We are happy to present you the new Auslogics Disk Defrag 3^beta! We call it “new” because Disk Defrag 3^beta is not just a defragmenter but a fully featured disk optimizer. We’ve supplied it with advanced techniques of disk optimization that only paid analogs have. With Disk Defrag 3^beta you can replace regular data files from the MFT Reserved Zone, consolidate free space and optimize system files placement. Let’s have a closer look at how these optimization techniques may affect your PC performance.

System files smart placement

Commonly used by Windows, system files may be scattered all over the disk and intermixed with data files. Disk Defrag 3^beta arranges system files by defragmenting and moving them to the faster part of the disk.  This minimizes the time needed for HDD to access system files and improves overall computer performance.

Free space consolidation

It is not a secret that a simple defragmentation leaves the free space on the disk highly fragmented. It means that there are many free space «holes» all over the disk. Windows fills in those free spaces with newly created or extended files. The more fragmented the free space is, the more fragmented new files will be.

Disk Defrag 3^beta merges all those free space «holes» into a large contiguous block during optimization process. This allows the file system to create new files without fragmentation. As a result, free space consolidation dramatically reduces further disk fragmentation.

Keeping the MFT Reserved Zone Clear

Any NTFS drive is divided into two main zones: MFT and the rest of the disk. MFT (Master File Table) is a place where information about every file and directory is stored. In order to keep MFT records contiguous, Windows reserves about 12.5% of the disk volume for them. This reserved disk space is called “MFT Reserved Zone”.

Normally, NTFS prevents writing data other than MFT records to the MFT Reserved Zone. However, when the rest of the disk space is getting low, the MFT Reserved Zone will be used for storing regular files. This may lead to MFT fragmentation.

Since MFT fragmentation degrades hard drive performance by increasing the number of reads required for some files, it is important to keep the MFT Reserved Zone clear of regular files. Disk Defrag 3^beta moves regular data files from the MFT Reserved Zone into the rest of the disk space. This allows NTFS to allocate contiguous space for the MFT and thus to prevent its fragmentation.

Other improvements include a significantly increased defragmentation speed and a redesigned user interface. Navigating through Disk Defrag 3^beta is now even more simple and intuitive.  For instance, we’ve added a handy auto-defrag icon to easily customize and control an automatic defragmentation mode.  Another useful feature I’d like to mention is an ability of Disk Defrag 3^beta to list all the fragmented files after performing disk analysis. You can select one or several of them to see their clusters’ location on the disk.

And we have more good news for our users – with all the improvements we’ve made, Disk Defrag 3^beta still remains absolutely FREE!

You can download the new Disk Defrag 3^beta here.

Working on your computer means that there are several applications and files open, hundreds of processes and services running, not to mention disk activity, RAM and CPU usage, and Internet traffic. It’s very important to be in total control over everything that is going on, especially if you are concerned about computer security.

Of course, you can use the built in Windows Task Manager. However, it displays only a few applications and processes running on your PC. And it doesn’t show Windows services at all, despite the fact that services you never use take up a lot of RAM and can slow down your PC.  Windows Task Manager doesn’t provide any process descriptions, so it can be difficult to understand why those processes are there and what is their functionality.

Auslogics Task Manager is a brand new free Windows Task Manager alternative. It provides comprehensive yet easy to understand information about running applications, processes, and services, as well as disk activity, CPU, RAM and Internet traffic usage.

Not only does it display CPU and RAM usage by all applications and processes, but also by a selected program or process.

Auslogics Task Manager will let you know whether an application or a process is trustworthy or not, thus helping you detect possible security flaws.

Managing Windows services has never been easier. Auslogics Task Manager displays all services running on your computer. You can also view detailed information about each service.

The program is feature rich and has an intuitive interface – that’s why it’s ideal for both novice and experienced users. Auslogics Task Manager will help you manage your computer resources to fit your particular needs. There is also a free portable version of this application. It can be downloaded here.

Sometimes the Recycle Bin in Windows 7 gets corrupted and becomes pretty much unusable – it just won’t let you empty it. Fortunately, there is a quick and easy fix, which will let you reset the Recycle bin.

First of all you’ll need to make hidden and protected files and folders visible. Here’s how:

1. Click Start and go to Computer
2. Then press Alt on your keyboard to open the Menu
3. Go to Tools - Folder Options - the View tab
4. There you’ll need to find Hidden files and folders and select Show hidden files and folders
5. You will also need to uncheck Hide protected operating system files
6. Click OK to save your settings

Now you are ready to reset the Recycle Bin.

1. Go to Computer and then go to the drive where Windows is installed (usually it’s C:/)
2. Locate $Recycle.Bin and delete it
3. Confirm and click Continue if UAC prompts you so
4. Now you should get a dialog box. There you’ll need to check Do this for all current items checkbox and then click Yes
5. Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

The Recycle Bin should be working normally now.

Today we are very happy to inform you that we’ve released a new version of Auslogics BoostSpeed. We’ve made it more efficient, more stable, it now looks better, and has a lot of exciting new features.

BoostSpeed 4.5 includes a brand new utility – Auslogics Duplicate File Finder. With the help of this tool Windows users will be able to recover gigabytes of space taken up by unnecessary duplicates. Apart from using up hard disk space, having too many duplicate files can make computers run slower. Deleting them will help speed up disk defragmentation, Windows search, and anti-virus scans.

BoostSpeed 4.5 also includes the latest version of a popular and award-winning Auslogics Disk Defrag, which has a lot to offer. Users can now brighten up disk defragmentation by applying different defragmentation map colour themes. In addition to that, the program can auto defrag disks in the background, can be integrated into Windows Explorer, minimized into system tray, and defragment all disks at once.

Apart from that, the new version of Auslogics BoostSpeed has a significantly improved interface, works faster, repairs more errors, and has a lot of great new tweaks and advanced options. All this ensures that both novice and experienced users are comfortable when using it.

BoostSpeed is not just an optimizer – it’s a complete system maintenance tool. It will ensure your computer is fast and optimized for best performance, protect your privacy by erasing traces of Internet activity, wiping free disk space, and erasing files beyond restoration. It will also advise you on which Windows services are safe to disable and will let you easily apply dozens of useful tweaks that will make your computing experience more productive and enjoyable.

Download a free fully functional 15-day trial version here.

The full version costs $39.95 USD.  Auslogics BoostSpeed 4.5 supports Windows 7/Vista/2008/XP/2003, 32-bit and 64-bit and dual-core CPU.

Some time ago I wrote a post describing 5 best ways to backup your files. But today I came  across a file backup and synchronization tool that is really worth mentioning – PureSync Personal. It’s reliable, very easy to use, and free.

Unlike some other similar tools, PureSync mainly focuses on local backups. For example, it’s great if you use an external hard drive to backup your files and you want to back up only files that have changed and not the whole thing. Yes, I know Vista and 7 have their own backup and sync tools, but PureSync is a lot easier to use, saves you lots of time and lets you use one program instead of two. Let’s have a closer look at it!

Features

1. Synchronization – PureSync supports local drives, server volumes such as \\MyServer\folder, some MTP devices. It also offers WebDAV support. PureSync can compare files by date, name, and by contents. It can synchronize several folders at once and supports files larger than 4GB. Another handy thing about it is that it detects conflict, e.g. if a file has been modified on both sides since the last backup. You can use a filter to sort through files and there is a restore option to undo any changes.

2. Backup – the tool can backup several files or folders at once, including subfolders. You can also choose to exclude some folders. Backed up files can be encrypted and compressed too. You can use either normal or mirror mode. If you don’t fancy doing manual backups, you can either schedule automatic backups, or choose to backup a certain file or folder whenever it gets modified.

3. FotoSync for digital cameras – this is a handy little option that allows you to download only new photos from the camera rather than the whole lot over and over again.

4. Windows Explorer integration – PureSync provides a quick and easy way to synchronize or backup by integrating into Windows Explorer context menu:

How to Use It

The interface is very clear, which make the tool very easy to use even for novice users. All the settings are available in the wizard and are very easy to understand. Here’s how to use PureSync:

1. Set up a profile
2. Select a mode – Synchronization, Backup, or Foto-Sync mode
3. 
4. Select files and folders you wish to backup and select a destination
5. 
6. Set up synchronization type – schedule, when a file is modified, when a connection is found, or manual.

PureSync runs on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7 including the 64 bit versions. The latest version was release on the 17th of June, 2009. The software (and the website) are originally in German, so don’t freak out if you encounter spelling errors in the English version!

Are you an active social media user? Do you have umpteen different online profiles that you want to keep up to date, but that’s just too time consuming? Not to worry! The rise of social networking provoked a fast development of services to manage your social media life. Here is a list of top 5 social network aggregators.

1. Ping.fm – a widely used service that allows you to post from your mobile phone, IMs and email, and third party apps like iGoogle, Facebook, and twhirl. It accepts text and images and soon will even accept videos. Ping.fm supports over 40 social networking sites and more are being added all the time.

2. FriendFeed is becoming increasingly popular. Recently it has undergone a pretty drastic Twitter-like UI change, which made it a lot more popular. Setting up an account takes only a few minutes and using FriendFeed is just like using Twitter. You can access it from the web, a desktop app, iPhone, email, IM, and third party applications.

3. Chi.mp positions itself as a “content hub & identity management platform”. I like the identity management bit – sounds like some sort of psychiatric treatment. But seriously, it’s a very nice service.  Basically, chi.mp gives you your own .mp domain and website, where you can put together your contacts and content – you create your own social hub. You can even control who sees what by creating multiple Personas and controling which content is available for everyone, which one is for your colleagues, and which one is just for your friends. That way you won’t get your boss reading a joke about him that you sent to your friends (that happened to several people I know on Twitter). Chi.mp is still in Beta, but it does look quite promising.

4. Nomee is a real gem. It’s an application that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. This application is there to make your social life on the web simpler than ever before. It integrates with over 100 networks and counting, provides you with real-time updates, allows you to group feeds, and has a lot of customization options.

5. Cliqset is a platform that offers users to merge social information and makes it easy to share whatever you like. Developers can use the Cliqset platform to create their own social media apps. You can find the list of already existing applications here. Cliqset is still in Beta.

Being an active computer user I create and download files every day. I’m sure you do the same.  But then after some period of time you notice that you don’t have much disk space left – your hard drive gets packed with documents, pictures, music, movies, and other stuff. Some would just go and get a larger hard drive, a second one, or an external one – lots of options there, but they all cost money. Others start frantically deleting various files and in the end delete something important. No good. So, how about a FREE and safe way to increase free disk space?

We at Auslogics came up with a new free program – Auslogics Duplicate File Finder. With the help of this tool you will be able to recover gigabytes of space taken up by unnecessary duplicates.

Most PC users are unaware of how many duplicate files there are cluttering hard disk space. All those songs that have been downloaded twice, holiday photos uploaded multiple times, documents copied and pasted, so that you have them in two folders at once – sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That means lots of wasted disk space that can be reclaimed by simply deleting duplicate files.

Apart from using up hard disk space, having too many duplicate files can make your computer run slower. Deleting them will help you speed up disk defragmentation, Windows search, and anti-virus scans.

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is a nifty utility that will help you get rid of useless duplicates. It will ask you for duplicate files search criteria – you can match files by name, date and time they were created, size, and even contents.

Then it will do a quick but thorough search and present you with the list of duplicate files. You can review them before deleting any. That way you can avoid deleting any files that are not duplicates, but match your search criteria. To delete files, simply check the appropriate check boxes and click on the Delete button.

If you are not satisfied with the results, you can always go back before deleting anything and change the search criteria.

But what if you have two identical files that have different names? That can happen when you download something twice. No worries – Auslogics Duplicate File Finder uses a special search engine that matches files by content.

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder works on 7/Vista/2008/XP/2000/2003. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit and dual-core CPU. You can download it here.

Everybody knows that the Registry is a vital Windows component. If it becomes corrupt, you are bound to start getting serious problems with your computer. That’s why it’s so important to keep the Windows Registry healthy and optimized.

1. First of all, make regular backups of the Registry. Just like any other backup it will offer you some comfort, because you will be able to restore the Registry in case something bad happens to it.

2. Keep the Registry clean. You don’t want it to get cluttered with empty keys and missing references, because that can cause problems, such as slow and freezing computer. You can use our free Registry Cleaner to do the job.

Also keep the Registry as compact as possible, so that the disk space taken up by the Registry is optimized too.

3. Another thing worth doing is disassociating the .reg file extension from the Registry editor. This will help protect you from malware. By default .reg files are opened by regedit.exe, so it’s quite easy for malware to mess up the Registry. On the other hand, if .reg files are opened with Notepad by default, you are safe.

In Windows XP:

1. Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools
2. Select the File Types tab and  find the .reg file extension
3. Select it and click Change
4. Select Notepad as the default program to open .reg files and click OK

In Windows Vista:

1. Click Start and select Default Programs
2. Select Associate a file type or protocol with a program
3. 
4. Find the .reg file extension and click Change Program
5. Open Other Programs and select Notepad
6. Click OK and then Close

Remember that keeping the Registry well optimized prolongs your computer’s life and makes it run faster and more stable.

This is just a quick post to acknowledge the fact that at long last Google removed the Beta tag from Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gtalk and the rest of the Apps suite.

In software industry, a Beta tag means that the software is still in its testing phase. Usually Beta tags get removed after a couple of months, but Google appears to be really fussy about keeping them for a really long time – 5 years for Gmail, which became a subject for jokes!! Until yesterday, that is. Have a look at the Gmail logo – it’s Beta-less.

By the way, if you feel empty and sad without that Gmail Beta tag, you can re-enable it by going to Settings - Labs and turn on the Back to Beta feature – the tag will be back to lift your spirits.

But seriously, why did Google keep Gmail and other apps in Beta for so long? Apparently, they don’t really know themselves:

“Obviously we haven’t had a consistent set of policies or definitions around beta,” said Matt Glotzbach, a director of product management at Google. Mr. Glotzbach said that different teams at Google had different criteria for what beta meant, and that Google felt a need to standardize those. “It was time to address the issue and bring the products out of beta,” he said (via The New York Times).

I like the way he puts it – if you’re not sure what Beta means, simply pull the product out of Beta. Interesting concept, isn’t it?

Mozilla web browsers (Firefox and Flock) are my absolute favourites, so, like many of you, I’ve been waiting for Firefox 3.5 to come live. Now that we all had a chance to use Firefox 3.5 for some time,  let me share with you which of it’s new and improved features I like best.

1. I know this is not exactly a feature and it doesn’t sound too creative, but for me the number one improvement is speed. Firefox 3.5 uses the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine instead of the SpiderMonkey engine used in Firefox 3. As a result Firefox 3.5 is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3. Take a look at the SunSpider test results (in milliseconds). The test was performed on a Windows XP computer:

An additional improvement is better memory usage – Firefox 3.5 is not as heavy on RAM as the previous version.

2. A great new feature is HTML 5 support. If you are viewing a web page that is coded in HTML 5 and has video or audio in an open-source format like Ogg Vobris and Ogg Theora, Firefox 3.5 will treat that media as part of the page and not Flash content – no plug-ins or software downloads are require. This new feature provides lots of new ways for websites to display rich content.

3. Private Browsing is new for Firefox, but a number of competing browsers had it for a while. So it’s nice to see Firefox catch up there! And no, it’s not only for browsing inappropriate websites!  To start a Privet Browsing session you’ll need to either go to the Tools menu, or press Ctrl+Shift+P and do the same to turn it off.

4. Another handy security enhancement is Forget This Site. It’s really useful if you want to wipe a single website out of your history rather than delete the whole lot. To make Firefox forget a website all you need to do is press Ctrl+H – select a site – right-click it and select Forget About This Site.

5. The last feature I mention in this post is by no means less important than the rest – Location-Aware Browsing. Now Firefox can detect websites from your area. As a result, you get more relevant information than ever before. Very useful if you are looking for places near you and not in, say, New-York City, such as restaurants, libraries, or in my case shops that buy second-hand furniture! This feature is optional and Firefox doesn’t share your location without your permission – no need to worry about your privacy.

In my view, these are top 5 new Firefox 3.5 features. What are your favourite Firefox 3.5 features? Please share in your comments!