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Start Menu enhancements are numerous, but most complaints about the Windows Start Menu boil down to this: there's too much stuff in it, and you have to click through folders to get to your programs. ChemTable Software's Handy Start Menu addresses these two issues by grouping Start Menu items together by category and by replacing folders with shortcuts that open the application in question with a single click. You can quickly toggle back to the regular Start Menu, too. Better still, it's free.

Clicking Handy Start Menu's desktop icon opens a dialog with an About section … Read more

Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, is an expansion of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The official DotA Web site, playdota.com, lists all of the heroes used in the game and gives a detailed profile for each one. Included in these profiles are lists of sounds, the spoken phrases that heroes use in the game. Players who'd like to save these sounds for their own use should try PlayDota Hero Sounds. This Chrome extension makes it easy to save DotA sounds as MP3 files.

Like most Chrome extensions, PlayDota Hero Sounds is … Read more

We are predisposed to like any program that makes life easier, especially if that means collecting a lot of useful information in one place. That's exactly what Computer Specifications does. It's an extremely simple program with few features, but if you want a quick look at what's going on with your machine, you might find that it does exactly what you need it to do.

The program's designer didn't waste any time on aesthetics; Computer Specifications' interface is about as bare-bones as it could be. There's a series of text boxes displaying information and … Read more

The Bible can be a source of comfort and inspiration, and reading it periodically throughout the day is a great way for devout Christians to stay connected to their faith. Bible Verse Popup can make the Bible a part of your work day by displaying Bible verses periodically on your computer. We would have liked to see more features, but the program isn't bad if you're not too particular.

Bible Verse Popup's interface is plain and not particularly attractive. The Bible verses appear in a gray text box, and users can skip to the next or previous … Read more

Periodically when we shop online we come to the point in the checkout process where we're supposed to enter any coupon or discount codes we have, and we look ruefully at that little box, wishing we knew where we could find such things. We know that if we dug around online long enough we could probably come up with something, but who has time for that? Drop Down Deals is an ingenious Firefox extension that can detect where you're shopping and show relevant coupons and discounts right there on the page.

Drop Down Deals is an unobtrusive extension; … Read more

Did you have plans to get anything done any time soon? Other than playing Copter Game, that is? Because that's what's going to happen as soon as you install the free Copter Game extension for Google Chrome: Your productivity will crash, and so will you, or at least the helicopter you'll be flying will. It'll crash a lot--into the ground, the ceiling, and obstacles--as you learn to master the art of flight using nothing but your left mouse button. One more thing: You'll have a lot of fun.

As with all Chrome extensions, Copter Game … Read more

Scheming teenagers, wayward spouses, and other sneaky computer users sometimes inspire someone to keep an eye on them. BlackBox Security Monitor Express can do this task for you, keeping track of the Web sites, keywords, and text that are entered by each computer user. Whether or not you should be snooping is something we'll refrain from weighing in on; all we'll say is that this program works.

The program's interface is plain and pretty easy to figure out. A wizard walks you through the process of selecting which users or computers are to be monitored; these can … Read more

Why bother with Facebook if your "face" looks like everyone else's? There's no reason your Facebook page can't be as stylish (or as junky; why not?) as you want it to be. We looked at Naevius Facebook Layouts, a free tool that works with Internet Explorer. It makes customizing your Facebook look as easy as picking a theme.

A strange error message prevented Naevius Facebook Layouts from opening immediately after installation, but the program ran normally when we clicked the desktop icon, and subsequently, so we pretended we hadn't seen it. It opened with … Read more

We tend to find puzzle games addicting, and Softendo Cradle of Persia is no exception. There's nothing particularly remarkable about this game, but it's lots of fun.

The program's interface is plain and attractive. The object of the game is to collect money, materials, and food to build a new city. In practice, this simply means solving a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. Cradle of Persia is another variation of the ever-popular tile puzzle; in this instance you drag your mouse over at least three matching tiles to make them disappear, and to advance to the next … Read more