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Mouse gestures can automate tedious tasks. With the click of a button and a flick of the wrist, you can fill in your shipping address, insert a long string of text you have to type over and over again, display the weather, or launch any program. StrokesPlus is a free mouse gestures application that's easy to configure and use but also highly flexible. It's available in separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows operating system. It's also available in fully portable versions of each. While most users will probably benefit from the fully installed … Read more

Google's RSS Subscription Extension for Chrome automatically scans pages for RSS feeds and lets you subscribe to them with a single click on the RSS icon in the Omnibar. You must be signed in to Google to use it. It works with Chrome in Incognito mode, too, and supports multiple feeds per page. RSS Subscription Extension is freeware.

As with other Chrome extensions, you might miss RSS Subscription Extension's installation if you blink or look away, and (unlike some other Web browsers) you don't need to restart Chrome to activate it. We opened the Extensions Manager page … Read more

"Singlish" is a brand of English spoken in Sri Lanka that incorporates some words from Sinhala, the native Sri Lankan language, as well as other Asian languages. If you need a quick way to transliterate Singlish text into Sinhala, ZSriLanka Sindhala Language Pack is up to the task. This easy-to-use program provides both real-time transliteration and a Sinhala character map feature.

We'll be the first to admit that we don't speak Sinhala, so we can't vouch for the program's accuracy. What we can say, though, is that ZSriLanka Sinhala Language Pack has an intuitive … Read more

Anyone who's ever played around with Google Earth knows exactly how addictive it can be, jumping via satellite from your house to the Grand Canyon to your old elementary school to the pyramids of Giza. Quick Earth is an extension for Google Chrome that puts Google Earth at your fingertips, launching the popular satellite map service within your browser. It's a must-have for geography nerds, travel buffs, and anyone else who enjoys flying around the world from the comfort of home.

Like most Chrome extensions, Quick Earth installs without issues, but it does require the Google Earth plug-in … Read more

If you have diabetes, hypertension, or other chronic medical conditions, you no doubt know the value of tracking your blood sugar, blood pressure, and other health metrics. Health Monitor is an easy-to-use program that lets you record a variety of types of health information and track it over time.

Health Monitor comes with two sample users, so it's easy to see how the program works before you create a profile for yourself and get started. The interface is arranged in six tabs: Summary, Readings, Charts, Reports, Users and Help. We created a new profile for ourselves, entering our name, … Read more

Driver updates? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," describes how many users feel about updating their system's drivers, but these important bits of software tell your PC's components what to do, and it's wise, sometimes critical, to update them regularly. SlimDrivers Free is a simple tool that uses cloud-based scans to identify, download, and help you install driver updates for your system. It creates a personal profile that remembers your drivers and downloads the right ones automatically when you scan your system.

SlimDrivers Free's simple, colorful interface advised us to begin … Read more

When you delete files and folders in Windows, they're not really gone. To make sure something you want to delete has been wiped from your system, you need something stronger. Files Terminator Free Portable securely deletes files and folders and recovers free space in your disk drives. It's completely portable, so you can save it to a USB drive or similar device and run it on any compatible machine.

Files Terminator has a small but colorful interface that you might mistake for a pop-up ad if you only glance at it. A drop-down menu offers 9 different methods … Read more

The Motorola Xyboard got a much-needed update, improving the experience substantially for me.

Last week, I wrote how Motorola's 10.1-inch tablet (aka, Xoom 2) was driving me up a wall. In short, the stock browser--where I spend most of my time--was sluggish when refreshing pages, and simple tasks, like inputting text into a search box, could be glacial (among other issues).

After speaking with Motorola about this on Monday, they told me that an update was imminent. In fact, it had already arrived. Within an hour after hanging up, I had updated the Xyboard to Android 3.2.… Read more

Converting JPEGs to PDFs is one of those sort-of-everyday tasks that you really don't think about until it's time to do it, and then you look for a tool to do the job; preferably freeware and easy to use, too. But suppose this is a frequent task, something you do often and in large batches? Same answer: easy is good, and free is better. HiHiSoft's JPG to PDF is the sort of tool that can cover all bases. This standalone freeware converts single images or batches of files and folders to PDFs without requiring Acrobat or other … Read more