Best Windows Software Of Year 2014-15

1. TakeOwnerShip Pro (An app that helps solve those annoying ‘Access Denied’ errors)

2. ScreenToGif (Record a screencast and convert it to a high quality GIF)

3. Nugget (A command line download utility that scans files with Virus Total)

4. Digify (An extra layer of security added to your favorite file sharing services)

5. BrightExplorer (Adds Tabs To Windows File Explorer)

6. Recordit (A simpler screencasting tool with GIF conversion)

7. Autorun Organizer (Clean up and organize the programs your system runs on start-up with a simple UI)

8. Rummage (Index files by date and tags)

9. BDReader (A comic reader that detects panels and makes for better reading)

10 Start Screen Unlimited (Add Customizable Widgets To Windows 8 Start Screen With )

11. WifiChannelMonitor (Get Detailed Info About Access Points & Devices Connected To Your System)

12. Moo0 File Monitor  (View and log file changes in real time)

13. TrID  (Identify a file type without needing to open it)

14. Capsa (A comprehensive network analysis tool)

15. Feel The Wheel (Control Windows Opacity And Size With The Mouse Wheel)

16. SmallX264 (Uses HandBrake GUI To Transcode Videos In Batch)

17. Taskbar Control (Hide And Unhide Windows Taskbar With A Hotkey)

18. Hddb (Create Hard Disk Database)

19. PDF Eraser (Edit PDF files and  add images & text to them)

20. Lyrics Finder (Find lyrics and add them to your MP3 files)

21. Musix (A gorgeous music player with ID3 tags and playlist support)

22. Simple Run Blocker (Restrict Access To Apps On Windows)

23. CrowdInspect (Scan Running Windows Processes Over VirusTotal, WOT & More)

24. CopyQ (Clipboard Manager That Keeps Your History & Supports Scripting)

25. InstalledDriversList (Lists All Device Drivers Currently Installed On Your PC)

26. Jumpshare (Upload & Share Files, Folders & Screenshots In One Click)

27. Pushbullet for Windows (Transfer content between your Android phone and Windows PC)

28. ScreenTask (Share Your PC’s Screen With Any Computer Over WiFi Or LAN)

29. ChrisPC DNS Switch (Switch Between Over 30 Popular DNS Servers From Windows System Tray)

30. Junior Icon Editor (Create & Edit Icons On Windows)

31. tinySpell (A Lightweight Universal Spell Checker For Windows)

32. PCI-Z  (View Detailed Info For PCI Devices On Your Computer)

33. Light (A Lightweight Variant Of Mozilla Firefox Stripped Down To The Essentials)

34. Charms Bar Customizer (Customize the Windows 8 charms bar)

35. The Long Tail (Listen To The Least Played Songs On Spotify)

How To Disable / Enable Windows Firewall By Command Prompt

STEP 1

Firstly, you need to launch the Command Prompt. For that, start typing cmd into your Cortana search box. This will result in the Cortana displaying the search results for you. Find the one named Command Prompt.

STEP 2

Now right click on Command Prompt and from the menu that appears, click on Run as administrator. This will open the Command Prompt in administrator mode.

STEP 3

To turn off the firewall, type-in or copy-paste the following command into your Command Prompt.

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off

STEP 4

If there are no errors in the command you entered, the Command Prompt will show a success message which says Ok.

STEP 5

If you ever feel like turning on your windows firewall again, just open the Command Prompt in administrator mode again and type-in or copy-paste the following command.

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state on

STEP 6

Just like before, if there are no errors in the command you entered, the Command Prompt will show a success message which says Ok.

There are some more commands that are widely used to manipulate the windows firewall. Some of them are explained below.

Firewall For Current User Only

If you want to disable or enable the windows firewall for the current user only, you can refer to the following commands. This will retain the firewall settings for others users in the system.

To disable:
netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off

To enable:
netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state on

Firewall On Domain Network

To disable:
netsh advfirewall set domainprofile state off

To enable:
netsh advfirewall set domainprofile state on

Firewall On Public Network

To disable:
netsh advfirewall set publicprofile state off

To enable:
netsh advfirewall set publicprofile state on

Firewall On Private Network

To disable:
netsh advfirewall set privateprofile state off

To enable:
netsh advfirewall set privateprofile state on

8 WiFi Scanners to Discover Hidden Wireless Networks

1. inSSIDer

inSSIDer is the most popular free and open source Wi-Fi scanning tool available today. It is easy to use and understand without all the confusing configuration. After installation, running inSSIDer will automatically select your wireless adapter to start scanning for available access points. Then the results will be shown in a sortable table in the program displaying information such as SSID, channel, security, RSSI, MAC Address, maximum rate, vendor and network type.

The hidden wireless network is shown in the first line with an empty SSID but the rest of the information about the network is displayed. inSSIDer works on Windows XP/Vista/7 (32-bit & 64-bit) and also on Android and Mac.

Download inSSIDer

2. WirelessNetView

Another excellent small and portable utility by Nir Sofer called WirelessNetView allows you to view the available wireless networks around you. By placing the OUI database at the same folder as WirelessNetView, it can even show the brand of the wireless router based on the MAC address. It is possible to generate a HTML report file from the right click context menu and it also has command line support to save the list of wireless networks into an external TXT, CSV, HTML or XML file.

The hidden wireless network is shown without a SSID. A unique feature found in WirelessNetView is the ability to restart Windows Wireless Service from the Options toolbar or alternatively from the hotkey Ctrl+R. WirelessNetView works from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Download WirelessNetView

3. Winhotspot

Winhotspot is actually a stand alone application that allows you to easily create a hotspot to share your Internet connection using your wireless adapter. However it also comes with a scanner which can be accessed from the WiFi Stats tab and clicking the Refresh button shows all the available wireless networks including the hidden ones.

The wardriving feature is very basic that only shows the important information such as SSID, Auth, BSSID, Signal, Radio and Channel. This utility is only 154KB in size and works only in Windows 7 and 8. The file is hosted in CNET’s server and you should click on the Direct Download link instead of the big Download Now button to avoid downloading the unnecessary 600KB CNET installer.

Download Winhotspot

4. Homedale

Homedal (read our full review) is another portable and free wireless monitoring tool that is capable of showing hidden wireless networks. The program is divided into four different tabs showing an overview of your wireless adapter, access points, signal graph and options. At the Access Points tab you can see all the detected networks with the signal strength levels being automatically updated every few seconds.

An interesting feature found in Homedale is the ability to connect to the access point by right clicking on the AP and select Connect. Unfortunately the connect command does nothing to the hidden ones without the SSID.

Download Homedale

5. NetSurveyor

NetSurveyor by Nuts About Nets seems to be a more professional tool as it comes with logging to record and playback the data. Other than that, a PDF report can also be automatically generated from the File menu that shows the discovered networks, beacon qualities, usage of channels and timecourse/heatmap/spectrogram of channels.

Hidden wireless networks are shown as UNKNOWN_SSID_BSSID in the program. The channel usage bar graph instantly tells you the overlapping channels with the colored bars. Even if your computer does not have a wireless adapter, NetSurveyor can be ran as DEMO mode to get a feel on how it works. NetSurveyor works from XP SP3 with Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 or later.

Download NetSurveyor

6. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is biggest in file size at 21MB if compared to the rest of the scanners mentioned in this article. The program has a modern ribbon type of user interface which seems a bit unnecessary because it only has 1 Home tab. The program categorizes into four different parts which is the radar, connection information, found networks and signal history. The radar simply displays the access points closest to you.

A gadget version of the Inspector can also be downloaded from the official website. It is free and works on Windows XP SP2 or later, Vista, or 7.

Download Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

7. Vistumbler

Vistumbler is a free wireless network scanner coded in Autoit made for Vista to replace the outdated Netstumbler. Vistumbler has been around since 2007 and an updated version has been recently released after without updates for 2 years. The method used by Vistumbler to scan the access point is the same as method #8 below except the results are shown in an easy to read table.

Running Vistumbler will report that an update is available even though we’ve just downloaded the latest version. Clicking on the Yes button will prompt an error about a variable used without being declared and clicking OK will close the program. What you need to do is simply click No when it ask you if you like to update vistumbler.

Download Vistumbler

8. netsh

If you are unable to install and run any of the 7 tools above, netsh would be your best alternative. netsh is a command shell tool by Microsoft found in Windows operating system. Simply launch command prompt and type the following command line to get a list of wireless networks. It is advisable to disconnect from any access points before running this command to get a more accurate result.

netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid

The netsh command is useful because it doesn’t require installation of third party programs but it does not come with a fancy graphical user interface or nice looking graphs. Surprisingly the netsh tool is able to show quite a wealth of information if compared to the third party tools mentioned above. Do take note that if both wired and wireless are connected, you will need to disable the wired connection first or else you’ll get the message “There are 0 networks currently visible”.

Six(6) ways to share screens between devices

Air Video

Having a second display for your computer does have some undeniable advantages — you could mirror the display to show the same content to more people or simply extend the display, so that you can have multiple windows viewable at a glance.

And now, if you have an Android or iOS phone/tablet, you don't even need to buy an additional display — the phone/tablet becomes the second display — you only need to buy the Air Video app for Rs 550 (a free version is also available, so that you can see how it works).

The developers (Avatron Software) have made a server software available for both Windows (XP, Vista & 7) and MAC (OS X 10.6 or later) on their website — simply install the app on your mobile device, the server software on your computer and connect both devices to the same network. And yes, it is cross platform enabled, which means you can use an Android device as a second display for MAC and an iOS device for Windows.

WiDi

Certain laptops (especially newer Ultrabooks) come with Intel's WiDi or Wireless Display feature. Look for a WiDi sticker or check the specifications of your machine to find out whether it has WiDi.

With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to any HDMI capable display — the only catch is that you need to separately purchase a WiDI adapter which receives the signal from the laptop. Adapters are available from brands like Netgear, Logitech, D-link & Belkin, priced at roughly Rs 6,000.

The adapter is what outputs the signal to the display using an HDMI cable — the advantage is that it is small enough to be hidden away and achieves high fidelity transmission without any fuss.

If your laptop has WiDi and a third generation Intel Core processor, WiDi supports mirroring of 1080p full HD video, Blu-Ray playback and transmission of 5.1 channel digital audio.

VNC

VNC (Virtual Networking Computing) is one of the most commonly used methods for screen sharing. Using VNC, you can not only view the screen of a remote computer but also control it. VNC functionality is also available on mobile operating systems (using apps).

In fact, several companies use VNC as the backbone to offer remote tech support to their customers. A typical VNC setup consists of a server and client machine.

The client machine connects to the server and can be granted access to either view or to control the server machine. A single server machine can connect to multiple client machines — useful for collaboration or presentations with multiple users.

With the basics out of the way, you can try it out for yourself. Windows users can get TightVNC (www. tightvnc.com) while OS X users can use Chicken (http://goo.gl/jDBtF). If you are looking for crossplatform VNC software, then TigerVNC (http://goo.gl/pnNAw) is what you need. All of these are free and offer basic password protection for security. If you need enhanced security, you can go for paid software like RealVNC (www.realvnc.com).

Once you have one of the VNC servers installed on your computer, you can access it from your mobile device easily. Just search for VNC in the respective app stores and feed in the details given by the VNC server software.

Wireless HDMI

Normally, a good quality HDMI cable is the best way to connect an HD video source to a TV or projector.

However, there are cases when this may not be viable — for instance, if you need to mirror your laptop to a TV placed more than 5 metres away, if a cable will trip people up or if you need the video source to be moved around. A wireless HDMI solution essentially does the same job as the cable — transmits HD quality video and sound. It usually consists of two parts; a transmitter that plugs into the video source (like an HDMI-equipped laptop or media player) and a receiver with an HDMI output.

Both parts need a power connection too and you will still need two small lengths of HDMI cable; one each to connect the transmitter and receiver to your source and display respectively.

Another advantage of this system is that you can have up to four separate receivers (and therefore four different displays) paired with a single transmitter (Rs 22,000 onwards from www. latentech.com).

Web-Based Screen Sharing

Many workplaces do not allow employees to install software on a company machine. If you have a PC with limited functionality, you can use a browser based solution for screen sharing as well as remote control.

Head over to www.join.me and select the 'basic' version. It will download an executable server file to your machine. The server will then give you a unique 9-digit access code.

Fastest Ways to Transfer Files Between PCs and Mobile Devices

Between Windows and Windows
The best method for Windows-to-Windows data transferal depends on how often you will make those transfers. If it’s a one-off file transfer, then you’re better off using something like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct.

For Bluetooth to work, both the sending and receiving Windows computer must be Bluetooth-compatible. Wi-Fi Direct is a similar concept, except files are sent and received straight over Wi-Fi instead. While Wi-Fi Direct is much faster, the downside is that it isn’t as universally available as Bluetooth.

Either way, we have a guide to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct file transfers on Windows 8.1; check it out if that’s the way you want to go.

On the other hand, if you will send a lot of files over a long stretch of time, e.g. if it’s part of your regular routine or workflow, it’ll be more convenient to set up a shared folder or shared external drive on the network, one that other computers can access at any time to pull files on demand.

Consult our home networking guide for more details on that.

Between Windows and Non-Windows PCs
These days, it isn’t uncommon to have some mixture of Windows, Mac, and/or Linux machines under one roof. While these systems tend to remain isolated most of the time, there are times when you might need to move a file from one to another.

The main obstacle is that each system has its own unique way of storing file data, called file systems. For example, the most common are NTFS on Windows, HFS Plus on Mac, and EXT* on Linux. Conversion between file systems is not always easy.

But in the case of Windows-to-Mac, it is. Starting with OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Macs have been capable of reading and writing in NTFS format, as long as the user makes a necessary system setting change.

This means you can share a folder between Mac and Windows and transfer files through it. Check out our tutorial on sharing files between Mac and Windows for detailed instructions.

The same holds true for Windows-to-Linux, but the process is a little more involved. Each system can set up a folder for the other system to access, but you’ll need to install cifs-utils (to access Windows folders from Linux) and samba (to make a Linux folder visible to Windows).

HTG has a wonderful sharing guide that explains how to do all of this in fine detail.

Between Windows and iOS
For the most part, file transfers between Windows and iOS involve little more than music, in which case you could just go ahead and use iTunes for synchronizing–but iTunes tends to be a frustrating mess when used on Windows.

The good news is, there’s a better way.

FileApp is an app, available on both iPhones and iPads, that acts as a mobile device file manager. With it, you can browse and open any file that resides on the device you’re using, including formats like PDF, DOC, XLS, and PPT. (You get to decide which app the file opens in.)

But what we’re really interested in is FileApp’s ability to share files over Wi-Fi. It essentially turns your mobile device into an FTP server, allowing any computer to connect (using an FTP client) and download files directly.

Head over to our guide on sharing files with FileApp for step-by-step directions on how to get it set up. Do note that anyone who connects through FTP will be able to view all files on the device.

Between Windows and Android
Like FileApp, which was mentioned above, Android has several apps available on the Play Store that can turn any Android device into an FTP server. When the server is on, any computer can connect, browse the entire Android file system, and download files at will.

At this moment, my preferred app is My FTP Server. It doesn’t look too great, but it’s incredibly simple and straightforward, and that’s all you really need when it comes to file transfers.

If you’d prefer to send individual files rather than opening up your device as a full-blown file server, consider using PushBullet (recommended) or AirDroid. Both can send file

Five Best Malware Removal Tools

Spybot Search & Destroy (Windows, Freeware)

Spybot Search & Destroy has made quite a name for itself over the years, earning accolades from both general and computer-focused publications. Spybot Search & Destroy is the highest ranked freeware tool at 2Spyware.com, a website that ranks malware removal tools. In addition to scanning for malware, Spybot Search & Destroy also has a variety of additional functionality, including a botnet scanner, hosts-file modification (to keep malware from calling home), a secure file shredder, and a dummy code feature (it replaces malicious or questionable adware modules with inert code so the dependent program will keep functioning). As an added bonus Spybot Search & Destroy is compatible with every version of Windows dating back to Windows 95.

SUPERAntiSpyware (Windows, $30)

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Edition 5.0 1-user License Annual… SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Edition 5.0 1-user License Annual… SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Edition 5.0 1-user…

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SUPERAntiSpyware is available as both a freeware and premium edition like Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (see below), but the level of restrictions on the freeware edition are considerably higher. The free version is limited to basic on-demand scanning and malware removal. The premium version includes real-time scanning, registry protection, a scheduling service, auto-scan on startup, and 50 startup diagnostics to stop malware infections before they spread. One of SUPERAntiSpyware's strongest selling points is its high level of compatibility with other protection tools like Avira, Kaspersky, Symantec, and McAfee. In most cases it can be run along side other tools without any conflict.

Sponsored

ComboFix (Windows, Freeware)

ComboFix is just as spartan as the screenshot here makes it look. You download ComboFix, run it, and it takes care of the rest. The basic ComboFix process looks like this: It backs up your registry, checks to see if you have Windows Recovery Console installed, and then it goes to town on your system scanning away through 40+ stages. When it's done, ComboFix spits out a log file and lists all the malware it found, which ones it was able to remove, and which ones you'll have to use your Google-fu to look up how to remove manually. It isn't fancy, but it gets the job done and gives you a detailed report at the end to take to security forums for help if you need it.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (Windows, $25)

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro 2013 Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro 2013 Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro 2013

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Malwarebytes' flagship application Anti-Malware is a shareware malware-removal tool. The principle difference between the free and premium version of the application is real-time monitoring. If you don't need active scanning against threats, the free version uses the same database and does an admirable job ferreting out infections. Anti-Malware was, for example, one of the few malware removal tools that could detect and remove the Antivirus XP 2008, a spyware application that masqueraded as an antivirus app. The Anti-Malware installation includes another application from Malwarebytes called FileASSASSIN—a helpful tool for deleting files locked by Windows.

HijackThis (Windows, Freeware)

HijackThis stands alone in this Hive Five as being the least automated yet most likely to completely wreck your system if used incorrectly. HijackThis does a comprehensive scan of the state of your computer and reports back an enormous log file. The tool makes no judgement on whether or not an application, browser modification, or registry entry is malicious or not. It simply generates a list of things that could have been potentially altered or tampered with by spyware, malware, or other malicious programs. Advanced users can look over the log themselves and determine what needs to be p