Picks: Best of 2007 Part 3 of 3

This week is part 3 of my 3-part Best of 2007 series. What makes these programs special? They stand out in my mind. In 2007 I evaluated over 10,000 software programs, I reviewed about 400, but the ones covered during this 3 week period are the ones that really stand out for me. I like the way they work, the way they do what they were designed to do, and for that reason I think they deserve an encore at the end of the year. I hope you enjoy it.

PicaJet Photo Organizer, by PicaJet.Com is one of the better programs I found for working with your pictures. It's got a complete range of tools that you can use to enhance and fix your digital photos. You can do things like rotate, crop, remove "red eye", sharpen, blur, and much more. You can also use filters to bring out your creative side. PicaJet Photo Organizer has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy-to-use, perfect for users with all levels of experience. You can create slideshows, organize all of your photos, assign keywords, tags, and more. It also has a really cool feature for sending your photos to others via email. I was impressed with what a nice job the program did and it has a very nice user interface. From categories, to search, to backup PicaJet Photo Organizer has it all. Give it a try. I think you'll really like it.

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/2003/XP

Download PicaJet Photo Organizer NOW!

RecordForAll, by NotePage, Inc. is the program I use to record and edit all of my podcasts. At the time it was released I was using three programs to do the podcasts and ReocordForAll replaced all of them. I really like this product and I guess I wasn't alone because it won the Shareware Industry Award in the Best Sound Program or Utility category. This powerful program is a complete solution for creating podcasts. You can record, mix, and edit. Export your work to several popular audio formats. The program is extremely easy-to-use and very intuitive. To me that makes it perfect for both new and experienced users. You don't have to be a sound engineer to get really great results with RecordForAll. I love the way I can go in and expand the timeline which makes it easy to remove gaps or pauses. Sometimes, if I make a mistake I just keep on recording because I know I can easily remove it with RecordForAll. You can have intro music, exit music, sound effects, and even a sound track that runs in the background while you talk. Cool. I've done a full year of podcasts now and RecordForAll has made it really easy to do. If you match it up with it's sister product FeedForAll and you can easily publish your podcast as well. If you want to do a podcast this is your solution. It's what I use.

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Download RecordForAll NOW!

SpeedUpMyPC, by Uniblue Systems is a utility I initially looked at because I wondered if it could actually speed up my PC. How did it work? Just great. It speeds up your computer by maintaining certain key aspects. For example, you can monitor and adjust the RAM that's used by programs on your system. This can make things run smoother and more efficiently. You can keep track of system resources and also eliminate all of the junk that tends to accumulate on your PC. SpeedUpMyPC optimizes your Internet connection, watches disk usage, and helps you to monitor the programs that start with Windows. You can disable or remove programs that are taking up valuable memory. It also won the People's Choice Awards in the Most Votes on Tucows category. This nifty program helps you keep your PC running smoothly. I started using it in all my virtual machines to keep them functioning smoothly. SpeedUpMyPC lets you keep track of your system resources. boost your CPU usage, and lots more. In my opinion it just makes your PC run better. I'd have to say that SpeedUpMyPC was one of my favorite programs of 2007.

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Download SpeedUpMyPC NOW!

SwordSearcher Bible Software, by Brandon Staggs is a program that can really assist you in your study of the Bible. It's one of my personal favorites as well as being one of my Dr. File Finder Favorites. The program is very easy-to-use and has an intuitive interface, perfect for users with all levels of experience. What's really impressive about the program is the amazing amount of data that's brought together for you to use. Believe me you get much more than just the complete Bible with SwordSearcher. You get the full King James version, the Geneva Bible, the World English Bible, and the well-known Wycliffe translation. On top of that you also get an amazing selection of study aids and commentaries. You get things like Calvin's Commentaries, Geneva Bible Commentaries, the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary and plenty more. So, besides have a variety of texts to read you also get a bunch of things to help you study. SwordSearcher just keeps getting better and better as time goes by. I liked it the first time I looked at it, but in 2007 it's right at the top of my list in the Best of 2007. Give it a try, I give it my highest recommendation.

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

Download SwordSearcher Bible Software NOW!

Macrium Reflect, by Paramount Software UK Ltd is a program I picked to review because I was attracted by the name. Wondered what it was and what I found was a beautifully done product that's a full-featured solution for keeping your computer backed up. The program has everything you need including a very handy scheduling function. Macrium Reflect has some innovative features that I really liked. For example, it allows you to save all your backup set definitions in XML format. Macrium Reflect lets you backup your computer files or you can create complete images of your hard drive. Utilizing images you can easily restore data to an existing hard drive or put all your data on a new hard drive. Slick. Macrium Reflect also uses multiple levels of compression so your backups can take less space. The program is amazingly easy-to-use and is perfect for users with all levels of experience. It's fast, efficient, and does a great job of keeping your data safe and secure. Give this one a try, nicely done!

System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista

Download Macrium Reflect NOW!

Opera, by Opera Software has been around since 1996 and it just keeps getting better and better. When I did a roundup of alternative Web browsers I was impressed, once again, with how fast Opera is. Opera, in my opinion, is the fastest of all the Web browsers I've tried. It's lean and mean and simply loaded with features. You can do your email, read news feeds, download files, and surf the Internet all from within Opera. The email function is really quite nice and you can also do newsgroups from that interface. There are versions of Opera for your mobile phone, your smartphone, and even for devices like the Nintendo Wii. I have a copy on my Blackberry 8830 and that's also very slick.Opera was the first to introduce mouse gestures and they make it really easy to move around the Web. Opera's voice feature lets you navigate by talking to the browser. Heck, it'll even read text to you. Pretty slick. These things make Opera special and unique, but that's not all. The more I fiddle with it the more I like it. Give it a try and I think you'll like it too!

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP

Download Opera NOW!

That's it for my Best of 2007. I've included links to the other two articles for your convenience. I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. Next, by popular demand via email, I'll talk about just some of the "shareware" programs I use on my own computers each and every day. I hope you'll stop by.

Best of 2007 - Part 1

Best of 2007 - Part 2

If you have a question on how to do something on the computer you can ask me and I'll review some software and give you a solution to your problem. You can email me by clicking HERE You may not receive a reply, but all requests will be considered.