Tag Archive: Applications


PicPick Image Capture Software

Will with our new work laptops running 64-bit software sometimes the old 32-bit software doesn’t work as expected.  In this case it was effecting my screen capture program I typically use, Faststone.  So this is another alternative that works just as well (some features are actually better) This is also free software to use and download

PicPick Website

PicPick 2.2.1 Download

Volery – Create your own Install Package

2009-10-21_193322Wow this site may have eliminated the reason for my blog.  This is a site that lets you select the applications you want to install and then downloads all the installers into a single install for easy multiple application setup.  The best part is this is basically all the software that I use to run my computer!  Looks like they are still in a private beta but I was able to get in and test it out, amazing and huge time saver when setting up a family computer which inevitably happens way too often!

Web Site: Volery

UPDATE: now the site is called NiNite

Qhotkeys – Assign Hotkeys for Windows

qhotkeyI was looking for a way to assign a hotkey to Q-Dir for file management as I will never use it unless it is as easy as running Windows-E.  Well I ran across this program which is awesome it allows you to assign any hotkeys you want with the Windows button.  It has a very easy to use graphical interface to assign the buttons and you can assign anything.  So far I have it setup to run Q-Dir, Firefox, Outlook, and Command Prompt (cygwin) in a single hotkey.  It is a huge time saver and picks up where Launchy is lacking.

Qliner Hotkeys Website

Download Hotkeys 2.0.1

Rounded Corners with Paint.net

rounded-cornersI have started using Paint.Net a lot lately to do a lot of my website graphics as it seems to be the easiest to use.  Although the only real issue I was having was figuring out to crop an image with rounded corners for headers and whatnot.  After searching around the web for a while I found an answer.  Below are the steps to create a rounded corner cropping of an image.

  • Open the image and add a new layer
  • In the new layer draw a rectangle with rounded corners and solid fill (this will be your finished image size)
  • Use the Magic Wand to select your new solid rectangle
  • Then go to Edit->Invert Selection
  • Then delete the inverted selection
  • Then delete the new layer

Not the most intuitive way to do it but very effective none the less.  Click here to see a more detailed description with screen-shots if you need more explanation.

Beneton GIF Animator Maker

Beneton GIF AnimatorThis is a very simple program that can create small animated GIF images for websites or whatever you need them for.  It is a stand alone application and can be installed on a pen drive.

Simple to use just add the images that you want to create the animation with and then create your transitions and then save the .gif file.

Download Beneton GIF Animator

7zip Theme Manager

Theme Manager ScreenI have tried playing around with some different file archiving tools and basically have come back to 7Zip again as it seems to be the most functional and useful one I can find.  Plus it is hard to beat the price.  Well if you are worried about the way that yours looks (yes I know I am kinda a skinning crazy person) there is a theme manager out there that you can use to stylize your 7zip application.  I have attached the latest version as well as the website below:


Latest Version: Theme Manager 1.1

Website: 7 Zip Theme Manager


Paint.Net Free Photo Editing Software

Logo3So I have been using Gimp for a while and wasn’t really happy with it and found it very cumbersome to use especially when I am trying to some very generic photo editing or resizing or whatnot.  Well using my LiberKey on my USB drive has pointed me towards using Paint.Net instead.  I love it, makes editing super fast and easy and the interface is very easy to use.  I would highly suggest using this software it just requires .Net Framework to be installed which isn’t a big deal.  I would highly suggest this software for basic image manipulation.

website: GetPaint.net

Download Portable Version of Paint.net

Run Ubuntu Inside Windows

portable_ubuntu_splashI have been looking for this since I started playing with Linux a long time ago.  This way you do not have to reboot your machine to run Linux and you can run it natively in Windows.  This allows you to run your favorite Linux applications inside Windows without rebooting and it just shows up like a windows application.

Sure you can go the virtual machine route, but that is a huge pain in the butt and can take a long time to setup.  This makes it so that Ubuntu runs totally separately from Windows so you can install applications and take it with you and put it in another computer with all your favorite applications ready for you to use.  This is hugely helpful for things that need X-windows or any terminal output as Linux does a better job.  Lifehacker has a full writeup on the application check it out to read the full article.

Download Portable Ubuntu!

Media Monkey – Finally iTunes Dies

2009-04-01_193227Finally an application that does everything that I want it to.  I subscribe to FileHippo’s updated RSS feed so I need all the programs that are updated daily.  MediaMonkey was one of them and it caught my eye that it finds and fixes missing album art.  So I figured I would try it to manage my music.

Wow! Amazing application within a few hours I updated all my missing music art and also corrected a bunch of mislabeled tags, deleted some duplicate music, and leveled the volume on a few tracks.  This software is amazing and is really easy to use.  What would have taken me like 5 applications I can do all in one.

It also will manage my phone and iTouch.  So no more working with iTunes to sync music and it is soo much easier to pick music and fill my iTouch and I can also have it automatically sync and fill based on music I listen to here and there on my PC.  It also links in streaming music and a few other things amazing!

There is a paid version of the application that gives you more robust usage of ripping music and managing your large music library.  The price is a modest $39.99 but so far I haven’t found a reason to upgrade past the free version.  One thing I like is the super light package this all comes in <10MB  This software is a must have!

Download MediaMonkey

Beta 3.1

ImgBurn CD Burner Software

2008-12-02_204626I am always on the search for the best utilities for basic computer needs.  This one came up as the best free CD burning software via LifeHacker.  It does everything that you need it to and has a super clean easy interface.  I like this one because the last free burner software I was using didn’t allow you to burn from an ISO image which was a huge pain in the butt.

ImgBurn Website

Local Copy: setupimgburn_2420exe

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