System Utilities

Gizmo Drive

Gizmo Drive from Arainia Solutions is a device simulator. Designed for Windows machines, it enables you to make hard disk images that are password protected. It uses its own GDRIVE format but it supports a number of other formats which make it a good choice if you use this type of utility a lot.

Click.to

Click.to app reduces the number of clicks you make when pasting something. You can ctr-C something, and then the app appears. The locations and options become available. Suppose you’re reading and want to find the meaning of a word. What you do is hit ctr-C and head to Wikipedia. Another example is the following. You can use the app to post a quote from an e-book in your Twitter account. After marking the quote, press ctr-C and select the Twitter icon. You can do that with a host of other popular websites and apps. The number of clicks you save can be tremendous. If you spend a lot of time sharing and sending data, this app is for you.

UltraDefrag

UltraDefrag doesn’t have a flashy interface, but it is effective as far as free defraggers go. It was created by the UltraDefrag development team as an open source alternative to other commercial defragging utilities. The default interface is graphical, but there is a command line option. This utility is available in 32 and 64 bit versions, so choose the right one for your system. You can run it as Windows boots up. Or you can just set up a schedule so it runs on a specific time. UltraDefrag is very simple to use. Launch the program and choose the drive you want to defrag, analyze or optimize. The defrag option is self explanatory. The Analyze option displays a graphic sector table. It shows where on the hard disk your files are.

PeaZip

PeaZip is a powerful but easy to use open source archiving tool. There are many free compression utilities out there, but few are as robust as this one. In many ways, it is more powerful than some paid archive apps. The program is user friendly. Thanks to its drag and drop support, a user just has to drag a zip file on the interface and it will be decompressed. The archiving screen pops open when you drop a file there. All the basic functions are labeled clearly so new users will have no trouble using the program. File browse tools and function buttons make it a snap to add folders and files.

Awesome Screenshot

A screen capture usually does just one thing: capture part of (or the entire) screen. Awesome Screenshot is a free utility that takes it to another level. Aside from capturing screenshots, you will be able to share and annotate them. Awesome Screenshot isn’t that big, so downloading doesn’t take a lot of time. Learning how to use it is a no-brainer. If you want to share a webpage, just go to that page. Click the extension button and that’s it. The annotate toolbar provides several options for annotating pages. Options include adding lines, circles, boxes or drawing freehand. A useful feature allows you to blur information. Use this tool if you want to hide specific elements.

Android Booster

Together with the iOS, Android is one of the best and the most powerful smartphone ecosystems out there and a highly capable optimizer would surely be a great addition. Here enters Android Booster. This is a do-it-all app with all the nitty-gritty under-the-hood for maximum functionality on any Droid device. Created by NQ Mobile (NetQin Mobile Inc.), this developer has quite a big list of productivity apps under their belt, so they definitely know what they are offering with our today's little treat.

EULAlyzer

EULAlyzer by BrightSoft is a program that analyzes the contents of the EULA (end user license agreement). If you don’t know what the EULA is, it’s that long agreement that a software requires you to accept before proceeding with the installation. Most people just click yes without reading it. That is understandable because those EULAs are full of legal, unintelligible words. But that’s a mistake because you have no idea what you agree to. What EULAlyzer does is scan this long document. It will flag phrases, statements and words that are important.

JuiceDefender

Android users might have the best mobile-computing tool in their hands with the latest 'Superphone', but what really takes away the excitement is the below par battery life. Heavy-duty users and hardcore gamers feel let down with the ever decreasing battery backup, so here we present a perfect solution for the demanding battery needs. Developed by LateDroid, JuiceDefender is a perfect solution for saving battery from dying at the most crucial point. The app works very well and most are more than just happy.