All posts by Ashraf »
MailStore Home’s new v5 adds portability, other improvements
Over two years ago I wrote about MailStore Home, an excellent free program that allows users to easily backup e-mails from many different providers/sources (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Thunderbird, POP3/IMAP inboxes, etc.). Recently MailStore Home has been updated to v5, which brings a few handy changes.
The most important improvement [...]
Read More »Marxio Timer: powerful software that allows you to schedule tasks (shutdown computer, run a program, take a screenshot, and many more) to automatically execute
Earlier today I wrote about an excellent checksums utility by Marxio. Now I am going to tell you about another Marxio winner (this guy really knows how to code): Marxio Timer.
Marxio Timer is an extremely awesome program that allows you to set various different tasks…

…to automatically occur at [...]
Read More »[Android] Tapatalk is available for free via GetJar Gold
GetJar Gold, a free service that allows Android users to legally get paid apps for free, debuted with many apps. Since then, the GetJar team has been adding more apps such as Beautiful Widgets and Quell. One of the most recent additions is Tapatalk, otherwise known as Tapatalk Forum App:[...]
[Android, Root Required] Control the system access apps have with Permissions Denied
Although I really like how Apple vets all apps before allowing them in the Apple App Store, I appreciate that Google forces Android app developers to attain explicit permission from users to give apps access to different parts of their phones. The only issue, however, is that this ask-for-permissions gig [...]
*Updated* [dotTech Analysis] iPhone 4S vs Galaxy Nexus vs Galaxy S II (including carrier variants) vs Droid RAZR
Originally written on October 19, 2011. Updated on October 21, 2011 to clarify Galaxy Nexus has a Super AMOLED display, not Super AMOLED Plus.
Samsung Galaxy S II hit USA shores a few weeks ago (the rest of the world got it earlier this year back in May). iPhone 4S [...]
Read More »Do you keep a journal/diary/any sort of log? Time to go digital.
I, for one, have never been the kind of person to have a journal/diary; and the closest thing I have ever had to any sort of “log” was an year round “interactive notebook” (aka Haha-I-give-you-busy-work) we had to keep for Biology. Even for that notebook I never made entries on [...]
Read More »iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S II: Which device is more durable when dropped?
Ever wondered which device would survive a fall better, Apple’s new toy iPhone 4S or Samsung’s flagship phone Galaxy S II? Wonder no longer. SquareTrade, a third-party device warranty company, conducted an informal test dropping an iPhone 4S and Galaxy S II. Let’s see which device is more durable when [...]
Read More »[iOS, Android] Quell: A puzzle game that challenges your mind and dazzles your eyes

In the mood of a good puzzle game? Go search Apple App Store or Android Market. In the mood for a great puzzle game? Give Quell a try. Quell is a “zen puzzler” which aims to not only test your intellectual capacity to solve puzzles but also to make sure [...]
Read More »Monitor and control your PC with your Android or iOS device with PC Monitor
Ever seen those OnStar commercials that show people being able to control their cars from their phones? Well PC Monitor is a program/app that is similar… except it is for your PC. PC Monitor allows users to monitor and control their PCs from
- Android devices
- iPhone
- iPad
- iPod Touch
Depending [...]
Read More »Manage e-books (convert, catalog, view, etc.) and sync e-book readers with Calibre
With the recent release of the iPad, the topics of e-books have come to center stage. To put it simply, the e-book industry is (still) suffering from an identity crisis – there are no set e-book standards such as e-book reader, e-book format, etc. Truly the people that suffer from [...]
[dotTech Giveaway] 5 free copies of RAGE (PC version)!
Last week we gave away five copies of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Now dotTech and IntKeys, a Swiss-based online retailer of video games that sells games at highly discounted prices, are back; this time we are giving away five copies of RAGE (PC version) for free! (Read dotTech’s review [...]
iPhone 4S gets benchmarked, shows other devices who’s boss
Last week Apple revealed the iPhone 4S. However, typical Apple, they didn’t reveal too many details about its processing power; and, well, you can’t blame them: Most consumers don’t care what is inside as long as the user experience is to their liking. Geeks, on the other hand, very much [...]
Read More »Remove bloatware from your computer with PC Decrapifier
How many people here know what bloatware is? Not many probably. That is not to say that everyone here has not encountered bloatware; rather it is saying that many of us never thought of bloatware as…bloatware before. And that is what makes bloatware potentially worse than malware or viruses: not [...]
Read More »Why are there so many backup programs out there? Don’t they all do the same thing? No!
There are tons of backup program (free and otherwise) out there in the market right now. I am constantly being asked “how does backup software A compare to backup software B”. Now in some cases this is a valid question. However in many instances, the two software the person wants [...]
Read More »[Android, Root Required] Tip: Punch bloatware in the face by “freezing” all unnecessary apps
One of the Android platform’s growing pains is bloatware. Similar to how Windows PCs come with unwanted and undesired software, many (most) Android ph0nes come with unwanted and undesired apps. One of the ways to get rid of bloatware on Android phones are to manually delete the unwanted apps, using [...]
TrashMail: Another handy, but different, way to fight spam e-mails
Update: TrashMail is once again free, but now it requires users to register on TrashMail.net (registration is free).
While reading through the comments of some of my other posts I saw a comment by Ozzie, a regular dotTechie, where she mentioned something about a service called TrashMail in relation to [...]
Read More »[dotTech Rant] iPhone 4S disappoints
Yesterday Apple revealed their next iPhone, iPhone 4S. As the name may imply, iPhone 4S is a refreshed iPhone 4; it has the exact same body/design and screen as the iPhone 4 but with better internals: A better CPU, GPU, camera, hybrid GSM/CDMA radios [with support for HSPA+ but not [...]
Read More »[Android, Root Required] AdAway is an open-source app for blocking ads on your Android device
In the past dotTech has discussed AdFree Android as the app for blocking ads on your Android device. While AdFree Android works well, the issue with it is the developer has recently begun updating the app without providing any sort of changelog to let users know what the updates are [...]
Read More »[dotTech Giveaway] 5 free copies of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine!
Earlier this week dotTech reviewed Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. In the review we promised we would be giving away copies of the game for free. Well here we are. Thanks to IntKeys, a Swiss-based online retailer of video games that sells games at highly discounted prices, dotTech has five [...]
WinSorter: Easily transform, manipulate, and sort text in any program where text is editable
When using a word processor – such as Microsoft Word – there are features available that allow users to transform, manipulate, and sort text such invert text case, sort ascending, and sort descending. However, what if you aren’t using a full blown word processor, or what if the word processor [...]
Sikuli: Create “smart macros” based on screenshots
dotTech has discussed many macro programs, such as Easy Macro Recorder, Do It Again, etc. While they all have their particular advantages/disadvantages, the one common problem among them all is the inability to create macros based on program/window recognition; all the macros are based off screen positioning, so they are [...]
Read More »Share your CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive (reader or burner) over a network with Paragon Net Burner
Do you have a computer (desktop, notebook, or netbook) that does not have an optical drive? Or, maybe it has an optical drive but the optical drive is broken? Well, then, Paragon Net Burner may be for you. Paragon Net Burner is a software that aims to do one thing [...]
Read More »[Android, Root Required] Block apps from accessing the Internet with DroidWall
I am one of those people that likes to control what programs on my computer access the Internet. Indeed, I had friends over a couple of weeks ago and one of the comments a friend of mine kept making is “you have your computer locked down so much it hardly [...]
Drag2up revolutionizes the process of sharing files: Drag + drop and share [Firefox and Chrome only]
Whether it is with friends, family, coworkers, etc. we – as Internet junkies – are continually sharing files with others. To share a file we typically have to go to the specific file hosting website, upload the file, and link it to others. Drag2up is an add-on for Firefox and [...]
Read More »Your cell phone company collects and stores more personally identifiable data than Google or Facebook
In a way it sort of makes sense. Your cell phone runs on your telecom’s network and everything you do – unless you run it over WiFi – on your cell phone is run through their towers. So it goes without saying cell phone companies have access to potentially sensitive [...]
How To: Force Firefox 7 (and higher) to show HTTP:// in URLs
Firefox 7 was released a few days ago. Among other changes, one of the “improvements” made in Firefox 7 is that Firefox no longer shows the HTTP:// part of a URL when visiting a website, e.g. if going to http://dottech.org, Firefox will show dottech.org in the URL/address bar:

(This [...]
Read More »Turn your desktop into an art gallery (aka set your wallpaper to change automatically).
Ashraf1:
“Raise your hand if you are constantly changing our desktop wallpaper because you get bored of it easily. Raise your hand if you would like a way to allow the wallpaper to change automatically at an interval of your choosing, effectively turning your desktop into an art gallery.”
Ashraf2:[...]
Read More »Modify file/folder timestamps (date created, modified and accessed) with Attribute Changer.
Before I begin this post let me state that the developer of Attribute Changer specifically states “64-bit editions of MS Windows are NOT supported“. Therefore this post is not for 64-bit users; however if you are a 64-bit user and you want to try out this software, please be [...]
All your information are belong to them: Researchers claim they can crack secure web connections (read: HTTPS has been cracked)
A pair of security researchers claim to have written a JavaScript tool, named Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS or BEAST, that allows them to access the information being passed behind SSL/TLS encryption. Yeah, you read that properly. These two geeks claim they have the ability to crack HTTPS.
Without going into [...]
Read More »[USA Only] Get free $2 credit for Amazon Appstore for Android by tweeting

Earlier this month I posted an article talking about how Amazon Appstore has a Free App a Day program where users can get paid Android apps for free. While the free paid apps are definitely attractive, Amazon Appstore is, after all, an app store and thus it does sell apps, [...]
Read More »MyTasks: Beautiful, easy-to-use tasks/todo list manager for Android
I am extremely bad at being organized. When I say “extremely bad”, put double emphasis on extremely and you may understand me better. I have this natural tendency of “oh I will remember to do that” when assigned a task/work; when there are only a couple of tasks to do, [...]
Read More »JottiQ: Desktop program for batch scanning files with Jotti’s malware scan (an online scanner)
We all know about VirusTotal (or at least we all should know about VirusTotal). Jotti’s malware scan is a service similar to VirusTotal; it is a service that allows users to scan files with 18 different anti-virus/anti-malware scanner. Jotti’s malware scan works fairly similar to VirusTotal in the sense that [...]
Researching colleges/universities? Get a one year subscription to U.S. News College Compass (aka premium access to all college/university rankings) for free! [Hurry almost over]
Update: This promotion is now over. Sorry!
Anyone that has gone to college, is looking to go to college, planning on going to college, or is related/associated to someone that falls in the previous three categories has probably researched college rankings at one time or another. One of the top [...]
Read More »Monitor computer temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds with HWMonitor
When you exercise, your bodies burns calories and you feel hot; you start sweating. The laws of physics (chemistry? biology? who cares…) don’t apply just to you – they apply to your computer, too.
When you use computer the internal components generate heat as a result of the “exercise” you [...]
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A few weeks ago I posted a tip about how Android users can legally get paid apps for free get GetJar Gold. In the post I mentioned GetJar will continually be adding apps to their GetJar Gold collection. Now I am telling you GetJar Gold just added Beautiful Widgets, one [...]