I love freebies. Even if I have to opt in and click a confirmation email, if it’s free and I can use it, I’ll swap an email address for something free anytime. Everyday I spend a lot of time scouring the web for free stuff – whether it’s downloads, software or any stuff that actually shows up in my mailbox, so rest assured you can give the following 8 sites a shot and you will get some nice little legitimate free samples everyday.

1. About.com: Freebies

This site is one of my bookmarked sites. It has everything from a free e-magazine to gift certificates. One of the best things about the site is that the freebies are divided into different categories, appealing to almost everyone.

It’s never been so easy to get something for nothing and, I’m telling you, this one site alone will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year. A must be bookmarked site for sure.

2. My Savings

My Savings is another “stuff for free site” I visit often. Today, for example, I could get a free collection of nutritional supplements (I took them up on their offer), a free Hallmark Christmas ornament that I’ll send as a gift to a friend in the States and I snagged some free, removable labels from Avery.

In some cases, you simply download the coupon and redeem it on your next trip to the market. In other cases, the company offering samples actually sends them to your home. How cool is that?!

And that was just today. Tomorrow the site will have different stuff. Expect the unexpected.

3. Listfreesamples.com

What do you want? Chances are, you’ll find it on listfreesamples.com. How about a coupon for a big bag of M&Ms? (love ‘em – especially the blue M&Ms) :D

Today, everyone can pick up some Dove soap, a slew of free computer and annual subscriptions to magazines.

One more time: the offers on most of these sites change daily so come back often. This site is even offering free computers today. You know they won’t last long.

4. thefreesite.com

Thefreesite takes a little different approach than some other freebie sites listed here. Free stuffs are sorted into unique categories: Anonymous Freebies, Miscellaneous freebies, business freebies and so on, so every time you click a link it’s like getting a surprise package.

Maybe you haven’t prepare your own shopping list for today but now you don’t have to plan for one because these freebies can easily fill up what you need for today.

5. Totallyfreestuff.com

TotallyFreeStuff changes its offerings every day.

I get the feeling from using this site as much as I do that product makers test market interest in products before they hit store shelves, because I never heard of some of the free offerings so it just makes sense that product makers test market their stuff on the web.

If you are an early adopter then why not give it a try?

6. justfreestuff.com

JustFreeStuff gets it. On the web, if it’s six hours old it’s ancient so this site keeps you coming back with updates throughout the day. How many times do you get to see a webmaster who works so hard trying to update freebies every few hours to reward his loyal visitors?

Warning: This web site is highly addictive to cost conscious consumers. Once you bookmark it, you’ll be back throughout the day to see the latest updates for free stuff. You’ve been warned.

7. Ofree.net

Wow, look what we have got here on OFree.net.  Unlike other freebie sites, you get to rate, recommend or report errors when you found a new problem. Perfect for a picky person like me.

Free clothing? Sure, you’ll find overruns, seconds and organizations that want to use you as a walking billboard, but if they give me a free t shirt, sure I’ll wear it – even if it does have some unknown product name on it.

8. shop4freebies.com

Shop4Freebies takes a slightly different twist on the “free products” site. Not only they provide free stuff but they also provide tips on how to save more money. Make me learn more.

Today, they had a deal that reimbursed me if I visited a certain, not-to-be-named amusement park but I still had to shell out the entrance fee. Weird offer, but some visitors may find it useful.

These sites get its’ target demographic and has designed a business model and web site to hit the sweet spot of that market – the cost conscious shopper.

And, in this economy, I think that’s all of us.

Come and get it. It’s FREE.

This was a guest posting from Edward Khoo who blogs about online tech tips for bloggers and tech users

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Ever wondered how some people manage to take beautiful pictures of their desktops or games and post it on the Facebook or LinkedIn profile? Well, it isn’t that hard actually, and with a few handy tools in mind, you’ll be able to do the same. Here are some nifty and interesting ways to capture screenshots of your desktop.

1. How to screen capture in free-form

Snipping Tool is Window’s very own answer to the legions of Microsoft fans (and critics) who have long been demanding for a way to capture custom screenshots. There are a few options for you to choose from when you make a snip: you can make a rectangular screenshot, dictate the shape and area of your capture by using the free-form snip, or just capture a regular full-screen one. One drawback is that Snipping Tool is only available on Windows Vista and 7, so XP users might feel a little left behind.

2. How to get a portable screencapture tool

FSCapture, otherwise known as FastStone Capture, is one of the most versatile screenshot capture tools on the block. At 1.5 Megabytes, it’s small enough to fit on even the smallest of portable flash drives. Plus, it comes as a standalone program, or an executable, so you can use it straight out of the box, without having to go through the hassle of installing it first. Take note that FSCapture is only freeware from versions 5.3 and below, as the producers have started charging for the higher updates. However, I’ve been using version 5.2 for awhile now, and it seems to be good enough.

3. How to capture multiple screenshots in-game without having to minimize

Ever saw pictures of other players performing Monster Kills posted online, and wanted to do the same? Tired of having to hit the PrtScn button and minimizing your full screen game just to paste the photo in Paint? If you’ve answered yes to any of that, Gadwin Printscreen is a freeware version of Snipping Tool that will cause you to salivate over. It’s pretty much like Snipping Tool, but if you run it in the background, you can customize it to take multiple screenshots while you are in-game, and worry about saving the screenshots later. Just remember turn off the notifications before you start playing.

4. How to capture screenshots, screencasts, and webcam photos and store them all online

Jing has to be one of the gaudiest looking screenshot capture programs available. Unlike its many counterparts, Jing tries to make things look awesome at the same time by providing a really nice-looking interface. And while you can use Jing only for its screen capture abilities, you may enjoy the other functions which Jing provides, namely the screencasting and webcam capture options. In addition, Jing automatically synchronizes with Screencast.com, so you can store your captures online immediately.

5. How to Screencapture effectively in Linux

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window (Only for Linux). 

Bonus Link: 5 Alternative Screen Capture Tools For Your Mac

This post was written by Aaron Pek & James Yeang

What screencapture tools do you use?  Tell us in the comments!

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Say what you will about the up-to-date twitters and chat away on your instant messengers, but web users will always come back to their email. With many types to choose from, including various webmails and POP3 emails, it’s no wonder that most users will have more than one email account.

Checking each and every account regularly just to see if there’s any new mail becomes tedious very fast, which is why email notifiers have become such a big hit with many users.  Here are 5 of the best email notifiers for your perusal.

1. How to effectively manage 16 email accounts

ePrompter is a free service that allows you to easily handle up to 16 email accounts at one time.  ePrompter lets you read, delete and respond to any of your messages with a simple click on the account of your choice – without ever having to launch your email program or go to your webmail’s site. Importantly, when ePrompter retrieves messages, it leaves the original messages on your various email accounts’ servers and/or webmail sites.

2. Where to get an email notifier which is portable

POP Peeper is free another system tray app that offers visual and audio alerts for when a new email arrives in your inbox. Working with POP3 and IMAP servers, it also responds well to Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail along with other major webmail services.  One key feature is that it is able to run directly off your portable storage device so you can take it anywhere and use it on any machine.

3. How to use email notifiers on Firefox

WebMail Notifier is a Firefox add-on that checks your webmail accounts and tells you the number of unread emails.  It handles most of the major webmail services and also allows you to set up user scripts for the webmail services that it doesn’t come preloaded with. It is however tied to Mozilla Firefox browsers only, so IE and Chrome users won’t be able to benefit from it. 

4. How to get notified about your webmail via Outlook

Released under the GNU GPL license, FreePOPs allows checking and downloading of e-mail from webmails from any conventional POP3 client program. This means it works in tandem with your normal POP3 email client like Outlook Express, allowing it to handle any POP3 email along with most webmail services.

While it isn’t exactly an email notifier per se, it does offer email checking services along with plenty of extra functions and plugins that allow it to be expanded for even more uses. FreePOPs is cross-platform and should work anywhere. It also works in the background, reducing system slowdown.

5. How to fight spam and get notified of email at the same time

The Chrysanth Email Notifier can handle POP3, IMAP4 and Gmail. More than just a notifier, it offers audio and visual alerts along with an internal email viewer. It can handle multiple email accounts and supports extra features like blacklists, whitelists and various customizable filters. For the most part, Chrysanth is quite easy to use with its most notable feature being its filters, minimizing the occurrence of spam to once in a blue moon. The app is freeware and runs in the background as a system tray icon.

This article written by Aaron Pek & James Yeang

Do you use email notifiers?  Tell us in the comments!

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People are increasingly turning to flash drives, little pen-sized blocks which somehow manage to store a briefcase full of information, to carry their work or personal details around. While they’re satisfyingly convenient, their petite dimensions ironically contribute to the worst thing about them: flash drives are frustratingly easy to misplace.

Whether it’s your favourite playlist or sensitive information, here are a few auto-backup solutions to ensure that you never find yourself hanging in unexpected circumstances.

1. How to Auto-Backup with Windows

SyncToy is a native Microsoft Tool that allows you to backup information located on your storage mediums with a single click. It works by “pairing” two folders in different locations and updating the files in each so that they have the same content inside.

It even comes with three options: updating the files from Left to Right without overwriting them, updating and overwriting them, or updating bi-directionally. By itself, SyncToy doesn’t automatically backup your files, but it comes with a handy tutorial which teaches you how to use Window’s very own Task Scheduler to do exactly that.

2. How to Schedule your Auto-Backups

As far as freeware comes, GoodSync is among the best you can get. It makes an effort to be classy (has a nice interface), is user-friendly, and does exactly what it says it will do. Like SyncToy, it makes use of the Left and Right concept to simplify the learning process.

Unlike SyncToy, GoodSync has a built-in synchronization setting which allows you to schedule when you’d like your backups to happen. This means that it backs-up your flash drive automatically as long as it’s plugged into your computer at the specified time (set it to whenever you frequent your computer).

3. How to Easily Customize your Auto-Backups

If you’re prefer a more classic touch or just want to keep things simple, DSynchronize is a great tool with a clean interface which flattens the learning curve. All the appropriate checkboxes and buttons are where they’re supposed to be, and its simplicity stands out so much that you get the hang of it simply by “muddling” through, or experimenting by yourself.

Like GoodSync, it has a built-in timer, and even makes useful options like Autostart and Shutdown at the end available on the front page so you don’t need to dig into the “Preferences” folder every time you want to tweak your…well, preferences.

This post was written by Aaron Pek.  Contact us to join our writing staff!

Do you back up your flash drives?  Tell us in the comments!

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As I’ve been pretty lazy to carry my laptop around, but I like being in touch with my online contacts, I thought it might be a better idea to install a chat client in my mobile phone.

Once only possible for people with smartphones and the likes, the availability of Java apps has made “normal” phones pretty smart. I’ve scoured the net for Java chat apps which work on my Sony Ericsson K750i (yes, I’m still using that) – it’s old but still does everything well. If the apps work on my phone, it’ll work better on your newer, fancier phone (but I can’t guarantee that, of course).

1. How to Skype on Your (Apparently Outdated) Phone

Skype Lite is a free Skype App,  took a few seconds to log in but the interface is very handy for mobile. You can chat with multiple contacts in different windows by scrolling right or left including group chat. The phone vibrates and a “missed call” icon is displayed when new message arrives. Skype calls are also possible if you have skypeout credit.

2. How to Keep Your eBuddies in Your Palm

eBuddy mobile is a multi-network messenger. Just like its web-based counterpart, eBuddy connect you to AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Myspace, Facebook, Gtalk. Overall very easy to set up and fast to use, especially with tabbed interface, scrolling through your chats is a breeze. You can even choose your own theme for the app. This app is good if you’re not into meeting new people and joining online communities etc.

3. How to Stalk Your Friends While Chatting on Your Mobile

Palringo – what a name, I thought. This mobile messenger turned out to be the one with the nicest looking interface and most features. Although sluggish and unintuitive upon launch, it worked flawlessly once set up. It connects you to more networks than you can handle – MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, Jabber, Gadu-gadu, Gtalk, iChat/Mobile Me, QQ and best of all, Facebook chat!

Depending on phone model, it can support voice and picture messaging. You can even share your location with the rest of the world or selected some (depending on your privacy settings) – if you like being stalked or like stalking others. Palringo automatically discovers your location based on network towers, Wi-Fi, or GPS and you have an option to update your status automatically. I feel that the chat responses are the fastest among all the apps I tested.

4. How to Chat, Share Photos and Make Cheap IDD Calls from Your Mobile

Mig33 connects you not only to Yahoo, MSN, GTalk and AOL but also to millions of other mig33 users worldwide. This is especially cool if you like meeting other people besides chatting to your own contacts. Overall this app is pretty easy to set up and fast to use. I also like the clean and minimalist interface.

If you’re not sensitive towards heavier data use, you may also check out mig33 plus, the graphically enhanced version. The cheap IDD call rates are not really cheap in my opinion but that is always subjective on the current rates offered by your mobile operator but it is still a cool feature nevertheless. The only feature I don’t quite understand is the ability to send SMS via the app, can’t we already do that without the app?

5. How to Send Your Voice and Pictures to Anyone, Anywhere

Rocketalk boasts to be the only application that lets me do video chat (as in not like a 3G video call but record a video and send it to someone), and it does support MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, AOL and ICQ. Although quite slow to sign in to my messenger accounts but I’m pretty impressed with how many features they packed into one user-friendly main page.

Besides using messengers, RockeTalk, like mig33 also is a community by itself, where you can have you own page, gallery and add other people as your “friends”.

This post was written by Jenny Kok who also writes about her Mac experiences on Made On Mac

Do you IM on your phone?  Tell us about your experience in the comments!

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As people try to get more things done using computers, the demand for better security has never been greater. In this day and age, antivirus programs alone may not be enough. Here are 15 essential tips to help you secure your PC.

1. How to password-protect folders for free

Have some private collections of files you want to keep from prying eyes? The most convenient way to do so is through password protection, and MyLockBox does its job well. Just select the folders you want to be passworded and voila! Even system administrators are not spared the lock.

2. How to get free anti-virus software

No matter how cliché installing antivirus software may seem, this method is undoubtedly still the easiest and most effective means of protecting your PC. A huge chunk of internet threats out there are viruses and Trojans, so having one will effectively shield you from this majority. AVG is a free antivirus that has won the accolades and hearts of computer users worldwide. It has real-time protection, daily updates, and email scans among other powerful features.

3. How to truly hide files on a computer

Those who use a sharing system may find the occasional snooping habit of your computer partner annoying or even harmful. Sofonesia Folder Protector hides selected files so that it remains hidden from all users as long as the software is installed.

4. How to get free anti-spyware software

Viruses may be the age old nemesis of computer users, but a new villain has emerged in the scene – spyware. Spywares hogs major system resources while performing its malicious acts. This is where Spybot Search & Destroy comes in, a free Windows tool designed to ward off these invaders. True to its name, all spyware on Windows systems dating back to 95 will be searched and destroyed.

5. How to do a registry backed up spyware scan

Combofix is a free spyware removal tool that works on a much lower level. It backs up the registry before scanning away, and a technical log file will be created which can be used to identify system problems. Alternatively, it can also be used by more technical users to manually remove spywares.

6. How to encrypt files and folders

For those perilous and treacherous times when even hiding and locking does not do, TrueCrypt steps in to save the day. Offering advanced data encryption using 256-bit AES algorithms, users can choose to hide files inside virtual encrypted disk volumes. All this military-sounding features should be useful for power users.

7. How take advantage of cloud computing in virus detection

Panda Cloud Antivirus is an antivirus software utilizing the concept of cloud computing. Lightweight is the word to use here, as Panda does not take up heavy CPU resources while scanning. There is no need to update virus definitions frequently either, as data are stored on the Panda servers.

8. How to seek free professional help to combat spyware

Hijackthis is a comprehensive scanner which scans the software-state of your system. While the huge log file created does not remove spywares or change your system, it does offer precious technical info to those in the know. If you’re not a advanced user, you can show the log file to expert spyware veterans over at the BleepingComputer or SpywareInfoForum and get some personalized anti-spyware instructions. Alternatively there is an automated online scanner at Hijackthis.de to run through the log file.

9. How to get free firewall software

Comodo Firewall is a free firewall software that will help shield your computer from unwanted intruder and hacker access. Comodo is one of the lightest firewall software in terms of resource usage and it stops intrusive applets and software from the internet before they can do any harm to your system.

10. How to secure your wireless network

If you are running on a home wireless network, have you made sure that it is secure? If left unsecured, sneaky neighbors may be in for the free internet access, or worse, phishers may be out there waiting for you to take the bait. Always make sure that your wireless connection is password-protected using WEP or WPA encryption. To do this, enter your router’s settings page  (by typing the router address in your browser’s address bar, usually 192.168.0.1) and proceed to work out necessary security settings.

11. How to NOT run scripts in Firefox, so you can be even safer

NoScript is a Firefox plugin that blocks any script from running on your browser – be it JavaScript, flash or other script-based content. The catch here is you would have to add your favorite sites on the trusted list one-by-one, so initial discomfort may be present.

12. How to surf only websites which are deemed safe

Yet another Firefox add-on, Web of Trust warns users about a website’s safety-level through color-coded icons. With over 21 million sites on the rating list, you can now be sure of treading on unfamiliar territories.

13. How not to fall for fake anti-virus software

There are some malicious software out there which poses as genuine versions. Among them are the infamous Antivirus 2009, Spyware Protect 2009, PC AntiSpy. The Web of Trust is a good way to detect these bogus websites, apart from your own intuition.

14. How to remember your Internet passwords AND keep them safe

LastPass is a IE/Firefox add-on/online password manager for all your passwords so that you wouldn’t need to worry about losing your password along with your local data. All passwords will be encrypted locally before being uploaded to their servers, so that even folks from LastPass won’t be able to get to your precious.

15. How to create disposable e-mail addresses

Have you ever registered in a forum just to post a single question? Or fill up forms to download a trial application? Maybe giving away your email address for a newsletter? In many of these cases, you give out your real e-mail and all you get in return are junk mails. Meet Melt-mail, a website where you can create temporary e-mail accounts just for those quickies. E-mails can be set to expire in 3, 6, 12 or 24 hours.

This article was written by Chan Huey Hoong who also dabbles in art which is viewable on his blog at Fig.Ech.

What other measures do you take to protect your PC?  Tell us in the comments!

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How many of us remember the experience of a silky smooth, fast-booting, hassle-free Windows following a fresh install? Unfortunately, this occasion is a rare one in the world of Windows, and the dream ride is soon reduced to a crawling nightmare in a matter of days. Here are some ways to capture that magic moment and keep your Windows running without hiccups!

1. How to clean up your registry

The registry is Window’s storage of vital program settings and instructions. As you install new programs, countless registry entries are created by Windows – but some do not get removed after the program is uninstalled. Because Windows have to sift through these unwanted registries, useful programs can be slowed down.  Little Registry Cleaner is a specialist in this area – it scans and removes redundant entries on your system.

2. How to manually disable startup items

Ever notice that Windows is taking forever to boot? There may be too many programs trying to run at startup, many of which you cannot see. To check out what’s cooking during startup, execute ‘msconfig’ from the Run dialog box and go into the Startup tab. Un-checking some programs you do not need is a good and easy way to speed up startup times.

3. How to turn off Windows Indexing

Sometimes, you might notice your hard disk LED lights are on even when the computer is idle – indicating that Windows is up to something. Indexing was designed to allow faster search times for files on computers, but massive system slowdowns tend to occur when Windows tries to index the millions of files on your hard disk in the background. To turn it off, go to My Computer, right click on your main hard drive, click Properties, and uncheck ‘Index this file for faster searching’ under the General tab. Do the same for other drives you might have.

4. How to clean up unwanted files on your computer

CleanUp! is a powerful tool to remove your computer’s temporary and redundant files. Removing cluttered files may improve system speed by a long shot, because hard disks do not have to seek through these mess to reach useful files. Doing so prior to defragmentation is also recommended.

5. How to perform a do-it-all cleaning

If you’re the type who just wants to get things done without the hassle of downloading individual utilities, CCleaner is the solution. This little gem performs a holistic sweep of your registry and temporary files with a straightforward interface, sparing you of any technical jargon in the process.

This post was written by Chan Huey Hoong, if you wish to write for this blog, just drop me a line.

Do you perform regular maintenance on your computer? Tell us in the comments!

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As digital images get more widespread nowadays, so does the need to edit them to make them better.  What happens when you are caught between the insufficient features of Microsoft Paint, and the wallet-blowing cost of Photoshop? Here are some takes on a few of the best free image editors that might come close to commercial ones in terms of functionality.

1. How to edit images using advanced tools

The GIMP is an image editor that has many powerful tools beyond the ordinary paintbrushes and pencils. Commodities such as airbrush, selective blurring, cloning and path tools are usually reserved to paid commercial editors, but they can all be found in this open-source gem.

2. How to touch up photos in your web browser

Pixenate is a web-based photo editing service that allows users to quickly touch up and fix photos. Just connect your camera and upload your images to the website, where you can then perform common tasks such as red-eye reduction, cropping, or even change colours and contrasts. Although it lacks more advanced toolsets, Pixenate shines in terms of user friendliness and ease-of-use.

3. How to do fast, one-click photo-enhancing tasks

Picasa is a user-friendly program that can visually sort the photos in your computer into easily manageable categories. Also, less technical users will be relieved to know that there are plenty of one-click photo enhancing solutions such as red-eye reduction, cropping and auto-adjustments.

4. How to do heavy image editing in your web browser

Splashup is an online web-based image editing tool that allows users to edit multiple images simultaneously. It also supports advanced features such as layers, paths and more. Just think of it as a mini Photoshop on the web, perfect for road warriors on the go who do not have constant access to installed apps.

5. How to edit, combine, view, or animate images

Photoscape is a free imaging suite comprising an editor, batch editor, animator and combiner. Users can do screen capture, combine photos into mosaics, make animated gifs, and convert RAW files under this one handy all-in-one software.

6. How to do intermediate photo-enhancing

Photofiltre is an image editing program that falls somewhere in the mid point of amateur and professional editors. On one hand, it has all the one-click features such as brightness, contrast, and sepia effects. On the other, it features extensive batch support, color replacement and gamma correction.

7. How to manipulate images with layers

Paint.NET is like the big brother of our good ol’ Microsoft Paint. On top of the usual fare of brushes and coloring tools, it also features extensive layer support, where users can do some really high-level image manipulation not unlike those achievable using expensive commercial software.

Do you edit your photos?  Tell us in the comments!

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We often listen to songs in digital formats such as MP3, as they are small and convenient. Since many MP3 files often come with incorrect or missing song information (tags), organizing them in a playlist is a tedious experience – duplicates, inconsistencies in artist or song names, etc. The problem is further compounded when your music library is huge – searching the web for song information individually becomes a chore. Here are some tips on how to obtain tag information and album art for your songs.

1. How to obtain album information and art from the Internet

MediaMonkey is a freeware all-in-one media player. It has an automatic MP3 tagging and album art lookup function which will automatically search sites like Amazon.com for song information such as artist name, song title, track number and more. It can do this automatically for all songs in a same album, so you won’t have to edit them individually.

2. How to tag songs with forgotten names

At some point we might have an MP3 file lying around the computer with absolutely no song information in its tags or filename, and its tune wasn’t able to evoke a memory of its title nor artist when played. Picard by Musicbrainz solves this by using a highly accurate ‘acoustic fingerprinting’ technology. Just click on scan and the program will generate a fingerprint of your music file, matches it with one in its database, and automatically rename your nameless song.

3. How to massively tag or obtain song information for your MP3s

Want to change the artist name of your entire Beethoven collection from “Beethoven, Ludwig van” to "Ludwig van Beethoven"? MP3tag does mass renaming and tagging for common song information using a rather straightforward interface. The software is also hooked up to song information databases such as freedb.org and Amazon.com, so you can search for missing song information and tag them on the fly. This program can also embed album art images.

4. How to accurately search for album art and covers

With physical CDs being replaced by digital files, the album art feature in MP3s allow us to “see” the music we hear – a loose reminder of flipping through CD covers back in the days. AllCDCovers is a website with a huge collection of album art and cover images, which can be downlaoded and embedded into music files using software such as MP3Tag.

5. How to automatically tag songs while ripping CD tracks into MP3s

With the advent of the iPod and portable media players, there is no longer a need to carry CDs around. Those who want to convert their existing CD collections into MP3s will find it convenient to have a program that does both conversion and tagging. Audiograbber is a powerful alternative to Windows Media Player and iTunes which can encode CD tracks into a variety of formats while obtaining CD information from freedb.org, so that no CD rip goes untagged.

This has been a guest post by Chan HH, if you wish to write a piece for this blog, do drop me a line.

What programs do you use to organize your music library? Tell us in the comments!

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Screensavers these days are decorative more than anything else, but rather than the usual fare of beautiful images which can be used as screensavers, here are 7 screensavers which actually do something useful:

1. A Screensaver That Can Help Cure Cancer

Folding@home is a distributed computing project — people from throughout the world download and run software to band together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world.   By participating, your PC will download a small chunk of cancer research data, processes it, and send it back to the Stanford University, and it repeats the process for as long as your PC is idle which makes this the most altruistic screensaver around. When you step away for a cup of coffee, you’re actually saving the world :)

2. A Screensaver That Helps You Learn from Wikipedia

Discover new things every day with Wikipedia screensaver.  The Wikipedia screensaver loads random pages from Wikipedia every 30 seconds or so so you’ll be treated to an interesting tidbit of information when you return to you PC.  On top of its Wikipedia features, it can be configured to kill any program on activation (for example documents or browsers) to ensure complete privacy while you’re away from your desk.

3. A Screensaver That Helps You Get the Hottest News

Digg.com is one of the best places to read the absolute hottest news out there today.  What they also do is create visualization models which allow you to quickly discern and pickup hot pieces of news.  All of which can be found in their Digg Labs section.  Pick one of the visualization tools, and you’ll be able to download a screensaver version there as well, so now your screensaver will show hot news stories flashing up on your screen in real time.

4. A Screensaver That Stumbles Across Awesome Photos

Slickr is a Flickr screen saver that you can set up to show images by:

• User – Favorites, Set, Tags, Contacts
• Group
• Everyone – Tags, Recent, Interestingness
• Local files/directories (So you can use your own images on your hard drive)

5. A Screensaver That Shows You Breaking News Happening Around the World

MappedUp is an application that tracks a large number of RSS news sources and displays their latest items on a world map so you can see where the breaking news is originating from.  Very elegant in design and a joy to watch.

6. A Screensaver That Helps You Understand Geography

Cities of Earth is a free 3D screensaver wich shows biggest cities of our planet as you can see it from the space.  Many of cities with information about its population and country names. So it’s a good educational content. The positions of all cities corresponds to its real world coordinates.  You can also adjust camera positions.

7. A Screensaver That Acts as a Feedreader

RSSMore is a free screensaver that lets you subscribe to any number of RSS feeds and view them as a screen saver.  You can even display web pages in their original form, so you can include non-RSS sites in your playlist!

8. A Screensaver That Shows You Global Blog Activity

Twingly screensaver is visualizing the global blog activity in real time. Forget RSS readers where you see only what you’re interested in. With Twingly screensaver you get a 24/7 stream of all (viewer discretion advised) blog activity, straight to your screen.  Check out the video for a quick preview.

9. A Screensaver That Visualizes Twitter Messages Across the Globe

Twittearth is an interesting app which taps into Twitter’s live stream to show you tweets from all over the globe while showing you which part of the world it came from.  An absolutely beautiful piece of eye candy.

Do you use any cool screensavers?  Tell us more in the comments!

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One of the low points of using Windows as your operating system of choice is that you have to defrag its file system once in a while to keep it running at an optimal level. This is because of the way Windows stores and delete files which makes your data scattered all over the hard disk, thus making the process of finding it later becomes slower over time.

To makes matter much worse, the default Windows defragmenter is not that efficient but thankfully, there are many free Windows file defragmenter applications out there that does a better job.

Here are 8 of the coolest, free windows disk defragmenter alternatives:

1. How to defrag just files and folders with Defraggler [download]

Defraggler does not only enables you to defragment selected disk drives, it also allows you to defragment selected files and folders! That way, you can quickly defrag what you want without having to wait for a lengthy, full disk defragment process. It also comes in a portable and single 1MB executable file.

2. How to defragment files that are open for exclusive access with PageDefrag [download]

Unlike Windows NT or Windows 2000 default defragmenter, PageDefrag is able to defragment files that are open for exclusive access which is the highlight of this cool product.

3.How to defrag in the background with IOBit Smart Defrag [download]

SmartDefrag will perform the defragmentation process automatically without your intervention. Being smart, it continuously runs in the background as you work with your computer. A manual defrag option is also available. This is one of the best, free disk defragmentation program that you can find out there. Best of all, it is free for home and commercial use!

4. How to get a portable defragger with WinContig [download]

Yet another free disk defragmenter that comes with a file / folder specific defragmentation option so you don’t have to defrag an entire disk partition. Does not require any installation and Windows Vista ready.

5. How to defrag using less system resources with JKDefrag [download]

With this tool, defragmentation can be run automatically or manually with the user’s consent. JKDefrag suits techies that prefer extra defragmentation options because it is run from the Windows command line interface. One of its unique features is a screensaver version that shows you the defragmentation process.

6. How to defrag faster with Auslogics Disk Defrag [download]

This tool supports FAT 16, FAT 32, and NTFS volumes. Comes with a user friendly interface and performs defrag slightly faster than the default Windows defragmenter. Excellent, easy to use user interface for both beginners and experts.

7. How to defrag and optimize file placement with UltimateDefrag Freeware Edition [download]

Another free disk defrag that comes with a file placement tool that aims to place your files effectively so you can have maximum performance from your hard disk.

8. How to defrag files upon detecting changes with Buzzsaw On-The-Fly Defragmenter [download]

This tool install and runs as a Windows Service and will defrag your files as soon as it detects changes, only when your computer CPU usage is minimal, thus reflecting the On-The-Fly catchphrase above.

This post was written by Syahid Ali, our new ongoing contributor to Friedbeef’s Tech.  Want to write for us?  Just contact us and we’ll work something out.

How do you feel about defragging?  Tell us in the comments!

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It’s hard to find a faster download accelerator which works better than the Firefox extension – ‘DownThemAll’.  It uses a smart download technique called ‘multipart download’ where it splits files into multiple sections which are downloaded simultaneously. This maximizes the use of bandwidth, and increases average download speed up to 400%.

While ‘DownloadThemAll’  is brilliant for browser based downloads, ‘Autobahn‘ is an iTunes accelerator which applies the same ‘multiple download’ technique to iTunes downloads.

Speaking from personal experience, I was extremely please with the results yielded during testing, and the download speeds for podcasts were literally blazing fast compared to whatever I was getting earlier.  Aside from iTunes, ‘Autobahn’ also optimizes video download speeds from Veoh and Myspace videos.  Available for Windows and Mac, Autobahn is free.  

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I’m fortunate enough to own a DVD player which can play video files like DivX and AVI directly on my TV, but what if you just want to create a proper DVD or VCD so it would be able to run on regular players?  Avi2DVD is the perfect tool for that task.  What it does is convert your video file into a ISO file which you can then burn into your disk with any basic DVD Burner.

Aside from basic conversion, key features include multiple audio streams, subtitles, and even DVD menus for easy selection.

Do you typically watch movies from your PC or TV?  Let us know in the poll & comments!

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No matter which browser you’ve picked for everyday use – chances are you’ve customized your browser to make it your own.  Here are 5 free tools which will let you backup and preserve your browser profile, so all the tweaking you’ve done is safe.

1. How to backup Google Chrome

Google’s shiny new browser doesn’t come with extensions yet – but ‘Google Chrome Backup’ will help you save all your bookmarks and settings.  Not only that, you can easily create multiple user profiles (each with different settings/bookmarks) and switch between them quickly.

2. How to backup Firefox & Flock

Mozbackup is a cross Mozilla backup utility which allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, cache etc.  It works for Firefox, Flock, and any of the other Mozilla based browsers eg. the Sea Monkey browser.

3. How to backup Safari

(Mac Only) Apple provides an uncharacteristically round-about way of backing up your bookmarks on its support portal, but if you’re interested in getting a tool which would help automate the process, try out ‘Safari Backup And Restore’

4. How to backup Internet Explorer

BackRex Internet Explorer Backup is a backup and restore tool for Internet Explorer. It allows you to backup favorites, history, proxy settings, fonts, autocomplete passwords and cookies.  Not only that – it supports backups across different versions of IE eg. IE 6 to IE7 and vice versa.

5. How to backup Opera

The good folks at Opera were the only browser group to actually release a proper official backup utility for their browser, and as a result – it’s a top class product called OperaFly.  Aside from handling the basic backups, it also has the ability to backup and restore to/from an FTP server, send backups via email, and to restore backups from a http site.  It also allows for pre-scheduled backups and automatic backups when the browser is closed.

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The issue:

Picture this – You’re listening to soft, soothing music… which then gets turned into ear piercing tune the moment the song changes! 

The freeware solution:

Rather than constantly scrambling for the volume button, you can try out ‘Mp3Gain’.  This lovely piece of freeware adjusts songs in your MP3 collection to have similar sound levels so your listening experience is a more pleasant one.  With this, one track just flows smoothly to another.

Cool features:

Of course, there will be cases where you don’t want all the volumes of songs to be similar, and for that, ‘MP3Gain’ has something called ‘Album mode’.

With ‘Album mode’, you want some songs to be noticeably quieter than other songs, just like they are on an album. If you’re playing a classical CD, you expect the track with the flute solo to be quieter than the track with the big full-orchestra finale.  Applying ‘Album’ gain is like adjusting the volume knob once for each CD you put in your CD player. 

Also, the program stores analysis and undo information inside each file’s metadata, so reversing the process or make additional changes later on would be possible. 

Final words:

Before you download MP3Gain, just a note that iTunes already supports this function with their ‘Sound Check’ feature.  However, in case you are not using an iPod or iTunes, or if you want to make the changes more permanent (iTunes doesn’t write into the actual file’s metadata), then MP3Gain is perfect for you.

What other tools do you use to manage MP3s?  Tell us in the comments!

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