Changing file extension in Windows is as easy as accessing the Folder Options in Windows Explorer and modifying the default setting to display all recognized file extensions. Just uncheck the option "Hide extensions for knows file types", assuming that you left the setting to the default all this time. Then, changing the extension is just like when you rename a file name.

The problem is: some file names just long enough that I don't want to add it with even a single word more. That's why I keep hiding the extension. This makes me, and you who do the same, has to access the Folder Options and disable the hiding every time an extension needs to be changed.

In this situation, you would be grateful for having found File Extension Changer.



It allows you to change file extensions through the right-click menu in Windows explorer directly. You can also use its main window to change the extension of multiple files separated in different folders at once. Its ability to create backup files enables you to restore the file extension back to the original in case you change your mind somehow.

File Extension Changer is a free program offering an alternative way in changing the file extension. You can choose either the installer or the portable version from the homepage.

Download the program

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Docx and dotx, the newest Office 2007 file formats, have incompatibility problem with other word processors like Open Office. Even the older versions of Office like Office XP and Office 2003 are unable to read docx and dotx files without installing additional programs.

If someone sends you a docx file and you don't have Microsoft Word 2007 to open it, Docx2Rtf will help you converting the file into RTF or PDF so you can read it with any word processor or PDF reader you currently have. Or, you can directly read the file on the main window of the program without having to do the conversion.



While the focus is on the docx files, which is assumed from the name of the program, it also supports dotx and Open Office files (sxw, odt). That means you can also read and convert these files to RTF or PDF as well.

Abitility to read the docx, dotx, sxw, and odt without conversion in the first place is useful to find out how good the conversion will be since this program cannot fully extract the whole formats of the documents. It cannot extract the table in dotx files, for example.

Docx2Rtf is a freeware for Windows 9x up to Windows Vista. It doesn't require installation so you can load it to your USB drive to read and convert the supported formats everywhere.

The file formats it supports are:

• Office 2007 files (docx, dotx)
• Open Office files (sxw, odt)
• PDF
• HTML
• RTF
• TXT
• PSD
• TIFF Bitmap
• RAW
• files stored in the PalmOS Database (pdb)
• Aportis files (prc)
• PCX
• ......etc....

Download Docx2Rtf

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If you want to have a freeware that can turn photos to pen & ink or pencil sketch, then this program deserves your attention. Easy to use, simple, and it does the job pretty fast.

Select an image to be sketched from your photo collection and select the "drawing parameters" command from the menu. As you can see from the screenshot I took, you can modify the edge treshold and intensity along with the level of the brightness with slide bars, soften the edges, add a frame and select which texture to be used if you want it, and add write some text.



The modification you make can be viewed in real time in the small preview window without having to do the conversion first.

Every move you have taken for every photo can be saved as a profile. This way you can simply load the profile if later you need to duplicate the sketch parameters to the next photo and, if necessary, make a few adjustments.

The result of the sketch can be compared side by side. Both of the original and modified photos can be zoomed and dragged to focus on certain details.

FotoSketcher is completely free for any Windows version.

Download FotoSketcher

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Cool idea. How could this idea never comes up to other wallpaper changer makers? With the online world packed in RSS feeds, surely everyone will have much more unique images to be rotated as your desktop background if there is a way to access images within the feeds.

John's Background Switcher, the amazing free desktop background rotator I have posted previously, has now opened the gate. One of its newest feature allow you to use photos in RSS feeds as your wallpaper in rotation. It means you can use images from photo sites like deviantArt as your desktop wallpaper directly from the feed. There are many more enhancements on the program. You can read the full list here.

Screenshot of John's Background Switcher

Download John's Background Switcher

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It is a simple but powerful screen capture freeware to cover almost all your screen capture needs like capturing full screen, active window, scrolling window, freehand and rectangular capture. The "Repeat Last Capture" enables you to capture the previous screenshot without having to open the screen for the second time.

Sitting in Windows tray area, it will grab screenshots of anything you want once you press the associated shortcut key. If you don't want to remember more hotkeys since you already have a lot of others, you can launch every screenshot grabbing task by right-clicking the icon on the tray. The hotkeys are customizable, though.

You can set it to send the screenshot to the image editor where you can crop, blur, sharpen, cut, resize, erase some portion, rotate, flip, and more before finally saving it.

Or, copy the screenshot directly to the clipboard to be pasted in some document.

Another option let you to open the "Save as" dialog where you can give the screenshot a name and select the image format.

Optionally, if you want to save the screen capture result in the fastest way, then you should set this program to save the grabbed screenshot automatically. It supports 4 image formats: JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF.

In addition, this is the only screen capture freeware that I finally manage to capture web pages in full perfectly, even for a long scrolling web page. Very recommended.

Download Picpick from the homepage

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You have probably downloaded a YouTube video using a download program. Once the download finished, you find that the video cannot be played unless you add "flv" extension to the file.

Captureyoutube works differently. It is a free online YouTube downloader that lets you to convert the videos first before starting the download.

Pick a YouTube video by copying its url, paste the url into the URL box within the site, select one of the video formats, and click "Convert and Download" button. Once the conversion is done, which only takes a few seconds, you can directly download it to your PC.


Visit the site

The video formats supported are .mpg (Windows), .mov (Mac), .dvd, .mp4 (iPod, PSP, iPhone), .3gp, .mp3 and .wav to get only the audio, and .flv.

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Mobile Photo Enhancer is perhaps the free utility you need if you're looking for a tool that can easily fix or improve the low quality of the photos you've taken with your cell phone. It provides a straightforward way, quick and easy, to reduce digital noise and artifacts, enhance contrast and sharpness, remove unwanted color casts from images and fix "dark corner" problem (vignetting) from photos.

You can process photos one at a time or applying the enhancement on multiple photos at once and save the results as JPEG, PNG, or BMP. The EXIF information will be kept as well if you save them as JPEG images.

Download Mobile Photo Enhancer from the homepage

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