen.

Customization options are plentiful, from specifying the delay between image changes to tweaking the size of your local image history store. Images from the 'net are pulled in based on the search terms you specify - and yes, you can shut off Bing's adult filter if you want to.

Wally is free and open source, and pre-compiled downloads are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The project is also mirrorerd over at Sourceforge.

Wally is a kick-ass, connected wallpaper changer for Windows, Mac, and Linux originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's no denying Ubuntu's popularity when it comes to Linux on the desktop. It's also the foundation for a number of other excellent distributions, including one of my favorites - Linux Mint - and I was pleased to see some big news on the Mint blog early this morning.

Linux Mint 8 RC1 has arrived (codenamed Helena), bundling Ubuntu 9.10's updated core with the usual Mint enhancements like a more customizable Mint Menu, enhanced MintUpload (a slick drag-and-drop FTP app) and Updater, and a good selection of preinstalled apps. For more details about what's new, check the official blog post.

Unlike Ubuntu 9.10 - which switched to Empathy as the default IM client - Mint 8 still includes the more popular Pidgin. finding and loading other software in Mint is as about as easy as it gets on Linux since you can install Ubuntu-compatible .debs. Want to try out Google Chrome on Mint? No problem.

One thing to note: if you plan on using Ubuntu PPAs (like the Chromium nightly project), you'll need to first add the PPA to your repositories then edit its details - changing helena to karmic under distribution.

Even though Mint 8 is still an RC, I found it stable, fast, and every bit as easy to use as previous versions.

Linux Mint 8 RC1 brings a kicked-up Karmic Koala to your desktop originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.