PhotoDemon is a fast, free and portable photo editor
PhotoDemon is an open source photo editor which, its developer says, has been designed to be "portable", "powerful" and "usable". This sounded great to us.
First impressions don't live up to the hype, unfortunately. A horribly basic interface has two sparse and non-customisable toolbars, doesn’t properly support common mouse actions (right-click menus, mouse wheel zoom) and hides most of its features in a complex menu system.
Xara Web Designer 10 now available
Xara has announced the release of Xara Web Designer 10 ($49.99) and Xara Web Designer 10 Premium ($99.99), its WYSIWG web design tools.
Premium-only additions start with Responsive Web Design support. You can now create variations of your page for different devices (desktop, tablet, phone), sharing content but with their own custom layout. Web Designer Premium 10 exports the finished result as a single HTML file, and it'll then automatically adjust depending on the screen size of the viewer.
Stop users running specified programs with Simple Run Blocker
Sordum has released Simple Run Blocker, a compact portable tool which can prevent users on your PC from running certain applications.
The program is very simple to use. Drag and drop any target executables onto the Simple Run Blocker interface, save those settings, and the application should be blocked (although we found you may need to restart Explorer or reboot, first).
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 beta released
Bitdefender has released its first public beta for Bitdefender Total Security 2015.
The interface has been revamped, automatically adapting to different resolutions and (Bitdefender says) working "fluidly on any touch screen device".
SX Antivirus Kit bundles all SecurityXploded virus-hunting tools
SecurityXPloded has announced the release of SX Antivirus Kit, a collection of its system checking and malware detection tools.
Despite the name, there’s no antivirus engine here, nothing to directly detect and remove threats. The 14 bundled programs are more focused on manual detection, helping you spot any signs of malware on your PC.
NirSoft releases Wifi Collector -- for Android?
NirSoft has announced the release of Wifi Collector, its first Android app.
Yes: Android. NirSoft’s Nir Sofer may be best known as a prolific developer of Windows utilities, but he’s now decided to branch out into the mobile world.
Troubleshoot application launch issues with WinPrefetchView
Prefetching is an excellent Windows technology which records the files loaded when an application starts, helping the system to optimise their launch times in future.
Normally this all happens entirely in the background. But if you’re having launch problems with a particular application, or you just want to better understand how your PC works, then NirSoft’s WinPrefetchView might be able to help. (As long as you’re not using an SSD, anyway – prefetching is unnecessary and, probably, disabled.)
Compress your JPEGs by up to 20 percent with wxPackJPG
JPEG compression is amazingly efficient, but while this is normally good news, it’s a little disappointing when you’re archiving. Store your JPEG library in a zip file and you’ll barely cut their size at all.
Choose a more specialist compression format, though, and the results can be very different. WxPackJPG is a graphical front end for the open-source PackJPG. It claims to compress JPEGs by up to 20 percent.
Explore hidden Windows icons and bitmaps with NirSoft’s ResourcesExtract
The software you run on a PC may be packaged in several different formats: EXE, DLL, CPL and so on.
These file types aren't just for executable code, though. They can also contain resources for the program can call on, as required: icons, bitmaps, cursors, videos and more.
Trend Micro releases free Heartbleed scanners for Android, Chrome
Trend Micro has announced the availability of two free scanners for the Heartbleed bug, meant for Google Chrome and Android. The first, a browser add-on, allows users to enter and check any specific URL.
The second, an Android app, is a little more advanced. It checks whether your device or apps are directly affected by the bug, or whether any installed apps access a cloud service which is still vulnerable.
Rain Alarm: a handy weather alert app that works almost anywhere
As you might guess from its name, Rain Alarm is a smart app which can warn you about imminent snow or rain. That doesn’t sound too special -- there are a host of tools promising to do the same thing -- but this one has what it takes to stand out from the crowd.
It’s about as cross-platform as you can get, for example: there are apps for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Windows 8; add-ons for Firefox and Chrome, or you can just visit the Rain Alarm website from almost anything with a browser.
WordPress gains faster, easier media editing
WordPress.org has announced the release of WordPress 3.9, a significant update which brings a host of worthwhile improvements.
Uploading your images is now as easy as dragging and dropping them into the editor. Once there, quicker access to crop and rotation tools, as well as the ability to resize them "in place", makes for a smoother editing experience.
Emsisoft, Kaspersky top AV-Comparatives' Real-World Protection Test
Independent security testing lab AV-Comparatives has revealed a summary of its March 2014 Real-World Protection Test, where top antivirus products are exposed to a test set of 1,264 current threats.
Topping the chart this time were Emsisoft Anti-Malware 8.1 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2014, both blocking 99.7 percent of threats with no false positives at all.
Bluhell Firewall: a simple but effective ad-blocker for Firefox
Building the perfect ad-blocker is a complex business, not least because your users can have very different ideas on how it should work.
Some developers try to address this with layer after layer of features. You’ll be able to whitelist this, blacklist that, and add custom filters for just about everything else. Sounds great, until you have to spend an age learning how everything works, and start to notice how all these layers are slowing you down.
FilExile deletes files or folders that Explorer won’t touch
Deleting files from Windows Explorer is usually very easy. Select your target, tap "Del", click the "Yes, I really mean it" button and the object disappears forever. (Or is sent to the Recycle Bin, anyway.)
Sometimes you’ll get an "in use" error, though, usually because the file is locked by Windows or the system. It’s best to find out why -- the file could be important -- but if all else fails, a specialist tool like Unlocker can help you to delete it anyway.
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