Newsletter Archives

• Freeware Spotlight — Bloatbox

  Posted on August 2, 2020 at 23:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Managing privacy and removing bloatware in Windows are two of those important but annoying tasks for keeping a safe and clean system.

  Remember my review of Spydish? It’s one of my go-to utilities for running a quick check on privacy settings. It also lets you thin out some of the less useful apps included with Windows. Do you know anyone still using Zune?

  Recently, we heard that Belim from Mirinsoft was going to add a bloatware extension to Spydish. But apparently, there was a change in plan. Instead, Belim created a standalone gem called Bloatbox.

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Bloatware removal, Privacy settings, Spydish

• Freeware Spotlight — Antivirus Removal Tool

  Posted on July 20, 2020 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  One of the lesser-known causes of poor PC performance is the detritus left behind by uninstalled anti-malware programs.

  Our shop regularly receives PCs whose owners have removed antivirus programs properly — but services and processes for those apps are still running!

  As you probably know, I love independent software developers who make things easier for us geeks. One of those talented coders — who goes by the name “Alex C” — has given us the indispensable Windows Repair Toolbox. Now Alex gives us the Antivirus Removal Tool, a free utility that you can also run from a flash drive. It has the 29 most common antivirus-removal tools built into one utility

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.28.0 (2020-07-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Anti-malware removal tools, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, PC performance

• Freeware Spotlight — ScreenToGif

  Posted on June 29, 2020 at 01:10 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Usually, when an app becomes one of my favorites, I just assume everyone else knows about it.

  So there I was, working with Nicke Manarin’s ScreenToGif utility on a simple task: creating instructions for a client on how to change Windows from double-click to single-click. And then it hit me: this handy-but-relatively-unknown app is … article material!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.25.0 (2020-06-29).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Screen capture, Screen videos

• Freeware Spotlight — Deanna’s list

  Posted on June 22, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  You gotta love utilities — those small, free, third-party apps that have for years helped make our Windows experience better.

  There are hundreds of them — most designed to fix a specific computing problem. Many others are handy tools Microsoft neglected to include in Windows. And some are simply fun.

  At OlderGeeks.com, we’ve been reviewing and posting utilities for years. Below is the full list of apps we’ve discussed in Freeware Spotlight. All are free or have both free and paid versions. We ensure they don’t contain spyware, malware, or unwanted tagalong software. Most are portable, meaning they can be run from a flash drive — an ideal way to use utilities on multiple machines without going through the trouble of a formal installation.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.24.0 (2020-06-22).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Open-source utilities, PC maintenance

• Freeware Spotlight — Spydish

  Posted on June 15, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Remember a time when we could install Windows without needing to immediately go through settings and turn on “features” that impacted our privacy?

  Fast-forward to Windows 10, and managing privacy settings has become only more complicated. And looking for them can be time-consuming. To make that process easier, developer Belim from mirinsoft.com created Spydish — a small and light tool that’s easy to use, uncomplicated, and — of course — portable. You can also use it to debloat Windows 10.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.23.0 (2020-06-15).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Group Policy Editor, Privacy settings, Spydish

• Freeware Spotlight — Marxio Timer

  Posted on June 1, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Like a fine, vintage wine, some aging but venerable software still works nicely — even on an operating system that wasn’t even imagined back when the app was created.

  Marek Mantaj first published the free Marxio Timer way back in 2009, and it’s still an exceptionally useful utility for controlling when and how your computer shuts down, sleeps, and so much more.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.21.0 (2020-06-01).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Task scheduling, Timer utility

• Freeware Spotlight — Open Hardware Monitor

  Posted on May 18, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Some of the most difficult computer problems to diagnose and resolve are random errors — those inconsistent blue screens, those arbitrary freezes and shutdowns, those odd Windows glitches.

  A common cause of random system failures is overheating — one or more hardware components running at higher-than-safe temperatures. Sure, spring might bring warmth and fresh flowers, but it also delivers shedding pets and lots of other airborne particles that clog up PC fans and put additional stress on CPUs, power supplies, and video cards.

  So how do you know whether something is overheating? Michael Möller’s Open Hardware Monitor (OHM) can help provide an answer.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.19.0 (2020-05-18).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Fan speed, Hardware monitor, Overheating

• Freeware Spotlight — Staying at home edition

  Posted on April 27, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  We’re certainly living in a different world right now — social-distancing with friends, co-workers, and others; social-bonding with family.

  Those of us still working are in many cases doing so from home — some with the added complication of kids. And then there’s the drain on our bank accounts. All of which make the community of open-source and freeware software development more important than ever.

  To help you get through the current trials and tribulations, here’s a compendium of utilities and apps, for both adults and kids, that might make your stay-at-home experience a bit easier.

  Here we go …

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.16.0 (2020-04-27).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Calculators, Gaming, LibreOffice, TeamTalk, Video editing
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