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ie8 fix

6.0

Empty folder search-and-destroy

How many empty folders are in your system? Leftovers from uninstalled programs, temporary folders that moved in to stay. Wouldn't it be great if someone wrote a simple tool that finds and deletes all that junk? Someone did: Fast Empty Folder Finder scans folders, directories, and entire drives for empty folders, displays them in a list with previews, and deletes those you select.

At 111.5KB, Fast Empty Folder Finder is compact, and since it's also portable freeware, it requires no installation but runs as soon as you click its executable file. It has a very simple but … Read more

Plotting for science

Not so long ago, the typical science or research lab was filled with large, heavy instruments, each designed to do just one thing. Now scientists, engineers, and amateurs alike can download lab-grade instruments for free. For example, there's SigmaGraph, a free plotting and analysis tool from SIDI. It offers scientific graphing, curve fitting, editable data sheets, drawing tools, a scripting engine, and more.

SigmaGraph consists of three parts: the SigmaConsole, a mathematical tool that's sort of like a tiny virtual blackboard; the SigmaGraph interface, with a typical Windows layout; and the SigmaTray icon, which resides in the System … Read more

Turn down this tune-up

TuneUp360 is like many utilities that promise to clean, boost, and protect your system. Its all-in-one (or all-or-nothing) approach is aimed at novice users who are likely to be intimidated by similar software that requires you to make decisions about what actions to take. Like many such tools, it will scan your system and identify "dangerous" conditions, whether they really are or not, to persuade you to run its "fixes." However, to fix any of the problems the scan finds, you must buy the software. And, again as with so many of these products, what happens … Read more

BlackBerry Torch 9800 is official

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Blackberry Torch is official Details on Blackberry OS 6.0 Middle Eastern countries ban Blackberry phones Google rolls out multiple log-ins Jailbreakme.com raises security eyebrows Facebook updates Android app

All-in-one disk manager

Windows has built-in disk management tools, and they do a pretty good job, but many users turn to third-party software for more robust solutions. Easeus Partition Master Professional Edition combines three of the most essential disk management utilities in one easy-to-use package. Its Partition Manager performs all essential disk formatting and maintenance functions, but it does much more, such as extending NTFS disk partitions without rebooting. The Partition Recovery Wizard helps recover damaged partitions and lost, corrupted, or accidentally erased data, and the Disk & Partition Copy Wizard feature makes it easy to copy a partition or an entire disk … Read more

Intuitive torrent sharing

BitTorrent technology has revolutionized the way we share files, making the transmission of movies, large pieces of software, and entire albums of music a relatively quick process. There are many torrent-sharing clients out there to choose from, and BitSpirit is one of the better ones we've encountered. There's nothing flashy about it; it's just a well-designed, easy-to-use piece of software that makes sharing torrents a breeze.

BitSpirit's interface is attractive and intuitive, and even users with rudimentary torrent knowledge will be able to figure it out. Clear, well-labeled buttons give users access to the program's … Read more

BlackBerry OS 6.0: What we know so far

In light of the fact that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is itching to drum up excitement about its forthcoming version 6.0 operating system at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) conference this week in Orlando, Fla., it's too bad the company was customarily tight-lipped last week when we asked if it could confirm leaked photos and details of the very same OS .

As we predicted, RIM will be previewing the next generation of its operating system at the conference beginning on Tuesday. RIM has confirmed very little else about the OS, other than a promised debut in the … Read more

Leaked: BlackBerry OS 6.0 images, details

It may not be as dramatic a discovery as the likely iPhone 4.0 prototype in the San Francisco Bay Area that inundated tech headlines this week, but RIM is getting a taste of the premature spotlight as details of the latest operating system for BlackBerry smartphones circulate around the blogosphere.

Boy Genius Report said it got its hands on a BlackBerry smartphone running the OS 6.0 from a secret source at AT&T and wasted little time detailing some of the features within. When asked, RIM's representatives declined to comment on the disclosed information.

The OS … Read more