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System information utilities scan your system to extract information about its hardware, software, and usage. They're usually free and often portable, and they tend to extract the same sort of information, just more or less of it, depending on the tool. Where they differ most is what they do with that information, which essentially means how they present it. Free PC Audit from MIS Utilities is portable freeware that places more emphasis on convenient presentation and ease of use than on fine detail and endless options.

Free PC Audit runs when you click its executable file, which means you … Read more

Weight loss is a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States, and it's no surprise that software developers want a piece of that action. eFit Free Edition is a basic meal planner and weight tracker that lets you keep a record of your food intake. Although it works well enough, it's not nearly as full-featured as similar programs we've seen.

The program opens with a pop-up window encouraging you to take a survey about your weight loss plans. At the end of the survey you are given a code that will disable the survey pop-up in the future. … Read more

Chrome users are all a-twitter over Chromed Bird, the free Google Chrome extension that brings Twitter to your toolbar. It's a safe bet that most people think mobile when they tweet--smartphones, PDAs and such--but most users also access and manage their Twitter accounts from their desktops or laptops. Chrome fans will find that Chromed Bird makes Twitter even easier to use.

We downloaded and installed Chromed Bird, which placed the small Twitter-like Chromed Bird icon on our Chrome toolbar and opened its setup interface in a new tab. We signed in to our Twitter account, and Chromed Bird authorized … Read more

TSR Watermark Image Software from andromedaIT is a free program that can add watermarks to your images and documents. You can use it to mark the images you post online to keep them from being reused without your permission. You can make your watermarks barely visible or unmistakable, depending on your needs: a light mark for credit on images you mean to share, and heavy marking to protect images from being reused, such as when photographers post example images on their Web sites.

TSR Watermark's interface resembles a properties dialog but is really a typical three-panel Windows app in … Read more

Collages are a fun way to combine multiple images into one, and they have many potential uses, from greeting cards and scrapbooks to social networking profiles. CollageIt enables you to create good-looking collages without a lot of hassle.

The program's interface can be a little confusing at first glance--there are multiple menus and sliders--but if you focus on the Getting Started pane in the middle, you'll be fine. To create a collage, you simply select the images you want to use, adjust the settings, generate a preview, and save the collage when it's done. The program automatically … Read more

Sometimes the best programs are those that don't contain a lot of bells and whistles, but that simply do a specific task easily and efficiently. Directory List and Print is one such program. This basic utility lets users create, save, and print lists of the files on their computers. It's not fancy, but that's the point; it's made to do one thing well with as little fuss as possible.

The program's interface is plain and easy to navigate, with panes displaying the user's directories and the program's output. Check boxes allow users to … Read more

Writers have been using note cards to organize their thoughts for years. Mindola's SuperNotecard for Scriptwriting takes the time-honored technique to a new level by combining virtual note cards with a word processor optimized for scriptwriting. You can drag and drop note cards on your screen, link them together in scenes, create outlines, and edit elements as you write.

The program opens with a nag screen, a sparse interface dominated by the main display, and a dialog for starting a new project or opening an existing one. Right-clicking a card calls up its properties. We started a new project, … Read more

The free Outlook add-on Xobni beats the pants off Outlook's built-in e-mail search. While Xobni's core talent lays in rapidly finding e-mails and contacts based on any keyword search, it also excels at surfacing meetings and file attachments, hyperlinks, and even personal information extracted from social networks, like photos and phone numbers.

Visually, Xobni displays a sidebar that slides in an out from the right and over the reading pane. From there, you'll be able to search for contacts and messages, and interact with the profile, message, or files from there. When at rest, Xobni displays the … Read more

Watermarks can add a professional touch to any document as well protect content from plagiarism. Advanced Bulk PDF Watermark Creator makes it incredibly simple to add watermarks to multiple PDF documents.

The application's interface is plain and partly truncated at the bottom, though none of the buttons were cut off. We tried to resize the window but were unable to do so. The program is broken down into four steps that are labeled on the interface. First, we had to select the input directory and add the PDFs we wanted watermarked. Second, we entered the text for the watermark. … Read more