Utilities software 4

Useful software – a few extra programs …

These are just a few useful software programs I felt I needed to include, even though I haven’t used them myself, or have only used them occasionally. Although I can’t wholeheartedly recommend them, they’re certainly worth taking a look at. They step over the line from average, or even quite useful software, right into the ‘really useful utilities software’ category. And the only reason I haven’t used them much is that I’ve already found software that does what they do, and I came across them only recently when I was researching for this page.

A bonus is that they are freeware, i.e. programs that cost you nothing at all. It’s amazing that there are talented programmers who design useful software such as these are and then are happy to release them as freeware.

Recuva

Recuva

Recuva saves the day when a file is thought to be lost forever
and unrecoverable!

Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost something vital when your computer groaned, coughed, and crashed? Don’t panic!

Recuva recovers files deleted from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player. And it’s free! Another little gem of useful software from our friends at Piriform.

I’ve only used Recuva occasionally, so I’ve put it on this page. I can’t give it a full recommendation since I haven’t used it extensively. Why do I even feature it then? Because it’s made by Piriform, and going by other software they’ve produced, I think it’s safe to assume this is every bit as good.

Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT)

Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT)

Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT) gives you precise and delicate control when you’re optimising an image

Another great image optimiser, but one that I’ve only used occasionally. I usually use Image Optimizer, but I downloaded this software a while ago and tried it a few times.

RIOT is feature-packed and has a simple, straightforward interface. You can see the image you’ve just opened to work on, and on the right side of the screen you can watch as various changes take place. Makes it very easy to compare before and after states.

Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT)reduces the file size of an image hugely. There are onscreen controls to flip the image horizontally and vertically and to rotate it left and right, as well as sliders to adjust brightness, contrast and gamma. A particularly useful feature is the three buttons for image file formats; with the press of a button, you can immediately see the file size change if you select either JPEG, GIF or PNG.

Overall, RIOT is a really good image optimiser, if you want more delicate contol over the specifics.

Free for personal use, but a donation requested if used commercially. Radical? Yes … and really useful software.

PicPick

PicPick sounds like an amazing utility! I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I came across it recently and I have to say I’m impressed by what I’ve read.

Here’s a sample comment/review from Download.com, which says it all:

“This program makes us think of a Swiss Army Knife,
or perhaps a well-stocked, well-organized desk drawer.
There are all kinds of helpful tools here, and we think PicPick would be useful
to Web designers, graphic designers, and even the average computer user
who occasionally needs to work with graphics”.

PicPick

PicPick Image All-in-One Design Tool takes care of
every aspect of image optimisation

PicPick includes a screen capture tool, image editor, colour picker, pixel ruler, screen magnifier, screen protractor, crosshairs for aligning objects and even a whiteboard. It would certainly save time looking for various tools and utilities – practically anything you need to do with an image, you can do with PicPick.

Free for personal use, but for commercial use you need to buy a licence.

 

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