Windows Blue: the next big Windows 8 update

Though Windows 8 little more than a month old, attention is already turning to what Microsoft has planned for the future of its new-generation OS. With over 40 million licences already sold, Windows 8 is off to a solid start, but it will come as no surprise to anyone to learn that the company is already working on updates for the OS.

Gmail users can now send attachments up to 10GB

 New Delhi: If you are not happy with Google's 25MB file attachment limit in Gmail, then Google's latest announcement should definitely make you glad. Google has now announced to integrate Google Drive into Gmail, thereby allowing users to insert files from Drive directly into an email without leaving their Gmail.

Adobe Flash Player 11.5.502.124 Beta

Adobe Flash Player is the high performance, lightweight, highly expressive client runtime that delivers powerful and consistent user experiences across major operating systems, browsers, mobile phones and devices.

Installed on over 750 million Internet-connected desktops and mobile devices, Flash Player enables organizations and individuals to build and deliver great digital experiences to their end users.

Thunderbird 17.0

Thunderbird is a free, open-source, cross-platform application for managing email and news feeds. It is a local (rather than a web-based) email application that is powerful yet easy-to-use. Thunderbird is developed, tested, translated and supported by the folks at Mozilla Corporation and by a group of dedicated volunteers. Thunderbird is free. Thunderbird has lots of cool features.
Thunderbird gives you control and ownership over your email. There are lots of add-ons available for Thunderbird that enable you to extend and customize your email experience.

Stardock Decor8 out of beta - final version released

  Decor8 is a solution to the limited start screen customization options in Windows 8. Decor8 expands the start screen customization possibilities from the few images included with Windows 8 to a limitless variety of user photos and background images. With Decor8 users also have the capabilities that allow them to create their own background image slide shows and color scheme combinations.

Windows Repair 1.9.2

Tweaking.com - Windows Repair is an all-in-one repair tool to help fix a large majority of known Windows problems including registry errors and file permissions as well as issues with Internet Explorer, Windows Update, Windows Firewall and more. Malware and installed programs can modify your default settings. With Tweaking.com - Windows Repair you can restore Windows original settings.

foobar2000 1.1.18

Fobar2000 is an advanced freeware audio player for the Windows platform. It features the simplest, most minimalistic interface you'll ever see in this kind of program. Other features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

StartW8 1.0.9.10

StartW8 is a FREE but powerful tool for Windows 8 users. Do you prefer desktop to modern UI? Would you like to log-on directly to desktop? And than use Start menu for running your apps? Then it's right for you. StartW8 allows users to access their apps and folders with greater ease as it adds a fully-functional Start Menu to their Windows 8 computer/notebook. Users can also easily search a specific file or program by entering a relevant keyword, or they can simply shut down their PC, reboot or switch users.

                             
 StartW8 key features:

• Automatically switch to desktop immediately after signing in
• Added Windows 7 style Start menu
• Activate menu with Win key
• Log off, lock and turn off buttons
• Traditional search field
• Favorite applications
• All user configurable
• Support for silent installation
• Multilingual support

Download: StartW8 1.0.9.10 | 1.3 MB (Freeware)
View: StartW8 Website

Avira Free Antivirus 13.0.0.2832

Avira AntiVir Personal - FREE Antivirus is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. Monitors every action executed by the user or the operating system and reacts promptly when a malicious program is detected. Plus, new features in the SearchFree Toolbar now include a website safety advisor and                                         the ability to block advertising companies from tracking you online!

Avira 2013 changes:

• Integration of Social Networks
• Enhanced Child Protection
• Integration of Android Security
• Integration of the Experts Market
• Advanced Protection through Avira Protection Cloud (APC) and ProActiv
• The new SearchFree toolbar
• Web Safety Advisor
• Browser Tracking Blocker
• Usability improvements in the Fast Activation Tool
• Network folders scanning
• GUI changes

Download: Avira Free Antivirus 13.0.0.2832 | 101 MB (Freeware, non commercial use)
View: Avira Free Antivirus Website

RETRO USER INTERFACE FOR WINDOWS8

RetroUI Pro allows you to skip the Windows 8 Start screen, brings back the start button and start menu, makes the taskbar visible from the Start screen, allows you to resize Windows Store apps, and includes TabletView

SKIP THE START SCREEN:-
Not excited about being forced to use the new Windows 8 start screen (Metro) interface? RetroUI allows you to bypass this and immediately start the classic desktop at every login

GET THE START MENU BACK:-
The Start menu is back and better than ever! Touch-friendly, pinned favorites, and integrated Metro features make using Window 8 more efficient and far easier

ELIMINATE THE CONFUSION:-
OF WINDOWS 8RetroUI allows you to see the start button and taskbar while the Windows 8 Start screen is running. Users can simply click the taskbar to return to the classic desktop

RUN WINDOWS STORE APPS IN A WINDOW:-
RetroUI’s Enforce™ technology resizes Windows Store apps so that the taskbar and start button are visible. Users can easily toggle apps between resizable and full-screen

INTRODUCING TABLETVIEW:-
Lets desktop users organize their favorites. A single click allows you to open classic Windows software, websites, default Windows Store Apps, and more

TABLETVIEW IS GREAT ON MOBILE DEVICES TOO:-
Lets mobile users organize and launch anything with touch

Thinix RetroUI™ allows users to bypass the Windows 8 Metro User Interface (Metro UI) and automatically return to a classic Windows desktop* after login. Users can then return to the Metro desktop or use any Metro UI function. This allows users to switch back and forth freely, but causes the PC to switch to a classic Windows desktop following each login. Optionally, Thinix RetroUI can be configured to eliminate/lock-out all Metro UI features. In this mode, users are sent to a classic Windows desktop at Login, and the new Metro features; Charms Bar, Hot Corners, and Metro Switcher - are completely disabled and inaccessible.
RetroUI Start Menu

RetroUI not only brings back the Start menu, we've enhanced it! The new touch-friendly design works as well with a finger as it does with a mouse, and brings back all the functions you have used in previous versions of Windows. But it doesn't stop there - our reimagined start menu allows you to pin applications and save them as touch-friendly buttons.
RetroUI Enforce

With RetroUI Enforce, you can now 'force' the Windows 8 Start Screen and Windows Store apps to run in a way that allows the classic desktop, taskbar, and start button to remain visible. Windows Store apps can even run inside of a resizable window! You can toggle between full screen and windowed mode and can run apps at any size and position you prefer. You can save the window positions and sizes so they launch that way the next time you launch them. For Metro apps that you want to leave full screen, you can exclude them from auto-resizing.
TabletView

The core benefit of TabletView over the Windows 8 Start Screen is that it enables you to launch anything from within the classic Windows desktop. It allows you to open any pinned application in just two clicks, compared to the four clicks typical to launch the same shortcut from the Start Screen. Launch shortcuts such as My Computer, Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures, Control Panel, Command Prompt. Pin your favorite installed applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, and Powerpoint, and open your favorite web sites. Shortcuts for common, default Windows Store apps are included as well for you to pin to TabletView.

Download: RetroUI Pro 2.1.0 Installer for 32-bit (x86)(7-day fully-functional trial version)

                RetroUI Pro 2.1.0 Installer for 64-bit (x64)(7-day fully-functional trial version)

Source: RETROUI

Download Bitdefender Windows 8 Security

 Bitdefender Windows 8 Security tailors the world's best antivirus technology to the most popular operating system, offering dedicated features and technologies, as well as iron-clad protection against malware that can steal your private data, clean out your bank account and leave you at the mercy of cyber criminals. Bitdefender Windows 8 Security takes proven antivirus technology and weds it to the operating system through a fully dedicated range of features to fight off all Windows 8 security threats, while integrating with the Windows Security Center.

In addition, the online shopping guard, Bitdefender Safepay automatically opens online banking pages in a separate, secure browser. Bitdefender Autopilot offers users a seamless, hassle-free experience while keeping their antivirus operating at maximum efficiency, while Identity Theft Protection and other features ensure total privacy online. Bitdefender's technology maintains a high scanning speed on Windows 8 while alerting users if any apps are compromised. Bitdefender Windows 8 Security also scans for dangers before the system even loads, stopping malware before it ever has a chance to spread.


Download: Bitdefender Windows 8 Security

View: Bitdefender Website

Download Free Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus 60-Day Trial Version

We know that Microsoft has released the final RTM version of its latest Office suite "Office 2013" to TechNet and MSDN subscribers and a free Customer Preview (Beta) version of Office 2013 is available for download to public:

Now the good news is that if you are not a TechNet or MSDN subscriber but want to test the final version of Office 2013, you can download a fully functional copy of Office 2013 RTM version absolutely free from Microsoft. Keep in mind that its a 60-day trial version but there are no limitations or restrictions. So you can use it for 2 months approx.

Microsoft is providing Office 2013 Professional Plus version for download which comes with following Office programs:

• Microsoft Word 2013
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2013
• Microsoft Excel 2013
• Microsoft Access 2013
• Microsoft Outlook 2013
• Microsoft OneNote 2013
• Microsoft Publisher 2013
• Microsoft Lync 2013

Free 60-day trial versions of Microsoft Visio Professional 2013 and Microsoft Project Professional 2013RTM versions are also available for download separately.

Both 32-bit and 64-bit editions are available for download and its available in many languages such as Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian and Spanish.

System requirements:

• Processor: 1 Ghz or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor with SSE2 instruction set
• Memory (RAM): 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• Hard Disk space: 3.0 GB available
• Display: Graphics hardware acceleration requires a DirectX10 graphics card and 1024x576 resolution
• Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012

You can download the free trial versions using following links:

Download Free Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus Trial Version

Download Free Microsoft Visio Professional 2013 Trial Version

Download Free Microsoft Project Professional 2013 Trial Version

You'll need a Windows Live ID to register before downloading the free RTM version. As soon as you register, you'll get your working product key to install Office 2013 RTM in your system.

Let us tell you again that this final version of Office 2013 comes with 2 new color schemes (themes) to choose which are Light gray and Dark gray. 

PS: If you are using a preview version of Office 2013, you'll need to uninstall the existing version from your system to be able to install this final version. The good thing is that if you install this free trial version and later you purchase full version of Office 2013, you can convert this trial version into full version by just entering the new product key using your Account settings in Office 2013.

Start8 v1.03

Stardock Start8 lets you return the Start Button to Windows 8. Microsoft Windows 8 is shipped without the “Start” menu. Start8 brings back Windows 7-style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements. Also you can view and launch installed applications (including Modern apps), All Programs menu. Start8 includes support for “jump lists”/recent documents for recently accessed programs (Devices, Documents, Music, Videos, Photos, Computer, and more). Pin favorite desktop and Metro apps shortcuts directly to the start menu for easy access. Start8 adds searchable Windows 8-style (Modern UI) Start menu options for Windows desktop applications, Modern applications, and documents. It allows automatically load directly to your Windows desktop on login (vs the start screen). In addition, you can also easily shutdown your PC without needing to access another menus.

Features:

• Windows 7-style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements
• Pin desktop and Modern UI apps
• Jump list support
• Unified Search for Apps, Settings and Files
• Boot directly to the Windows 8 desktop
• Automatically matches the color of the taskbar
• Skinnable Start button
• Windows 8 Start screen accessible from the Start Menu
• Optionally disable the Windows 8 desktop “hot spots”
• Adds option for WinKey to show full screen metro desktop
• Group Policy support

Control:

• Configurable Start menu size
• Windows 8 Start screen accessible from the Start menu
• Clean, streamlined UI enhances Start8′s usability

Customization:

• Optionally disable the desktop Windows 8 “hot spots”
• Supports WindowFX 5.1 start menu animations (currently in beta)
• Choose a custom Start button skin and color

What's new in this version:

• New Desktop page in config UI
• New options to control which taskbar the start button appears on
• New UI option to control if the bottom left hand corner hotspot functions
• When disable all hot corners is disabled you can now select icons etc on the top 4 pixels
• New UI option to hide Windows 8 Modern UI applications from the Windows 7 start menu
• New UI option to use ctrl + winkey as an alternative for right winkey
• New UI option to use shift + winkey as an alternative for right winkey
• New UI button to recreate the pinned shortcut to the Windows 8 start menu if deleted
• New option to toggle if the user picture should be visible or not
• Highlighted folders lose their highlight once opened if they have no highlighted child items
• Fonts rendering with the default theme with translucency disabled uses full cleartype now vs greyscale cleartype
• Shutdown button and all programs button now have text for screen readers
• Pressing enter on a jumplist shortcut now launches the jumplist item vs the application
• Search items now have Open File Location menu item
• Keyboard context menu button now opens the right click menus
• You can now drag a shortcut to the start button (which opens the menu) and then onto the menu in order to pin something. For now it will add to the bottom of the pinned list. Once added you can rearrange it by dragging it to the location you want.
• Items on the right hand list can be dragged onto the left side of the startmenu to pin them, or off onto other applications such as explorer windows and the desktop to create shortcuts. Jump list items can be dragged off the startmenu and into appli
• Items on the right hand list now have Show on desktop option in their right click menus.
• cations or explorer windows.
• Most search result items can be dragged off the startmenu and into applications or explorer windows.
• Tree items can be dragged out of the all programs tree and into explorer windows etc. They cannot be rearranged in 1.03, but this is planned for the next update.
• v1.01 deadlock fix fully implemented as there was a bit missing in the previous version.
• Empty folders in the all programs tree now have an (Empty) child to avoid confusion.
• Blank lines in the Modern UI applications list no longer occur when you pin IE shortcuts to the Modern UI start menu.
• All programs now looks at the \Start menu folder rather than \Start menu\Programs to ensure applications which install outside the normal folder tree are not missed.
• Start button hot corner when in the Modern UI start menu will go to the desktop rather than opening Start8.
• Start button hot corner when at the desktop and accessed via the left hand switcher no longer misses clicks at the bottom left.
• Fake tile shortcuts added to the Modern UI start menu will not show in the Start8 menu.
• Registry option to disable Pin to Start8 startmenu also now disables the menu in explorer windows.
• Hovering over the all programs button and then typing in the search field will no longer confuses Start8.
• Added option to search locations other than the default libraries to the UI.
• Added option to make holding down winkey for more than half a second simulate a right windows key press.
• Added new theme based on default theme but with black edges
• Modified Windows 7 theme to pickup defined colours
• Added new theme option for Windows 7 solid (non DWM style)
• Modification to trial code to handle a situation where the trial would not start properly on some setups.
• Holding down ctrl when clicking on Shutdown, Reboot or Sign out will add the force flags.
• Holding down shift when clicking Shutdown will force a full shutdown vs Fast Startup shutdown.

Download: Start8 v1.03 | 4.5 MB (Free to try, $4.99 to buy)
Link: Start8 Home Page

WYSIWYG Web Builder 8.5.2

 

Web Builder is a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) program used to create complete web sites. WYSIWYG means that the finished page will display exactly the way it was designed. The program generates HTML (HyperText Markup Language) tags while you point and click on desired functions; you can create a web page without learning HTML. Just drag and drop objects to the page position them 'anywhere' you want and when you're finished publish it to your web server (using the build in Publish tool). Web Builder gives you full control over the content and layout of your web pages. One Web Builder project file can hold multiple web pages.




WYSIWYG Web Builder features:

- No HTML knowledge needed!
- Drag and drop objects from the toolbox on the page: Text, Lines, Images, Marquees and Tables.
- Site Management. Easily add, edit, clone and structure your web pages from a single file.
- Customizable menus, toolbars, keyboard accelerators, dockable windows, tabs, autohide windows.
- Form layout object to create forms, including actions, hidden fields etc.
- Supports Form fields: Editbox, TextArea, Checkbox, Radiobutton, Combobox and Button.
- Rich text support: text object can contain different fonts, colors, links and sizes.
- Option to add custom HTML for each object (Before Tag, Inside Tag, After Tag).
- Custom HTML object to insert your own HTML or Javascripts.
- ActiveX, JAVA, Flash, Windows Media player, Quicktime, Real Audio and other Plug-In support.
- Publish your entire web site, a single page or a group of pages (to local drive or a web server) .
- Build-in Photo Gallery maker, with lots of cool features like picture frames!
- Rollover images.
- Bulleted Lists: Circle, Disc, Square, Numeric (1, 2, 3), Alpha (a, b, c) , Roman (I, II, III) and custom images.
- Image maps.
- Customize scrollbar colors for Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Navigation bars.
- Ready-to-use Javascripts.
- Template support. Already more than 100 templates available!
- Support for Cascading Style Sheet positioning (layered layout).
- Insert Symbols (special characters).
- Verify links tool.
- Rotating Image component (useful for Ad Banners).
- Support for third-party add-ons, using the Web Builder Component Developers Kit.
- Import existing HTML pages.
- Hyperlink Style Sheet, to customize the colors/formatting of hyperlinks.
- Show optional rulers.
- Page transitions in Page Properties.
- Inline Frame component (IFRAME).
- Go menu: easily create a drop-down navigation menus.
- Menubar: powerful menu script that can mimic complex menus found in popular GUI applications.
- Shape object (Rectangle, Round rect, Ellipse, Diamond, Hexagon, Octagon, Parallelogram, Triangle, Trapezoid, Arrows, Flag, Flower, Heart, Signs, Stars, Talk Bubbles and much more!
- Embedded OLE component.
- Embedded page object. This allows you to re-use objects from other pages (master page concept).

What's new in WYSIWYG Web Builder 8.5.2:
- Fixed: Shared path problem in Flash Video Player.
- Fixed: YouTube player stuttering video caused by 'wmode=transparent'
- Fixed: Color picker 'More colors' picks the wrong color for text.
- Fixed: Parser error 'Script not closed' caused by quotes in script comments.
- Fixed: Zoom level not in sync with manual zoom value.
- Improved: styles with pseudo classes (:hover, :invalid etc) are now also included in HTML. A tutorial how to use this will be available soon...
- Improved: Updated twitter logos in Ready-to-use-Javascripts ('T' logo may no longer be used according to the Twitter Trademark and Content Display Policy).

Download: WYSIWYG Web Builder 8.5.2 | 6.7 MB (Shareware)
Screenshot: >> Click here <<
Link: Home Page| Templates| Free extras/addons

foobar2000 1.1.17

Foobar2000 is an advanced freeware audio player for the Windows platform. It features the simplest, most minimalistic interface you'll ever see in this kind of program. Other features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

Features:

• Supported audio formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, CD Audio, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, Musepack, Speex, AU, SND... and more with additional components.
• Gapless playback.
• Full unicode support.
• Easily customizable user interface layout.
• Advanced tagging capabilities.
• Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component.
• Full ReplayGain support.
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
• Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player

What's new in this version:

• Converter works on non-seekable sources again, such as Internet streams.
• Fixed rare crash bug with “full file buffering”.
• Fixed oscilloscope inversion bug
• Improved media library relative path handling in portable installs.
• Ctrl+A now works in generic text popup dialogs (popup_message API).
• Crash reporting improvements for hopefully more meaningful data about deadlocks.
• Updated zlib to 1.2.7.

Download: foobar2000 1.1.17 | 3.1 MB (Freeware)
Screenshots: >>Click Here<<