LCD Clock
Although Windows has a clock of its own, there are plenty of clock
applications that add functionality -- or just decoration -- to the task
of displaying the time. LCD Clock is a simple program that's fairly
light on features, but isn't a bad choice if you're looking for a simple
way to view the date and time.
LCD Clock annoyed us right away
by forcing us to install the FunMoods toolbar, a piece of malware
masquerading as a tool for adding emoticons to social networking sites
and e-mail. Although it's not uncommon for software to attempt to
install unrelated toolbars during the installation process, you can
almost always decline and continue with the installation. When we
attempted to decline FunMoods, however, we were asked if we wanted to
abort the installation. So we soldiered on, knowing we'd have to spend
time getting rid of FunMoods after we were done installing LCD Clock.
LCD
Clock itself is a fairly basic program, but it does have a few cool
features. It displays the time (including seconds) and month, date, and
year in a typical LCD-style display. The numbers are black, the
background is light gray, and unlike many other clock programs, there's
no way to customize its appearance; it can't even be resized. What we
did like about it, though, was the fact that its small handful of
features could all be accessed from various points around the interface.
Want to hide the clock for 10 seconds? Click on the upper-left corner.
Prefer to see the day listed before the month? Click the slash between
the two. The clock can also be set to start with Windows and to always
be on top. There's no Help file per se, but clicking below the slash in
front of the year brings up a small About screen that lists the
program's features. Overall, nothing about LCD Clock particularly
impressed us, but it's not a bad choice if you need an unobtrusive way
to display the date and time on your desktop.
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Skype 5.10.0.116
Additionally it doesn't just work on Windows. Skype is also for Mac
OS X, Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC, with a native look and feel for
each platform. Talking, sending instant messages or even file transfers
work between different platforms like a charm.
We got off to a rough start with fTalk, as it
immediately crashed the first time we launched it. But after we
restarted it we encountered no further problems. The program has a sleek
interface that's typical of chat clients, with separate collapsible
lists of friends who are on- and offline; a search feature lets you find
friends quickly if your lists are long. Initiating a chat with a friend
opened an attractive window that displayed both our profile images, as
well as links to open Facebook in our browser and view our friend's
profile and photos or send him a private message. Options allowed us to
enable or disable sounds and tray notifications when we got new messages
or when a friend signed into chat. We didn't come across a Help file
anywhere, but that was okay; anyone who's ever used a chat client before
(and even most people who haven't) should be able to figure out fTalk
pretty easily. Overall, we found fTalk to be a great alternative to
chatting on the Facebook Web page, and we recommend it to anyone who
makes frequent use of Facebook's chat feature.
When online chatting first became popular, most of us did it using a
chat client, such as AOL's Instant Messenger or (if we really want to
show our age) ICQ. These days, many people chat using Facebook, and why
not? The vast majority of the people you know are probably there, and
chat is integrated into Facebook's interface, which you probably have
open all the time anyway. If you miss having the option to chat without
having your browser open, however, try Facebook Chat DeskTop. This
simple program lets you access your Facebook chat buddies from your
desktop. It didn't knock our socks off, but it's a viable alternative if
you don't always want to be chained to your browser.
We'll get straight to the point: QTranslate is one of the best
translation tools we've encountered. It's versatile, powerful, and easy
to use. It's an excellent choice for people who read or writes in a
language other than their mother tongue.
