I Love Free Software

Media Player that Streams Internet Radio and Music: z33k
Convert Videos into any Format: Koyote Free Video Converter
Free Online Lego Builder: BuildWithChrome
Free Photo Watermarking Software: ImagesMixer
Create Free Quizzes, Surveys, Tests: Free Quizmaker by iSpring
Free Windows Application Launcher: Colibri
More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator For Windows
5 Firefox Alexa Plugins To Check Alexa Rank On Firefox
Free Employee Monitoring Software: ActivTrak
Convert PDF to JPEG Images: iWeSoft PDF Image Extractor

Media Player that Streams Internet Radio and Music: z33k

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 06:30 PM PDT

z33k is a freeware that presents you media player that streams internet radio and music. The application uses the extensive Dilandau and MP3Skull databases to search and play music.

More and more people are opting to listen to music online due to the large variety available on the web. Finding a site which can allow you to listen to mp3 music for free is next to impossible. This is where z33k steps in.

Features of this free media player

z33k media player has quite a number of interesting features.

The online media player which lets you search for your favourite music on two of the largest mp3 databases on the internet. Once you have located the song you are looking for, you can choose to either play it from the web or download for later use.

The player also supports online radio. All you have to do is search your favourite radio station and start listening. Online radio can be searched by name or by genre making it easier to find a station of your liking. Users can also maintain a playlist of your favorite online station. A music identification feature is added to the radio feature. The track identification feature allows you to download track information of any track playing. Finding the right radio station is made more interesting by the reverse search. Once you have an mp3 playing you can search for radio playing the song and listen to it.

z33k is a standalone application which can also run from cloud services like DropBox. When running on a cloud service you can easily share and download media to your mobile device.

How to use this media player

The program is very portable and requires no installation. The interface is very simple and well arranged. It however lacks a maximize button and cannot be resized. The icons are not labelled and you will take sometime before you figure out what each of them does. To play online mp3 enter a valid track name or artist name and hit Enter.

Search results are listed in large white space. You can select a file to play by double clicking on your preferred result. Media player control are just like you find in an ordinary player except for the reload button. Selected files can be downloaded using the download button which is the last button on the left. The star button is the playlist button which you can use to add, edit and load playlists. Next to it is the online radio button which you can use to search for radio stations. Databases to search from can be modified on the combo box at the bottom middle. You can donate to the cause by clicking on the PayPal button.

Opinion

The program is very responsive and very fast. The search feature is great and very accurate but there is nothing to inform you when your search did not yield any results. Audio quality is great and all controls work perfectly. The user interface would be more user friendly with the presence of tooltips, labelled buttons and a progress bar . Downloads were lightening fast and were of great quality but once again you are not informed on the status of the download. The name is quite unique but could be mistaken for malware. A provision for either offline or online help should be availed.

Verdict

I get the feeling that you will learn to live with theses minor imperfections and enjoy the great features z33k offers.

Media Player that Streams Internet Radio and Music: z33k was originally published at I Love Free Software

Convert Videos into any Format: Koyote Free Video Converter

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 PM PDT

Free Video Converter software from Koyote is a great tool for converting videos into any format that you may like. There has been a huge growth in terms of the number of video formats available today. This is partly because of the growth in the number of media players as well. This growth in the number of video formats and the number of media players has also thrown in the requirement of converting a video from one format to another. There are a number of video converters in the market today, but one thing that will make you shy away from them is the costs.

It provides conversion to a variety of formats at absolutely no cost to the user. Further, there are no limits on the number of times that you can convert videos using this software. This makes it extremely desirable for conversion of a large number of video files.

Downloading and Installation of this video converter:

Unlike some of the other video converters, the Free Video Converter software is available for free. Due to its low footprint on the hard drive, it also makes it extremely easy to download as well. During the installation, the software requires only one confirmation from the user before it is all set to go. There are only three instructions that you need to remember in order to get the Free Video Converter software on your PC.

1. Go to the homepage

2. Click on the download button

3. Run the installation file, which will download the actual software, although it is not big enough to worry even the slowest Internet connection

Key Features of Free Video Converter:

Extremely simple to use
Lots of video formats supported by the software
Conversion of video files into various formats
It is possible to remove the audio while converting
It can also extract only the audio from your video files
Extremely quick video conversion

Wide Variety of Conversion:

The extensive range of multimedia devices in our life today extends from the smartphone to the DVD player. However, it is possible to satisfy the requirements – in terms of video formats – for all these multimedia devices using the Free Video Converter software alone. It can convert anything from a file in the 3GP format to one that can be used on a DVD player. It is also possible to convert only a certain portion of video using the inbuilt trimmer.

Simple Conversion Process:

You just need to enter the details of the portion – in terms of time – in order to convert that specific region. As said previously, there are plenty of output formats to choose from. It is also possible to extract only the audio from this portion. The Free Video Converter software provides controls for modifying some of the vital aspects of a video – frame rate and aspect ratio.

The key areas that can be controlled includes the format of the video, resolution of the video, bit rate, frame rate, and aspect ratio. Due to its lightweight aspect and great functionality, the Free Video Converter software is one of the best you can find today.

Download the Free Video Converter software in order to satisfy all your video converting needs.

Convert Videos into any Format: Koyote Free Video Converter was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Online Lego Builder: BuildWithChrome

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 03:30 PM PDT

Even though the name of the website is BuildWithChrome, you don’t need Chrome browser to access it and enjoy in Lego blocks building for free. That’s right, by opening up BuildWithChrome you will be taken in a Lego world where you can use virtual lego blocks to create anything that you can think of. Great thing about using virtual Lego’s is that they are infinite, so there’s no limit as to what can be done.

Lego editor is very easy to use, you can see it on the image above. Before you get to the editor where you can start working on your Lego creations, you will gonna have to find a place in this Lego world where you can start building whatever it is that you want to build. Depending on where on the map you start your search, you might have problems finding plots, where you’ll be allowed to build Legos.

You can also check out Lego Digital designer.

Free online Lego building

The image that can be seen above is not the default image that waits for you upon opening this online Lego builder. There the actual Lego editor is opened. Editor will be opened once that you find a plot on the map:

where you would like to start building your Lego creation. You’ve probably noticed that the Lego land which you can see on the image above is actually Australia, which is a good thing, because Australia is a big place and you can find a lot of places where to build.

You can register on BuildWithChrome, which will give you more options when it comes to managing Lego creations. Registration is free, but it’s not necessary if you are not very interested in what BuildWithChrome has to offer, but you’d still like to try it out.

Also check out brickify free software to convert images to lego blocks.

Clicking on the large Build button on the top right corner will automatically find you a plot somewhere on the map, and then you can start your creations.

On the left you can see all the different block shapes that you can use while creating Lego marvels on your plot. Color of the blocks can also be changed by clicking on the color button at the top right corner of the block selection window. Each one of the blocks has a preview window at the top, where you can see how exactly it looks like. You might be wondering what to do with your Lego creation once that you are finished, well you can publish it, so that the entire world can see.

Build and share online Lego block creations

In the upper right corner of the Lego editor you will see a green Publish button. Clicking on it will submit your Lego masterpiece to the website for review. All creations have to be checked before they are made public. A lot of people have already made their imprint on this online Lego editor and you can to. Find your spot in the Lego world and start building important landmarks from Legos, completely free. Once you’re done, publish what you’ve created and let others gaze at your skills, once that they stumble on your plot of course. Try BuildWithChrome free.

Free Online Lego Builder: BuildWithChrome was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Photo Watermarking Software: ImagesMixer

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT

ImagesMixer is an innovative, free photo watermarking software which helps you in marking your pictures in order to protect pictures from being copied. This is very helpful for all those who maintain online blogs or profiles with their exclusive pictures which they want to be protected from being copied. We all are aware of the fact that branding acts as one of the best tools to drive people towards your site. Therefore once you watermark your pictures and publish them online you are assured that the authenticity of your website keeps on increasing.

Installing this photo watermarking software

The free watermark software comes from the French developers which is the language you would see on their websites. However the interface of ImageMixer is also available in English. Once you visit their site here and click on the download button at the bottom you would be redirected to the download page. After you have downloaded the program on your system the next step is to run the setup process. The step by step guide will help you to install the software easily on your system. Once installation is over you are ready to launch the program and start using it for your purpose. If you are interested to check out some more watermark software, you can try TSR Watermark Image, JaCo Watermark and Exif wMarker.

Using ImagesMixer

The moment you launch the program you would see a simple window which comes with several option on it. The interface looks quite simple where each of the options looks self-explanatory. At the top you have the menu bar which gives you the option to open files, add watermark, change language and make changes to the preferences in which the software behaves.

The process is quite simple wherein you just need to drag a picture at the top of the window where it says ''Select or drop images here''. Once you would drag an image to the place a green arrow would appear at the bottom indicating you are ready to use watermarking. Further you may change or resize the image by changing its dimensions on the right side. It also gives you the option to convert the image format where there are four of the formats which it supports. The next thing to do is to select the picture or text you wish to use as the watermark. You can change the opacity of the particular image or make a change to the location where it would be placed from the options on the right side of the window.

After you are done making the changes and selecting your preferences you would have to click on the Green Tick at the bottom. This starts the entire process and would take around 5-6 seconds to complete. Now you can view the image by clicking on Open destination folder at the bottom of your main window.

ImagesMixer further comes with the option of pre-set features which could be engraved on the pictures you wish to watermark. The process of using this application is very simple and indeed very handy.

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Free Photo Watermarking Software: ImagesMixer was originally published at I Love Free Software

Create Free Quizzes, Surveys, Tests: Free Quizmaker by iSpring

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 12:30 PM PDT

Ispring Quizmaker, as the name suggests is a great tool for creating effective and captivating assessments, quizzes, and online-offline tests for e-learning and other businesses in a matter of a few minutes. This software comes with effective quiz authoring tools which can be easily accessed using its intuitive and simplified user friendly interface.

Features of this free Quizmaker:

Types Of Questions: On the starting screen it displays the type of quizzes which you can create:

Graded Quiz

Survey Quiz

Questions can be of 23 different types: 11 types for a graded quiz and 12 for a survey based quiz.

In the free version of this software only 6 types of questions are provided namely True/False, Multiple Choice, Multiple Response, Yes/No, Pick One and Pick Many.

Sharing and Output: It can work effectively as a standalone unit and also as a part of e-Learning course. In other words, the quizzes which you create can also be embedded into blogs and websites. It can also be sent via e-mail or can be published to any AICC/SCORM supported LMS (Learning Management System). Any quiz created using this software can be exported as a SWF or an EXE file. The quiz can also be exported to Microsoft Word thus making it easier to check for spelling mistakes and other grammatical mistakes.

Flexibility:

Using this powerful quick making software, you can also create Flash based quizzes which allows you to incorporate pictures, music, videos and animations in your quizzes thus making it all the more interesting and interactive.
Provision is there to add in formulae and equations to construct comprehensive math exams.
You can also insert slides containing additional information between various questions.
Tools for recording and tracking scores of individual users are also provided. The administrator or the quiz master can also set the test duration and can also trace the number of times a user attempted a particular question. You can even set pre-defined feedback based on the results of users.

Customizable Labels: Each and every item in the quiz can be customized for every particular project. This facility is versatile for constructing tests in different languages.

Live Preview: The test creator can preview a particular question or the entire quiz to see the test through the eyes of the end-user. You can experiment with the quiz content and can preview the quiz instantly. This feature is particularly useful if you are publishing the quiz straight to LMS or if the end user gets access to the final version of the quiz straight away.

Customization: All types of quizzes can be completely customized as and when required. Shuffling of answers and random selection of questions from a question bank allows each user to be presented with different sets of questions.

Download:

The software from iSpring is a 20.80MB downloadable file and can be downloaded from here. It supports both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and 7. More information regarding the system requirements can be obtained from here. Along with the free software you can also try the pro version on a 30 day trial with full functionality.

The Final Verdict:

This Free Quizmaker from iSpring is a very flexible and versatile tool for creating creative and interactive quizzes. Its user friendly interface makes it all the more easy for the user to create graded quizzes and surveys and thus this software can be recommended for use.

Create Free Quizzes, Surveys, Tests: Free Quizmaker by iSpring was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Windows Application Launcher: Colibri

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT

Colibri is an incredibly small and incredibly powerful application launcher which you can use in order to decrease the amount of time you spend typing on your keyboard and flapping around with your mouse. The application is very small, like I mentioned, the download is less than 1MB, and it’s not a big strain on the computer resources.

This free program launcher will, after installation and after you run it, place itself in the system tray, and from there it will wait for you to start typing the commands of things that you need to run. Before you can start using Colibri, it will have to be summoned from the tray, there’s two ways of how you can do that, let’s first take care of that, so that you know how you can efficiently and without a mouse run applications in just a few seconds.

Similar software: MadApp Launcher, Famutus, QuickCliq.

Colibri free Windows application launcher, basic settings

Before you can actually start typing commands into Colibri, you’re gonna have to activate it from tray. The normal way of doing it with the mouse is of course there, but since we are looking for a way of how we can minimize as much as possible the use or either keyboard or mouse, then we will have to find another way of how to open up Colibri.

By right clicking on the Colibri icon in the system tray you’ll get an option to open the Preferences menu, where you can change various settings of Colibri. Basic settings like running Colibri on system startup can be changed here. The one that’s most important for us would be the one that you can see on the image above, Hot-key settings, whether or not it is activated, and if it’s not you’re gonna have to activate it by hitting Enter.

The second option that you’re gonna have to visit would be the Change Hotekey option which is located beneath the activate Hot-key option. Click Enter there and you will be presented with a window where you can change the Hot-key, the default Hot-key is:

Ctrl+Space

After you figure this out or change it to your needs, you’ll be able to start Colibri with your keyboard, by clicking the designated key combo, in our case it was Ctrl+Space. Now every time that you need Colibri to run something, use the key combo without needing to use the mouse.

Launch applications fast with Colibri

Once that the Hot-key is configured, open it up with the shortcut, after which you will just see a small screen where you will receive suggestions for what you’re typing.

As you type, new suggestions for applications which can be run are added, until the one that you actually need comes up. Colibri has scanned your entire computer for installed applications, not just the ones that you’ve installed, but also small system applications and utilities which would normally not be found. If you are looking for an easy way of how to run programs, then Colibri is just the thing for you, free and simple to use, make sure to try it out.

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Free Windows Application Launcher: Colibri was originally published at I Love Free Software

More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator For Windows

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 09:30 AM PDT

More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator is a free software that calculates and shows you the pregnancy status. This Pregnancy calculator helps you in keeping track of all the changes taking place in your baby during the nine months of pregnancy.

This pregnancy tracker software comes with a very clean interface in which you need to enter the first day of your last period and average length of cycle. Or optionally if you know your due date you can simply enter it in the respective box in order to know the days left and to know the monthly changes taking place in your baby.

More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator is a lightweight software with a file size of only 4.2 MB. Once you have entered information to determine pregnancy due date, you need to hit the OK button below. This will take you to a new window that displays the due date and number of days left in due date. This new window basically shows you the changes taking place in all the 9 months of pregnancy. These are basically articles which you can read and understand the changes that take place in each month of pregnancy.

Key Features Of This Pregnancy Calculator:

Shows you the due date and number of days left in the due date.
Basic and clean user-interface.
Makes you aware about all the changes taking place in each month of pregnancy.
Easy to use, as you simply need to enter the last period's first day and average length of the cycle and leave the rest to this pregnancy calculator.

We have also reviewed best pregnancy apps for Android.

Download And Installation Of This Pregnancy Calculator:

Go on to the download page of this pregnancy calculator and click the download button.
A setup file will be downloaded into your system.
Run the setup file and follow further instructions to install this Pregnancy calculator.

Also, check out another pregnancy App Pregnancy status checker for Android users.

More4Kids Pregnancy calculator is a useful software that shows you expected due date and even makes you aware about changes taking place in your baby during each month of pregnancy. Download More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator free.

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More4Kids Pregnancy Calculator For Windows was originally published at I Love Free Software

5 Firefox Alexa Plugins To Check Alexa Rank On Firefox

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT

Here, are 5 Firefox Alexa plugins to check Alexa Rank on Firefox. Like Google PageRank, Alexa Rank is also one of the important tool to check where a particular website stands. Less the Alexa page rank indicates more and more popularity of the website. And I have already covered earlier how to improve Alexa Rank of your website.

Firefox browser makes it easy for you to check Alexa Page Rank by some plugins available in Firefox Adds-On Store. In this article, we will discuss about 5 best Alexa Page Rank checker plugins for Firefox and that too free. Plugins include SEO Status PageRank/Alexa Toolbar, Meet the WebRank Toolbar, Alexa Lite, and more.

SEO Status PageRank/Alexa Toolbar:

SEO Analysis

SEO Status PageRank/Alexa Toolbar is a free Firefox plugin to check Alexa page rank of webpages accessed on Firefox browser. This Firefox plugin is a simple plugin that gives Google Page Rank and Alexa Page Rank of the webpage. You can head to options menu to let the plugin display the page ranks on status bar/add-on bar or toolbar of the browser. The plugin displays the page rank in the form of progress bar. if you want to check the exact page rank in number, then put the mouse cursor on the progress bar of Alexa Page Rank or Google Page Rank.

Meet the WebRank Toolbar:

Meet the WebRank Toolbar

Meet the WebRank Toolbar is a free Firefox extension to check the Alexa Rank and other page ranks. This Firefox plugin is a multi-purpose plugin that allows you to check Alexa Rank, Google Page Rank, Quantcast Rank, and Complete Rank of the webpages accessed on Firefox browser. Apart from page rank, you can also check page indexed, backlinks, and SocialMeter. You can also head to options menu of the plugin to customize the display options. Also, the plugin allows you to change the interval time at which the plugin updates the present page rank of the webpage accessed.

Alexa Sparky:

Alexa Sparky

Alexa Sparky is a free Firefox add-on that allows you to check Alexa data in status bar of your Firefox browser installed. This Firefox plugin allows you to check Alexa Page Rank, Page Rank progress bar, and Traffic trend of the webpage which you have accessed. The plugin is simple to use as immediately after installation of Alexa Sparky plugin, you can check Alexa Page Rank and other Alexa data on the add-on bar of the Firefox browser. This one I personally use, and find it very useful.

SearchStatus:

SearchStatus is a free Firefox add-on which displays Alexa Rank. This Firefox plugin allows you to check Alexa Rank, Google PageRank, Complete Page Rank, and mozRank. Apart from rank of the webpage, the plugin also shows keyword density, highlights keyword, show indexed pages, show backlinks, and much more. I truly liked the plugin, as you can perform multiple task with one single plugin installed on your Firefox browser.

Remember: Page Ranks from all the services will be displayed with the help of the progress bar. If you want check the exact Page Rank, then put thee mouse cursor on the any of the page rank icon on the adds-on bar. The plugin will display the page rank in numbers along with the progress bar for each webpage.

Alexa Lite:

Alexa lite

Alexa Lite is a free Firefox add-on which show Alexa Page Rank of any webpage which is accessed on Firefox browser. Unlike other Firefox plugins, Alexa Lite plugin does not display the Page Rank on adds-on bar of the browser. Instead,this Firefox plugin shows Alexa Page Rank by giving a pop-up on the website page itself. For doing that, you need to right click on the status bar/adds-on bar of the browser. Now, click on the customize option. Check for Alexa Lite icon and drag it to the status bar. Now, click on the Alexa Lite plugin icon the adds-on bar which you added and then you will see a pop-up the website page which tells page rank of the current URL accessed on Firefox browser.

If you find any other good add-on for Firefox browser to check Alexa Page Rank, then do lets us know in comments.

If you use Google Chrome browser, then do check out review on Alexa Chrome extensions.

5 Firefox Alexa Plugins To Check Alexa Rank On Firefox was originally published at I Love Free Software

Free Employee Monitoring Software: ActivTrak

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 06:30 AM PDT

ActivTrak is a free employee monitoring software which allows company owners to monitor and keep track of what their employess are doing on their computer during company time.

Nowadays, there are multitude of ways how employees can slack off and not do the work they were assigned to do. With ActivTrak, employee monitoring get’s a bit easier, and it’s not only for employees you can monitor students, or anyone else that you are interested in keeping tabs on.

ActivTrak dashboard is what you can see on the image above and it’s where you will be accessing data which ActivTrak Agents have collected. We did say that this is an online service, which means that if you are the one that’s doing the tracking, then there is no need for you to install anything on your computer, simply open up the ActivTrak website and register for a free account. There are limitations as to how many Agents you can install with the free account.

Keep track of your employees with ActivTrak

Limitations of the free account are that you only get

1GB of storage space
You can monitor up to 3 computers

After you’ve gone over the limitations of the free package, your data will still be collected, you’ll just not be able to browse through it. Switching to one of the paid packaged will give you more options, there are 4 paid packages, all of which are offering unlimited storage, but they have different numbers of Agents that can be installed, 5, 10, 20 and 50. You can check out pricing here.

Agents are applications which you download from the ActivTrak dashboard and install them on the computer that you want to track. Installation will not be detected by the users, because it’s stealth. Once that the installation is completed data will start appearing in the website in a matter of minutes.

Like you can see from the previous two screenshots, a lot of different information that will be gathered from the computer of the employees, and you as the owner of the Agents can even be notified after a certain action has been performed on the computer which is being tracked. List of features that ActiveTrak offers are:

Tracking visited websites and division on productive, unproductive
Accessed applications tracking, also with division on productive and unproductive
Periodical screenshots of the employees desktop
Tracking time spent in productive apps or on productive websites
Email notifications in case the employee goes astray
Notification in case an important work program has been closed

and many, many more.

All of this data and information is gathered on the website for easy online access. Everything is displayed nicely, with statistical diagrams and pie charts, you can even access older data and compare it with new figures to see which worker is improving or to spot the ones that are not full-filling their quota.

Conclusion

Free service that ActivTrak offers is more than enough to see how this online employee tracking service is working, and it’s best that you start with the free version first. If your company is not big, it should be more than enough, try it and see how it goes, in case you like what you get, switch to one of the paid packages and enjoy less limitations.

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Free Employee Monitoring Software: ActivTrak was originally published at I Love Free Software

Convert PDF to JPEG Images: iWeSoft PDF Image Extractor

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Free PDF Image Extractor is a freeware that can be used to convert PDF files into JPEG images. Even though the PDF has grown in stature during the years, one of the main disadvantages when it comes to a PDF file is the inability to use only a certain page according to your needs. In the case of a Word file, one can simply choose the desired page and separate it out from the rest. This is not possible in the case of the PDF file unless you have the Free PDF Image Extractor in your hand. This software will allow you to extract the information contained within the PDF file into an image.

Key Features of the Free PDF to JPEG converter:

Extremely quick.
Completely free.
Maintains the quality of the information.
Can process a lot of information in a short span of time.
Ability to convert number of PDF files to JPEG images at the same time.

Simple Process:

Getting to know the way round the Free PDF Image Extractor is extremely easy because the freeware is extremely simple to use. This may be born out of the fact that it does not have a lot of space on your hard disk, while the minimum requirements of the software is also extremely low.

Due to the fact that the freeware is built solely for the purpose of extracting images from the PDF files, the number of options within the software is extremely low. This cluster free environment means that it does not take long to start converting. The conversion process is simple and straightforward. You just need to select the files that you want to convert from PDF to JPEG. Once you have selected the directory to which the images should go, your work is done because the software takes care of the rest.

Limited Conversion Options:

It is not surprising to know that there is only one conversion option – the ability to choose the output directory. The output of the software comes in the form of the JPEG extension, which does not lose any information present within the PDF file. This means that the images can later be converted to either low quality or high quality prints according to your need.

It can also be seen that the conversion process does not take a long time. Of course, it does depend upon the size of the PDF file that you want to extract the image from, but it is still extremely quick nonetheless. A number of high-end applications like the Adobe Photoshop can open the output of the Free PDF Image Extractor freeware, through which you can perform a variety of tasks on the image.

Download the Free PDF Image Extractor now.

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Convert PDF to JPEG Images: iWeSoft PDF Image Extractor was originally published at I Love Free Software

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