Cannot Unzip Zip Files? CRC Errors? Partially Download?

It is pretty obvious that if you cannot unzip a zip file, then it means the zip file is broken. The causes could be because the zip isn’t completely downloaded from the source, CRC errors, or perhaps there are scratches on the CD when you copy the zip files from it to your harddisk. Either way, the point is you can’t open the zip files and what matter the most is to get the zip repaired. Yes, it is possible to repair broken zip files.

There are many paid broken zip repair software if you’re willing to let go some of your money out of your pocket. If this is not something you intend to do, there is also a free zip utility that can repair damaged zip files called as Object Fix Zip. You can try to repair one or multiple zip files at once.

It’s easy to use. When running the application, you will be guided in a wizard style that finally leads you to the options of what things that the program should do: test zip file integrity, fix the archive without modifying the original file, or/and directly extract the corrupted zip file into a destination folder. The choice is yours.

Object Fix Zip

Object Fix Zip runs on Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95. It isn’t a perfect application that guarantees that every broken zip file you discover will be able to be recovered, but at least it provides a free solution before you finally consider to use the other paid zip recovery tools if later you find the program fails to do the job. Give it a try and share your experiences here in using this freeware so others can find out if it is worth to download for.

Object Fix Zip

Tags: can't open zip, cannot unzip, corrupted zip, crc error, free recovery, free zip tools, freeware, open zip files, vista, windows, xp, zip errors, zip partially download, zip recovery

Lock Any Application With Freeware LockAnExe

Need to lock an application? If you do, then LockAnExe offers a free, simple way to lock application so that no one can run it until it gets unlocked with the program.

How to lock application with LockAnExe

1. Browse and select the application by clicking “Open File” button.
2. Select “Lock File” and click “Do it”. The original icon of the locked application will be replaced by a white box icon, signaling that it has been locked.

You can lock more than one application. However, the developer doesn’t specify the number limit of the applications that can be locked. I only tried to lock two applications, CCleaner and Auslogics Registry Defrag, and it runs well. Both cannot be run until I unlocked it.

LockAnExe

A feature that I want it to be added is the ability to set a master password for the program so no other user can unlock the programs I have locked. However, since there is no message pops out saying something like “this application has been locked with LockAnExe“, I think no one would know that the application is being locked with LockAnExe and, thus, wouldn’t search for the program within the computer to unlock the locked applications without our permissions.

Another limitation from the program is that you have to remember all the applications you have locked with it. Otherwise, you won’t be able to unlock. You need to browse and select the application again, and click the “Unlock File” to unlock each of the locked applications.

LockAnExe

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Clean Temp Files Automatically or Manually With Empty Temp Folder

The more often you run your computer, the more temp files you get. If you don’t clean temp files periodically, the size of temp files could affect the performance of the computer. It gets slower and slower over time. Thus, temp files need to be cleaned regularly and this can be done by using Empty Temp Folders, a freeware designed to do more than simply cleaning up temp files.

You can clean temp files manually with Empty Temp Folders, or automatically at scheduled time by using the additional tool called EmpRunner. With EmpRunner, the Empty Temp Folders can be scheduled to clean temp files every 5, 10, 15, 30, 45 minutes or every 1, 2, 3, 4 hours.

However, you need to specify which temp folders you want to clean before. This can be easily done by selecting all the folders in the list of the temp folders that has been provided within the program. Of course you can add more, but make sure you know what you are going to clean before adding your own folders.

Clean temp files with Empty Temp Folders

If you want to clean cookies, history files, URLs and the contents of the Recycle Bin as well, you can do it by configuring the program to do so from the its “Options” window. Still in the same window, you can specify that the temp files to be cleaned must be older than certain days as well as to start the program when Windows starts. The program can be set to instantly clean temp files when Windows starts and to immediately close down after the cleaning is finished.

There are additional cleaners that lets you clean the contents of Windows clipboard and remove broken shortcuts. However, I found that the free invalid shortcut remover I have posted before, Orphans Remover, is a lot better in cleaning up the broken shortcuts.

Empty Temp Folders

Tags: empty temp folders, folders, free cleaner, freeware, junk files, remove file, remover, unused files, windows

Kaspersky Virus Definition Updates

If you use Kaspersky Anti Virus to protect your computer from viruses, then this is the page where you can get the latest virus definition for Kaspersky Anti Virus all the time. It means this page will be always updated. Whenever Kaspersky launches its virus definition updates, this page will be updated.

Download the latest virus definitions for Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal and Lite

Size: 37.43MB
Release Date: 2008-12-03

Note that the virus definition updates here only for the weekly update version.

Tags: Anti Virus, download, kaspersky, virus updates, windows

Crop JPEG Images Without Quality Loss

The main problem when using a photo editor to crop images is sometimes, for certain editors, the cropped image loses its quality though you may have to compare the cropped with the original image in zoom mode to figure out the quality reduction. Some photo editors have the so-called jpeg quality controller, like in Photo Filtre, that you can use to reduce even more or increase the quality of the images, but only if you save the images as jpeg images. However, if you increase the quality, you may notice that the size of the cropped image is larger than the original one.

JPEGCrop doesn’t do such a thing. It is a free, portable software, or a free jpeg cropper to be precise, that enables you to crop images without quality loss and the cropped image will always have smaller size than the original one. In addition, you can flip or rotate images without quality loss as well. If you load multiple images, each will be opened in a separate tab.

I couldn’t find the information on which Windows versions it supports within the developer’s site, but one thing for sure is that the application supports Windows XP because I use it. From SnapFiles I find out later that Windows 98, ME, 2000 are also supported. I have no idea about Windows Vista if it is supported or not.

Crop jpeg images without quality loss

Download JPEGCrop

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How to Change Default Wallpaper Directory / Folder in Desktop Properties for Windows XP

We can easily change our desktop wallpaper by right-clicking on desktop, click “Properties, open “Desktop” tab, pick one of the provided wallpapers within the list and hit the apply button. However, when we want to change the desktop wallpaper with another one that is located within another folder, you’ll have to click the browse button to go to the folder and pick the wallpaper.

If you keep your favorite wallpapers in a separate folder and most of the time you rotate the wallpapers on the desktop, why don’t you just make the folder to be your default wallpaper directory? In this way, you don’t need to click the browse button every time you want to change the desktop wallpaper from Deskop Properties window.

How to change the default wallpaper directory

Open registry editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

After you find the key, look the right pane and find the string value “WallPaperDir”. The default value data of it is:

%SystemRoot%\Web\Wallpaper

This value data has to be changed. Double-click it and enter the location of your wallpaper directory or folder. Mine is located in H:\Visual Styles Collection\Wallpaper\Sweet, so I change the default value data with the location.

That’s it. After you change it, you can close the registry editor window and open the Desktop Properties. You’ll see that all of the wallpapers within the list are the ones that are located in the folder you set in the Registry editor.

Tags: desktop properties, desktop wallpaper, wallpaper, wallpaper changer, windows