According to NASA's World Wind webpage, World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.
Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.
This all-in-one tool combines anti-spyware, a Registry cleaner, a privacy sweep to delete your surfing traces, a system analysis tool, and more, combined into package.
It's exceedingly simple to use; run the program, then choose which feature you want to use, and it goes about its work. There's too much here to go into detail about it all, but each module is surprisingly fully featured, something you wouldn't expect in an all-in-one tool.
Note that you may get confused when you first start the program. Click the Start button at the bottom of the screen. If you instead click any of the links, such as "Computer Type," you'll be told that the feature isn't available in the free edition.
License type: Free OS: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File size: 4.20 MB Developer:IObit
Clean up your Registry to keep your PC in tip-top shape
The more software and hardware you install and uninstall, the more full your Registry gets. A great deal of software doesn't clean up after itself, and leaves behind old and obsolete Registry entries, or upon install creates invalid ones. There will be pointers to missing DLLs, listings of no-longer-valid file extensions, invalid paths, invalid ActiveX Controls, and much more. The more your Registry fills with this junk, the slower your PC gets and the more often you'll have system crashes.
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner helps to fix the problem in a simple, two-step process. Tell it to scan your Registry, and it goes through and identifies common problems and junk.
License type: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File size: 874 KB Developer:Eusing Software
Have you always wanted to be an architect or perhaps you are one? Or do you just want to design something as simple as a backyard deck? Then you'll want to give this freebie from Google a try. It's a 3D modeling program that lets you create three dimensional models of decks, houses, buildings, your own home woodworking projects, and much more. It comes with a full set of sophisticated modeling and design tools, and it includes very good advice for getting started. Unless you've used 3D modeling software before, you'll need the help, because this program can be fairly difficult to use. But follow the interactive help, and you'll go a long way toward getting started.
You can do more than just print your models. You'll be able to actually place them in Google Earth. And if you want to share them with others, or if you want to be able to use models that others have created, you can post them to the 3D Warehouse. In fact, if you don't have artistic inclinations, you may want to go to the 3D warehouse as soon as you download the program, and grab models from there.
It'll play pretty much every music file that's out there, will synchronize with your iPod and MP3 player, and includes a tag editor. It will also automatically find album art for the file you're currently playing as well. Not happy with Windows Media Player or your current media player, or are you just looking for an alternative? Then give the free MediaMonkey a try. It's an excellent tool for playing media, organizing your media library, and ripping and burning music.
MediaMonkey organizes all your music in multiple ways, including by artist, title, album, genre, year, rating and so on. Unlike Windows Media Player, it loads fast. Fans of Internet radio will like this program as well; it automatically connects you to the Shoutcast and Icecast online radio directories, and play any stations you want.
License type: Free OS: Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File size: 4.8 MB Developer:Ventis Media
It's hard to keep up with all the hardware on your PC--just ask your PC. If you want it to have the right answers, install PC Wizard 2007. This utility detects all kinds of hardware, from the obvious bluetooth devices to the boards in the guts of your PC. PC Wizard 2007 updates its lists monthly to make sure your PC recognizes the newest devices. Not only does PC Wizard tell you about your peripherals components, it can benchmark your system so you see how it's doing with all that hardware.
License type: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File size: 2.5 MB Developer:CPUID
A flash drive is terrific for use as an emergency boot device. Use this tool to format the drive. (Careful -- everything on the flash drive will be deleted.)
Then copy three system boot files from the root of your hard drive (usually c:) -- boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect -- to the flash drive. Then set your BIOS to allow booting from the flash drive.
Price: Free OS: Windows XP File size: 1970KB Author: Hewlett- Packard
If your system crashes often and you're getting blue screens loaded with error messages, your problem may be bad system memory. Use this diagnostic tool for a quick checkup.
To run Windows Memory Diagnostic, you must reboot your computer with the disk or CD-ROM on which you installed Windows Memory Diagnostic in the drive. After the reboot, Windows Memory Diagnostic will load and its interface will appear. After loading, the first test pass will begin, using the default standard test suite, and continue until complete, unless Windows Memory Diagnostic is either paused or exited. Once the first test pass is complete, Windows Memory Diagnostic will begin a second test pass using the same settings as before. Windows Memory Diagnostic will continue to run test passes until you exit.
System requirements:
Windows Memory Diagnostic supports x86-based computers with the following microprocessors:
- Intel(tm) - Pentium or Celeron families - AMD - K6, Athlon, or Duron families - Microprocessors compatible with those listed
You can test all types of RAM that run on x86-based computers with the supported microprocessors. However, if you have error checking and correcting (ECC) RAM, Windows Memory Diagnostic may not report any errors because the ECC mechanism automatically detects and corrects the error. It might still be useful to run Windows Memory Diagnostic if you have ECC RAM because it may detect errors that the ECC RAM is unable to correct (which indicates problems with the RAM).
Windows Memory Diagnostic is limited to testing only the first 4 gigabytes (GB) of RAM. If you have more than 4 GB of RAM, the remaining RAM after the first 4 GB will not be tested by Windows Memory Diagnostic.
License: Freeware Size: 640 KB OS: Windows versions Developer: Microsoft
Tired of cobbling together audio programs that play, burn, and organize your music files? Like RealNetworks' RealOne and Apple's iTunes, Musicmatch Jukebox is an all-in-one digital audio management tool that rips, mixes, burns, organizes, and plays music. The program has a "faster ripping" feature, which lets you extract files from CDs and save them as WAVs or MP3s; you can then burn your digital files to CD-R or CD-RW. The program lets you transfer your music files to your portable devices. Finally, you can enjoy Musicmatch Radio and, among other things, fill your office with the smooth, soothing tones of NPR's "Morning Edition."
Among other things, this version lets you buy tracks from all five major labels and more than 30 independents. Unlike the files you might find on a P2P file sharing network, these files are high quality, free of viruses, and legal to download. Within the program, you can then burn the files to CD and transfer them to your MP3 player.
Note: Musicmatch Jukebox is now part of the Yahoo! music family called Yahoo! Music Jukebox.
License type: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP Filesize: 364 KB Developer:Musicmatch
There are lots of MP3 players available, but this popular program is one of the best beloved. Winamp saves playlits and equalizer settings, and the special skins and dozens of color schemes keep it looking good.
In addition to playing CDs and most other digital audio formats (.wav, MID, MOD), Winamp lets you browse SHOUTcast Radio and TV station. It also offers AOL video content and AOL Radio featuring XM. You get 50 free MP3s from eMusic, too.
Winamp has a spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope that jumps and dips with the rhythm of your song. What sets Winamp apart from the pack is the smooth, intuitive way it's designed--how it allows you to easily create and save playlists, for instance. Want to play at the best fidelity for jazz tunes as well as bass-heavy rock songs? Winamp lets you save equalizer settings for specific songs. The program also has a minibrowser that lets you view biographies and photos, and you can sign up for 3GB of free Internet music storage. Integrated internet TV & radio round out the functions.
You can burn to CD with Winamp. It burns at 2x--if you want to get the best speed out of your burner, consider buying the Pro version, which can support burning up t0 48x.
And of course, there are the skins: Winamp has an endless supply of classic and modern ones. You can dress up the player so that it shows the interior of a fancy car, photos from your favorite TV show, a cubist geometric design, or any of the more than 25,000 other looks created by fans. The program also lets you sub in thousands of plug-ins for everything from encoders to visualizations to games.
License type: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP File size: 12.0 MB Developer:Nullsoft
Crimson Editor is a professional source code editor for Windows.
This program is not only fast in loading time, but also small in size (so small that it can be copied in one floppy disk).
While it can serve as a good replacement for Notepad, it also offers many powerful features for programming languages such as HTML, C/C++, Perl and Java.
Syntax Highlighting for HTML, C/C++, Perl, Java, Matlab and LaTeX. Also, it can be extended for other programming languages based on custom syntax files.
Other features include undo/redo, user tools, macros, spell checker and more.
License type: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows NT, Windows XP File size: 1224KB Developer:Ingyu Kang
This free tool lets you create a bootable emergency disc customized for your PC. Short for Bart's Preinstalled Environment, BartPE copies the Windows files from your hard drive or Windows Installation CD and creates a bootable CD or DVD that you can then use to boot into Windows if your installation of Windows gets trashed. It installs a number of basic drivers, so your mouse, keyboard and many network adapters will work. With a little technical knowledge, you can add other drivers to the bootable CD.
BartPE also comes with a number of useful plugin programs for tasks such as virus scanning and CD burning. The latter feature lets you boot into Windows and copy files to a CD.
According to Richard Baguley, PC World contributor: "When I tried it on a test system, it worked perfectly, enabling me to boot into Windows from a CD, access my network and copy files. However, it won't help if you haven't built the boot disc before your system fails because the program that builds the bootable CD runs in Windows. The best advice is to run it now before your PC fails and store the disc it builds in a safe place."
This customized version of the Thunderbird mail program lets you take your mail settings and mailboxes with you.
Maintaining a single e-mail message repository whether online or off, at home or at large, requires a portable e-mail application. Like Firefox Portable as I featured here before, Thunderbird Portable lets you take your e-mail program with you on a USB drive wherever you go, just plug into a Windows PC.
Price: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File size: 6.0 MB Developer:John T. Haller
If you're looking for an exquisitely detailed audit of your hardware, this is the download you need--no other hardware utility comes close. It starts with the basics, such as the computer manufacturer, installed RAM, hard-disk size, and processor type and speed. But it also shows you the motherboard maker, hard-disk manufacturer, chassis serial number, PC service tag, bus type and speed, multimedia devices...the list goes on and on. You'll also find details about your Windows installation, including which security hotfixes you've installed and which you're missing, plus a list of all user accounts on your PC and a lot more.
Price: Free OS: Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista Browsers: IE 3 or Netscape 3, and higher versions. Also runs on Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox. File size: 1061KB Developer:Belarc
Linux's free, open-source answer to Microsoft Outlook comes to Windows at last, in beta form
So far, no single program beats Microsoft Outlook's combination of e-mail features, calendaring, and contacts. But one program, Novell's free, open-source Evolution, comes close.
Though mostly enjoyed by Linux users as part of the Gnome window manager included with many distributions, Novell and some kind-hearted Evolution fans have created a Windows version as well. Though not an Outlook clone, Evolution offers the same general PIM landscape, including mail, contact, calendar, note, and task modules. Features include must-haves like rule-based filtering and spam detection, HTML-format messages, and PGP signing and encryption, and the ability to share calendars with others via the Web.
Price: Free OS: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista File Size: 50200KB Developer: Novell and other volunteers
Use this program to learn about meteorological influences that affect our day-to-day weather. Exploring Weather teaches you about the atmosphere, earth systems, and the vocabulary used in Geoscientific applications. Great for all ages.
Price: Free OS: Windows 3.x, Windows 95 File Size: 5396KB Developer:Jackson and Tull
This talking arcade game, intended for fourth- to ninth-grade students, teaches math through word problems. It features 480 problems, covering topics such as fractions, decimals, ratios, proportions, and percents. Problems are solved through pictures, speech, and keywords.
Price: Free OS: DOS File Size: 3084KB Developer:Veenetronics
Just how tough is your PC? Here's your chance to put it on the treadmill and see what its heart can take. CPU Stability Test is a benchmarking utility that puts your PC's Central Processing Unit through a stress test. CPU Stability Test checks your CPU, hard disks, RAM, caches, and motherboard by running multithreaded tests. It supports multiprocessor systems and it offers error and CRC checking.
Note: Although this program still works, it is no longer supported by the author.
Price: Free OS:Windows 9.x, Windows NT, Windows 2000 File Size: 381KB Developer: Jouni Vuorio
Have you always wanted to be an architect or perhaps you are one? Or do you just want to design something as simple as a backyard deck? Then you'll want to give this freebie from Google a try. It's a 3D modeling program that lets you create three dimensional models of decks, houses, buildings, your own home woodworking projects, and much more. It comes with a full set of sophisticated modeling and design tools, and it includes very good advice for getting started. Unless you've used 3D modeling software before, you'll need the help, because this program can be fairly difficult to use. But follow the interactive help, and you'll go a long way toward getting started.
