The welcome screen is a shortcut to all the tools. These are MP3 Converter, CD to MP3 Ripper, MP3 Tag Editor, MP3 Merger, MP3 Editor, MP3 Cutter and MP3 Recorder.

The first, MP3 Converter, prompts the user to add individual or a folder of audio or music files and then the options to convert them to or from MP3s. Relevant settings for the conversion process are Bitrate (Kbps), Rate (Hz) and the option to output in either mono or stereo. It addition to WAV, FLAC, MP3 and OGG there is also FLAC, AAC, AC3 and AMR support.

CD to MP3 Ripper simply prompts the user to insert a CD which is to be ripped and converted to MP3s.

MP3 Tag Editor is more feature rich. Load MP3(s) to edit, add or remove tags. It is possible to clean file names for some naming consistency and to generate file names based on song, album, directory and other information. There is also support for ID3, v1.1 and v2.x.

MP3 Merger can combine files into one and supports WAV, FLAC, MP3 and OGG files.

MP3 Cutter is intended for creating ringtones. Load an audio file, press play, use the marked buttons to choose the start and end points. Finally click save to save the chosen section as MP3, WMA, AVI or AMR.

MP3 Recorder lets the user set a Sample Rate (32000, 44100 or 48000) and  Bitrate and then start recording. This works for voice recording and depending on the PC sound card for capturing system sounds as well.

In addition to the audio formats listed above MP3 Toolkit can capture audio from other file formats such as FLV, MP4, M4V, M4P, MOV, M4A, MPG, RM, SWF and WMV. MP3 Toolkit should work on Windows 2000 and above.

DVD Slideshow Builder Standard is an easy to use tool to burn not just DVDs but also to burn movies to keep on a hard drive in mp4, avi, wmv, 3gp, mov, mpeg, swf, flv and other formats, to create HD videos, for various Apple and mobile devices or of course to share on youtube.

DVD Slideshow Builder is divided into three sections. These are Organize, Personalize and Create.

The organize section imports photos or movies from a device and also offers to work with blank clip. Depending on the imported element there are various editing options like crop, brightness, filters (inverse, emboss, blur, etc.) and repair red eye. Plus there are options to add caption or text with various effects such as fade, wipe end, cut in, scroll and more.

The personalize section is perhaps the most diverse part of DVD Slideshow Builder as it features a lot for one section.

Styles can be added that fit various occasions such photo wall, rotating photos, action effects and lots more. Clip arts can be added or overlayed on the slideshow or film. Effects such firecrackers, hearts, stars and snow can be added as well. Subtitles (manually added text) and music is available in this section too. Some of these editing options are reserved for the Deluxe version however, this is documented at http://www.wondershare.com/pro/dvd-slideshow-builder-standard.html

The Create section includes the final touches which includes DVD menu creation and editing with a lot of options for menu music, background, frame, the control buttons (play, back, forward, etc.). The output format and destination is also chosen here.

Email is required to grab a code and you must do so before 12:00AM EST on May 14th. DVD Slideshow Builder requires XP and above.

PearlMountain Image Converter is an all in one solution for working with images. It does more than just batch image conversions.

The workflow is similar to other PearlMountain software. Images are added individually, several from a folder or via URL. The left hand side of the interface lists the program features. The first is the conversion itself, formats supported here are jpg, gif, bmp, pdf, tga, tiff, psd, pcx,  ico and many more listed on http://www.batchimageconverter.com/image-formats/index.html. It is possible to preserve exif or iptc metadata when processing conversions.

The second set of features is the resize option. Here the usual by size, by percentage, custom and dpi resolution is possible. There are also presets for best fits on devices like iPhone, Sony PSP and others. Additionally there is a resample setting and the option to switch width and height to match image orientations.

Image or text watermark is next with all the flexibility of positioning the watermark. These include alignment, rotation, opacity, offset, shadow, edge, font and more.

The rename option is equally flexible with many options for the renaming. These include having file date, exif and other file info in the output file name.

Corrections has the brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpen/blur sliders.

Border can add borders along the images with varying thickness and in advanced mode the border can be applied to any of top, right, bottom and left sides of the image leaving the other sides borderless.

Crop features more advanced options. Automatic crop cuts the images in preset sizes and manual mode cuts images by percentage.

The final step is to optionally change the output folder and then click the large Start button. A profile can be saved to re-use the same chosen options later. PearlMountain Image Converter works on Windows 2000 and newer and offers to add itself to the context menu as well. One minor oddity is that it required a reboot after install on a XP machine but it also used the browser to open a thank you page at the same time.

Additionally there are options to clear all the items from ClipTrap’s window and to also clear the item stored in the Windows clipboard itself. This handy little program is one of many created by ‘skwire’ on and for DonationCoder forum users. The download includes an ANSI version as well.

Going through its menus it is easy to see that PhoXo is  easily adequate for most uses.

The Select menu features all, none and invert selections and options for selecting with rounded corners and expanding, shrinking a selection.

The Image menu has the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, color tone (like sepia), black white (like grayscale), glow, self portrait (like old photo) plus options for gamma, different color palettes and auto levels. There is also size, adjust border, auto trim, flip, mirror, rotate. Finally soft edge, shadow, blur and sharpness effects are here as well.

Effects has the filters which include the usual noise, emboss, posterize, bulge, twist, wave, ripple, sunshine, glass tile, blinds, solarize, threshold, halftone, grid and the video effect, among others.

Tools menu’s interesting feature is create an ascii image and a batch watermark tool.

PhoXo also includes a clipart collection and frame library to add to images. Other tools available  – again much like Photoshop – are magic wand, shape, color picker, clone, stamp, gradient fill and others. The website has many tutorials and an additional library for use with PhoXo.

PhoXo is freeware and available in 11 languages. It runs on Windows XP and newer.

Four big buttons to the right of the interface refresh, download all, import or export the account’s timeline. The latter two use the ttm file format to save a file locally. It is also possible to change the user and authorize access to another account.

The Search feature, for version 0.3.3 tested, didn’t always find a result for a – known to exist – query. Follow @Xeo_it, the developer, for updates and if a Milan fan feel free to follow @MilanMania and ofcourse @RGdot as well!

Twitter Time Machine requires the .NET Framework 4.0 and should work on Windows XP and above.

Picture Collage Maker Pro has been reviewed here on RGdot.com (Here, here and here!), along with giveaways, before and the folks at PearlMountain Technology are back again with another giveaway.

This time Picture Collage Maker Pro is ready with the Easter Edition which comes with 16 templates to use to create photo collages, scrapbooks or greeting cards for the Easter holiday.

As noted in previous reviews and giveaways Picture Collage Maker Pro makes it pretty easy to create everything from collages to calendars to posters for many occasions, and not just for Easter. It supports the drag and drop of photos into templates with customizable shapes, cliparts, masks, frames and backgrounds to share via email, print or set as wallpaper.

To use the Easter Edition templates simply click the Download More Templates button and download the Easter pack and run the downloaded exe.

Other codes or commands can be added by invoking the program, pressing *, typing a command (say 888) and pressing the / key on the numeric keypad. After doing so a window will appear (see image) where the user can browse to a program or file or press the {} button to choose from some of the built-in shortcuts. These include turning volume up, down or mute, playing media, launching the default mail program, going to browser’s home page, sending keys like F1, Ctrl and others to the system, sending the system to sleep or killing or closing processes. After doing so has been the number or command (888 in this case) will be associated with the chosen action. A virtually unlimited number of commands can be created to automate tasks.

ControlPad also has a SpeedPad feature where, when enabled – via the tray icon for example -  single keypad keys, 0-9 and the dot (.), can be associated with commands. The only restriction is that these will work only when Numlock is turned off. ControlPad accepts anything that can be typed in the Windows’ own run box, “Notepad” (without the quotes) for example. Starting a command with + or ~ means sending keys to the system or one of the program’s internal commands respectively. These can all be found in the Help file’s Command section.

ControlPad’s options include a Laptop mode (Settings or Options —> Launch key) section where * is replaced by F12 and / by F10.

ControlPad is useful for keyboard fans but as with any launcher type program requires getting used to.

AnyClient features a standard two pane interface with an area to show or log transfers and a debug section. First thing to do, of course, is to set up login details by using the Site Manager (File —>Site Manager). The Site Manager features options to preserve time stamps when downloading and uploading, though this is often the case anyway. Here AnyClient also features settings and support for proxy servers and PGP decryption.

Back in the main interface of the program there is one interesting feature that can prove useful. The right most icon under the local system pane is called ‘Zip upload’. Here AnyClient supports choosing several files from the local machine side (via Ctrl+Click) and creating a zip file within the program and uploading them compressed.

AnyClient requires the Java Runtime Environment 1.5 or newer and it should run on all Windows versions.

Have a look at the comments section of the recently reviewed dropf for some other possible file transfer options suggested by regular visitor Asen.

The first tab is the process explorer which is a simple version of the Windows’ task manager. It provides extra information about the processes. The path to the program, the process ID (PID), description, company name and whether or not it is digitally signed.

The TCP/UDP Connections is perhaps more useful in providing a glimpse at which applications are accessing the internet. This may prove useful when trying to make sure malware is not attempting to dial out of a system. The path to the process, the protocol used and the local and remote addresses are given as is the state of the port or connection (listening, etc.)

The AutoRun Entries tab is a look at startup processes and is a simple alternative to MSConfig or other startup viewers. The process path, again, is potentially useful information.

Xyvos System Explorer should run on all Windows versions and is a single small executable.

Note: You may notice 1e100.net addresses if you monitor your outgoing processes. It is “a Google-owned domain name used to identify the servers in our network.” that Google uses to monitor safe sites and warn you about potential attack sites. See http://support.google.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=174717