Simon Kerbel
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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting
Quicksys RegDefrag: Defrag your Windows registry
by Simon Kerbel May 13th 2008
Who doesn't love defragmenting? Here at Download Squad, we defragment everything we can get our hands on: hard drives, registries, jigsaw puzzles. Our daily defragment fix can be found here, with Quicksys RegDefrag. In case you didn't piece it together from the name, RegDefrag will defragment your registry. In layman's terms: the program works to optimize your registry by removing gaps, fragments and wasted space in Windows registry files.
RegDefrag begins by analyzing your system's registry. If your registry is sufficiently fragmented, RegDefrag will give you the option to defragment. Unfortunately, there are no backup options (unless RegDefrag performs them behind the scenes, but we wouldn't count on it), which means you're out of luck should RegDefrag decide to remove or defragment the wrong files.
In our tests, RegDefrag recovered over 3 MB of space, which was about 10% of our computer's registry. Not too shabby.
RegDefrag is free, and compatible with Windows Vista, XP, and the ghosts of Windows past.
Filed under: Photo, Utilities, Windows, Freeware
Fotosizer: A free batch image resizer
by Simon Kerbel May 13th 2008
Fotosizer is a free batch image resizer for Windows. The tagline for Fotosizer is "batch image resizing made easy," and we couldn't agree more. In the Fotosizer interface, you have the option to select individual files or entire folder. You can also include sub-folders with a simple click. Once you've selected the images you wish to resize, you can resize them in one of three ways: custom size, using a percentage of the original, or using a preset size.
Set your destination folder, output format, and filename mask, and hit Start. That's all there is to it.
In our tests, Fotosizer needs about a second for every file to be resized. Combine the program's quickness with the time you will save by not having to individually resize all of your images, and you might just have enough extra time in your day to boil an egg, or write a Twitter post. Heck, two Twitter posts, even.
Fotosizer is a free download, and Windows only.
[via gHacks]
Filed under: Fun, Internet, Web services, web 2.0
Phreetings: Facebook app to send photos and greetings
Have you always thought that Hallmark greeting cards are too cheesy? Have you wanted to follow in the steps of Mr. Deeds (at least, the Adam Sandler version of Mr. Deeds) and write your own cards? Well, now is your chance...sort of.
Phreetings is a Facebook app that allows you to send a photo and a short greeting to a Facebook friend, a la greeting card style.
As far as Facebook apps go, Phreetings couldn't get any simpler. Type in a keyword at the top of the page to search for photos, and Phreetings displays the results (all photos are from Flickr, and licensed by the Creative Commons license).
Drag the photo you want to send over to the section on the right hand side of the page, then type in a short message below. You can choose an optional color scheme for your greeting as well. When your greeting is ready, hit the send button, enter in the name of the recipient, and your greeting is sent.
All in all, a simple application that helps spread your web 2.0 greetings both near and abroad.
Thanks for the tip, Augustine!
Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Windows, Shareware
CaTraxx music management application brings your music collection together
by Simon Kerbel Apr 18th 2008
CaTraxx is a music management tool that aims to catalog all of your music, from digital media to CD's, cassettes, and vinyl.
CaTraxx will automatically scan your computer for any supported audio files and import them into its music database. Additionally, you can insert your CD's and CaTraxx will scan and download the audio tracks automatically. The program has a direct connection with the CDDB database; track and album information are instantly downloaded as you import your files.
CaTraxx also functions as a basic jukebox/media player, though iTunes and Windows Media Player would be better options if all you want to do is play your music.
So what good is CaTraxx? In our minds, it's beneficial to think of the program as a database rather than a music collection. So why do you need a database of your music? Well, for example, you might need a database for insurance purposes, in case your beloved vinyl collection is usurped by a thief (or vengeful ex). The database can also keep records of who borrowed pieces from your collection and when they borrowed it, so you never lose track of a CD.
CaTraxx is available as a fully functional trial; after that, it'll set you back $40. In our minds (can we say that twice in a post?), you'd have to be pretty obsessive of your collection to shell out that kind of dough.
[via AppScout]
Filed under: Utilities, News, Windows, Apple
Apple Software Updater won't shove Safari down your throat anymore
by Simon Kerbel Apr 18th 2008
You've got to hand it to Apple: they listen to their detractors, and listen fast. When they dropped the price of the iPhone soon after its launch, and the responding outcry was fierce, they doled out credits to the Apple Store as an apology. The 10.5.2 update, while fixing many other issues, was also a response to customer complaints about the new Leopard feature Stacks.
The most recent Apple fiasco had to do with pushing Safari for Windows via Apple's Software Update. The sticky wicket was putting Safari in a software update as if it were a necessary update, or an update to a piece of software already installed on your machine. Detractors claimed that amounted at worst to trickery, at best to an unfair advantage in the ongoing browser wars. Frankly, we kind of agreed.
Well, Apple has listened again.
The newly released Apple Software Update now has two panes instead of one: Updates, and the new pane, labeled New Software. This small but significant tweak allows users to easily discern whether a product is an update to an existing piece of software on their machine or a new offering.
Some might say that the change is still not enough. After all, the Safari install is still checked by default. We're also left to wonder, in the intervening time between offense and repentance, how many new Safari "users" can Apple claim?
Camino 1.6: Automatic updates, keychain integration, and more
by Simon Kerbel Apr 18th 2008 {9 comments}
Camino 1.6 is now out in the wild, and it looks to be the release a lot of people were waiting for. With many new features as well as many updated features, Camino 1.6 is an excellent and compelling alternative to Safari and Firefox on the Mac. New to Camino 1.6:
Toolbar Search Improvements: The toolbar search in Camino can now be edited and customized, with the ability to delete, rename, and ...The Time Machine Screensaver
by Simon Kerbel Apr 17th 2008 {2 comments}
Sure, you make fun of the chintzy Time Machine animation when you're out to sushi with your geek friends, but secretly you adore it. When the night is late, and it's just you and your Mac, you turn on Time Machine simply to gaze longingly into its starry goodness. But don't you wish that you could just get that pesky Finder window out of the way, so you could stare into the full, unadulterated ...Taboo Firefox extension saves your tabs for later
Are you sick of having multiple tabs open at one time because you have numerous items that you want to read or research? The Taboo Firefox extension will help cure your "tabitis" (their term, not ours, so don't hate on it) and minimize the glut of tabs on your tab bar. Once Taboo is installed, you'll have two new items on your toolbar. When you click the first button, Taboo will take a ...From the makers of VisualHub: AudialHub 1.0
by Simon Kerbel Apr 17th 2008 {3 comments}
Chances are, if you've searched the web for a universal video converter for the Mac, you've come across VisualHub (formerly iSquint). Now, the makers of VisualHub have brought the same conversion magic to audio with AudialHub version 1.0. AudialHub can easily convert audio files to most any format of your choosing, including AAC, MP3, WMA, AIFF, WAV, Apple Lossless, 3G (cell phones), Ogg ...Deluge: Cross-platform BitTorrent client
by Simon Kerbel Apr 17th 2008 {15 comments}
Deluge is an up-and-coming BitTorrent client for Mac, Windows, and Linux that looks strong enough to compete with the likes of Azureus, uTorrent, and Transmission. Deluge supports the most common P2P features, including encryption, UPnP and NAT-PMP, Mainline DHT, proxy support, and more. The main strengths of Deluge, however, come from its design:
The program has a clean interface and is ...
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
