Top free tools for Windows: Wiseval Photophant
Download: Wiseval Photophant
Purpose: Image resizer/converter
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Windows Server 2008, 2003
Cost: Free
While there are many photo resizers floating around, there's one I come back to again and again. Wiseval Photophant handles batch resizing, format conversions, watermarking, and renaming with just a couple of clicks.
If you want to resize or rename one photo at a time, you have many options; for example, the free version of VSO Image Resizer works well. But if you want to change a bunch of picture files, Photophant's the way to go.
You can choose from one of the predefined sizes (800 by 600, 1,024 by 768, and many more) or set up your own custom size; convert between JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF formats with compression techniques that you specify; rename as a group ("Four Generations_" turns into "Four Generations_1", "Four Generations_2," and so on); and add a watermark in the location and with the opacity that suits you.
The altered pictures go into a different folder from the original, so nothing gets munged. It's fast, high quality, and amazingly easy to use.
Top free tools for Windows: Auslogics Duplicate File Finder
Download: Auslogics Duplicate File Finder
Purpose: Find and eliminate duplicated files
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Windows Server 2008, 2003
Cost: Free
If you're a card-carrying member of the Ready, Shoot, Aim school of hard disk maintenance, pass this one by. But if you're willing to look and carefully consider the information presented, Auslogics' free Duplicate File Finder can help you reclaim enormous amounts of disk space.
The trick with any duplicate file cleaner lies in judicious use of the gray matter between your ears. That said, Auslogics' easy-to-use interface makes it relatively simple to find and select the files you want to delete, then stick the selected files in the Recycle Bin, where you can bring them back if need be.
As a general rule, you're safest restricting the duplicate search to locations with data files: documents, music, pictures, and the like. If you venture into locations with system files, be especially cautious before hitting the Delete button.
