Free Software Review

Windows Embedded Theme for XP

I just found this really cool, free Windows theme that I thought you might like to check out. Its called the Windows Embedded Theme and is really easy on the eyes.

Windows Embedded Theme

Necessary Info: The .zip file was scanned for malware and is clean. Installation is easy, just follow these simple steps.

1. Open the “Official_Embedded_Theme.zip” file and copy the contents to your desktop.
2. Open the “Official Embedded Theme for Windows XP and 2003.exe” file and choose the default location.
3. Right-click on the desktop and choose properties.
4. Click on the “Themes” tab at the top of the window.
5. From the “Theme”drop-down menu, choose “Embedded” and click “OK”.

At this point your PC will act a bit strange. Don’t worry, the screen will go grey and flicker a few times but in about 15 seconds to 1 minute, you will have your completely new-looking desktop.

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Windows Embedded Theme: Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Best Free Blogging Tools

Hello everyone,

Today I am going to do something a little different. Since I am really into blogging and building my blog, I want to help everyone else to create the best and most profitable blog that you can. But I am not going to go step by step on how to build a blog. I want to give you my list of best and most essential blog building tools.  I hope this list is as helpful to you as it has been to me. All of this hinges no the fact that you know how to use WordPress. Feel free to comment where you have questions or suggestions. And to use these tools, you’ll need a hosted WordPress account. Here is a Great WordPress Web Host. They are the ones I use for all 3 of my blogs.

Please note that this list is in no specific order.

1)  WordPress. Here is WordPress in their own words… “WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.” it is the publishing platform that I currently use. I used to use another one but it limited me in what I could do with my site so I switched and I don’t see any reason to ever go back. Download the free software HERE.

Create your own blog. Start by getting your domain name now.

2)  All In One SEO Pack. The All In One SEO Pack is an essential WordPress plugin for doing your own SEO. It allows you to create titles for your blog posts, as well as create descriptions and input the keywords that you want to be ranked for. A great tool that is quite easy to use. Download the free software HERE.

3)  DoFollow. “In case you’re not familiar with the basics, so-called “search engine optimizers” are out there to get their customers’ web sites on the first page of search engine results. And one thing that counts according to Google and its kin is the popularity of web sites, which is measured as the number of links to the web site.” Quoted from Semiologic.com. In essence, WordPress automatically inserts the rel=nofollow attribute. This means that your links and your comment links carry almost no weight with SEO. Fix that easily with the WordPress DoFollow plugin. Download the free software HERE. Yes, free-software-review.com is a DoFollow WordPress blog.  =)

4)  Google Analytics for WordPress. Google Analytics for WordPress is a WordPress plugin that enables Google to track your page and show you how much traffic you’re getting, where it is coming from, what keywords people are finding you for… In short, it tells you how people get to your page so you can optimize it to bring in more of them. Download the free software HERE.

5)  Sociable. Sociable is a WordPress plugin that easily enables you to put links on your blog to all of the popular social bookmarking sites. This includes but certainly isn’t limited to Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Twitter, Mixx, and Google Bookmarks. If you want your readers to tell other people about you, this is the way to do it. Download the free software HERE.

6)  WordPress Automatic Upgrade. When WordPress creates an update to their software, this WordPress plugin will alert you to that fact as well as give you an ultra easy way of upgrading. You simply choose to upgrade and follow the prompts. It will even back up your database and all of your posts. Get it. It will save you a lot of headache. Download the free software HERE.

There it is… My short list of the most important blogging tools. I hope it helps you to get your blog going and making more money.

Rating:

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Free Windows Encryption Software

TrueCrypt is a free encryption software for Windows. And even if they charged for it, I’d recommend it.

Description: Encrypt sensitive data quickly and securely.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP & Vista, OS X 10.4 & 10.5, Linux – Check Here.

Free Encryption Software

Necessary Info: TrueCrypt is an free open source encryption program that has versions for Windows, OS X and Linux. There is almost no limit to the size of the programs that you can encrypt. Trust me, I had a 4 gigabyte encryption file.  =)

From their own website “TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc).”

There is a ton of documentation so I’m not going to cover it all here but do check out their documentation page.

LifeHacker has a great post on how to use truecrypt.

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Conclusion: TrueCrypt is good free encryption software for windows. Trust me, I use it myself! Don’t forget to use a strong password!

TrueCrypt: Download free software HERE.

The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Create a System Restore Point

System Restore Point is a small utility to create a system restore point in Windows so that if there is a problem, you can restore your computer to when the restore point was made.

Description: An easy way to create system restore points.

Compatibility: Windows XP.

Necessary Info: When you’re repairing a PC, (especially if it belongs to someone else) it is always a good idea to have a recent system restore point. This so you can revert to it later if there becomes a problem. It does this by taking a snapshot of the computer’s registry. so you can easily revert back to it by booting into safe mode and following the prompts. It doesn’t have the ability to fix anything so please understand that. It just allows you to return to a point when everything worked. And for this program, that is enough.

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Conclusion: If you are a computer repair professional or just like tinkering with computers, get it. This program will help you have a better outcome if things go wrong.

Download free software: System Restore Point HERE.

The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Sociable WordPress Plugin

The Sociable plugin for WordPress is amazing! This is an extremely easy way to add links any social bookmarking sites to each and every post.

Description: A necessary plugin for every WordPress blogger.

Compatibility: WordPress 2.2 and higher

Necessary Info: In a world of complexity, Sociable is beyond simple. If you are a WordPress blogger, you know how some plugins just don’t work the way they are supposed to. Or they require a lot of configuration. Sociable is different. Here’s how:

To install a plugin in WordPress, there are usually a few steps like

1. Download plugin
2. Unzip
3. Upload to your server
4. Activate
5. Configure
6. Check
7. Re-Configure
8. Re-Check

I think you get the picture. With Sociable, written by Joost de Valk, the installation process is just this…

1. Download plugin
2. Unzip
3. Upload to your server
4. Activate
5. Select bookmarking sites you wish to use.
6. You’re done.

You probably see the links to Digg, Del.icio.us, Mixx and Facebook at the bottom of this page. That is a testimony as to how well this worked.

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Conclusion: If you use WordPress, you need Sociable. Great job Joost!

Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Mozilla Firefox

Today’s free software title up for review is Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is a free web browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer but much better. It has tons of add-ons and ways to customize it, but it is great just straight out of the box.

Description: Killer web browser

Compatibility: Linux, MacOs 10.4 and higher, Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Server 2003

Necessary Info: Firefox, like Internet Explorer and others before it, is a web browser. These days, web browsers are our window to the world and what you are reading this with.

There is currently a battle raging over which browser is going to be King. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer are both fighting to become the king and Internet Explorer is losing ground.  According to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp, Firefox currently has approximately 42% of the browser market share while IE has approximately 51%. Yes there are others that take up the remaining 9%.

Firefox is an open source program and anybody can donate their time and/or effort to help the cause. And that is part of what makes Firefox so cool. You have a ton of add-on programs that you can use for purposes such as

• Blocking ads
• Checking SEO rankings
• FTP (File Transfer protocol)
• Download management
• Bookmark management
• Change the appearance

These are capabilities that Internet Explorer just doesn’t have.

Firefox is also more secure against spyware because it automatically tells you when there is an update so the program is almost always up to date and protecting you against the latest web vulnerabilities.

In short, Firefox is a great browser that is more customizable and more secure than the competition.

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Conclusion: Quit wasting your time and get it now!

Download free software here.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan