Live Out Loud . . . .: free download

Team Viewer 7.0

TeamViewer is an excellent screen-sharing and file-transfer app that can be used to facilitate business collaborations, remotely access a second computer, or help distraught relatives diagnose and cure computer problems. Along with being free for noncorporate use, it gives users precisely the tools they need to share screens securely, send files with a minimum of hassle, control access rights, and even flip which user has control.

The options available while you're in control work smoothly. You can maximize the pane that the other computer's screen is visible in, as well as utilize several smart options from a drop-down toolbar in the center of the window. A big X lets you close the connection, while the Actions button lets you switch who's in control, disable remote input, and reboot remotely. The View menu hides options to adjust the screen resolution, the optimization toward speed or quality, and control multiple-monitor displays. New features that work just as effortlessly as the old ones include VoIP audio and video conferencing, and integrated teleconferencing. These features push TeamViewer a notch above the rest because they will work without requiring firewall reconfiguration.

When you log in, you're given an access code and a password. Sharing those allows your computer to be controlled by the level you set it to: remote support, presentation, file transfer, or VPN. The TeamViewer servers remember which computers you've connected to, so reconnecting to previously shared computers happens faster. TeamViewer also has a Web-based version, for remote connecting to home from public computer. Even the installation process is impressive. Users can toggle admin rights, can opt out of running at startup, and can opt into installing the TeamViewer VPN driver for more secure screen sharing. TeamViewer makes screen-sharing and file-sharing as fluid and unobtrusive as it should be, and is a must-have for the home or remote office user.

Click to Download

Tune Up Utilities 2012

TuneUp Utilities 2012 presents a wide range of useful system maintenance and optimization tools in one interface. Some tools you'll use to regularly clean your system, while others only need to be run only once in a while or if you have a specific Windows problem. The 2012 version of TuneUp Utilities also includes the Program Deactivator, which disables unused programs until you need them, and Economy Mode, which can help laptop users improve battery life. TuneUp Utilities is free to try for 15 days. A nag screen tracks the trial period.

TuneUp Utilities keeps things simple with its 1-Click Maintenance scan feature, which combines tools for deleting temporary files, cleaning and defragmenting the registry, removing broken shortcuts, optimizing system startup and shutdown, and defragmenting hard drives. The scan recommended various actions, but we liked that you could exclude any you didn't want to implement. The program's main interface toggles between a summary overview and a tabbed Category view. Creating a Profile let us save our system maintenance preferences as well as configure the optional Economy Mode and Turbo Mode. The Program Deactivator made specific recommendations for restoring system performance, such as disabling and uninstalling unused programs. TuneUp Utilities also recommended changing our browser and display settings to reduce performance-hogging processes. The Fix Problems tab offers a number useful fixes for common Windows problem like desktop icon errors. Under Settings, we could integrate the Disk Space Explorer and Shredder (secure delete) tools into Windows context menus and the Undelete tool with the Recycle Bin. Some users have reported difficulty uninstalling TuneUp Utilities during or after the trial period, but we had no such troubles, and the product uninstalled cleanly and completely.

We just scratched the surface TuneUp Utilities 2012's features since many are used for specific errors or issues, but we found the program to be a simple way to perform basic but necessary maintenance. While experienced Windows users may prefer separate freeware applications to an all-in-one approach, others will like the recommendations and tweaks packaged together in TuneUp Utilities 2012.