Are you tired of searching through the crowd of short cuts on your computer without any luck at finding the one you need?  Get True Launch Bar

 What is the big deal about this program?

One significant difference between this program and the standard Quick Launch bar is that True Launch Bar allows you to combine your shortcuts into groups. This serves to significantly improve the management of your shortcuts and saves working space on your desktop. it grants you quick access to your PC  content. True Launch bar makes your work space easier to manage and fun to work with. With this application, your speed of the launching of your applications is tremendously increased like never before.

It allows you to search for applications either by using their icons or using its tooltips. You can group items by topic and create any kind of a custom menu you want. It allows you to you specify hot keys for menus and shortcuts to open them with a touch of a button. It has its own uninstaller.

Tordex, the publisher of this program has added a couple of changes to this version. They include: Added export hotkeys list into the HTML file via TLB Settings; Added “No Icons” view mode into the “Create Menu” wizard and a few others.

Downsides?

An excellent piece of software.  This app is not hidden when running various app. But it is quite pricy and uses up system resources.

To learn more about this program, please visit Truelaunchbar.

Need a print driver? Then get FinePrint.

What is the big deal about this program?

It offers you advanced printing capability. With this program, you can create booklets, print double sided on any printer, print on your own electronic letterhead, and create new documents by combining your print jobs together. You can add gutters for binding all with complete assurance that the printed output will match the preview on screen.

Every one would like to save money and this is exactly what FinePrint does: it saves you money on paper and toner, weight in your briefcase, and time and hassle in managing your print jobs.

Some of the features of this program are: universal print previewer, delete unwanted pages, remove blank pages, crop pages, convert to grayscale, print multiple pages on a single sheet, archive print results and edit texts.

New Version Updates

FinePrint Software, the publisher of this program, has added a few changes to this version. They have fixed the following problems: Fixed a problem where dispatcher processes sometimes continued to run even after pdfFactory was closed; Fixed redraw problems with highlighted or redacted text in documents that use transparency (Pro only); Fixed a crash that sometimes happened when imaging Greek symbols in Mathcad fonts. Fixed problems imaging bar codes in tax returns. Fixed MAPI errors that sometimes happened when you click on the Send button and Added language support for Danish, French, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.

Any downsides?

This application prints out all your printing jobs just as you want it. Great printing quality.  The authors should work on giving it a finer look.

To familiarize yourself with this program, please visit FinePrint.

Coollector is an easy to use and powerful program. This program is both a huge encyclopedia as well as a database.

What is the big deal about this program?

Unlike other program that are mere video collection managers where you start out with an empty database and start to download information one after the other, with Coollector Movie Database, you have a huge encyclopedia of 97,000 movies and series, updated weekly. What is more, you can use it even if you are offline since it is installed on your system. It has a very easy to use interface that is richly illustrated with film posters, video covers, photographs of actors and crew, and even character screenshots.

You could customize the layout to suit your choice, and make almost any search you can think of, without having to be a database engineer. With this application, you will be able to track not only the videos you own, but also all the movies you’ve seen. You can even organize your video collection, cataloging the ones you own, where it’s stored, and what you’ve loaned to whom. It comes with its uninstaller.

Collector, the publisher of this program, has added two new features to this program: added 400 movies and series and corrected some text imperfections.

Downsides?

Great app. The database contains a lot of crap movies though.

To find out more about this program, please visit http://www.coollector.com/

Need an application that allows you to organize your movie collection?  Movie Label is such an application.

What is the big deal about Movie Label?

This program allows you to organize your movie collection by simply typing the title or barcode.  It can search for and download information from IMDb, gather information from a DVD, or import titles from a text file. Although the program can be used simply to keep track of movies stored elsewhere, such as on DVD, users can also play movies that are stored on their computers directly from Movie Label, which is nice. Users can also create a database of contacts in order to keep track of whom they loan their movies to.

Some of the features of this program include: organize your movie collection by typing the title or barcode; scan your hard drive to find movie files and add them to your collection; search and sort your collection with one click and keep track of movies on loan with the built-in loan manager. It has its won uninstaller.

Code Aero Technologies, the publishers of this program have added a few changes to this version. These include:  updated tag reading engine, updated database access layer and it now uses the latest version of DB engine.

Any downsides?

A good tool to help organize your movie collection. It is a bit pricy.

To familiarize yourself with this software, please do visit Codeaero.

Do you need an application that significantly improves the usability of Windows user interface in a multi-monitor environment? Actual Multiple Monitors is it!

What is the big deal about Actual Multiple Monitors?

This program is designed as a detailed solution to improve the functionality of MS Windows user interface for effective and more comfortable work in a multi-monitor setting. This powerful, easy-to-use and intelligent application imitates standard Windows services on secondary monitors, allows you to create desktop profiles and provides new window management services riding you of having to click frequently and allows you to concentrate on your work undisturbed.

With this app, you can imitate the start button and launch applications faster and easier, switch between applications without having to switch your attention to another monitor. It helps you to put the target window on your preferred monitor by clicking the additional title bar button or pressing the hotkeys. You can also create desktop profiles and display properties such as screen resolution, monitor status and so on.

Some of the main features of this program include: multi-monitor taskbar, enhanced window management, multi-monitor background wallpaper/screensaver, desktop profiles and desktop icons manager.

Actual Tools, publisher of this program have added a few new changes to this version: the Actual Taskbar now runs as a separate process; windows 8: start screen options have been added; ability to disable desktop divider and a whole lot more.

Any downsides?

This program works real well. Some of the cool features are not available on the free version. It is also very easy to configure. It has a 30-day time out. When the trial expires, you’ll lose some features.

To learn more about this program, please go to ActualTools.

YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) is a freeware that can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.

What is the deal about this YUMI?

This program allows users to create their own customized Multiboot UFD containing only the desired distributions they want and in the order in which they are  installed. You can adda new distribution to the UFD each time the tool is run. Unlike its predecessor (Multiboot ISO) which used grub to boot ISO files directly from USB, YUMI uses syslinux to boot extracted distributions stored on the USB device, and reverts to using grub to Boot Multiple ISO files from USB, if necessary.

Pendrive, the publisher of this freeware, have released a new version of this program- YUMI 0.0.8.0. They’ve made a few changes to this version: Update to support Recent Panda Safe CD, Redo Backup 1.0.4, GDATA Rescue/Boot CD, Webconverger 15.1, Racy Puppy 5.3, Precise Puppy 5.4.1, Slacko 5.3.3, DPup Exprimo, and Linux Mint 14.

Any downsides?

This is one very good tool to have on your computer. It is very easy to use and very fast to install.

To learn more about this program please visit http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

This is one more addition to a long list of application that can be installed for the purpose of reading directory and file structure. This is not a bad attempt after all because it has some cool features that some experienced users would love to see in a program like this. CD Label Designer can make a lot of difference when you install it on your PC.

What is CD Label Designer?

CD Label Designer is application that will help you to design and print CD jewel case and DVD box labels, booklets, sleeves (envelopes), round and business card disk labels. It supports images, RTF texts, circled texts and shapes allowing you to arrange, change size, angle and transparency of objects. You can also read directory and file structure, CDDB audio CD database or define own lists to include them on labels, and you can customize printout positions.

With template files you can pre-define number of templates for different kind of designs. Also, you can make different print layouts and exchange them with others, and you can customize printout positions. Version 5.0 has been updated to make it compatible with Windows 8. It also features more editing flexibility, stretch text to the box, and shape edit window.

Downsides

Fifteen days trial period probably too short for a newbie to fully understand all its features; publisher might wish to extend that a little bit.

Want to check it out? Visit CD-Label-Designer.

Let your creative ability come to play with Screensaver Factory that simply allows you to create attractive and very colorful screensavers that are royalty-free.

Screensaver Factory

Screensaver Factory lets you create screensavers for yourself or unlimited royalty-free distribution. You can make screensavers from any combination of images, video and flash animation, adding background music and over a hundred smooth picture transition effects. Screensaver Factory is very easy to use and it generates standalone screensaver file or self-installing screensaver for easy distribution.

Apart from being easy to use; Screensaver Factory is also very light and consumes only small space on your PC. You can also make some money by creating some screensavers for sale by using some special features for shareware authors.

Screensaver Factory application lets you do the following; create screensavers from pictures, videos, flash animation and sound files, make self-installing screensaver files and CDs for easy distribution, create time and feature limited trial screensavers, make shareware screensavers with nag-screens and registration keys, clock, calendar and even RSS screensavers, etc.

Some Screensaver Factory features include the following; smooth graphics processing, support for all popular image, video and sound formats, built-in compression for ensuring smallest possible file size, advanced marketing features, and many more.

Any downsides?

All previous complaints seem to have been taken care of in this version.

Want to check it out? Visit Blumentals.

Blender has been transformed from that program that had a few bugs and issues when it was first released to a program that has a lot of key and advanced features. Over the years, the program has proven to be a highly advanced design tool for experienced designers out there.

Blender has a personal touch, offering a unique approach to the world of 3 Dimensions. Use it to create TV commercials, to make technical visualizations, business graphics, to do some morphing, or design user interfaces. You can easy build and manage complex environments. The renderer is versatile and extremely fast. All basic animation principles (curves & keys) are well implemented.

Blender is easier to use than a lot of professionally designed programs out there; and yet has a lot of powerfully built features. The program is unique and comes 100% free including lots of professional addons that will always come in handy for various projects.

This new release is a step ahead of previous versions in terms of interface, and features. In this version, you would be able to benefit from the following; gallery of pictures displaying some unique and colorful artworks, animations systems that supports a variety of techniques and tasks, and many more.

Downsides

None professional users may require a few days to truly understand how some of Blender’s features actually work.

Want to check it out? Visit Blender.

Skinny is a lovely desktop application that helps you customize your date and time without giving affecting the sizes of icons. It is a great piece of application that is surprisingly free when you consider some of its features that are easy to use.

What is Skinny Clock?

Skinny Clock is a freeware utility helping you to show the date and time in a way you like. One way to watch the time is a clock window, whose look can be adjusted via a skin. Skinny Clock is designed with several pre-made skins available within installation, or you can even design your own skins. The clock window supports alpha transparency at the window and skin levels, as well as input transparency. The second way to watch the time is to override the taskbar clock to show the time using format and font of your choice.

Clock skins can be created using captions with formatting strings to display current time, polyline vector primitives, and bitmaps with alpha channels. Every element of the skin is drawn anti-aliased, and with designer-defined alpha. Also, number of elements composing the skin is not limited, and the structure of easy-to-understand skin-definition file allows you to specify the overlay order of the skin elements.

Translations can be created in different languages including the following; Czech, French, English, Italian, Japanese, Swedish, German, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Downside

Perhaps, the publisher could consider making it possible to reduce the size of the clock to suit users.

Want to check it out? Visit Rawos.