Newsletter Archives

• WebChangeMonitor — stalk your favorite websites for changes

  Posted on May 16, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  My husband and I get asked a lot about how just two people can keep thousands of computer programs up to date on our website.

  Simple: We can’t — but we try real hard. Luckily, we get assistance from software developers’ emails, RSS feeds, open-source project trackers, and good ol’ fashioned complaining.

  Another tool we’ve started using lately is WebChangeMonitor, by German software developer Martin Halle. It’s a great little program that allows you to be notified when a change occurs on a webpage. Pretty handy for us when we want to know whether a developer has updated their version of an application, but the program can be helpful to anyone in so many other ways, too.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.20.0, 2022-05-16).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Flight Simulation, Website Monitoring

• DockFolders — it’s the pretty things …

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  I would like to start out with an apology to those I have neglected this year. I have been so nerdy with the software, and then I remember that some of you just want pretty things.

  No worries! I have what you need! Pretty and useful! DockFolders by Silon Systems is beta freeware (you know I have to be the first to try anything) that creates a gorgeous, curved folder dock/menu on your desktop. The program works on Windows 7, 10, and 11.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, File Explorer, utilities

• WA2L/WinTools — hot-rodding Windows!

  Posted on March 28, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Hot-rod enthusiasts like to have cars with features that the factory models don’t have. Geeks like us like to have computers that can do things that a stock install of Windows doesn’t normally allow.

  The open-source toolbox WA2L/WinTools, by Swiss developer and fellow geek Christian Walther, will give you the ability to customize Windows and make it do way more for you. It won’t let you airbrush flames on the hood or add wheelie bars, but it will let you make Windows work the way you want it to work.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.13.0, 2022-03-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, context menu, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Windows Startup

• Ratool — Because firewalls can’t stop everything

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.11 • 2022-03-14

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Everyone is walking around with the storage of a 1990s supercomputer in their pockets. Jingling around with the pennies and nickels, flash drives are an old-school data thief’s best friend.

  Remember those first computer-hacker movies where the thief, spy, or 14-year-old had only a few minutes to copy a file from a computer before being caught red-handed? Oh, the suspense of watching that file-copy window slowly progress as the floppy drive ground away.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.11.F (2022-03-14).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blocking, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, External Drives, USB drives, utilities

• Five tiny tweaks — with Registry files!

  Posted on February 28, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Registry (.reg) files are an easy way to do a little Windows hacking.

  I don’t mean hacking as in eating Hot Pockets and breaking into NORAD. I mean hacking as in using technical, and perhaps complex, means to make useful changes to Windows.

  Basically, a .reg file is a backup of a Windows Registry key or value. In Windows, if you run a .reg file by double-clicking it, changes or additions will be made to the Registry to match what is in the .reg file. There are thousands of pre-made .reg files out there on the Internet. They’ve been created by individuals, companies, and even Microsoft itself to change a whole host of Windows’ capabilities.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.09.0 (2022-02-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Windows registry

• TrafficMonitor — Breaking the Language Barrier

  Posted on February 14, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Sipping coffee and browsing the latest GitHub projects with Google Translate.

  That’s my idea of fun on any given morning or evening. If I did my searching with my American blinders on, I would miss 80% of the great, open-source software the world’s developers have to offer.

  I happened to stumble across a talented Chinese developer, who goes by the GitHub handle of “zhongyang219,” and the open source project TrafficMonitor. It’s a small applet that runs in the System Tray and displays your current network transfer speed plus CPU and memory usage.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.07.0 (2022-02-14).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Networking

• NotesMan — It’s the simple things

  Posted on January 31, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Need a program that excels at doing just one thing? Look no further.

  Last week, we discussed Jochanan Agam’s Info-Base software — and boy, did I get some emails. No, they weren’t bad emails. It was just some of you folks wanting a note-taking program that is very simple and does just one thing — record your notes. I’m right there with you, so I found NotesMan by “OnlyDeLtA.” It may be just the program you’re looking for. It’s simple, it’s free, it’s fast, and it’s portable!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.05.0 (2022-01-31).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Database, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Notes

• Info-Base – Map your brain

  Posted on January 24, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Sometimes I can’t remember why I walked into a room. Why should I think I’ll remember my daughters’ mailing addresses if I don’t write them down? Will I remember where I wrote them down? What was I talking about?

  Oh yes, Info-Base! What is it? It’s a free program created by Jochanan Agam of Zurich, Switzerland. It’s actually an improved clone of the original DOS program called “Tornado,” which then became “Info-Select” (for DOS) and later “Info-Select” (for Windows). Jochanan renamed it “Info-Base” and added a zillion features.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.04.0 (2022-01-24).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Database, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Personal

• Freeware Spotlight – WPA2Gen

  Posted on January 10, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  What’s stopping you from having a 63-character Wi-Fi password? Typing a 63-character Wi-Fi password.

  The chances of your 14-year-old neighbor kid’s having a bachelor of science degree in cybersecurity are, well, nil. The chances of the kid’s sticking the free Kali Linux distro on a flash drive to crack your Wi-Fi password “ilovecats” is pretty plausible.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.02.0 (2022-01-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight

• Freeware Spotlight — Free alternatives to Quicken

  Posted on December 20, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.49 • 2021-12-20

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Let’s be honest here. If your finances are tight or in a shambles, the last thing you need to deal with is figuring out how to pay for an expensive program to fix said finances.

  This week, I’m going to give you more bang for your buck by featuring four totally free alternatives to Intuit’s Quicken software. Try each of them until you find the one that’s right for you. It’s not as if you’ll need to sit on hold for an hour to get a refund if you don’t like one!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.49.0 (2021-12-20).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.49.F (2021-12-20).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight Accounting Software, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight

• Freeware Spotlight — Autorun Organizer

  Posted on December 6, 2021 at 02:43 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Making breakfast. Washing the dog. Getting a haircut.

  If you have time to do any of these while your computer finishes starting, you may need Chemtable Software’s free Autorun Organizer. It’s one of those programs I would gladly pay for, but they won’t take my money.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.47.0 (2021-12-06).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Windows Startup

• Freeware Spotlight – CrystalDiskInfo

  Posted on November 15, 2021 at 02:43 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  YOUR HARD DRIVE IS GOING TO DIE!

  German-born theologian Georg Hermes once said, “Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you.” This also applies to the hard drives in our computers. But sometimes we get some subtle hints that the end is near … well, at least for our hard drives.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.44.0 (2021-11-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, HDD, SMART, SSD
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