RSS Top Selections: Weekly Digest for Week Ending 25 June, 2010

This is a summary list of items that have appeared in the last week in the Gizmo's Freeware RSS feed. Gizmo's personal selections for the best items are indicated with a star icon   (There are only four items this week as it our first week.)

• This Handy Tool Helps Troubleshoot Video Playback   

  We've all been there. You download a video clip from the internet, fire up Windows Media Player, and....nothing. Or maybe you get the video without any audio. Or perhaps the sound is perfectly OK, but the pictures are just the default Windows swirly pattern. Or maybe you've bought a new PC, copied all your video files to it, and then discovered that they won't play on the new machine.

  In all probability, the problem is likely to be one more missing codecs. That's where a great free utility comes in. Run it, point it at the troublesome video file, and it'll tell you which codecs it uses. You can then just google for the necessary files and install them.

  http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/handy-tool-helps-troubleshoot-video-playback.htm

• Automatic Face Recognition Helps Tag Your Photo Collection

  Managing a collection of digital photos on a PC isn't always easy. How should you arrange the folders and directories? Should the pictures of dad at your wedding be filed under dad, or wedding, or last June?

  Here's a better solution: Let this free face recognition software sort your photos automatically. Then next time you are looking for a particular picture of Aunt Maud just click a thumbnail photo of her face and you'll immediately see every shot of her in your photo collection. Works a charm though be aware the initial sorting is slow.

  http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/automatic-face-recognition-helps-tag-your-photo-collection.htm

• CD/DVD -R +R RW - What Does it Mean and What's the Difference?

  I must admit I wasn't 100% sure on this one myself so I read this article unearthed by our roving editor Rhiannon with interest. All is now clear.

  http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/cddvd-r-r-rw-what-does-it-mean-and-whats-difference.htm

• Free Acronis Drive Monitor Warns You Of Impending Hard Drive Failure

  There are several excellent free drive monitors listed on our site but this new freebie from Acronis has a particularly slick interface. It's a bit bulky for my liking but could be just the thing for non technical users.