Software Watcher

Secure your password while managing it in an encrypted database with Keepass Password Safe. Eliminate the need of remembering many passwords, prevent it from being stolen, and provide customizable one-click login information filler.

Features:
1. Auto type information entries into webforms or other kind of dialogs.
2. Passwords can be categorized into different groups and subgroups.
3. Strong password protection by using AES and Twofish algorithms for the database encryption.
4. One master password to lock all the passwords kept.
5. The possibility to create key files to be used together with the master passsword for better security.
6. No installation required since it is a standalone program.
7. Password generator with customizable number of characters included.
8. Plug-ins to improve some of its functionality.

System requirement: Windows 95 / 98 / 98SE / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / 2003
License: Free and Open Source
Developer: Dominik Reichl
Download page: Keepass Password Safe

Remind Me Please (RMP) works to remind you of the upcoming events by popping-up an alert message on desktop and ringing a sound of an alarm.

Features:

• Picking up different sound of alarm for every event


• Specified events can be alerted daily, weekly, monthly, every X month, day X of month, and every X days


• Monthly calendar to see the whole events


• Layers that is allowed to be renamed for events categorization


• Events is possible to be publicized in a network or made private


• It sits on your tray

Publisher: Spacejock Software
OS supported: Windows All
License: Freeware

Notepad X is the built-in notepad replacement that allows you to create or open, edit, and view multiple documents in tabs. It provides hotkeys for moving between tabs so no need to use mouse for it.

The benefits you can get from this application:

1. Text can be formatted such as make it bold or italic or be aligned.
2. Images can be inserted as well.
3. If the font you choose is not big enough to read, don't bother to resize the font. Use the zooming feature instead.
4. Files can be added and organized as favorites.
5. Undo to cancel your previous action.

However, I found some liitle annoyances when using it. To make the text underlined, for example, you must press the button instead of using hotkey like Ctrl+U. It offers the possibility to transform lowercase letters to uppercase and vice versa, but can only be applied to all and can't be applied to the selected text. When you try to access the file added in the favorite list, it will bring you to the open dialog instead of launching it immediately.

The reason I keep mentioning this software here is because of its update history. It is updated frequently so it will become better and better in the future, and I believe every weakness it has at present will be all eliminated finally. Besides, I love how it looks like. This is a promising software.

Publisher: NohponeX
OS supported: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
License: Freeware

Moyea YouTube Player is a simple but sweet application that lets you to play youtube and FLV videos.



You can enjoy the videos according to the video size, or its double size, and in full screen. To make all the supported files are automatically played by it, associcate all with it so you don't have to re-select the application from the open-with right-click menu every time you want to play one.

Publisher: Moyea Software
For: Windows
License: Freeware

After signing up, you get unlimited storage size. It means you can upload as many as you want. For the file management, it allows you to create folders.

For you who just need to search for certain documents, it has a good categorization to ease your searching. Not to mention the possibility for readers to add tag to what they read. You also can search for documents based on the language used. And if the information you need isn't available yet, there is a request feature to ask for a specific document. Later on, when it is already available, it will be sent directly to your email so you don't have to revisit just for checking its availability.

When you type your password in a login form, usually you won't know whether it is typed correctly or not since the characteristics are displayed as asterisks. If you think this asterisk thing bothers you, then try to use Unhide Password.

Unhide Password is a Firefox extension replacing the asterisk with the real character so you can know it is typed mistakenly before you press enter. Of course you should instal it only if you aren't afraid of someone looks over your shoulder to see your password.

For: Firefox 1.0 - 2.0.0

Download it here

TaskBar Shuffle lets you to reorder buttons in your windows taskbar just by dragging and dropping, and it allows you to manage the order of the icons in the system tray, too.

All similar taskbar buttons can be grouped into three conditions:
1. Grouped in order started.
2. Grouped into one button for certain configurable number of windows.
3. Placed closely to each other but never grouped into one button.

Your mouse middle-click can also be utilized to close a group or an individual button.

License: Freeware
For: Windows XP/Vista/2000/NT/95/98

Go to the homepage to get the newest version.

Imagine if Windows explorer can create tabbed window inside just as what a browser like Firefox can do? You can open multiple folders in one window, navigating them through tabs, file and folder management becomes easier and faster, and your taskbar doesn't cluttered with several opened Windows explorer anymore.

Luckily, a creative guy has created a free aplication called QTTabBar allowing us to make the imagination above comes true. Yes, it adds the tabbed-browsing functionality to Windows explorer. In fact, it is equipped with many features that optimize the tabbed-browsing efficiency.

What can you do with it other than open multiple folders within one window?

Grouping folders to be opened later simultaneously
If you happen to run a certain project that makes you often open same folders, you can save them as a group. Whenever you run the group later on, all the folders saved within will be opened at once without you have to open them one by one. Of course you can make different groups for different projects.

Control the behaviors and appearance of the tabs
For example, add custom image as tab's background instead of displaying the folder icon, change the color and font.

Automatic preview
A small preview of an image file will be displayed when your mouse is pointing at it. There are also other file type supported for the preview. This preview ability can be disable.

Of course there are still many more you can get from this nifty freeware. I myself simply like that it adds the tab functionality to Windows explorer so I can manage my files more efficient than usual. This is a software I recommend you all to use.

License: Freeware
For: Windows XP/Vista (.NET Framework 2.0 is required for Windows XP)

Download the newest version of QTTabBar

FavoritesTown offers a unique way in keeping all your favorite stuff like files, folders, programs, and webpages. Contrary to other similar application, FavoritesTown stores and manages all of them inside a virtual town. The idea is that graphic or image is the thing easier to remember and can deliver more fun.
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This town has different buildings from home, shopping, or business building. To save a link, you should pick the most suitable one, click it to enter, and store it within any clickable item. You can even put a link in a magazine. To launch a link, you should enter the building, find where you put it and click it.

License: Freeware
For: Windows XP

Download the newest version of FavoritesTown

You may often find that a file somehow cannot be deleted. A message shows up saying that it is being used by another program, but doesn't tell you which program is using it. You close all windows, but it is still locked. Only after restarting your computer then the file can be deleted normally.

If it happens so frequent to you and it starts to get you headache, you should try this unlocker. This is a free software that can reveal what process is locking a file and then try to stop it.




By using Unlocker, you can right-click the file that refuses to be deleted, see the locking information, and do proper action simply by clicking the available buttons.

Task Killer is a Windows's built-in task manager replacement that is simpler, faster, and more flexible to use. It also consumes only small memory.

The hotkey is great...

Probably the most sweet thing from this app is that you can assign a hotkey to display the list of all running processes and services. It will pop-up under your mouse cursor when the hotkey is pressed. The default display is when you click the app's icon in the system tray, but I prefer to use this configurable hotkey.

Moreover, the hotkey can be configured to display all or certain tasks. So, if you happen to kill the explorer.exe when it gets unstable, just press the hotkey specifically created to display only the process instead of displaying all the tasks. This is just an example of how you can do several things more efficient by using this tiny program compared to what the Windows's built-in task manager can do.

Another nice thing is...

You can choose any processes and services from the list to be not displayed. This is good since you can become easily identify all the content of the list. The icon for each item ease the identification as well.

All in all, it is designed at least to:
1. Provide you speed in detecting which running process or application that eats up memory a lot.
2. Stopping any process in one-click, or two-clicks if you enable the prompt.

However, I found that services can't be terminated or started. It only displays all the services without giving any additional information whether it is active or not. I hope this will be fixed on the next version update.

Publisher: RSD Software
For: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP
License: Freeware
Version reviewed: 2.30

Visit the homepage of Task Killer to download it.

Every email provider has different policy about the maximum size allowed in sending an attachment. If your file happens to be very big or you just think that sending via email is just too slow, then you can try the free service offered by PipeBytes.




What you can get from it:

Simple user interface
This makes anyone can easily use all of its functions without any difficulty.

Upload and download at the same time
It may be the unique side of this service. It is possible for you to download a file that is being uploaded by a friend of yours. Both of the tasks are executed simultaneously.

No size limit
It allows you to transfer file in any size. However, keep in mind that too big size can make the upload/download time is very long to be finished.

Privacy is a concern
Give your friend the access code to download your file. This access code needs to be entered when he or she wants to pick it up.

Test the PipeBytes now.

AVI Preview makes you possible to watch or play an AVI movie which is being downloaded. The benefit of this unique feature is that if later you find that the movie is actually not good, you can stop downloading it immediately.

Other benefit you can get is that you can play a partially downloaded AVI movie.

As you can see form the screenshot, the user interface is simple. And according to its publisher it has beed tested extensively with P2P and FTP software.

It also supports divX, MPG, MPEG and VideoCD files.

Publisher: Andrei Jefremov
License: Freeware
For: Windows

Get the newest version of AVI Preview now

Many application integrates some of their functions to the right-click menu. This is great for access simplicity, but on the other side this makes the menu becomes too cluttered that a user sometimes may take a while in finding the command needed. This means less productivity than it should be.

Fortunately, some applications let the user to fully control the integrated functions. They can be disabled completely or only for several functions, grouped into a container, and marked by specific icons for easy navigation. However, there are some other applications that somehow do not give this management privilege. The integrated commands can not be disabled unless the program is uninstalled, or there is completely no option for you to manage how the commands appear on the right-click menu.

This is the situation where this simple software called Mmm can help you a lot. Even with the free version of it, you still can totally manage the right-click menu items. Moreover, the menu's look is replaced with a more attractive one.

What is it?
Mmm free: a free software for Windows to customize the context-menu into the user's preference.

How it works?
Mmm works by letting the user to entirely hide the visibility of the commands selected or group them into a separate container called "Rarely used".

The first choice is good for a program that forces its functions to be integrated but leaving no option to be disabled while they are not actually needed to appear on the right-click menu, and is also good to remove some standard integrated Windows commands such as Refresh which can easily be executed by pressing the F5 button by default.

The grouping is helpful when you have several commands that keep appearing everytime a folder or file is right-clicked no matter what the extension is, but you need them quite often. Unfortunately, you will not be able to organize them into specific containers.

The simple, standard menu itself will be replaced by a colorful one. The colors will change randomly whenever you right-click on different files or folders. On the colored bar, there is a button to access its main window.

As you can see from the picture, there are two panels. One contains all the context-menu items, and the another is where you can drag and drop the items to be hidden or grouped. Once you are satisfied with the configuration you made, you can have a backup of it by saving the setting to the registry.



This software, just like other free softwares which have the pro versions, has limited functions. The menu replaced is only able to be accessed when you right-click on the Windows explorer's right panel, Start menu's items, and the desktop. To have it works on more places such as on save/open dialog you need the pro version. If you find it useful, buy it. If not, don't waste your money.

Publisher: HACE
License: Freeware
OS required: Windows XP only

The focus of this blog is to provide information about valuable software to manage your files efficiently and to secure the important ones. Each software is personally tested and reviewed in-depth. This blog is not intended to be a specific marketing tool for any software company, which means each review is dependent from any company's influence. I love finding good software, and that is the main reason SoftwareWatcher's blog is made.

My name is Rony Kurnianto Ardistialam, an Indonesian blogger. As it has been already indicated above, hunting software is a what I like to do. It is a hobby that I myself can not explain the reason. I think this is just the same as some people like climbing mountains or collecting stamps. In fact, I have a big collection of software that I categorize into specific categorization and mark which is bad and which is good.

I wil not claim that this blog is the place where you can find all best software. This is a place in which you can find software reviewed honestly. All in all, I hope that the information I provide here is useful for you. At least it can become one of your trusted references to find software you need.

What is it?
Access Boss: a security application letting you to manage who, how, and when a user can access your computer. It is armed with features which not only give more flexible usage and broader capability, but also easy to operate for everyone including parents that simply want to limit their children's computer hours.

What it can do for you?
An owner can set time limits both for certain user or for the computer itself so the setting is applied to all users with no exception.

It is also possible for you to configure when a user is able to access a computer. In other words, a user is only able to access the computer at a certain specified time.

A feature that is probably suitable for parents to control their children's computer activity is that this application lets you to determine how long a user can use a computer. What makes this feature even greater is its capability to set different time limit for each day. For example, two hours for Monday and 4 hours for Sunday.

To prevent a user from creating a new account in purpose to have unlimited time access, you can make a list of users permitted to use the computer. By utilizing this feature, no one is able to access the computer other than those already included on the list.

Other interesting offerings are that you can set a user account expiration date, check the usage statistic for each user, apply the time limit configuration accross a network, and all the settings can be configured and applied remotely.

Publisher: FSPro Labs
System Requirement: Windows 2003/XP/Vista
License: 30 days trial, $29.95 to buy.

As it has been indicated by the name, Folder Lock is a software specifically designed to give high protection for all your sensitive documents. The capability of its features has received around 260 awards which some have come from respectful independent reviewers such as SnapFiles, CNet, PC Magazine, and Download.com. Therefore, anyone should never doubt about its capableness.

Despite its pretty impressive security features, Folder Lock is very easy to use for even an average Joe who needs to secure his files without any hassle of the usage. The interface is not just good-looking, it offers simplicity as well in terms of the neat features placement. The utilization is even much easier for it is equipped with a well-managed help documentation to guide the users exploring and executing every command available.

What about the high level protection that I keep mentioning before? Thanks to the five different locking methods protecting documents at kernel level, Windows explorer level and real DOS level, accompanied by the abilities to scramble and apply a 256-bit Blowfish Encryption, any file's visibility and accessibility is highly secured even from advanced hackers and malware's threat. Any document protected with Folder Lock can only be accessed, renamed, and/or deleted by the owner.

User can lock files as many as possible as it does not limit the number. No need to worry about the speed if you need to lock GBs of files. It finishes the process in seconds. The lock and unlocking action themselves can be done easily from its main window or from simply the right-click menu in Windows explorer.

Folder Lock also makes it possible for the users to keep their files stay protected even though the software is being inactive. In other words, you do not need to run it all the time in order to keep the files protected. Moreover, you can apply the protection to files stored in removable storages.

Another great feature I catch from it is the Auto Lock. Briefly described, it can automatically lock the pre-defined files and folders after a specified certain time. This is a good idea since there is always the possibility of forgetting to re-lock the files after having finished with them.

And the additional interesting features to anticipate illegal access, one is the access monitoring in which any attempt to hack the program to gain an entrance path to the files protected is monitored and recorded in logs. This way a user can have a grasp of the hacking behaviors and do some steps to anticipate the potentially next attempts. Another is the ability to command Folder Lock to auto lock or auto shutdown the computer after someone enters three invalid passwords.

There are still some other good functions. All in all, Folder Lock is an excellent, thus a recommended piece of software for anyone who needs to protect sensitive documents in a practical way but highly secured.

Publisher: NewSoftwares.net Inc
System Requirement: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista
License : Free Trial, $35