BluePrint Internet, making sense of the internet

Simply Icon creates perfect icons from any image

2009-11-09T13:42:00.001Z

There just aren't any decent icon creators our there, most of the time you have the image you want to use, but can't get it into a multiformat icon. Well SimplyIcon is the freeware program for you. It will generate 32x32, 24x24 and 16x16 icons automatically. It will also generate the 128x128 level if your source image is equal to or larger than 128x128.

Visit http://www.smoothdraw.com/product/freeware.htm to download it now for free.

ParkAtMyHouse.com

2009-11-09T13:04:00.001Z

Try out the new service from Park at my house .com. Here you can search for private drivways wher for a fee you can park your car. You charge whatever you like each day and the website take 15% of what ever you earn. Click on the logo above to visit their website.

Forget WinZip, try 7zip, free for personal and commercial use!

2009-08-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

http://www.7-zip.org/

7-Zip is an open source zip program for Windows. It can unzip many differnet archive types including rar and isos.

It is free for commercial use as well as at home and it come with a command line interface.

Some of it's features include...

High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
Supported packing / unpacking formats: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
Supported formats for unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
Compression ratio for ZIP and GZIP formats: 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
Self-extracting capability for 7z format
Integration with Windows Shell

Free Microsoft Antivirus software - security essentials

2009-07-03T14:32:00.003+01:00

Microsoft have now fully released their free 'for home use' Antivirus and AntiSpyware solution, it is downloadable from here...

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

This software now replaces Live OneCare and is basically the same piece of software as Microsoft ForeFront, which is paid for Malware protection for businesses.

Backup your PC to your other PC's, or your friends, or online

2009-06-23T11:47:00.002+01:00

Needing to backup your files but never manage to get around to doing so because you have to dig out and plug in your USB device? Well CrashPlan could be the software your looking for. Using a P2P network between your other PCs and your friend's PCs, you can ensure that you always have a backup to restore from.

It's a system that requires registration but once you have (only email and name is needed), you can start backing up as much data as you like to other PC's you use, either at work or at home. But the clever bit, is when you can ask a buddy to backup your files to their system. Of course all your data is encrypted and you can backup their data too.

This is backup software and not syncing software, you would still use something like Dropbox for your working documents folder, however CrashPlan is great for your pictures and your MP3 collection.

Download it now from www.crashplan.com

Panda's Free Cloud AntiVirus

2009-05-04T20:27:00.007+01:00

I'm always looking out for better, free and slimmer anti-virus software for my home PC's. I was excited to here of this Beta from Panda Software.

Panda's Cloud Anti-virus software is a piece of software which rather than downloading the DAT's from the servers companies, it sends some information about a file that it has scanned to it's servers for confirmation that it is clean.

Try it now, it's free while in Beta and according to their Blog, it will be free once out of Beta - although I expect not free for commercial use.

Download it now from... http://www.cloudantivirus.com/

Web Meeting thats Open source and free to use for up to 20 users with DimDim

2009-03-10T17:45:00.003Z

This is an open source tool that allows you to host Web Meetings for up to 20 participants for free. It just uses your browser and flash so there is no need to install anything.

It's easy to set up and comes in extra flavours if you require more people to attend. Features include screen sharing, chat, video and voice broadcasting.

They are hosting live meeting demonstrating the tool all the time, so visit http://www.dimdim.com/ now and click on a meeting demo on the right hand side.

If you don't like the idea of using their hosting then you can download the system as a VMWare image and run your on managed server, this is free and alows upto 100 users for free.

Find the files taking up server storage with Free Disk Usage Analyzer

2009-02-12T20:35:00.002Z

Free Disk Usage Analyzer is a free application that enables you to find out how much space the files and directories consume on your disk drives and your Windows Systems, it is especially useful for file servers - it helps you find obsolete files and folders.

The tool analyses your disk drives and collects several statistics which you can view as overview charts and via a familiar interface just like explorer.

Download it now at http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_disk_analyzer

SharePod - manage your iPod or iPhone without ITunes

2008-12-10T10:05:00.005Z

SharePod is an application which allows you to copy music and videos to and from your iPod, it is only 2mb in size and it can be stored on your iPod for portability. The user interface is very friendly and easy to start using.

Visit http://www.getsharepod.com to download your copy today.

Store, sync and share your files from multiple computers - Dropbox

2008-10-16T13:00:00.003+01:00

UPDATED: Dropbox is an online service which gives you 2GB free online storage to store, sync and share (if you decide to share) any type of file. Their no nonsence approach means you get a very clean and usable interface both with their desktop application and via the website.

Syncing happens in the background, and basically anything you put in your Dropbox folder on each pc will appear on all your other PC's automatically. It is a very intelligent system, as if the file you are deciding to store in Dropbox already exists in another user's Dropbox account, then it does not need to upload anything, as it just makes that file automatically appear in your Dropbox in a flash. Don't worry this is done via file hashing so it ensures that even if your file names are the same, it makes sure that the actual content of the file is the same too.

If 2GB is not enough, you can upgrade to 50GB for $99 a year, the software is currently supported under Windwos, Mac and Linux, visit https://www.getdropbox.com and download it to get started.

Have Media Center but no tuner or aerial?

2008-09-28T23:46:00.003+01:00

If your like me and have Media Centre with your Vista home PC but no tuner or aerial, then you need to take a look at TunerFree MCE. It makes use of the various Freeview TV channels who now broadcast all their channels on the Internet.

http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=11

Using Gmail Notifier with https Options

2008-08-01T21:23:00.007+01:00

In your Gmail setting now, you can turn on "force https" which ensures your always reading your Email over a SSL connection.

However if you've tried the new https setting and are using the Gmail Notifier, you've probably noticed that it doesn't work.

Good news for Windows users - we have a small download available that will set the Notifier to use https.

Here's the instructions:

1. Download http://www.google.com/mail/help/downloads/notifier_https.zip
2. Open up the folder.
3. Double-click on the file called notifier_https.reg to install it.
4. Click 'yes' when you're asked to confirm if you want to add the information to the registry.
5. Restart the Notifier.

And you're done! The Notifier will now work with Gmail set to always use https. If you decide you don't want to use that setting anymore, you'll need to install the other file in the zip folder - notifier_https_undo.reg - to reset Notifier.
You can download the notifier from here... http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/notifier_windows.html

OpenDNS.com - Free Online Protection

2008-07-30T07:32:00.002+01:00

This service is simple to setup and has many features to protect you while you or your family and employees are browsing online.

Every network, be it at home or at work, requires a Domain Name Service (DNS for short). DNS translates the name of a domain/web address (for example http://www.google.com/) to it's IP address (like 208.69.34.230). By default this is usually setup to use your ISP's DNS servers, which just provide simple name to IP resolution.

However by switching your DNS Server IP addresses on your router to the OpenDNS's IPs (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) you gain added protection while online for free.

Here is a list of features that switching to OpenDNS gives you...

Content Filtering - Decide what websites to block on your network. Choose from categories, ranging from social networking to gambling to adult sites.

Phishing Protection - Keep everyone on your network safe from phony web sites trying to steal personal information via Emails requesting you to confirm your bank password.

Domain Blocking - Choose which specific domains you don't want your family or employees to get too.

Typo Correction - typing www.google.cmo will get you to www.google.com automatically.

Statistics - Find out what has been going on in your network!

To get started click on the link below...

Quidco - earn cashback for shopping online

2008-07-29T21:27:00.001+01:00

Quidco (http://www.quidco.com/) is a cashback site which transfers revenue from tracked online shopping transactions to its members (you). If you need to buy something online, first check to see if Quidco has a company who are willing to offer you cash for using their online shop.

For example if you do your weekly shopping on Tesco.com then you could be earning 7% everytime you shop (up to £5), so if you spend £70 on Tesco.com a week you could be earning £260 a year via Quidco.

Yearly membership to Quidco costs just £5 and this is only taken from your earnings – there is no need for credit card details, if you don’t earn over £5 you don’t owe them anything.

Windows Mobile Remote Control

2008-07-15T14:52:00.004+01:00

I own a windows mobile device and it's day hooked up to my PC via ActiveSync. This is a great free tool that alows you to do the follwoing...

View your mobile screen on your desktop.
Control your mobile by using desktop keyboard and mouse.
Copy/Cut/Paste text between mobile and desktop.
Capture mobile screen.
Drag and drop files to your mobile.
Support ActiveSync / IP Connection
Support Mobile Explorer (File Browse)

Visit http://www.mtux.com to download it free.

Fix your broke iPod Nano - wont play!

2008-06-23T08:30:00.005+01:00

My iPod Nano 3G got it's knickers in a twist today and wouldn't play anything. Whatever you selected it tried to play but then just jumped back to the play selection screen.

What you have to do in short is hold down the center and the menu buttons together for about 5 seconds, this forces the iPod to do a reboot - the apple logo appears as it reboots. Holding down the play button to turn it of and then back on is not a reboot.

All my music was still there and everything was fine again in Apple World.

Using Cipher.exe to Wipe a Used Hard Disk Clean

2008-06-05T08:46:00.009+01:00

So, I was sat there listing my USB hard drive on eBay, when I thought I'd better look for a tool to wipe all the data off it. As we all know, simply formatting your drive (even the non "quick" way) doesn't actually remove any data. Using the right tools you can still read data from the drive. So I took to Google and started looking for a free way of securely erasing a hard drive.

I came across the usual junk programs trying to grab my attention to download their free trials but I then found this Microsoft Tech Net article...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490177.aspx
In it it describes how you can use the Windows built-in tool call Cipher. Brilliant I thought, free and built into windows. You simply format the drive via your usual method (right click the drive in My Computer and select Format) and once that is done open up the command prompt and run...

CIPHER /W:drive_letter:\

Cipher.exe erases the hidden data on the formatted disk by writing the disk full of 0s, then with all 1s, then with random numbers. The original data on the disk will now be difficult to salvage; however, it may still be possible to salvage so for additional security, run the Cipher.exe command multiple times.

Want a better Notepad for Windows try Notepad2

2008-03-26T09:37:00.018Z

I stumbled across this the other day and it was just what I have been looking for. This neat little tool can replace your existing windows Notepad so it loads up whenever the Windows version should.

It is a standalone application that is free and does not require an install.

It's features include...

Syntax highlighting: HTML, XML, PHP, ASP, CSS, JavaScript, VBScript, C, Resource
Script, Java, SQL, Perl, Python, Batch Files
Drag and drop text editing inside and outside Notepad2
Basic regular expression search and replace
Useful word, line and block editing shortcuts
Rectangular selection (Alt+Mouse)
Brace matching, auto indent, long line marker, zoom functions
Support for Unicode, UTF-8, Unix and Mac text files
Open shell links

You can download it from here...
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

Photography and Flash Gallaries by Paul van Roekel

2008-03-14T14:33:00.004Z

I stumbled upon this website a little while ago and it is one I keep returning to. I take lots of pictures and like to put them on display on the web just like Paul. He has collected and written many flash galleries that are free for us to use to showcase our own work. All you need is Picasa.

Visit http://www.paulvanroekel.nl/...

Don't pay for software always try Freeware at Filehippo.com

2008-03-11T11:29:00.001Z

Don't pay for software, especially Virus Software and Photo Software. There is pleanty of Freeware software out there that secure your PC and data, backup those important files and help you play those DVD's. FileHippo.com is the best place to look for most of this freeware software.

Have a look now at http://www.filehippo.com/

Get out there and take some pictures

2008-03-07T20:28:00.002Z

I thought I'd get something on this blog for the weekend. This website is one I keep coming back to, I like photography and this just gives me the motivation and inspiration to get out there and take some photos. All of David's pictures are taken in and around the Blackpool area. He then edits them using Photoshop to make them look... well, just out of this world.

Have a browse around at http://www.chromasia.com/

Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test Checker

2008-03-05T06:01:00.000Z

Test your Internet connection's bandwidth to locations around the world with this interactive broadband speed test. This nifty little website will remember automatically other SpeedTest.net tests you have performed. It automatically knows which ISP you are with. It gives some interesting results.

Give it a go at http://www.speedtest.net/

Convert a document to PDF, quick and free

2008-03-04T13:54:00.004Z

Want to cover documents to PDF, say from Microsoft Word or a webpage? Well, PDFCreator from PDFforge.org is the ideal tool for this. It alows you to output to PDF from any application that supports printing. It is free to use for both personal and commercial use and is not time limited.

Visit http://www.pdfforge.org/ now to get your free copy.

PDF Reader/Viewer thats free and just under 1.5mb to download

2008-03-04T08:28:00.007Z

Sick of huge downloads just to open a PDF document? Then try Sumatra PDF Viewer, this free PDF reader will download and install really fast as it's less than 1mb in size. There is a standalone version or an install version which will place a few shortcuts around and register itself to the file type of PDF. It is not time limited and is free for personal and commercial use.

Version 0.9.4 has just been released, which includes a text search function and zoom with the mouse wheel while holding down the Ctrl key.

Visit http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/ to download it free now.

Try new Blogger features before everyone else with Blogger in Draft

2008-03-04T00:03:00.004Z

This website from Google/Blogger alows you to mess around with new features of Blogger before most other people. All you have to do is visit http://draft.blogger.com/ instead of the normal http://www.blogger.com/ and hey presto.

Enjoy!