junk

Scan for junk files and optimize your PC with SeeknClean, but prepare to relinquish control

Even if you're not a hardcore user who spends hours on the computer every day, junk files can still clog up your system and slow it down over time. SeeknClean is a program designed to get rid of junk files and optimize your PC, but the user has little to no control over what the program does and the seven-day trial version will only let you scan but not remove those unneeded files.

The clean, mostly white interface is fairly simple, with two large buttons for the main functions to clean up or optimize your computer. One click starts … Read more

Canada orbits suitcase-size camera to hunt asteroids

Aside from giant laser beams, can eyes in the sky help save us from asteroid hits?

Canada thinks so, and it has launched a space telescope to track hazardous objects including asteroids, space junk, and satellites.

The Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) was launched from an Indian rocket this week as the first dedicated space-based sentinel of its kind.

Managed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), NEOSSat is about the size of a suitcase and orbits some 500 miles above Earth, circling every 100 minutes. … Read more

SpeedUpMyPC 2013 cleans and tweaks new and old computers.

Regular cleaning helps keep your PC running like new, but it's not enough: you need speed. UniBlue's SpeedUpMyPC 2013 with Registry Booster not only purges junk files and defragments your PC's registry, on demand or on schedule, but its Active Speed Tools can tweak nearly any PC's performance. For example, its CPU Manager keeps runaway processes from using up available system resources, while the Start Menu Software Accelerator launches your apps quicker. Of course, you can also deselect any tool you don't want to run or any item you don't want to clean, as … Read more

DARPA SpaceView enlists amateur astronomers

DARPA today announced a new approach to tracking the increasing population of space debris: crowdsourcing. The SpaceView program will reach out to amateur astronomers in helping to protect satellites from what NASA estimates is more than 500,000 pieces of hazardous space debris orbiting the Earth. It's a low-cost way to both improve the scope of the space coverage and better protect assets in space, some of which are satellites providing mission-critical combat support. Decomissioned satellites, spent rocket stages, aluminum oxide slag, and lost tools make up some of the half million pieces of debris -- and the Space … Read more

CCleaner is a one-stop shop for keeping your system clean

Nowadays, cookies, temporary files, and various other means of tracking your Web footprint are par for the course. Some of these trackers are useful, while others can be potentially intrusive. Thankfully, there are myriad freeware cleaners out there that help keep your system in check. CCleaner is one of the better ones for its ease of use and powerful cleaning capabilities.

CCleaner's simple and intuitive layout will appeal to users of all skill levels. Its four features -- Cleaner, Registry, Tools, and Options -- are prominently displayed on the left side of the window. We started with the Cleaner … Read more

Scrap metal gets new life as robot night lights

Tal Avitzur is obsessed with collecting what he calls "retro junk." The California artist spends hours sifting through scrapyards to find parts for the whimsical robots he dreams up.

At his Talbotics studio in Santa Barbara, Avitzur has created dozens of bots that are creepy, cute, alien, or just plain bizarre. Many are more than just ornamental -- they work as night lights, illuminating dark rooms with their otherworldly LED eyes.

Some of his "Talbots" feature unexpected parts like vacuum cleaner motor housings, dolls, winches, clutches, floor polishers, meat grinder blades, taxidermy animal eyes, and old boat fittings. … Read more

Photo time capsule to last 'billions of years' in space

"When humanity disappears, a ring of dead spacecraft will remain as evidence of our existence."

That comforting thought is how nonprofit arts group Creative Time introduces a project by multimedia artist Trevor Paglen to put a photo time capsule in space, where it will orbit our planet for thousands of years, perhaps long after we've blown each other up or otherwise expired. … Read more

Clean, repair, and optimize your Registry with ARO 2012

ARO 2012 is the latest version of a longstanding Registry cleaner and optimizer. The look is familiar, but ARO 2012 offers several upgrades over previous versions, such as improved browser cleaning and user-friendlier settings as well as new tweaks that can yield better NTFS performance, faster startups, and improved CPU utilization. ARO 2012 also backs up and optimizes the Registry. You can schedule automatic cleanings, too.

ARO 2012's installer informed us that it would scan our PC as soon as it closed. The first scan is always important with software like ARO since it establishes a baseline, and ours … Read more

Clean and recover disk space with Wise Disk Cleaner Pro, now free

WiseCleaner's Wise Disk Cleaner Professional is now free to all home users, so we took a look at it to see how it fared against the large and growing field of freeware system cleaners. We found it easy to use but thorough, with expert options (and frequent warnings to keep novices from trying them) though most users will find Wise Disk Cleaner's default settings perfectly safe.

Wise Disk Cleaner's interface leans toward the "clean and simple" end of the system utility style chart, with none of the huge fonts and overbearing logos found in some … Read more