All posts by Ashraf »

IObit’s “Advanced Uninstaller” tries to satisfy your clean uninstalling desires

Ashraf May 22, 2011 44

Recently IObit, a software publishing firm famous for their Advanced SystemCare software package and their Internet Security 360 scandal, released a freeware product – Advanced Uninstaller – that aims to serve all your uninstalling needs:

While the focus of Advanced Uninstaller is on performing clean uninstalls (i.e. performing a regular [...]

Read More »

Dropbox user privacy/data security issues and how you can protect yourself

Ashraf May 21, 2011 15

Dropbox is a popular cloud-storage service. It is loved by all and used by many. Heck, it is dotTech’s favorite and I personally use it too; I have even used – in conjunction with other file hosting services – to run some dotTech Promotions. However, recently some alarming accusations have [...]

Read More »

Dynamic Dummy Image Generator: Generate hassle-free placeholder/”dummy” images

Ashraf May 21, 2011 7

We have all seen Lorem Ipsum text floating around. In short, Lorem Ipsum is just a bunch of gibberish letters/words used as “placeholders” or “dummy text” when the author of something (a website template, a brochure, etc.) wants to showoff some aspect of their work, but does not want to [...]

Read More »

dotTech Promo: Free EASEUS Todo Backup Professional!

Ashraf May 20, 2011 10

Earlier this week dotTech featured EASEUS Partition Master Professional in a giveaway. Now, we bring you another EASEUS product: EASEUS Todo Backup Professional!

Software Description

The following is a description of EASEUS Todo Backup Professional, as per the developer:

Backup

  • Image disk & partition
  • File and folder backup
  • Automatic

[...]

Read More »

Desk Drive automatically creates – and removes – shortcuts on your desktop for external media (USB/flash drives, external hard drives, etc.)

Ashraf May 18, 2011 10

While I personally have depreciated the use of my desktop, some people are desktop fiends: All important files, folders, and shortcuts should be accessible directly from the desktop. If you are one of these desktop fiends, then Desk Drive may be for you.

Image Credit: Ody5iu5[...]

What Is Desk Drive

Read More »

iPrint – now freeware – helps users cut back on printing costs “by up to 60%”

Ashraf May 18, 2011 10

Forget the fact that “going green” is now the cool thing to do. Just think about saving money. iPrint is a very simple software which helps users reduce printing costs (developer claims printing costs can be reduced “by up to 60%”) by using some smart – yet simple – page [...]

Read More »

dotTech Promo: Free EASEUS Partition Master Professional!

Ashraf May 18, 2011 28

EASEUS Partition Master Professional is a dotTech favorite; it has been featured many times on dotTech – either as part of a review or giveaway – and is loved by all dotTechies. Now, dotTechies can EASEUS Partition Master Professional (v8.0.1 – the latest version) for free!

Software Description

The following [...]

Read More »

Tip: T-Mobile USA customers can make unlimited free calls over WiFi

Ashraf May 17, 2011 0

Are you a T-Mobile USA customer? You may be able to make unlimited calls over WiFi… for free. Starting 5/13/11 (i.e. last Friday) T-Mobile launched a new feature allowing select customers to make calls over WiFi for absolutely nothing. In other words, as long as you are connected to WiFi [...]

Read More »

Surf Canyon: Using search engines just got easier

Ashraf May 17, 2011 13

You have a final project due on interracial marriages; you need to do some research so you go to Google.com and type in “interracial marriages”. You find a link that you think may be relevant to your research and you click on it. The page is not bad but you [...]

Read More »

iWisoft Video Converter: Terrific freeware video and audio converter

Ashraf May 17, 2011 32
iWisoft Video Converter: Terrific freeware video and audio converter

Everyone knows dotTech’s favorite audio and video converter is FormatFactory. However a week or so ago Jeff, a dotTechie, brought iWisoft Video Converter to my attention, a freeware video and audio converter, as a possible software that can triumph FormatFactory (big thanks to you my friend). So here I am, [...]

Read More »

Yet another way to get Windows 7 for free: throw a [house] party

Ashraf May 16, 2011 10

I got an interesting e-mail from a dotTechie today (Emrys). The e-mail was a forward of an e-mail Emrys received from Microsoft encouraging Emrys to “throw a house party” and receive free Windows 7 in return. After I finished pouting about the fact that I was not invited, I looked [...]

Read More »

[Android] Tip: Turn off “interest-based” ads by flipping a switch in Android Market

Ashraf May 16, 2011 10

The most valuable advertising is targeted advertising. Targeted advertising is more valuable than non-targeted advertising because targeted ads are more relevant to the audience they are being shown to; targeted ads are more likely to get a response. Google (and all advertising agencies/professionals) know this. In fact, this is the [...]

Read More »

4 ways to monitor who is accessing your shared folders/files

Ashraf May 16, 2011 17

Windows allows us to easily share files and folders with other people on our network; but some of us may want to know when someone else is accessing our shared files and folders. I am going to show everyone 4 different methods to do just that.

Computer Management

2009-10-24_210320

For all [...]

Read More »

Angry Birds is now playable for free on any computer through the web browser

Ashraf May 14, 2011 4

Introduced in December 2009 and achieved world domination by 2010, Angry Birds is an immensely popular mobile game that has take the world by storm. Although Rovio (the developer of Angry Birds) has iOS and Android to thank for Angry Birds’ success, any competent business executive knows the the smart [...]

Read More »

Tip: Softpedia allows users to easily identify freeware programs that come bundled with toolbars/third-party programs

Ashraf May 14, 2011 13

We all like freeware programs. What none of us like, however, are the third-party offers (such as toolbars) that come with many freeware programs. While I am not bashing on freeware developers for including third-party offers in their programs (freeware developers need some sort of revenue), I am saying that [...]

Read More »

Tip: “Can’t establish a reliable data connection to the server” when trying to sync your Google account with your Android phone? Sign in via the Youtube app to fix the problem

Ashraf May 13, 2011 58

I must say I love my Android phone. (This is the point where you BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia, and Microsoft fans cringe with hatred). However, as good as the Android platform is, it isn’t without its fair share of bugs. Typically all minor, temporary bugs on an Android phone can be [...]

Read More »

[USA only] Tired of your current cell phone service provider? Sprint will pay you up to $175 per line to switch

Ashraf May 12, 2011 3

As the battle over AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile rages on, Sprint has launched a campaign to entice customers to make the switch to Sprint. (I am sure Sprint is, in particular, eyeballing unhappy T-Mobile customers.)

Image Credit: Kevin Cortopassi

To try to convince consumers to jump ship and come to [...]

Read More »

Limited time offer: buy any Ashampoo software for only $10

Ashraf May 12, 2011 13

Ashampoo is a popular name here on dotTech. Not only does Ashampoo make quality products, but Ashampoo often promotes their software via freebies and giveaways (think Ashampoo Burning Studio 2010, Ashampoo Photo Commander 6, Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5, Ashampoo Internet Accelorator 2, Ashampoo ClipFinder HD, etc.)

To celebrate their 10 year [...]

Read More »

Tip: Cleaning out your browsing history? Remember to delete the Adobe Flash Player storage

Ashraf May 12, 2011 21

Originally posted: April 24, 2010

Cleaning out your browsing history is very easy nowadays, with all major browsers having an option to delete surfing history, cookies, cache, etc. However, simply using your browser’s built-in browsing history cleaner does not fully clear your browsing history. One thing your browser’s built-in cleaner [...]

Read More »

[New dotTech Feature] Have a freebie, program, website, service, etc. you want to share with the world? Now you can through dotTech’s Community Content section!

Ashraf May 11, 2011 5

Here on dotTech we have a forum where users can share information regarding programs, websites, freebies, etc. However, many posts on the forums go unnoticed, regardless of how good the freebie/program/website/etc. may be. Therefore, I have decided to introduce a new section on dotTech: Community Content.

The idea behind Community [...]

Read More »

HOW TO: Format your text (hyperlink, bold, etc.) when writing comments on websites.

Ashraf May 10, 2011 12

Many people have asked me “Ashraf, how do you make the link say what you want when you post those comments?”. It is a question that has been asked of me over and over. Therefore, I have decided to write up this simple guide which contain information on how you [...]

Read More »

Control the volume on your computer with your mouse wheel.

Ashraf May 10, 2011 3

Some of us have dedicated buttons on on laptops/speakers that allow us to control the volume of out computer; some of us don’t. However, would it not be convenient if you did not have to use those buttons at all; rather you could just scroll up or down using your [...]

Read More »

[Rumor] Is Google changing how it displays search results?

Ashraf May 7, 2011 21

So I was doing some searching on Google. Typically when I run a Google search, I get results displayed like so:

Aside from the lack of ads (yes, I block ads now) there is nothing special about the search results page: It is the standard search results page I have [...]

Read More »

ÜberIcon: add simple effects to opening files, folders, and shortcuts in Windows

Ashraf May 6, 2011 4

Sometimes when using Windows I think about the awesome eye candy of Linux and cry (ok… I don’t really cry). You know, Windows has some nice effects and all but at times its so… boring. So keeping with that line-of-thought, ÜberIcon is a simple lightweight program which adds effects to [...]

Read More »

PStart: Extremely useful and unique program launcher for USB/flash drives

Ashraf May 4, 2011 9

With more and more software being designed to be “portable” so they can run off USB/flash drives, more and more users are jam-packing their USB/flash drives with programs to take with them on the go. However, with new horizons comes new problems. One of the new problems with having dozens [...]

Read More »

The only free file (audio, video, image) converting program you will ever need.

Ashraf May 2, 2011 89
The only free file (audio, video, image) converting program you will ever need.

Ask yourself these five questions:

  1. Do I want to be able to easily convert a video file to literally any video format?
  2. Do I want to be able to easily convert an audio file to literally any audio format?
  3. Do I want to be able to easily rip the audio
  4. [...]

    Read More »

Easily encrypt your USB/flash drive with SafeHouse Explorer… even if you don’t have administrator access!

Ashraf May 1, 2011 22

We all know TrueCrypt is the king of encryption software. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most feature filled and secure encryption software out there; best of all, it is open source. The only one problem with TrueCrypt is you need administrator access to install it on any computer or, [...]

Read More »

WinX DVD Author is now freeware

Ashraf February 26, 2011 168

Two years ago dotTech reviewed WinX DVD Author and last year we ran an exclusive promotion giving away WinX DVD Author v5.5 for free. Now, similar to what they did with WinX DVD Ripper, Digiarty Software has made WinX DVD Author a freeware program. Click up the link below to [...]

Read More »

[Review] Tidy Start Menu Pro

Ashraf January 24, 2011 38

{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Tidy Start Menu Pro

Version reviewed:

v3.4

Supported OS:

Windows 98 and higher

Price:

$19.95 (USD)

Software description as per the developer:

As time goes by, the list of the programs in the Start Menu becomes too long. As a result, each time you want

[...]

Read More »

[Review] Folder Marker Home

Ashraf January 21, 2011 17

{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Folder Marker Home

Version reviewed:

v3.1.0.0

Software description as per the developer:

Folder Marker Home lets you mark your folders with color-coded and image-coded icons with one mouse click, which makes them easy to find and retrieve. Simply select the folder you want to mark,

[...]

Read More »

[Review] Pixo

Ashraf January 18, 2011 25

{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Pixo by Bendigo Design

Version reviewed:

v3.5.6

Software description as per the developer:

Pixo was designed to act as an “Interface” between plugins and the user. Rather than traditional method of applying effects to an image, Pixo removes all the barriers and makes it a

[...]

Read More »

Easily convert rich text to plain text with PureText

Ashraf January 17, 2011 16

Anyone that has copied and pasted anything in the past knows how annoying it can be when one wants just the text and not all the formatting and images that come with it. Yes, being able to copy + paste rich text is a handy feature of Windows Clipboard, but [...]

Read More »

[Rapid Review] VueMinder Calendar Pro

Ashraf January 17, 2011 3

{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

VueMinder Calendar Pro

Version reviewed:

v8.0.1

Software description as per the developer:

Take control of your schedule and get reminded wherever and however you want. Instantly access your appointments, tasks, and notes with a simple glance at a transparent calendar that sits right on your

[...]

Read More »

Dropquest 2011: Get 1 GB extra free Dropbox storage space!

Ashraf January 16, 2011 20

Mirror, mirror on the wall: What is the best file sharing/backup service of them all? Dropbox. All free Dropbox accounts come with 2 GB of storage space. Last November I posted about how to increase that 2 GB of storage space by 50%. Want more free Dropbox storage space? Participate [...]

Read More »

[Rapid Review] Process Lasso Pro

Ashraf January 13, 2011 46

{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Process Lasso Pro

Version reviewed:

4.00.29

Software description as per the developer:

Process Lasso is a unique new technology that will improve your PC’s responsiveness and stability during periods of high CPU load. Windows, by design, allows programs to monopolize your CPU without restraint —

[...]

Read More »