I Love Free Software

Desktop Manager to Animate your Windows 7 Desktop Interface: Splinter
Free Online Document Storage and Organization: Doo
XWindows Dock: Free Application Launcher, Desktop Organizer
Free TimeTabling & Scheduling Software: Mimosa
5 Free Recipe Apps For Android
Create Funny Images with Your Photos: Face Off Max
Free Pixel Image Editor Software: Pixia
Download All YouTube Videos in a Channel
Free Desktop Cleaner to Arrange Folders: Arrange Your Desktop

Desktop Manager to Animate your Windows 7 Desktop Interface: Splinter

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 PM PDT

Splinter is an interactive desktop user interface which can be installed on Windows 7 operating systems. One of the drawbacks of Windows OS is that it doesn’t offer a lot of customization when it comes to changing the system appearance, style, themes and all that. Don’t get me wrong, you can change some things, but on a Linux desktop for example, you can change practically everything, and you should get at least some of that ability by using Splinter, alternative Windows 7 desktop manager.

What you see above is one of the ways that you can decorate your desktop background with the help of Splinter. Image above shows some of the 5 basic elements that can be used in Splinter to add a bit of style to your Window 7 machine, these elements would be:

Visual Style Editor
Wallpaper Flipper
File Lanucher
Icon Docking and
Stack Docklet

Lanchers and docklets are probably not that familiar to you if you’ve only used Windows. Dock would be what Mac uses instead of the lower taskbar that’s present in Windows. That same dock, and several others can be used in Linux, and now with Splinter you can achieve something similar by creating Docks for Icons and configuring the entire setup to look like a Dock.

Similar software: Mad App Launcher, WinWall, CustoPack.

Customizing desktop with Splinter desktop manager

Before anything cool that you can see on the image above can be seen on your computer, you’re gonna have to go through some configuration, and it may even involve some basic “coding” if you are interested in cool animations that are also available with Splinter. Here’s a short video of Splinter in action with animations, so you can get a better understanding of how it works:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Each one of these animations that you can see on each one of these desktops is called a Page or a Splinterface, and you are gonna have to create these Splinterfaces and their appropriate animations yourself, if you want something after your own taste of course.

Options that you can see above can be seen if you right click on the Splinter tray icon. after you add a Page, you’ll be allowed to add a Trigger, and Triggers are what causes all those cool animations that you can see on the video above. The locations of where an images will travel can be adjusted by right clicking on the added Triggers and then selecting Splicon, after doing that you should see something similar to this:

Animation Start position and End position would be the most important ones, because those are the ones that will determine where the object that’s animated will enter the screen and where it will stop. Change image button will allow you to add a special icon for your Splicon. After doing all that you are still left with writing the code, which is not code, they are just descriptive commands when something will happen:

It would take a long time to talk about all the options that Splinter has, and to explain how exactly it is that it works. Best way to get better understanding is to try it, it’s free, and you don’t even have to install it, there’s a portable version available, try it and see how it goes.

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Desktop Manager to Animate your Windows 7 Desktop Interface: Splinter was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Online Document Storage and Organization: Doo

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:30 PM PDT

Doo is an online cloud based document storage and organization software, it’s basically an ECM system, but instead of only being available locally on your computer, you can register an online account with the Doo website, which means easier document access and sharing. Think of Doo as something very similar to Dropbox, only with a lot more focus on file management:

What you see on the image above is the online Dashboard of Doo. The online portion of this document organizer works together with the application that has to be installed on your computer. For the time being, since Doo is still in beta, only Mac OS client is available, and you will gonna have to wait for some time before Doo team develops apps for other operating systems and also for smartphones, which will also be supported. The client application that is installed locally is important because it allows you to search your computer and find the files which are important for you. Without it you cannot fill out your Doo online account.

Similar software: Doxo, Organizer 2.

Online document storage with Doo – Online ECM system

For all those who are not familiar with what exactly ECM systems are, they are applications and services which allow people and companies to easily organize and even store their files. ECM stands for Enterprise Content Management, and it’s what companies and small busnniess use in order to have a better overview over vast amounts of documents that they are joggling with.

Doo is aimed more at small time personal users, at least their free plan. Small size companies can also benefit by using this amazing online service, but they will gonna have to switch to one of the paid plans. There are total of 4 packages that are available at Doo:

Free – comes with 2000 file upload limit, 1GB of space
Premium – comes with 20,000 file limit, 10GB of space
Premium plus – 50,000 file limit, 25Gb storage and client side ecnryption
Proffesional – 200,000 file upload limit, 100GB space, encryption

The first one is obviously free, the rest are paid, but the free one should be more than enough if you are using the storage for your own personal documents, which hopefully you don’t have over 2000.

Like you can see from the image above, Doo comes with several document categories pre-made. Reading these categories paints a better picture about what exactly should be stored in Doo. We have:

Statements
Receipts
Invoices
Informational documents
Tickets
Insurance Policies
Letters
Certificates

Conclusion

Organizing files online is a great way of how you can get a better handle of documents and files important for you. By keeping everything online things get a bit easier, it’s also riskier when it comes to somebody stealing the account login info, but don’t worry, Doo offers a lot of protection. If you are a company that’s looking for a solid solution for online document storage and organization, then Doo is the thing for you. The only drawback is that it’s only available for Mac and Windows 8 Metro, but there should be apps available for other systems very soon, so stay tuned.

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Free Online Document Storage and Organization: Doo was originally published at I Love Free Software

XWindows Dock: Free Application Launcher, Desktop Organizer

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT

XWindows Dock is an attractive, free application launcher which gives a new look to your Screen. It's a launcher where you can have your favorite folders, programs and other files which you might want to access with just a click and not search within the folders.

The launcher also works as a free desktop organizer and can be placed anywhere on your desktop and you can add your favorite programs and files by just dragging them to the launcher panel.

Installing XWindows Dock

In order to download and install this launcher on your computer you need to follow the following steps:

Visit the developer's website and click on the Download link. After you click on download the download starts which takes a couple of minutes to be downloaded on your system.
The next step is to run the setup file which gets downloaded whereby you would be required to select the folders and a few more options in the step by step process.
You are ready to use the application where you would notice the launcher at the bottom of your screen as and when the setup process completes.

People interested to try some more app launcher can check out Launchy, Circle Dock and MadAppLauncher

Using XWindows Dock

The software is pretty simple to use where you need not do much to customize it and have the direct link to your favorite applications. As seen in the screenshot below the launcher is present on your desktop with Recycle Bin and My Computer as the default icons in the launcher.

For example if you are a user who uses the MS Word application on a regular basis then dragging the MS Word application to the launcher is what you need to do to get an instant access through your desktop.

You may add as many apps which fits the window and make your launcher give a great feel to your computer. It would not only help you reduce time but also make sure you don’t need to search for the applications which you use on a regular basis or the ones which are important and you may need them anytime.

In order to have a look at the several options the launcher comes with, you need to right click in a blank area which would popup the options which the launcher comes with. As seen in the screenshot below you would see that there are options to open applications, add some default applications check out the options and properties to customize and more. In order to set the way you wish to see the launcher you need to click on the preferences which would popup a new window with several options on it.

This new window comes with three main options which are:

General
Skins
Plugins

In the general tab you have the option to check and uncheck for changing the look and presence of the launcher on your screen. For example you may change the radio button to 3D to have a 3D look to the launcher. There are of course much more to change and set the way this software runs from here.

In the skins you have the option to change the theme or the base of your launcher. And the plugins window presents you with the option to use default plugins such as the Container which would bring out a small explorer window to your launch bar. You just need to drag it from the plugins window to the launcher and it would start functioning.

Now that you know all about XWindows Dock, you can use this free application launcher to give a new look to your desktop, and make launching programs easy.

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XWindows Dock: Free Application Launcher, Desktop Organizer was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free TimeTabling & Scheduling Software: Mimosa

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:30 PM PDT

Mimosa is a course planning, scheduling and timetabling software for use in schools, colleges, universities, industries and companies. You can think of this software as a free course planner, free course scheduler and a free timetabling utility. It is free to download and use.

Planning a meeting, scheduling conferences and work shifts, timetabling various courses in schools, colleges and universities are the tedious works which no one would love to do. Moreover, errors and conflicts occur easily. Solution to all these problems is here, Mimosa. Using Mimosa, you can complete all these works in a few minutes and without any errors or conflicts. If you are looking for a good time management software, you can try Ganttic, ManicTime and ClockingIT.

Where can you use Mimosa?

Kindergarten
Schools
Colleges
Universities
Companies
Organisations
Conferences

Features of this timetabling software

Teachers, Subjects, Rooms & Equipment: Mimosa integrates all of these into one so that you can easily manage and efficiently use the available resources.
Automatic Conflict Checking: This is the prime feature of Mimosa. This makes sure that you don't double book a resource. This makes sure that two teachers don't end up in the same class at the same time!
Multiple Views: After allocating time table Mimosa allows you to generate timetables from the point of view of students as well as teachers.
Calendar Synchronized: Mimosa is synchronized with a calendar so that you can easily plan various meetings and conferences.
Numerous Optimizations: Using Mimosa you can optimize the timetable allotted according to various conveniences like a teacher gets a minimum of one hour rest between each class, the maximum number of classes for a subject in a week etc.,
Reports: Mimosa offers user defined reports in a HTML version. Besides that you can view timetable and statistics at any time in a simple clipboard form.
Interactive Environment: Mimosa has a cool interactive environment which makes it easy to use. Usage of multiple colours helps in differentiating subjects easily.
Data Transfer Options: From notebooks to laptops to mobile devices and amongst various Microsoft office products & Windows live services, you can easily share and transfer data files of Mimosa.

Mimosa is an amazing software which will easily reduce your work burden. Mimosa is a simple, fast and flexible application. It is very compact and neither it uses your hard disk space too much nor it slows the performance of other applications.

Mimosa is amazingly user friendly with its interactive environment. It also includes a detailed help which can help a fresher easily learn about Mimosa. When tested Mimosa worked perfectly and gave good results without any crashes. Mimosa is the software which can revolutionize planning and timetabling methods. Use Mimosa and be free of the tedious work load.

Free TimeTabling & Scheduling Software: Mimosa was originally published at I Love Free Software

5 Free Recipe Apps For Android

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT

Here, are 5 free recipe apps for Android. Your Android phone can now help you to cook dishes with Recipe apps. Google Play store has many Recipe apps to install on Android phone.

We will discuss about 5 best recipe apps which include Food Network Mobile; one of the popular app in Google Play Store, Recipe Search app, Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner app, and more.

Food Network Mobile:

Food Network Mobile is a free Android recipe app to search for different recipes on Android. This recipe app for Android uses foodnetwork.com and provides the recipes from the database of foodnetwork.com. This recipe app comes with a feature of recipe bookmarking. You can search for recipes and bookmark favorite recipes to access them at any point of time. The recipes are given according to different categories. Recipes include the ingredients of the recipe, directions to prepare the dish, and the image of the dish. The app is easy and simple to use and prepare the recipes.

Also check out our complete review of Food Network Mobile app for Android.

Recipe Search:

Recipe Search is a another free Android app to search for recipes on Android phone. The app provides tons of recipes. Some of the recipe categories include Dessert recipes, recipes for main course, bread recipe, baked good recipes, snacks recipes, appetizers recipe, ethnic recipe, and holiday recipes. You can easily access them and prepare tasty dishes by following the exact ingredients provided by the app and even the ingredients measurement. Before getting started with the app, sign-up with a unique username. The good part of the app is its recipe fixing on Android. You can easily fix the recipe if you find any mistake in its ingredients or any other content. Like Food Network Mobile app, Recipe Search app also allows you to bookmark the recipe and access it at any point of time on your Android phone. To make the app interface look good, you can easily apply themes in the background of the app.

Take a look on Recipe Search app for Android reviewed by us.

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner:

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner is a free Android recipe app that comes with a twist. The app is a bit different recipe app which has spinner that helps you to search for recipes of different types. You can easily search for recipes according to the dishes, ingredients, and the time of the recipe. The dietary filters of the app are very useful, and include vegetarian, high fiber, vegan, low-fat, no dairy, low sodium, no wheat, and low carbs. The app even allows you to scan and search for any ingredient. Sign-up with the app and prepare a shopping list of your own.

Healthy Recipes – SparkRecipes:

Spark Recipes

Healthy Recipes – SparkRecipes is a free recipe app for Android which focuses on providing healthy recipes. The app provides all the recipes category wise on Android. You can easily tap on any category of your choice and know the recipe of any particular dish. Along with ingredients of the recipe, the app also provides the direction to cook the dish, and the nutrition information of the dish you are preparing. The app even allows you to add the dish to favorites, share it, and view the recipe online. You can filter the category according calorie per serving. In short, the recipe app is great and simple to use if you are calorie conscious, and love to cook healthy dishes.

250,000+ Recipes BigOven:

250000

250,000+ Recipes BigOven is a free Android recipe app that provides a pretty good collection of recipes on Android. The number of recipes available in this app are very large. The app provides the recipes according to multiple categories which make it easy for you to look for different recipes on Android. The good part of the app is its browsing speed. The recipes which you browse come up at a very fast speed. Sign-up with the app to create your own grocery list, menu planner, add recipes to your favorites, and much more. The app has smart search bar to search for recipes for your favorite dish on your Android phone.

So, these were some of the interesting and free recipe apps for Android that we really like. If you have some other favorite app to find recipes on Android, do let us know in comments.

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5 Free Recipe Apps For Android was originally published at I Love Free Software

Create Funny Images with Your Photos: Face Off Max

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 09:30 AM PDT

Face Off Max is a creative, free image software which helps you to create funny images by transplanting a face to another body. You can use the templates that the software comes with for creating funny images of your friends and families, giving it a new look altogether. So go on and show your creativity by exchanging heads of your friends with the body of stars or may be a zombie and share it out on your social media profiles such as Facebook.

Installing Face Off Max to create funny images

The installation of this software is like any other application which you might have downloaded before. You need to follow the basic steps as listed below and you would be ready to use the software on your system.

Visit the developer's site here and click on the download button.
As soon as you click on the download button the download process would start and it will take some time before it is actually ready to be installed on your system. The file size is about 22MB which needs a pretty decent connection to make the download process smoother and faster.
After you have the software downloaded on your system you just need to move further by clicking on the setup file of the program. Clicking on the setup file would initiate the download process and the step by step process would guide you to install the program on your system with ease.
After you have installed it on your system you are ready to create cool as well as funny images which sure would make others smile and complement your imagination.

If you are looking for a good image editing app, you can try FastStone Image Viewer, Chasys Draw IES and XnView reviewed by us.

Using Face Off Max to create funny images

The first screen that pops up on your window comes with two options on it. The two options are:

Creating a new project
Opening an existing project

You may choose either of the above depending on what you want to do with the application. For the 1^st time users you should select the radio button of new project and click on next. The next window asks you about the body you wish to use for the image you are creating.

You may select from 100′s of templates or a picture which you may have and then click on next. If you clicked on the pre-installed templates then you would be presented with numerous pictures to choose from. Select the one which you think is appropriate and click on next.

Once you select the template you would be asked to select the picture image or face you wish to instill within the template window. In case you wish to use an image of your friends and family then click on picture image and then browse through your system to select the one you wish to use for this purpose.

After this you will need to crop the image and select the colour tone to it. A few more options would be presented to you and you may customize them and keep clicking on the next option and finally the Finish option. The next and the finish options are available at the bottom right of the main window.

As you are using a trial version the image created would have the link of the developer's site on it and in case you want it to be removed. The last thing you need to do is save the picture at the desired location on your system and you are ready to share the picture with your friends and family. It surely would make them laugh and enjoy. Download Face Off Max free.

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Create Funny Images with Your Photos: Face Off Max was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Pixel Image Editor Software: Pixia

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT

Pixia is a free pixel-based image editor with lots of options to work with. What sets this software apart from other packages is that it is different from any vector-based or desktop publishing package.

What is a pixel-based image editor?

Now, for those who don't understand what a pixel-based image editor is, you need to have a brief idea about what a pixel is? A pixel is basically an amalgamation of two words: 'pix' which has been derived from picture and 'el' derived from element. Hence the word pixel means the smallest element of a picture. A pixel-based image editor would allow you to create or edit pictures interactively on your screen and save them in bitmap or raster formats. What a pixel based image editor offers you is a more realistic image since it focuses on more image detailing as each pixel is rendered individually.

Example of other pixel-image editors: Pinta, GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

Installation

The installation of the Pixia free image editor is hassle-free and all you need to do is click and the installation completes. The software has a size of 12.26MB and is clean. You do not have to worry about any adware or malware being installed in your system. You can browse some plug-ins on the download site which can be installed with the software. The complete process is straightforward and does not require any assistance.

Interface

The interface of Pixia free image editor is not very intuitive as the beginners would find it difficult to comprehend the tool. On the contrary, the sophisticated users can explore advanced options and tools and make the best of the software. The interface consists of a working area in addition to a color palette at the bottom. On the top of the window you have a number of tools to produce the desired output. However, an amazing feature of the user interface is that it is clear with large buttons so that you can easily work with the tools.

Key Features of Pixia free image editor

You can add text in a dialog box and not directly on the image. While creating the text, you are given a wide range of features which can be applied to the text.

The completed files can be easily saved in different formats including JPEG, PNG, TIFF and EPS.
There is a separate format as well .PXA for saving files.
One of the most attractive feature of Pixia free image editor is that it is also suitable for opening photoshop files which are saved in the .PSD format.
Pixia free image editor also offers you a bunch of filters and you can browse through different categories to choose your favorite filter.

Limitations

One of the major limitations of Pixia free photo editor is that you won't find any gradient tool which forms the essence of most of the image editing software. Besides, one of the major caveats of this software is there is a lack of brush shapes and sizes. Hence this can be a significant negative point as far Pixia free image editor is concerned.

Verdict

Pixia free image editor is a great software to produce creative and impressive images. However, it has its fair share of limitations. The user interface can seem slightly complex and as such it becomes quite difficult for the beginners to use it well. Limited help files are available on the internet and this is one of the major caveats of this software. But looking at the brighter side, this free image editor offers you an amazing range of filters and some of them can be even downloaded from the website. On the whole, one can try the software as long as it is free.

Download Pixia

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Free Pixel Image Editor Software: Pixia was originally published at I Love Free Software

Download All YouTube Videos in a Channel

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 06:30 AM PDT

Direct YouTube Downloader is a combination of a YouTube video downloader and converter which you can use in order to download various YouTube video qualities and formats, video per video, or entire playlists/channels at once and then convert them into formats which are readable to mobile devices like iPhone and iPad. Small warning before we dig into YouTube video downloading and conversion, during installation you are offered to install a browser toolbar and change the default search engine. Make sure to uncheck these during install.

What we mentioned in the introduction can be read on the default window that waits for us when we run Direct YouTube Downloader. Program interface has a grayish color with a smooth theme, which makes usage easy on the eyes. That’s very important because in a sense this YouTube video download software is also a video browser, which you can use to go through the videos and choose the ones that you are interested in downloading and converting.

Download YouTube video playlists, channels or single videos with Direct YouTube Downloader

After installation, if you click on the icon or if you leave the Run Direct YouTube Downloader check mark upon finishing the installer you will receive an error, which tells you that the application couldn’t start. This error comes up if you open the application as a standard user, you’ll have to open it as an administrator to have it run properly.

Here is an image of Direct YouTube Downloader loaded up with a users channel all ready to download videos. Notice all the different options that are available. Like we mentioned you can select the quality of the downloaded videos and also select between various different video formats that are available of the particular video that you are checking out. To the right of the quality selection area, we have the Convert settings, that’s where you can set the program to convert videos for:

iPhone
iPad
iPod
Sony PS
Android Tablets
Android Phones

If you don’t want to download some of the videos, then you can remove them by clicking on the gray X button which is located next to each one of the videos. Another useful option that Direct YouTube Downloader has would be the Download audio only option, which will only download sound from YouTube videos that are selected in the playlist. It’s perfect for all those who want to download songs, the ones that can be legally downloaded of course.

Before you start the download and conversion make sure that you change the destination folder of the videos that are being downloaded. This can be achieved by clicking on the gears icon which can be seen in the right upper corner. After all this is set, clicking on the Download button will start the conversion and of course the download of YouTube videos, and that’s that.

Conclusion

Direct YouTube Downloader is very easy to use, and it’s one of the best YouTube downloaders that we have come across, make sure to try it out, especially if you have a smartphone or a tablet and you’d like to convert YouTube videos for them, you can do that with Direct YouTube Downloader, free software.

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Download All YouTube Videos in a Channel was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Desktop Cleaner to Arrange Folders: Arrange Your Desktop

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Arrange your Desktop is a program that helps you to arrange folders on your desktop or My Documents. You can even use it to save to custom folders or arrange the folder name as per picture names. There are a few more things which you could do with this software such as creating custom files and making your Desktop and folders look cleaner.

Installing this tool to arrange folders and clean desktop

By following the steps mentioned below you can easily install Arrange your Desktop on your computer.

Open the website of the Developer here
Click on the Download Now button at the bottom
After the download completes run the .exe file and install it on the location you prefer
Launch the program and start using it

If you are looking for a simple tool to arrange your folders, you can try Arrange Your PC, Elyse Free File Manager and Digital Janitor.

Using Arrange Your Desktop

The moment you launch the application a new window opens with an attractive look for its user interface. It's pretty simple when you use or have a look at the functions it comes with. At the top you have the folder where you wish to make the arrangement and below that you have the option to select the file formats which you wish to makes arrangements to. By Default the folder is the location of your desktop i.e. C:\Users\BRIGHT INFO MEDIA\Desktop which you can modify and browse to the folder you wish to make the changes. At the bottom you can activate the custom type and to feature. Once you switch it on, you need to mention the file type and the folder name and then click on arrange. That's all you need to do and the program would do the rest for you.

Once you click on the Arrange option the direct effect could be viewed in the desktop where it would be much cleaner with a newly added folders on the Desktop would appear. There are a few more folders which get automatically created depending on the programs then run with. For example all the zip files would be saved inside the ''WinRar & Zip Files'' folder or the picture files would be clubbed together in the folder named ''Picture Files''. The custom type feature can be checked by opening the My Documents folder where all the mp3 files on your desktop would be transferred and stored.

Further you may select among the 12 languages which the software is compatible with from the menu at the top. In case you may require any assistance you can click on the help option at the top which gives you the option to share, get in touch or know in detail about this particular release. Hence we can say that Arrange Your Desktop is a pretty decent application helping you to give a cleaner touch to your desktop automatically.

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Free Desktop Cleaner to Arrange Folders: Arrange Your Desktop was originally published at I Love Free Software

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