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Based on its name, we expected UVK - Ultra Virus Killer to be an antivirus program. While it can help protect your computer from threats, that's not exactly how it works; instead of detecting and removing viruses, it "immunizes" your computer against them, as well as a variety of other unauthorized changes. Between that and a whole suite of other features, UVK provides a powerful option for protecting your computer.

The "immunization" that UVK provides focuses on three areas: Windows startup and log-on, system registry entries, and Internet and Windows Explorer. Immunization of any of … Read more

SSuite Office - Premium HD bills itself as an office suite for the wide-screen monitor crowd, with large icons and other interface elements that make it easier to navigate. Although it succeeds on that front -- this large collection of applications does indeed have very user-friendly interfaces -- compatibility issues will likely limit the usefulness of the suite for many users.

Where to begin with SSuite Office? It comes with applications that you'd expect, such as a word processor (WordGraph) and a spreadsheet program (Accel), but there are other programs that we didn't anticipate, such as an image … Read more

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, next only to soccer. If you happen to be a fan, then this free Google Chrome add-on, ESPN Cricinfo from ESPN EMEA, is just what you need to get the latest news and information on the world of cricket just by clicking on your Chrome toolbar.

The Chrome add-on, once installed, is relatively easy to use. Just click on the icon in the upper-right corner of the browser, and the app will provide instant information on scores, news, and stories from cricinfo.com. The clickable links provide a quick way … Read more

It seems that nothing in Windows can't be improved by a little (or a lot) of tweaking, and the perfect example is the Clipboard. ClipMagic Lite a freeware version of a clipboard management tool. Like the others, it lets you save, store, and manage clips, especially text files and images. It automatically adds clips when you press CTRL+C or select Copy, and even saves URLs when copying text from online sources. It has many other features, though some of the tools and options described in the extensive Help manual and tutorials are only available in the paid upgrade, … Read more

Sometimes we get so used to doing things a certain way--finding a program in the Start menu, or opening our Web browser and entering a Web address--that it doesn't even occur to us that there might be a quicker, easier way to do things. SlickRun is a tiny little utility that can launch programs, open Web sites, record notes, and much more, all from one unobtrusive little bar that you can position anywhere on your screen.

When not in use, SlickRun displays current memory usage and the date and time. Clicking on it turns it into a text box, … Read more

Many users opt to replace the quirky Windows Media Player, either with one of the popular freeware open-source players or a for-pay "pro" player with more options. AVS Media Player is the latter type, only it's freeware. Like the open-source players, it handles a wide range of video, audio, and image files. With an attractive, up-to-date interface that will complement your video system, it's an excellent choice if you're looking for something a bit different from VLC, MPC, and the other free alternatives.

AVS opens with both its media player and playlist sections showing, though … Read more

Microsoft's Word and its clones dominate the word-processing scene, but some alternatives are worth a look, especially when they take a different approach. Take FocusWriter, for instance. It encourages focus and productivity with a full-screen view and a pared-down interface and features such as autosave, goal-tracking, formatting, spell checker, and find-and-replace. FocusWriter Portable is a fully portable version of this versatile freeware. You can save it on a USB drive and run it on any compatible Windows PC.

FocusWriter opened with a plain gray screen displaying our cursor. Hovering over the top edge produced a menu bar, while at … Read more

Over time, the Windows Registry becomes fragmented. It can slow down your PC if it becomes bad enough. Defragmenting the Registry makes it more compact, much like your hard drives. Of course, it's not as easy as that when you're dealing with the Registry, since errors can damage your system. You need a tool specifically designed for the job. Ainvo Registry Defrag is a free utility that automatically defragments your Registry on startup, either once or every time, depending on how you set it up.

Ainvo Registry Defrag opened with a simple dialog page explaining the next step, … Read more

Firefox is an open-source browser, and there are plenty of other browsers that are based on Firefox code with minor differences. CometBird is one such browser. Although for the most part it replicates Firefox pretty faithfully, it has a few unique features that set it apart.

We installed CometBird and then launched Firefox beside it; the two are almost--but not quite--indistinguishable. The typical menus are located in the typical places, although CometBird adds a "Softwares" menu that doesn't seem to do anything. CometBird doesn't seem capable of creating tab groups the way Firefox does, but it … Read more