MP3 Toolkit for Windows is a newly launched featured packed utility that includes most of the significant audio related tools and frees you from the hassle of installing individual programs just for performing simple tasks like converting audio, merging MP3 files, rip an audio CD, etc. It’s 100% free and an essential tool even for basic Windows users.

MP3 Toolkit is a freeware and powerful suite comprising 6 music editing tools – MP3 converter, CD ripper, tag editor, MP3 cutter, MP3 merger and MP3 recorder. Using it, one can easily convert audio file formats, extract audio from videos, convert audio CD to MP3, batch edit MP3 tags, join MP3 files, cut/ trim MP3 to make ringtones, and record sound as MP3. All this can be done using one single program, sized a mere 10MB.

MP3 Toolkit Applications Include:

- MP3 Converter lets you convert one or more audio files to a desired audio format such as MP3, AC3, AAC (Apple Audio), OGG, AMR, WMA, FLAC, APE, WAV, MPG. One can customize output file settings such as bitrate, rate, audio channel and destination folder. It can also extract the audio from popular video formats like MP4, FLV, AVI, etc.

- CD to MP3 Ripper helps you quickly make backup copies of tracks from an audio disk. It can rip the audio from CD to MP3, WMA, APE or WAV for common players and you can customize the output. CD ripping is accurate and the output files are of high quality.

- MP3 Tag Editor provides a handy interface to edit MP3 tag (ID3v1 and ID3v2) information in batch mode. One can add or edit a song title, artist, album, year, comment and track number. Also it’s possible to define a file name format ([Artist] – [Title], [Title] – [Artist] and more), directory format ([Current Folder]\[Artist]\[Album]\), enable additional file rename options, edit album photos and lyrics.

- MP3 Merger is a handy tool for merging two or more audio files into a single MP3. You can select files in MP3, WAVE, FLAC or OGG, specify the output settings such as bitrate, rate, audio channel and output folder. Then start the process.

- MP3 Cutter lets you cut or trim an audio file to remove unnecessary parts. To do so, you simply need to select the file, select the start and end position during playback, and then click Save. One can customize the output settings such as bitrate, rate and channels. It also has the ability to cut a part of music from a video file, or a movie.

- MP3 Recorder helps users to record any sound from the microphone to standard MP3 format without any limitation on length. One can even record streaming audio provided that the sound card supports sound mixing. Simply select the sample rate, bitrate and channels, then proceed with the audio recording.

Verdict - “MP3 Toolkit is an amazing program featuring useful audio editing tools with good functionalities that are generally offered by a paid program, yet with a neat and intuitive interface.” Do try it out!

Download MP3 Toolkit Free (Size: 10.50 MB)

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Tired of installing a whole lot of applications just to open a variety of file types on your computer? Free Opener is an smart and nifty program for Windows that overcomes this hassle. It lets you simply open and view a majority of supported file formats using just a single software. You no more need to install dedicated applications to open all those different types of files that aren’t natively supported by Windows OS.

Free Opener is completely free and doesn’t requires any other type of special software to work. Using it, one can quickly and easily view, edit and print over 80 different file formats including Microsoft Office files (.doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .msg, .vcf), Adobe files (.swf, .flv, .psd, .pdf), Code files, Photoshop files (.psd), Image files, Media files, Raw images, Flash animation (.swf), Archives (.7z, .gz, .jar, .rar, .tar, .tgz, .zip) and many other file types directly using Free Opener.

It is certainly a useful utility for users looking for an app to simply open and view files. However, the application lacks some basic features like ‘drag and drop’ support to open files. There are no decent keyboard shortcuts and the PDF files are not displayed on a single extended page. The archives (.rar, .zip) cant be viewed directly, you first need to extract the file/folder from an archive to your desktop prior to viewing it.

Note: The app requires online installation during which it prompts to install additional free software like toolbars, browser add-ons, game applications, anti-virus applications, etc. They all are completely optional and you can easily decline their installation.

Download Free Opener

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Those of you eagerly awaiting to try out the new Windows 8 interface can now simply experience it without installing the Windows 8 Developer Preview. Windows X’s Live, the developer of Seven Transformation Pack has released Windows 8 Transformation Pack. This transformation pack based on Windows 8 Developer Preview brings the exciting new features of Windows 8 to all editions of Windows XP/Vista/7.

Windows 8 Transformation Pack 2.0 will transform your Windows 7, Vista, XP user interface to look like Windows 8, including Windows 8 Boot Screen, Login Screen, Themes, Wallpapers, Icons, Sounds, and more. It also comes packed with Windows 8 new features such as Metro UI (Newgen), Aero’s Auto-Colorization, and User Tile on taskbar. It has self Metro configurator UI that can make everything done in one step.

Features:

• Seamless installation and uninstallation giving users safe transformation
• Easily configurable in single click with intelligence Metro UI design
• Designed for all editions of Windows XP/Vista/7 including Server Editions
• Genuine Windows 8 system resources with Metro touches
• Smart system files updating with auto-repair and Windows Update friendly
• Fresh start for Vista/Seven Transformation Pack users with updated Windows 8 themes and resources
• UxStyle memory patching
• Windows 8 themes, wallpaper and logon screen
• UserTile with current user auto-configured on login
• Metro UI desktop emulation with pre-configured gadgets
• Aero’s auto-colorization feature
• And much more

Windows X’s Live has also made available “Windows 8 UX Pack” that offers Windows 8 UI improvements such as theme and logon screen without modifying system files at all, so it won’t have any risk to harm your system at all. UX Pack has just been updated to v3.5 and is meant for Windows 7 only.

Requirements:

• .NET Framework 2.0 – Required for system files transformation in Windows XP/Server 2003 x64 Editions Only.
• .NET Framework 4.0 – Required for Windows 8 features like User Tile/Metro UI Desktop/Auto-colorization.

- Download Windows 8 Transformation Pack 2.0 (for XP/Vista/7)
- Download Windows 8 UX Pack 3.5 (for Win7 only)

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• Seven Transformation Pack 3.0 released [Download]
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• Get Windows 7 transformation pack for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

We’ve shared various transformation packs for Windows in past that brings a whole new look and interface to the OS. Now if you’re willing to experience the elegant and simplistic design of Mac OS X Lion on your Windows desktop, then you can easily get it without applying any serious customization hacks manually. Fortunately, the talented folks over at Windows X’s Live have released the Lion Transformation Pack 1.0. The pack can be downloaded for Free and surprisingly it supports Windows XP this time.

Lion Transformation Pack is one of the best transformation pack, meant for users of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 to transform the look of their Windows interface to the style and appearance of OS X Lion. Certainly, it’s not a simple theme or a visual style but a complete and full-featured customization pack that can transform your Windows entirely to Mac OS X Lion, including Lion Login Screen, Themes, Icons, Dock, Wallpapers, Sounds, User Pictures, Spaces, Expose, Finderbar and more. A UX Pack edition is also available for people who find modifying system files little scary and prefer to try out a zero-risk version. The UX Pack is meant for Windows 7 only.

Features -

- Seamless installation and uninstallation giving users safe transformation
- Easily configurable in single click with intelligence Metro UI design
- Designed for all editions of Windows XP/Vista/7 including Server Editions
- Genuine OS X Lion system resources
- Smart system files updating with auto-repair and Windows Update friendly
- UxStyle memory patching
- Lion Frame UI including Aero/Mac features for XP and non-Aero system
- OS X Lion themes, wallpapers, user pictures and logon screen
- OS X Dock emulation with pre-configured docklets optimized for stability/performance
- Expose and Spaces with shortcut keys configured

Note: Make sure to uninstall Snow Transformation Pack with UAC turned off before installing this one. It’s recommended to create a system restore point before installing this transformation pack. That could come handy in case anything goes wrong.

- Download Lion Transformation Pack 1.0 (for XP/Vista/7)
- Download Lion UX Pack 1.0 (for Win7 only)

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• Download Windows 8 Transformation Pack – Brings Win 8 look to Windows XP, Vista, 7
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• Download Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Vista

In the past, we’ve shared several free utilities for Windows and Mac to wipe or delete data securely which includes all your confidential and private stuff. Big Angry Dog has released a new freeware ‘Hardwipe’ that allows users to permanently delete any desired contents from their hard drive to prevent the disposed data from being recovered ever.

Hardwipe is a 100% free program for Windows that offers various advanced features and options than just letting you securely wipe the data from your computer. It boasts a modern and easy-to-use interface, specially designed for Windows 7. With Hardwipe, one can wipe individual or multiple files, folders, an entire drive or partition. Additionally, it offers the ability to quickly Clean Free Drive Space to prevent anyone from recovering the old wiped data. It does so by overwriting the contents of previously deleted files. During Clean Space operation, the data presently stored on drive will not be wiped.

Hardwipe intelligently controls the disk writing speed for lengthy operations. When the ‘Speed Control’ is set to Automatic, it restricts disk writing considering the computer is being actively used, but increases it to maximum on being idle. You can always select "Full Speed" or "Restricted" from the main window to manually control the speed.

It integrates with Windows explorer that comes handy as you can quickly wipe files from right-click content menu. One can wipe a single file, multiple files or a folder simply by right-clicking. This is also possible for hard disk drives that can be wiped or cleaned.

Shell integration is disabled by default. To enable it, just open Hardwipe and go to Preferences > Options. Then select ‘Show Hardwipe Menus’ option and hit OK.

Key Features:

• Erases files by overwriting their contents prior to deletion.
• Integrates with Windows Explorer
• Supports major overwriting schemes, including: GOST P50739-95, DOD 5220.22-M, Schneier & Gutmann.
• Can even purge the Swapfile used by Windows (not available yet)
• Intelligent use of disk cache so that your computer remains responsive when cleaning entire drives
• Hardwipe can shutdown your computer automatically when finished 

Download Hardwipe  [Supports Windows 7, Vista, XP]

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TinEye is a very popular and useful reverse image search engine with a database of over 2,045,766,648 images till date. The service looks up for equal or similar images over the web by letting users submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified or un-watermarked versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye uses image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks to perform this amazing task.

To use TinEye, one needs to upload an image or enter image address using their web interface to look for similar images. Luckily, we found a handy TinEye Client for Windows that adds TinEye to the context menu of image files and makes the task more easier.

TinEye Client is an unofficial extension for Windows that allows you to look for similar images on TinEye directly from the Windows Explorer context menu. It is a simple and elegant tool, you can use TinEye client app to choose an image file from a folder or paste an image copied to clipboard. It supports shell-integration, means you can just right-click an image on computer that automatically uploads to TinEye and shows the relevant results in browser. There is 1-click option to enable/disable TinEye option in context menu. The tool also lets you set the default sort order for resulting images.

Download TinEye Client    via [Geekissimo]

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Back in April, we were the first one to report that Echofon for Windows is coming soon. Well that wasn’t really soon but the wait is finally over as the beta of the popular and amazing twitter client ‘Echofon’ is now released as a desktop app for Windows. Besides, Firefox, Mac OS X and iPhone (iOS) users, Windows users can now enjoy Echofon’s simple and clean desktop Twitter experience. The Echofon desktop app is fast with a cool design and interface similar to their layout for other platforms.

Echofon Windows Twitter client lets you tweet and follow your twitter timeline, mentions, messages, lists, etc. directly from the Windows desktop. One can simply read tweets, post replies, mark as favorite, retweet or retweet with comment. There is an option to set the font size of tweets and the update interval of tweets. Clicking on the user’s twitter handle pops-out a window, using which you can Mute or block a person and disable retweets from them. If you use Echofon on iPhone, then it’s easy to get back from where you left off as it syncs your activity and settings too.

Unlike TweetDeck Windows app, it doesn’t requires Adobe Air. Just download and install it. Then authorize with twitter to let Echofon access your twitter data.

Supports: Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7

- Download Echofon for Windows

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Unlike Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows Vista doesn’t support viewing of animated gif files. Though, you can use default Windows Photo Viewer to open gifs but it only shows a still image of gif considering it is an animated one. One can also set Internet Explorer as the default viewer for viewing animated gifs but many people dislike using it because it takes long to open and you cant view multiple gif images simultaneously, that are located in the same folder.

Luckily, a Seven Forums member ‘corgano’ has created a small but nifty program that allows you to quickly view Non-animated and Animated GIF files in Windows 7 and Vista. Gifview has a very simple interface and doesn’t requires any installation. It also lets you view multiple gifs in a row, means you can simply move between files using the Previous and Next button or just use the back and forward key to switch between gif files. The app has one special feature which is the ability to stop an animated gif, so that you can capture a specific frame.

To use GIF Animation, just right-click any gif file and open Properties. Under properties, click Change. In ‘Open with’ window, browse for gifview.exe directory and select it as default program to open with. Now click Ok and again Ok.

Download GIF View

Thanks Bogz for the tip.

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