All posts by Ashraf »
[Android] Best free Internet firewall
You (probably) have a firewall on your PC, but you don’t think you need a firewall for your phone. I will give you two reasons why you may want to reconsider:
- Every app and its grandmother wants to be able to access the Internet nowadays (typically for ads, but sometimes
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Read More »Pidgin, Trillian, Miranda or Digsby: “Which IM app should I use?”
Lets be honest here: who does not instant message (IM) nowadays? Heck, I walked into the advising office at my university and the front desk secretary was IMing my adviser to see if she was available. So most of us, if not all of us, IM. The problem is the [...]
[Android] Best free app manager
Originally posted May 28, 2011. Updated May 29, 2011 to include AntTek App Manager. Updated on June 7, 2011 to clarify a point about Gemini App Manager.
You have a zillion apps installed on your shiny Android; but now you need a way to manage them. You need the ability [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free image viewer
All Android handsets come with an image viewer, typically the stock image gallery app provided by Google. The problem is many times these image viewers are slow and buggy. For example, on my Nexus S the stock image gallery takes a noticeable amount of time to search for new image [...]
Read More »dotTech Promo: Free Backup4All Lite!
dotTech is teaming up with Softland to bring everyone Backup4All Lite for free!
Software Description
The following is a quick description of Backup4All Lite as per the developer:
Backup4all Lite edition implements the basic functionalities of a backup application, thus more suitable for home users that don’t need the
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Supplement your computer’s security with WinPatrol (now with a portable version!).
I am sure everyone has read my list of top 6 free security software. Well today I am here to tell you of a program that you can use to supplement your protection software to enhance digital security. Meet WinPatrol:
WinPatrol is a very lightweight security app that does all [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free clipboard manager
Having a clipboard manager on your Windows PC is very handy because it makes it easy and convenient to retrieve previously copied content. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do the same on your phone? Sure, for most people clipboard management may not be as useful on an [...]
Read More »Re-enable critical Windows’ components disabled by malware
One popular form of attack used by malware is disabling Window’s components such as the Command Prompt, System Restore, and Task Manager. Re-enable is a simple portable tool that allows users to easily re-enable Windows’ RegEdit, Command Prompt, Task Manager, Run, Folder Options, and System Restore:
Using Re-enable cannot get [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free office documents viewer
Part of the smartphone experience is to be able to do anything (well, almost anything) on your device. This means being able to view/read office documents. While there are some phones that come with an office document viewer (such as Samsung devices), other phones do not. Even for phones that [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free PDF reader
What is the point of having a smartphone if it cannot read your super-duper-important PDF documents? In this article we take a look at all the free PDF readers/viewers available on Android Market and recommend the PDF reader/viewer we feel is the best of the lot. But be warned: You [...]
Read More »Facing the my-new-billion-dollar-iPhone-4-has-a-design-flaw problem? Duct tape may solve your problem.
If you own an iPhone 4 you probably are already aware of the must talked about iPhone 4 design flaw. Well now Consumer Reports, a nonprofit authoritative source on everything consumer, has confirmed there is indeed an iPhone 4 design flaw. Until Apple decides to man-up to their problem instead [...]
Read More »Need an awesome (and free) video capture/screen recording tool? Try BB FlashBack Express.
I am sure most of you have seen the videos that I have begun to incorporate in some of my reviews; for those videos I used a video capture tool called Debut. For the longest time Debut has been my favorite video capture tool – it is simple to use [...]
Read More »8 free online image editors (Photoshop alternatives and photo quick-fix tools)
Not many will argue with me when I say Photoshop is one of the best image editors created to date. At the same time, Photoshop is probably one of the best expensive image editors created to date also. So what are your options if you can’t afford Photoshop? Well for [...]
[Android] Best free privacy cleaner
I have nothing (much) to hide, but the idea of someone invading my privacy by looking at my activity history (such as my browser history) makes my skin crawl. I am sure many other people feel the same way. Thus, we have looked for the best Android privacy cleaners*, reviewed [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free files protector
Originally written on May 23, 2011. Updated on May 28, 2011 and June 4, 2011 to make some clarifications about File Locker.
Not to be confused with application locking, protecting files is a way to prevent access to specific files. (File protecting methods can range from encryption to simple password [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free application locker
While we tend to keep our phones to ourselves (at least, I do), there are times when we are forced to lend our devices to others. Our smartphones are precious; many times we just don’t want anyone and everyone snooping around, regardless of if we have something to hide or [...]
Read More »Permanently change the processing priority of a running program with Prio
Prio is a simple program which adds a “Save Priority” option to Windows Task Manager effectively making any priority change by you permanent:
Screenshot originally found on the developer’s website
Of course this “Save Priority” feature is optional so you do not have to enable it (if you just want [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free instant messenger
Gtalk is built into Android. However, what if not all your friends use Gtalk? Must you download one app for every instant messaging platform out there? Heck no. In this article we review and recommend the best free instant messenger app, allowing you to keep in contact with all your [...]
Read More »[Android] Best free file manager
Some (most) phones come with file manager apps; others do not. The brilliance of Android is even for those that have file manager apps, you can still download a different file manager app if you want from Android Market. This article explores and recommends the best free file manager app [...]
Read More »IObit’s “Advanced Uninstaller” tries to satisfy your clean uninstalling desires
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
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 [...]
Dynamic Dummy Image Generator: Generate hassle-free placeholder/”dummy” images
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!
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
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Desk Drive automatically creates – and removes – shortcuts on your desktop for external media (USB/flash drives, external hard drives, etc.)
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%”
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!
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
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 [...]
Surf Canyon: Using search engines just got easier
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
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
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
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 [...]
4 ways to monitor who is accessing your shared folders/files
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
For all [...]
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