Email article
Today’s Software
- Windows File Analyzer: examine system-generated files like thumbnail caches and IE data
- Clipboard Magic: a free clipboard manager
- Login Helper: automatically log in and lock your computer
Subscribe to our Windows section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail
About Windows Software of the Day
Windows has hundreds of thousands of programs. Because of this great volume and lack of a central store, software discovery (aka finding new and useful programs) is extremely difficult. With our Windows Software of the Day initiative, dotTech aims to change that. Everyday we post three programs, allowing our readers to discover new software, daily. Enjoy! [Subscribe to our Windows section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail]
Developers: Click here to get your apps featured here!
dotTechies: Want to see an app on here? Send us a tip!
Software for May 16, 2012
Windows File Analyzer
Windows stores lots of its data in hidden files such as Index.dat for Internet Explorer data and thumbs.db for pre-generated thumbnails. If you need to analyze these files and more, Windows File Analyzer can do the job. Besides Index.dat and thumbs.db files, it also supports:
- ACDSee fpt files
- Google Picasa .db files
- FastStone Viewer dsviewer.db files
- HP digital Imaging db and dat files
- Prefetch files
- Shortcuts
- Recycle Bin information
If you select thumbnail cache files like thumbs.db, it’ll also even show you the small thumbnails. WFA is a nice tool if you’re looking to dig into these various system-generated files or need to get access to thumbnail cache.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v2.6.0.0
Supported OS: Windows 2000+
Download size: 949KB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/40
Portability: Entirely portable!
Windows File Analyzer homepage
Clipboard Magic
Looking for a simple program that’ll monitor all of the plain-text copies and cuts that you make while using Windows? Clipboard Magic fits that bill exactly, and brings along a few extra features to boot.
Using Clipboard Magic, you can also color code pastes by importance by right-clicking them and using Change Background Color. And, if you tend to copy the same thing over and over, you can also just clear the duplicates using the handily located Edit>Remove Duplicates option.
If you want to paste a clip, you have multiple options. You can use Ctrl+V to paste the most recent clip, or paste the clips using Ctrl+Shift+<0-9>. Clipboard Magic is nice if you’re constantly copying over a clipboard you needed to keep.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v5.00
Supported OS: Windows ME+
Download size: 1.2MB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/42
Portability: Requires installation
Login Helper
We’ve covered a lot of auto-login programs on Windows Software of the Day. This is in part because they’re quite useful, and each one brings its own features. Login Helper is one of these: it lets you automatically log your computer in when you start it up, and then automatically lock it when it finishes.
The Auto Lock feature is really where Login Helper shines. You can set up Login Helper to automatically lock your computer — and optionally even play a screensaver or turn off your monitor — as soon as it’s done logging you in. While this does require running an extra program at boot, it’s quite convenient and probably the best of all the auto-login programs we’ve seen so far.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v1.0
Supported OS: Windows 2000+
Download size: 32-bit: 365KB | 64-bit: 424KB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 32-bit: 0/41 | 64-bit: 0/42
Portability: Not portable
dotTechies: We have tested all the software listed above. However, Windows Software of the Day articles are not intended as “reviews” but rather as “heads-up” to help you discover new programs. Always use your best judgement when downloading programs, such as trying trial/free versions before purchasing shareware programs, if applicable.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Wood-clipboard.jpg/220px-Wood-clipboard.jpg
