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7 Awesome Features You've Forgotten About in Windows 7
You may consider yourself a Windows master, but chances are even you've forgotten some of Windows' awesome built-in features. Here are seven of our favorite forgotten Windows features—and the cool things you can do with them.
Free Software Alternatives – OpenOffice and Other Free Software
Man, software can be expensive. With a fully loaded Microsoft Office suite costing up to $350, and the pro-level version of Adobe Photoshop costing an extra $1300, the price of basic software utilities can easily trump the cost of even a high-powered new computer. So, much as doctors may find themselves recommending generic drugs over pricey name-brand pills, I increasingly find myself advising people to procure free, open-source or Web-based alternatives to expensive programs.The Best Articles for Playing, Customizing, and Organizing Your Media
Computers today are used for much more than generating documents, writing and receiving email, and surfing the web. We also use them to listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, and to transfer media to and from mobile devices. Below are links to many articles we have published on various media topics, such as streaming media, managing and organizing your media, converting media formats, obtaining album art, preparing media for transfer to mobile devices, and some general information about working with audio and video.
Make Your Music Stream Just About Anywhere This Weekend
You love your music, but being able to listen to it just about anywhere isn't always possible.
You're handy with BitTorrent , you've learned your way around Usenet , and you have all kinds of files streaming onto your hard drive. Learn how to automatically unpack, rename, convert, and otherwise make your media ready for viewing with these 10 helper apps. Photo by saschaaa . Note: Both BitTorrent and Usenet, referenced throughout this list, can be used to trade free media, but have also been used to download copyright works. We leave the decision on how to best use download networks, and come to an understanding of how content creators are compensated, to the individual user. Update: For a few hours after posting, this Top 10 had a duplicated item due to a copy/paste error (yes, it gets that simple, sometimes).
Top 10 Tools for Managing and Automating Your Media Downloads
Top 10 Tools That Are Better in the Command Line
Typing commands into a terminal may seem tedious, but with the right tools, the command line can be incredibly powerful.
Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you, including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Office 365, Office 2010, SQL Server 2012, Azure, and more. - Microsoft SMS&P Partner Community Blog - By Eric Ligman
Throughout the year I try to share resources and information with you that I think will be helpful for you.
Video content is readily available online for you to download, but the download process isn't always as simple and automated clicking a button on a TiVO or DVR. Fortunately, with a little set up and some help from a few great tools and BitTorrent or Usenet, you can turn your computer into a TiVo-like downloader. Here's how to set them up. Note: This tutorial is going to mention Usenet.
How to Automatically Download TV Shows as Soon as They've Aired (or Turn Your PC into a TiVo)
Direct YouTube Downloader
Direct YouTube Downloader allows you to download entire YouTube Channel, Playlist or user's videos , including Ultra HD 4K, 1080p and 720p videos. The program is easy to use, just specify the Video URL, Playlist URL, Channel URL or Username for the video you want to download and click the Download button. Direct YouTube Downloader is a popular, free program that enables you to download and convert online videos (legal content, to which you have the rights) for later viewing on your desktop or mobile device.
Set Up a Fully Automated Media Center
Ed. note: We love a good media center almost as much as we love automation, so self-confessed media geek Alex Ward's fully automated media center caught our eye. It's all the benefits of an awesome media center without all the hassle. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how to use EventGhost to begin to automate your PC . Now we are going to take things a step forward and use EventGhost alongside a few other free programs to set up an amazing and fully automated Home Theatre PC. If you have not read my previous EventGhost article I advise you to go and read it now as I am going to skip past the basics here.Windows: YouTube download tools come and go, but Direct YouTube Downloader is a feature-packed tool that lets you download all of your favorites at one time, download an entire YouTube channel at once, lets you pick the resolution to download, and will even convert those video to play on your preferred mobile device after downloading.
Direct YouTube Downloader Downloads Entire Channels or All Your Favorites in Glorious HD
Geek to Live: Keep your calendar in plain text with Remind
by Gina Trapani Plain text is the most portable, munge-able, searchable, dependable, and software-agnostic file format there is. We've covered how to track your tasks and projects in a todo.txt file; today we're going to extend our plain text personal information manager to include a full-on calendar, using an old school UNIX program called Remind . Prompted by a great Remind primer posted on 43 Folders more than a year ago (those cats are way ahead of us), I started down the road using Remind. Don't get me wrong: I love Google Calendar , and its fancy dynamic pages, and sharing capabilities, and built-in alerts. However, I also like hosting, controlling and owning my own data.Windows 7 has been well received both critically and on the street. And while Lifehacker readers love Windows 7 , a well-built OS isn't a perfect OS. Check out these five applications that tweak Windows 7 and customize it to your heart's content. A stock Windows 7 installation a fairly pleasant place to work, judging from our readers' reports. Even so, a little tweaking of its behavior, looks, and other features lets you optimize and personalize that desktop. Check out these five great tools for doing so.
Five Best Windows 7 Tweaking Applications
Pack for Windows: Our List of the Best Windows Apps
Finding the right Windows app for your needs among the hoards of options can be tough. In our third annual Lifeahcker Pack for Windows, we're highlighting the must-have apps for every occasion. The Lifehacker Pack is a yearly snapshot of our favorite, must-have applications for each of our favorite platforms.We all love free apps, but it's hard to track when apps go on sale, and whether they're worth the trouble.
How to Make Limited-Time App Deals Last Forever
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Linux
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Alternatives
Software/Freeware Lists
Excel/Calc
Notes/Publishing