Maximum PC's Software Free for All

In the May issue of Maximum PC magazine, Alex Castle and Nathan Edwards have compiled short reviews of 65 software programs and apps that can enable you to do almost anything you need to do on your PC, except, perhaps, pay your taxes.

I recommend purchasing a copy if you can find it, or you can wait about 90 days, and go to their web site for a PDF version (past issues are usually archived about 90 days after the publication month. http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/pdf_archives )

For a quick reference, here is a list of the programs with links that they cover that should keep you browsing and evaluating for several months:

System Information:
CPU-Z & GPU-Z: www.cpuid.com www.techpowerup.com
HWMonitor: www.cpuid.com
Windirstat: www.windirstat.info
Intel Turbo Widget: http://intel.ly/17fUEU5
Speccy: www.piriform.com
GKRELLM: http://bit.ly/ZCjeds

File Management:
7-ZIP: www.7-zip.org
UTORRENT: www.utorrent.com
Dropbox: www.dropbox.com
WINMERGE: www.winmerge.org
Terracopy: http://bit.ly/rCXsWy
Filezilla: http://filezilla-project.org

Matinenance:
CCleaner: www.piriform.com
Revo Uninstaller: www.revouninstaller.com
Slimdrivers Free: www.slimwareutilities.com
Synchbackup Free: http://bit.ly8qX6a
File Hippo: www.filehippo.com

Benchmarking:
Unigine Heaven: www.unigine.com
Catzilla: www.allbenchmark.com
Furmark: www.geeks3D.com
Prime95: http://bit.ly/LnCXq
Crystal Diskmark: http://bit.ly/4lefV6
Sandra 2013: www.sisoftware.co.uk
FRAPS: www.fraps.com

Games:
Team Fortress 2: www.teamfortress.com
Tripes Ascend: http://bit.ly/Zcs82F
Quake Live: www.quakelive.com
Leage of Legends: www.leagueoflegends.com
Blacklight Retribution: http://blacklight.perfectworld.com
Dota 2: www.doa2.com
Planetside2: www.planetside2.com
Smite: http://bit.ly/YwHDye
DC Universe Oline: www.dcuniverseonline.com
Daggerfall: www.elderscrolls.com/daggerfall
Middle Manager of Justice: www.middlemanagerofjustice.com

Content Creation:
GIMP: www.gimp.org
Handbrake: www.handrake.fr
Andreamosaic: www.andreaplanet.com
Audacity: audacity.sourceforge.net
Rasterbator: http://arje.net/rasterbator
Blender: www.blender.org
Camstudio: camstudio.org
Videopad: http://bit.ly/glUz
Inkscape: inkscape.org
Open Broadcaster: obsproject.com

Security:
Avast: www.avast.com
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware: www.malwarebytes.org
Truecrypt: www.truecrypt.org
Keepass Password Safe: www.keepass.info

Documents:
Libre Office: www.libreoffice.org
Sumatra PDF: http://bit.ly/aHlCnC
Notepad ++: notepad-plus-plus.org
Abiword: www.abisource.com

Media Handling:
Image Resizer: www.codeplex.com
VLC Media Player: www.videolan.org
AIMP: www.aimp2.us
PLEX: www.plexapp.com
Picasa 3: picasa.google.com

Look & Feel:
Classic Shell: www.classicshell.net
F.LUX: stereopsis.com/flux
Display Fusion: www.displayfusion.com

Most Popular Passwords

Reposted from www.ic3.gov

Most Popular 2012 Passwords Revealed

SplashData.com recently published the following information regarding the most popular 2012 passwords on the web. The ranking was based on password information from compromised accounts posted by hackers online. The article was also featured on blogs.avg.com.

This year, the list is back! So it's time to see how, if at all, users have learned their lessons about what makes a strong password.
Here's the full list and how it compares to last year's:

#	Password	Change from 2011
1.	password	Unchanged
2.	123456	Unchanged
3.	12345678	Unchanged
4.	abc123	Up 1
5.	qwerty	Down 1
6.	monkey	Unchanged
7.	letmein	Up 1
8.	dragon	Up 2
9.	111111	Up 3
10.	baseball	Up 1
11.	iloveyou	Up 2
12.	trustno1	Down 3
13.	1234567	Down 6
14.	sunshine	Up 1
15.	master	Down 1
16.	123123	Up 4
17.	welcome	New
18.	shadow	Up 1
19.	ashley	Down 3
20.	football	Up 5
21.	jesus	New
22.	michael	Up 2
23.	ninja	New
24.	mustang	New
25.	password1	New

As you can see, people haven’t changed their password habits a whole lot in a year.
If your password is included on that list, or is a close variation of these passwords, it's really important to take action now!
Fixing your password problem can be very simple;
Long is strong: The longer the password, the more difficult it will be for someone to try and crack it using brute force. So, instead of a single word, with a jumble of symbols, numbers and characters, try a string of words. Use a line of your favorite poem, song or just something memorable. Feel free to add your lucky number at the end if you like.
Something like: "withnodirectionhome1085".
A famous Dylan lyric like this will always be easy to remember, and say you were born in October 1985. This means that you've suddenly got a 23 character password, which is much harder to crack than something much harder to remember such as "Phu!R7tRjX".
Variety is the spice of life: The trouble with smaller, complex passwords is that they can be a real hassle to remember, often forcing you to use the same password for multiple accounts which is never a good idea. So another benefit of having long, easy to remember passwords is that you keep many passwords.

The Biggest Trends Spotted at CES 2013

Via Today @ PCWorld

LAS VEGAS— We saw 4k HDTVs, a Blu-ray resurgence, smart refrigerators and other intelligent appliances, cool PCs, slews of tablets, and much more.
Here is a round-up of our trend stories from CES 2013:

• OLED and 4K at CES 2013: The fantasy and the reality (video) 
• Tablets rule: Every shape, size, and OS emerges at CES
• 4K TV faces a long road to the mainstream
• CES: The phones have left the building
• This year, PC gaming breaks free from your desktop 
• CES reveals the four new rules of PC simplicity 
• Gadget makers get pumped up about health and fitness tech
• Damage Control: Durable devices will let gadget makers stand out (video)
• The open-source car: automakers eagerly woo app developers
• E Ink's future foretold at CES: Next-gen will be high-res, support color (video)
• Blu-ray looks ahead to 4K

4k Panels expected to lead the headlines at CES this year

In previous years at CES, it was all about large screen TV panels, especially the emergence of OLED technology (which still is not available to the consumer in large screen TV's.)

Last year, I saw one 4k panel from LG that was fairly astounding in the level of detail it presented. Just like looking out a picture window.  This year, many manufacturers are announcing 4k panels, including this announcement from Vizio. I expect to see all major manufacturers with 4k TV's; but right now there is very limited content, and no standards for broadcasting that content over the air, cable, satellite or on physical media! A bit of cart before the horse.

Here's a blog article from The Verge on Vizio's entry in the "race." Link: http://bit.ly/VxhvUs (via shareaholic.com)

Intel's PC Processor Roadmap

Gleaned from PC Perspective, see above for Intel's latest roadmap for their PC processors, and read the full blog at: http://bit.ly/13ad8TU

Ultimate Windows 8 starter guide: Must-know tips, apps and utilities

via PCWorld

on 12/26/12

The year is drawing to a close, so there's a very good chance that you now find yourself staring straight down the gaping maw of Windows 8.
Maybe someone gave you a new Windows tablet or PC as a gift. Or maybe you decided to use your holiday down time to upgrade an old PC. The details don't really matter. You're now using Windows 8 for the very first time, and you're searching for answers on how to make the OS an integral, productive part of your high-tech life.

Sound familiar? Then walk with me as we take a tour of recent PCWorld Windows 8 coverage. I trust we have answers to all your Windows 8 questions.

Getting started with Windows 8

Right when the new OS launched, we published a number of essential how-to guides for first-time Windows 8 users. You can start your orientation process with this handy guide to maximizing your first 30 minutes

with the new OS. But perhaps even more useful is our compendium of 20 must-know Windows 8 tips and tricks

, which starts off with a thorough look at keyboard shortcuts—you should know them all if you don't have a touch screen.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Activate Windows Defender in Windows 8

Microsoft tossed its partners a bone by allowing OEMs to deactivate Windows Defender in order to ship boxed PCs with alternative security solutions installed. That's all well and good from a "variety is the spice of life" perspective, but one side-effect that isn't so hot is what happens when you fail to register that third-party security software: Windows 8 doesn't automatically reactivate Windows Defender by default. In other words, your pretty new prepackaged PC is wide open and vulnerable to all the nasties of the 'Net.
Fortunately, activating Windows Defender is a snap. Details in Brad Chacos' article on PCWorld:
http://bit.ly/ZfyoJE

Printer won't print?

At one time or another, if you have an inkjet printer, you may run into this problem. Some good advice as well as a link to a utility that may also help.

Link: http://bit.ly/W6ojgc (via shareaholic.com)

Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 (1 PC) + Free 8GB USB MicroSD - Free After Rebate at Newegg

I'm not a big Norton Ghost fan, but it is one of the original image backup programs, and continues to be updated with the latest features including the ability to mount an image to recover individual files from the image. Getting it free after rebate plus a microSD card you can use in your phone or tablet (sorry Apple folks, not for you,) is a pretty good deal.

Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 (1 PC) + Free 8GB USB MicroSD - Free After Rebate at Newegg
http://bit.ly/TYR3Ei

Attend CES 2013 for Free!

By James Falconer  | Dec 13 2012 | www.androidcentral.com

Do you love mobile gaming? Are you active on Twitter and Facebook? Do you spend hours on end posting in Mobile Nations' communities? More important, have you ever wanted to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and are available the second week of January next year? If you answered YES to all of these questions -- have we got an experience lined up for you!

There's no doubt that CES in Las Vegas is an event any tech junkie MUST attend at least ONCE in his or her lifetime. All of the latest and greatest (and sometimes bizarre) tech is at CES -- it's something to see. And even better than going to an event like CES as an outsider is to go insider. That's why we are thrilled to announce the "Mobile Nations 2013 CES Experience," in which six lucky individuals will receive round-trip travel and accommodations for CES 2013, courtesy of NVIDIA Tegra! Woohoo! Keep reading for all the details.

To Apply, Here's What You Need to Do:

1. Record a 30-second to 2-minute video - Fire up the video camera on your smartphone and record a quick video of yourself. Give a big hello to Mobile Nations and let us know which site(s) you're active on and why you love them. From there, tell us what your favorite mobile game is right now. Finally, tell us why you think we should select you to take part in this Mobile Nations 2013 CES Experience.

2. Submit Your Video - Upload your video to YouTube (you can leave it unlisted if you want). Then send an email to cesexperience@mobilenations.com with the link to your submission video. Be sure in your email to let us know your full name, address and phone number so we can get a hold of you if you're selected.

3. Like NVIDIA on Facebook or follow @NVIDIA on Twitter! - Show our friends at NVIDIA a little love. Recording and submitting your video is enough to enter, but we hope you'll go the 'extra mile' to show them your support!


Get your video submissions in soon, because the deadline for entries is Friday, Dec. 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST. We will select and announce the 6 lucky recipients across all of Mobile Nations early the following week!
Before you enter, read these important notes:

• Availability: PLEASE ensure you are available Jan. 7 - 12th, 2013. If we select your entry and you are NOT available during CES week, we will have to select another entry.
• Eligibility: The Mobile Nations 2013 CES Experience will be awarded to North American entrants only. Attendees must be at least 18 years of age.

What the Winners Get:

• Round-trip airfare - tickets to and from Las Vegas.
• Accommodations - complimentary accommodations (5 days, 4 nights).
• Passes to CES - all of the passes you'll need to experience CES and attend the NVIDIA press conference as an NVIDIA VIP.
• An Evening (or two) Out - spend an evening on the town with the Mobile Nations team and NVIDIA.
• The Experience of a Lifetime - winners are going to have one heck of a time!

What You'll Need to do in Vegas:

Of course, as an insider at this event, you're going to see and do a lot of cool stuff. Along with that comes some other cool things NVIDIA and Mobile Nations will want you to do:

• Attend an NVIDIA press conference as a Mobile Nations/NVIDIA VIP.
• Spend some time in the NVIDIA booth, where you'll chat with NVIDIA staff and conference goers. You'll also get first-hand experience of what CES is like from an insider's perspective.
• Share your pics and thoughts from the NVIDIA press conference and the CES show floor.
• Have FUN with the other winners, myself, and other members of the Mobile Nations team!

Good luck to all that enter, and remember, the entry deadline is Dec. 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST!