Yotta Media

Windows only: Free application Executor is an application launcher very similar in look and feel Lifehacker reader’s favorite application launcher, Launchy. In fact, after a bit of testing Executor might have just snagged Launchy’s place as the app launcher of choice on my Windows machine. One of the major differences between the two is Executor’s emphasis on keywords. Although it does text search for just about anything, Executor gives priority to user-assigned keywords for launching apps, documents, and folders. What’s more, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to any keyword for quick launches without even invoking Executor. Keyword functionality aside, Executor is also very fast and lightweight, eating just over 10MB of RAM in Task Manager. But that’s not all that makes it great.

You can browse your filesystem and even view your launching history and clipboard history. Like Launchy, Executor does web searches (e.g., wiki Lifehacker searches Wikipedia for Lifehacker), accepts quick calculations (e.g., #5+2), and supports many different skins. As an added bonus, it works seamlessly with the latest Windows Desktop Search in Vista and XP (just type find search terms to use it). Executor is wildly customizable, sporting an enormous set of preferences that any power user will be dying to tweak.

It’s also chock full of smart keyboard shortcuts and other hidden features worth reading through in the documentation page. Executor is freeware, Windows only. If you give it a try, let’s hear how you like it in the comments. Thanks crazacool!

Windows only: Free Windows utility Tiny Watcher tattles on your system and what’s been changed on it without having to stay open and use resources in the background. After running a system scan once at installation, Tiny Watcher checks the registry and system folders to see what’s changed since it was last run, as well as offering options to “Remove,” “Disable,” and search the web for information on system processes and common Windows changes. You have to be really cautious, of course, before deleting or disabling things you don’t fully understand, but it’s a great way of checking just when and why that mysterious folder at your hard drive root was created, without digging through logs or keeping a monitor open. Tiny Watcher is a free download for Windows systems only.

Windows with Office 2007 only: pptPlex, a free Office add-on, makes PowerPoint presentations less of a one-way street and more of a neighborhood exploration. After installing the add-on, you’ll be able to put slides together in groups, slide around the canvas during a presentation, easily zoom in on charts or stats you want to highlight, and generally make the presentation more open to give-and-take and audience questions. Check out the video above for an overview. pptPlex is a free download for Windows systems with Microsoft Office 2007.

Windows only: Free application CircleDock automatically puts files, folders, and shortcuts within a few pixels of your mouse when you invoke it for quick action. CircleDock is completely customizable, from the skin and hotkey to the items you place in the dock. You can rotate the items in the circular dock with your scrollwheel, which is cool despite its questionable usefulness. The app is portable, so you can toss it on your thumb drive and take it with you. CircleDock is free and open source, requires .NET 3.5. A more attractive and improved update is expected within the month. If you give it a try, let’s hear what you think in the comments.

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Remove It Permanently (RIP) selectively removes any element from a web site. If you’ve ever looked at a site and wished you could get rid of some unsightly image or an element that throws off the flow of a site, just right-click it with RIP and remove it permanently. You can select to remove it from that page only, all similar pages, from the web site, or from the entire domain—in addition to a few other options. Don’t think of it as an ad-blocker—you should just install an extension like AdBlock Plus if that’s what you’re looking to do; think of it more as an all-purpose annoyance remover. Unfortunately RIP hasn’t been updated for Firefox 3.0.1, but this tweak will do the trick until it has. RIP is free, works wherever Firefox does.

Windows/Mac/Linux: Cross-platform mind-mapping software PersonalBrain lays out your ideas with advanced features and slick animations. A few weeks ago Gina showed you how to boost your brainstorming session with MindMeister, a web-based mind-mapping tool, but if you’d prefer a desktop option and wouldn’t mind a little eye candy thrown in, PersonalBrain is a nice alternative. PersonalBrain comes in several flavors, but the free edition covers most of your basic mind-mapping needs, with advanced features like file attachments available in paid versions (check the purchasing FAQ for a full rundown). PersonalBrain runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Thanks Laura!

Those of us who have forgone a fancy BlackBerry, Treo, or iPhone know a standard cell phone is probably the most non-interactive, un-tweakable device in the gadget stable. But for many phones, there’s a way around overpriced cables, intentionally weak Bluetooth software, and lack of good syncing software. The multi-tool of phone data, BitPim, is a free, open-source, cross-platform solution that can back up all or most of your phone’s data, put your home-baked ringtones on your phone for free, and sync calendars and contacts between your apps and your vanilla phone. Let’s take a look at how to get started with BitPim on any system and make the most of the device you take everywhere.

What you’ll need

Before we get started, gather up the necessary items for your BitPim setup:

• Compatible phone: The abbreviated list is most LG phones, most Samsung and Sanyo models, a good number of Motorolas, and one Toshiba model. The full list of phones supported by BitPim gives more details on the accessible features and quirks of each model. As noted there, some non-officially-supported phones are accessible through a straight-up filesystem view, but you have to be very, very careful with what you touch in that mode. You don’t want to wait in line at the phone store and fork out for a new model just because you were desperate to get a free “Umbrella” ringtone.
• Computer and phone with Bluetooth or USB phone connector: We’ll detail the basics of hooking up your phone and computer via Bluetooth below. If you’re going the cable route, make sure it’s a true USB cable (not a USB-to-serial cable sometimes sold as a generic solution), that you’ve got any software that’s supposed to work with it, and shop around to get a better deal than the big markup you’ll likely encounter with your cell provider.
• BitPim software: Available for Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X (PowerPC and Intel), and Linux (pre-packaged for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, and as source).

Connecting your phone by Bluetooth

The latest operating systems—Vista, OS X Leopard, and major Linux distros—make Bluetooth connections mostly simple, but I’ll run down the specifics. If you’re not familiar with how to enable Bluetooth and make your phone “discoverable,” or enable other options, refer to the manual or Google your phone model. If you’re connecting by USB, you can skip these steps.

Windows Vista: Head to “Bluetooth Devices” by searching “bluetooth” in the Start Search. In the “Devices” tab, click “Add,” and follow the prompts. After selecting your phone, you’ll be asked to set up a numeric passkey for your device—not necessary, but probably safer—and your phone will check that you really want to connect. If your phone times out of discoverable mode, no worries; just hit “<Back” and try again.

When you’re finished, you’ll see your phone model in the Devices tab. Select it, hit “Properties,” click the Services tab, and make sure at least “Serial port” (with a COM and number on the right-hand side) is selected. Hit OK, choose the Options tab, and enable most of the options there. Click the “COM Ports” tab and ensure that both an “incoming” and “outgoing” port are enabled; if not, hit Add and open one up.

Windows XP: The process is almost exactly the same in XP as it is in Vista, with a wizard leading you through the pairing steps. Once connected, select the phone, hit “Properties,” then enable incoming and outgoing ports and other options.

OS X: Head to your System Preferences and choose Bluetooth. Ensure the service is on, head to the Devices tab and choose “Set up new device.” Walk through the setup assistant, and then, back at the “Devices” tab, hit “Edit Serial Ports” and open up any incoming or outgoing ports. Head over to the “Sharing” tab and enable the file transfers and syncing options you see there.

Linux: If you’re lucky, you can use the built-in Bluetooth controller in distros like Ubuntu and Fedora to find, pair, and connect for access. If you’re not so lucky, your connection won’t fly in BitPim (my phone) or crashes your system outright (wife’s phone). Luckily, one Ubuntu Forums member has detailed the handful of terminal tweaks it takes to get rolling, even with a locked-down Verizon phone. The directions are for Ubuntu, of course, but most Bluetooth-capable distros should have roughly the same steps.

Working with BitPim

Now that everything’s hooked up, let’s get inside that phone. Launch BitPim, and head first to “Settings” (the one with that ubiquitous “wrenches in brotherhood” logo). If you just want to back up or grab data from your cell phone, check “Block writing anything to the phone” to add a layer of security. Otherwise, click “Phone wizard” on the right, choose your model by carrier and model, and then, in most cases, choose the “auto” port on the next screen. Verizon LG owners, however, should choose the “rfcomm” or whatever other port they had opened to them. Hit “Detect phone” on the next screen, but don’t despair if BitPim claims it can’t find your phone—there’s a good chance it’s there, but, in Linux particularly, the software can get a bit picky. In Windows Vista, though, I also got nothing when I hit “Find Phone,” but managed to connect perfectly fine.

If you’ve followed along, you’re ready to connect to your phone and make your first backup. This both lets you see how your phone stores its data, and provides a starting point for messing about. Hit the icon in the upper-most left (arrow pulling away from phone) and choose how you want to pull data. “Add” or “Replace All” won’t matter much on your first connection, but they’re good to note for future use. I’ll note here that it took a seriously long time to download “wallpaper” (which can include all your camphone pics), so only pull those if you really want them all. Otherwise, select what you want and hit “OK.”

Depending on your phone model, you’ve now got a complete backup of your contacts list, your SMS messages, ringtones, pictures, videos, recorded sounds, calendar, memos, and to-do items. If you’re going to start trading data back and forth with the phone, I’d recommend keeping one backup intact, while creating a second to mess with. Head to Data->Create new storage, give it a name (like “Transfer”), then tell BitPim where you want to store it. This creates a config file in that location, where you can copy all your BitPim data over for safekeeping. Now, let’s get to the cool stuff.

What BitPim can do

Now that you’re all set up with BitPim, here are just a few things you can do with it.
Transfer calendars and contacts to your phone: This is probably my favorite feature, as I never had any use for my phone’s low-power calendar until now. BitPim can grab calendars from an .ICS or CSV file, Google, Outlook, contacts from vCards or Outlook, and many other scheduling tools. Head to File->Import and choose your input, or use the Calendar Wizard to smooth over a tricky interface. If you set up “Auto Calendar Import” in the same menu, you can quickly grab your updated data and push it over every time you sync up.

Grab and place ringtones: Paying $4 to use 20 seconds of a song you already own is all kinds of wrong, and BitPim is a great way to fight back. All you have to do is cut out 20 seconds of a song for a ringtone, or just a blip for an alert sound, using a free tool like Audacity (explained in Gina’s guide to making ringtones from any MP3). But wait! You don’t have to do any file conversion or down-scaling; BitPim ably converts your sound files for you.

Prevent the deaded “Lost my phone, need your number” email: It’s a really simple feature, but being able to export your entire contact list to an acceptable-almost-anywhere CSV file is truly one of those things everyone should try to do. Every time you buy a new phone on a different carrier (or sometimes even the same one), you’re held hostage between buying an over-priced data transfer tool or paying the kiosk worker to do it. Cell phones are easily dropped, hardly waterproof, and easy to lose—and re-plugging even a measly 50 contacts is time you don’t want to spend.

The rest of what BitPim can do is up to you—it gives you all your cell data, available for export, and lets you drop files onto your phone with no charge or delay. What uses have you gotten out of BitPim, or could you imagine getting? Share your unlocked ideas in the comments.

Kevin Purdy, associate editor at Lifehacker, might just spend this weekend assigning dorky custom ringtones to his friends. His weekly feature, Open Sourcery, appears Fridays on Lifehacker.

Windows XP only: Free system utility Phlox has a single, small purpose, but it’s one that’s caused certain people to hunt down free ways to get Vista’s features into XP. That feature is a smarter renaming scheme, one that doesn’t make you re-type the file’s extension just to change its name. Hit the F2 key on a file, and it does its advertised job. As the FreewareGenius blog points out, however, it uses about 5MB of memory to get the job done, so fans of scripting utility AutoHotKey can get the same feature, or check out system-wide tweakers in Adam’s XP-like-Vista guide that do the same. Phlox is a free download for Windows systems only.

Windows/Linux: Open-source file archive manager PeaZip creates and extracts files from a number of the most popular archiving formats, including ZIP, RAR, 7Z, and more. Our nod for file archive managers normally goes to previously mentioned 7-Zip, but with an attractive, user-friendly interface, customizable right-click options, and a standalone portable version you can add to your thumb drive, PeaZip has a charm worth checking out. PeaZip is free, Windows and Linux only.

Windows only: Free application Anti-Malware Tookit automatically downloads popular anti-malware applications to your computer. In essence the application is a specialized downloader that retrieves the latest and greatest releases of popular anti-malware apps like CCleaner, Spybot S&D, and Hijack This. You can selectively choose which apps you want downloaded and which you don’t, so you can stick to the tried-and-true options and avoid the ones you’re not sure of—perfect for when you’ve left your PC rescue kit at home and are working tech support for the family.

In addition to the anti-malware apps, the app also automatically grabs “recommended” apps like Firefox, Thunderbird, and avast antivirus (ostensibly to help the user keep a clean PC next time around), as well as previously mentioned utilities like Process Explorer and Unlocker. It’d be nice to see more options from our best antivirus list and a few more great Windows maintenance tools, but as is it’s a good start. Anti-Malware Toolkit is freeware, requires .NET 2.0. It’s not one you’ll use every day, but it’s a lot better than hunting down apps one-by-one on a malware-ridden PC.