Ready to upgrade?

Alright! Hope you had fun with the free softwares till now.

Are you ready to move up the ladder? Are you willing to spend some money for a software? Is it worth it? Are there better alternatives?

Time will tell. Wait and see..

Navigating to same place?

So, you keep navigating to the same location multiple times a day. Consider the pain you'd be in if the folder was deep. You'd think of creating a shorcut on desktop, assign a shortcut key to it and then hide it to keep your desktop clean.

Why bother when 'hotkeyz' would automatically do it for you!

This is another of my favorite software. A very quick install. All you have to do is assign a shortcut key to any file or folder that you use multiple times a day. Some keys are set by default which you can edit later on.

Open mozilla multiple times a day? Press Ctrl+Shift+(user defined key) and up comes mozilla. This can be done with any folder too. Opening c:\abc\def\ghi\jkl\mno multiple times a day? Press Ctrl+Shift+(user defined key) instead of browsing there everytime.

You can assign keys to any number of files and folders. Endless possibilities. Save time, reduce frustrtation, enjoy.

One minor modification after installing: win+I is default for internet explorer. But when you do this it takes you to www.skynergy.com. Don't panic, its not a virus or any such thing. Edit internet explorer in hotkeyz. Press the 'parameter' tab. Remove 'www.skynergy.com' and you are done. I guess it was their way of advertising. Give them a break guys.

The download file is 1.2MB

Want to upload files?

There are many files that you could download just by having an account with rapidshare or megaupload or many such sites. So, now that you are a premium member, you want to be treated royally. So why would you take the trouble of uploading one file at a time.

You obviously wouldn't! Most of them give their own uploader software like 'rapiduploader' by rapidshare or 'megamanger' by megaupload. Take your pick.

You've paid top dollar and you deserve it :)

The download file is about 1MB

Solve sudoku?

So, you are a person who solves sudoku everyday. I'm sure there are times when you are unable to solve a difficult one, get irritated as you are unable to find where you went wrong.

Type 'sudoku solver' in google and there you go..

All you have to do is enter the fixed digits and the solver will give you the solution. Now, find that one number which screwed it up and finish the rest. The satisfaction that you get is GREAT! Enjoy the feeling.

No download file

Backup your ipod?

Music, music everywhere... If you are a music buff, it is very like that you have an ipod. Now assume your ipod has 30GB songs while your system has only 2GB songs. Got songs from various sources? Would you like to have them on your computer? Or, do you want to extract songs from someone else's ipod (very popular)?

All you have to do is use 'share pod'.

This pretty small software can do a lot of stuff. Beginning with a easy interface, putting novices at ease. It'll let you take a back up of all your songs, lets you put or modify artwork. Best of all, it runs from your ipod!! Thus, you can use it anywhere.

The download file is about 300KB

Wanna sing along?

Do you like to sing as you listen to your music? uhoo, trouble, you're not sure of the lyrics..

'Lyrics plugin' to your rescue!

This plugin works with windows media player and winamp. Most music buffs use either of these. Nothing against anyother player. All you have to do is install this plugin and enable in tools->plugins (windows media player) to use it.

Now, go ahead and play the song you want to sing and voila the lyrics are there.

The download file is about 80KB

Know your family?

You think you know everyone in your BIG family?? Do you sometimes get confused about the number of children someone has? Or you don't remember someone's kids name?? It could get embarrassing!!

A simple solution is 'simple family tree'. There are many other softwares which do the exact same thing, but a huge advantage is that its FREE!!

It allows you to add any number of details like birthdays, anniversaries and many more. Once you get the feel of it, you can easily create the entire family tree as fast as you can make calls to find out all their details :D

This could be an exciting way to spend your time and get to know your family better. Everyone gets to be a winner, as the entire family is excited that you are interested in all their details that probably their own husbands don't remember anymore.

This software lets you create a list of birthdays/anniversaries. A sure way to win their hearts. You could now ask for free lunches/dinners or even get money from your grandparents :P

Have fun and hope this brings your family closer.

The download file is about 250KB

Timer to switch off?

A really small software- shutdown timer.

Some times, we would like some music to play while you are on the bed. Suppose you think you'll fall asleep in 15 minutes, then it is a waste of resources to let your system play music beyond 15 minutes. Very simply, put a timer for 15 minutes to logoff/shutdown.

This extremely beautiful software does just that. It's beautiful because it need not be installed. Just run it. Enter the time and what you want to do after that time and pesto!!

This software can be found by googling 'shutdown timer, daxtar' or 'shutdown timer, sourceforge.net'.

The download file is about 500KB

Problem playing video files?

An amazing software for this is VLC Media Player.

VLC can play almost any sort of file. It also allows you to play broken files. For example, you are downloading 8 .rar files of a movie. You could unrar the first file as soon as it finished download and you can start watching the same with VLC. When it asks you to repair the file, just press 'NO' and you are ready to watch your just downloaded movie!! If your download speed is as good as mine, then the next file would download by the time the first part ends and this way you don't have to wait for all the 8 files to get downloaded and finish watching the movie. Isn't that cool??

It has plugins for firefox. So, you'd have to close mozilla if you wish to install the plugin.

Kudos to the developers of this amazing software.

The download file is about 9.5MB

Looking for compression?

One of the most useful software is winrar.

This small, fast installing software helps a lot of people share a bunch of items at the same time, instead of sending them one file after another. They can be in the form of attachments, sharing online using rapidshare, megaupload and many more such sites.

Winrar installation takes less than a MINUTE!!! This is one of the software that I install when ever I format my system. The only problem is that it can be used free for 30 days, after which it gives a pop-up asking to buy/register. The software developers are so good that you can use it by just pressing cancel!! :) Lucky for those who don't wish to pay.

If you are a person who downloads a lot, you'll realise the importance. Almost all downloads online are in .rar format. This is mainly because you can split the files into 100MB files which is generally the limit on the free online sharing sites.

The download file is about 1.2MB

Introduction

I'd like to share some softwares that I find useful. These softwares are especially for regular users, who have no clue which software to use.

I'll try to include free softwares or hint towards where the softwares could be found. Anyone willing to share their softwares is more than welcome to do so.

*All opinions here are my own and any damage caused due to the same is the sole responsibility of the user.