What kinds of computer utilities are there? Shutdown timer free download

Designed to strengthen the security of Windows without additional spending from the budget. Of course, most consumers don't associate Microsoft with antivirus solutions, but it was only a matter of time before the company took another step forward in integrating antivirus capabilities into the Windows operating system.

The program itself is relatively "light" and performs simple antivirus tasks such as a quick system scan, a full scan (which is best run at night) or an optional scan depending on the user's choice. Like most antivirus solutions, MSE updates itself in the background. But you can also perform a manual update by pressing a key.

Other features include a history section where you can view a list of quarantined programs and trusted applications, as well as an options section where you can set up scheduled system scans, manage real-time antivirus protection, or tell MSE to create system restore points daily.

But best of all, this program is free for a licensed Windows installation.

Microsoft Live Essentials

Here is another very useful program from Microsoft: Live Essentials (MLE). In fact, we even have a whole set of applications: Live Call, Live Family Safety, Live Mail, Live Messenger, Live Movie Maker, Live Photo Gallery, Live Sync and Live Writer.

In addition, the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, Office Live Add-In, Bing Toolbar, and Silverlight (Microsoft's answer to Flash) are also considered part of Windows Live Essentials, although they are separate downloads.

The good news is that everything in the MLE kit is free. But, as with Security Essentials, you will need a licensed version of Windows to download and install the package.

Here is a brief description of the utilities: Live Call provides support for VoIP via Messenger and the Telefonica Voype service. The name of the Live Family Safety utility speaks for itself; it blocks dubious content for children and teenagers. Windows Live Mail simply replaces Outlook Express, while also serving as an RSS reader. Live Movie Maker has improved significantly since Windows XP, and Windows Live Writer is a utility for bloggers that can work with Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, Blogger, WordPress and other networks.

Daemon Tools

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Here is another utility that is required for every Windows user: Daemon Tools. Of course, we admit that at first glance, this application appears to promote piracy. After all, the program can mount virtual optical disks from images - a popular mechanism for distributing pirated programs and games.

However, let's not forget that the virtual drive function is very helpful if you decide to transfer your CD or DVD collection to your hard drive, or if for some reason the original discs are not readable in the drive. In this regard, Daemon Tools is an excellent disk backup solution, since you can store images on external HDDs or USB drives for later mounting.

“The virtual disk has much better access speed than the physical disk in the corresponding physical drive, since the read speed of the virtual CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray-ROM is up to 50x faster compared to a conventional drive,” says the developer. As indicated, the Daemon Tools utility can already backup Blu-ray discs, and it can work with images created by other programs and supports a large number of formats.

The Lite version is free to download and use, although it has very limited options compared to the Pro Standard and Pro Advanced versions - the latter has all the available features, including the ability to install up to 32 virtual SCSI drives and four virtual IDE drives.

HandBrake

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HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed multi-threaded video transcoder that converts DVD images to other formats. The utility will be useful if you want to convert your favorite movies into formats more suitable for iPhone, iPod Touch or other players; or you just want to get a convenient MP4 and MKV movie format.

The downside to the free utility is that it can't capture VOB files from encrypted DVDs - you'll have to extract those files to your hard drive first to then convert - hopefully you're backing up the movies you've purchased. Apart from this only drawback, the HandBrake utility can be considered very useful for the conversion process.

Since the release of the initial version, a lot has changed - the latest build removes various settings that were present before: PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Film, Animation and Television. Instead of this set of often confusing settings, you now get one profile with high quality High Profile with automatic filtering and all the benefits of H.264.

"This profile should work for PS3 and Xbox 360, although we make no promises," the developers say. Support for AVI, OGG/OGM and Xvid has disappeared. As the developers point out, the HandBrake utility is aimed at video in H.264 format.

CCleaner

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utility CCleaner can be called the best tool for cleaning Windows, but at the same time it is not best suited for beginners, since the utility works with the OS registry. Still, users should understand what CCleaner does before making changes that could cause serious problems under Windows 7.

Overall, CCleaner is a pretty powerful package with a lot of options, including deleting unused and old registry entries, clearing browser history and cache, deleting temporary files, and so on. The program works quickly, and there are no spyware or advertising “bookmarks” in it, so this utility is perfect for experienced Windows 7 users.

GIMP

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GIMP You might call it the poor man's (or perhaps the smart man's) version of Photoshop, but it's a powerful free graphics package. While Microsoft has done a pretty good job updating the native Paint program for Windows 7, it doesn't come close to matching GIMP in terms of available features.

GIMP can manipulate images through toolbars that are very reminiscent of Photoshop. Among them are Airbrush Tool, Select by Color Tool, Sheer Tool and so on. The program even supports multiple layers for rendering different effects. A very useful feature if you need to combine or edit many images in one go.

Want to eliminate the barrel effect of your camera lens? There is a special function for this. Want to adjust the perspective of a photo? And there is a function for this. GIMP even supports a variety of devices by default, including tablets. Best of all, you don't have to spend a lot of money on a powerful image processing package.

7-Zip

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7-Zip is an open source archiver with a high degree of file compression. It can compress/decompress into 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR formats. As for decompression, 7-Zip is compatible with ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z archives.

The utility covers almost all compression formats, but it is still not perfect: 7-Zip decompresses a single ZIP file without any problems, but difficulties may arise when working with multi-volume ZIP archives. However, this is quite tolerable, given the program’s versatility and open source code.

The 7-Zip archiver can be used on any computer, including PCs within organizations. It will be an excellent alternative to applications such as WinZip, which does not support multithreading at all, and WinRAR.

Fences

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Fences is a very nice utility that allows Windows 7 users to organize their desktop and even hide all icons with a simple double click.

Of course, it would be a good idea to free the desktop of all unnecessary icons. But if you can't live without icons filling your screen, then Fences comes in handy for grouping icons by function without making them look out of place.

Essentially, Fences creates virtual areas on the desktop - like mini-windows that use a title bar and scroll bars as needed. You just need to drag the desired icon into the appropriate “fence” - it will remain there until you delete the icon manually.

You can customize the “fences” to your liking, change their level of transparency, brightness, shades and saturation. You can add outlines to the fences, and you can also hide scroll bars when they are not needed.

As we mentioned above, an additional feature allows you to clear your desktop of icons and fences with a simple double-click. Double-click on a free area of ​​the desktop again - and the icons and “fences” will return.

VLC Media Player

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VLC Media Player- cross-platform multimedia player and open source server. This free utility can handle all your content playback needs, from DVDs to (S)VCDs, Audio CDs, web streams, TV tuners, corrupted media files, archives and so on.

The nice thing about this utility is that you don’t have to install a separate set of codecs - everything is already present in the player, which supports the popular formats DivX, Xvid, 3ivX, DV and many others.

The main interface is compact and simple, but you can install skins to change the appearance, with options ranging from an iPod Touch clone to an interface reminiscent of the Nintendo Wii. Want to stream video to other devices? VLC can do this too, working as a server for broadcasting unicast or multicast streams over IPv4 or IPv6 protocols on networks with sufficient bandwidth.

Best of all, the program does not contain spyware or advertising bookmarks, and it does not track user actions.

OpenOffice

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Need an alternative to Microsoft Office? Oracle offers a free and open source solution called

Hamachi is one of the most famous tools for creating virtual private VPN networks. Using this program, you can easily establish an encrypted connection over the Internet between remote computers, simulating a local network connection. By running the Hamachi service, users will be able to share equipment - printers, webcams, etc. You can download the program for free on our website and install it on your computer with Windows 7, 8 or XP.

Dropbox is a popular Windows client application for accessing cloud file storage and synchronizing data between different devices. You no longer have to think about copying files to a flash drive to transfer data from your office computer to your home laptop. Now you can open your documents from anywhere in the world, at any time!

Yandex.Disk is a free application for a Windows computer that allows you to organize and automate the synchronization of user data between a local device and a remote server. Through Yandex.Disk, you can manage any files in the Yandex cloud storage, download them to your computer, view them in your default programs, and share them with other people.

DriverMax is a popular free program for backing up or updating drivers on a Windows computer. Also, this is a convenient manager for managing and updating all installed drivers in a few clicks. We invite you to download the DriverMax utility for free without registration to solve this problem, helping you easily and timely download the latest driver updates from the Internet. System drivers for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 are supported.

Dr.Web CureIt! – a powerful free antivirus for scanning your computer for viruses. This utility is distributed absolutely free, and if you are unable to purchase an expensive and good antivirus, this utility will be an excellent free solution. With it, you can perform a quick, complete or selective scan of your computer. This is an antivirus that is very popular in Russia and neighboring countries.

Glary Utilities is a free computer optimization and cleaning program designed for non-commercial use for the benefit of users who want to keep their Windows tidy. It is very popular for many users, and only good things are said about it. With this utility, you can clean up your computer and configure it to run as fast as possible in minutes.

VirtualBox is a free program for Windows from Oracle that is used to create a virtual operating system on a PC. Using this program, you can create a virtual partition on your hard drive and install any OS on it, resulting in a “computer within a computer.” Most often, the utility is used to check how a particular application behaves on computers with different configurations.

Driver Booster is an application from the software company IObit, designed for automated search and update of device drivers on personal computers running Windows OS. Using this application, you can also remove unnecessary or incorrectly working drivers, and create backup copies of drivers present in the system.

Wise Registry Cleaner is a popular free program in Russian designed to clean and optimize the computer's system registry. With its low system requirements and simple interface, the application is a fairly powerful tool for improving the operation of the operating system.

uPlay- a special program designed to search, download and purchase computer games developed by Ubisoft Club. The program also allows you to download simplified versions of developed games, perform updates and manage games already installed on the user’s computer.

CCleaner is a free program for cleaning your computer and optimizing Windows. It will clear your operating system of unused temporary files, help clear the cache of Internet browsers with the entire browsing history, and also allow you to correctly remove programs from your computer.

Keeper WinPro (Classic) is a popular free program for making electronic payments, which is an integral part of people making money on the Internet with Wemboney. Using this program, a variety of electronic money transfers and their conversion are made. The program has received a new name, different from Classic, and now you can download it for free from our website for your Windows.

version: 6.0.6 from April 17, 2019

Virtualization software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. With its help, you can create a virtual machine, giving it the parameters of a real PC.

A characteristic feature of the program is the ability to launch several virtual platforms overnight. That is, you can import several “virtual machines” in parallel - be it older and more recent versions of Windows or different OSes - Mac OS and Linux.

version: 4.60.20 from April 15, 2019

BlueStacks is a free utility for testing Android mobile applications on a PC. The emulator program allows you to synchronize smartphones and tablets with a PC, edit their phone books, and set the date and time.

To preliminary test mobile applications on Android OS, it is useful to install them on your computer. However, this process causes certain difficulties for many users, and this cannot be done without additional software.

version: 8.0.24.0 from March 26, 2019

Another updated version of the excellent free defragmenter Auslogics Disk Defrag has been released. The purpose of this free program is to save you from a frequently occurring hard drive problem, namely fragmentation. This program is very easy to use and works quite quickly, since it does not require much time for analysis.

Many users, out of ignorance, do not pay enough attention to defragmenting their system disk. But if the disk is heavily defragmented, then the user can observe a significant slowdown in the speed of its operation.

version: 4.6.0 from March 11, 2019

A program that allows you to regulate, monitor and overclock a video card. Works with GeForce and NVIDIA. Useful for watching 3D videos and playing new PC games.

The software is perfect for all popular video cards: GeForce, NVIDIA and AMD (as well as for video cards of our own production - MSI).

version: 8.04.1 from February 07, 2019

ArtMoney SE is a free program for hacking computer games and increasing the amount of money, ammo, experience and other indicators. ArtMoney can significantly speed up and simplify the process of completing the game.

Are you tired of completing missions to earn coveted points or money in computer games? With the help of a small program ArtMoney, you can forget about boring walkthroughs and focus on enjoying the process. When playing GTA, it is not at all necessary to punch passers-by in order to earn extra money for weapons. By downloading ArtMoney for free, in just a few seconds you can acquire any amount of money: be it one hundred thousand or ten million “green”. Now let's take a closer look at this program.

version: 0.5.2 from October 27, 2014

The program facilitates the process of installing a large number of mobile applications. To install them, it is not at all necessary to connect to the Internet or go to the Play Market.

The InstAllAPK application eliminates the need to download applications one at a time from the mobile market or have an Internet connection. It is suitable for all Android devices. Just connect your tablet or smartphone to your computer and launch this small program. She will find all the APK files available in the system and offer to install them on your mobile gadget in one click. We tick the necessary boxes - and your device is already fully upgraded!

version: 1.2 from June 27, 2014

A compact utility that slightly automates work on the computer, namely, it turns off the computer at a time specified by you or after a period of time, reboots and locks the computer.

It’s no secret that automation is gaining more and more popularity these days. The reasons for such widespread distribution can be described in two words - it’s convenient. Imagine the situation: you set a file to download and are sitting waiting for it to download in order to turn off the computer. Inconvenient. Imagine this: you set the file to download, started the PC shutdown timer and went about your business, the computer will turn off on its own at the time you set.

version: 8.85 from October 11, 2012

The version of the free Fresh UI program has been updated, which can help the user fine-tune most standard Windows applications, for example: Internet Explorer, Media Player, NetMeeting, Notepad, Outlook Express, Regedit, Task Scheduler, Windows Messenger, Explorer. Using the proposed small utility, you can make changes to many system parameters, in particular those related to security, network, turning on and off the computer.

Fresh UI allows you to change a variety of settings that relate to the interface of the Windows operating system, for example, you can change the Start menu, Quick Launch bar, dialog boxes, windows for opening and saving documents, desktop, etc. The program has a built-in Russian interface.

Instructions

The functions of the utilities are very diverse: from performing standard tasks to fighting computer viruses and managing the settings of additional equipment.

Recovering deleted files on your computer is carried out using a utility program that can be found on the Internet. By using this program after unsuccessful data deletion, you can return valuable files to their place.

File encryption can also be performed by the utility, which protects personal information that cannot be distributed on the network.

Utilities monitor the performance of computer parts: processor, video card, hard drives. These assistants will let you know when the temperature goes through the roof or the disc reading function is turned off. In order to avoid this, the same programs regularly conduct checks.

Utilities help manage the parameters of additional built-in and peripheral equipment: CD/DVD drive, printer, fan, etc. For example, there is a printer utility that allows you to reduce ink consumption.

Utilities To fine-tune the system, they change parameters that are often difficult to access for the user, which make the graphical interface more convenient or optimize the operation of the entire system. However, you should be careful when using them because they can make significant changes to the registry or configuration that will later be almost impossible to return to their original state. These utilities are called tweakers.

However, utilities can be not only useful, but also harmful, for example, programs created by hackers to damage a computer and steal personal files. Hacker utilities include pieces of software code for automatically creating viruses; worms that interfere with the normal operation of the machine; joke programs that provide the user with false information about the operation of the computer and mislead him, etc.

Some software developers provide users with universal sets of software utilities that implement most additional functions. Having such a set, you don’t have to worry about failures; these assistants will cope with any problem much better than standard software tools.

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• what are service programs

Additional computer programs with a narrow focus that provide expanded capabilities of operating systems and simplified changes to certain settings are called utilities.

The purpose of utilities is very diverse. These assistant programs fight computer viruses, manage the parameters of built-in and peripheral equipment, and perform other important tasks that standard operating system tools cannot solve.

Utilities help protect personal file data through encryption of varying degrees of complexity, as well as set a strong password to access the file. This is one of the important aspects that allows you to protect private information from outside interference, damage and theft.

Certificate files, codes, passwords, family or business media files (photos, videos, etc.), licensed software, email programs, and operating system settings are most often subject to such an attack.

Utilities monitor the performance of various computer services, for example, processor, disk and memory card readers, video card, modem, RAM and physical memory, etc. In addition, such utilities constantly conduct tests of built-in and peripheral devices and signal when problems are detected; they also make requirements for improving or replacing software and components (for example, a printer cartridge).

Utilities recover lost files that were carelessly deleted