FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen I just finished cleaning the carpets. Tomorrow, I have a load of soil and manure being delivered for the raised garden beds. Before I get into that, I’m going to help you spring-clean your computer. I’m not talking about blowing the fans out — you already know how to do […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen There are certain phrases that I type over and over and over again. “Be sure to run as administrator.” “Always read the license agreement.” “Happy Computing.” “No! I ordered the lavender Converse!” I’m sure my fingers would still type them if I nodded off. So when I stumbled across Quick […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Is it just me, or has the Task Scheduler always been like the red-headed stepchild of Windows? It’s been there forever, doing important stuff but looking like something Microsoft forgot to update. Don’t get me wrong — it’s a useful bit of software. You can automate all kinds of things […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Some parts of Windows haven’t changed much over the years. One is the Run dialog, that boring little box that pops up when you press Win+R to run a command or program. Just thinking about it makes me want a nap. Luckily, German developer Nenad Hrg created a free utility […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen I wear tacky jeweler’s loupes to see tiny parts, tacky work aprons to hold my tools, and tacky squishy shoes to stand at my workbench all day. Why shouldn’t I have tacky things on my computer screen to help me as well? One thing that has gotten a bit more […]

ISSUE 23.07 • 2026-02-16 FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Programs open a little slower. Your Internet browser takes a nap before loading a page. Updates say things like “Working on it …” in the same tone as a teenager who is absolutely not “working on it.” You know there are fixes for this. Things already […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen You know those times when you have a YouTube video playing, an email notification dinging, a Zoom call with your sister going — and Windows expects you to manage all of this with one stinkin’ volume slider? EarTrumpet by File-New-Project is a tiny, free utility that handles Windows audio the […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen You know, there was a time not so long ago that I was buying my reading glasses one pair at a time. Now I’m buying them by the box. In the morning, I’m probably at a +1.5 diopter strength, just so I can see the speedometer. By evening, I’m at […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Last night I needed to delete a 2TB folder from a mechanical hard drive. I even did it from the command line, in hopes it would be faster. After supper, it still wasn’t finished. Finding DelFast by the developer known as “The Yali” is a little too late for saving […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Back in 2019, I featured this program when everyone was upset about losing their Microsoft Windows 7 games in the new Windows 10. You know what? They are still upset — in Windows 11. Windows 7 Games for Windows 11 and Windows 10 by Sergey Tkachenko remains one of the […]

ISSUE 22.47 • 2025-11-24 FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Every day, someone gives me information I will need tomorrow. Every day, I don’t write it down because — of course — I’ll easily remember it. Every day, I forget what I didn’t write down the day before. In this newfangled world of passwords and PINs, […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen The great Texas Bix Bender once said, “Most folks are like a barbed-wire fence. They have their good points.” Well, I got some good points about puttin’ up some fences on your Windows Desktop. “Good fences make good icons.” Or something like that. Desktop Fences+, by a developer calling himself […]