Do you have some files on your PC that you don't want others to view ? Encrypt them with a password. Only with a password locked files can be viewed.

AxCrypt is file encryption tool for windows. Just lock with passphrase and/or a key file and your file(s) are totally secure. Not only on your PC, take them anywhere (another PC or removable storage) - they will always need password.

For additional security there is also an option for locking with a key file. Keep your key file secure as it will be needed while decrypting files encrypted using key file. This tool is open source and totally free.

AxCrypt has two types of encryption:
1. Lock with an extension .axx - To decrypt i.e. unlock these files AxCrypt must be installed on the PC.
2. Lock with extension .exe - Unlocking will not need AxCrypt installed. Just click file on any PC, enter the password and use the file. This encryption is very useful if you want to take files on removable storages. You can work with them safely on any computer.

Features

• Password lock the files or folders
• Encrypt more safely using key file
• Right-click integration with Windows Explorer
• Double-click integration makes it easy to manage files
• Automatic re-encryption after modification
• Self- decryption also supported - AxCrypt installation is not necessary to unlock files
• Super easy to use

Note : Right click the file/folder to encrypt. When you encrypt as a copy, original file is intact and a new encrypted file is generated.

Download AxCrypt  ~ 1.60 MB
Choose the right version for you - 32 bit or 64 bit. Use the stable version.

Novabench is a free software to test the performance of main components of your system. Testings take around 2-3 mintues and then novabench gives you the novabench score to your PC. Compare and share the performance of computers with others over internet. As the performance of your PC increases (for example upon defragmenting your hard disk) you can test it by again performing the tests, you will get a better score.

Features

• Quickly test the performance of main components of system
• Novabench score - test, compare, improve and share your score
• Test internet speed and quickly view your system  info

Improving the Novabench score
-Defragment you hard drive
-Run registry cleaner
-Run anti spyware
-Run your antivirus
-Delete unnecessary and duplicate files

Run Novabench again and see your improved score

Download Novabench 12 MB

Spybot-S&D is an excellent anti-spyware for your computer. Spywares are similar to
virus threats but they are not yet detectable by anti-viruses as they are new. These
spywares can infect your PC and steal valuabe info from PC without your knowledge.

Spybot is free but very popular and reliable anti-spyware. Keep updating its database to
keep your computing safe.

Why to use

• Excellent anti-spyware - detects and removes harmful programs
• Absolutely Free to use

Download Spybot-S&D 15.64 MB
Download Spybot-S&D detection updates (you may also update from spybot interface)

Pidgin is a free chat program which let us chat on multiple platforms simultaneously in
a single pidgin interface. Chat with MSN friends, talk to a Gtalk friend and enjoy a yahoo
chat in a single tool at the same time. All major platforms supported.

Features

• Multiple chat networks program
• Supports AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MXit, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr
• Many additional Plugins available
• Smileys, emoticons, file sharing and more

Download Pidgin 8.83 MB

MousePath (now IOGraph) is a little fun application. It tracks your mouse movements in real time. You can save image of the complex web which you have generated using mouse. May be weird but funny. Enjoy

What it do

• Tracks and records mouse movements in real time
• Save image of your mouse movements
• Indicates mouse stops with solid black circles

Download IOGraph/MousePath 459 KB

Ever had an annoying message on windows that file can't be deleted, renamed or moved because it is used by another program. Probably many times. More similar messages are also popular on windows. Access denies, file in use etc.

Unlocker is the easy and ultimate solution. In such problems simply right click the folder or file and select Unlocker.  If the folder or file is locked, a window listing of lockers will appear. Unlock and do whatever you want to with your file..

Features

• Find which program(s) are using any file or folder
• Unlock from the used program
• Delete, rename or move inaccessible files
• Free and easy to use

Download Unlocker 1.0 MB

Unless you are very very careful (and lucky) your PC must have decent amount of duplicate files on hard disk. This is very common and has various reasons that we un/knowingly save same files on hard disk again and again.

Easy Duplicate Finder is one step solution to identify and thus remove duplicate files on your PC. This will also increase disk space and can even speed up your computer.

Features

• Scan system to find duplicate files
• Use filters to narrow down your requirements
• Manage or delete duplicate files easily
• Its free and easy to use

Download Easy Duplicate Finder 4.11 MB

As you may know that normally bittorrent clients download and upload simultaneously maintaining the ratio of upload and download. That is the rule of torrent mechanism. But there  is a client that only downloads (no uploading) thereby cheating the mechanism.

BitThief  is a bittorrent client that makes it possible to downloading without uploading anything. This mechanism doesn't need to fulfill the ratio requirements. This technology results in fast downloading rate.

Features

• A Free Riding BitTorrent Client
• Can download without uploading
• Can also behave as normal torrent client i.e. down/upload simultaneously
• Free and runs with java installed

Download BitThief 1.45 MB

A few posts back I posted about Revo uninstaller. Here's another outstanding program remover from Iobit.

Iobit uninstaller is even better and super easy to use and its free. The default windows uninstaller is ugly. It is portable and don't need installation of itself just click and there you go. Delete leftover files, uninstall broken programs and force uninstall programs.

Features

• 1-Click Toolbars Removal
• Batch Uninstall
• Standard and Advanced Uninstall
• Without Installation
• Forced Uninstall
• Log Manager and Restoration
• Free and Easy-to-use

Download Iobit advanced uninstaller 673 KB

Omegle is a very easy platform to talk to strangers. If you arer feeling bored and need a bit of fun just visit omegle and get connected with  strangers. You can chat via text and/or using your webcam for video chat.

The chat is completely anonymous. Say whatever you want. Disconnect and reconnect to chat with another user instantly. If you like a certain stranger or conversation , you may disclose your identity by giving your Gtalk or yahoo messenger or twitter username(s)

Visit omegle

Have fun!

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As we know there are 1000s of components inside our computer system. They can be either the part of hardware or part of software. The specifications of different components sometimes become tedious but important job. You may need to find specifications which are mentioned in different places. As your computer grows old, it is possible that you lose associated manuals.

Speccy is the perfect solution to solve all those problems. It's a free, tidy and convenient to use tool that shows every specification in a single interface. Super easy to find any of the minute details on any of the part of our computer. CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Cards, Hard Disks, Optical Drives, Audio, temperature of every part, slots available, operating system details and everything else.

Why you may need specifications (and in turn speccy)

• You may need specifications while upgrading or modifying your computer
• If you are selling or buying a computer system (parts)
• Requirements to install a software or hardware
• Requirements to buy your fav computer game
• Find temperature of parts of system

                   Download Speccy  Size ~ 2,457 kb free and easy

There are lots of audio-video formats available today. And the native window media player can handle very few of those formats and support less functions.

You may want to play a specific format, watch with subtitles, change audio track, change skins, personailze interface, take a snapshot and bla bla.
I am listing here the most useful and popular AV players which are totally freeware. The players are listed according to their features functionability. Click on the player to download them.

1. KMPlayer

2. Media Player Classic

3. VLC media player

4. Real alternative (plays any real media file without actual real player installed)

Have fun !

Thunderbird from mozilla corporation is all in one freeware solution for each and every type of email need. No matter which email platform you choose and how many accounts you use. Thunderbird will combine all that comfortably into one client.

No need logging in and logging every time out for each email address. Its a must must application. Search messages, address book, access attachments everything in the same interface. Add-ons and tabs as in mozilla firefox web browser.

Features Addiction

• Mail Account Setup Wizard
• Any email account, any number of them
• One-click Address Book
• Attachment Reminder
• Activity Manager
• Tabs and Search
• Quick Filter Toolbar
• Message Archive
• Add-ons Manager just like mozilla firefox

From mozilla thunderbird

                      Now with tabs, better search, and email archiving.

       Download Mozilla Thunderbird   Size~9.0 MB that's easy and free

       Website ~~ >> Mozilla thunderbird

It is very useful if we can synchronize all web surfing activities across different computers and even different browsers. All you need is a common free xmarks account which is accessible anywhere.

Xmarks is the solution that synchronizes your bookmarks, web history and back up all your web data. This is all automatic and online. Xmarks currently supports 4 browsers firefox, chrome, safari and the native internet exporer. It also lets you learn about top websites on internet- how safe and popular they are.

Features addiction

• Automatically synchronize all web activities among different computers and browsers
• Sync your web bookmarks, web history, web activites back up and more
• Supported browsers ~ chrome, firefox, safari and internet explorer
• Learn more about top sites when you search on Google
• Search similar sites to your favourited bookmarks

Publisher's words

  Bookmark sync and search

                 Website ~~>> Xmarks

                         Download for mozilla firefox
                   Download for google chrome
                   Download for safari
                   Download for internet explorer

File hosting services like Rapidshare.com, megaupload.com and hotfile.com are one of the main source for downloading contents on internet. Forum users, bloggers, website owners upload their files on these services so that their audience can download.

But there are several limits for free downloading on most of file hosing services - waiting time, One download at a time, very slow speeds, no resume support etc. It irritates.

Luckily there are some websites providing premium links for free. They provide links through their own premium accounts.

Why you should use premium links to download?

• High speed download
• Download using IDM and other downloaders
• Resume support
• More than one parallel downloads
• No waiting time
• Free to use

Here are 2 ways to generate premium links

1. Rapid8

Rapid8 provides free premium links to most of the popular file hosting services. Just
paste your rapidshare(and other) download links, hit enter to download using
premium links at amazing speeds.

Note : When using hotfile tick/check the box to download
            Use internet downloader manager IDM for greater speeds

2. More premium link generators (__plg)

These are specifc premium link generators for each hosting services

Rapidshare      ~~> rsplg
Megaupload    ~~>muplg
Hotfile               ~~> hfplg

Note : Sometimes, premium accounts of sites get expired, it may take some time to
           renew them. They will let you know this if that occurs.

1  Virus : need no introduction
     Solution : Anti virus

2. Wares
     Malicious software, these are different from virus  and needs same attention. They
     can be broadly grouped  as : Malware, spyware, adware, keyloggers etc
     They can also eat your internet bandwidth significantly causing slow speed
     Solution : Anti malware

3. Hard disk errors
     Power failure or corrupted file/software may be the cause
     Solution : Run check disk utility

4. Fragmentation
     Over time we delete/copy/paste, this causes un-adjacent data in hard-disk
     Solution : Defragment using good defragmenter like smart defrag

5. Less free space on hard disk or its any partition
     Solution : Atleast 15 % space should be free in every partition

6. System restore data
      Restore points are made by windows by default upon (un)installation
      of programs. They may cause slow speed
      Solution : Turn off system restore or decrease its space

7. Junk space
     Over time many unwanted files settles on hard disk
     Solution:Delete them using Revo/ advanced system care/ advanced disk cleaner

8. Registry errors
     When we uninstall any program, its leftover data still
     remains in form of registry
     Solution : clean using registry cleaners

9. Start up programs
     Eats lot of boot time and slow speed
     Solution : Delete unwanted start up program settiings using ccleaner

The main source of unsafe and harmful programs is internet. It is very irritating when a
damn virus is infecting your PC without your knowing. It wastes time and can even
destroy/manipulate important files.

So we need not to open such websites. If we are having doubt of a site, we have to
check for such possibilities.
These antivirus websites will identify for free.....

http://www.siteadvisor.com/
http://safeweb.norton.com/

Check using these tools online that which websites are harmful and be on safe side

Don't use Adobe reader to view pdf files. Ebooks and electronic documents generally
come in pdf format. But just to read them you don't need 40 MB Adobe reader.

You can view pdf files easily with these lightweight free tools which are around 5MB
only.

Foxit pdf reader Download   Size~7MB

Sumatra reader   Download   Size~1.66MB portable (installation not required)

When we uninstall or remove things from our computer, there is left lots of residue,
sweep them with these freeware tools. These are the best available free cleaners. Use
them regularly and speed up your PC.

CCleaner                   Download now   Size ~ 3346KB

Wise Disk Cleaner     Download now   Size ~ 3.95MB

NTREGOPT              Download now   Size ~ 472KB

If you are having trouble to uninstall any program on your computer, you need a good uninstaller as default tool sometimes sucks.
Revo uninstaller can solve it easily. This freeware tool can uninstall broken programs. In addition there are other features too.

Features

• Uninstall broken programs
• All leftover files can be deleted.
• Unrecoverable delete of any data.
• Clean junk files with 8 additional tools

Download Revo uninstaller  Size ~> 2.29 MB

The pro version offers more features and is free for 30 days trial

It will be great if you see your house from satellite or from helicopter 500 ft above. But it will also be great if you do it just now on your PC or on your mobile.

It can be used to find an address on the go or calculate the time/distance to reach a particular place .
And all this is, off course, free of cost

Download and install this software and you can see satellite view of any place on earth.
Download Google earth

It can also be done on your web browser without software using these sites

http://maps.yahoo.com/
http://maps.google.com/

On these websites you can toggle between map view or satellite view. But these lacks some of the great features of software Google earth.

By time, we copy, cut, move, delete, (Un)install  files/programs/folders. This results to fragmentation of hard disks. It affects, speed of PC. Windows default defragmenter has very less features. These tools will give more features.

Smart Defrag                Download now  1.76 MB

Auslogics Disk Defrag  Download now  4 MB

Defraggler                    Download now  4.33MB

Mozilla firefox browser has a magical extension that lets to browse web without mouse.
Really helpful if your mouse is not working.

Mouseless Browsing (MLB) enables you to browse the web entirely with the keyboard.
The basic principle is to add small boxes with unique ids behind every link and/or form
element. You just have to type in the id to trigger the corresponding action. Ids can be
numeric or alphabetic.

Download MLB add-on for firefox

These mail's inbox are temporary for few minutes only. They don't need any registration and filling a long and boring form to sign up.

Benefits~
Email address is needed everywhere. Forums, websites, software download etc... They ask you to click the link they have sent to your email inbox, only then you can use their service. So time-taking, boring but necessary job.

On temporary mail just open their website, you will have an email address without typing a single word. Just copy that and enjoy. Your inbox is temporary.
This also saves from irritating spam mails.

Here are some temporary, disposable mail services~

http://10minutemail.com/
http://www.mintemail.com/
http://www.incognitomail.com/
http://www.jetable.org/en/index
http://www.spamspot.com/
http://www.guerrillamail.com/
http://www.temporaryinbox.com/
http://www.maileater.com/
http://www.mailexpire.com/
http://www.mailinator.com/
http://www.spambox.us/
http://www.mytrashmail.com/

Copy paste with default windows style is difficult to use if you are handling many texts simultaneously. It is because windows default can hold only one copied text at one time.
A simple freeware tool Xneat clipboard manager can hold as much text as you need. Paste them anywhere with hotkeys.

Features

• Multiple copy paste for your computer, needs free activation via internet
• Hotkey, I use mouse middle button,super easy and fast
• Copies text, images, files, folders

Download Xneat clipboard manager  Size : 644 KB

We often require to consult dictionaries. Movies, music, web pages, ebooks, kids, daily life, exam, novel-there are many uses.
Webword is a free lightweight but powerful dictionary. It is very user friendly. It works off-line and online.

Features

• Free English dictionary
• Works offline and online
• 65000 Pronunciations
• Synonyms, anotnyms, nearest word etc
• One click look up from any program (I use mouse middle click with no modifier, try)

Download : Wordweb     Size : 17.79MB

Do you love movies ? Want to watch movies of your favourite stars or your fav genres ? You may want to find movie titles and/or their reviews and ratings.
Here is the most popular websites list on internet :

1. IMDb
The biggest and most popular website for movies. It is known for user based reviews, ratings and all other info associated. Top 250, best of genres, best of decades, top on box-office, coming soon, opening this week, latest news and gossips are the main attractions.

2. Rotten Tomatoes
RT is popular for professional reviews by movie critics experts unlike IMDb anyone can rate the movies.

3. Metacritic
Movies are rated on basis of ratings of several moving critics experts i.e. it combines the ratings of many professionals at one place

4. Allmovie

5. Box office mojo

6. Wikipedia :  For even more info
A quick summary followed by number of external links. Recommended. I prefer this for quick info.

Now-a-days storage devices are seeing great decline in their prices. A computer that has storage of 500GB or even TBs is quite normal. More memory, more music, more movies, more softwares, more wallpapers and bla-bla-bla. It is very frequent to forget locations of file and folders in such a vast ocean of GBs or TBs.

Everything is a simple and free software to search file/folders on your computer at amazingly fast speed. The default windows search tool is much slower in performing searches. Everything is easy to use with a clean interface and indexes its database at blazing speed of 20000 files/second. You just type and results are almost instantaneous.

Features

• Searches files/folders at superfast speed
• Indexing rate~20000 files/second
• Easy and clean interface to use
• Boolean operators, regular expressions supported (Help on syntaxes)

Download ~~>> Everything     Size~>334 KB

Note:
It doesn't searches file contents and non-NTFS volumes
To use more effectively learn from help/FAQ

Updates on computer applications, tools, softwares, web world, tricks. News and tips to
ease internet and computer usage.

Hi buddy,
PCwebtricks is a blog that contains useful updates on PC & web usage. Helpful tips
and tricks to ease the usage interaction on computer and internet.

I will be posting articles on quality softwares, useful websites, news and techniques
that increases productivity and knowedge. Do more in less time and steps as time is
flying and we can't fly.

Connect via~
E-mail        -  okmpl0@gmail.com
Twitter        -  http://twitter.com/anshim86/
RSS feeds-  http://feeds.feedburner.com/pcwebtricks/

Ever seen a stunning color on screen, wanted to use in your images or websites. ColorPic  do this task at great ease.This free tool also provides decimal & hexadecimal color codes for further uses.

Features

• Capture any color from screen
• Decimal and Hexadecimal codes
• Provides Red/green/blue and hue/satulations/value and cyan/magenda/yellow components
• Powerful magnifier for greater accuracy

Download ColorPic   Size :  579.38 kb
Usage help

Ultra surf is a free lightweight tool that lets us surf the web anonymously. It protects our location related info by hiding our real ip address and showing a fake ip address. This application also can bypass the security of our camus to open banned websites.

Features

• Anonymous browsing by hiding ip address
• Surf banned websites like facebook, orkut etc
• One click easy to use enterface

Download  UltraSurf          Size: 490.0 kb
Download  Firefox add-on Size: 22.01 kb
Usage guide/help

For browsers other than IE : Apply following network settings

        IP address - 127.0.0.1    port - 9666

For mozilla firefox, download and install its add-on, a WJ button appears in bottom right corner of firefox. Use that button to enable/disable ultrasurf usage. More help in guide

Sometimes our desktop screen is full of icons and it seems very complex and boring task to clean icons. Even after cleaning desktop, it  becomes the same in few days or hours. If you spend several hours on computer daily, most probably you are having this trouble. Easy Solution - Fences

Fences is a free tool to clean up your junk desktop screen. It just takes few clicks and is very very easy and to use.

Features

• Cleans up your desktop and keeps it nice
• Create fences and put icons into them comfortably
• Hides less used icons in a moment - just a double-click
• Choose which icons to hide at your wish
• Transparency, colors and more customisations

Download       ~~>>      Fences - 9.03 MB

Info

• Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP supported
• 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 and Vista are supported.
• Impulse must be installed in order to download and update software

I am sure you will find this tool useful. Share it.