You don’t have enough knowledge or ideas about creating a logo and you are in a big hurry and need to get a logo right away. You have the option to buy a nice logo for just $50 but you are still trying to find one for free. Yes, you’ve heard right, there are plenty of free online tools designed to help you in creating your logo but you start the applications and when you finish the design you just can’t save and download that logo because you just discover that it is not free at all. You have to pay for it first. They all let you play with these types of online applications but in the end no one gives you the logo for free, and here is where is come to help. I just found a nice tool, very easy to use to create a basic logo, and this one is 100% free so hurry up and create a logo for free! But first let me tell you what the steps are to see how simple it is and then I’ll show you the link to this website.
If you don’t believe it’s free then please read the website’s explanation for this and remember you can save and download up to 10 free logos. It’s very logic:

“So what’s the catch? There is no catch at all. Right now we are testing the market and working with one or two professional logo design companies to compliment our free logo maker software. If you need a custom logo design we suggest that you use our #1 partner The Logo Company. They will design you a completely unique and professional logo for just $149 with no hidden charges. The Logo Company also has well over a thousand client testimonials in their forum to prove they do what they say they do. On top of that The Logo Co also won a “best in test” trial conducted by the famous US magazine Wired!”

To start and use this online application and create a logo for free first you have to register on the website and login. This takes about 1 minute and you can do this later if you like, right before downloading your logo, like I did.



<-180x150 Small Rectangle - left->Go to “start your logo” and in the pop-up window choose your image category. Here you have various sections, from Abstract and Eye, to Animal, Money and Religious. Let’s say I want Transport. I click on Transport and I receive cool images with motorcycles, planes, ships, and cars. I choose the large car because let’s say I have a firm providing transport solutions for everybody. I am sent to another place where I have options of adding text lines up to 5, change fonts, scale, rotate, change colors, delete and save. I’ll start with the text and I’ll insert the name of my firm – TransGo Solutions – with 6809 Chargen font, size 22, and 2 colors – TransGo in dark blue to suggest the sky above where airplanes fly and Solutions in dark green to make you think of the on-land transport.

Now I’m saving the logo and I am arriving in a new place where I see my logo history and several options: modify logo, add a testimonial, delete logo and download logo, along with the preview. I choose to download it finally. Because I am registered I receive the download link in a new email and surprise! I received not only the 275 X 275 JPG image but also the 400 X 400 JPG and a 600 X 600 file, so I have 3 dimensions I can play with. Same thing happens with the PNG and TIF I just received. And what makes me happy is that I got also the EPS, a version of the Adobe Illustrator Artwork file format so after I learn how to use the software I can improve the logo at a later time.

See how simple it was? Now it’s your turn to create a logo for free on Logo Ease.

When you have a lot of CDs or DVDs it is very hard to keep track of what you have exactly on each of them unless you create a catalogue or some form of list of contents and store it somewhere on your hard drive. For example, the computer magazines usually add a CD/DVD disc as bonus, loaded with small pieces of software (free or shareware). If you collect such discs, you might want to remember easily where to find a certain program or file. CD Catalog Expert has been on the shareware market for a long time and it offers a very good solution.

  

The interface is well embedded with the Windows Vista Aero shell (on the main site it is stated that it supports Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista). Since the 3rd of February 2007, the 9th version of this program has been released and a lot of changes have been made in order to improve compatibility with various media storage units: a new generation of database format, the kernel was rewritten, the user interface has been improved and the search function optimized. The functionality has also been extended with hierarchical categories, “favorites” features and with one more type of exporting format, XML, while the HTML/TXT format has been optimized.

   

There have been some improvements until the program reached the 9.22.7.826 version and even if the name remained as “CD Catalog Expert”, the DVDs are also supported. In each catalog you can create categories and start adding disc content information in each category you create according to the category name. As an example you can create a category called Audio CDs and then you can all your mp3 CDs by “scanning” them. The same can be applied for DVDs or hard drive partitions you may wish to add to the catalog.

   

Applicability:
Large collections of CDs or DVDs could be very well numbered and gathered in such a database contained by the catalog created using this piece of software. Why would you need to create such catalogs? For fast access, obviously! Just imagine what it would be like to have a pile of discs on your table and to start searching for some data on each of them… It will (probably) take a lot of time to find the right disc. You can save hours of search with such a program and find what you need in an easy and quick search query through the database.

Pro(s): The program is highly efficient and very useful for companies that deal with a lot of media storage units because of its indexing capabilities.

Con(s): What I didn’t like about this program is that when you create catalogs in it – you cannot rename or delete files from the indexed disc content: as an example – you have some catalogs that you wish to share with some friends, but some of the discs also contain some (private) files/folders you wouldn’t want anyone else to see – the only solution would be to re-burn the CD/DVDs without those – but that is not always cheap or convenient, especially if there are any. Maybe the developers didn’t even think of such a function, editing the indexed content that is, but other famous CD/DVD indexing tools do have this option.

Official site

Buy: $29.95

Download trial

No matter the version of the operating system you're using, you need tools to help you keep it clean. I know, I know, every Windows version comes with its own cleaning tools, but... let's get serios! Do you really think so many software companies would mind creating programs that are useless? I don't think so...

Until now, it was my pleasure to tell you about a few uninstallers for Windows, most of them being really good tools, but today's target, called Advanced Uninstaller PRO, is much more than just an uninstaller, coming with a lot of useful tools to help you keep your computer clean and running at full speed.
Of course I'm not going to spoil the surprises you'll have later by telling you everything now, so let's take it step by step...


Setup
<-125x125 Button - left->
Advanced Uninstaller PRO reached its version 8.4 on the 25th of August, and now this program is fully compatible with Vista, also having some new features introduced especially for the Windows Vista users. Priced at $39, this program coming from Innovative Solutions can be taken for a free ride that is limited to 20 days, but has all the features that you'll get as a registered user, with the exception of the nag screen, of course.

The setup package of the program has exactly 16MB in size, but if you have a slow connection, the wait is going to worth in the end, believe me! Once the download has finished, installing the program should be as easy as 1-2-3, and I am sure that even beginners shouldn't have any problems with it, as long as they can understand English and they're not trying to install this Windows program on a Linux system...


Interface

As you start the program for the first time and encounter the Welcome screen, you are given the freedom to choose between using the default visual theme, choosing a different skin from a list or simply having no theme at all. Since I always liked the skins offered by this program, I choose the second option, and I advise you to do the same, unless you hate skins or have a really slow computer. Once you choose your theme and enter the application, I bet you'll agree that Advanced Uninstaller PRO looks simply great, and using it is also very easy, because you're guided all along the way.


Features

Before moving on, I still have to tell you about the second item you need to pay attention to inside the Welcome screen, the Rating feature. If you enable it, Advanced Uninstaller PRO will connect to the Internet and retrieve information about various programs that was shared by other users, also allowing you to do the same and rate the applications you're using.

Now, once you're inside the main window, planning your tasks is a good idea, since there are a lot of things to do. First of all, you could check the Uninstall Programs area from the General Tools menu and see if there are any invalid entries in the list. If such errors exist, they can be easily removed by pressing the Remove Invalid button(you don't even have to select them first). In this area, you can also check the ratings and comments of the programs installed
on your computer, rate them and enter your own comments too.

The Monitored Installation area contains the Installation Monitor, a feature that should be present in every serious uninstaller. Once you start the monitor, its icon appears in the system tray, and you can open the main window of this tool, where you can set options for registry, disk and INI files monitoring, as well as automatic installation detection (temporarily disabled in Vista), and monitor's startup options.

The General Tools also contains a Control Panel manager, as well as managers for taking care of your system's startup items, fonts and services. The Services Manager, for example, allows you to save profiles that can be easily loaded, so you can take full advantage of the system resources at your disposal. The funny part is that I found a built in profile called "Asta e un test" (Romanian for "this is a test"), which I am sure it shouldn't have been there, but this is not really a problem, just a small thing that somebody forgot to check...

A lot of tools are wizard-style, like the Windows Temporary Files cleaner or the Start Menu Cleaner, making it much easier for beginners to use this program (you'll really appreciate this approach only after you try to explain on the phone to a computer illiterate how to add a new key to the system registry or remove a startup item).

The Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Tools can deliver quite a boost to your favorite Web browser, as cookies and other unwanted items start to pile up and decrease your browsing speed and, even worse, your online security. Since we have a lot of options available for these two browsers, I would really love to see a backup tool for each of them included in Advanced Uninstaller PRO, sometimes in the future...

At last, one of the best parts of this application is the Registry Tools pack, containing a cleaner, an optimizer and a backup/restore tool. Needless to say what can be done with them, and all I can tell you now is that I've been using Advanced Uninstaller PRO from time to time to clean my registry, and it always worked like a charm.

These being said, I won't tell you a single word about the rich settings area (I know, some may say they've seen even more advanced configuration screens, but when I look at the available skins and I think about the usefulness and reliability of this program, I forget about everything else) or the excellent scheduling features, leaving them for you to discover.


The Good

Advanced Uninstaller PRO looks great, has an excellent Help system, an impressive amount of features and is very easy to use. Add a price that's half of what I would ask for such a program and you get the picture...

The Bad

Some themes don't look good, but that's my personal opinion, and it's a matter of taste, after all. Also, little mistakes like the one I found in the Services Manager should't happen.

Conclusion

Advanced Uninstaller PRO is not one of those programs that you should try. Trying this amazing application is A MUST, so hit the download link below and enjoy it! As usual, it would be great to share your thoughts with the rest of us once you played with this power toy enough to get a good impression about its strengths and weaknesses...

Developer: Innovative Solutions
Price: 39$
Trial Link: Download

Since there are so many antiviruses, antispyware and other similar tools available on the market, and everyone in the civilised world heard about computer viruses in the news, there's no need to tell you about the dangers lurking in the darkness of the Internet or your LAN. After all, there's always Google or Wikipedia available for those who need to find out more about these modern pests. Now, the program I have here comes from a company called ISecSoft, and its name is Anti Trojan Elite, so get ready for it!


Setup

Anti Trojan Elite, or simply "ATE", is a malware remover with some additional features that officially supports Windows 98, ME, 200, XP and 2003. While the last update to the trojan library was done on the 15th of May, 2007, the application seems to have been updated last time in 2005, since the copyright information inside it says "2002-2005".

Priced at $39.95, ATE is available to download and try for free, but to clean threats found on your computer and get rid of the nag screen, you'll have to register. At last, you should know that the setup package has 5.7MB in size, and the installation process shouldn't be much of a problem, unless you try to read the lower part of the text in second screenshot above...


Interface

As you can see in the screenshot to the left, ATE's interface isn't quite as expected. While there are some good graphics present, the overall look and feel of this program makes me think about something done in a hurry, or with a gun to the head. While the icons in the menu look good, the "Anti Trojan Elite" text that seems to be carved in stone shouldn't be there, because it simply doesn't fit in, and there are also other graphics inside this program that are just ugly, and nothing more.


Features

When I tried to update the program, because that's the first thing I always do first with antiviruses and other programs that need to be updated before everything else, I got an error. It seems that only registered users can update the program, so I moved on...

Inside the Scan Type screen (by the way, when you enter a menu, you won't see its name written anywhere inside the main window, as it is normal), I noticed a rather strange thing - the tooltips that appear when placing the mouse above a button have fixed sizes, so you'll see some strange tooltip texts, like "Sensit-ive-Area" or "Flopp-y".

The database is rather old, and has less than 60,000 entries, but at least you can take advantage of the Tools area, that hosts a Network and Process manager, a System Optimizer or a IE Repair tool.

At last, the Options area allows you to access the Config screen, where you can set some basic options, including scan mode, or compressed file scanning (only CAB, ZIP and RAR archives are supported at this time).


The Good

Anti Trojan Elite is pretty easy to use and, despite its interface design issues, works well and I had no problems while running it.

The Bad

The database is really old, and the interface is quite a mess here and there, despite the fact it's not that bad, after all. The truth is that this program still needs a lot of work... and a smaller price, for sure!

Conclusion

While it's obvious that ATE isn't the antivirus of my dreams, I've seen worse. Honestly, I can't recommend you to place all your trust in this application, but you can give it a try, at least for a quick system scan. The way I see things, in a few years, this program will either get much better, or simply vanish from the market.

Developer: ISecSoft, Inc.
Price: $39.95
Trial Link: Download

It’s time we had a close look at the “king” of the DVD Players, and that one is PowerDVD. With the new features like HD, HD DVD and Blu-ray DVD, the player promises a very exciting and crystal clear cinematic (visual and audio) experience.

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->The interface has changed a lot from what the user got used to into the 5th version. The interface started changing drastically from the 6th version – and continued to improve in the 7.3 one, the Ultra Deluxe. The overall enhancements are the fully supported feature of HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, the high definition format support (H.264, HD Mpeg-2 and WMV-HD, the advanced display technologies (support for wide screen monitors, including the latest high definition content protection standard - HDCP - for digital connectors), and the empowering of the hardware acceleration through the HD graphics processors from ATI, Nvidia and Intel.

The advanced movie interactivity is stimulated through the animated menu features of the HD movies, with a next-gen type of navigation that includes overlayed menus, movie bookmarks and advanced content management (like the displayed movie commentaries in Picture-in-Picture mode).

Oh yes, it’s very true when I say you can turn your computer into a Home Theater, as the “king” of DVD players offers only the best options: HD audio technologies like Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, DTS, with support for up to 8-channel surround sound (7.1 channel Dolby Digital EX and 5.1 channel DTS).

You also gain advanced controls with options like Say-It-Again (dialog looping), Read-It-Clearly (moving subtitles on the screen), See-It-All (power-saving mode for notebooks) and Freestyle controls that allow you to choose from up to 5 skins and colors.

The ultimate movie experience is stimulated by the image performance given by the optimizations for the latest high-definition cards, with resolutions up to 1920x1080 in size, with comprehensive support for HD monitors. The second big advantage is that you get to enjoy more of HD content on HD DVDs or Blu-ray discs than from the standard discs.

Applicability:
The following advanced formats are widely supported: MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) - high-definition, MPEG-2 HD - high-definition, WMV-HD - high-definition, DVD-VR, DVD+VR, DivX Pro, DVD-Video, Mini-DVD. But do not think this short list implies just as few types of files, on the contrary – the formats above are included in a very large number of file formats.

Pro(s): PowerDVD has a name quite to the measure of its capabilities: it brings the image in the movies to a life-like, crystal clear bright level with the CyberLink Eagle Vision (CLEV)-2 feature. With the Smart Video Deinterlacing technique the player brings a smooth and enhanced video image. The CyberLink Pano Vision (CLPV) renders the video to the best and most appropriate aspect ratio according to your screen type (16:9 or 4:3).

Con(s): None! (now that’s a first in my reviews – nothing bad really to say about it) The PowerDVD does precisely what it was meant for and even more. I had absolutely no issues while working with it and the interface integrated very well with Windows Vista. And no, CyberLink hasn't paid me to say these things, but they should.

Official Site

Buy: $99.95

Download Trial