Daily Freeware Reviews

Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extends the abilities of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically installed by the operating system, but there are also many other applications that install additional shell extension components. For example: If you install WinZip on your computer, you’ll see a special WinZip menu when you right-click on a Zip file. This menu is created by adding a shell extension to the system.

The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.

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Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator. It will generate a high-resolution, accurate representation of the Earth. The imagery is based on NASA’s Blue Marble Next and Earth’s City Lights. Day and night is accurately represented depending on the Sun’s overhead position (which depends on both the time of day and the day of the year) and both the snow cover and the foliage changes with the seasons.

Desktop Earth comes in two versions:

Downloadable: This is for Windows only. Desktop Earth will sit in your systray, run whenever you are logged on, and continuously update your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth. There is no limit on the resolution, and the imagery is calculated from high-resolution 2560×1280 textures, so you can go wild with it even on 30″ flat panel displays. Multi-monitor configurations are also supported.

Online: You select the date and time, specify the resolution up to 1920×1200 (WUXGA), and click Generate. A high-resolution lossless PNG file will be displayed in your browser.

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XPize is a GUI enhancer for Windows XP that replaces most of the non-XP icons, avis and bmps that Microsoft has always overlooked. It also includes some extras and a reloader, which you can use after visiting Windows Update. The installer simply automates the process of replacing resources in critical system files, making your XP’s look better.

It also includes some extras and a reloader, which you can use after visiting Windows Update. XPize does not contain any spyware or ad-ware of any kind. Uninstalling reverts all settings back to default which is great if you do not like the changes made by the program.

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