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21 Free Screen Capture Utilities for Your PC

rpsingh — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:30:22 +0000

Screenshots are required by all the bloggers for giving the pictorial demonstration of what they intend to say. Screen shots are also required by the students for their projects and by the computer tutors and many others in general. There are many paid and free screen capturing utilities available on the internet. Here are 21 free Screen capturing utilities for your PC that will make screen capturing really easy for you.

1. PicPick

PicPick is a user friendly utility for capturing the screen shots which is suitable for the most of the users. The screen shot can be saved to a file, copied to a clipboard or can be edited by sending it to the PicPick editor. The extra functionalities of Picpick include color picker, screen ruler, protractor, crosshair, whiteboard, etc. The image editor included with PicPick sports an Office 2007/2010 like ribbon interface and supports tabs so you can edit multiple screenshot images / photographs from the same window

2. ScreenSnapr

ScreenSnapr is a light wieight screen capturing utility that lets you capture the screen and also allows you to upload or share the screenshot. You can also specify a folder on your own server and images would automatically be uploaded to that folder. To share with others, it gives you the shortened URL that you can use to share the screenshot with you friends.

3. EasyCapture

Easy capture snaps full screen, active windows, control objects, fixed size or selected regions. It has a tabbed image viewer and editor, allowing for cropping, resizing, text annotations, arrows, stamps, highlights and other drawing tools, and saving images in various formats.

4. Windows 7 Snipping tool :

It is an inbuilt tool that is under the Accessories menu if you are using Windows7 operating system. It is nice little application that can capture full-screen, region, window or a free hand capture. After capturing the screenshot you can edit it with the editor that opens right after you have captured the screenshot.

5. ScreenPresso

Screenpresso is another freeware application that allows you to take screenshots of part of your screen, a specific window, or the whole screen with a shortcut key, then lets you edit, add effects, and even share with email or Twitter. Screenpresso can guess the region you are trying to capture based on the position of your mouse, allowing you to capture just the content area of an application with a single click.

6. BugShooting

Bugshooting is a freeware utility to take snapshots of the screen with ease. The application allows for taking full screen, rectangular region and multiple screens, but it has no detection of window objects. The inbuilt editor allows you to crop, resize, add text to the snapshot.

7. ZScreen

ZScreen helps you to capture screenshots, text, and files and share them across some of the most popular image, text, and file sharing services. After taking the screenshot you can either save it to your computer or upload it to over a two dozen file sharing services such as FlickR, ImageShack, Tinypic etc.

8. Screenshot Captor

Screenshot Captor can capture desktop, multi-monitor, region, windows and objects with delayed captures. It also has the option to capture the scrolling windows. After capturing the screenshot you can modify the image with the inbuilt editor that can resize, add text, border, frame, arrows etc.

9. Cropper

Cropper is another free and useful screen capture utility for Windows. It makes it fast and easy to grab any part of your screen. The outpur is available in JPEG, BMP & PNG formats. You can use it to easily crop out sections of vector graphic files such as Fireworks without having to flatten the files or open in a new editor.

10. Greenshot

Greenshot snaps a region, window and full screen from hotkeys and the tray icon. It comes with a simple but useful image editor. The screenshot can be saved in either JPEG, PNG, GIF or BMP using a customized naming scheme.

11 Snippy

Snippy allows you take a screen shot of only that area of the screen in which you are interested. Click on the Snippy icon – mouse cursor changes to a pen – mark an area of the screen – the marked area is automatically converted into an image and copied to your clipboard.

12 Lightshot

Lightshot is another free tool for screen capture which features in three different modes- Firefox Add-on, IE Add-on and also as a desktop application. One of the best features of LightShot is that you can instantly share screenshots with your friends or to social networks as this tool uploads the screenshots and provides you with an URL of the uploaded image.

13. Screenhunter

Screenhunter is another tool for capturing screenshots and it also allows you to capture the screenshots from a movie, video, DOS program, DirectX and Screensaver. The screenshots can be taken in various shpaes such as rectangle, ellipse, polygonal etc. It has the options to delay the capture, recur the capture, auto-email and auto scale.

14. LightScreen

LightScreen is a simple tool to automate the tedious process of saving and cataloging screenshots, it operates as a hidden background process that is invoked with one (or multiple) hotkeys. It has the options to save the images in different formats such as JPEG, GIF, PNG etc and delayed captures.

15.Free Game Capture

Games Capture, as the name suggests, it is a tool for capturing the screenshots of the PC games. It records games of high-Def 3D, 2D direct draw or changes of the desktop to various video files in any FPS. It can also do desktop capture (Windows, rectangle and screen)

16. Jing

Jing is both a screen capturing and screen recording tool. It auto detects the objects and windows that need to be captured and after capturing, it allows you to share them with friends or simply save them on the computer. It currently offers to save the file in png format only.

17. Social Screen Capture

Social Screen Capture is a utility to capture screenshots and to upload them onto the image file sharing services such as Flickr and Picasa. It has a simple and easy to use interface that lets you capture the screen in few clicks.

18. Snapshot

Snapshot is light-weight yet powerful utility for capturing screenshots. It allows you to capture windows, regions and objects and the images can be saved in various formats such as JPEG, BMP, GIF,PCX, PNG, PSD, and TIFF.It also supports multiple monitors and Dualview screen captures.

19. 7Capture

7Capture is a fast and easy high quality screen capture software for Windows 7, Vista and XP.It allows you take screenshots and then save them in JPEG,BMP and PNG formats. 7capture automatically handles complicated transparency problems such as rounded corners and Aero semi-transparent windows backgrounds.

20. Speedshot

Speedshot is yet another screen capture utility to capture the screenshots. It provides features to select the file name of the screenshot and also to date to the file name. You can also set hot keys for screen capture. It can capture window contents, desktop or region.

21. Shutter

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window.

I have listed here only 21 free screen capture tools, if you know more, and which is your favorite free tool for taking screenshots, you can share with us in the comments.

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Remove Crap From Your PC with Decrapifier

rpsingh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:59:51 +0000

When you buy a new PC, the manufacturers put a lot of crap software into your PC which are either trialware or are not useful at all. Decrapifier is a tool for removing these kind of unwanted softwares and programs from your PC and to make it run faster. Decrapifier is freeware tool if you want it for personal use.

Decrapifier has a ready to run file, so you don’t need to install it. After running the .exe file, you will guided through a wizard and you will have the choice to remove or not to remove programs. It also gives you the option to create a restore point, that can allow you to recover from some unforeseen error.

Some antivirus programs will warn you that it is a virus or malware as the software is written in scripting language, but it does not have any virus or malware.If you have just purchased a PC, then this tool is for you to remove all the crap from your PC.

Download Decrapifier

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Adobe Photoshop CS5 To Come Up With 3D

rpsingh — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:43:45 +0000

The upcoming version of the Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5 will come up with some really interesting new features that will make photo editing experience even better. It will feature tools and brushes that will allow you to morph the pictures in three dimensions. Along with the 3D editing, it will support motion based editing and advanced image analysis along with all existing features of CS4.

Here is the video demonstration of the various new features of the Photoshop CS5

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The Easier Way to Run Linux Applications on Windows

rpsingh — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:07:56 +0000

It might be a good idea to install your favorite linux applications on the windows. You can use the VM(Virtual Machine) to first install the Linux operating system, from an ISO file, and then run the applications, but this process might not be suitable for all. The easier way around is andLinux.

andLinux is actually a full installation of Ubuntu that allows you to run Linux apps directly within the Windows environment. The user interface is the KDE flavor, which should be easier for Windows users to get used to. It’s completely free, easy to install, and is a great way for the Windows user to introduce themselves to Linux.

For details about the installation and configuring the andLinux, you can read it here. Download andLinux here.

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BackUp Your Smart Phone’s Private Data

rpsingh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:49:21 +0000

There is always a chance of losing your important data on your phone which may be due to theft, accident,hacking or some other reason. So the best thing you can do is to back it up on your computer. Here I tell you some ways of backing up private and useful data on various smart phones.

Backup data on Blackberry:

The easiest way to back up your data on blackberry is to install Blackberry Desktop Manager on Your pc or mac. The desktop versions for both PC and Mac are available on the blackberry site. Here is the detail of using the blackberry desktop manager on a PC.

Backup data on Iphone:

CopyTrans is the ultimate way of backing up iPhone songs and videos. CopyTrans features include: Copy songs, videos, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and podcasts to computer. Touchcopy is another tool that lets you backup your data to your computer. With Touchcopy, you can Copy songs, playlists, podcasts, and videos from your iPod or iPhone to your PC or into iTunes. iPhone Backup Utility is another tool that lets you easily backup and restore important files on your iPhone. You can backup contacts, photos, iphone settings, bookmarks etc on your iphone.

Backup data on Android Phone:

Introduced in 2007 by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, Android has quickly grown to one of the most powerful operating systems for mobile devices in the world. For backing up data on your android phone, you can use the Handy Backup Tool. You can use this tool only for a limited time of 30 days after that you need to buy it.

Backup data On Windows Mobile:

For Windows mobile, the best free software that lets you backup data is PIM Backup. PIM Backup allows you to backup/restore the Personal information of the Pocket PC like Contacts, Appointments, Tasks etc. Download the latest version of PIM Backup.

Despite all these softwares and tools listed, you can always use any of the online backup services such as skydrive, gdrive etc. If you know more ways of backing up data on any smartphone, you can always share with us in the comments.

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Office 2010 Beta Icons Pack Available for Download

rpsingh — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:51:00 +0000

The latest leaked version of Office 2010 beta refreshed icons for all office applications. The Office 2010 Applications Icons pack includes 60 high resolutions icons for various Office applications which include Access, Word, Excel, Infopath, Powerpoint, Office Upload centre, Outlook, Project, Publisher, Sharepoint Workspace and more.

The Icons pack for Office is available for download at deviantART. Office 2010 and its icons are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. You can download the icons pack here.

[Via]

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Audio/Video Support available now for Pidgin

rpsingh — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:10:19 +0000

I earlier posted about the freeware cross-platform chat client Pidgin that lets you connect to your friends over multiple networks. There has been an important update in the version 2.6 of pidgin which is the audio/video chat over google talk. Even the chat client for Mac, Adium doesn’t support these features. Unfortunately these updates aren’t available for the windows version of Pidgin, but they should be available soon.The other important update for the pidgin include the better file tranfer for yahoo and google talk.

Download Pidgin 2.6.1

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How to launch multiple programs with single shortcut?

rpsingh — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:58:57 +0000

Utility launcher is a freeware application for windows that helps you create an ordered list of programs to launch from a shortcut. If you have a number of apps that you deal with on the daily basis and do not want to include them in the Windows startup routine for the sake of retaining speed, then Utility Launcher is a handy option.

Its working is very simple. Just download and unzip the application to any folder. Click on the menu button and start adding Programs to the list. When creating your list you should take care of the order in which you include the programs. Save the list and then restart the Utility Launcher. You will see the list that you recently made. Just click run to launch the first program. click it again and second program will start and so on..

Rearranging the list is tricky. You can’t move an application from position 3 to position 2. Although you can delete any item from the list or the entire list can be deleted.

All in all, Utility Launcher is a nice utility to boost productivity.

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Check for updates of the installed programs with Update Checker

rpsingh — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:58:32 +0000

Update checker is a freeware tool for windows XP/Vista from the developers of Filehippo.com, offers the updates in web2.0 style – after starting, the installed programs are automatically checked for updates and the user is directed to a web page, where the result is displayed.

Since the programs are scanned in the basic setting, the recognition rate is quite low. Moreover, the Update Checker only detects those programs or apps that are hosted on the website FileHippo.com. Despite these limitations, Filehippo.com has a good stock of applications. Important freeware programs, for instance, Process Explorer, or autoruns by Sysinternals, are present.

In order to access the program settings, click the ’settings’ during the scan process and specify additional folders in ‘Custom locations’ using the ‘Add’ button, in which update checker can search for installed programs.

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29 Freeware Windows Tools You Shouldn’t Miss out

Satbir Singh — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:42:21 +0000

Why pay for softwares when freewares are available for almost every task you can think of. We have compiled a list of 29 Freeware Windows Tools that let you do most of your computing tasks.

You might also want to check out our earlier post about 10 Essential portable Applications for USB drive.

Here is the list.

Multimedia & Internet

1. DVD Flick

If downloaded videos are eating up your hard disk space, then it’s time to back up them to DVDs that can be played on TV. This tool will let you do exactly that. You can also create chapters, titles within clips easily.

2. Free ISO creator

A simple straightforward tool to create ISO images. Bootable images can be created, and CD, DVD-5, and DVD-9 are supported, and you can also specify your ISO to be created as ISO 9660 or UDF

3. ISODisk

This nifty freeware allows you to create up to 20 virtual drives from ISO images without requiring to install any virtual drive manager software.You can also create ISO images from a CD or DVD.

4. Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 Free

This freeware will cater to all your CD/DVD burning tasks from creating Music CDs, video DVDs, copy disks, creating encrypted disks etc. It even supports Blu-Ray disks.

5. K-Lite codec Pack

The ultimate codec pack that’ll let you play almost any audio/video file you could think of.

6. KM-Player

KM player plays acomprehensive range of media format, including broad DVD support using all internal filters and codecs. With features like applying filters during playback, playing and capturing streaming media, it is a must have tool for your multimedia needs.

7. Any Video Converter (Free)

Nice freeware tool to convert videos. It supports avi, asf, mov, rm, rmvb, flv, mkv, mpg, 3gp, m4v, and vob to avi, wmv, mp4, 3gp, mpg (PAL or NTSC), MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, wmv and flv Formats.

8. Audacity

An easy to use audio editing software even better than some of paid counterparts.

9. Free Download Manager

As is clear from its name, it is a download manager and accelerator having inbuilt support for bittorrent protocol, youtube video download, HTML spider to download websites for offline viewing and much more.

10. Orbit Downloader

Downloader Manager and accelerator that offers loads of functionality including automatic detection of streaming audio or video to provide download option, supports rapidshare downloads and also lets you schedule when the downloads should occur.

Windows Utilities

11. Smart Defrag

Forget Windows Disk Defragmenter, Smart Defrag is an extremely fast and efficient disk defragmenter with loads of features. It quietly runs in background to keep your hard disk optimized for performance.

12. Easeus Partition Manager

Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition is a clean and simple disk partitioning utility for Windows that offers a good set of functions like resizing partitions, formatting partitions, hiding partitions, setting active partitions etc.

13. Recuva

Accidentally deleted a file? No need to worry, here’s a freeware that recovers deleted files from hard disk, memory cards or MP3 players. It an even recover files deleted during system crashes.

14. Windows System Control Center

This application provides single window access to windows utilities from Nirsoft and Windows Sysinternals. You can use these utilities to tweak your system according to requirement.

15. Z-Cron

A robust and easy to use task scheduler for windows that lets you schedule system shutdown, launching applications, cleaning directories etc.

16. Revo Uninstaller

A faster alternative to Windows Add/Remove Programs with some nice functionalities.

17. Xplorer 2 Lite

If you aren’t satisfied with the features Wndows Explorer offers, then give Xplorer Lite a try. It provides options to multiple renaming, tabs, dual panes while browsing folders, folder comparison features that let you handle greater amounts of data more efficiently.

18. ClipX

Power up your Windows Clipboard with light weight ClipX. It allows you to retain more than one items in clipboard though it doesn’t retain formatting of text while copying.

19. M8 Free Clipboard

Here’s another clipboard extender that allows to copy 25 times without losing any data. It also retains formatting of text

Others

20. Launchy

Forget about using start menu to launch applications, just press Alt+Space and start typing application name and launchy would search it for you to get started.

21. Multiple Find and replace -

This utility will let you replace occurrences of a particular word with another word over multiple files with simple click.

22. Adobe Reader Lite

Adobe Reader without useless and annoying stuff. It is a lot lighter on resources than official Adobe Reader.

23. RocketDock

Get a Mac like application dock for windows

24. 7-Zip

Freeware tool to manage compressed archives. Lightweight and supports most of compression formats.

25. sLife Usage Tracker

Know where you spend most of your time working on your PC. It tracks your activities and generates reports to let you know where you are spending most of your time.

26. XinOrbis

An intuitive disk analyzer that provides complete overview of hard disk usage and allows to generate reports and graphs easily.

27. Notepad++

A must have replacement for Notepad.

28. Sun xvm VirtualBox

Try different operating systems without putting your data on risk using Virtual Box.

29. RBTray

RBTray provides you with option to minimize your open windows to system tray rather than taskbar. Just right click on title bar of window and select minimize to tray.

You can also right click in the bottom right corner of minimize button to directly minimize window to tray.

If you would like to add something to freewares list, feel free to do so in comments below.

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