Best Free Windows 7 / Vista 64 bit Software

Introduction

You have no doubt invested time, trouble and possibly money, in your "must have" software. This investment is largely protected when you move to Windows 7 / Vista 64 and, if not, there are many excellent freeware alternatives. (In addition, Windows 7 / Vista 64 continue the tradition of offering 32 bit compatibility mode.) Here are the top freeware picks for Windows 7 / Vista 64 in their various sections. Where a native 64 bit application is currently unavailable in an important category, a suitable 32 bit alternative is provided.

Discussion

BROWSER Although Windows 7 / Vista 64 include both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Internet Explorer, version 8 in the case of Windows 7, many prefer more secure products. The 32 bit versions of Firefox, Google Chrome,and Opera all work without a hitch under both operating systems. Apart from 64 bit Internet Explorer, the only other 64 bit browser currently available, and still under development, is an unofficial version of Firefox based on the Mozilla code. Various preview versions can be found here. I've found version 3.6.3 to be as stable as the 32 bit version. This version will import all of your bookmarks and history from 32 bit Firefox. All currently installed addons are checked for compatibility when 64 bit Firefox is started, and those that are known to work are loaded automatically. Although active development has been under way for some time these applications are not yet ready for daily use: To support Java, a 64 bit browser requires a 64 bit version of the Java Runtime Environment. There is a suitable version of JRE for Windows 7 / Vista 64, but no major Web site actually supports this combination of software. Adobe has still not given any indication of when a 64 bit Windows version of their Flash Player will be made available, and the 32 bit version cannot be used in conjunction with a 64 bit browser under Windows 7 / Vista 64. Some sites may simply refuse to allow access to a 64 bit browser. Common addons for Firefox that interact with external 32 bit applications such as Roboform are not compatible with the 64 bit version of the browser. If you find these restrictions unacceptable, stick with a 32 bit browser. See: Best Free Web Browser EMAIL CLIENT Currently, the only released 64 bit email client is Windows Mail, included with Vista 64. Windows 7 does not include an email client. There is a development project for 64 bit Thunderbird 3, the latest build, 3.05, codenamed Shredder, is available here. Unfortunately, moving from your existing email client to 64 bit Thunderbird 3 can be quite a challenge. Users moving from Thunderbird 2 under Windows 7 / Vista 64 will need to use two third party freeware products, MozBackup and MailStore Home. Migration from Outlook is relatively simple under Vista 64 using the Thunderbird 3 import function. This approach doesn't work under Windows 7 due to changes in the registration of MAPI entries which no one appears to want to acknowledge or address. Thunderbird 2 users who are considering the switch should be aware that the popular Lightning addon is not supported. For the time being I would recommend that you stick with a 32 bit email client. For details refer to our review: Best Free Email Client FTP CLIENT Following a comment from a reader I have been searching for free 64 bit FTP clients. So far, I have only managed to find one, Null FTP from Vision Works. The free version of Null FTP, a cut down version of the paid product, has the following limitations: Number of concurrent transfers is limited to three. Number of FTP servers defined for quick connection is limited to three. Maximum TCP buffer size is limited to 128kB Whether or not you can live with the first two limitations depends largely on how much you rely on FTP in your day to day activities. The third restriction has no impact on the speed of Internet or local network FTP transfers so I am surprised that they even bother to mention it. In use, Null FTP has the typical local and remote files panes which support drag and drop, and status and log windows which provide details of the current connections and file transfers. Overall, the product fails to match the top 32 bit selections in our review Best Free FTP Client. Unless you feel that a 64 bit FTP client is essential I suggest that you look there for the solution best suited to your needs. FIREWALL Remember that you should never run two or more firewall products side-by-side. If you plan to switch to one of the products below, ensure that you disable Windows Firewall and any other firewall you have installed first. If all you need is a simple interface to the built-in Windows firewall, and aren't too fussy about appearance or features, the free version of Windows 7 Firewall Control is perhaps the answer. Despite the name both Windows 7 and Vista 64 are supported. Be warned that access has to be defined for each application using one of four modes; out only, in only, enable all, or disable all. I suspect for many this will not offer a fine enough degree of control. If you are looking for a free firewall with extra peace of mind in the form of a Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS - see our article HIPS Explained for further information), and from version 4 sandboxing, Comodo Internet Security (CIS), is an excellent choice. CIS can be rather intrusive at first, but things do settle down as the program learns more about the system. It's necessary to change mode when installing new software and when dealing with reports, but this is a small price to pay since CIS includes one of the most effective firewalls on the market, free. Full instructions are available in the "Miscellaneous" tab, or from the Comodo website. When installing CIS, deselect the Install Antivirus option if you already have a suitable antivirus solution installed. If you are using an old version of the CFP or CIS you should upgrade to the latest version as this will increase stability and reduce memory footprint. Windows 7 users should ensure they install version 3.9.x or later. ANTIVIRUS With its ease of use, fast scanning, and excellent detection rates, my first choice is Avira Antivir Personal Edition. Although it lacks an email scanning feature, it compensates by the speed in which the real-time protection leaps to your defence when any threats, including infected email attachments, are detected. As of version 9, Avira protects against Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Rootkits, Dialers, Spyware and Adware. I have no information, as yet, regarding the effectiveness of the anti-spyware and anti-adware components. From version 9, Avira also adds the facility to review suspect items at the end of a scan, rather than dealing with each item when detected. This leaves the user free to run a scan unattended at any time and simply deal with the results when appropriate. I do have criticisms. The large advert for the paid version which accompanies the updates, but it only takes a click to make it go away. In recent months many people have encountered problems with updates although this issue seems to have been resolved. You also need to periodically reregister. If you need an antivirus with extra features, Avast! Free AntiVirus may be the answer. Avast has full real-time capabilities, including web, e-mail, IM, P2P and network shields, boot-time scanning, and a behavioural blocker. Avast is light on resources. Detection rates are good but not quite up to the standard of Avira. Many of the protection mechanisms used by Avast rely on interactive Windows services. Support in Windows 7 / Vista 64 for interactive services is intended for use by legacy applications. This places restrictions on the information that can be sent to the user. Both Avira and Avast are hybrid 64 bit applications. Only the low level kernel mode drivers that interface with operating system are written in 64 bit code. You can have more than one AV product installed, but only one should be enabled for real-time scanning. The same applies to email scanning. If you are interested in alternatives to Avira and Avast, such as AVG Free,a-squared Free, or Microsoft Security Essentials, then refer to our review: Best Free Antivirus Software ANTISPYWARE There are some very good on-demand scanners which don't conflict with real-time protection. Perhaps the best of these is SUPERAntiSpyware (SAS). Available as a 64 bit application, it can detect malware that other products miss, remove rogue applications, and also repair some malware damage. Malwarebytes, a 32 bit only application, is also worth considering due to its fast scanning and general ease of use. Effective at detecting and removing trojans, results are less impressive for other types of malware. Ad-Aware 2008 includes heuristic detection and integrated real-time protection, although the latter is only for rogue processes in the free version. Real-time protection is implemented by a combination of an interactive Windows service and a 64 bit kernel mode device driver making Ad-Aware a hybrid 32/64 bit application. Support in Windows 7 / Vista 64 for interactive services is intended for use by legacy applications. This places restrictions on the information that can be sent to the user. As to real world effectiveness, Ad-Aware continues to maintain a reasonable detection rate but many threats go undetected. For full details of the testing carried out on these and other products in this category refer to our review: Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover SYSTEM TOOLS Although Windows 7 / Vista 64 have their own housekeeping tools for defragmenting the hard disk, removing junk files and various other tasks, there are 3rd party alternatives which perform better and offer additional features. There are few 64 bit tools but the ones available, added to the 32 bit versions that work under Windows 7 / Vista 64, are very good at what they do. Before you dig too deeply into this section you might want to read the great article: "How to make Vista run faster" The information contained in the article applies equally well to Windows 7. ALL IN ONE If you prefer to use a single tool for the upkeep of your PC, you need look no further than the latest version of the excellent Glary Utilities. Some sixteen different utilities are included, covering virtually every aspect of PC maintenance. Although none of the individual utilities can compare to standalone competition, you do have the advantage of having everything in one place. As this is a 32 bit program, you will notice that one or two of the modules are not fully working, the Uninstall Manager, for example, doesn't recognise 64 bit applications, and therefore cannot uninstall them. DISK DEFRAGMENTER MyDefrag, by the author of JKDefrag, available in 32 and 64 bit versions, is novel in that it is a merely a defragmentation and file placement engine. The actions carried out by my MyDefrag are script driven, with a number of useful example scripts being included in the installation. The simple scripting language is well documented allowing scripts to be developed to suit any defragmentation/optimisation requirement. The scripting language includes a command that allows the files identified in the Windows Prefetch cache to be optimised. A script can be executed by double clicking on it in Explorer, passing it as a parameter to MyDefrag invoked via a shortcut or the appropriate task scheduler. MyDefrag requires administrator privilege and, if running from the Task Scheduler under Windows 7 or Vista, it is recommended that the SYSTEM account is used. If the MyDefrag GUI interface is set to be visible during script execution, the default, the rather poor disk map, familiar to JK Defrag users, is displayed. You can switch from this to a text based statistics/progress view, but presentation is equally unimpressive. All physical directory/file operations carried out by MyDefrag use the Windows Defragmentation API and can therefore be considered safe. The process can be interrupted at any time without risk of data loss or corruption. For those with unusual defragmentation and/or optimisation requirements MyDefrag offers unparalleled flexibility. Readers who merely want to defragment their disk(s) on a regularly basis should use one of the standard scripts provided with MyDefrag, I use Optimize Daily, to achieve excellent results. MyDefrag definitely deserves to replace JKDefrag as Gizmo's Top Pick. Defraggler, finally provides native 64 bit competition for MyDefrag. From the authors of CCleaner and Recuva, Defraggler is a great application for day to day defragmentation tasks. However, MyDefrag still produces the best results, albeit with a considerable runtime penalty. In typical Piriform style, the Defraggler interface is clean, easy to follow, and therefore simple to use. Analysing a drive only takes a few seconds, performing a quick defragmentation typically takes less than ten minutes. Impressive. Unfortunately, Defraggler falls down by not optimising file placement or taking into account the results of 'ReadyBoot' (sic), and it doesn't have the flexibility of MyDefrag's scripting language. Conclusion: Use Defraggler day to day, and once a week run MyDefrag using Optimize Weekly. Together they do the job nicely. Readers who would prefer to consider 32 bit products should refer to our review: Best Free Disk De-fragmenter Keep in mind that 32 bit disk defragmentation tools will incur a performance hit by having to use the WOW64 (32 bit compatibility mode) interface. If you decide to use a third party disk defragmenter, other than MyDefrag, don't be tempted to disable the built in Windows 7 / Vista 64 disk defragmenter. If you do, you will greatly reduce the effectiveness of ReadyBoot (sic), the mechanism that monitors files accessed during the last 5 boots and creates a boot plan to reduce startup time. This boot plan is passed to the Windows disk defragmenter to allow the placement of files used during the boot process to be optimized. DISK CLEANER CCleaner, recently rewritten in C++ , scans for both junk files and registry errors. The registry cleaning component only handles that part of the registry visible to 32 bit applications and is quite mild. Additional features include cookie management, program removal, and secure file erasing. Existing users who upgrade will notice a significant reduction in scanning times. This is one of the first tools I recommend people install on a Windows PC, and regular use will go a long way to preventing the hard drive from becoming bogged down with unwanted junk. CCleaner has never dealt with purging Windows Restore Points, a major source of accumulated junk. The Disk Cleanup tool available in 32 bit Windows 7 / Vista allows you to do this but, under Windows 7 / Vista 64, although the option to perform this task still exists, it does not work correctly. My thanks go to Kristan Kenny for providing the solution to this problem. If you want to correct the Disk Cleanup shortcut in the Start menu, follow these steps: Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then click on System Tools. Right click on "Disk Cleanup" and from the context menu click on "Properties." Change the Target to %SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr.exe. Click on OK. If a UAC prompt appears, click on Continue or provide the appropriate credentials. If you've automated Disk Cleanup, the correct path to use in your script is: %WINDIR%\sysnative\cleanmgr.exe If you launch Disk Cleanup from another location in Windows, for instance by clicking the “Disk Cleanup” button in the properties window of a drive, the correct 64 bit version of Disk Cleanup is launched. REGISTRY CLEANER I am not a fan of Registry cleaners. They have a nasty habit of removing things that are vital to the correct operation of commercial software. That aside, even finding a specific Registry Cleaner free of charge for Windows 7 / Vista 64 is no easy task . People on many forums recommend Wise Registry Cleaner. It only handles that part of the registry visible to 32 bit applications, but is the most satisfactory product I have come across. Firstly, it allows you to backup the Registry before you start and there is also a restore option. Secondly, by default, it doesn't check Class Security Identifiers (CLSIDs) or other areas where most Registry tricks are played, although these can be included if required. Finally it divides redundant/invalid entries into two groups, 1) those you can remove safely, and 2) the rest which require closer examination before removing. I think it is fair to say that you are reasonably safe removing the entries in the first group although I would caution against removing those in the second group unless you have a good understanding of the Registry and how applications use it. REGISTRY DEFRAGMENTER While a PC is in use there is a constant stream of data being added to and removed from the registry and over time this can cause the registry to become fragmented, there is also the problem of registry cleaners and program uninstalls producing gaps in the registry file. When this occurs, it does nothing to enhance the performance or reliability of the system, therefore, the occasional use of a registry defragmenter / optimiser is seen by some as a necessary part of the maintenance regime. Free Registry Defrag is a fast, reliable and free tool which is capable of compacting and defragmenting the registry and from version 2.4 onwards includes both 32 and 64 bit versions. Be aware that the software does not include a Registry backup option so exercise caution and create a Restore Point before using. REGISTRY EDITOR 'User friendly' and 'registry editor' are not terms that I would think of putting together however it is possible to improve on the rather limited tools included with Windows 7 / Vista 64. Remember that using a registry editor is generally a last resort. You need to know what you are doing which includes creating a Restore Point before you start. The native 64 bit Registrar Registry Manager Lite, a cut down version of the shareware tool, is considerably more user friendly than the Windows built-in registry editor and includes a host of advanced features such as registry backup, multi-level undo, a lightning fast search, plus lots of information about what particular registry entries actually mean. Some of the features of the shareware version of Registrar Registry Manager 6.50, such as adding bookmarks and search and delete, are disabled, but the lite version still leaves regedit for dead. If you ever need to use a registry editor this is definitely the tool to use. SYSINTERNALS SUITE No list of system tools would be complete without mentioning the excellent SysInternals Suite which is used to trouble shoot PCs worldwide. Although SysInternals is now part of Microsoft, the tools remain free and are regularly updated. Most of the SysInternals tools work correctly under Windows 7 / Vista 64. In particular, the three most widely used tools, Process Explorer, Process Monitor and Autoruns, extract and run 64 bit code. At present, Autologon doesn't work, but a suitable alternative can be found here. If you are looking for a utility that will create shortcuts to the most commonly used SysInternals tools, check out SysInternals Toolbox in our review : Best Free Vista Tweaks. SYSTEM INFORMATION UTILITY The 32 bit SIW utility still manages to display a host of detailed information relating to your PC hardware, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic when running under Windows 7 / Vista 64. It also displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. SIW doesn't require installation so it can be run from a USB flash drive without problem. Advisory: SIW is bundled with OpenCandy. More information here. For a full guide to System Information Utilities: Best Free System Information Utility. SYSTEM TOOLS/UTILITIES INCLUDED IN WINDOWS 7 The Windows 7 Resource Monitor provides access to a host of information about what is using your precious system resources. Resource usage information is available for the CPU(s), memory, disk and network. The level of detail that can be viewed means Resource Monitor is more closely related to the Process Explorer/Process Monitor tools from SysInternals than it is Task Manager. Unlike Process Explorer/Process Monitor, you don't have to be overwhelmed by detail, since you can view information in a way that suits you. To try out Resource Monitor, click on Start, type resource monitor into the search box, and then click on the Resource Monitor entry that appears under Programs. For an in depth look at Resource Monitor refer to our article: Windows 7 Resource Monitor: New & Improved My favourite new feature in Windows 7 is the Problem Steps Recorder. If you've ever tried to help a friend or family member over the phone, or via email, with a PC problem I'm sure you know how difficult and frustrating it can be. With the best will in the world things tend to get lost in translation. They miss out a piece of information relating to the problem, or you do regarding the solution. PSR overcomes this problem by allowing the steps needed to reproduce a problem, or to implement a fix, to be recorded and saved to a file. To start PSR, click on Start, type psr.exe into the search box, and then either click on the psr.exe entry that appears under Programs, or right click and choose Run as a administrator. Note you need to choose Run as administrator if any of the screens you wish to capture are running with administrator privilege. Once loaded you simply click on the red circular Start Record button to start capturing user activity. Comments can be added during the capture and to finish the session you simply click on the Stop Record button. Once recording has stopped you will be prompted to enter a filename and the whole session will be saved to a ZIP file. The maximum number of screen shots that can be recorded by default is 25. To change this, click on the downward arrow at the right hand end of the PSR dialog box and choose Settings. The ZIP contains a MHT, mime encoded HTML, format document that includes the screen shots, any comments that were added, and a text based description of the actions that were carried out. This can be opened and edited in any version of Word from 2002 upwards. Alternatively, the file can be viewed using the free Word Viewer, Internet Explorer version 5 or higher, Firefox with the UnMHT extension installed and Opera version 9.0 or higher. PSR is not a ground breaking application, but it will help me to assist others much more quickly and efficiently. TWEAKING TOOLS The majority of tools in this category are covered in: Best Free Vista Tweaks which includes details of compatibility with Vista 64. With the exception of Vista Logon Studio all the applications that work under Vista 64 will also work under Windows 7. An alternative to Vista Logon Studio for Windows 7 users is given below. Iconoid, a 64 bit port of SillySot's application, allows you to change the colour of text associated with your desktop icons. You can also save and restore the position of desktop icons and, optionally, hide and restore icons by clicking on the desktop. In order to use Iconoid to change the colour of text you must first turn off drop shadows for icon text. This must be done via Control Panel, System, Advanced System Settings, and then click on the Settings button under Performance. Right clicking on Computer, and then choosing Properties, will only change settings until you logoff or the PC is rebooted. Tweak.com's Logon Changer, available only as a 32 bit application, allows you select any JPG image for the Windows 7 logon screen. To change the image used, simply click on Change Logon Screen. The application will prompt for the location and name of the new background image and then install it. Windows 7 imposes a 256 Kb limit on the size of the JPEG image that can be used for the logon screen. If your image is larger than this, Logon Changer will give you the option to automatically resize and/or compress the image. Note that the original image is left untouched. DATA/FILE/FOLDER TOOLS DATA RECOVERY / UNDELETE No matter how careful we try to be, there's a chance that an important file, picture, track etc will get deleted by accident. Hours of work and valuable photos can all be lost with a click of the mouse, or by selecting the wrong option on a digital camera. A data recovery tool such as Recuva, from the makers of CCleaner, now available as a native 64 bit application, can help you resolve such unfortunate errors. Recuva is simple to use, effective, and can be used to recover lost items from the following: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 , NTFS + EFS file systems Removable media (SmartMedia, Secure Digital, MemoryStick, Digital cameras, Floppy disks, Jaz Disks, Sony Memory Sticks, Compact Flash cards, Smart Media Cards, Secure Digital Cards, etc.) External ZIP drives , Firewire and USB Hard drives iPods and other MP3 players Emails deleted from Thunderbird FILE ARCHIVER/ZIP UTILITY 7-Zip and PeaZip are available as native 64 bit applications and contain all of the functionality of their 32 bit counterparts. Readers interested in a comparison of these products should refer to our review: Best Free File Archiver/Zip Utility FILE MANAGER If you spend more than a few minutes a day carrying out file management tasks the chances are that you will soon find Explorer really isn't up to the job. Until recently, overcoming this meant putting up with the limitations of a 32 bit freeware file manager, i.e. no context menu entries for 64 bit applications, or paying out for a commercial 64 bit file manager. Things are starting to improve, at least now there are two freeware 64 bit file managers to choose from. Double Commander, a long standing beta project based on the shareware Total Commander, is a dual pane file manager that provides a host of features out of the box: Dual panes support multiple tabs Displayed columns can be customised Internal text editor (F4) with syntax hightlighting Built in file viewer (F3) to view files of in hex, binary or text format Archives are handled like subdirectories. You can easily copy files to and from archives. Supported archive types: ZIP, TAR GZ, TGZ, LZMA and also BZ2, RPM, CPIO, DEB, RAR Extended search function with full text search in any files Configurable button bar to start external programs or internal menu commands In addition to these built-in features, Double Commander also supports Total Commander plug-ins that provide a bewildering array of additional functionality. Double Commander is a very capable file manager, don't let the 'beta' label put you off, I suspect it's just one of those projects that they don't seem to be quite able to put down and finish. Q-Dir supports up to four panes, each of which can have multiple tabs. Full drag and drop is implemented immediately making it more productive than Explorer. It supports a wide variety of functions and customisations although you really need to refer to the on-line FAQs to get the most out of it. It isn't resource intensive, 16Mb on my machine, and it just does exactly what it says it will do. Some might find the interface a little clunky, the lack of breadcrumbs grates, but give it a try, you might find it grows on you. FOLDER SYNCHRONIZATION UTILITY Microsoft's SyncToy, available as a native 64 bit application, can copy, move, rename, and delete files between any number of folders and even computers. Operations are carried out on local and/or remote pre-defined folder pairs. Remote folders can be specified by drive letter or UNC name. You define and name these pairs, files can be included or excluded based on wildcards and/or file attributes, and then when you want to perform a task, you recall one of these pairs and carry out the operation. Syncing can be in either direction and covers all options from complete sync to updating newer files only. SyncToy can also keep track of files you rename and rename those in the sync destination. Overwritten files in the destination can be saved in the recycle bin, in case you need the older version. SyncToy also allows you to preview a sync, that is, view what would happen if the sync operation was executed. This ensures the operation will do exactly what you want before you use it. In addition to the easy to use GUI, SyncToy can also be run from the command line to sync a chosen folder pair or, all folder pairs. SyncToy is a versatile utility that will satisfy all but the most demanding of users. It also runs very quickly despite being based on the .NET framework. The only major things it lacks are the ability to select files from a folder via a standard tree view, direct support for ftp, and a portable version. If you would prefer a non-Microsoft solution, or require features that SyncToy doesn't have, then refer to our review Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility. SECURE ERASE UTILITY The 64 bit version of Eraser will securely overwrite selected files and folders, or even whole disks (it works with any drive, including IDE, SCSI, RAID, and CD-RWs). It addition to handling normal data areas, Eraser can also wipe data in the paging file, Internet cache, temporary files, Internet cookies, unused disk space, and a number of other places where data can secretly lurk. It can handle FAT, FAT32, and NTFS partitions. Erasing files with a high level of security, involving user selected data patterns and multiple passes, will always be a time consuming task, and 100% security cannot be guaranteed. However, Eraser makes the task about as easy as it can be, at a security level that exceeds most conceivable requirements. If Eraser goes beyond what you need, then refer to our review Best Free Secure Erase Utility for details of simpler, 32 bit alternatives, that work quite happily under Windows 7 / Vista 64. DESKTOP/OFFICE TOOLS CD/DVD BURNER Both CDBurnerXP and InfraRecorder are available as native 64 bit applications. I have successfully tested both under Windows 7 / Vista 64 and they satisfy my somewhat limited CD/DVD burning requirements. For an expert comparison of these products refer to our review Best Free CD / DVD Burning Software. DIGITAL IMAGE EDITOR This is not a field in which I can claim to have any expertise. I have tested the products identified to confirm that they work under Windows 7 / Vista 64. Readers who are interested in comparing product features should refer to our review: Best Free Digital Image Editor Paint.Net is available as a native 64 bit application. In addition to the products built in features there are a huge number of user contributed plugins that add further capabilities. Despite requiring version 3.5 or higher of the .NET Framework, 3.5 SP1 is recommended, Paint.NET isn't too resource intensive and during testing I didn't notice slow downs at any point. An experimental 64 bit version of The GIMP is available although the installation routine stresses the fact that this version isn't suitable for day to day work. DIGITAL IMAGE VIEWER The top picks in our review Best Free Digital Image Viewer, XnView and IrfanView, both 32 bit applications that include 64 bit shell extensions, run flawlessly under Windows 7 / Vista 64. I suggest that you refer to the review for an expert comparison of these products. OFFICE SUITE Open Office covers just about all the bases, everything from a document writer to databases and spreadsheets, it handles files produced with Excel. Word and Powerpoint, and also there are numerous extensions available. All in all this is one of the best examples of freeware to be found! For those of you who need to be able to handle Office 2007 documents I suggest that you check out How do I open Microsoft Office 2007 files? PDF READER Thanks go to one of our readers for bringing PDFXCHANGE Viewer to my attention. PDFXCHANGE Viewer is available as a combined 32/64 bit download containing the full product and 32 bit shell extensions, or as a 32 bit only portable version. The free version of PDFXCHANGE, which simply has the features of the Pro version disabled, has enough capabilities to satisfy all but the most demanding of users. The toolbars can be customised to suit user taste, even the performance of the application, maximum memory usage, number of threads and so on can be tuned. In use, the 64 bit version is quick and memory usage is on a par with Adobe Reader. Image quality, although not quite as good as Adobe's product, is still excellent. In fact, for documents that originally contained rasterised images, reproduction is actually far better. The portable 32 bit version is worthy of mention. It naturally lacks some features available in the full product but still produces high quality images making it ideal for a personal PC toolkit. If you want a feature rich 64 bit PDF viewer and are not prepared to wait for Adobe to play catch up, then I recommend you take a look at this product. PDF WRITER BullZip, CuteWriter and doPDF all have 64 bit versions although BullZip and CuteWriter rely on the 32 bit version of GhostScript Lite. I have successfully tested all of these applications under Windows 7 / Vista 64 and suggest that interested readers refer to our review : Best Free PDF Writer to assist them in choosing the best product for their needs. Have Your Say To make this category a success feedback from readers is essential. I cannot possibly cover everything, but if you have an idea for an area of software that should be covered, or if I have left out one of your favourites, then post a comment. There are five ways to send feedback: registered users can contact me directly here or in the forum under Contact Info. Registered users may also post in the forum. Anyone can post a comment at the bottom of this page. Finally, please help us by rating this review

Related Articles, Reviews and Useful Links

Articles 32 bit and 64 bit explained HIPS Explained How to make Vista run faster How Windows 7 / Vista 64 Support 32 bit Applications Windows 7 Resource Monitor: New & Improved Reviews Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover Best Free Antivirus Software Best Free CD / DVD Burning Software Best Free Digital Image Editor Best Free Digital Image Viewer Best Free Disk De-fragmenter Best Free Email Client Best Free File Archiver/Zip Utility Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility Best Free FTP Client Best Free PDF Writer Best Free Secure Erase Utility Best Free System Information Utility Best Free Vista Tweaks Best Free Web Browser Useful Links Forum post with details of 64 bit freeware not covered here Start64! Commercial applications and device drivers Windows 7 Application Compatibility List

Quick Selection Guide

Null FTP Available as a native 64 bit application. Offers no benefit over better known, and established, 32 bit FTP clients. http://www.vwsolutions.com/NullFTP http://www.vwsolutions.com/NullFTPClient/freeDownload.aspx 5.8 MB 1.3.0.0 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Windows 7 Firewall Control Provides simple protection for inbound and outbound connections. Level of control over application access is not detailed enough. No HIPS support. User interface is not all that it could be. http://sphinx-soft.com http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html 1.6 MB 3.5 Unrestricted Freeware Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Comodo Internet Security (CIS) Firewall, HIPS protection and sandboxing that match any other product free or otherwise. CIS can be somewhat intrusive when first installed. Existing users should upgrade to the latest version to increase stability and reduce memory footprint. http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/download_firewall.html 36 MB 5.3.181415.1237 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Avira Antivir Personal Edition Ease of use, fast scanning and excellent detection rates. May surprise you by detecting problems that other AV programs do not. Anti-spyware and anti-adware components now included. Hybrid 32/64 bit application. No email or web scanner. Large advert when updating antivirus definitions, need to re-register periodically. Remains to be seen if recent update problems have been finally resolved. http://www.free-av.com http://www.free-av.com/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html 50.2 MB 10.0.0.648 Private Freeware (not free for commercial use) XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 Hybrid 32/64 Bit version available

Avast Free AntiVirus Full real-time capabilities, low rate of false positives, fairly light on resources, boot-time scanning. Detection rates lower than AntiVir. Hybrid 32/64 bit application. http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-free-home-antivirus-antispyware.html http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?part=dl-85737&subj=dl&tag=button 53.59 MB 6.0.1091 Private Freeware (not free for commercial use) XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 Hybrid 32/64 Bit version available

SUPERAntiSpyware (SAS) Detects malware that other products miss and is able to remove rogue applications. Also has the ability to repair some of the damage that can be caused by Malware. Free version only offers on demand scanning. http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE 12 MB 4.52.1000 Restricted freeware (full commercial version available) XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Malwarebytes Worth considering because of its fast scanning and general ease of use. Effective trojan detection and removal. Less effective on other malware. http://www.malwarebytes.org/index.php http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button 7.38 MB 1.50.1 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

Ad-Aware 2008 Continues to maintain a reasonable detection rate. Now a hybrid 32/64 bit application under Vista 64. Many threats go undetected. Uses a programming technique designed for pre-Vista applications that may be unsupported in future versions of Windows. http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-Anniversary-Edition/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10998841 9.35 MB 9.0 Private Freeware (full commercial version available) XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 Hybrid 32/64 Bit version available Also requires either Internet Explorer (version 5.5 or higher), Firefox (version 1.5 or higher) or Opera (version 9 or higher) Pro version available for free by completing a trial offer.

Glary Utilities Single tool for PC maintenance that is extremely easy to use. Not a 64 bit application so some areas of the product, such as the Uninstall Manager, do not fully work. Individual utilities not as good as standalone alternatives. http://www.glaryutilities.com http://www.glaryutilities.com 8.27 MB 2.33.0.1158 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

MyDefrag Excellent results even using the standard scripts provided. Scripting language offers almost limitless flexibility. Scripts included process the results of ReadyBoot (sic) to optimize boot performance. Although the GUI interface has improved, it still needs fundamental work. Scripts take a long time to run, but in terms of results, nothing else comes close. http://www.mydefrag.com http://www.mydefrag.com/Manual-DownloadAndInstall.html 2 MB 4.3.1 Unrestricted Freeware 2000, 2003, XP, Vista 32/64, 2008, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Defraggler Clear, easy to use interface. Fast Defrag speed is impressive. Lacks the file placement, consolidation, and scripting abilities of MyDefrag so is less flexible. Doesn't take into account the output from ReadyBoot (sic), therefore no boot time optimization is carried out. http://www.piriform.com/defraggler http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download 3.1 MB 2.04.297 Unrestricted Freeware 2000, 2003, XP, Vista 32/64, 2008, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

CCleaner Excellent at cleaning up junk you probably didn't even realize was there! No 64 bit version. Registry cleaner only handles entries visible to 32 bit applications and is not up to the same standard as many standalone products. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download 2.92 MB 3.06.1433 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

Wise Registry Cleaner Registry backup and restore functions. Does not scan areas of the Registry where it is difficult to determine if data is still required (option can be changed.) Divides results in two sections 'safe to delete' and 'check before deleting.' No 64 bit version. Only handles that part of the registry visible to 32 bit applications. Entries left for review by the user prior to deletion may prove confusing. http://www.wisecleaner.com/index.html http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html 4.55 MB 5.94 Unrestricted Freeware 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 If you must use a Registry Cleaner, use this one.

Free Registry Defrag Fast, reliable and free native 64 bit tool which is capable of compacting and defragmenting the registry. Does not include a Registry backup option so exercise caution and create a Restore Point before using. http://www.registry-clean.net/free-registry-defrag.htm http://www.registry-clean.net/free-registry-defrag.htm 508 Kb 3.0 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Registrar Registry Manager Lite Full featured registry editor that leaves regedit for dead. Lacks some advanced features from the shareware version. http://www.resplendence.com/registrar.htm http://www.resplendence.com/downloads 2.6 MB 6.52 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

SysInternals Suite The must have toolkit for anyone who is serious about their PC(s.) The most important tools run as native 64 bit applications. Autologon no longer works. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062 12.6 MB April 2011 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

SIW System Information Tool Displays just about every piece of PC related information you could possibly wish for. Can be run from a USB stick. No 64 bit version, although this doesn't seem to impact on usability. Correct hardware detection dependent on the drivers that you have installed. Bundled with OpenCandy. More information here. http://www.gtopala.com http://www.gtopala.com 2.7 MB 2010 build 0714 Private Freeware (not free for commercial use) XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

Iconoid Allows the colour of desktop icon text to be easily modified. Requires a manual change to Windows Visual Effects to work. http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/ http://www.highrez.co.uk/scripts/download.asp?package=Iconoid 298 Kb 3.8.4 Unrestricted Freeware Vista 64, Windows 7 64 64 Bit version available

Tweaks.com Logon Changer Provides a simple way to change your Windows 7 logon screen to use any JPEG image. Images that exceed the limit of 256 Kb, imposed by Windows 7, can be automatically resized and/or resampled. Cannot automatically convert images from other formats to JPEG. http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon 243 KB 1.2 Unrestricted Freeware Windows 7 32/64

Recuva Recuva is simple to use, effective, and can recover deleted items from a comprehensive range of media. Latest version allows deleted Thunderbird emails to be restored. Can be run from a USB stick. None worth mentioning. http://www.piriform.com/recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva/download 2.39 MB 1.40.525 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Double Commander Provides virtually every feature you can think of out the box and also supports Total Commander plug-ins. Double Commander is still a beta although I wouldn't let that put you off. http://doublecmd.sourceforge.net http://sourceforge.net/projects/doublecmd/files 6.4 MB 0.4.5.2 Beta Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32 / 64, Windows 7 32 / 64 64 Bit version available Total Commander plug-ins are available here.

Q-Dir Provides the critical features Explorer lacks supporting up to four panes, each can have multiple tabs. Very fast and light on resources. The interface is a little clunky and takes some getting used to. http://www.softwareok.com http://www.softwareok.com/?Download 784 KB 4.52 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32 / 64, Windows 7 32 / 64 64 Bit version available The FAQs, here, are a useful source of customisation tips.

SyncToy Can copy, move, rename, and delete files between any number of folders and even computers. Remote folders can be specified by drive letter or UNC name. Files can be included/excluded by wildcard and/or file attributes. Sync operations can be previewed to ensure they are correctly defined. Sync operations can be run from the GUI or the command line. Cannot select files from a folder via a standard tree view. No direct support for ftp. No portable version. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=C26EFA36-98E0-4EE9-A7C5-98D0592D8C52 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=C26EFA36-98E... 3.5 Mb 2.1 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available Requires .NET framework version 2.0 or higher.

Eraser Works with CDFS, FAT, FAT32 and NTFS partitions on IDE, SCSI, RAID and CD-RW. System and application data areas such as the paging file, browser caches, cookies, etc, can be overwritten without detailed knowledge of disk/file layout. Time consuming. http://eraser.heidi.ie/ http://eraser.heidi.ie/download.php 8.74 MB 6.0.8.2273 Unrestricted Freeware Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, 2003 Server, XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available

Paint.NET http://www.getpaint.net/ http://www.getpaint.net/ 3.5 MB 3.5.8 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License XP, 2003, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available Requires minimum .NET Framework 3.5, Service Pack 1

The GIMP http://www.gimpusers.com/gimp-download.php http://www.gimpusers.com/gimp-download.php 19.4 MB 2.6.11 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991 XP, 2003, Vista 32/ 64, Windows 7 32/64, Linux 64 Bit version available

Open Office Open Office on its' own is proof that open source software can and does work. Add to the base product the hundreds of extensions that are available and you have, as some well regarded publications have pointed out, a world beater. No 64 bit version, but then Office 2007 isn't available in 64 bit either. Dealing with files in Office 2007 format can be quite a challenge. http://www.openoffice.org/index.html http://www.openoffice.org/index.html 151 MB 3.3 Unrestricted Freeware XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

PDFXCHANGE Viewer Feature rich and can be highly customised. Image quality close to Adobe Reader and sometimes better. None worth mentioning. http://www.docu-track.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer http://www.docu-track.com/download/PXCViewer_x64.msi 23 MB 2.5.195 Free for personal and commercial use. Not to be used for personal gain 2000, XP, 2003, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64 64 Bit version available Portable version available

Have Your Say

To make this category a success feedback from readers is essential. I cannot possibly cover everything, but if you have an idea for an area of software that should be covered, or if I have left out one of your favourites, then post a comment. There are five ways to send feedback: registered users can contact me directly here or in the forum under Contact Info. Registered users may also post in the forum. Anyone can post a comment at the bottom of this page. Finally, please help us by rating this review

This category is maintained by volunteer editor Rik Mayell, a self confessed computer nut, who loves PCs, desktop or server, and thinks the Mac is cool, although doesn't own one. Becoming a Linux addict in his spare time.

Tags

Freeware for 64 bit Windows 7, Freeware for 64 bit Windows Vista, 64 bit Windows freeware, Freeware for 64 bit Windows, 64 bit freeware

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25 Latest Photoshop Tutorials for Photoshop Lovers

“Design“ when this word flashes in the mind, the first name which comes on tongue is Photoshop, Photoshop covers all aspect of design and it’s a pacemakerfor the designer which helps to enhance the heart beat of designs. Photoshop enriches the design and also renovates the designs to its prior stage, Photoshop tutorials are mostly read subject on internet not only they help designers to improve their skills but they also spur them to become a perfect designer. With the help of such tutorials any one can prove his or her self as prodigy; users don’t need to learn all numerous functions and features in order to be master in Photoshop because it’s such a extremely tough and difficult software to be master in it. But if Photoshop lovers will pursue the step by step procedure according to the Photoshop tutorials and if they will spend some time on it they will definitely get what they want their design to be.

There are numerous sites available all over the world of Internet where Photoshop tutorials are available just like fishes in sea but it’s really difficult to find the Gold Fish (appropriate tutorials) in whole sea (Internet) as per the requirement that’s what inspired me so STG has covered 25 latest quality Photoshop tutorials from the best Photoshop tutorials sites which will teach and assist users not only how to use Photoshop features but how to enhance their design skills and how to become a professional designer.
Such tutorials consisting beginner difficulty to advance difficulty and these latest Photoshop tutorials cover text, poster, abstract, photo layout, painting, logo, brushes and many more.

Our audience can look for Beautiful Photoshop Text Effect Tutorial at our friendly blog Bloggers Path

1. Realistic 3D Text Using Photoshop’s Repousse

2. Retro Space Themed Poster in Photoshop

3. Cityscape Concept Art

4. Surreal Upside Down Mountain Painting

5. Easy 3d Globe in Photoshop

6. Clean Layout In Photoshop

7. An iPad 2 From Scratch Using Photoshop

8. An Emblem Style Logo In Photoshop

9. Dark and Mysterious Fantasy Portrait

10. DarSimple Earth Logo in Photoshop

11. Creating a Fantasy World

12. Sparkling Text Wallpaper

13. Lightning Effects TO Make Photo Sparkle

14. Elegant Photography Web Layout in Photoshop

15. Water Girl Photo Manipulation Mixing with Splatter Brushes in Photoshop

16. Worn Vintage Beach Ad in Photoshop

17. Create a Vibrant Radar Icon in Photoshop

18. Handy Techniques for Cutting Out Hair in Photoshop

19. Realistic Classic Pen Using Photoshop

20. Black Swan Movie Poster in Photoshop

21. Wild Dear and the Snow Covered Mountain Painting

22. Awesome Grungy Style Artwork using Custom Brushes

23. Bright Abstract Diagonal Lines Background

24. Beautiful Dark Texture in Photoshop

25. An Eco Friendly Concept Design

Tags: latest photoshop tutorials, photoshop css, photoshop designs, photoshop tutorials

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photoshop tips and tricks software

Two weeks ago we published the first part of Photoshop tips and tricks for photo retouching. Today, we’ll be presenting the rest of the article. We hope that these techniques will be quite useful for your workflow. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. We have had articles on various tools in Adobe Photoshop but this one is focused more on the techniques rather than the tools provided. Please note that all images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering in this follow-up:

• Defining Colors
• Controlling Folders
• Split-Toning Effect
• Flexible Vignette
• Skin Retouching In Camera Raw
• Setting Lights
• Distinguished Paleness
• Dodge And Burn Look
• Bright Eyes
• The Orton Effect
• Optimizing Lasso Selections
• Aligning Layer Contents
• Restoring Selections
• More Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Defining Colors

If you want to redefine the foreground and background colors, use the Eyedropper tool to select the foreground color, and then switch the position with the background color, maybe by using the shortcut X, and pick up the next color. But there is an easier way. First, define the foreground color just as you’re accustomed to, but then define the background color by holding the Alt/Option key. Instead of changing the foreground color, you’ll redefine the background color with just one click.

Define foreground and background colors.

Controlling Folders

Folders give structure to layers, which is especially important if you’re working on demanding compositions. Folders are often collapsed, so you can’t see the contents at first sight. This conserves space but it’s not always desirable. If you want nested layers to reveal their contents and offer a quick overview, hold the Control/Command key and click on one of the triangles to expand. All folders at the first level will expand. You can collapse them again using the same trick. To expand all nested folders inside the folders as well, hold the Alt/Option key as well as the Control/Command key.

Hold the Control/Command key to expand the folder.

Split-Toning Effect

Create two new gradient maps via Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Gradient Map. You could, for example, create a gradient from dark-blue to beige and another from dark-brown to white. To change a gradient, click on it to open up the “Gradient Editor” dialog box. There, click on your chosen color patches and open up the color picker via the “Color field.”

Blending Options: This Layer

Confirm with “OK,” double-click the layer with the second gradient map and, under “This Layer,” move the right slider to the left. To make the transition a little smoother, click on the slider while holding down theAlt/Option key and move it to the right. Confirm with “OK.”

Split-Toning Effect

Flexible Vignette

To create a non-destructive vignette, go to New Adjustment Layer → Levels. Darken the image completely by, for example, setting the Highlights down to 80. Now use the Brush tool with black color to paint the light center into the layer mask. Instead of using a brush to paint the area, you could use the Elliptical Marquee tool and fill the selection with black.

Adjustment Layer: Levels

You can use the Move tool to adjust the vignette’s position any time, or blur it using the “Gaussian Blur.” You can also increase or decrease the darkening. To do so, open the Levels Adjustment dialog box again.

Skin Retouching In Camera Raw

Again, open a photo in Camera Raw (for example, by using the right mouse key from Bridge and clicking “Open in Camera Raw”). In general, you can use the Spot Healing Brush tool and all other tools and sliders to improve the image. When you’re happy with it, hold the Shift key and click on “Open Object.” The image will be put on a new layer as a Smart Object.

You could also click the blue link at the bottom of the screen, which opens the “Workflow Options” dialog window. From there, you can control some other settings as well. Make sure to check the “Open in Photoshop as Smart Object” checkbox, and then confirm with “OK” to open the images (without having to holding Shift).

Here, layers are smart objects.

Right-click on the layer and choose “New Smart Object via Copy,” and then open the Camera Raw dialog box again by double-clicking the layer icon. Set the “Clarity” value to -100 and confirm with “OK.” Hold theAlt/Option key and click on the “Create Layer Mask” button, then use a soft brush to paint over the optimized skin. Use the opacity slider to control the amount of retouching.

Here is optimized skin with the help of Camera Raw.

Setting Lights

If you want to do some virtual re-positioning of your strobes, then neutralize the shot first. Go to Select → Color Range, and set Select option to “Highlights.” Copy the selection content to a new layer by hittingControl/Command + J. Activate the background layer again, and select the “Shadows” this time. Bring those to their own layer, too, with Control/Command + J, and then set the blending mode to “Screen” and the highlights to “Multiply.”

Highlights and shadows

Reduce the opacity to about 30%, depending on the image content. “Shadows/Highlights” might also help. On a new layer, filled with a neutral gray and its blending mode set to “Overlay,” paint in the desired light quality with the Dodge and Burn tools. Alternatively, add a new layer and set its blending mode to “Soft Light” or “Overlay” and, with a low opacity brush, paint black and white on this layer.

The lights were neutralized a bit.

Distinguished Paleness

For a distinguished paleness, copy the background layer and set its blending mode to “Screen.” Use Image → Adjustments → Desaturate or “Black & White,” then “Shadows/Highlights” to increase the effect. The exact adjustment options can vary according to your image content.

Here’s the layer after creating the mask.

The effect will cover the entire image unless you click on the “Create Layer Mask” button while holding theAlt/Option key, and then paint the pale areas with the brush tool and white color. You can control the effect’s strength with the opacity slider.

Distinguished paleness.

Dodge And Burn Look

Copy the reduced layers to a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E, and then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.” Use Control/Command + I to invert the layer content, and apply Filter → Blur → Surface Blur with a radius of about 70 pixels and a threshold of 40 levels. Press Shift +Control/Command + Alt/Option + E again, delete the layer below, and set the blending mode to “Overlay.” Apply a “Gaussian Blur” to make the contours a little softer, and then click Image → Adjustments → Desaturate.

Dodge and Burn Look

Bright Eyes

To make eyes appear brilliant, click on New Adjustment Layer → Exposure. Fill the layer mask with black (or invert the mask), and paint with white over the irises and with black over the pupils. Set the blending mode of the adjustment layer to “Luminosity.” Increase the exposure in concert with the gamma value to give the iris structure more contrast. Also, try changing the “Offset slider.”

Create beautiful eyes with exposure.

The Orton Effect

With the Orton effect, sharp and blurred versions of a photo are mixed together. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and click on Image → Apply Image. Change the blending mode to “Screen” and click “OK.” Copy the current layer again with Control/Command + J. Apply a Gaussian Blur to this copy by clicking Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur. The value will depend on the size of the image. The shapes should always blur slightly. Set the blending mode for the layer to “Multiply.”

The Orton effect creates contrast and depth.

Optimizing Lasso Selections

Many users (even professionals) prefer the Lasso Selection tool to the Path tool for uncomplicated selections. To switch to the Polygon Lasso tool for a short stretch, hold the Alt/Option key while working. To switch back to the regular Lasso tool, just release the Alt/Option key while depressing the mouse button.

Switching between the Lasso and Polygon Lasso tools is easy.

It often happens that, during a zoom, you hit the edge of the work area while making a selection. Just keep the space bar pressed to switch to the Hand tool, and you can quickly change the displayed image section.

Aligning Layer Contents

Some areas in Photoshop are hardly ever noticed. This is one of them. If you activate the Move tool, you’ll see some mysterious symbols to the right called Align tools, in the option bar next to Auto-Select and the Transform controls (which are basically equivalent to Free Transform).

Align tools

If you activate just one layer, the Align tools won’t do anything, but if you select two or more layers by holding the Control/Command key, then you can align the layer’s contents with these buttons. Choose from options such as “Align Top Edge” and “Align Vertical Center.”

Restoring Selections

Often, while in the middle of working on a tricky selection, you’ll accidentally deselect it by clicking once too often. You can restore the lost selection by pressing Shift + Control/Command + D. This will get the ants marching again. You can also undo (Control/Command + Z) the action, and even perform multiple undos with Control/Command + Alt/Option + Z.

By the way, you can hold the Alt/Option key to subtract elements from the selection at any time, or hold the Shift key to add to the selection. Pressing a combination of both keys creates a selection intersection. Important selections that you might need later can be saved by going to Select → Save Selection.

Restore lost selections.

More Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow:

• Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers by Thomas Giannattasio
• Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips by Daniel Durrans
• Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures, Gradients and Rounded Rectangles by Marc Edwards
• Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools by Vitaly Friedman
• The Ultimate Guide To Cloning In Photoshop by Joshua Johnson
• The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions by Jacob Gube
• Unveiling Photoshop Masks by Thomas Giannattasio

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Internet Connection Fails - How To Fix

While surfing the Internet, are you getting can't find the server error? Or is it saying that your TCP/IP needs resetting? Wondering what could be the cause for internet dropout? There are a number of reasons which cause this problem and you need to go to the root and fix them. For Internet help, you may talk to a computer repair service provider.

Many remote PC service providers are there that offer troubleshooting support to the PC users. These companies offer computer services round the clock. There are certified experts who offer comprehensive support for problems with the Internet connection. Services are delivered through the telephone and the Internet. As far as the cost of service is concerned, it is quite reasonable.

As mentioned, there are several possible reasons for which your Internet connection may stop working. For instance, for the dialup connection, noise on the phone line is the prime reason for this problem. Those who are using a high-speed cable connection, for them, the problem will not be related to this. There might be something else which is causing the problem.

Electronic devices fail at random times. So, before proceeding for any troubleshooting steps, you should turn the device off and then turn it on. If you have a cable modem, and you are experiencing slow or dropped Internet connection, then just unplug the cable modem. Then wait for 30 seconds and turn it on. The problem will be solved. If not, just replace the modem.

Many a times, the problem occurs due to software-related issue. Is there any other computer at your home? Is it giving no trouble getting online? If so, then you need to check the firewall. This piece of software program is designed to block certain Internet connections. There might be any bug in the firewall software that is mistakenly shutting down ALL network connections.

In order to fix this problem, you open the configuration page of the firewall and check to see what programs are being blocked. If you find nothing is blocked, just shut down or uninstall the firewall software and re-install it. If you find the problem is resolved, the problem was with the firewall software.

For uninstalling the firewall software, click on the Start button, and then open Control Panel, then click Add/Remove Programs. Look for the firewall software in the list and then click the Remove button. Sometimes, the firewall software is bundled with anti-virus of internet security package. In this case, you need to click on that package and select the firewall for removal. And leave the anti-virus protection in place.

Do you have a router between your computer and the cable modem? If so, it is not important to install the software-based firewall. These days, routers come with built-in hardware-based firewalls.

Following aforementioned troubleshooting tips you can fix the Internet connection related issue. If still the problem persists, it is recommended to report the problem to your Internet service provider. They will look into the problem and fix it right away.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

10 Android Apps For Watching Movies And TV Shows

Android indeed makes life easier for its users as it allows us to get information or be entertained almost anywhere, anytime. Watching movies and TV shows even when you’re not at home is made possible with Android. Here are some Android apps for watching movies and TV shows:

1. Movie Stream

With Movie Stream, you can watch movies directly on your Android gadget. This app allows you to search for several movies over the internet and watch them. You can search by genres or by year to help you narrow down your choices. Also, you can select an external link from which you can view the movie of your choice. Movie Stream stores data into the SD Card temporarily. This allows you to watch your movies anytime you want and anywhere you go. Movie Stream’s interface is easy to use.

2. Crackle

Sony-owned Crackle allows its user to watch full-length movies, TV streaming and web series. Watching these, however, comes with a price. You can download this app for free. Along with this free download are mini content including TV shows squeezed to a few minutes.

3. Netflix

Netflix is a popular movie and TV streaming app commonly run on the iOs and Windows 7 operating systems. Now, Netflix is available on Android. This allows Android users to search and watch movies and TV shows of their choice. It can be downloaded for free in the market but it may not be supported by certain phones.

4. http://TV.com

If you don’t want to miss an episode of your favorite show, then here’s an app for you. http://TV.com brings your TV into your gadget even when you’re on the go. Watch videos from The CW, CNET, CBS and other shows with just a touch of a button.

5. Cartube

Cartube is an app which many kids may find interesting. Here, you can find classic animated movies available as YouTube videos. There are 30 symbols in this app and each represents and plays a certain cartoon. If a certain cartoon is removed, one can assign an alternate cartoon to that symbol. Broken links will be looked into by future releases as necessary.

6. Giant Bomb

If you’re into gaming, then this app is for you. Giant Bomb features the latest happenings in the game industry. With this app, you can watch clips and demos of different games. This app also allows you to read reviews and get the latest information about your favorite games.

7. Howcast

If you like to know how to get things done, this app may be very useful to you. Howcast features a lot of how-to-videos which you can view without having to turn on your PC. This is very useful especially when you’re on the go. Whether you’re trying to learn how to cook or fix something, Howcast gives you knowledge with a touch of a button.

8. Jetflicks

Jetlicks is a reliable app which allows you to stream TV shows in high quality over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. A good thing about Jetflicks is that it is updated daily so that you won’t miss an episode of your favorite show.

9. Ustream Broadcaster

The Android version of Ustream Broadcaster for allows its users to view live mobile video from their devices over 3G or Wi-Fi. With this app, one can also record high-quality videos offline and later upload the video to Ustream.

10. Fox News

If you want to be updated with the latest happenings in your country or around the world, then you might find this app very beneficial. Fox News is the first and only news application for Android. This app allows you to watch latest video clips, listen to FOX news radio, read the news, view photos and receive FOX news alerts.

Published At: Isnare.com Free Articles Directory - http://www.isnare.com/
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Blogging Software Tips and Tricks

Commission Maniac is about attaining real results with your internet business by having the information and training to get to that goal very easily and effortlessly, with a sound automated process.

Craig Kaye delivers a no-holds-barred auto-blogging application that was created to take your internet business from earning zero to making a healthy income and he does it without any of the usual B.S. The method includes an automated software package suite that will put an end to the long hours you would usually devote to sitting in front of your pc attempting to get your website ranked. You're going to possess the software and knowledge to have your site live and ranking with very little effort on your behalf.

The step-by-step coaching can give you access to sources and products that the majority of the internet marketing guru's use. You will be able to create brilliant content-rich blogs that will deliver value to your audience. Also, the system's software program will automatically post new material in your own blog for your visitors!

With Commission Maniac you are going to get blueprints and a software package that will teach you the most effective ways you can setup your blogs, the way you can target successful niches, how you can do powerful keyword research and just how to use the powerful software program and methods to your advantage.

Pingdom dot com recently stated that you will find more than a 150 million blogs posted online today. This figure is regularly shifting as a result of the development of new applications, resources, and software (like Commission Maniac) that will show you a simple and straight forward technique that can have anyone getting started on their very own website (even folks with very little marketing or writing experience).

You'll find three principal blogging classes online today:

Individual/Personal bloggers
Company bloggers
Specialist bloggers
Problogging (specialized blogging) refers to blogging for profit. Probloggers (expert bloggers) are individuals that make an income from blogging.
As shown below, there are a variety of strategies to make a healthy income from blogging:
Advertising
Affiliate Software Programs
Digital Products
Blog network articles or blog posts
Creating blog sites for businesses
Flipping blogs
Merchandising
Consulting and Coaching

Whichever strategy you select, just make sure that it suits your style, in addition to fitting in to your budget to make sure that you stick with it for the long haul.

Read below for a few quick tips to keep in mind when putting your blogs together:

• Be committed. Blogging usually will take time to create and continue on with, so like it, enjoy what your doing and make sure you have a long-term goal for your project.
• Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is often a important stage to creating a loyal group of readers.
• Be an 'expert' inside your specialized area of interest. Concentrate on your subject and build your blog to show your practical experience within your particular niche. (Very Profitable)
• Diversify. Never get stuck employing the exact same process all the time. Learn and experiment with the most effective way to create unique web page concepts that should enable you to generate a living writing blogs on the net.
• Make sure your blog site is intriguing! Test unique themes and style, understand what your viewers like and do not like, be certain you pay attention to detail and do not clutter your web site. Be sure your written content is straightforward and covers the theme of your blog so your viewers will not be distracted and bounce off your website.
• Interact with your readers! If a visitor leaves a suggestion or comment or maybe a question on your blog that needs a response, be sure you reply! First of all, it is just common courtesy to respond and secondly, your reader will like the fact that you have taken the time to respond to their comment or query and they will return to your site again and again.

Earning money from blogging is very obtainable, there are people that do it every single day. Do not think that it can be too tough or that you just are unable to do it, you will find a great number of tools, training and programs available that will make it so effortless. You will have the chance to learn from other internet entrepreneurs who do precisely the same thing every day, so do not miss out on a fantastic chance to start generating an income from your own home.

Commission Maniac will show you how simple and straightforward it is to get started. Click here for more details on Commission Maniac.

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