Facebook & Google Are Tracking You! Stop IT!

Alright, it comes to no surprise that Facebook apps and Google search are tracking your searches and what not. Let's face it, everyone on the web is trying to track you! But you're probably telling yourself that you've implemented deep security settings to stop that from happening.  Are you sure?  Really? You know it's difficult to keep track of every privacy setting you need to tweak.

That's where Privacyfix comes into play.  It's a FREE plugin extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers.  Simply download the plugin and it'll scan your currently-logged-in Facebook and Google accounts, showing you want tweaks need to be done to your privacy settings.  Pretty cool, huh?  It'll even show you which ones you already have in place! (No, it won't tell you 'Good Job!', but nonetheless, you can give yourself a pat on the back)

It'll also give you instructions and show you other websites that you've happen to come to visit and tell you whether you are sharing your data or if they're tracking your activity and will let you fix that issue right then and there!!  So go on ahead and download the FREE Privacyfix extension for Chrome and Firefox, today, and feel better about your privacy and tracking issues from here on out.

Source: Privacyfix

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: Wunderlist

A tad late on last weeks Free Software Saturday...But, without further do, I present you with Wunderlist!  Wunderlist is a Free Task Management software with its main goal is to make it simple and available on almost all platforms and devices.  Adding task, dragging them around, starring them and managing them are all easy and if you don't have it installed on a PC, you can easily use the available webapp!

Wunderlist makes it downright simple to organize your daily life. Just create a list and start filling it with things that need to be completed. Keep track of your more important tasks with reminders and notifications. You can even create a new task for Wunderlist straight from your email inbox. Oh, and did we forget to tell you? Its free!

Some of the key features of Wunderlist are:
*Syncs with the webapp and apps for Mac, Android, iPhone and Blackberry
*Share your list with friends on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter
*Add notes and task, even by email
*Organize them through a drag and drop interface
*Assign deadlines
*Filtering/Starring system
*Themes
*...and more

Keeping up with the spirit of Back to School, Wunderlist is an essential to keep you organized with everything and able to access it from anywhere and share it with anyone! From scheduling homework, to planning the next party to reminding yourself about writing an article for your blog (yes, I know and I'm sorry), Wunderlist has you covered! Download it today.

Download: Windows v1.2.4
Source: Wunderlist

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: Mendeley Research Manager

A new school year is upon us and some of us will be tackling research papers, and we all know how much we dread doing that.  Researching takes a lot time and a lot of organization.  Especially if it's group project.  If only there was something that would help organize your documents and help collaborate with others when needed.  Oh wait, there is...and the best part, it's FREE!

Mendeley is a free reference manager and social network that helps you  manage your research, collaborate with others online and find new research.  All you have to do is download the free program and drag all your documents.  It will then extract all the relevant information, such as title, journal, authors and keywords and help you track your documents when you need them.  It also does the following:

Reference Manager
Generate citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, and LaTeX.

Read and Annotate
Open PDFs and capture your thoughts through sticky notes and highlights.

Add and Organize
Import and organize PDFs from your computer, EndNote™, Papers or Zotero

Collaborate
Connect with colleagues and securely share your papers, notes and annotations

Backup, Sync and Mobile
Access your papers on the web, iPhone or iPad.

Network and Discover

Discover papers, people and public groups.

Pretty neat, right?  Available for both Windows and Mac. So help yourself by becoming more productive and organized with your research papers for a smooth school year.  Stay tune next week for another neat Free Back to School app!

Download Link: Mendeley v1.6 (Windows) // Mendeley v1.6 (Mac)
Source: Mendeley

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: GIMP Photo Editor

You've heard of Adobe Photoshop and graphic designers and photographers dub it to be the best photo editing software, ever!  Well, that's great and all, but some of us can't afford the program. Even the student discount version is $200...yikes!  

So, what's the alternative?  I'm glad you asked!  It's GIMP.  I'm sure you've heard that program thrown out in a conversation at least once.  GIMP runs and feels just like Photoshop that it's often dub as the 'Free Photoshop.'  However, if you've played with Adobe Photoshop, there's going to be a learning curve with GIMP.  Some features you'll come across will act differently but will get the job done.

The interface is sleek and lines up almost with Photoshop.  GIMP will launch 3 windows with two side toolbar and the editing window.  There have been mixed reviews of the program, but whether you're an amateur or a professional, both sides have come to learn and love GIMP.  Give GIMP 2.8 for Windows, Mac and Linux a try today!

Download: GIMP 2.8

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: Growl (Notification Program for Windows)

Recently, Mountain Lion OS was released for download for all Mac users.  A neat feature that came with the OS was the notification center.  It will show you alerts in the upper-right of their screen, without interrupting what they're doing.  You can chose banner notifications and sound alerts.  It even has social network intergration as well.

Well, that's all great and dandy for Mac, but what about current Windows users?  That's where Growl comes into play.


Put simply, Growl lets you know when things happen. Files finished downloading, friends came online, new email has arrived - Growl can let you know when any event occurs with a subtle notification. The rest of the time, Growl stays out of your way.

Along with letting you know when things happen, Growl also gives you full control over how you are notified and what action (if any) you want to take in response to the notification. You can choose to be alerted with a visual indicator or an audible alert, both, or neither. You can choose the type of display that is shown, whether the display remains on the screen, the importance of the notification, and even if the notification should be forwarded to another computer. You can have notifications that trigger an email, run a script, launch a program, or are read out loud.

Great, friendly interface and easy to use.  Try it out today...for FREE, of course :)

Download: Growl v2.0.9
Source: Growl

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Free Software and App: Recuva & Dead Trigger

For the past two Saturday's, I've failed to post my weekly 'Free Software Saturday's.'  Well, to make up for it, I give you a post with not only a Free Software but also with a free Android App.  Let's begin the free software, Recuva (From the makes of CCLeaner)...and it's website does a great deal explaining what it does:

Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost something important when your computer crashed? No problem! Recuva recovers files deleted from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player. And it's free!

The important thing here is that this file recovering program is fast, reliable and all-around user friendly.  On top of that, it's Free!  This program will most definitely come in handy when you have one of those 'Oops' moments when you delete something you didn't mean too.  Download/Source link below.

Our next Free item is an Android Game App called Dead Trigger.   This was previously on the Android Play Store for $0.99.  However, the makers of the game saw unbelievably high' piracy rates and due to this, the game is now Free.  (Still $0.99 on iOS)

Dead Trigger is your typical FPS Zombie killing game.  

The world has collapsed.

In 2012 modern civilization is coming to an end. Global economics have been disrupted, money has lost its value. People have risen against the ignorant politicians who were just lining their pockets – and they didn't spare any of them.

However, those who really ruled the world were prepared - and escaped. Suddenly billions of people died from a strange virus, while others turned into butcherly beasts with just one thought: 

TO KILL!

Only a few people on the planet have survived, at least until they run out of ammo... or learn how to stop them...

Well, I hope this makes up for the past two Saturday's.  Hopefully I'll remember this upcoming Saturday :/

Anyone got the case of the Monday's??

Sources: Recuva // The Verge

Download links:  Recuva // Google Play Store: Dead Trigger

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: WinFF Video Converter

Today's Free Software is WinFF, the Free Video Converter.  Sometimes your mobile phone, gaming device or other media player won't playback your videos; they sometimes have standards of what format your video should be in order to playback video and audio. That's where WinFF comes in.  It can convert all your flv's, mov's, mpeg's and many more to other video formats, such as avi or wmv.

With it's easy step and simple to use interface, the user won't feel so overwhelm.  On top of the window there are six buttons: add, remove, preview and convert your files, and another one that gives access to the more advanced settings. 

Under the file list there is a drop-down menu that sets the destination file type, with some nice options like the "Audio", function that extracts the sound track from a video file and even handles music file conversion, and you also have a drop-down for the chosen format.  This option will differ depending on what option you selected before.

The drop-down also have specific formats for devices such as iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

Simply all you need to do is add your files to the list, pick an output folder and just press "Convert".

WinFF is not the only Free video converter out there.  Real Player also does the same thing.  It can also download flash videos from sites like YouTube.  Read more here.

Source: WinFF (Download) // Real Player [Archive]

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: PortableApps.com

You're probably asking yourself, Portable...Apps?  That's right.  PortableApps.com is a website dedicated to providing you with Free application downloads that run off...wait for it...any removable storage media device, such as a USB or even in Drop-box!

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.
No Special Hardware - Use any USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod/MP3 player, etc
No Additional Software - Just download, run the portable installer and go
No Kidding - It's that easy

What applications are available to you? For starters there are web browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome), designing software (GIMP, XBlender, Inkscape), office suites (OpenOffice, Abiword), games and music apps...and so much more!

How to get started? Simple, just visit PortableApps.com and download the PortableApps.com Platform v10.1.2 to your USB.  You can find more detail instructions on how to install here.

Just like PortableApps.com moto: Your Digital Life, Anywhere.  Happy download folks!

Sources: PortableApps.com // 70 Free Useful Portable Apps

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: Gadwin Print Screen

We've all heard of 'Print Screen'...you know, that hot key 2 keys to the right of the F12 key that when you press it, it will take a screen shot of your current desktop. Typically, once you take the screen shot, you'll go into Paint or some other picture editing tool to crop it.

Well, that's where Gadwin Print comes in handy. It replaces your 'Print Screen' hot key with some neat, cool features and settings. One of my favorites is the 'Square' setting (This is one of four capture settings). It's when you are able to capture what part of the screen you want, so that way you don't have to crop it afterwards.

You can even choose how you want the capture image and the quality of the image. It also saves on your Windows Clipboard, delay timer, option to include mouse in your screenshot, destination settings to save the file and more.

Pretty neat, huh? Hit the source link below to learn more and download the program. There is also a professional version available for purchase

Source: Gadwin Print

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FREE SOFTWARE SATURDAYS: Malwarebytes

Free Software Saturdays are back!  And this weeks software highlight is Malwarebytes (Free Edition)

This weekend, I had the liberty of fixing a friends laptop.  The issue with her computer was that she ran Windows Updates, but once she did, her computer would take 30 minutes or more to log in! Crazy, right?

Well, one of the tools I use when fixing a computer is to run Malwarebytes in Safe Mode to detect any malware, Trojans, spyware and other threats.  And sure enough, when I ran the software, it had detected a malware virus along with a Trojan.  But, it was already too late for her computer and alas Windows had to be re-installed.

So how simple is it to use this program?  All you have to do is download the program (link provided below), run the setup and install.  Once you are done installing, you are brought up with the following screenshot.

You can choose from Full and Quick Scan.  Other tabs are available as you can.  Some of the tabs are not available in the Free version, but can be unlocked if you wish to purchase the full product for $24.95. 

I run the Quick Scan in Safe Mode and once it has gone through all my files on my PC, it will let me know whether it detected anything or not.  If it did, it gives me the option to clean it.  Once I cleaned it, it will ask me to reboot so the files can be removed.  I go back in Safe Mode one more time to run in Full Scan just to make sure.

So what if I don't run it in Safe Mode?  Well, you can run it normally, but I do it in Safe Mode because it will kill the services of that threat right there, while sometimes, not always, the service of the threat can still be lingering around in the Windows environment. 

Well, there you have it! It's a pretty neat software and is handy to have it on a USB drive. Check out the source links below for more information and the download link!  Tune in next Saturday!

Download: Free Download

Source: Malwarebytes

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