An alternative to MP3 Toolkit:

Audacity, once considered just a simple wav editor, now possibly one of the most powerful sound file editors on the planet. Open source, free (as in free beer), and cross platform as well. I use it a lot to record old vinyl, clean up pops and clicks, automatically detect silence (between songs), and create track tags for the resulting FLAC files.

Only feature missing is "rip a CD". Lots of freeware solutions for that... I use VLC which is also free, open source and cross platform.

Hi Mike -- many thanks for your thoughtful and detailed approaches for installing newer versions of apps when you already have an older version installed. Much "food for thought" for me to consider the next time I'm faced with the decision :)

Endre -- many thanks for popping in here to mention the lifetime upgrades and support for your product! I read about those benefits when I was on the BitDuJour site, and I really appreciate that you offered them, as many BitDuJour offers do not include any upgrades, updates, or support!

If an app is designed/written properly it'll tell you during install if you need to remove the old version 1st, then offer to do so, e.g. the EASEUS partition apps. If you uninstall before installing a newer version, there's a chance the app will take up less space since some files &/or registry entries may no longer be used. OTOH you'll often lose things like any custom settings & history. That said, uninstall routines often leave a great deal of leftovers, so unless you go through scrubbing those leftovers from your system, uninstalling whatever app prior to an upgrade *may* be a total waste of time. Some apps install newer versions alongside, instead of over existing, installed versions, e.g. many Paragon apps & Paintshop Pro X4. That can be good and bad... you can often continue using the older versions, assuming you have a reason to, but uninstalling that older version later may remove parts of the newer version too.

The way I normally handle it is if in doubt I'll either start up Wondershare Timefreeze or do a full partition image backup, then try the install/upgrade & see what happens. If everything's cool I can commit the changes if I'm using Timefreeze, leave things alone if I've done a backup. If something's wrong I can reboot & discard the changes if I'm using Timefreeze, or restore the backup if that's the route I took. [Toolwiz has a free app (also called Timefreeze) that does the same thing as Wondershare Timefreeze, but while I've tested it in VMs & found it works, because I have the Wondershare app from GOTD already installed I've had no reason to actually use it, & so have no idea how well it works in practice.]

At any rate I think upgrades should be approached the same way you approach a new restaurant or something new on the menu at your favorite restaurant -- always use what you feel is an appropriate amount of caution. To get an idea what to expect if/when upgrading an app I normally Google to see what people have to say about it, but I consider that mainly useful if there's a common problem & a fix for it. People are more inclined to complain than they are to report success, & those who go deeper, looking for & fixing problems, often don't bother to post at all -- I try to look for consensus & take everything I find/read with a grain of salt. I've found loads of posts, all in agreement, that were wrong -- I've seen/read stuff from developers & software companies that was wrong -- & I'm pretty sure most everyone else has too... to me it's little different from trying to pick a good movie to watch/see, where reviews can be handy but the only way to tell if you like it [& how much] is to watch the movie. Trust yourself.

"... there is limited time to do so, especially during the GotD period..."

While I make it a practice to check out, monitor installs in one or more VMs [virtual Machines] first, something like Timefreeze doesn't take much in the way of time or effort -- I use it when I want to see what happens during a version upgrade & when I want to see how an app behaves in *Real* Windows. It takes more time to perform a partition image backup, but that gives you a bigger window of time where you can go back if a problem doesn't appear right away -- on the down side if you restore that backup you'll also lose any & all apps you installed since the backup was performed.

There's another [geekier?] approach I've used that doesn't take much time at all, & can be combined with using Timefreeze [or similar] -- I create a 7zip archive of the program's folder, & optionally any folders that app uses in Windows' user folders. Then fire up Timefreeze, set it to protect the drive [so everything's written to a temporary virtual disk instead of the real one], fire up Regshot [Regshot2 for Windows 64 bit], & install the app or version upgrade, recording all registry changes made. If there's an immediate problem I can reboot discarding all changes. If there's a problem that shows up a week [or more] later, I can rename the existing program folder [e.g. add a _ to the front of the folder name], expand/restore that 7zip file, & *if* necessary revert some or all of the registry changes I recorded during install. It's more hands-on than restoring a backup, but it leaves everything else, any other software alone.

Hello guys!

I'm Endre Benedekfi from Refero Group Software. We offer a lifetime upgrade and support for every customer who purchased our software. Unfortunatelly the GOTD promotion coming without any support and upgrade.
Thank you!

Endre Benedekfi
Refero Group Software

Thanks, Inas! Asking the developer is a good option; unfortunately, sometimes there is limited time to do so, especially during the GotD period, when a developer may not reply in time.

There is no one general rule to address this. Each program and company are different in how they operate with respect to upgrades - so, it's always good to ask the developer.

I had a previous version from GotD, and wondered if I should uninstall it first. I decided not to, and had no problem installing BitDuJour's offer yesterday. I double-checked, and I have the current version (3.4).

I oftentimes wonder if it's better to uninstall a previous version first. Fubar has suggested a number of times that it's best to uninstall prior to installing a new version.

Any opinions??

FYI - per communication with EZ Watermark folks, for customers who have a fully-purchased license of EZ Watermark Studio program, you may upgrade for free. You simply need to uninstall older version, install newer one, and enter your license registration info. - please also confirm this first-hand with developer.

On 09.08.2011 the version 3.1 was on GOTD:Giveaway of the Day - Easy Watermark Studio 3.1

I like this programme, it's one of the better watermarking tools.
I even bought it.

Software features:
Create a Photoshop like watermark
Create rounded image corner with really smooth edges
Create image reflections
Sinus transformation
Pixel filters (jitter, circle, grid, pixelize, noise ...)
Batch watermark: protect a photo group of any size at a time
Protect photo independent of their format
Edit watermarks in easy to use graphical interface
Create watermarks from image and text
Save watermark template for future use
Apply filters to watermarks : drop shadow, outher glow, alpha transparency
Rotate watermarks for photos
Make watermarks more detailed for better protection
Adjust the size of photos
Animated Gif support
Full Unicode support
Creating reflection for a better look
Windows 7 compatible

Here is mike's review:

# 35
Easy Watermark Studio is one of the nicer, more complete watermarking apps that have been on GOTD over the past few years. It uses layers so you can add multiple text &/or image watermarks, you can turn individual layers off/on, & you can control the stacking order [i.e. which layers are on top etc.]. The program’s window is resizable, though only from the lower right corner, & it’s pretty well laid out — there’s a lot there however, so it is worthwhile to spend some time fully exploring all the features. Text watermarks can have gradient fills, backgrounds, shadows, glows, borders, noise &/or a sinus FX, & reflections — while like most of these apps you only get 9 quadrants to place your text, all but the center spot can be freely adjusted using 2 margin sliders. Add an Image Layer to enable image watermarks, which can also have one of several FX applied, including an “Alpha shadow” [import an image with transparency, & the shadow will ignore or not reflect transparent parts of the image]. Easy Watermark Studio lets you round the corners of your output [watermarked] images, & you can set the background color for the image frame, including Transparent. TO more completely obscure an image you can add lines or tile watermarks, and you can resize output based on height or width as well as crop or stretch. A nice production oriented touch, you can save & load profiles.

Tech-wise installation isn’t bad at all, but you might not feel that way when it comes to registration — you use the app to get to the registration page, which doesn’t appear to be ie9 friendly… ie8 & Firefox work fine, & *maybe* ie9 will too if set to compatibility view(?). Once you receive the e-mail with registration info [which should be immediate], you copy/paste the number into the dialog, Easy Watermark Studio contacts the server, & that key is activated for that Windows install… you need one unique key for each installation. Setup was for the most part identical in XP Pro SP3 32, win7 ult SP1 32, & win7 HP SP1 64 — the only difference between win7 64 & win7 32 was the 64 bit OS used the Program Files (x86) folder. Basically a one file app, the “Easy Watermark Studio” program folder holds 7 files, 1 folder, taking up ~3 MB, while a 2nd folder under User Application Data [User AppData Roaming in win7] with the same name holds configuration data & a Temp folder… an empty output folder is added to My Pictures, & a log file’s added to C:\Windows. Once activated the registry has 3 new keys: 1 for the app, 1 for uninstall, & 1 for ASProtect. Running Easy Watermark Studio I didn’t see anything of note using SysInternals Process Explorer other than it uses Internet Explorer. It did take more horsepower to run in XP than win7 VMs, up to 12% CPU idle vs. 1 or 2% in win7. Also saw some minor display problems in the XP VM when today’s GOTD was closed — there was an offset copy of desktop icons/shortcuts, & a portion of Windows’ Explorer was blacked out, but the icons went away with a display refresh while Explorer was fine once I minimized & restored it’s window.
Comment by mike — August 9th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
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Easy Watermark Studio Pro 3.4
Protect Your Images From Unauthorized Use

How many times has this horror happened to you? You're browsing the web, when suddenly you come across a site that's filled with amazing, brilliant images - the only problem is, they're YOUR images, stolen wholesale from your own website and featured by someone else, with absolutely no credit given to you! The only way to prevent this violation from happening again is by clearly marking your photos as your own - and the first step on this journey begins with a copy of today's discount software promotion, Easy Watermark Studio Pro!

Easy Watermark Studio Pro is a powerful, yet easy-to-use photo watermark software that will help you to protect your digital images from theft. With Easy Watermark Studio Pro, you'll be able to add your watermark or copyright notice to any image, making it very difficult for anyone to use the image without attribution. Even better, Easy Watermark Studio Pro lets you apply watermarks to multiple images in batch, so adding your mark to your entire portfolio of work can be done quickly and easily!

Additional features in Easy Watermark Studio Pro include the ability to rename, resize, and convert photos to different file formats. You can also get creative with your watermarks, applying special effects and filters for added wow factor. In this day and age, it's clear that Easy Watermark Studio Pro should be a critical component in the arsenal of every photographer, graphic artist, and small business that wants to protect their digital rights.
Promotion Written by Derek Lee

Features:

Protect your digital images from unauthorized use
Apply a watermark to any digital image to establish ownership and claim copyright
Use batch mode to apply watermarks to an entire portfolio of images automatically
Rename, resize, and convert photos to different file formats
Get creative with your watermarks by using filters and special effects
Purchase with BitsDuJour's discount coupon code and get all this at a promotional price!

Policy:
After you make a purchase of this BitsDuJour discount promotion, Easy Watermark Studio Pro 3.4 may be used indefinitely.
Easy Watermark Studio Pro 3.4 is licensed per computer, and not per user.
Each license allows installation on a single computer and a laptop.
Online license activation is required with a hardware footprint, and 1 installation per footprint. what's this?
You must instal/register the software within 12 months, and cannot do so afterwards.
Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for the lifetime of the product.
Support is provided up to when the next major version is released, and minor versions thereafter.

More info:
http://www.easy-watermark-studio.com/
Get the deal:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/easy-watermark-studio-pro-34-2/

graylox

30.06.12

SnowFox Total Video Converter can easily be replaced [and bettered] for free by
Freemake Video Converter

A very good alternative to 1AVCapture is BB FlashBack Express – at least if it's as good
(or better) than version 2.0.2 build 455 (which is the one I've got).
To view info and download, go to http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBFlashBack_FreePlayer.aspx
I believe the program has no spyware.

Screen Monkey - 100% Multimedia Presentation Freeware for Two-Monitor PCs

Alternatives to AllMyNotes I use (or have used) are:

Keynote (both the original from Marek Jedlinski (AKA Tranglos) and the NF (for New Features) taken up by Daniel Pradov after Tranglos declared a "hobby programmer bankruptcy, a writer's block, an intellectual meltdown to incapacity".

Original (Still available but quite old): http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html

Daniel Pradov's version: http://code.google.com/p/keynote-nf/

Evernote (both the new (limited when free) 3 version and the older version 2).

I'm fortunate to have kept a copy of version 2 from my old computer as this is the one I use (and like) the most for its capacity for text, graphics and HTML (Web page) abilities.

The two programs Ashraf has mentionned are flawed (for my use at least), Cintanotes is too simple and only text oriented and FruitfulTime Notekeeper is an end-of-line product (no longer maintained) which I have tested and found so intrusive (it would insist on loading at Windows startup with no way of telling it not to) and was so awkward to use that I just gave up on it.

Alternative to Start Menu program offered on GOTD several days ago.

SE Tray Menu - Freeware

Freeware options for today's giveaway (UMark Pro Watermark Software):

Watermark V2 - freeware

Watermark Magick - Freeware

G-DOC Free PDF Creator

Per the developer, this program does the following (and it's 100% FREE):

"Create, view and print your enterprise-quality PDF files using gDoc Creator, the easiest way to convert documents from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into PDF or XPS! And gDoc Creator includes PDF to Word conversion too!."

Two free online alternatives for today's (23.01.2010) GOTD "Crave World Clock":
Both have a broad array of options and information:

http://www.worldtimezone.com/datetime.html

http://www.timeanddate.com/
with Free Clocks for Your Web Site

An free alternative to Odin Screen Capture from January 17, 2010

PicPick Tools from http://picpick.wiziple.net/

It has many capture settings and it also features a built-in editor, color picker, pixel ruler, protractor, Magnifier and more.

After install, all the tools are available from a trayicon menu.

A 100% Freeware Music Player/Organizer is:

Media Monkey Standard-CNET Editor Rating is 5/5, CNET User Rating is 4/5.

Happy Saturday,
Inas

Thanks, Paul, Shape Collage is really fun, I was going to present it here - you have been faster - LOL
Here are some Videos : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMrSkUzg7ws&feature=player_embedded

Another nice way to make collages or manipulate photos is FotoMix.
Look at this Tutorial
The drawback: the developer has added ads.

Yes, our programs are really 100% free now. After years fighting hackers we finally give up.

graylox

Freeware alternatives for today's Picture Collage Maker Pro include:

E.M. Free Photo Collage

Be patient with that site as both download buttons, the "red" one on the page and the "blue" one at the top of the page sometimes gives this message:

Not Found - The requested URL /files/511/ar1/winxp/graphics/empc_setup.exe was not found on this server.

Just go back and try again ( I had to try 3 times )

I have tracked down the culprit as being their Winsite mirror and the problem is caused by the fact that WinSite has ceased its operations on April 27, 2009.

I have already sent an Email to the Effectmatrix site to tell them about it, hopefully they will correct the problem in the future.

As another alternative, eXPress Partners have an interesting offer!

You can get four (4) individual programs: Collage Album, Collage eBook, Collage Calendar or Collage Slideshow.

You can also have them all at once in the Collage Suite.

All the versions used to be shareware but are now free programs!

Here is the link: http://www.expresspartners.com/index.htm

And here is the link explaining why they decided after 10 years to give it away: http://www.expresspartners.com/about.htm

You also have links to Free Templates and Collage Tutorials on the site.

A final alternative is this one: http://www.shapecollage.com/

This one can only be explained by looking at the website, it is weird but fun!

As an alternative to today's Corner-A ArtStudio, I suggest the free:

Sqirlz Water Reflections is a way of adding rippling pools of water, and rain or snow effects, to images or existing AVI videos.

Hi Pam, a watermark in it's historical context was a mark pressed into newly made paper to identify it as genuine. Watercolor paper that was made by master paper makers, fancy expensive stationary, stamps or paper money, are some examples. On the best examples you could only see the watermark by holding the item up to a light source. It was an excellent way to foil forgers and counterfeiters.
In the digital age, a watermark can serve the same function, to say this photo or artwork is genuine work by (insert name). It can be used to say where the Picture is from(www.bigdog.com)which is useful if you are selling big dogs, it will give potential customers a web address to shop at. It can be used the same way if you have a problem with people not saving pics to their own hard-drives but linking on the pic... this way when the pic shows up on their site, the site where it really comes from is on the pic. You can use a watermark to name or put visible information on your picture, such as who is in a photo or where the photo was taken.

A company, will put Watermarks, on a picture, to keep someone from selling it, or pretending it's theirs.
-Webmaster

Hello, I am back again. At the risk of sounding dumb - What is a watermark and why do people use them?

08/April/2008
An excellent free program for those who missed out on today's giveaway, which is a clipboard utility, is Clipboard Magic from http://www.cybermatrix.com/clipboard_magic.html

also make sure you are not running the activation exe from a proxy/proxied internet connection.

FYI - I use 7-zip and run all install/activate exe's from it no prob...

regards - Damian

so am I running win2k- perhaps extract to a folder makes more sense?