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The search tool built into Windows has gotten a lot better over the years, but many users still prefer a third-party search utility, especially a tool that doesn't use indexing. There are many standalone search tools to choose from, most of them freeware. UltraSearch from JAM Software is a free search tool optimized for NTFS drives. Instead of indexing, it searches your NTFS drive's Master File Table (MTF). It searches while you type, returning results almost instantaneously.

UltraSearch has a compact, efficient layout in a medium-size, draggable window. It's a very simple tool: you see a search … Read more

Kodak continues to innovate in its printing division despite an announcement today that the company is shuttering the camera division.

I just finished reviewing its $200 Office Hero 6.1 All-in-One, a midprice imaging device that can print, scan, fax, and copy, and as long as you don't mind waiting a few extra seconds for your prints, this competent multifunctional printer deserves your attention.… Read more

Legroom's Universal Extractor is a free extraction tool designed to let you decompress and extract files from virtually any archive, including some you probably haven't heard of before. What it can't do is create archives; the developers are quite clear that Universal Extractor isn't meant to take the place of utilities like 7Zip or WinRar. Instead, it bundles together a variety of useful backend utilities. It's a great addition to your Windows toolkit, and great to have around when you need it, even if that's not very often.

Universal Extractor has a user interface … Read more

Anyone who's used Google Chrome for any period of time has likely encountered its "Most Visited" landing page, which displays thumbnails of your most visited Web pages for quick and easy access. Speed Dial is an extension for Firefox that mimics this feature of Chrome--sort of. Instead of displaying your most visited sites automatically, Speed Dial lets you create your own sets of thumbnails. It's a great way to organize your favorite sites and access them quickly.

The extension installed without issues but, like all Firefox extensions, required us to restart our browser. A small configuration … Read more

Microsoft Word is arguably the most popular word processing program around, but it's also full of features that a lot of people have no use for. SSuite Office - QT Writer Express takes a different approach, providing a word processor that packs basic features and not much else. It might be a little too bare-bones for many users, but for others, especially kids or adults who aren't very computer literate, it could be the perfect choice.

The program's interface is plain and uncluttered, with icons across the top and a large toolbar down the left side. The … Read more

Social-networking sites are meant to help us keep up with our friends, but they often end up taking up way more of our time than they should. Yoono for Internet Explorer is a clever browser extension that lets you merge all of your social-networking and chat services into one unobtrusive interface.

The extension installs easily, and it's evident from the moment the extension launches that Yoono's designers are pros; the sidebar that contains Yoono has a sleek and attractive look. Users are walked through the steps of configuring Yoono, which includes selecting all of the social networking services … Read more

WPanorama brings scrolling panoramas to your desktop. It can scroll wide-screen panoramic views 360 degrees at selected speeds and along the horizontal or vertical axes. It will display 360-degree panoramic images obtained online or created in JPEG or bitmap format. It adds some interesting visual effects for displaying nonpanoramic images, including slideshow and mirroring tools.

WPanorama's download includes both the image viewer program and a screensaver. Each does much of what the other one does, but with a specific focus. For instance, you can toggle WPanorama's viewer to full-screen mode, producing a stunning effect, or you can set … Read more

Update: Microsoft has released another update for Office 2004 (version 11.6.2) which corrects this problem.

On Tuesday, Microsoft released updates for both Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 to correct some security vulnerabilities in the software, but a number of people are having difficulties opening some Excel spreadsheets in Office 2004 after the update.

As mentioned by CNET member and MacFixIt reader Kurt in the comments of our article announcing the update:

"After applying the update yesterday, some Excel documents refuse to open. For a fraction of a second the open progress bar shows up, then nothing happens.&… Read more

Small businesses frequently must choose between "enterprise" (pronounced "expensive") solutions and personal software that just isn't up to the job. ITAZ Sohodox is a document management application specifically tailored for the small office, but it has many uses outside the workplace, since it creates a centralized, searchable, multiuser database of all your documents. Sohodox works with any TWAIN-compatible scanner and saves documents in a wide range of formats, including PDF and TIFF. It even has OCR capabilities.

Sohodox has single-user and client installation options; we tested the single-user installation. The interface resembles Microsoft's Outlook … Read more