Saturday, 13 October 2012

This codec pack for video and audio playback was created to allow you to fully enjoy your multimedia files.

Media Player Codec Pack is a Windows codec pack that helps you deal with any multimedia file, be it video or audio, without the need of installing additional software.

The most important step when it comes to the way the codec pack works is the installer, because it gives you the power to pick the components you wish to deploy on your computer.

Be careful though, as the setup kit also comes with some additional tools that may bring a number of changes on your computer. That's actually the reason why Media Player Codec Pack is flagged as ad-supported here on Softpedia.

There are two installation modes, easy and detailed, and we're recommend to pick the latter because it also enables you to skip the installation of the aforementioned unnecessary tools.

The setup kit includes a third-party toolbar plus a dedicated option to change the homepage and the default search engine of your browser, so pay attention to every single step.

As for the codec per se, it includes DVD/SVCD and DVB filters, video codecs and filters, such as ffdshow, LAV, XviD Encoder and Flash FLV, audio codecs and filters (AC3Filter, LAV Audio, DivX Audio and Lame MP3), plus a collection of other source splitters and filters.

Last but not least, Media Player Codec Pack gives you the chance to set some file associations straight from the installer, which means you can set up Windows Media Player to handle MKV, VOB, FLV, FLAC, OGG and a bunch of other files by default.

As a conclusion, Media Player Codec Pack is a decent codec pack that does its job just fine. It is worth a try, that's for sure

Media Player Codec Pack description


The Media Player Codec Pack is a simple to install package of codecs/filters/splitters used for playing back music and movie files. After installation you will be able to play 99.9% of files on the internet, along with XCD's, VCD's, SVCD's and DVD's.

In addition, this software includes several encoder codecs, that will allow you to encode files to various formats, such as XviD, DivX, x264 and many more within your favorite encoding application.

Compression types supported include DivX, XviD, x264, h.264 and many more in AVI, MKV, OGM, MP4 files. Video file types supported include 3GPP, AVI, MKV, OGM, MP4, MPG, MPEG, VOB, DAT, FLV, PS, TS, NUV.Audio file types supported include AC3, DTS, AAC, APE, FLAC, TTA, WV, OGG, Vorbis, MO3, IT, XM, S3M, MTM, MOD, UMX.

The package is designed to be free of conflicts between codecs/filters/splitters and uses Windows Media Player, removing the need to add a different player. Protected files such as iTunes and RealMedia may need a specific player.


Note: The application provides two installation modes. The Easy one will change the user-defined browser search engine and will install a browser toolbar. If you do not want any changes to be applied to your system, you are advised to select the Custom installation.
Requirements:

· DirectX 9 or higher

What's New in This Release:

· Minor Updates

Users are advised to pay attention while installing this ad-supported application:

· Attempts to set Yahoo! as the default search engine for web browsers installed on the system
· Offers to download or install Dealio Toolbar that the program does not require to fully function


An ALL Media Player with intelligent Subtitles

All-round multimedia players are not a rare sight these days. The things that make the difference are usually small innovations specific for each software of this kind.

Among the applications that are designed to handle video, graphic and audio files in almost any format, ALLPlayer brings to the table something special and judging by the feature list, it deserves at least a closer look.

ALLPlayer comes with an 'IQ Text' function that immediately attracts attention because it is supposed to do a very useful thing, namely keep longer subtitles on the screen for a few more seconds so you can read every single word.

During our tests it worked as advertised so we can confirm that this is indeed a great feature. It works based on a simple principle: it analyzes the length of each line and keeps them on screen a bit longer if necessary.

The list of supported formats is impressive and it ranges from the most familiar media types to less common ones like 3G2 (commonly used in modern mobile phones, supported by a few players), AMV (video file format developed for portable players) or DIB (video format in which videos can be played on a Creative Zen V MP3 player and V Plus).

All things considered, ALLPlayer is an application that offers top quality and a solid feature package which, coupled with a great ease of use, can make it one of the recommended choices for all users.

ALLPlayer description


ALLPlayer is an easy to use media player that supports most modern formats and that features intelligent Subtitles!

ALLPlayer is the first player in the world that enables IQ Text function, which analyzes the length of the displayed subtitles so that it would be displayed long enough for you to be able to read everything.

Thanks to this function you won't miss any subtitles watching the film! Very often the subtitles come so fast one after another that you don't manage to read everything, but from now on, thanks to IQ Text, you won't have this problem any more - check yourself!
Here are some key features of "ALLPlayer 5.3.0.0 Stand Alone":

· Easy-to-use multimedia player
· Simple video editor
· Matching subtitles downloader built-in
· Video menu creator
· Converter built-in
· Subtitles audio reader
· Plays any video and audio format
· Supports Dolby Surround, 3D Audio and SPDIF
· Video covers and movie information download
· Best MKV and Divx Plus encoder
· Displays video on two monitors
· Playlist and equalizer
· DivX subtitles muxer
· RAR Player

What's New in This Release:

· better saving of your customized settings
· better performance of multi-part video (e.g. episodes)
· improved LiveUpdate
· new skins
· new On-Screen Display
· FlowList


WinArchiver 2.9 Description

A powerful archive utility supporting all archive formats

WinArchiver is an advanced and reliable application designed to open, create, and manage archive files. It supports almost all archive formats, including zip, rar, 7z, iso, and other popular formats. WinArchiver can also mount the archive to a virtual drive without extraction.

WinArchiver supports the following file types: .zip (WinZip Files), .rar (WinRAR Files), .7z (7z Files), .mzp (Mountable Archive), .iso (CD/DVD Image File), .001 (7z Sub Volume), .arj, .bz2, .bzip2, .gz, .gzip, .tar, .taz, .tbz, .tbz2, .tgz, .tpz, .cab, .cpio, .deb, .lha, .lzh, .rpm, .split, .swm, .wim (Windows Imaging File), .z, .daa (PowerISO File), .bin, .cue, .mdf, .mds, .ashdisc, .bwi, .b5i, .lcd, .img, .cdi, .cif, .p01, .pdi, .nrg (Nero Disc Image), .ncd, .pxi, .gi, .fcd, .vcd, .c2d, .dmg (Apple Disc Image), .bif, .ima, .flp, .uif (MagicISO File).
Here are some key features of "WinArchiver 2.9":

· Support almost all popular archive formats
· Open and extract archive files
· Create zip, 7z, iso, mzp archive file from hard disk files
· Edit existing archives
· Support unicode file names
· Mount archive file to a virtual drive without extraction. You can use it as a professional virtual drive software
· Support multivolume, encryption, and archive comments
· Support Windows Explorer shell integration
Requirements:

· Intel Pentium 166MHz or above
· 64MB memory
· At least 10MB hard disk space


What's new in WinArchiver 2.9:


· Support command line parameters.
· Support online upgrade.
· Support searching in archive.
· Some minor bug fixes.



For a long time, the fight for the supremacy of the browser kingdom has involved just two major players: Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, each trying to attract more users with their functionality. However, the search engine giant Google has decided to enter the battle with its very own solution: Google Chrome.

Since its launch in 2008, Google’s browser has quickly attracted attention and users no longer install it only to check out a new app, since it already showed that it can be just as stable and feature-packed as the dedicated browsers.

Installation is extremely easy due to the simple setup pack that makes the whole task just a matter of clicking “Next” a few times, along with some options that are far from complicated.

The interface is clean and pleasant, but those who do not really like it can easily apply themes, so that every one can bring their very own touch to an otherwise static app. Being focused on leaving the user plenty of room for viewing the visited webpage, the interface is kept as minimalistic as possible, with the address bar featuring all the buttons one might require for navigation.

Another way to customize Google Chrome and make it more suitable to one's needs is to install extensions – Google has created a comprehensive Webstore for these extensions, where users can find basically any type of app or extension, ranging from education to games, lifestyle and blogging.

A novelty introduced by Google Chrome is the fact that when the user visits more than a single website, more processes are started, so that if one of the webpages crashes, the user can simply terminate its tab (and implicitly its process), without closing the whole browser.

Also, this browser places a lot of emphasis on user privacy, so the Incognito Mode was created. It allows users to explore the Internet the usual way, but when the app is closed, it automatically erases all cookies and history it may have created, thus ensuring one's privacy is maintained.

The freeware license and the frequent updates convince more and more users to take this browser into consideration. Designed with simplicity in mind, it is an easy to use app that can become a powerful package if the user chooses to install add-ons. This makes it the perfect browser basically for every type of user out there.

Google Chrome description


Google Chrome was developed to be a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.
Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.
Shortcuts for your apps
Get desktop shortcuts to launch your favorite web applications easily and quickly.
Here are some key features of "Google Chrome 22.0.1229.94":

· Speed: Fast to launch, fast to load web pages
· Quick to start up from your desktop
· Loads web pages in a snap
· Runs web applications faster than ever

· Simplicity: Designed for efficiency and ease of use
· Search and navigate to web pages from the same box
· Arrange and organize tabs however you wish — quickly and easily
· Get to your favorite websites with just a click, from the thumbnails of your most visited sites in the New Tab page

· Style: Themes to add delight to your browser
· Try Minimalist, Star Gazing, or Google Chrome Artist Themes.

· One box for everything
· New Tab page
· Application shortcuts
· Dynamic tabs
· Crash control
· Incognito mode
· Safe browsing
· Instant bookmarks
· Importing settings
· Simpler downloads

Friday, 12 October 2012

Mozilla Firefox is an open source web browser with a clean design, providing excellent browsing speed and very powerful customization tools, with just a reasonable footprint on computer resources.

Firefox bundles features that include smart bookmarks, spell check, private browsing, a download manager, incremental find, tab grouping (gathers related tabs and organizes them into groups) and several others. In addition to these, Firefox also accommodates a series of tools for developers, such as the DOM Inspector and the Error Console.

The first contact with Firefox shouldn't be surprising since most browsers have already adopted tabbed browsing. It comes with a tabbed interface so opening multiple pages at the same time isn't a problem anymore. But what's under the hood is what really makes the difference.

Firefox is amazingly fast and blocks pop-ups, some viruses and spyware, but also gives the user an extraordinary power of customization through a well-developed add-on manager. Basically, you can change almost everything in your browser, starting with the way it looks and ending with features and functionality.

Mozilla lets you install new themes and so-called Personas that change the appearance of the main window, as well as add-ons (created by third-party developers) for adding new functions to the application.

Firefox Sync is another feature worth mentioning; it enables you to synchronize browser bookmarks, passwords, forms and add-ons across multiple computers, by storing all of these on the dedicated Mozilla servers. The data is encrypted, so no other person, aside from you, is granted access to it.

Firefox is fast and reliable and includes a decent set of customization tools. With the aid of a few add-ons and themes, it can be tailored to the needs of day-to-day users, as well as developers.

Firefox description


The Firefox project (formerly Firebird, which was formerly Phoenix) is a redesign of Mozilla's browser component, written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform.

Firefox is a small, fast and very easy to use browser that offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the ability to block pop-up windows and the tabbed browsing.
Here are some key features of "Firefox 16.0.1":

· Comprehensive popup controls to keep unwanted advertising off your desktop;
· A tab browsing mode that lets you open several pages in a single window, allowing you to load links in the background without leaving the page you're on;
· Integrated search (powered by Google);
· Industry leading accessibility with Find As You Type - find links and page text by simply typing;
· Simplified privacy controls that let you cover your tracks more effectively;
· A streamlined browser window that lets you see more of the page than any other browser while at the same time being more configurable;
· A large variety of free downloadable extensions and themes that add specific functionality and visual changes to the browser.
Requirements:

· Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2
· 512MB of RAM
· 200MB of hard drive space


What's new in Firefox 17.0b1 Beta:

October 12th, 2012

· Click-to-play blocklisting implemented to prevent vulnerable plugin versions from running without the user's permission (see blog post)
· NEW
· Mac OS X 10.8: Support for Notification Center
· Updated Awesome Bar experience with larger icons
· JavaScript Maps and Sets are now iterable
· SVG FillPaint and StrokePaint implemented
· Improvements that make the Web Console, Debugger and Developer Toolbar faster and easier to use
· New Markup panel in the Page Inspector allows easy editing of the DOM
· Sandbox attribute for iframes implemented, enabling increased security
· Over twenty performance improvements, including fixes around the New Tab page
· Pointer lock doesn't work in web apps (769150)
· Page scrolling on sites with fixed headers (780345)

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Snagit is a tool that you can use to easily take a snapshot of your screen, edit it, and then send it to an application or website.

It is designed for users with any experience level, as you can clearly see when initiating the software. Two video clips are available in the Snagit Message Center, for both novices (to learn how to get acquainted with Snagit) and power uses (to find out what's new in this version).

The Snagit interface (which is user-friendly and attractive) is mainly divided into five parts - the menu bar, quick launch, related tasks, profiles, and profile settings.

Here, you can choose one of the basic capture shortucts called Profiles - all-in-one, full screen, copy to clipboard (with or without preview), web page as PDF with links, free hand, or menu with time delay.

Below that section you can change the profile settings for a capture - mode and input, output, and effects. Once you have configured this, press the Print Screen key or click the red button. A selection tool that criss-crosses the screen appears, so you can easily choose the part of the screen you want to capture, by using the click-and-drag method.

In the Snagit Editor you can apply touchups to your captures, organize and share them with your friends. You can completely customize Snagit Editor, batch convert images, assign flags (e.g. important, idea, personal), use the library to organize captures, use canvas, add callouts, arrows and stamps, and more.

You can easily get lost in this software. Its user guide and video tutorials are wonderfully built. However, Snagit has its downsides in the trial edition (e.g. you can only capture video up to 2GB). Also, the Editor takes a while to apply effects.

All in all, Snagit definitely deserves to be taken into consideration, whether you already know how to use this type of program or not. It consumes a small amount of system memory, and the price for the full version is cheap



Snagit description



With Snagit’s capture, edit, organize and share technology  it’s easy to create engaging visuals that grab attention and keep it. Let images do the talking for you. Snagit will help you capture any image you want straight off your computer screen.

Enhance with transparency, callouts, and other effects to turn a simple screen shot into an eye-grabbing visual. Easily organize your images and use them again and again for other projects.

Then show off your Snagit creations to anyone. Just add them to your documents and presentations… or share using your favorite applications. It doesn’t take much to explain a concept or an idea with Snagit. The images you create do the talking. And the more you use Snagit, the more ways you’ll find to use it!
Here are some key features of "Snagit":

Combine images:
· Create custom graphics easily by taking multiple captures and putting them together.

Spotlight and magnify:
· Draw attention to a specific part of your image. Just select the portion you want and Snagit will blur and darken everything else.

Markup tools:
· Add effects to your image, even if you don't have a design degree. Draw attention with arrows, add a text callout or torn edge effect…just to name a few.

Auto-storing:
· All of your captures are automatically saved to your Library with the most recent viewable all the time. Save time by quickly finding all your past captures.

Tagging:
· Along with saving your capture, Snagit also stores information so you can find it again later. Search for your captures by date, website, or a custom flag that you create and assign.
Requirements:

· 2.4 GHz single core processor (2.4 GHz dual core required for video).
· 1 GB of RAM (2 GB required for video).
· 125 MB of free hard disk space.
· Internet Explorer 8.0 or later.
· .NET 4.0 or later required for video.
· Video capture on Windows 7 requires Windows 7 supported video and audio hardware.
· Video capture on Windows 7 N requires the Media Feature Pack for Windows 7 N.
· Snagit add-ins for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook works with Office 2000, Office XP or later.
· Snagit requires Active Accessibility 2.0 to capture links from web pages.



What's new in Snagit 11.1.0 Build 248:

October 9th, 2012

· Added system audio recording.
· Added Video COM support.
· Updated the look of Snagit Editor's toolbars and added a File tab.
· Resolved the DLL Preloading Vulnerability due to Snagit loading libraries with elevated privileges.
· Fixed a scrolling bug in Firefox that results in a corrupt image if Firefox's zoom setting is set to anything but 100%.
· Fixed a bug where Snagit failed to capture a web page's URL in Chrome.
· Fixed a video recording bug that resulted in green ghosting when attempting to record the taskbar.
· Fixed a bug where Snagit activated a webcam on start up.
· Fixed a bug where the second arrow added to a line does not match the first arrow.

download
Internet Download Manager is a powerful download manager that promises to accelerate downloads by up to 500 percent.

In addition, the application can also restart interrupted downloads and integrate into a large number of browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.

Internet Download Manager's interface is clean and well-organized, with large, stylish buttons that facilitate the management of the files in process. It is a great organizer too, as every single download can be moved into a different folder, depending on its type. Plus, it has a rich settings menu where you can change the way the program handles certain file formats or the default download locations.

We tried the quick update function too, which worked like a breeze and basically updated the application with just a single click. It all came down to choosing whether to update or not, and the whole job was done by the integrated updater that automatically downloaded the new files and installed them on the computer.

The application encases all the features specific to a decent download manager, including drag and drop support, a task scheduler, virus protection, queue processor, HTTPS support, progressive downloading with quotas, command line parameters, sounds, ZIP preview and proxy servers.

The tests revealed that the CPU and memory footprint is minimal, but this also depends on the download speed and the overall size of the file.

Internet Download Manager is a must have application for many users out there. It will prove itself essential for users who download large files on a regular basis.




Internet Download Manager description


Internet Download Manager (IDM) is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 500 percent, resume and schedule downloads.

Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network problems, computer shutdowns, or unexpected power outages. Simple graphic user interface makes IDM user friendly and easy to use.

Internet Download Manager has a smart download logic accelerator that features intelligent dynamic file segmentation and safe multipart downloading technology to accelerate your downloads.

During the download process Internet Download Manager segments downloaded files dynamically, unlike other download accelerators and managers that segment files before the download starts Internet Download Manager reuses available connections without additional connect and login stages to achieve better acceleration performance.
Internet Download Manager supports proxy servers, ftp and http protocols, firewalls, redirects, cookies, directories with authorization, MP3 audio and MPEG video content processing, and a large number of directory listing formats.

IDM integrates seamlessly into Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, MSN Explorer, AOL Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Firebird, Avant Browser, MyIE, Google Chrome, and all other popular browsers to automatically handle your downloads.

You can also drag and drop files, or use Internet Download Manager from command line. Internet Download Manager can dial your modem at the set time, download the files you want, then hang up or even shut down your computer when it's done.

Other features include multilingual support, zip preview, download categories, built-in download accelerator, scheduler pro, sounds on events, HTTPS support, queue processor, pipelining of ftp commands, html help and tutorial, enhanced virus protection on download completion, progressive downloading with quotas (useful for connections that use some kind of fair access policy or FAP like Direcway, Direct PC, Hughes, etc.), command line parameters, and many others.


NOTE:
In order to get the latest version (build) of IDM you can use the automatic update function of the software.
Here are some key features of "Internet Download Manager":

· All popular browsers and applications are supported! Internet Download Manager supports all versions of popular browsers, and can be integrated into any 3rd party Internet applications.
· Download with one click. When you click on a download link in a browser, IDM will take over the download and accelerate it. IDM supports HTTP, FTP and HTTPS protocols.
· Download Speed. Internet Download Manager can accelerate downloads by up to 5 times due to its intelligent dynamic file segmentation technology.
· Download Resume. Internet Download Manager will resume unfinished download from the place where they left off.
· Simple installation wizard. Quick and easy installation program will make necessary settings for you, and check your connection at the end to ensure trouble free installation of Internet Download Manager
· Automatic Antivirus checking. Antivirus checking makes your downloads free from viruses and trojans.
· Advanced Browser Integration. When enabled, the feature can be used to catch any download from any application. None of download managers have this feature.
· Built-in Scheduler. Internet Download Manager can connect to the Internet at a set time, download the files you want, disconnect, or shut down your computer when it's done.
· IDM supports many types of proxy servers. For example, IDM works with Microsoft ISA, and FTP proxy servers.
· IDM supports main authentication protocols: Basic, Negotiate, NTLM, and Keberos. Thus IDM can access many Internet and proxy servers using login name and password.
· Download All feature. IDM can add all downloads linked to the current page. It's easy to download multiple files with this feature.
· Customizable Interface. You may choose the order, and what buttons and columns appear on the main IDM window.
· Download Categories. Internet Download Manager can be used to organize downloads automatically using defined download categories.
· Quick Update Feature. Quick update may check for new versions of IDM and update IDM once per week.
· Download limits. Progressive downloading with quotas feature. The feature is useful for connections that use some kind of fair access policy (or FAP) like Direcway, Direct PC, Hughes, etc.
· Drag and Drop. You may simply drag and drop links to IDM, and drag and drop complete files out of Internet Download Manager.
· IDM is multilingual. IDM is translated to Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai languages.
Requirements:

· Microsoft Internet Explorer
· Netscape Navigator
· MSN Explorer
· AOL Explorer
· Opera
· Mozilla Firefox
· Mozilla Firebird
· Avant Browser
· MyIE
· Google Chrome

What's new in Internet Download Manager 6.12 Build 22:

October 11th, 2012

· Added support for Firefox 18


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