cleaners

Sometimes less really is more, and software that does a single task well is better than a feature-rich app that bogs down performance, clogs system memory, or over-reaches its abilities. Here are seven programs that were built to do a specific job, and succeed. These downloads may not have all the fixin's, but they taste great all the same.

UPDATED: We asked for your favorite picks and you responded. Here are five fresh one-trick ponies of the software world that you just love to bits.

MediaCell Video Converter This multiformat video converter makes the list thanks to a three-part, one-pane interface from which you browse for the video file, select the mobile device you'll be watching it on, and click the large, bubbly "convert" button. No need to concern yourself with file formats, bit rates, and sound quality. While users certainly can tweak the volume and settings themselves in the app's "output" section, MediaCell Video Converter's preset optimizations per device make it unnecessary for most.… Read more

The free spyware-removal software Ad-Aware 2007 helps protect your system from browser hijackers, data miners, and other malware, but it can also wipe your Web surfing tracks for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera with just one click. Rich DeMuro shows you how it's done.

It's the height of summer, and for some of us that means allergy hell. Even our fortified caves and vehicles can't keep out all the offensive particles that make life miserable. So it may seem like desperation to you lucky non-sufferers out there, but we're sorely tempted to invest in this "Pro-Aqua" air-cleaning system, which sounds like a combination of a "Scooba" and one of those industrial-strength mosquito machines.

The indoor system improves air and climate quality through wet and dry cleaning mechanisms, including "wet vacuuming, air washing and scenting, inhalation, bed … Read more

If you're tired of hearing your tree-hugging neighbors complain about your energy-hogging pool vacuum, this may help calm them down.

The "Floatron" solar-powered purifier promises to reduce the use of chlorine by 80 percent for pools with up to 40,000 gallons of water while running solely on the sun's rays. Best of all, Coolest-Gadgets says, you won't have to waste hours trying to figure out the chemical balances that keep the chlorine level from turning you into a mutant.

We just hope that's not a toothbrush pictured with the device here. That would … Read more

LG isn't fooling anyone. In developing its first vacuum cleaner, the electronics maker predictably touted all kinds of techie features, such as "a RotaBlade that is in the rocket shaped drum, which is attached to an additional motor moving side-to-side compacting household dust into solid cubes," according to Pocket-lint.

But we know the real strategy: It wanted the "Compressor Vacuum Cleaner" to look like a Transformer. And it's done a splendid job, by the way--at first glance, we were sure it was a new version of "Optimus Prime" or some other mechanical … Read more

If the "Scooba" went on a massive steroid binge, it might turn out as something like this. iRobot has taken its famed vacuuming skills under water, totally submerging a new line for the swimming pool.

The "Verro" pool-cleaning bots come in two models that patrol the floor and climb walls to the waterline in 60 to 90 minutes It also uses artificial intelligence to avoid crashing into sunken tiki gods or pirate ships.

The Verros don't come cheap, at $800 and $1,200, but that may be a small price to pay to get rid … Read more

A USB air purifier is fine when you're on the road, but at home you need something more powerful for a fully sterilized bubble. That's when you might want to consider the "Airfree Platinum 2000."

Its name may sound like something out of RoboCop, but the purifier claims to eliminate 99.99 percent of all germs. The secret weapon is a ceramic core that reaches 400 degrees, a temperature where no micro-organism can build their germ villages, according to Appliancist. (Airfree claims that it functions at these levels without burning down the house. Glad they mentioned … Read more

Call it the war of the OCD bots. Only a day after an automated cleaning monster was feted in Japan, a competing robot has emerged from South Korea.

Akihabara News reports that "ROMI," which was developed by ETRI, responds to voice commands and can wirelessly transmit videos to your computer or phone, presumably so you can inspect their dusting techniques first-hand. No pricing has been announced, but we hope it's at least more affordable than its $170,000 counterpart. With that kind of money, we could assemble an entire army of Roombas.

If the "Roomba" and "Scooba" had a parent--a morbidly obese one--it might well be this cleaning monster from Japan. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry named it the "2006 Robot of the Year" for its vacuuming prowess, which spanned "3,000 square meters in four hours on a single charge," according to Plastic Bamboo.

You won't find one of these behind the counter at Walgreen's, though: Co-creators Sumitomo and Fuji Heavy Industries put its cost at $170,000, for replacing the work of two full-time humans--and without coffee breaks. … Read more