clean

We're constantly installing and uninstalling the programs that we review for Download.com, and we're sure you can imagine the mess that this creates on our computer: files, icons, and menu items that are left behind, and lots and lots of registry errors. Fortunately, there's a wide variety of registry cleaners that can tidy things up for us. Argente - Registry Cleaner is one such program. We can't say that there's anything about it that really sets it apart from the crowd, but it does an adequate job as far as we can tell.

The … Read more

Our utilities update report is a list of updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This past week there were updates with a number of maintenance and optimization utilities, in addition to an update for a useful multi-GPU management tool.

Maintenance In maintenance utilities this week, both MacPilot and MacPilot Lite were updated. In the latest … Read more

CleanMem is a free tool that clears up your system's memory on a scheduled basis, thus preventing your system from running out of memory, turning to the hard drive for help, and slowing your system down. It calls a Window API, using built-in processes to do the work for it, which means fewer conflicts. While users whose systems are a bit short on memory will get the best out of CleanMem, even those with massive amounts of RAM can use it to good advantage by keeping their hard drives free of junk. It can keep SSD boot drives free … Read more

It can be a challenge to maintain a pristine music collection once you've migrated to a digital library. With all the moving, copying, downloading, ripping, and transferring files that sometimes goes on, many of us are bound to end up with some duplicate tracks scattered around our hard drives. If you want to get things all nice and tidy again--not to mention clear up some space on your computer--Similarity is here to help. This fairly basic utility scans your system for music files and helps you locate and delete dupes.

Check out Similarity on Download.com to continue reading … Read more

WASHINGTON--Cooperation on clean energy could be a high point in U.S.-China relations leading to benefits for both countries, government and business officials said ahead of a summit between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama this week.

Disputes between the world's two largest economies and energy consumers over China's wind power subsidies and its slowdown in exports of rare earth minerals, used in everything from wind turbines to cell phones, have dominated headlines in recent months.

The countries are also having wider arguments. The United States says China's currency, the yuan, is undervalued and … Read more

It's not uncommon to have to wait for your graphics software to open and load just to look at a picture, but even dedicated viewers like Microsoft's built-in tools have limitations. Image Eye from FMJ is a free image viewer that doesn't pretend to be Son of Photoshop. Speed is its advantage; it opens high-quality, nondestructive, nonaltering, individual views of nearly 30 digital image types in what we can only describe as "lickety-split." For viewing images, it's all you need.

Image Eye is a compact, zipped download that offers the option to associate it … Read more

People can't always be trusted to behave properly on computers that aren't theirs (or, for that matter, on computers that are theirs). Whether you're trying to limit the online shenanigans of your employees or the general public, Public Fox can help. This clever Firefox add-on limits the browser's ability to download files and perform other functions that may pose a risk to security or productivity. We can think of many places where this could be useful, from workplaces to libraries to teenagers' bedrooms.

Public Fox installs easily and is surprisingly simple to configure. The Options menu … Read more

There's all sorts of information being processed by your car's sensors and computers to which the average driver simply isn't privy. Griffin wants to give you a peek behind the scenes with its CarTrip OBD monitoring system and CleanDrive app.

The hardware consists of a small CarTrip module that plugs into your vehicle's onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) port and collects data from the car's computer, storing to its internal memory or an optional SD card expansion. The unit is able to then connect wirelessly to an iOS or Android device via Bluetooth and transmit that data … Read more

Registry cleaners are fine when used with care but can cause problems when used carelessly. Unfortunately, those users who most need a reliable registry cleaner are often unable to tell vital entries from junk, with predictable consequences. Registry cleaners now emphasize doing no harm; none more so than freeware registry cleaners such as Wise Registry Cleaner Free from WiseCleaner. It's touted as thorough but especially safe and easy to use, which we found an appealing combination. By and large, it lives up to the claim.

Wise Registry Cleaner Free's installer persuades users to download and install the Ask … Read more