Posted 10/27/09 at 03:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Windows 7 is out, and many of you have gone through the process of upgrading to the new OS with a clean install. And while you'll enjoy the new features like Aero Snap and an ISO burner (finally!), Windows 7 still lacks some basic functionality that we've come to expect from using PCs on a daily basis. For example, cloud storage file syncing and wide compression format compatibility are things we've taken for granted from essential freeware and open-source applications. Here's our list of five utilities that we really wish Microsoft bundled with Windows 7. And if you agree with us, use one of our recommended user-friendly auto-installers to get these apps.

Read on for our list!

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Posted 09/29/09 at 06:06:10 PM by Jason Barry

Possibly one of the most convenient applications of all time, Dropbox released the much requested iPhone application for its popular service.

The iPhone application (available here) packs pretty much all of the features you’d expect in its first release. Standard features like viewing any file supported by the iPhone and simple deleting were expected. However, two other features stood out in the app. First, with the Favorites feature you can download files from your Dropbox directly to your iPhone for offline viewing. Second, you can instantly upload photos and videos, taken with your phone, into your Dropbox.

It is nice to see a clean release of this application with some sweet functionality out of the box. The offline downloading of files should offer some creative uses of the application, particularly with music and video sharing.

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Posted 05/07/09 at 03:30:00 PM by Alex Castle

As any PC power-user knows, getting files from one place to another is one of the oldest tasks in the book. Since way back when people have used floppies, ZIP disks, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs,  thumb drives, email and more to get the files you need from point A to point B. But now there’s DropBox, which has—in the half year or so since it came out of beta—become our very favorite way of making sure that we always have our most important files at hand.

If you’re not familiar with how DropBox works, it’s simple: You create a free account with DropBox, and install a small app on your computer. This app creates a folder on your computer (wherever you choose) and monitors that folder at all times. Whenever you change the contents of this folder, by adding, modifying or deleting files, DropBox automatically syncs these changes to your account’s folder on their servers. Additionally, any other computer logged into that same account will have their DropBox folder synced as well. There’s nothing earthshaking about this capability,  but the whole process is amazingly simple and makes collaboration an absolute breeze.

Still, with a little creativity, DropBox can be a lot more than just a way to move files from one computer to another. We’ve compiled a list of five of the coolest DropBox tricks we’ve heard of so far, so read on to find out how you can use DropBox and other free software to recover a stolen laptop, organize your Torrents, keep your passwords safe, and more.

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Posted 09/12/08 at 11:30:07 AM by Paul Lilly

There's online storage, and then there's Dropbox. If you haven't heard of the latter, it's only the greatest thing to come to online storage since, well, ever. And now it's available to the public.

Dropbox purports to offer an easy way to share and store your files, but what makes Dropbox so unique is its ability to integrate with all your PCs, including Linux. It will even play nice with your Mac. Make a change to a file, and Dropbox will automatically update the changed file to any computer linked to your account. Not only that, but it will only transfer the part of the file that changed. Other goodies include the ability to designate shared folders, public folders for non-Dropbox users, drag-and-drop friendly, and AES-256 encryption.

Free accounts come with 2GB of storage, with a 50GB account available for $10/month, or $100/year.

Anyone plan on signing up?

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