Software

NowSmart Studio's Audio Record Wizard makes it easy to record sounds on your PC from a microphone, a file, or anything you can plug into your sound card, like a tape deck or TV. It's great for recording chat sessions because it can record sounds from two sources, such as a microphone and Internet feed, and save it all as one file in a range of formats (MP3, OGG, WAV, and FLAC). It can convert and merge audio files, manage MP3 tags, and perform other audio editing duties. Many of its tools are particularly suited to voice recording, … Read more

CyberLink MediaEspresso costs more than many similar tools, but you get what you pay for: A sophisticated yet easy-to-use media converter that can handle most files and devices, including Apple, Android, and Windows smartphones, tablets, and media players, and popular game consoles, too. Plenty of tools can convert media files, including some capable freeware. MediaEspresso offers a robust, do-it-all capability in a streamlined interface, plus supports the latest graphics cards, multithread conversion, and direct upload to social media. CyberLink Media Espresso is free to try for 30 days (or 50 conversion runs) and costs $39.95.

We dragged a Flash … Read more

A desktop stopwatch is something many PC users will need at some point or another--some regularly--so UT Bay's Desktop Stopwatch caught our attention. It's a super-compact, totally portable stopwatch app that can time intervals down to centiseconds (tenths of a second), a level of precision that many similar tools can't match. Unfortunately, Desktop Stopwatch lacks many of the options its competitors offer, such as countdown mode and interface options like numeral size and color. However, its total portability, very small size (68K), and centiseconds option will suit many users' needs, if not all their wants.

Desktop Stopwatch … Read more

Software that promises to speed up your download is almost invariably limited by something it can't effect, namely your Internet connection, and that's the case with Download Accelerator Manager, aka DAM. But DAM does serve as a free, browser-integrated download manager. DAM lets you schedule, pause, and resume multiple downloads, which can be a big help to users who have limited bandwidth or access time, especially when downloading large files such as movies. For instance, you can schedule DAM to download files at night, when local traffic is lighter (or rates lower). To that end, DAM offers features … Read more

Flash & USB Recovery can help when you accidentally delete important files from your removable and external memory devices, cards, and discs. NetGate Technologies' Windows 8-ready tool scans your drives for deleted but recoverable files and recovers files with a click. It can handle all of your system's drives, including internal and external hard drives, flash drives, SD Cards, and other memory devices. Its Deep JPEG Image Scan can find long-lost image files. A Log File records your searches. Flash & USB Recovery is free to try, but file recovery is disabled in the unregistered version.

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My Document is designed to open and read any type of document, but the interface is needlessly jumbled, and with crashes at multiple points, the app needs some additional work. When working properly, My Document does what it advertises, opening files in nearly any format from your device, downloaded from the Internet, or on a playlist you have created. But most of the time it does not work properly and some of the features are either unnecessary or oddly placed.

The home screen for My Document is a blank menu where playlists will eventually go. It's not immediately clear … Read more

MotionCamera adds a timer to your camera so you can get in on the shot, but is not as easy to use as it could be. Still, you can take group photos more easily than is otherwise possible with the relatively limited photo tools already available on the iPhone.

When you open MotionCamera you can choose the duration of the delay between 0.1 to two seconds. Even with two seconds to get in front of the camera, it often isn't enough for most people. That's why MotionCamera only starts counting when it detects motion. So instead of … Read more

FreeFixer can fix problems other tools can't touch, but it can "fix" your system good and proper, if you don't know what you're doing. This powerful tool removes stuff. It can, and will, remove things your PC needs if you tell it to, so knowledge is key. Unless you're sure something needs to go, don't delete it. Instead, use the link to get more information online. FreeFixer automatically whitelists many safe items on its servers, but it can't tell a good program from a bad one, if it's not in the … Read more

Kaspersky Password Manager helps frequent Web surfers reconcile the need for strong passwords with a bad memory--not your computer's memory but yours. With one Master Password, you can create, edit, store, and enter secure passwords and log-in data to access Web sites. It also fills in forms with a more secure auto-complete tool than most browsers offer and incorporates phishing and keylogging protection. Kaspersky Password Manager is trial-limited shareware for Windows XP to 8.

Installing and setting up Password Manager is a bit more fiddly than most software, but a Configuration Wizard walked us through the process, starting with … Read more