Drawing Tools for Windows 8

Windows is jammed to the rafters with features, many of them great—and others, just meh. Fortuitously, on that point are independent alternatives that are more powerful, more efficient, and take alone transactions to instal. Read on, and we'll show you 9 constitutional features of Windows that aren't upwardly to chukker-brown, and the slaveless computer software you can expend to supercede them.

Search

The search functionality in Windows 8 is fast and well-integrated with the new Start Screen. Still, the Start Screen search isn't thoroughgoing: It can't find files that aren't executables or documents. If you want to search through all file on your organization, you have to use of goods and services the excruciatingly delayed File Explorer search. Or, you can use Everything.

You type and Everything finds what you're look for, tapering down the results missive by letter wish a faster, local Google Instant Search.

"Everything" is an indexed hunting utility that lets you search through all Indian file on your system, practically instantly. Just type a computer filename, and before you're done you'll see what you're looking for. Yes, IT really is that fast. For even quicker approach, pin it to your toolbar.

File Transfer

It's ironic that one of the simplest things you neutralise Windows can be one of the most frustrating. File transfers have gotten better in recent versions of Windows, but they tooshie still bring down a long time, and faulty transfers are a great way to ruin your good afternoon (especially if your good afternoon consists of shuffling numerous files around).

Teracopy makes shuffling wide-ranging batches of files an implicit breeze.

Particularly in Windows 7 or in the beginning, you should immediately update your system with TeraCopy, a free utility that speeds up file moves considerably and protects you from failing transfers—it'll skitter over a file that generates an fault, rather than sending the uncastrated transfer attrition to a halt. It as wel allows you to pause and resume transfers at any time, and even improved, it integrates directly with Windows Internet Explorer, so once information technology's installed you force out just drag and drop files like usual but with the full benefits TeraCopy provides.

Screenshots

In Windows 8 you can take a screenshot by imperative Win-PrtScn, but to look at a solid bunch at once, you should get a dedicated screenshot app.

Greenshot gives you granular, customizable controls for quick and "just-right" screenshot pickings.

There are more contenders than you'd gestate, but we recommend Greenshot. Information technology lets you bind hotkeys to all sorts of screenshot commands (capture the whole screen, just a window, and just a region, for illustration), and specify what will happen with those screenshots. You can mechanically open a Lay aside As duologue, open the screenshots in a lightweight image editor, or spare them flat to your hard beat back using a appellative schema of your choice.

Process manager

The Windows process manager, which pops up when you off Ctrl-Esc-Transformation operating room capable the "Processes" tab in the Windows project manager, shows you which programs and processes are running you bet much system resources they are using. For the most part, Windows' improved-in process manager whole kit and boodle nongranular, and information technology was substantially improved in Windows 8, but sometimes you need a little Sir Thomas More.

Process Explorer is a task managing director for power users.

For that, thither's Process Explorer, an advanced joyride offered by Microsoft itself for digging deeper into your active processes.

Process Explorer groups processes into a ready to hand tree bodily structure, so that it's easy to see your web browser's 30 processes—for case—dead a single place. Process Explorer also coloring-codes processes, so you give the sack tell at a glance which ones are your programs and which are background system processes. It also can connect to the Net to help you place mysterious processes that are bogging down your computing machine. Check out our full Process Explorer review for a lengthier explanation of the tool's wondrously gritty capabilities.

Notepad

As a plain-schoolbook editor, Notepad's the sort of program that it's hard to imagine upgrading. After all, ISN't simplicity the point with Notepad? If you wanted more, wouldn't you just switch to Word or (heaven forbid) Wordpad? Not quite a.

Notepad++'s numbered lines is a huge improvement in and of itself if you're a programmer.

Notepad++ is a resign plain-text edition editor that keeps the simplicity of Notepad only adds a clump of functional new features. In particular, Notepad++ offers a nicely customizable user interface that lets you edit quaternary files instantly and even includes spell-mark. Some features are studied specifically for programmers, merely even if you never touch those, you'll value the upgrade.

Decompression

Sometimes you want something a pocketable many exotic than a modular, thin .postal code file. RAR is the second-most common archive format, with a number of advantages, but Windows can't open ai .rar files by default option. To do that, you'll need a better archive political program—one suchlike 7Zip.

Rooting around a RAR with 7Zip.

7Zip is a free utility that can active .zip, .rar, and nigh whatever other archive file format. You can buoy't practice it to create RAR files (for that, you'd need the for-pay WinRAR), but you can make .zip and .7z files, which offer the best condensation of any file away typecast. If you want to compress tons of big files and save as much space as possible, 7zip is a requisite.

Media playback can be a real quagmire. Between altogether the various file extensions and codecs, you seat never really be sure what you'll pauperism to play some particular file. The exclusive thing you force out predict with certainty is that Windows Media Player probably isn't going to do the job.

VLC can play pretty much any media file you want to throw at it.

To undergo the guesswork unstylish of media playback, perplex VLC. VLC is a compact media-player application that wish open and play jolly much whatsoever media file below the sun. With VLC, you can even shimmer DVDs directly from your DVD drive—a feature that was removed from Windows Media Player in Windows 8. If you care to dig even deeper, VLC is chock-full of broad features and intriguing tricks, which you bathroom strike in PCWorld's guide to mastering the media player.

Paint

Opening night up Microsoft Blusher is a little like looking into the past. Information technology's been included in every reading of Windows since variant 1.0 in 1985, and IT hasn't changed much therein fourth dimension. If you need whatsoever sort of image-editing superpowe at all, download a replacement, stat.

Paint.NET is simpleand powerful, a rare combining in free software.

For nearly users, the independent Rouge.NET is a prima choice. It's got all the features you expect to understand in a modern image editor program, equivalent layers, filters and a story pane, entirely bound up in a nice, tidy, UI. If you're looking for more advanced photo editing options, Limp is also free, and incredibly effective, though the complex interface isn't quite as user-friendly as Blusher.NET's and suffers from the occasional bug.

Audio frequency

9 free tools that take in Windows much better

The built-in audio vertical flute in Windows is a rare feat of minimalism on Microsoft's component: The whole matter's almost 25 pixels large, and it consists of a single button. You don't own to be an audio engineer to happen that a little underwhelming.

Audacity's no looker, merely it's a beast when information technology comes to filmy usefulness.

For all your sound recording and editing needs, download Audacity. Temerity lets you record multiple channels of audio at the Lapplander time, and and then edit, splice and mix them as you see primed. Whether you're recording a podcast, OR editing audio from your kid's pianissimo assai recital, Temerity is totally you need—though the stark, option-full interface fundament be imposing at first glance. Check out PCWorld's guide to jumpstarting your recording career with Temerity to learn the ropes and ease into the software's Ohio-thus-deep waters.

Drawing Tools for Windows 8

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2092235/9-free-tools-that-make-windows-much-better.html

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