Favorite Utilities

Utilities I love listed below.

Descriptions from pcmag.com.

SnagIt: http://www.techsmith.com/ ($40) - wonderful screen capture program.

IrfanView: http://www.irfanview.com/ (free) - this graphics iewer lets you see any image file and most digital videos with just one right click. It's that simple. You can also use this power viewer to convvert files to other formats and do some quick editing and annotation.

DriverMax: www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax (free) -use DriverMax to back up your hardward drivers. Then, after a fresh Windows install, DriverMax puts all the drivers back in less than 10 minutes. That's much better than reinstalling each printer, scanner, and network adapter individually.

ProcessScanner: www.processlibrary.com/processscan (free) - By matching this web-based system scanner with a never-growing online database of processes running under Windows, Uniblue provides a massive amount of data about what's happening above and below the surface of Windows.

GSpace: http://www.getspace.com/ (free) - Just about everyone has a Gmail account, but few use all its gigabytes. With GSpace, put that online storage to work for all types of files.

TweakVI: http://www.totalidea.com/ (free to $50 depending on plugins) - This Vista-only collection of optimizations comes in a free version and two paid-subscription versions that accept plug-ins for even more customization. All will modify items such as your desktop, Start menus, browsers and provide virtual desktops. For full review see go.pcmag.com/tweakvi.

Google Desktop 5: desktop.google.com (free) - Indexes all of your data files - including email and instant messages - so you can find them fast. Interface includes multiple search-box configurations and an advanced search option.

ShadowProtect Desktop 3.1: http://www.storagecraft.com/ ($80) - Fast reliable backup to local and network drives. Easy restores, even to diffent hardware. Can work on files within image backups. For more info: go.pcmag.com/spdesktop3_1

BullzipPDF Printer: www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php (free) - The BullZip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application.