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Our beef with most so-called business software is that it's often poorly designed, hard to navigate, and of questionable value. If time is money, no one wants to waste time trying to figure out software that makes simple tasks much harder and more frustrating than they need to be. That's why we were pleasantly surprised by Whistler Small Business Software. This program packs an unusual number of essential business tools into an intuitive package that just about anyone can master.

The program started by having us configure our business information, and then a setup wizard walked us through … Read more

Chances are, you have all kinds of sensitive data lurking on your computer that could easily fall into the wrong hands if your machine were ever lost or stolen. Free Password Manager does much more than its name might imply. In addition to storing passwords, this simple utility can securely store all kinds of personal information, making it easy for you--but not others--to access.

The program has a simple but professional-looking interface, with a tree hierarchy down the left side that lets users organize their records in folders. The program comes with a sample database with folders for contacts, credit … Read more

PC Brother Software Administrator Free is a free utility for managing programs. It can terminate running processes, perhaps disastrously, and uninstall programs. In fact, it offers to uninstall your free programs and replace them with paid software that's every bit as good, though some of the programs it recommends are inexpensive or free. Many are expensive, though, and the download link doesn't tell you how much a program costs before installing it.

PC Brother Software Administrator Free's interface bears a family resemblance, not just to the developer's other tools but to similar freeware. It has three … Read more

Screensavers were as necessary as antivirus software when CRT monitors ruled the desktop. They kept your screen from burning in, but they also provided a way to really personalize the personal computer, which was a pretty stodgy affair at the time. Today's widescreen LCDs don't require screensavers, but they're still around. The original animated desktop display now offers sound and other multimedia features. We looked at a free screensaver that upholds this software tradition: Rainy Day Screensaver from ScreensaverGift.

Rainy Day Screensaver's installer opened our Screensaver Properties when it finished. We clicked Settings, where we could … Read more

Although many of us park our computers on a desk in our office or home, there are plenty of other environments in which they turn up. In some of these settings, such as nightclubs, theaters, planetariums, and darkened lecture halls, a bright monitor can be a distraction. PangoBright is a simple utility that makes it easy to adjust the brightness of your monitor or monitors. DJs, theater techs, presentation givers, and anyone else who operates in a dark environment and doesn't want the screen stealing the show will love PangoBright.

PangoBright requires no installation and appears as an icon … Read more

Once upon a time, Windows lacked a built-in zip tool, and developers responded with some classic file-compression utilities that are still around, still free, and still a better choice than the built-in zip utility Windows has offered for some time now. We've tried them all at some point, including Securenet's QuickZIP, which boasts a higher compression ratio than some other tools, as much as 10 percent. It also offers 256-bit AES encryption and widespread compatibility with other zip utilities like 7Zip as well as most compressed file types.

QuickZIP integrates with shell context menus in Windows and lets … Read more

We love a good thunderstorm, and the sound of one can be quite relaxing, even if it's fake. Lightning Bolt Screensaver is an easy way to bring some stormy weather to your computer screen. It's not the best such screensaver we've seen, but it's not bad, and we enjoyed both looking at it and listening to it.

The screensaver consists of three static images: a dark sky with a large thunderbolt shooting out of it, a grassy meadow during the day with some hills in the background, and a moonlit island scene with a spooky purple … Read more

If you frequently find yourself saving large batches of images from the Internet, you've likely already figured out that there's a better way to do it than right-clicking on each one individually and saving it to your hard drive. Programs like Any Image Downloader can automatically save numerous images in just a few seconds. Although we found Any Image Downloader easy to use, it didn't quite live up to what it promised.

According to the developer's description, Any Image Downloader can be accessed via the context menu in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, or Internet Explorer. In … Read more

We are highly dependent on calendars; we have one on our wall, one on our phone, one in our bag, and one on the Internet. With Desktop Calendar, we can now have one on our desktop as well. Although this calendar has some room for improvement, we think it's a great choice if you want an attractive, easy-to-access calendar on your computer.

The calendar took up about two-thirds of our screen, appearing as a transparent grid that let our original desktop image show through. Adding an event was as easy as double-clicking on a particular day and entering our … Read more