Application Install Guide

CyberLink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra

The pricey Ultra version of this venerable player adds support for HD DVD, BD (Blu-ray Disc), VC-1, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTSHD, among other things. However, my enthusiasm is tempered by limitations in the very hardware that would compel you to buy PowerDVD Ultra in the first place. CyberLink provides technologies to sharpen video, enhance audio, fit a movie into a mobile device’s remaining battery time, and even to make subtitles movable. However, many of these features don...

Tripower

Tripower Software throws out some impressive numbers to entice you to tap into Tripower’s power. Though the 90-day free trial is best for judging the file manager, the numbers are noteworthy, as Tripower Software claims the app can access, organize, and control up to 35 trillion files (including across networked drives) in only three clicks. That Tripower does this from one window may be better. To organize files, the app uses three panes: Projects, Topics, and Files. Projects are analogous...

WinZip 11.0 Pro

WinZip stuck 11.0’s best new features in the Pro version, a leap from the Standard flavor. Both include new thumbnail viewers (no need to extract images), a new algorithm for shrinking lossless WAV files, and new support for extracting BZR and RAR files. Pro gives you a full-image viewer, FTP uploading, CD/DVD burning abilities, command line support (albeit via an addon), and improved backup and automated tools (email notifications, automatic sending of ZIP files, FTP folder search...

JLC’s Internet TV 1.0

More and more TV stations around the world are streaming feeds via the Internet, but locating these feeds and playing them can be a chore for users. Now it’s easier to find numerous TV channels on the ’Net in one place with the help of JLC’s (Joakim L. Christiansen’s) Internet TV. JLC’s Internet TV is fairly straightforward: All you have to do is install the latest version of Windows Media Player or RealPlayer and then run JLCIT. Once you download the program, hundreds of available ...

EverNote 2.0 Beta 2

There’s no shortage of note-taking applications for Windows, but most programs aren’t suitable for all users. For instance, some programs are very hierarchical, requiring the user to place every note in a folder, but some folks find this constraining. Others are totally free-form but offer virtually no useful searching, sorting, and categorizing functionality. Some are clearly intended for transient thoughts and look like yellow sticky notes, while others look like miniature databases and ma...

Spyware Basic

Spyware is one of the fastest-growing internet threats. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, spyware infects more than 90% of all PCs today. These unobtrusive, malicious programs are designed to silently bypass firewalls and anti-virus software without the user's knowledge. Once embedded in a computer, it can wreak havoc on the system's performance while gathering your personal information. Fortunately, unlike viruses and worms, spyware programs do not usually self-replicate. ...

Protect Your Computer

Malware An odd sounding word created to lump all malicious software programs, including viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, and other malevolent codes into one cause your computer serious hurt category. In 2006, Computer Economics released a report on malware. The good news was that for the first time since 2002, the total worldwide financial losses from malware actually declined to a mere $14.2 billion. The bad news was that the nature of malware was changing from overt threats to mor...