How to Install Mi A1's Android One Launcher on Any Android Device

Xiaomi’s Mi A1 smartphone came in as a revival of Android One, a program which seemed to have fizzled out since its initial announcement a couple of years ago. Unlike Xiaomi’s other Mi phones, the Mi A1’s distinctive feature is its software: it runs stock Android, not Xiaomi's own MIUI layer.

Android One is a hardware and software standard created by Google with a focus on entry-level devices for emerging markets. It is intended to provide a consistent user experience and improved security through frequent updates and Google Play Protect. And talking about the UI, as mentioned earlier, the Android One devices run stock Android with an array of features such as Google Now Integration, support for adaptive icons, and more.

Android One Launcher running on Galaxy S8

Amir Zaidi, who goes by the name AmirZ on Reddit, has now released a rootless port of Android One launcher. He is the same user who also released a rootless port of Google’s Pixel launcher earlier. Here’s how to get the launcher working on any Android phone:

Steps to install Android One Launcher

1. In order to get the Android One launcher on your phone, simply download the APK file and install it.
2. Once you are done, set the default home screen as the new one and you are good to go.

Note: Before installing the modified launcher, make sure that you have neither the Pixel launcher nor the Android One launcher already installed on your device.

That being said, it is worth noting that both Android One launcher and Pixel launcher are more or less similar barring a few changes. The Android One launcher sports a slightly different looking app dock on the home screen, whereas the Pixel launcher houses the Google Search bar on the dock itself. The Android One launcher also has a differently styled app drawer. So if anything, we are mostly looking at aesthetic changes.

Lastly, if you are not content with both Android One as well as the Pixel launcher, you can take a look at some of the Pixel Launcher alternatives as well.

How to Play PC Games on Google Cardboard with Trinus VR

Google Cardboard is a pretty fun VR gaming device and there are some very cool games available for the device. But if you are looking for graphics intensive games that blow your mind, you will be disappointed. The budget friendly VR headset is no match to the likes of Oculus Rift that features some really advanced games. Thankfully, Trinus VR, previously known “Trinus Gyre” is an app that takes Google Cardboard gaming to the next level.

As you might have already guessed from the title, Trinus VR lets you play PC games on your Google Cardboard. Trinus VR makes use of the hardware & sensors in your smartphone to provide PC gamers a virtual reality experience. Sounds cool, right? Well, here’s how you to use Trinus VR.

Things You Need

Before you get started with Trinus VR, here are a few things you’ll need:

• A Windows PC

• An Android smartphone that’s compatible with Google Cardboard

• Install the Trinus VR Android app.

The Trinus VR app is available in a free version as well as a paid version ($9.99). The free version is limited to 10 minutes of gameplay per session, so if you are really looking forward to playing a lot of games, you should get the full version.

• Download the server app of Trinus VR for Windows PC.

• Google Cardboard Viewer

Set up

Trinus VR basically mirrors your Windows display to your Android smartphone in the split-screen VR mode. It also makes sure to create a fake 3D effect on games that do not come with 3D support integrated. Firstly, you will have to connect your Windows PC and Android smartphone to run PC games on the smartphone in VR mode.

There are two ways to make a connection with Trinus VR.

• Via USB cable

Connecting your phone and PC through a wired connection is the easiest and hassle free way to get started with Trinus VR. To do it, connect your phone to the PC through a USB cable. Then, turn on USB Tethering on your smartphone by going to Settings->More->Tethering & mobile hotspot->USB tethering.

Once done, open the Trinus Server app on your Windows PC and Trinus VR app on your Android smartphone. Hit the connect icons on both the apps and you should see your Windows display mirrored to your smartphone in VR mode.

Having a wired connection might not seem very intuitive but it does work the best. It offers the best performance and the mirror is also crystal clear.

Note: Remember to turn off your mobile data, as Windows might use your data in USB Tethering to connect your PC to the internet. Also, make sure that your phone drivers are installed on the PC, so as to detect the USB connection.

• Over WiFi

There’s also a way to wirelessly connect your phone and PC to run Trinus VR. According to the folks at Trinus, if your phone and PC are connected to the same WiFi network or if the PC is connected to the router via a PC cable, then you can make a connection wirelessly. It is also said to work when the phone is connected to the hotspot created by the Trinus PC app.

Unfortunately, none of the wireless methods worked for us. You may give it a try for sure but we are pretty sure that the performance from a wireless connection won’t be nearly as smooth as in a wired connection, so we’d definitely recommend a wired connection.

How to Use Trinus VR

Once your phone and PC are connected, the Trinus VR app on your Android smartphone will show you the mirrored image of the Windows PC. Run the game you want to play with Google Cardboard on your Windows PC but make sure you run the game in window mode and not full screen. Also, make sure to play the game in lower graphics mode and with lower resolution (4:3 or 8:9 resolutions) for best performance on your smartphone and Google Cardboard.

Note: If the PC game you want to play does not run in window mode, you can use a software like DxWnd, which forces games to open windowed.

Once you’ve started the game, set the smartphone inside the Google Cardboard and mount it to your face. You can move your head around to move around in the game and use your mouse as the controller. You can even go ahead and connect a Bluetooth controller for a more complete gaming experience.

If you feel you aren’t getting the best experience, you can go ahead and alter a few settings in the app. There are options to calibrate motion boost, Fake 3D, position tracker, sensitivity, lens distortion etc. The app also lets you choose among various Google Cardboard models along with other VR devices like Gear VR.

Problems You Might Face

The Trinus VR app is still in its budding stage, so don’t be surprised if you face inconsistent performance and bugs. Here are some issues you might face:

• Wireless connection not working

We already mentioned that the wireless connection over WiFi did not work for us, so you should be ready with a USB cable, if you too fail to make a wireless connection. We certainly hope the developers working on Trinus VR bring a fix for this.

• Games not running in VR mode

Real stereoscopic 3D or VR support has to be supported by the game’s rendering engine for Trinus VR to make use of. If the game does not support it, Trinus VR uses its Fake 3D tech to force side-by-side stereoscopic images although that will result in lower performance. There are also some games that even Trinus VR won’t be able to force to produce 3D images. In that case, you can try out third party apps tools like Vireio or TriDef, which provide VR support for these non-compatible games.

• Content not displayed properly

Every Google Cardboard iteration has its own set of lens properties, which might not be detected by Trinus VR, resulting in content not showing properly. There are presets available for various devices like VR One, Freefly, Dive etc. but you might need to make manual adjustments in settings to calibrate the display to fit your Google Cardboard needs. You can get various settings in the Advanced mode and whatever changes you make will be seen in real time on your smartphone.

• Head tracking issues

The head tracking issues are prone to hardware limitations. However, you can try and check out various Sensor Modes in Trinus VR’s settings and if you are facing jittery movements, you can check out the Sensor Jitter Filter option. Also, do calibrate your phone sensors and make sure that there are no magnetic interferences near your smartphone.

If you are facing any other issues, do remember to fiddle around with different video modes and other options the app offers.

Ready to play PC games with a touch of virtual reality?

Frankly, the Trinus VR tool does need some polishing to become a must have for Google Cardboard users, considering its issues but it’s still a great tool for people who can’t wait or afford the likes of Oculus Rift. If you are an avid PC gamer, you should indeed give the tool a shot, as it certainly enhances games like GTA, Minecraft etc. So, what are you waiting for download Trinus VR and get playing. Do let us know your experience with VR PC gaming in the comments section below.

How to Change Default Image and Video Formats in iOS 11

iOS 11 comes with several new features that have proven to be quite popular, but there are a few changes that haven’t gone down too well among many long-time iPhone users. One of those is the switch from JPG to HEIF as the default file format for images and MP4 to HEVC as the default format for videos. While the newer formats offer up to 2X better compression without reducing image quality, they are not yet as widely supported as the older formats. So in case you want to stick to the more compatible JPG and MP4 formats for the time being, here’s how you can change the defaults in iOS 11:

Save Photos and Videos in JPG and MP4 in iOS 11

• First off, go over to ‘Camera’ on your iPhone’s Settings and tap on it for more options. Now, select ‘Formats’ on the next screen.
• Here, you’ll see that ‘High Efficiency’ is selected as the default option. Just tap on ‘Most Compatible’ to change the default, and that’s it! From now on, all your photos and videos will be saved as JPEGs and MP4s respectively.

Note: Do remember that you will not be able to record 4K videos at 60 FPS or 1080p videos at 240 FPS if you change the default settings. You’ll still be able to record 4K videos at 30 FPS and 1080p videos at up to 120 FPS, but if you want 240 FPS super slo-mo, you’ll be restricted to 720p HD.

Change Default Image and Video Formats in iOS 11

While saving photos and videos in the JPG and MP4 formats will take up a bit more space in your iPhones or iPads, you can rest easy knowing that they will be compatible with just about any operating system, photo viewer, and media player out-of-the-box. While codecs for the newer file formats are now fairly widely available across platforms, it will take a while for most mainstream users to download them on their systems, which is why it makes a lot of sense to stick to the tried and tested formats for the time being. So are you looking to change the default file formats for photos and videos on your iPhones? Do let us know about your thoughts in the comment section below, because we love hearing from you.

How to Add Google Now Page in Nova Launcher Home Screen

There's no doubt about the fact that Nova Launcher is the best Android launcher released till date. Its infinite customisations and beautiful UI give it an edge which other launchers can only dream to beat. My favourite thing about Nova is that its developers are quick to bring the best features from the newest version of Android to the older versions. However, there was one feature which has eluded even the developers at Nova Launcher till now. That is the Google Now Panel which you can access by swiping from left to right on phones with the Google Now launcher or the Pixel Launcher.

The lack of this feature alone has made me switch between Nova and the default Android launcher since so long. Well, not anymore. Now you can access Google Now Panel while running the Nova launcher. It is not as seamless as we would like but it’s still a start. So, without wasting any more of your time, here is how you can add Google Now Page in Nova Launcher home screen:

1. Install the Beta Version of Nova Launcher

Before you can enjoy the Google Now Page on Nova Launcher, you will have to install the beta version of the app, as this feature is currently being tested and is only available for beta testers. To become a beta tester, just head over to Nova Launcher Beta's Play Store page and login with your Google account and hit "Become A Tester".

Now that you have become a beta tester, search for Nova Launcher on the Play Store or follow the link to download it. If you do not want to go through the process of becoming a beta tester, you can directly download the Nova Launcher Beta APK from their official website and install it.

2. Install the Nova Google Companion 1.0

This is an add-on you need to install to activate the Google Now Page. Yes, you will have to sideload the Nova Google Companion app. Download the APK from this link and tap Install. Make sure that you have allowed your Android device to install APK from unknown sources. To do that, go to Settings>Security>Unknown sources and enable it.

3. Activate the Google Now Page

After you have installed the Nova Google Companion app, just restart Nova launcher. To do that go to Nova Settings and scroll down till you find the "Advanced" option. Tap on the arrow to reveal the advanced settings and then select "Restart Nova Launcher". Now, you can go to the home screen and swipe right to reveal the Google Now Page.

Bonus Tip:

If you are still seeing any other widget instead of the Google Now Page while swiping on your home screen, just delete the widget and restart the launcher again. Enjoy!

Get Google Now Page on Nova Launcher Home Screen

While there are a ton of great launchers available for Android on the Play Store, the Nova Launcher is our favourite here at Beebom. We have covered many tips and tricks related to Nova Launcher, which you can read about here and here.  If you like this article, please let us know in the comment section below. Your comment helps us to decide what kind of articles our readers are interested in, so don’t be shy in sharing your opinion.

How to Change Mac’s Volume/Brightness Control Overlay HUD

Across all the design changes that Apple has ever made, the brightness/volume control overlay has survived whole nine yards. Apple’s volume/brightness control overlay on its devices is obtrusive, gets in the way of your workflow and is a major distraction especially when you’re watching a movie. A quick search on StackOverflow reveals a lot of people ranting on how to change the overlay to something minimal or even completely disable it. While there are a lot of jailbreak tweaks that change the overlay to something non-obtrusive on the iPhone, things haven’t been that pretty for the Mac. Today, I’ll show you how to change Mac’s Volume/brightness control overlay, aka HUD, to something less obtrusive and minimal in 2 easy steps.

Note: Unlike most other tweaks, I’ve personally verified that this method works on the latest macOS Sierra 10.12, and it should be backwards compatible all the way up to OS X macOS 10.9.

1. Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Note: SIP was introduced in 10.11 El Capitan, so if you’re running an older version of macOS, you should skip this step. Furthermore, please remember that disabling SIP could potentially allow malicious software to modify system files. It is recommended to turn on SIP as soon as you’re done with this entire process. 

To disable System Integrity Protection on macOS running 10.11 El Capitan or newer-

• Click on ? menu -> “Restart…”

• Hold the CMD+R button on your keyboard until you boot into the recovery OS. Booting into the recovery may take a little longer than your regular boot up.

• Click on “Utilities” -> “Terminal” from the menu bar on the top.

• Enter the command “csrutil disable; reboot” (without the quotes).

This should disable SIP and your Mac should restart automatically.

2. Install mySIMBL

mySIMBL is a fork of SIMBL, a tool to inject third-party code into applications developed for Mac. It is a one-stop place for managing SIMBL plugin-ins and tweaking your Mac without getting your hands dirty on the coding part.

• Open mySIMBL, navigate to the “Discover” tab on the left and click on “Wolf’s plugins“.

• Navigate to “cleanHUD” -> “Install“.

Once you’ve installed the cleanHUD plugin for mySIMBL, just restart your Mac. After the boot-up, try pressing the volume/brightness keys on your Mac’s keyboard and you should be greeted by an all new, minimalistic control overlay centred on the menu bar on the top. It doesn’t get in the middle of your way while you’re working on something and looks a lot pleasant than Apple’s default implementation.

CleanHUD works great, but it has its own share of issues. For instance, for some reason, I was not able to get it to work on full-screen apps. It also randomly decides not to show up the brightness/volume bar sometimes. Fortunately, you can always change the volume/brightness regardless of whether it displays the control overlay HUD or not.

While you’re at it, you can browse through several other plug-ins for SIMBL to tweak your Mac to your liking. I’ll be glad to do a post on some great handpicked SIMBL plugins if there’s enough demand for it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• How do I revert to Apple’s default volume/brightness volume overlay?

Open mySIMBL and navigate to “Discover” tab on the left. Click on “Wolf’s plugins” -> “cleanHUD” -> “Remove“. Restart your Mac. (I have no idea why you’d want to go back, though!)

• How do I re-enable System Integration Protection?

Oh, so you remember. Follow the procedures from Step 1, but just change the command to “csrutil enable; reboot” (without the quotes).

• My Mac defaults to Apple’s control overlay after every Reboot

Open mySIMBL, click on “Preferences” and make sure the “Run helper at login” box is checked. If you still see Apple’s default control overlay every time, I’m afraid it doesn’t work with your Mac. Your best bet would file a bug report with the developer.

• How do I uninstall mySIMBL completely?

Open mySIMBL and navigate to “SIMBL” -> “Uninstall SIMBL“.

Change your Mac’s Brightness/Volume Control Overlay Using These Steps

Using these two easy steps, you can replace Apple’s obnoxious control overlay HUD with a simple and clean overlay. So how are you liking the cleanHUD mod on your Mac? If you come across any other tweaks that let you change the control overlay, let me know in the comments section below.

How to Add Money in Amazon Pay Balance

Amazon Pay is Amazon's own payment solution which was launched in 2007 to provide a better, faster, and more secure way to make online payments for its users. In its initial phase, the service allowed users to make purchases on Amazon's website with saved addresses and credit/debit card credentials, resulting in quick and hassle free transactions. However, now that the service has seen a lot of upgrades, it does a lot more than that. Now, Amazon Pay offers a plethora of services for merchants and shoppers alike.For example, while the Merchants can use the Pay Express service to integrate payment processing capabilities on their own website, the shoppers can purchase Amazon Gift and Store cards.

Initially launched in the US, now the service has expanded to 7 more countries, with India being the latest inclusion. In India, Amazon also allows you to add and keep money in its digital Amazon Pay wallet. This is very good news, as now shopping on Amazon will be even more easier than before. So, if you are confused, let me show how you can add money in Amazon Pay:

Note: I have used Amazon's India website (Amazon.in) and the Amazon India version of the app to demonstrate the tutorial.

Adding Money in Amazon Pay

You can add money in your Amazon Pay account using either the Amazon app or website. The steps are very easy to follow and you should be able to add money to your Amazon Pay balance account in no time. We will check out both the methods below.

• Add Money to Amazon Pay using Amazon Website

1. Visit the Amazon webpage and log in with your credentials.

2. Now click on the "Your Orders" menu or hover over it and then click on "Your Account" on the drop down menu.

3. Here, in the "Your Account" section, click on the “Amazon Pay balance” button.

4. In this page, you will see the option to add money in your Amazon Pay balance account. Fill the amount or select an amount you want to add and click on the “Continue” button.

5. Now choose your payment option and then click on continue to complete the process.

6. To see your total balance hover over the "Your Orders" menu and click on "Your Amazon Pay balance" option.

Here, as you can see, you can find your balance as well as all your transaction history.

• Add Money in Amazon Pay using Amazon App

1. Open the Amazon app and tap on the hamburger menu to reveal the side menu. Here, tap on the "Amazon Pay" option.

2. Here, tap on the "Add Money" button and enter the amount you want to add. Now, tap on continue.

3. Just like before, select your payment option and then click on continue to complete the process.

4. To view your balance, just perform the first step. If you want to see your transaction history, tap on "View Statement" button.

Recharge Your Amazon Pay Balance With Ease

Amazon Pay balance allows you to hold money in Amazon's own digital wallet, allowing you to do faster check outs when purchasing something on Amazon. Apart from the simplicity, there are other important reasons which make the whole adding money thing seem more viable. Firstly, Amazon gives various cashback offers which are exclusive to its Amazon Pay balance users. Also, in countries like India, Amazon is also testing other usages for its digital wallet, such as mobile recharges and bill payments. When these features have been integrated, adding money in Amazon Pay Balance will become even more attractive for consumers. If you found this tutorial to be helpful, let us know in the comment section below. If you didn’t, do the same.

How to Enable NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights in PUBG

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is widely considered as the hottest game of 2017, and it’s still rapidly growing in terms of popularity and average player count. Dubbed as PUBG, the game despite being in “Early Access”, managed to sell 7 million copies, as recently announced by the developer and publisher, Bluehole Studios. At Gamescom 2017, NVIDIA teamed up with Bluehole to bring what’s called as “ShadowPlay Highlights” for all the gamers who own a GeForce GTX GPU. This game-changing feature lets you automatically record and save every kills, knockouts, deaths and various other highlights within the game. So far, users either had to record the whole game manually or make use of NVIDIA’s Instant Replay to record the last 5 to 20 minutes of the gameplay, which includes the unnecessary boring parts as well. With ShadowPlay Highlights, that’s not really the case as the feature only records the most exciting parts of the game, that can be easily clipped together to create a montage later on, with the help of any simple video editing software. Interested already? Alright, let’s take a look at how to enable NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights in PUBG:

Enable NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights in GeForce Experience

Note: In order to take advantage of this feature, you need to have NVIDIA GeForce Experience version 3.8 or later installed on your system. Additionally, you need to install and download the newest PUBG patch that was released on August 21, 2017.

If you don’t have NVIDIA GeForce Experience on your system, make sure you download and install this software from the GeForce website. Once done, make sure you’ve also updated the game, and simply follow the steps below to enable NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights:

• You will be able to bring up the GeForce Experience Overlay by clicking on “Alt + Z”. Once it shows up, go to Settings by clicking on the “gear-shaped icon”.

• Now, click on “Highlights” in order to get inside the next menu.

• Here, you’ll be able to turn on Highlights by simply clicking on “Yes”. You can also adjust the maximum disk space that’ll be used by this feature for storing your content.

• We’re not quite done yet. You need to open up the game and go to the in-game settings by clicking on the “gear-shaped icon” that’s located at the top-right corner of your screen when you’re in the lobby. Now, head over to the Graphics section and here, you’ll be able to enable “NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights” for Highlights Auto Capture setting. Once selected, click on Apply to save the settings.

• Now, you need to start the game as you normally would, and once you’re in the match lobby, i.e. the spawn island, a message will pop-up on your screen which asks you whether you’d like to use GeForce Experience to automatically capture the highlights of your gameplay. Click on “Yes” to confirm.

• Well, now once you’ve completed the match and exited to lobby, the GeForce Experience Overlay will immediately display all the important clips from your previous match. You can either choose to save them to your Gallery or share it to social networking platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

Customize NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights

Players can further customize this feature as NVIDIA lets you decide which portions of the game should be recorded. You can set it to only kills and knockouts and un-check deaths. Well, if you want to adjust this, simply follow the steps below to get this done within seconds:

• Open up NVIDIA GeForce Experience software and hover your mouse over PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds game. Now, click on “Details”.

• Once you’re in the next menu, click on the ShadowPlay Highlights icon, which is indicated by a film reel. Now, click on “Edit”.

• Well, that’s pretty much the whole process. Here, you’ll be able to check and un-check the highlights that will be automatically captured by ShadowPlay Highlights. Once you’ve chosen the necessary options, click on “Done” to save these settings.

Enjoying ShadowPlay Highlights in PUBG?

NVIDIA’s ShadowPlay Highlights is a feature that’s never seen before in any video game capture software. This is pretty much a dream for any gamer who has been playing this popular game, as manually recording and removing the unnecessary portions take a lot of time. We hope to see this feature being expanded to many other games as well. So, have you guys tried out the new ShadowPlay Highlights on PUBG? Tell us how much you’ve enjoyed using this feature, by shooting your valuable opinions in the comments section down below.

How to Update All the Software on Your Windows PC Without Any Hassle

Software related bugs are a part of computing life. Developers usually release new versions of a software either by removing some bugs, patching security vulnerabilities, or by introducing new features. If you have installed lots of apps on your Windows PC, then updating them individually can be a daunting task. Keeping up with the updates is also challenging because many developers don't communicate well with the customers. In this article, we'll show you how to update all your desktop apps without any hassle.

How to Check for Software Updates

Check for Updates in the Help Menu

Most modern desktop apps contain an update feature. The command "Check for Updates" is either located in the "Help" menu or in the "Preferences" window. Sadly, they don't all work the same way. Some check for updates every time they're launched, or on a fixed schedule. Some check for updates only on demand; those that do automatically, do not have this feature turned on. Some apps simply download an .exe file and expect you to open it and run the installer; or some do nothing but open a webpage with links to your updates. If you have installed many apps, it's not practical to check for updates. This solution works best if you've installed only few, popular apps.

Subscribe to the Developer's Blog

Every developer website has a blog where they talk about what's included in a minor or a major release. You can subscribe to their blog in your feed reader. If the developer website does not have a blog, you can subscribe to various software sites, which periodically add listings of up-to-date software. They include Filehippo, MajorGeeks, Gizmo's Freeware, SourceForge, Neowin, Softpedia, and more.

Filehippo website is intuitive and they include only the best, popular apps for Windows, Mac, and Web. They have categories for popular apps, and software categories of various types - File sharing, Compression, Messaging, Security, Multimedia, Developer, and more.

MajorGeeks is the popular website of my choice. It aims to provide only the top 1% of safe, editor tested downloads. They have categories for popular apps, and software categories of various types. They also include a section on compatibility database for apps running under various operating systems. Although the site database is small, they've been doing this from 2001.

Gizmo's Freeware, aka Tech Support Alert is a freeware review site that utilizes the help from volunteers to scrutinize apps and make recommendations to users. Gizmo has better reviews of fewer programs, run entirely by volunteers and recommends only the best freeware programs in dozens of different software categories.

While subscribing to the developer's blog and software sites will certainly help you in getting regular updates, it may feel daunting as you have to keep up with dozens of RSS feeds and news from software publishers.

Make Twitter Lists for Apps

The idea behind Twitter lists is to essentially group a number of accounts together. When you view this list, you'll see all the tweets from those accounts. There are two advantages of making a Twitter lists. First, you don't have to add the user in order to add them to a list. Second, tweets from your lists do not show up in your primary feed.

Nowadays, every developer market their apps in social media to gain traction, customer feedback, and news updates. Visit your favorite app website, and see whether they have accounts in social media link or not. Every Twitter account has a unique domain name and handle. For instance – LibreOffice (a popular, open source, office suite for Windows and Mac) has their Twitter account since 2010 and their Twitter handle is "tdforg." Search for that handle in your Twitter app, and add them to your Twitter lists.

After adding all your favorites apps on the Twitter list, you can get the updates directly from TweetDeck, and dedicate an entire column to your apps list. With Twitter lists you can get updates from your developer, report issues to them and if lucky, get discount coupons on future upgrades.

Software Update Tools

Software update tools are monitoring utilities to scan your computer for old and outdated software packages. While some tools just check or updates, some even let you install all the software updates with ease. Although there are many apps out there for this purpose, it's not possible to review each of them in this article. Before you jump to download any of these utilities, here’s what you should check:

• How many software updates does it detect? This is an important criteria because if it recommends you only a handful of updates, then the purpose of the utility gets defeated.
• Will it run at startup and automatically scan for updates?
• Will it automatically download the updates it identifies or suggest only a link to your update.
• Is the installer bundling any unwanted software (such as toolbars, add-ins, adware)?
• Can you add any custom locations to scan for installed apps? For e.g., Portable Apps directory.

Some of the popular software update checkers, tried and tested are - FileHippo App Manager, Ninite, and SuMo. While you don't have to use software update checker daily, it's a handy utility to check for the software updates in one go.

Using SuMo to Check for Outdated Apps

SuMo aka Software Update Monitor (download) is a utility for Windows to keep your PC up-to-date by installing the most recent version of your favorite software.

Note – The regular installer version of the SuMo contains an adware, called as "Relevant Knowledge." Most security software's can flag the installer as a spyware. It is best to download either the Lite or Portable installer, because they do not contain any adware.

After installing the software, allow it to scan your whole computer for outdated packages. The software scans your "Program Files," "Program Files (x86)," "Users," "Registry," and any custom folder of your choice. For e.g., Portable software folder.

Click "Options->Settings" and under "Scan" section click "Additional Folders". A new window will open, and in here click "Add" to add your portable apps folder.

Click the "Check" button to check for the availability of updated apps in your PC. SuMo highlights all the minor and major updates with different labels and arranges them accordingly. The version numbers are also clearly visible in another column, so that you can take a quick glance at all the apps. If you find some of the updates unnecessary, right-click any app and click "Skip this update".

While SuMo definitely lists out all the outdated packages in one go, when you click "Get Update", it doesn't take you to a download page directly. It directs you to a webpage with usage statistics about recent versions of the program. Although this information is interesting, it makes the app unnecessarily complicated to use.

There are definitely some advantages of using software update checker, since it makes the process of finding outdated software packages much easier but again it only notifies you of available updates.

Use Ninite to Install and Update Apps

Ninite (download) is a free tool that lets you automatically download, install, and update various desktop apps in one go. If you're setting up a PC for the first time, Ninite is the safest place to get up-to-date freeware. You don't have to worry about all the download sites full of crappy installers bundled with adware or toolbars.

Visit the website and you'll see the list of all the supported programs. Select the programs that you want to install and click on "Get Your Ninite" installer. The installer is a stub, which means that the programs you have selected will automatically download and install in the background.

By default, the programs install in their default locations. If your system is 64-bit, 64-bit version of your app will install, if available. To update your outdated apps, re-run the installer again. If a new version is available, it will automatically update the app in the background or else it will skip the installation.

Ninite is an incredible program and you should consider it in your workflow. If you're using a PC just for your basic tasks, then Ninite is the best way to install and update apps. Ninite database contains only the popular apps, so if you install apps from the indie developers frequently, use package manager to update and uninstall them.

Chocolatey – Package Manager for Windows

Chocolatey is a command line application sfor Windows based on the package manager NuGet. Just like Ninite, Chocolatey installs, updates, uninstalls programs in the background with minimal user interaction. Volunteers and project’s members create and maintain the entire package feed. Thus, their database is unique and huge.

System Requirements:

• Windows 7 and above
• Windows Server 2003 and above
• PowerShell version 2 and above
• .NET framework 4+ (if you don't have .NET 4, it will attempt to automatically install them)

Go to Chocolatey Install and under "Installing Chocolatey" section copy the command listed in the "Cmd.exe."

@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

Press "Win + X" and choose "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the Start menu. Now, paste the command you copied into the Command prompt window and press "Enter".

Once you've got Chocolatey up and running, it's time to start installing apps. Visit Chocolatey packages website and you'll notice that there are 4343 software packages in its database. Let's assume that you want to install Google Chrome. In the command prompt window type

choco install googlechrome

If you want to install Firefox type

choco install firefox

Try out and install 7-zip, SumatraPDF, Notepad++, and more. If you think you might forget these commands, write them down in the Notepad and save it as a text file.

If you want to update any software package, simply type

choco upgrade

So for Google Chrome, it's

choco upgrade googlechrome

and for Firefox

choco upgrade firefox

To uninstall any package type

choco uninstall

Chocolatey is all-in one package manager for Windows. Once you get the basics of Chocolatey, you'll never think of installing or updating apps manually. Now when you run SuMo, check which apps require an update. As you can see in the screenshot, I have an old version of Ccleaner. Launch "Command prompt (Admin)" and type

choco upgrade ccleaner

The Chocolatey script will check for the updates, if no updates are available it will tell you that your software is up-to date.

Update All Your Software on Windows With These Tools

Updating desktop apps is still a time consuming and daunting task. As described in this article, every method has its own pros and cons. SuMo along with Chocolatey package manager is the best solution for upgrading your apps. If you want to share your experience or have trouble in any steps described in this article, let us know in the comments section below.

How to Find and Remove Duplicates in iTunes

iTunes Library though still a mess, has gotten a lot better over the years. Although it’s still far from being the perfect music player on the Mac, it is one of the best music managers which also helps you to sync your music across your devices. However, there's one problem which still plagues the users of iTunes, that is the persistent presence of duplicate audio files. Duplicate files not only eat away on your precious iTunes storage, they also ruin the music listening experience by playing the same song over and over again. Also, they make it harder to search for the song you were looking for. If you are suffering from the same problem, today we are going to solve it for you. So, this is how you can find and remove duplicates in iTunes:

Note: I tried the following methods to remove duplicate songs in iTunes on my macOS High Sierra MacBook Pro and they worked out fine, so they should work fine for you as well. These methods should also work on macOS Sierra and older versions.

Delete Duplicates in iTunes Using iTunes Settings

Many people don't know but iTunes provides you with an inbuilt way to find and remove duplicate songs from your library:

1. To find the duplicate songs in your library, just go to File->Library->Show Duplicate Items. This will show you all the duplicate songs in your library.

2. When you have found all the duplicate songs, you can just right click on the duplicates and delete them from the library. Keep in mind that you might have kept different versions of songs (regular, remastered, live), so give them a listen before deleting.

Disable Import of Duplicate Songs

iTunes no longer supports importing of the same music twice until you force it to, essentially solving the problem of automatic files duplication. However, it’s best to check that the settings are enabled in your iTunes preferences.

1. To check, open iTunes' Preferences and go to the “Advanced” tab.

2. Make sure that "Keep iTunes Media folder organised" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" are checked on. If not, click on the checkbox to enable them and then click on "Reset warnings" to save the settings.

Find Duplicate Songs in iTunes Using iTunes Duplicate Remover Software

If you rather use a third-party software which makes things easier, there are a couple of options out there. The one I have used in the past is called "Tune Sweeper 4" ($12.99).

Not only it lets you check for the duplicate songs, it can also find any missing artwork in your songs and fix it for you. Also, you can search your Mac, to see the songs which you have on the hard drive but are not synced in iTunes. There's a lot more you can do with the app.

See Also: How To Setup And Use iTunes Home Sharing

Delete Duplicate Songs From iTunes Library

You can use the above methods to get rid of the duplicate audio files from your iTunes library forever. Now, you don't have to worry about duplicate songs ruining your listening experience and clogging up your iTunes storage. If you decide to go the third-party app route, do tell us how it worked out for you in the comments section below.