Screensaver scans your PC using Microsoft Security Essentials

I had written about Disk Defrag screensaver for Windows PC which was a great utility to utilize PC's idle time to defrag the disks. Similarly DevianArt has come up with a Screensaver which scans your machines for malware and viruses when the screensaver runs. It uses Microsoft's excellent tool Security Essentials to run the scan.

The screensaver has two modes: Graphical and Non-Graphical. In Graphical mode a Microsoft Security Essentials logo is displayed on the screen whereas in Non-Graphical mode a blank screen is displayed when the screensaver runs.

You need Microsoft Security Essentials installed as a pre-requisite to make this screensaver work. Microsoft Security Essentials is a freeware from Microsoft and can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

Click here to download the screensaver

The ZIP file contains Security Screensaver.scr (Graphical) and Security Screensaver NG.scr (Non-Graphical)  files. Just right click any one of the files depending on your choice and click Install to get the screensaver started.

Conclusion
This is a great Utility to utilize machine's idle time to get it scanned for Viruses and Malware. Today, everyone is mostly connected to internet increasing the chances of affecting with viruses and malwares and this kind of utilities are real help to protect machine from viruses and malwares.

Securely receive files to your Dropbox using DropItToMe

Dropbox has become an essential part to store, organize and sync your files between computers. If you are still not aware of what Dropbox is continue reading Organize, Synchronize, Share, Backup files using Dropbox.
With all the great features Dropbox has, one of its wonderful feature is integrity with 3rd party applications which gives developers a chance to build on applications to extend Dropbox.

Similarly an application named Drop It To Me has extended Dropbox using which people can store files in your Dropbox. It is completely secure as you need to supply the password for Drop It To Me application to your friends and not for Dropbox. Your friends can only upload files to that location but can never see the contents of that location which makes it secure enough.

The application can simply help us avoid sending emails with large attachments, pictures, videos, etc. and simply uploading them to friends Dropbox folder.

Start using Drop It To Me

Just type in http://www.dropitto.me/ in your web browser and hit Enter

Click Register to create an account with Drop It To Me and link it to your Dropbox Account.

Click Get Dropbox if you do not have a Dropbox account. Considering that you have a Dropbox Account just hit Register button to connect DROPitTOme to your Dropbox account. On the next screen after clicking Register provide your Dropbox login details.

 The application needs permission to connect to your Dropbox. Click Allow to grant permission to the application to interact with your Dropbox account.

Once you grant the permission, create a login id and password for DROPitTOme. Note the password and username can be different than yout Dropbox account.

You get a URL after registering with DROPitTOme which can be used to upload files to your Dropbox. Make sure you note down the URL so that you can share it with your friends.
You also need to provide the password for DROPitTOme account to your friends for them to upload the files using the URL mentioned.

Just navigate to your Drop It To Me URL and insert the password and hit Login.

Upon successful login, users can simply click Choose File, select the file to be uploaded and hit Upload button to start uploading.

A success message gets displayed once the upload gets completed. Do not close the browser window till you do not receive the Success message.

You can check the uploaded files using Drop It To Me in your Dropbox Account under DROPitTOme folder.

Conclusion
Dropbox has always been a great application to share, sync, organize your files and DROPitTOme adds on to its capabilities wonderfully. It just adds one more option to send large files to your friends instantly.

Detect Blocked and Open Ports - Port Detective

It happens when you need to find out the reason behind things not working on your machine whose possible reason could be with the port being blocked. At such times we need to first make sure whether the port is actually blocked and if yes what is blocking it. Port Detective does this work simply for us.

Port Detective uses the latest in Internet technology when it comes to figuring out what ports on YOUR
computer or router are Blocked, In-Use or restricted. Port Detective is much different from other port
scanner programs. Typical port scanners are designed for scanning other peoples ports (Computers other
than your own), or they only tell you what ports are open on the local host (Your Local PC, Not your ISP too).

Port Detective gives you the Plain and Simple results on what ports are open, blocked or in use by your router or firewall. It can even detect what ports are blocked by your Internet Service provider!  This free service allows Cable modem or xDSL users to instantly get an idea on what ports their ISP may block, so they know what Internet Services they can run.

Starting with Port Detective
1. Download and install Port Detective (link below)
2. Once you have it installed, start the application and click Ok on the Warning message displayed

3. After clicking the Warning message, Port Detective automatically starts scanning the default ports and displays you with the results. You can additionally add a new port or start scanning for the ports again using the Action menu.

Conclusion
Port Detective makes it real easy for you to find out the ports issue by displaying simple result after great analysis.

Download Port Detective now

Download and Convert YouTube Videos

YouTube has become one of the most visited website for videos and everyone wants to watch the videos whether they are online or not. Incase you are not online you can download the YouTube video's while online so that you can watch them later using YouTube Downloader.

YouTube Downloader not only downloads the videos but also gives you the ability to convert them to most major formats. It allows you to convert downloaded videos for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media, XVid and MP3. You can enable/disable the sounds while converting the video.

Downloading file using YouTube Downloader

Download and install YouTube Downloader

Open the YouTube video and copy the YouTube URL you want to download

Switch over to YouTube Downloader. It will automatically paste what's copied in the clipboard in Select Video File. Simply hit Ok to start downloading the Video

It will start downloading the video file from YouTube and inform you as soon as the download is complete

Converting downloaded videos using YouTube Downloader

Start YouTube Downloader and select "Convert Video (previously downloaded) from file and select the file to be converted from your computer. Select the format in which you want to convert the file in "Convert to" drop down and hit Ok

Now, select the Quality in which the video should be converted. You can even cut the video using time frames and set the volume for the converted video.

Once you click Ok, it starts converting the video to the selected format

To conclude, YouTube Downloader is a simple but powerful application for downloading and converting videos from YouTube.

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Download Facebook Albums to your computer

Album Downloader is a cool tiny application using which you can download your and your friends Facebook Albums to your computer. You can even choose to download only the pics in which you have been tagged.

Getting started with Album Downloader

Download and install Album Downloader

Once you have installed Album Downloader it starts automatically. It will pop up a message saying it might need some time to initialize. Simply click Ok and wait for the application to start.

Provide it with your Facebook login details and click Login.

Once you are logged in, it displays you the list of your friends on Facebook. Simply check the albums you want to download, set the download folder and click Download Selected Albums.

If you want to download pics in which you are tagged, check (All tagged pics of me).

To conclude, it is a nice application in case you want to download bunch of albums from Facebook to your machine.

Merge PDF files online

At times it happens that we have multiple PDF files which need to be merged and created as a single PDF file. A single PDF is easily to maintain instead of having multiple PDF files. Now you can merge 10 PDF files of 5 MB each into a single PDF file using http://www.mergepdf.net. It is a great and simple to use online tool to merge your PDF files.

Getting started with Merging a PDF

Visit http://www.mergepdf.net

The UI is pretty simple with 2 buttons for picking the files which need to be merged and button which actually merges the PDF files.

Click Pick Files... to add files to the merge list and select the PDF files from your computer

Once you are done adding the PDF files to the merge list click Merge PDF ! button to start merging the files

Merge PDF displays you the status of the merging and the time remaining for completion. Once the merging is complete the you can open the file using PDF Viewer installed on your machine or save merged PDF file to your machine. Merge PDF automatically opens the Save File pop-up on merge completion.

Merge PDF does not store any PDF on their servers. All PDF's are removed once the processing is complete.

To conclude, it is a great tool if you want to merge your PDF files online.

What do you Suggest - Google Suggest

I've already spent hours exploring on whatdoyousuggest.net. For some reason I just keep wanting to come back to have another play.

Lets see it working

When you load up the site it tells you to Start Here - or - choose from one of word, letter or question. Lets take "Strange" as the seed. Just type Strange in the text box and hit enter. From there, it takes whatever you've given it and gives back Google's suggestions for the next word in your sentence.

The suggested words appear in the order in which Google suggests them and are each connected by a line of varying thickness representing the number of search results you could expect if you did a Google search on the phrases which that word, its predecessors and ancestors in the tree would create.

The suggestions provided by Google Suggest represent real searches which in all likelihood have been performed millions of times each by people from all around the world. 

Lets click Facts and see what it returns

Lets click Of and see what it returns

In the end lets click Life to get the search results

To conclude this site is real fun and uses Google Suggest very well to give you the next keyword suggested by Google.

Monitor who accesses your Shared Folders

It might happen at times that you share a folder for a person to copy certain things and then forget to unshare it. People having access to this folder can access it anytime without you being notified which might end up hitting your computers performance. Moreover there could be chances of sharing files with people which you don't want to.

ShareWatcher is a simple application which sits in the System tray notifying you whenever someone tries to access a file/folder on your machine.

Using ShareWatcher you can further see the users who are currently accessing shared folders on your machine and the folders being accessed by them.

It also shows the Logs of users who accessed the shared files/folders with date time stamp.

You can further customize how ShareWatcher should behave from Options --> Settings. You can mark Ignore self to ignore notifications when you access the shared folders. Checking "Only Show Files" wont log or notify you when folders are accessed. You can add list of files you want to ignore.

To conclude ShareWatcher is a nice tiny application if you want to keep an eye on who accesses the files you have shared.

Download ShareWatcher for Windows

Forgot attaching files to Outlook emails?? Not any more with FAD

It happens at times when we write email in a hurry and send them forgetting to attach that important file mentioned in the same email. Then we reply back to all recipients with apology and attaching the file. Forgotten Attachment Detector is a great free add-on for Outlook from OfficeLabs which helps you avoid such embarrassing situations. 

Whenever you send an email containing terms such as attachment, attached, enclosed etc. but does not actually have a file attached, it alerts you before you send your email.  Then, you can go back and add the attachment you intended to before you actually send the email.

Start using Forgotten Attachment Detector 

Download Forgotten Attachment Detector. Click Try It on the page to download the setup file. Once you have downloaded the file, go ahead and install it. Its better you exit Outlook before installing the add-in.

You can uncheck the checkbox in the above screenshot if you do not wish to participate in Usage metrics and Auto updates.

Carry on with the setup till you completely install the add-in.

Once the installation is complete start Outlook. At the first start of Outlook after installing FAD, Outlook asks you to verify that you want to install the add-in. Click install and you will be ready to use it.

Now, whenever you compose a new email and mention anywhere in the email about attachment but don't actually attach a file FAD will display a pop-up alarming you about your act.

Clicking the Show Snippet button shows you exactly what text in your email triggered the alarm.

Customizing Forgotten Attachment Detector

FAD adds a button to your Outlook Menu using which you can customize the way FAD works.

Using the setting you can add or remove the keywords that triggers the alarm for attachment. You can add / remove keywords and phrases depending on which FAD will alarm you about attachments. FAD can also notify you about emails missing Subject Lines which can be enabled/disabled from settings.

To conclude Forgotten Attachment Detector is a cool utility rarely used but saves you from huge embarrassments.

Desktop Notifier for Google Services - Google Calendar

Google Code has come up with a piece of software which notifies you about updates of your Google Services. For now it supports Google Calendar and would soon be supporting Google Reader updates too. Click here for an alternative for Google Reader as of now.

Google Services Notifier is a simple .NET utility which uses Google's API to notify you about updates. Google Calendar is the supported application from various Google Services as of now.

How to use Google Services Notifier

Download Google Services Notifier and install it on your machine.

Once installed start Google Services Notifier from the Start Menu. It silently sits in the System Tray. Right click Google Services Notifier icon and select "Change user name/password".

Specify your login credentials for Google Services in the Credentials window

That's It!!! You are done configuring Google Services Notifier and now its time to enjoy it.

Whenever an appointment on your Google Calendar comes up it notifies you about it with a small pop-up in the System Tray.

Other than notifying for next events you can also get a list of today's/tomorrow's/week's events. It also takes you to your Google Calendar by clicking Go To My Google Calendar.

To conclude Google Services Notifier is a nice application if you use Google Calendar for all your appointments. It will gain more importance once development on Google Reader notifications is complete.

Get notified for new Google Reader items

Google Reader is a good RSS companion but lacks notifications. It does not alert the user when a new item arrives like we have Gmail notifier or email notifier with Gtalk.

There are 2 ways to get notified about new items on Google Reader.

Google Reader Notifier

Google Reader Notifier is a tiny Windows application which sits calmly in your system tray and informs you at a set interval incase there are new items in Google Reader.

Google Reader Notifier is customizable as per your needs. Using preferences you can setup the items for which you should be notified, refresh interval and specify your Google Reader account details.

The notifier displays the number of new items in the popup window clicking on which opens up your browser pointing to Google Reader. 

Download Google Reader Notifier for Windows

Google Reader Watcher - Firefox Add-on

This add-on adds the functionality provided by Google Reader Notifier plus some additional features to Firefox. It adds an icon to Firefox Status Bar displaying the count of new Google Reader items. The add-on is customizable as per your needs using its preferences. You can set up the frequency at which it should check for new items, specify the feeds to be filtered using labels etc. under General tab.

Under Account Information tab you need to specify your Google Reader logon credentials.

Under Tooltip settings tab you can customize the way tooltips are displayed. Under Window opening settings you can select the action which would open Google Reader window.

Hovering over the icon in status bar displays you the list of feeds and the count of unread items under each feed.

Google Reader Watcher is a great add-on to have if you are a big user of Google Reader.

Download Google Reader Watcher for Firefox

Securely deliver files upto 4GB

Everyone needs to share personal files with family, friends or business files with colleagues which can be personal and need to be shared securely. The options available are using FTP clients, Zip Utilities, Encryption programs to encrypt if the data is sensitive and using download managers etc.

Its cumbersome to go through all this and send the files. Moreover many email clients do not allow you to send files as attachments over 10MB.

Civil Netizen is a free application for personal and professional use which not only sends large files but also makes sure that your files are secure by encrypting them using 128-bit AES encryption.

When to use Civil Netizen instead of e-mail attachments

Choose Civil Netizen when your files are either

Seriously Big

Civil Netizen can handle files and folders up to 4GB in total size. It also preserves the folder structure you have designed.

Seriously Sensitive

All file transfer traffic is secured end-to-end between senders and recipients using 128-bit AES encryption.

Seriously Important

The built-in download manager resumes any interrupted transfers and keeps trying until your files are delivered.

How to send files using Civil Netizen

The first step to send a file is create a parcel. Just drag and drop the files to be sent into a parcel. Civil Netizen compresses your files and retains the folder structure.

Once the parcel is created you only need to email or IM the pick up slip to the recipient. Pick up slip is usually 8 lines of text.

The recipient can copy the pickup slip text or use the pickup slip to download the file directly from your computer

Once the download is complete Civil Netizen unpacks the parcel to the specified folder

You can even Track the status of the parcels using Track Status

To conclude Civil Netizen is a nice application to share files securely using your network.

Click here to download Civil Netizen for Windows PC
Click here to download Civil Netizen for Mac OS X