have seen a few queries in other forums of late asking if a file or folder can be locked or password protected and thought I'd post this little app which is completely free...

Called Lockbox it is compatible on Vista as well as XP and lets you password protect a chosen folder and once "locked" it becomes hidden.
Simple to use and install :

http://www.download.com/My-Lockbox/3000-2144_4-10789387.html


Perhaps others have some programs they use that they would like to recommend to others .... either post in this thread or Mike could make a dedicated section ?

Anne

I've made this topic a sticky, no need for a section it will stay up top.

I think Rainlendar is the bee's knees of a desktop calendar. It sits on my desktop as a semi-transparent calendar and each section (calendar, events and to do list) can be positioned independently.

http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php

Ive used this and had great results;
removed problematic programs that wouldn't uninstall too!

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

I find ExtractNow useful. Does a lot of file types.

http://www.extractnow.com/

Here are two very handy little programs that I'd hate to be without :-

MWSnap
http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
I know that there are a lot of programs for taking screenshots, but I particularly like this one.

FreeClip
http://m8software.com/clipboards/freeclip/freeclip.htm
A very handy tool for taking multiple copies for pasting. It stores 25 copies, and is very handy if you're doing a lot of copy/pasting on documents etc.

Also a very handy program for storing all your account details, PIN numbers for credit/debit cards, passwords, secret questions/answers etc.
Can only be accessed per a Master Password, and there is a high level of encryption for safety.
If you're like me, you'll have a very long list of these personal details.
I never write any of this down, so it takes a bit of mental juggling to remember all this data.

http://www.accessmanager.co.uk/

But you must not forget your Master Password.

Spit

Hi folks,

You may have seen me singing the virtues of WinPatrol of late, I have mostly recommended it when people have been wanting to disable startup applications by using msconfig. With WinPatrol if you make a change to any startup item it doesnt prompt you to reboot, the change is instant and no confusing confirmation box pops up after you reboot the PC like what happens with the Configuration Utility.
It will also display hidden secret startup items too.
If there are any applications that are set to startup when windows does but you would like to delay their loading, there is even an option for Delayed Start.

You know what it's like you install a new application and the software writers have made it so the program is set to startup when windows does and there's nothing you can do about it at this stage, well with WinPatrol it alerts you if an application has made any such startup entry, you then have the choice to allow or deny it.
It monitors and notifies you of key system setting changes, like any ActiveX and Browser Helpers that are trying to install and more, this is a good line of defence for those nasty ones that are out there.

I'm smitten with this application, as you can probably tell, I highly recommend it to you all, it's free too, although you can pay a one of lifetime fee for the Pro version. Use this coupon code DIM2008 to get 30%ish knocked off, making it a shade under £12 for us Brits.
Anyway, enough of my rambling, go check it out for yourselves



http://www.winpatrol.com - WinPatrol Main Page
http://www.winpatrol.com/features.html - Features
http://www.winpatrol.com/whyplus.html - Compare versions

Regards
Simon

Do you have a lot of music on your computer? I find this very handy for tagging my music.

TagScanner is a multifunction program for organizing and managing your music collection. It can edit tags of mostly state-of-the-art audio formats, rename files based on the tag information, generate tag information from filenames, and perform any transformations of the text from tags and filenames. Also you may get album info via online databases like freedb or Amazon. Supports ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis comments, APEv2, WindowsMedia and MP4(iTunes) tags. Powerful TAG editor with batch functions and special features. Playlist maker with ability to export playlists to HTML or Excel. Easy-to-use interface. Built-in player.

http://www.download.com/TagScanner/3000-2141_4-10056506.html

I have often come across people asking how they can print playlists from Windows Media Player .... in the past I have pointed them to using a screen capturing tool and with a bit of editing they could have a nice neat list to print.

Today I came across this freeware program made especially for the job:

http://www.footballchance.com/WMPplaylist.shtm

Let me know what you think if any of you use it!