FreeMeter is a free lightweight software that allows you to monitor your computer’s performance. Unlike other tools FreeMeter does not occupy a lot of space nor does it affect the performance of your computer while doing it’s job. It not only helps you monitor overall system performance but also the individual components such as CPU performance, memory allocation etc.

Key Features Of FreeMeter:

1. It is free, fast and easy to use.
2. It works on all versions of Windows (is not compatible with MAC or LINUX).
3. The computer’s CPU and memory usage is shown using graphs in the taskbar.
4. FreeMeter provides you with statistical data on physical memory usage, network performance, disk performance, etc.
5. Provides you with a list of processes running and also allows network pings.
6. It allows you to initialize system shutdown, hibernation etc from icon on taskbar.
7. Provides you with different graphs through which you can monitor your system performance.
8. There is also a Premium version available that enables alerts when system performance is affected through e-mail.

This is a must have tool for all Windows users as it gives your precise and accurate details on your computer’s performance, hence helping you monitor the health of your PC. Check out FreeMeter.

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Unresponsive programs in Windows quoting the dreadful message ‘(Not Responding)‘ are a common sight if you are a Windows user. These programs simply don’t listen to your commands and even refuse to close. They irritatingly waste your time and stay on the screen until they close which normally takes a long time.

Sometimes these frozen programs force you to open the Task Manager, detect the appropriate process and then end the process manually from there as they do not close on their own. This can be a horrible experience especially if you a Windows Vista user. Thankfully, there is an easier way out to close these frozen programs! Here’s how you do it.

1. Right click on your Desktop and click New>Shortcut.



2. Copy the following location: taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding” on to the text box in the window that opens.



3. That’s it. You are now done! From now on, anytime some program displays ‘(Not Responding)‘, just clicking on the shortcut will automatically detect and terminate the unresponsive program.
4. To make it even more easier you can even assign a shortcut key to open the shortcut using Keyboard Tweaker.

Note: The above trick works on Windows XP Professional(sadly not on XP Home Edition), all Windows Vista versions and even on Windows 7.

Don’t worry! For Windows XP Home users(and also universally for other Windows users), there is another trick that does the job.

1. Open Notepad and copy the following command on to it: 

@echo off
taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding”
exit

2. Now go to File>Save and give the File name as taskkill.bat on save it to your desktop.



3. From now on, anytime some program becomes frozen, just clicking on taskkill will automatically detect and terminate the unresponsive program.

AutoSizer is a free lightweight software that automatically resizes your program windows according to your specifications. It resizes the windows to open as maximized or a given specific size. AutoSizer provides you with various options with which you can select how a specific application window should open.

Features Of AutoSizer:

1. It automatically resizes application windows for you.
2. Autosizer supports most softwares and applications.
3. You can choose a specific size for an application or software window.
4. Allows you to choose between maximize, minimize, restore and resize(custom size).
5. It does not require any installation.
6. It is free, fast and easy to use.

How do I use AutoSizer to resize windows?

1. Open the application that you want to run on AutoSizer.
2. Now open AutoSizer. It will show all the open windows.
3. Just click any one of the window name and press ‘AutoSize’.
4. Choose one of the options under ‘Action To Perform’(as shown below) and click ‘OK’.

AutoSizer is a very useful tool as it helps you resize your windows the way you want it to and is helpful to all Windows users. It gives you customization options that allow you to specify how a window must size itself when it opens(induvidually).  Check out AutoSizer.

SimilarSites is a free online tool that helps internet users find sites similar to any site that they may want in a jiffy. How would this be useful - you may ask. For eg, if you are looking for video sharing sites similar to YouTube, just key in the URL of YouTube into the text box present on the SimilarSites homepage and click on ‘Find Similar Sites’.

SimilarSites also has addons for both Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer and you can download them from their website.The addons provides you with a list of similar sites without having to go to their main website at the click of a button.

If there’s an interesting site that you think must feature in the list but has been accidentally missed out, SimilarSites allows you to make a suggestion and once you key in the necessary information as shown in the screenshot below, the site will be added to the list.

I tried using SimilarSites for various sites and it came up with pretty good results and overall, I’m very happy with it. If you are looking to add more sites to your feed reader like the ones you already have or are looking for website alternatives, SimilarSites is the tool to use to find related sites. Check out SimilarSites.

While going through the various folders and sub-folders on any computer system, it is sometimes quite irritating that folders/sub-folders do not open in new folders. Windows however has an in-built option to make folders open in new windows. Here’s how you do it.

1. Click on ‘Start’
2. Go to ‘Control Panel’. You can find a link to Control Panel in the right side of the Start Menu.
3. Click on ‘Folder Options’.



4. Now from the “General’ tab, select the radio button next to ‘Open each folder in its own window.’
5. Click on ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ to complete the process.

Now all folders will open in new windows.

Many a time it so happens that we are searching for a particular word with it’s meaning but the word never strikes us even though we know it and have used it previously. This situation may occur to both professional writers as well as amateurish one timers alike and as all would agree, it’s quite nerve-wracking. OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary saves us from such a predicament.

OneLook calls itself  the search engine for words and phrases. As per the website, OneLook search engine indexes over 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries along with encyclopedias and other reference sites. While, with OneLook, one can Define Words, Find Words and Translate Words, in this post, the emphasis is on OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary.

How do I use OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary to find the words I’m looking for?

This is best explained with the screenshot below that I’ve taken from the OneLook website.

The Reverse Dictionary also enables the usage of Wildcard Patterns which help you shortlist or find the right word easily. Quoting the website:

1. The asterisk (*) matches any number of characters. That means that you can use it as a placeholder for any sequence of letters or symbols. For example, if you enter blueb* you’ll get all the terms that start with “blueb”; if you enter *bird you’ll get all the terms that end with “bird”; if you enter *lueb* you’ll get all the terms that contain the sequence “lueb”, and so forth. An asterisk can match zero characters, too.
2. The question mark (?) matches exactly one character. That means that you can use it as a placeholder for a single letter or symbol. The query l?b?n?n, for example, will find the word “Lebanon”.
3. The number-sign (#) matches any English consonant. For example, the query tra#t finds the word “tract” but not “trait”.
4. The at-sign (@) matches any English vowel. For example, the query abo@t finds the word “about” but not “abort”.

The dictionary definitions in OneLook are arranged according to categories of - General, Art, Business, Computing, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Religion, Science, Slang, Sports, Tech and Phrases making it easier for people to search for words. It is also possible for you to customize the appearance and use the OneLook dictionary straight from the browser with the IE and Firefox search addons.

Check out OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary.

Scriptalizer is a free online tool that helps you shrink your Java and CSS scripts significantly. It is a nice tool that allows you to save system space by greatly decreasing the code size. Scriptalizer is pretty simple to use and does it’s job very efficiently in a matter of seconds.

How does Scriptalizer work?

Scriptalizer takes all the codes from the script and puts it under a name like scriptalizer.js or scriptalizer.css . This reduces the number of characters drastically and hence saves you a lot of space. Scriptalizer actually minifies the whole script by removing all unnecessary characters from the source code. These unnecessary characters include white space characters, new line characters, comments and sometimes also block delimiters. Given below is an example of how scriptalizer works.

The original scripts:

Java script:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery/jquery.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery/jquery.form.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/myOwnScriptFile.js"></script>

CSS script:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/style/longstylesheet.css" type="text/css" />

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/style/anotherlongstylesheet.css" type="text/css" />

After the scripts are run on scriptalizer, here is the shrunk version:

Java script:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/scriptalizer.js" ></script>

CSS script:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/style/scriptalizer.css" type="text/css" />

How do I use Scriptalizer to shrink my Java and CSS scripts?

Using scriptalizer to shrink your java scripts has never been this easy before.  Just follow these steps to shrink your scripts:

1. Select the file to be processed using ‘Choose File’ under the required file heading.
2. Now click ‘OK’ to start the shrinking process.
3. You’re now done with the shrinking process and within seconds the compressed code is ready.

This is a very useful tool for a Java or a CSS programmer as it saves a lot of their server space. Check out Scriptalizer.