Picks: Best of 2007 Part 2 of 3

This week I'm looking back at more of the programs I liked best in 2007. Once again these are programs that I personally enjoyed evaluating. Some of them were Dr. File Finder Favorites and others weren't. Regardless, all of these program stand out in my mind for the way the work, the things they do, and so on. This week is part 2 of 3 of my "Best of 2007" These are the programs I enjoyed reviewing the most during the year and I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Find Desktop Standard, by IdeaSolutions S.r.l. is a program I came upon while I was looking for programs that could really search the computer. Find Desktop Standard is a powerful product that does full-text indexing on your computer. What does that mean? It means that you can search your computer and find the exact document you're looking for. The screen shot shows the program indexing the folders where I keep all of the Tucows editorial. Once the indexing is finished you can type in a word or phrase and the program will bring up a listing of every indexed document that contains your search terms. The program will also highlight the search term you use. The program is easy-to-use and intuitive, perfect for users with all levels of experience. Find Desktop Standard also utilizes O.C.R. which stands for optical character recognition. That means that it can really get into your documents and find what you need. You can use it to find things even in large numbers of documents. Find Desktop Standard is a powerful tool for finding text anywhere on your computer. So, if you have lots of documents and you'd like to be able to pull up the complete text when you do a search, this is the product you need to try. I recommend it!

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP

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I reviewed Local Cooling, by UniBlue because I liked the way it takes a stand against global warming. No, your computer doesn't put out carbon dioxide, but more than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of don't shut down our computers when we're not using them. Think about that for a minute. Global warming is a fact and it's going to have an effect on all of us. The diminished amount of sea ice is already endangering penguins, polar bears, and other animals. Rising sea levels are threatening island nations and will eventually impact costal cities. We look at each other and say, "But what can I do? Local Cooling is a 100% free power management tool that lets you optimize your power usage. Turn off your monitor, spin down your hard drives, turn off your computer. There are a number of configurable options so you can make the program work exactly the way you want. You can install and configure Local Cooling in just minutes and the net result is that you help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global warming is a very real threat to you, your children, and your grandchildren. So, take the time to download Local Cooling and install it on your computer. Tell your friend. Together all of us can make a difference. The way I see it, everyone wins!

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP

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Corel Paint Shop Pro, by Corel Corporation is a powerful paint program that I've been using for years. I first reviewed it when it came out in the early 1990's and over the years the program has gotten better and better. Corel Paint Shop Pro is perfect for both home and business use. And it's also relatively easy-to-use and comes with really excellent help. You can use it to convert graphics files from one format to another -- either one-at-a-time or in batches. If you want to get creative Paint Shop Pro comes with over 75 special effects you can apply to your graphics and pictures. It can also do screen captures, let you fiddle with colors, layers, and even put borders and frames around your pictures. Impressive. Corel Paint Shop Pro is a totally impressive graphics program that's wonderful for creating images from scratch as well as modifying existing graphics. This is one program that you have to try for yourself.

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP

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PrivacyView Software, by PrivacyView Software is a program I reviewed because it takes a truly interesting and unique approach to Internet privacy. Instead of obliterating all of your so-called tracks the program hides them instead. There are a ton of programs that will totally remove your search history, cookies, and every trace of where you've been on the Internet. At the same time, however, even you don't know where you've been. PrivacyView encrypts all of your Internet data so you can see it, but no one else can. In my opinion that's really a much better approach. PrivacyView lets you surf so you don't have to worry about where you've been. You can download photos, movies, or anything else and these files are saved in an encrypted area. When you close the browser all of your surfing history and cookies are saved. So, whether you're visiting adult Web sites or simply trying to buy a gift for someone without them finding your "tracks" in the history, PrivacyView is a great alternative. The big problem with always erasing your tracks is that it's inconvenient if want to go back. PrivacyView keeps all of your surfing private. Well done! Give it a try, I recommend it.

System Requirements: XP

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When I first saw KnowledgeWorkshop, by Learning Management Solutions I was absolutely blown away. It was just one of those programs that I had to look at. The description was eye-catching and this is no "ordinary" program. To begin with it's a Web browser and it has all the standard things you'd expect in a browser. At the same time, it's also a task manager which you can use to keep yourself on track. The program also serves as a word processor and it maintains a database where you can keep a lot of information. There are three versions, Personal, Plus, and Professional and you could easily use this product at work and at home. It has excellent help, online tutorials, and more. This program is loaded with features and functions, so I'm just going to try to hit the high points for you. Use it for keeping everything organized. Use it to manage data, personal information, projects, and much more. It would be a great tool for anyone doing research or who's in school. You can create "subjects" and then "topics" that relate to those topics. You can then have items that are associated with those topics. You can even have topics that are created automatically when things are added to specific folders. In a home setting it can be used to keep your household on schedule. Use it to store all of your home-related Web links like links to stores, software sites, and more. This is an impressive product. Believe me when I say that just what the Web browser can do is worth the price! You can save Web pages as a topic, highlight key text, gray out text you don't want to see, and even insert annotations. KnowledgeWorkshop can be used to read newsgroups -- a powerful feature all by itself. I subscribed to a number of newsgroups and downloaded the messages. You can mark a discussion as "read" tell the program to "ignore" certain discussions, and more. This program does so much that I could write pages about it. Import and export data, write notes with full formatting, maintain your schedule, and encrypt your data to keep it secure. KnowledgeWorkshop is one of the most innovative products I've looked at this year. Perfect for home, business, and school. Take the time to look at KnowledgeWorkshop -- I recommend it highly!

System Requirements: Windows NT/2000/XP

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I have to say that when I first downloaded Live TV, by Live Tv Software I thought it was probably going to be a bust. I mean really, "live TV?" I was curious so I had to do it. I don't know if all of the content was live but it was pretty slick. There were TV shows like Becker, Beverly Hills 90210, Dirt, and many more. There were movies like Electric Dreams, Moulin Rouge, and Anne of Green Gables, which is shown in the screen shot below. On top of that the program has just a ton of other features most of which have noting to do with TV. I'm talking a lot of features. Email notification, for example. You supply the email information and after that every time you get an email Live TV notifies you and you can use it with POP accounts and some Web-based accounts. The feature I like best it the radio! Seriously, many days I have it playing all day long. I can pick from a wide variety of radio stations, adjust the volume, mute it, and it stays out of my way in the browser. Live TV blocks popups, erases your Internet tracks, gives you quick access to videos on a number of sites, and lots more. Live TV Toolbar fits neatly into a single toolbar. What kind of surprised me is that you can configure what content is available. If you don't want something in there, remove it. Oh yes, you can do translations with it, read RSS news feeds, an a ton more. I now have Live TV in the browsers on all my computers and even in my virtual machines. So, check it out for yourself. I recommend it.

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Download Live TV NOW!

FileStream TurboBrowser, by FileStream is a powerful utility for managing all of your files. This program has constantly improved over the years and it's become a real power house. The program has lots of features that lend it to dealing with digital photos. One of these is called the "Digital Darkroom". Here you can do all kind of quick fixes to your photos like adjust color, remove red-eye, and lots more. What I liked about this function was that it made it easy to quickly fix up a photo without having to load a "paint" program or some other software. You can see a problem in a photo and go in and fix it on the spot. In testing it out I used it on some of our pictures from out trip to Ireland and it worked perfectly. Another great feature in Turbo Browser is the ability to do things in batches. That is a powerful feature because many similar programs don't have it. You can rename files, resize files, print files, and lots more in batches large or small. That's an amazing feature to have, trust me. Ahh, but don't think that you have to use FileStream Turbo Browser just with photos because it's a full-featured file manager. You can also use it to manager all of your documents including Word, Excel, PDF, and even PowerPoint. Here again the program makes it easy to manage all your files. You can use FileStream TurboBrowser to organize documents, print them, and even tag your favorites. In testing it out I found this to be a really powerful feature because I could "flag" the files I used most. Slick.

Speaking of documents you can view a huge number of file formats in FileStream TurboBrowser. If this was all you got it would be worth the price of registration, but there's more. (Hmm, that sounds like an infomercial.) This product has lots of extra features. With Turbo Browser you can upload files to your Web site from within the program. How many file managers let you do that? Not many. Oh, and if you see a mistake in a file you can also edit it within the program. Fix up your text, your HTML, and be on your way. How about burning a CD or DVD of your photos or documents? Yep, FileStream Turbo Browser can do that as well.

FileStream Turbo Browser is a powerful, full-featured file manager in every sense of the word. It's easy-to-use and intuitive, perfect for both new and experienced users. It has features that similar products don't have that make it stand out from the rest. So, if you want to manage your photos, music, and documents with power and ease, give FileStream Turbo Browser a try. I recommend it!

I hope you'll join me for Part 3 of 3 next week as I finish up my look at my Best of 2007.

If you have a question on how to do something on the computer you can ask me and I'll review some software and give you a solution to your problem. You can email me by clicking HERE You may not receive a reply, but all requests will be considered.