Automate Your PC With Drag And Drop, No Coding Required

Automation programs are designed with users’ ease of use in mind, and hence the more simple they are, and the more they rely on graphics rather than commands, the better they are for a common user. vTask Studio is such an application that can automate most of the commonly performed tasks, and execute even some high-end commands as well to bring you automation in its real sense. What’s more, the program relies on a completely graphical user interface, hence no programming needed at all.

vTask Studio can handle all common tasks such as launching applications, mouse actions, loops etc, and even can handle advanced automation functions like checkpoints and database queries. However, what really makes this application different from other similar programs is features like image matching and integrated EXE compiler, which allow visual detection of images and automated compilation of executable files, respectively.

Some salient features of vTask Studio include:

XML File Format – allowing the program to use text-based XML files for its operations. Not only these can be easily modified with any text editor, they also provide transparency, i.e., you can view what instructions are being executed without looking for any specialized software. Plus, XMLs are easy to query.

EXE Complier – you can use any of your automation scripts and compile it as a Windows executable standalone program. This makes it possible to distribute your automation scripts to non-users of vTask Studio, all with no strings attached.

Image Recognition – vTask Studio contains advanced image matching and recognition algorithms allowing visual detection of on-screen images. This makes creating automation scripts for internet based activities even easier, since the program will recognize based on what is being displayed.

The program is mostly reliant on drag & drop actions, but a lot of keyboard shortcuts are also present to give you freedom to choose. Options menu contains tweaks for run time, key mapping, main grid view, colors and theming, logs and files, and some miscellaneous options.

vTask Studio is available for all versions of Windows, from 95 to Windows 7. It works with both x86 and x64 architectures.

Download vTask Studio

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Use Different Speeds For External Mouse And Touchpad On Laptop [Windows]

While working on your laptop, you frequently need to switch between the touchpad and an external mouse, you’d have experienced the irritation that accompanies when the operating system applies the same cursor movement speed and settings to both of them. One speed may be fine for an external mouse, but it may prove to be extremely slow for the touchpad (I experience that on an almost daily basis). If only Windows could save mouse profiles just like power profiles!

These days, most modern mice come with some driver/user software, but if you’re looking for a universal solution to this issue, the developers behind Mouse Speed Switcher have got one for you. This free application saves two (or more) different sets of cursor/pointer settings on your laptop (or even PC) that you can quickly switch between, giving you control and flexibility over the input hardware that you’re using.

Mouse Speed Switcher is free for personal usage, but will keep giving irritating reminder messages (nagware) to purchase unless a license key is entered (which is not free, by the way). When you launch the software for the first time, it will present the settings dialog where you can tweak settings for all the profiles.You can set up a third profile as well, but it is disabled by default.

The software comes with a built-in check for updates, so that is an added benefit. The program has been written in C++ and works with all versions of MS Windows OS, from XP to Windows 7. We tested it on a 32-bit system.

Download Mouse Speed Switcher

If you hate nagware, you can check out Automatic Mouse Switcher.

Extend Windows Taskbar To Multiple Display Monitors With zBar

Handling multi-monitor setup is arguably tiresome, especially when you need to access desktop items or active application taskbar controls. As you need to move across the screen to primary monitor where taskbar is lying to access active application’s taskbar controls, system notification area, etc, it is quite unproductive.

By default, taskbar can only be accessed from your primary monitor, therefore, accessing applications

is a bit dragging when two or more displays are attached with your system. zBar is developed to solve such problems related with multi-monitor setup. The application places the taskbar on each monitor attached with your system, so you can access the application taskbar controls from the monitor where it is being used. Not only does it move application taskbar icons, it also brings the system tray clock along with multiple calendars which can be accessed from each monitor’s notification area.

The first step is to head over to Options from its system tray menu to configure generic settings. It offers different styles for extended taskbar, right from Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP to Mac, Zune and Royale styles are available. Underneath the styles, you will find position of attached monitor and other style related options. By default, it displays clock and date on the extended taskbar(s), which can be disabled to unclutter the taskbar area.

Hotkeys can be registered for moving the windows easily to/from the attached display. It also lets user span the wallpaper across the screens, manually set width/height and visibility.

Moreover, it allows setting up wallpaper in different ways, you can pick different wallpaper for each connected display or span one image across all the screens.

As exhibited in the screenshots below, it expands the taskbar and application icons on multiple display monitors.

Below you can see the extended taskbar more clearly.

You might also be interested in using SwapWin – an application to easily swap primary monitor display for better readability. zBar supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Testing was done on Windows 7 x64 system

Download zBar

Swap Your Dual-Monitor Display Screens For Better Readability With SwapWin

Most users (including me) work on second or third monitor to assist with the work which is taking place on the primary monitor. For example, we google for solutions, check references, or just start reading a long article. After a while, we hear our necks complaining and have no choice but to drag the active window to the primary monitor. This is one of the major annoyance I face when working with multiple monitors, and I am sure the same is with you.

SwapWin is a brilliant open source app which solves this problem by swapping display screens of any extended monitor with primary monitor. Please keep in mind that it does not completely swap the screens, only the active applications or windows get swapped. The taskbar remains in the primary monitor.

In the screenshot below, you can see active windows on both Monitor A and Monitor B.

A double-click on SwapWin will swap the windows on both screens. You can either add SwapWin on the desktop or pin it to taskbar for faster access.

SwapWin allows you to work between multiple monitors with immense comfort. There are however some problems too. According to the developer, it does not resize window if moving between screens of different sizes (both monitors must have same resolution), cannot define custom checkpoints (currently using centers of working areas), and does not support hotkey itself (a real bummer). For hotkeys, the developer recommends using AutoHotKey for now.

Extra note: If the display screen does not swap, first make sure the window or application in extended monitor is active and then run SwapWin. In the above example we used dual monitors but it can work with any number of monitors.

SwapWin works on Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (32-bit only), provided you have .NET Framework 3.5 installed. Testing was done on Windows 7 32-bit system. It failed to run on Win 7 64-bit OS.

Download SwapWin

Inspect & Analyze Microsoft Installer Package With MSI Explorer

We have previously covered PeStudio and Kaliro App Explorer, the former utility offers a detailed overview of application compatibility with Windows OS editions and let users verify different characteristics for application’s DEP/ASLR and other included features while latter being a simple simple tool to verify Microsoft .Net framework based applications. Today we have another useful inspection tool called MSI Explorer, as its name implies, it has been designed to analyze MSI (Microsoft Installer) packages.

According to the developer, it is primarily developed to prevent users from opening/rebuilding the entire setup project for changing MSI package content, since it lists down every little detail a developer needs to know about MSI package along with exact location. Altering a MSI package would certainly be easy once you know the location of embedded content (library/feature/function, etc).

The application interface offers a nice broad layout to thoroughly look for the elements in a specified MSI package. The most significant feature is that you can update MSI content without rebuilding the whole setup. All that is required is to open an MSI package from Main menu. Once specified, it will take some time to lists down included content.

Once you’ve made changes to the table, from Main menu, click Commit Changes to update the package.

The application also enables user to export tables in bulk. It lists down all the included tables, you can select as many required and export them in one go.

The application proves useful for those who package their application/development projects in MSI format. It supports Windows XP/Vista/7, testing was done on Windows 7 x86 system.

Download MSI Explorer

Free Make Video Converter Is Brilliant Eye-Candy Advanced Video Converter

The software

arena is overwhelmed with hundreds of awesome media converters. Every time we come across a brilliant media converter, we can’t wait to test out for you. Amongst many media converters, Freemake Video Converter is another powerful and absolute media converting tool catering both audio & video conversions. It sports most eminent video formats such as; AVI, MP4, WMV, and 3GP. It has an ability to burn video to DVD disc on-the-fly. The long list of famous audio formats is also supported to instantly convert into MP3 format. The shining part is that, you can specify an image set to convert into video format and easily upload a converted video file to your YouTube account.

Furthermore, the stunning interface is quiet awesome, flaunting each feature it offers right up-front. To add a video or audio for conversion, click the respective button. You can also add DVD to quickly convert it in other supported video formats & even extract audio in MP3 format. It supports video conversion in mobile devices compatible format like; iPhone, iPad, iPod, PSP, Blackberry, etc. Usage cant be easier, once media file is added, from lower part of the window, select the required format, specify the output location to begin conversion.

It also allows user to edit video, clicking Edit link with inserted video will bring up video editor, where you can flip, rotate and crop the video.

It also features an awesome Photo converter. You can easily convert photo set in desired video format with an option to select HD 1080, 720 and other video qualities.

As aforementioned , it also lets user upload video to YouTube account. Click YouTube to enter login credentials and clicking Upload will begin uploading the converted video.

Comparing the media conversion speed it offers with previously covered brilliant media players like: Oxelon & Handbrake, it stays a little behind. But as it can convert photo set into video format with an ability to upload on YouTube, you can give this application a shot.

It runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Testing was done on system running Windows 7 32-bit.

Download Free Make Video Converter

View, Edit, And Export Multiple Types Of Database Files With Exportizer

Since database storage containers are of many kinds carrying relative features and usability, to edit and view each database type, you need to have respective database engines/compilers. What if you’re dealing with multiple types of databases? Would you go for installing a list of database engines to manipulate data tables? Exportizer is one application which support multitude of database types, letting user view and edit them under one window. With an ability to export and copy database content from different DB storages, it is accompanied by Microsoft Excel, HTML, Text (txt), CSV, RTF and dBase format support. Since it comes with BDE (Borland Database Engine) and ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) database engines, you will be able to work with databases supported by these engines.

The application comes with a simple GUI, experts can also use CLI to manipulate database table entries. Once the database file which you want to edit is opened, you will see all the options and tools to add/delete/edit the table data and freeze the column in question lying on toolbar. Furthermore, from right-click menu, you can duplicate a record, create a duplicate field, bookmark any field or hide/show selected column.

If you are editing an enormous database, filters will come handy to narrow down the search and to view only specific columns. Alongside filters, search can also be initiated to find a list of table entries.

Once all the required table entries are altered, from Export to copy pull-down menu, click Export to File. Here, you can also copy the content to clipboard and generate Command Line.

The Export to File dialog holds a great deal of options to export the table entries. First, head over to the tab which says your database type name. Since we have been editing CSV file, we will look at some CSV-specific options. You can specify schema, include/exclude column names, delimit fields, specify field separator & data range etc. Once you’ve configured all the export options, click Export to save the modified file as per defined conditions.

Likewise, there are plentiful options available for each database type, before exporting database, make sure that you are familiar with exporting options and modes it offer. The application was tested on our Windows 7 x86 system, while it supports all versions of Windows.

Download Exportizer

Download, Convert, And Stream Videos From 300+ Websites With FVD Suite

Earlier we have covered some video downloaders, such as, YouDown, SaveTube, Easy YouTube Video Downloader and Free Make Video downloader, the later has an ability to download and convert Dailymotion, Google Videos and Facebook videos as well. Out of staggering number of video resources, YouTube is the most popular video sharing website, so users lean more towards an application which offers all YouTube supported video qualities with an option to convert them as well. Today we will review FVD Suite, which supports more than 300+ video sharing platforms whilst offering on the fly conversion of downloaded videos. Along with downloading and converting flash-based videos, you will also be able to stream media from thousands of supported websites.

The application offers a broad interface with self-explanatory usage. To begin downloading videos, add the source URL and click Add. It will prompt you to specify the target location with an option to specify conversion parameters, you can also create & save profiles to quickly select favorite conversion settings.

Click List of supported sites on the main screen to view all the supported websites. To find out your favorite website, filters support is also provided to narrow down your search.

All video downloading options along with respective usage details are given under different tabs, such as, under Stream media downloader and RTMP Streams tabs, it provides simple usage demonstrating animation to help you with recording streaming media.

Under Converter, you will find plentiful of encoding options to convert local videos into any format, it also supports video to audio conversion so you can easily extract audio from video files.

It is further possible to use Screen Recorder feature to record flash based videos on your screen and to play/convert recorded videos. It integrates directly with IE and Firefox to let user easily initiate the process of screen recording. Sadly, it lacks support of Chrome browser.

The application sits in the system tray, a right-click reveals a basic menu from where you can change application preferences, add URL/media file to download/convert, etc. Above system notification area, you will find FVD suite box, showing current status of video being downloaded or converted.

During testing, we didn’t find any lags while downloading, converting and streaming media nor encounter any flash-content detection problems. It supports Windows XP/Vista/7. Testing was done on Windows 7 x86 system.

Download FVD Suite

Burn BluRay, DVD, CD Disks With Hamster Free Burning Studio, Better Than NeroBurn Lite

If you’ve been hanging on to Nero Free Lite tool (a stripped-down version of Nero Suite) to write/burn CDs/DVDs, you should consider giving Hamster Free Burning Studio a try. It is a full-featured free application

that hosts a great number of disk authoring tools with an ability to write/burn Blu-Ray discs. It also allows users to replicate the disc content while a long list of discs types are supported, including CD-R,CD-RW, DVD RW

, and so on. Out of many useful features it bring, what intruded our attention is that it can automatically identify the type of disc inserted into tray, check its capacity and evaluate the most suitable burning speed to prevent any erratic disc writing/burning experience.

It offers an eye-candy and a very straightforward interface, with the main screen listing down all types of discs to burn. To begin, select Data CD/DVD to either add files/folder to the project or specify an ISO file which you wish to burn to disc. Alternatively, you can start off with copying CD/DVD content to inserted media.

Once the project is created, you will see the main screen for adding more files/folders up to disc’s capacity limit. At left side, it shows drive-related information with option to erase writable disc before start burning, you can also manually specify the disc writing speed and enter volume label. If you are using multiple drives, select one from the bottom the screen. Now click burning-imaged button to start writing data to disc.

It will go into compact mode when data is being authored. However, you can switch to full-screen mode anytime to view the errors/writing problems.

Similar to previously covered Hamster Video Converter, it offers multiple color schemes to overhaul the layout, just pick out one from Settings window to revamp the interface.

Going over its numerous features, we couldn’t help but compare it with Nero’s free disc burning tool, you have support for a slew of disc types in Hamster’s product whereas Nero’s burning tool offers a way less disc burning options with limited features. The most distinctive feature is that Hamster’s product can write data to BluRay discs.

Since it is in beta phase, the Media Studio and Disc Backup features are not available. As far available writing options are concerned, we didn’t find any bug or lag during testing. It runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are supported), testing was carried on Windows 7 x64 system.

Download Hamster Free Burning Studio

You can also check out previously covered some free disc writing tools, Expore&Burn, BurnAware, and UsefulUtils.

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Make 32-bit Applications Utilize 4GB Virtual Memory In 64-bit Systems

By Usman on Dec 06 2010 8 Comments

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4GB Patch is a miniscule application which can be used to patch x86 compatible applications’ executables, so they can gain more than 2GB of virtual memory in x64 systems. It is utterly useful for applications

which need a great amount of system’s virtual memory such as, high FPS games, 3D renderization, multimedia tools, etc. If you are dealing with high-resolution graphics, animations, or planning to play a hefty game, just create a patch through it to utilize full system virtual memory.

Since an expert can tweak with application’s executable file to gain more than 2GB of virtual memory in x64 system, this tool offers an easy way to achieve this by automating the lengthy & complex process. To begin, launch the application and just specify the executable file which is to be patched.

The time it takes to patch depends upon the size of selected executable file. Once done, it will prompt you to add another file, indicating that specified file has been patched successfully.

It automatically creates a backup of the executable file, so users can retain the original file back anytime.

The application is designed for Windows platform. Works great on both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download 4GB Patch

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Extract Software Product Keys From Windows Registry With LicenseCrawler

By Usman on Dec 02 2010 2 Comments

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If you’ve searched for any license recovery utility in the past then you might know about Nirsoft’s famous ProduKey – which provides a simple solution to extract license keys from Windows registry. Today, we have stumbled across another software license extractor called LicenseCrawler which has been written to extract all the serial numbers and licenses saved in yours Windows registry.

The GUI based application also supports direct extraction of licenses/serials remotely, which means that you can extract license keys from any node connected with network. Even though you can remotely make use of ProdKey by manually specifying the source location, LicenseCrawler automatically lists down all the connected systems to let user decide where to extract product keys from. Furthermore, it offers license extraction for almost all installed software while letting you choose registry hive to be searched.

The application is highly portable, you an carry it in USB flash drives to easily extract licenses from any PC. To begin, launch the application and click Start Search. If you need to look for serials keys in remote computers, before staring the process, select one from Computer list. All the logical registry groups are present beneath it, you can select any hive to start off with. It will start listing down serial numbers in couple of seconds, however, the time it takes is subjected to yours Windows registry size and number of installed applications.

Under File menu, you can save the extracted information into text format. As per testing results, on our Windows 7 x86 system, we found it be working fine. It supports all versions of Windows.

Download LicenseCrawler

Diffuse Compares Both Text And Code, With Option To Merge Into One File

Comparing text files becomes indispensable in many instances, where system administrators find it confounding to compare multiple huge log files manually, application developers also need an efficient text comparison tool which offers a detailed insight into the line differences in application’s module code files. For placid users who don’t care much about advance features, we have already covered two simple file comparison tools – diffChecker and CompareMyFiles. If you’re looking for an advanced utility for carrying out complex text comparisons, try out Diffuse, an opensource application which brings a great number of features to compare multiple text files with an option to merge changes on the fly.

The multi-tabbed interface allows you to thoroughly review changes in specified files, unlike other traditional text file comparison tools, it offers 3-way file comparison, letting user compare 3 files simultaneously. All the compare and merge-specific options are lying on the toolbar. First off, select the comparison mode (2-way/3-way) and specify number of files according to selected mode.

Each file which is being compared has specific color which helps user in visually analyzing the differences/changes. At extreme right-side, you will see small pane which shows all the differences in the files, the white color symbolizes identical part of the text file whereas color in pane shows differences in the files.

The toolbar contain buttons to navigate through all the changes along with an option to merge changes. Before making any change, we’d reckon you to read the screentip to better understand the option. From Format menu, you can further take control over text files, you can change the letter case, sort in ascending/descending order, remove white spaces, covert space to tabs and vice versa, and so on.

Changes can be saved from File menu, just select a file after making suitable alterations and click Save. It supports innumerable text encodings, you will probably find all the text encoders to encode the document in required format.

We found some interface-specific glitches, hopefully it will get fixed in forthcoming releases. As far as primary functionality goes, the application

works as intended. Testing was done on Windows 7 x86 system while it supports multiple OS platforms

including, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD.

Download Diffuse

FastCopy Offers User-Defined Buffer Size For Fast Data Copying

FastCopy is an opensource application which is built to speed up data copying process in Windows OS. On macro-level, its working is based on source & destination of data which is to be copied, i.e, two mechanisms are deployed to provide super fast data copying – if source & destination is on different HDDs, then reading and writing are processed respectively in parallel by separate threads. But if they are on the same HDDs, then reading is processed until the user-defined buffer size is filled. Once filled, data can be written anywhere immediately. According to the developer, it doesn’t use Windows

cache for data reading/writing, so users wont be experiencing any lags.

Editor’s Note: This is the second review of FastCopy, check out the first review here. Starting from v2.0, FastCopy has been greatly improved. For alternatives, also have a look at Talent Copy V and UltraCopier.

The software claims to reach the device limit while copying an enormous data from one location to other. The full resource utilization is one factor which gets it over the line than other conventional copy boosting applications

available. Despite being merely an application for copying data, it is also responsible to move and sync data between two specified locations.

Once the application is installed, you will see it residing in the system tray, click on its icon to bring it up and specify source and target locations. Once specified, you can see the directory listing by clicking Listing button. Before starting the process, select the copy/move/sync related option from the pull-down menu, enter Buffer size (in MB) and set the speed of the process. The application also supports filters, you can include/exclude a set of files by file types/extensions. Once settings are configured, click Execute to begin the copy/move/sync task in question.

If you need to apply more filters and select HDD mode yourself, under Options menu, it contains a list of customizable options and features, you can also enable advance filter fields on main screen, change the HDD mode, specify Post-processing. Furthermore, you can also install its options in Windows right-click context menu, click Shell Extension and configure the options before installing them.

Once the extension is installed, you wont need to bring up its main interface each time to copy/move/paste/delete any folder/file, these options will be available in right-click menu.

In our experience, it works fine without hogging down system resources while copying data. It runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 (Both 32-bit & 64-bit editions are available). Testing was done on Windows 7 x86 system.

Download FastCopy