Useful online tools

Top 100 Tools

Wiki Scanner

Check the edits that an organisation has made to Wikipedia entries

Tiny URL
Turns a long, ugly web address into neat, small practical one.

Bug Me Not!
Gives generic logins for "free registration" sites, Save so much time!

Track Emails
Readnotify allow you to silently track an email. See the IP address of its recipient, see how many times they read it and how long they spent reading.

New Firefox Extensions
Mozdev gives you access to all the exiting new plugins available for use with the Firefix browser.

Server Logs
It may be useful to see who has been visiting a site. Look out for and click on discreet icons like these:

Currency Converter
What it says on the tin.

Useful software

Firefox
A wonderful alternative to Internet Explorer, Firefox allows you organise web pages into tabs (rather than just new windows), it also has thousands of useful "extensions" plugins for researchers.

Camstudio
Captures video and audio from your computer - creating .AVI files. You can set regions of your screen to record, enabling you to capture streaming videos.

 Total Recorder
Captures any audio going through your computer. Its ability to pause recording during periods of silence, makes it ideal to capture streaming media broadcasts. Saves captures as MP3 & WAV

Firefusk
A plugin extension for the Firefox browser, Firefusk scans web servers for sequentially numbered images. Just right click on an image and choose the range to scan.

Apimac Clean Text
Cleans up text that you have copied from a website. It reformats the layout and removes extra spaces and strange characters before you paste.

Old Version
Earlier versions of popular free software (e.g. winzip, zone alarm).

Bitform Discover
A free program that reveals the "meta information" hidden in documents. See also Docscrubber

Exif reader
Displays the "meta information" hidden inside JPG photo images. This often tells you the date and time the photo was taken, and the make of camera used.

Active Ports
A free program which lets you monitor which IP addresses your computer is connected to at any point. Ideal for locating the source of adverts, spyware and videos.

Process Explorer
Like a super-enhanced version of Windows Task Manager, this free program monitors and details program activity on your computer.

Restore erased files
Turbo File Uneraser is a free tool that searches disks and flashcards for remnants of data files that have been erased. These can frequently be restored.

Computer Forensics
Law enforcement agencies often use software like Encase and FRED to recover data files. To counter this, people sometimes use applications like Evidence Eliminator.

Media & production links

Mandy.com
Production resources, jobs & contacts. See also: Creative Match

Freepint
Cool hangout for hip young researchers & librarians!

Journalismnet
Fantastic research links, contacts and study material.

Hold the Front Page
Jobs, news and contacts for UK journalists. See also: Yahoo UK Journalism

Legal Issues
Hamiltons Solicitors specialise in computer & internet related cases.

Poynter Online
US online journalism hub. See also: AI Research Lab

Production Base

Radio Directory
industry portal for those working in radio