Though there are many FFmpeg Frontend GUI applications available for free to be used with Windows OS. But I will review two most easy to use and very powerful tools. WinFF and Avanti.

WinFF – FFmpeg based Free Video Converter

WinFF is probably the most easy to use video conversion utility I have ever used on Windows. It is basically a simple FFmpeg GUI with a very simple but intutive user interface.

Usage:
Pressing the Add button you can add a file you want to convert. Then in the Output details you select the format you want to convert this file to, device preset and destination folder. Device preset allows you to set quality parameters for the converted video, you can define where you want to use this converted file for example you can choose web, iphone, mobile, etc. Not all device presets are available for all formats. For example if you want to convert a file to WMV you can not use iphone as the device preset. Clicking on the option button opens the advanced interface where you can set the advanced settings for the conversion.

Support:

WinFF comes with documentation and support forums where you can go to get help if something goes wrong. It is also an open source application released under GNU public license which means you can freely redistribute and share it. It also comes in many languages.

Avanti – FFmpeg frontend for Windows

Avanti is an advanced Audio Video Conversion utility, with a Graphic User Interface for FFmpeg and with the option to insert Avisynth as pre-processor. It gives you more control over selecting the codecs and different parameters of conversion. It has many advanced options and more features than other FFmpeg front-ends. Avanti’s interface might look a little confusing, the installation is also a little complicated and you may not be able to understand few features. But still it is a very powerful tool to convert different media files using FFmpeg.

Avanti Installation:

Once you download the .7z file you will need to download 7-zip compression utility to uncompress the file you just downloaded. Uncompress it to its own folder and then open that folder, there you will see another folder ffmpeg. Since Avanti does not come with FFmpeg you will have to download FFmpeg separately and copy paste the FFmpeg.exe file to this folder. After that go back to main Avanti folder and double click on the file Avanti-Gui. This will open the Avanti interface.

Usage:
In the source file section you can select the file you want to convert. In the Destination Audio Settings and Destination Video Settings you can define how you want to convert this file and into what format and container. For example in the video settings you can select the codec Xvid and container avi. Then click on the Start Process button, if it does not work then you need to press the Start process button again. Avanti also comes with its own help file located in the installation folder. Also you can get more help from videohelp forum’s Avanti thread.

Converting multimedia files into different formats is something that every home user comes across at some point. So your friends and family would really appreciate if you share this post with them on Facebook or twitter.

Zekr is a Quranic software that makes it easier to read, recite and study the Holy Quran on your computer. Zekr is available for Windows XP and Vista, Linux and Mac. It is definitely the most popular and feature rich software currently available to study the holy Quran and above all it is free and open source. It helps you study Holy Quran with it’s built in search features. You can quickly go to Aya, sura aur page number, select from the menu, bookmark aya and sura for later reference. It also comes with many translations easily downloadable from Zekr website. You can also add audio recitation. This Ramadan they even released a special Ramadhan Edition.

Pray Times is a Firefox addon / plugin that tells you the prayers timings, time left to pay your salat, and you can set the location, timezone and daylight time saving settings aswell.

UK based Islamsoft offers Islamic applications for Nokia and Sony Ericson mobile phones. The Hadith Software and the Athan (Azan) software. They also offer a Daily Prayers application but it is still in beta. (Caution: I haven’t tried these mobile applications so download and install at your own risk). Nokia has also released a few Islamic applications built in on several devices and mobile phones. One of these applications is Emsakya.

Unfortunately my favorite online store Amazon.com does not have a Eid Special section for shopping. So its their loss if they ignore the huge Muslim population in the US and UK. You guys can look at Online Islamic Store for gift ideas and suggestions. They have software, books, DVDs, accessories, clothing and even toys.

If you know any other good and free Islamic software please add them in the comments

But then sometimes you buy a product that saves your pictures and videos in a format which is not supported by windows movie maker. In that case, or if you want to do something that windows movie maker can’t, then you will need some other free video editing tools.

DVDx is a free tool that allows you to copy DVD and convert it as VCD, SVCD, DivX, AVI or WMV in one step. DVDX is a free and open source software. It has a simple user interface, and there is support available for free. There is also a paid version of the software.

MediaCoder is a free and open source transcoder that can help you convert your audio and video files from one format to another. It supports many popular formats such as AVI, XviD, DivX, MP, CD, VCD, DVD, Windows Media audio and video, mpeg, Mp4, among many others. For support options it has a Wiki with conversion tutorials and other related information.

DVDStyler is a free and open source DVD authoring application based on dvdauthor. It allows you to create your own professional looking DVDs that can be played on almost any standalone DVD player and your computer. You can create menus, buttons, add pictures, music, chapters, etc. You can even add your own subtitles to the movies. It has a simple uncluttered interface. Support is available via mailing list, user forum and Wiki. While downloading make sure that you download win32 version for your windows computer. DVDstyler is a cross platform application so you would also see links to downloads for other operating systems aswell.

I love Videohelp Forum for all my video editing related questions. It already has many well written guides to do just about anything with your videos. They also have tools directory that lists hundereds of audio video editing tools categorized as freeware, adware and non-free labes. So if there is something you want to do with your movies but don’t know how to do it and don’t want to spend money on expansive video editing software then videohelp forums is the place for you.

CAUTION:
Easy life takes no responsibility if this method doesn’t work as expected or causes any damage to your computer or data so try at your own risk.

First Step:

• Open Explorer window and go to folder you want to customize.
• Click on Tools > Folder Options
• In the View tab under Advanced Settings check the radio button that says Show hidden files and folders.
  
  

  Folder options dialog box in windows xp

• Click Apply and then Ok.

Second Step:

1. Now in the folder, right click and select Properties.
2. Properties dialog box would appear. Click on Customize tab there under customize menu click on Change icon button and select an icon for your folder. Press Ok.

Third Step:

1. Previous process should have created a “desktop.ini” file in your folder.
2. Sometimes this file remain invisible so if you can’t see it don’t worry it is there.
3. Open this file with Notepad if the file is invisible go to folder and manually type desktop.ini in the filename field to open it.
4. Add these lines of code in your “desktop. ini” file
   
[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=C:\Windows\Greenstone.bmp
5. In this code line IconArea_image tells your explorer window to display a background image. In this example we are using Greentone.bmp you can change it with your image and provide the path to that image.
6. Save “desktop.ini” file.
7. Refresh the folder.

Now u can see your favorite image in your desktop background.

• Basic Virus and spyware protection
• Free updates
• Support if not available with free version but you can register at AVG free support forum.
  
• It does not take over CPU and unlike Norton anti-virus, AVG works seamlessly.
  

Lot’s of people has already switched to AVG free anti-virus. For example read this discussion on CNet user forum where users compared Norton with AVG and AVG is the clear winner. So any one who does not want to waste their money, CPU and time, they should get AVG free edition.

Lets say you want to shutdown your computer after an hour. Here is how you can do it:

Step 1: Go to Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks. Double Clicking the Scheduled Tasks button opens a window that looks like this:

Step 2: Double Click on “Add Scheduled Task“. Scheduled Task Wizard begins. Click on Next, now you will be seeing a list of programs on your computer. Shutdown.exe is a command line utility (it also has a GUI that could be triggered from command line) to shutdown or restart a remote or local computer running Windows NT/ Windows 2000 or Windows XP. We will be using this program to run on a given time. It is not listed in the list of programs that you see by default in the wizard. So click on the Browse button. The shutdown.exe program is located in System32 folder, which is usually located at C:\Windows\system32\shutdown.exe. Once you have selected shutdown.exe the wizard will move on to the next step which looks like this:

Here you will select a routine for your Scheduled Task. If you want your computer to shutdown at the same time daily, monthly, weekly, or just this one time only. Select the appropriate answer and click Next. The wizard will now ask you to select a time and day for this task to start. In this example we will be shutting down our computer after one hour. We set the time and date and hit the Next button. In the next screen you will be asked for a username and password for the account on your computer which has the privilege to run such tasks. Provide your username and password and then press Next. The wizard will now inform you that you have successfully scheduled the following task. Followed by the Task’s title, date and time. You need to check the box with “Select advanced properties for this task when I click finish” and then press Finish. Now the wizard will close itself and open the window for advanced properties for the task.

Step 3: In the advanced properties window’s Task tab there is a feild Run where you see your shutdown.exe program’s location like this:

C:\Windows\system32\shutdown.exe

We will change this to

C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -s -c "Scheduled Task" -f

Press the Apply button and you will be asked for username and password again. Done now and you have made a schedule task for your computer to shutdown after 60 minutes.