You wouldn’t sweep your carpet with a broom. That’s crazy talk! It would take all day and you’d leave dirt behind. We need the right tools to save us time, frustration and money, whether we’re cleaning our house or our PC. The free utilities below will help you clean up and optimize your system, just in time for Spring. Without further ado, here are 5 of my absolute favorite free utilities that’ll help you get the job done.

1. Advanced SystemCare Free (Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT)

Advanced SystemCare Free is an all-in-one utility that cleans and optimizes your PC, enhancing it’s performance. With one click of the circular “Care” button, the utility begins by maintaining your Windows as it scans and removes spyware and adware, cleans your registry, erases your browsing history and traces and cleans up your junk files. Once it completes the maintain Windows cycle, it moves on to “Diagnose System” as it optimizes and repairs your system settings, scans and protects spyware from being installed, defrags your harddisk and scans to find hijacked settings. Want more? There’s also a “Utilities” section to further repair, optimize and clean up your system. Don’t forget to run this program, since the free version doesn’t allow you to schedule it.

Image via brothersoft.com

2. Glary Utilities (Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Glary Utilities launches in an easy to use interface in a “1-Click Maintenance” tab. You have 6 different focus areas in Registry Cleaner, Shortcuts Fixer, Startup Manager, Temporary Files Cleaner, Tracks Eraser and Spyware Removal with a check mark by each. Simply clicking “Scan” will provide a deep scan of your system and display any problems found in each area. After finding the problems determined from the scan, click “Repair Problems” to quickly fix the issues found.

Once you’re finished with the 1-Click Maintenance, you can also explore the “Modules” tab which gives you even more tools in the following tabs; Clean Up & Repair, Optimize & Improve, Privacy & Security, Files & Folders and System Tools. There are quite a few tools to take advantage of.

Image via online-tech-tips.com

3. Revo Uninstaller (Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7)

Revo Uninstaller lets you uninstall programs in a quicker and smarter way than the standard Windows Add/Remove functions. When launching this program, you’ll see all the installed application’s titles and logos. It works by scanning before and after you uninstall an application. You can right-click on any of the applications and get options such as Uninstall, Remove Entry, Search on Google, Install Location and Open Registry Key. When uninstalling, you get different uninstall settings (Basic, Built-in, Moderate and Advanced). This provides different levels of scanning, i.e. Basic is your typical uninstall without the scan and additional options, while Advanced takes longer to execute but gives you a deep and thorough scan of your hard drive and registry for all the left overs.

2. Smart Defrag (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT)

Smart Defrag specializes in defragmenting your hard drive to run an a more efficient manner, but stands out among the other defrag utilities with it’s ability to also optimize your disk performance. Launching the application gives you a control panel that includes options to startup or just analyze Defrag Only, …, or Deep Optimize. The program works by organizing your data and files on your PC for better performance. You can also setup auto defrag, which runs in the background very quietly without tying up your resources.

Image via softsia.com

5. CCleaner (Windows 98/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

I couldn’t conclude this list without one of my favorite utilities I’ve been using for years, CCleaner. What does the C in CCleaner stand for you may ask? C = Crap and cleaning the crap your computer has is exactly CCleaner’s specialty. It eliminates all the tracks left behind from your browsing with Firefox, Internet Explorer and other browsers. It also erases traces from many of the applications you run, while providing options to clean your Registry and scan for any invalid entries. It provides additional options to uninstall programs, but I recommend sticking with Revo Uninstaller for any uninstall.

I use each of the applications mentioned above and personally love them all. Each are valuable, free and quite effective. It’s difficult to choose a favorite, but Revo Uninstaller is so unique and useful. The ability to remove all traces of folders, registry entries, etc when uninstalling applications is fantastic. Do you have any favorite, free maintenance tools you’d recommend? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

Related posts:

1. 5 Top Tools to Clean & Speed Up Your PC
2. Utilities and Techniques to Optimize and Protect Your Computer
3. Best in 2009 – 15 Security Freeware Tools for Windows

Luckily, many applications are available to help us secure our files through encryption and password protecting. Today, I wanted to highlight the 5 most popular encryption applications that many users are using today. For this post I’ve used the download site I trust, CNET’s download.com.

The top 5 is based on number of downloads in the last week. Also included is the price, editor and user reviews and total number of downloads just last week.

5. USBCrypt (Free 30 day trial, $29.95) No current reviews | 785 downloads last week

With USBCrypt, you can protect your private files on your removable drives. You can password protect a portion of any removable or fixed drive. It uses AES encryption and requires the appropriate password to be entered before showing the drive letter and files. USBCrypt works with any drives Windows recognizes, to include FireWire.

4. Actual Keylogger (Free) Editors 4 Stars | Users 3 Stars, 101 reviews | 1k downloads last week

Actual Keylogger records every keystroke made to an encrypted log file, providing the title of the window active. It runs in the background, automatically logging all keystrokes so you can see which actions are being taken by others on your computer. You can password protect the interface so only you can control Actual Keylogger. After collecting all the keystrokes, you’ll be able to view a report in either HTML or plain text. This application doesn’t have the capability to grab print screens of keystrokes, but is still useful.

3. TrueCrypt (Free) Editor 4.5 Stars | Users 4 Stars, 229 reviews | 1k downloads last week

TrueCrypt is a free open-source program to protect your private information. It works by creating a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounting it as a real disk.  Encryption algorithms used are AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent, Triple DES, and Twofish.

2. Easy Private Disk (Free 35 day trial, $19.95) Users 5 Stars, 2 reviews | 5k downloads last week

Easy Private Disk works by protecting your sensitive data on your laptops, personal computers and removable disks. It creates virtual disks on your computer, so you can store private information. By saving files and folders on this private disk then closing them, Easy Private Disk protects your files automatically.

1. Folder Lock (Free 25 mb trial, $39.95)  Editors 4 Stars | Users 3.5 Stars, 988 reviews | 7k downloads last week

Folder Lock is a quick way to protect your private files. You can either lock your files and folders or encrypt them with 256 bit Blowfish algorithm. Folder Lock can be used to encrypt and password protect your folders, lock your files, USB Drives, CDs and DVDs. Folder Lock uses Lockers to create your encrypted storage, providing a place to safely keep files behind your Locker password. Lockers can also be transferred by email. Create as many Lockers as you want.

Additional features include hack monitoring, stealth mode, data shredding, history cleaning and more. The Locker’s delete, move and rename functions are password protected to help keep data from being lost.

Related posts:

1. 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know – AllFacebook.com
2. Likaholix in Private Beta – 10 Invites
3. 10 Essential Apps to Protect Your BlackBerry Data – BlackBerry Enthusiast

To me, mashups are more interesting than the same stuff you hear on the radio each day. Some of the most talented DJs are hard at work to bring together two or more songs into one. While I’ve never mashed up a track, I can only imagine the degree of difficulty trying to mix songs in different genres, but they somehow pull it off.

Do all mashups work? Not all mashups are keepers, but some of my favorite tracks are mashups. I’m listening to A plus D’s mashed up track Addicted to White Lines now. The mashups below are from albums I previously haven’t covered. Check out the albums below and let me know what you think.

You Can’t Mash That Volume XVI by Beatles Remixers

Here is a collection of 17 Beatles mashed up tracks.

Download single tracks via Demonoid or at Rapid Share.

Revolved

We all love the Beatles, so how about 10 more great Beatles Mashups? Give Tax Man Pollution, That’s All Yellow and Close to Noone.

Download each track by right clicking and downloading each in your desired format.

Sounds-Unsounds FLAMENCO BASTARDO by DJ Useo

This album features 17 tracks of mashed up tunes. Mashups include Camaron vs. The Beatles, La Vigeula vs. Eminem and Dr. Dre, Sarao Flamenco vs. Linkin Park and many more creative free tracks.

Download Complete Album or visit Groovy Time with DJ Useo to download individual tracks.

AudioPorn AllStars vs. Young Punx

Here’s 12 more tracks with mashups via the Young Punx with such artists as N.E.R.D, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and even Poison.

Download the entire album via MediaFire or Fairtilizer or individual tracks at AudioPorn Central.

Cheese N Mash by Retarded C!nt

How about 13 more mashups? Many are a bit chaotic, but interesting none the less. Check out Tom Jones Rocked My World and the Michael Jackson Mashup.

Download each track by right clicking and downloading.

Related posts:

1. 7 More Mashup Albums – Download Free MP3s
2. Music Mashup Mania – Download 600+ Free Music Mashups
3. Bootie Top 10, October Edition – Download 10 Free Music Mashup MP3s

The Top 15 Free BlackBerry Apps are calculated by number of downloads from BlackBerry App World. Previously, I was compiling this list each week but have transitioned into a monthly post. Since the transition, I’ve decided to bump the number up to 15. The information provided is via BlackBerry App World.

15. (13) Dictionary and Thesaurus – Dictionary.com 1.0.1 (Education) 4 Stars, 925 reviews, 258KB

“Dictionary.com – Dictionary and Thesaurus
The only free dictionary app for BlackBerry® is from Dictionary.com. Our well-known reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com includes more than 500,000 words, definitions, and synonyms. The app also features phonetic and audio pronunciations, spelling suggestions and Dictionary.com’s popular Word of the Day that is enjoyed by millions of people.
*    Dictionary and Thesaurus
*    Word of the Day  English and Spanish
*    More than 325,000 words and definitions
*    More than 275,000 synonyms
*    Phonetic and audio pronunciations
*    Spelling suggestions
*    Recent history
*    Social networking functions
*    Email integration”

14. (6) WeatherBug 1.1.0.147 *recent version upgrade* (Weather) 3.5 Stars, 1421 reviews, 825KB

“Stay informed and prepared with live local weather, severe weather alerts, in-depth forecasts, camera views, detailed radar maps and international weather. The features of the WeatherBug application for the BlackBerry Storm include:

* Live neighborhood weather from over 8,000 weather stations in the U.S.
* Current weather, forecast and NWS alerts for your GPS location.
* Current conditions icon and outdoors temperature on your BlackBerry desktop.
* “Always on” NWS weather alerts such as Tornado warnings.
* 7-day and hourly forecasts.
* Detailed radar and maps.
* Daily National Weather Outlook broadcasts provided by WeatherBug meteorologists.
* Check the weather on BlackBerry Maps by simply touching any area on the map for two (2) seconds.
* View snapshots and time-lapse animations from more than 2,000 weather cameras in the U.S.
* Set-up new locations by pulling the location information from your contact list.
* Share the current weather information, forecast, alerts and camera views with friends and family.”

13. (NR) Shazam 2.5.1 (Music Services) 3 Stars, 926 reviews, 540KB

“Lovin’ that tune? Create music moments: discover, buy and share music. Enjoy and use Shazam for FREE* limited to 5 Tags per calendar month with options to buy and share your music discoveries.

Shazam now offers even more…
YouTube:  Watch the video!  The YouTube features allows you to view related videos and other music content on YouTube.
Twitter:  Tweet your Tags!  Post artist and track details to Twitter in seconds
7Digital:  Buy MP3s from 7digital

Alternatively, upgrade to enjoy additional features: unlimited Tags, Tag Chart, Similar Tracks, Artist Bios, Reviews, Discographies and Search by Lyrics.  Try before you buy: 7 day FREE* trial of our additional features with this download. After trial, upgrade or keep Shazaming for FREE* with limited usage and features. Available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Compatible with the Bold 9000, 9700, Curve 83XX, Curve 85XX, 8900, Pearl 82XX, 81XX, World Edition 88XX and Storm 95XX.”

12. (3) Poynt 1.5.3.14 (Maps & Navigation) 4.5 Stars, 3641 reviews, 712KB

“Use Poynt to find people, businesses, movie theatres, retailers and restaurants near you. Poynt uses GPS or cell-site locations to pinpoint you and quickly deliver the information you need whenever and wherever you need it.
- Find phone numbers and connect with one click, browse websites and map directions
- Plan a night out – book movie tickets and dinner reservations, add it to your calendar and invite your friends
- Add listings to your BlackBerry® Address Book, add movie and restaurant events to your BlackBerry® Calendar, share listings using BlackBerry® Messages
- Poynt is free and available in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and now in France, Italy and Spain

Discover why Poynt won the 2008 BlackBerry Developer s Challenge Grand Prize and was recognized as the Most Innovative Consumer Application in GSMA s Mobile Innovation Grand Prix, EMEA Tournament”

11. (NR) ScoreMobile for BlackBerry 1.3.2 (News & Scores) 4 Stars, 4233 reviews, 409KB

“ScoreMobile is a true application that’s been built from the ground up for all recent BlackBerry® smartphone models.  We provide up-to-the-minute sports scores, boxscores, player stats, betting odds, game previews, recaps, top stories, and league standings. In addition we publish exclusive live blogs for key games.

Coverage currently includes: American Football (NFL, NCAAF, CFL), Baseball (MLB), Basketball (NBA, NCAAB Men’s), Hockey (NHL), Golf (PGA), Auto Racing (NASCAR Sprint Cup, F1) and Soccer (EPL, Champions League, MLS).

Personalization:
-The Dynamic Home Screen Icon is a unique feature of ScoreMobile where the application continues to monitor in the background the league or game which was last viewed.
-Users can personalize Favorite Teams and Data Refresh intervals.
-Game start times are customized based on the Time Zone setting on the device.”

10. (5) Animated Screen Savers Free 2.20 (Personalize) 4 Stars, 1009 reviews, 295KB

“Animated Screensavers for BlackBerry® smartphones. Please give a 5 star rating if you like these. More screensavers will be released in due course. If you have any suggestions for new Screensavers please email me at ani@getempower.com and I will try to add them!

Note: Screensaver will not work if your battery is below 40%. This is to save your battery. Please don’t put it as a ‘Does not works’ review – please charge your battery instead.

Note: The error screen is a part of the BSOD screensaver that simulates the Windows Blue Screen of Death. It is not an error but just a screensaver reminding you how better BlackBerry is from other smartphones.

Random Screensaver now shuffles screensavers every minute.

Version 2.20 includes the following screensavers:
* Bouncing Balls
* Falling Hearts
* Floating Hearts
* Bubbles
* Decay Screen
* Starfield
* Snowfall
* Dull Jack
* BSOD(The infamous Blue Screen of Death)”

9. (8) UberTwitter 0.971 *recent version upgrade* (social networking) 4 Stars, 1190 reviews, 493KB

“UberTwitter is a full featured location aware Twitter client which supports all of the features of Twitter as well as advanced capabilities such as:  photo integration, embeded videos in tweets, tweet shrinking, URL shortening, twitter lists, changing your twitter avatar,  and a plethora of other features.”

8. (7) Facebook 1.7.0.22 (social networking) 2 Stars, 3521 reviews, 1397KB

“Stay on top of your social life with Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones. This free application makes Facebook services – like sending messages, poking friends, writing wall posts, inviting friends to join and uploading photos – available on the go! Take Facebook wherever life takes you and don’t miss a beat!”

7. (NR) The Weather Channel 1.5 (Weather) 3.5 Stars, 369 reviews, 2098KB

“It’s The Weather Channel® when and where you need it the most. Get detailed conditions and forecasts, radar maps, local and national severe weather alerts, airport delays and more. You can even access the weather from your calendar or address book, and forward alerts to friends and family.”

6. (NR) FREE Sea Storm Animated Theme 2010.2.23.810 (Nature Theme) 4 Stars, 961 ratings, 671KB

“Features:
* Professional Front Screen Animation
* Custom color scheme on menus
* New front Hidden Dock navigation for full front screen Animation display
* Animation pauses when phone is on standby to reduce battery drain”

5. (1) Pandora 1.1.3.2 (Music & Audio) 4 Stars, 4977 reviews, 352KB

“Pandora.  It s radio that is personalized just for you, playing only the music that you love.  Simply enter one of your favorite songs or artists and Pandora creates a radio station that explores just that kind of music.  With your BlackBerry® smartphone, Pandora brings an effortless personal soundtrack right to you whenever you want to listen to music.

Pandora plays all your current and old favorites and introduces you to new songs that you ll love.  Rate songs as they play because Pandora caters your radio stations to your tastes and adapts the playlist to your feedback on the spot.  Pandora has all styles of music – from hip-hop to jazz, country to classical, latin to rock, dance to pop, and much more.”

4. (NR) WHERE 1.6.0.3 (Local Search) 3.5 Stars, 795 reviews, 1285KB

“Looking for somewhere new to eat tonight? Want to know what movies are playing at the local theater or somewhere else close by? Traveling and want to find the cheapest gas or closest cup of coffee? Everywhere you go, this app will help you find just about anything local – restaurants, news, weather, cheap gas, movies, friends and more!

This application is a local portal that will connect you with information that will help you find the people, places and things around you everywhere you go, while also saving you time and money. Local information includes weather, news, restaurant reviews, a store locator for top brands of your choice, cheap gas, traffic updates, movie show times and trailers, and the ability to connect with other people anywhere for a quick chat. And, location enabled coupons and special offers from top retailers and restaurants will help you save money while on the go. It also helps you get wherever you are going with maps and directions. “

3. (10) Imagining Theme 1.2 *recent version upgrade* (Abstract Themes) 3 Stars, 1528 reviews, 320KB

“The luxury imagining theme reflect the prosperous of modern city life!
Changelog in v1.1:

1.Fonts changed
2.Default icons setting inside
3.Fixing bug of cutting off the PM/AM

Features:
1. Dedicated background with splendid feeling!
2. A theme can be used for long time and wont feel tired!
3. A theme will not drag system performance.”

2. (2) BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.57 (Instant Messaging) 3 Stars, 4330 reviews, 3213KB

“Battery life has been improved with the latest BlackBerry Messenger.  This version also addresses some of the issues identified in BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.33, such as file transfer not working or working slowly, no file preview, and file transfer requests expiring after a short period of time. This version does not include any new features. The Check Spelling As You Type feature has been restored for all devices.”

“Share your pin or unique barcode to connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Take comfort in knowing your friends are only a BlackBerry Messenger message away whether you want to make plans for the night or ask a quick question. Chat and share funny stories, pictures, videos and more with individual contacts or groups of friends instantly. Stay in touch like never before with BlackBerry Messenger”

1. (11) BlackBerry App World 1.1.0.33 *recent version upgrade* (Shopping Tools) 3 Stars, 1294 reviews, 835KB

“Discover a world of possibilities at the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. Personalize your BlackBerry® smartphone with games, social networking, personal productivity applications and so much more. BlackBerry apps can take full advantage of proven features like BlackBerry push technology and GPS to name a few so you can experience apps like never before. Put more of your life on your BlackBerry smartphone.
”

What’s your favorite Free BlackBerry App? Which do you think are too high? How about ranked too low or not listed? Feel free to share your favorites.

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Free BlackBerry Apps – Carbon Fiber Theme, WeatherEye & Animated Screen Savers Return
2. Music & Streaming Radio BlackBerry Apps Dominate – Top 10 FREE BlackBerry Apps
3. BlackBerry App World & BB Messenger Dominate – Top 10 Free BlackBerry Apps