Foxit PDF Reader

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size (only 2.5 M download size), breezing-fast launch speed and amazingly rich feature set. Foxit Reader supports Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista. Its core function is compatible with PDF Standard 1.7.

In the past, you have to download a huge PDF reader from another software company, go through a lengthy installation process and wait for an annoying splash window to disappear just to open a PDF document. Moreover, if you want to annotate a PDF document, you have to pay US$299 to buy certain software.

The following is a list of compelling advantages of Foxit Reader:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 2.5 Mb which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 Mb (about 10%) size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users' permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

Foxit Reader itself is free. The critical add-ons are free while advanced add-ons have a reasonable cost. For example, you can use the following functions for free:

• View or print PDF document
• Basic PDF form operations i.e. filling out PDF forms and printing them out
• Advanced PDF form operations, such as saving filled-out forms and import/export forms (free for personal usage only)
• View PDF as text
• Critical add-ons, such as UI language package, JPEG2000/JBIG decoder, CJK package, GDI+ for early Windows version, etc
• Ability to annotate a PDF document and print it out. However when you save the annotated document, it will be stamped with an evaluation mark on the top-right corner of the annotated pages. If you purchase a Pro Pack add-on, then there will be no evaluation mark.

Foxit PDF Reader for Windows
v2.3.2923 FileSize: 2,616 Kb

Amaya, Free Web Editor from W3C

Amaya is a complete web browsing and authoring environment.

• Amaya lets users both browse and author Web pages
  Using Amaya you can create Web pages and upload them onto a server. Authors can create a document from scratch, they can browse the web and find the information they need, copy and paste it to their pages, and create links to other Web sites. All this is done in a straightforward and simple manner, and actions are performed in a single consistent environment. Editing and browsing functions are integrated seamlessly in a single tool.
• Amaya maintains a consistent internal document model adhering to the DTD
  Amaya always represents the document internally in a structured way consistent with the Document Type Definition (DTD). A properly structured document enables other tools to further process the data safely. Amaya allows you to display the document structure at the same time as the formatted view, which is portrayed diagrammatically on the screen.
• Amaya is able to work on several documents at a time
  Several (X)HTML, native MathML (.mml) and SVG (.svg) documents can be displayed and edited at a time.
• Amaya helps authors create hypertext links
  The editor helps you create and text out links to other documents on the Web from the document you currently are working on. You can view the links and get a feel for how the information is interconnected. This feature is not limited to HTML anchors. With XLink, any MathML and SVG element can be a link too.
• Amaya includes a collaborative annotation application
  Annotations are external comments, notes, remarks that can be attached to any Web document or a selected part of the document.

You can find detailed description of Amaya and of its features in the W3C Note "An Introduction to Amaya."

Last stable release (on the time of this posting) is version 10.0.1. The binary distribution is available for a set of Windows(amaya-WinXP-10.0.1.exe), Linux and Mac OS X platforms. For complete list of distribution, visit Amaya Binary Distribution page (will open in new window).

CubicExplorer, a Free Explorer Alternative

CubicExplorer is a file manager which is aimed to replace Windows Explorer. It’s goal is to be easy and pleasant to use but still have enough power for more advanced usage.

CubicExplorer is registry free application. It does not write to registry, all settings are stored in files at installation folder.

Up to version 0.90 RC2, Cubic Explorer does not access internet. That might change in the future however when features like online update are implemented.

Here are some screenshots of CubicExplorer (click to enlarge picture)...

Download Cubic Explorer v0.80 installer (stable version, 1.9 Mb) or try download newer beta version (on the time of this posting is Cubic Explorer v0.90 RC2, 2.1 Mb).

Wininizio PenSuite, Launch From FlashDisk

Wininizio PenSuite is a collection of free and open source software that can be copied onto a USB pen drive or used from a hard disk. It comes in four versions: SILVER, GOLDEN, PLATINUM and TITANIUM; these contain software belonging to all the categories (Multimedia, Internet, Network, Security, System, Utilities…).

The new version WinInizio PenSuite 2.1 introduces some innovations: It’s been introduced the Games version for all gamers that can always have some games to spend some pleasant time; It has been introduced a new and simple setup for the extraction of the PenSuite on the hard disk or the pen drive. The setup is completely guided! Just plug your pen drive into your PC’s USB slot and have immediate access to hundreds of free programs.

The software contained in the PenSuites is stand-alone and doesn’t require installation; each program is easily launched directly from the pen drive and accessed directly from a menu that’s similar to the Quick Launch menu in Windows.

Carry it in your pocket or purse and have the right software for every situation. The PenSuite offers many software categories — for instance, security, networking, multimedia — enough that you could use a it on a PC that has just the operating system installed.

You can also use the PenSuite from an hard drive in your PC — or even an external, USB hard drive. As with the pen drive, you don’t have to install any of the programs — just copy the contents of the pen drive into a folder on the hard drive and immediately choose from among the hundreds of applications.

Wininizio Pen Suite is available in twelve different editions (see comparison table to determine your needs), one richer than the next, with the only limitation being the size of your pen drive.

Download from official Wininizio.It website: TITANIUM 2.1 | PLATINUM 2.1 | GOLDEN 2.1 | SILVER 2.1 | GAMES 2.1 | GRAPHIC 2.1 | MULTIMEDIA 2.1 | NETWORK 2.1 | OFFICE 2.1 | SECURITY 2.1 | SYSTEM 2.1 | UTILITIES 2.1 | User's Guide

Paint.NET, a Photoshop replacement

Paint.NET is free, open source image and photo editing software from Adobe that works similiar to Photoshop. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plug-ins.

Although its features essentially similar to Photoshop, the size is dramatically different. While Photoshop distribution size is more than 100 Mb, Paint.NET size is less than 2 Mb. You need Microsoft.NET installed to run this application, run in Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista.

Paint.NET is lightweight, consume less resources than Photoshop, load quickly, and very user friendly. Supported image formats are JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, and other popular formats. Included popular tools: Clone stamp, Collages, Color adjusting, Cropper, Image transformation & rotation, Selectors (free selector, magic wand), Layers, Action manager, and many effects (Emboss, Oil painting, Mosaic, Red eye reduction, etc.).

Download Now from C-Net (1.51Mb) Tested spyware free
Editor's Rating:

Version 3 fixes many old quibbles, including a convenient thumbnail manager for handling multiple image editing, and improved program graphics. Paint.NET is far more advanced than Microsoft Paint, and given its free price, it's a must-have for anyone needing to fix images. Version 3.35 has a new Posterize adjustment, Intersect selection mode, dramatically faster selection editing performance (add, subtract, intersect), and some small miscellaneous bug fixes.