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Archive files are a handy way to deal with multiple files, or with bulky documents, allowing you to store a lot of data in a relatively smaller space. By taking advantage of clever algorithms that compress your data, you can pack a lot of punch into a small space.

Zipeg is a file compression and archive tool that helps make it easy to archive your data, or to retrieve data from archive files. It supports an alphabet full of file formats, including ZIP, TAR, RAR, GZIP, ISO, and a whole host of others. You can look inside of archives without unpacking them, so you can verify that you've got the right one, before expanding it onto your system. Not only do you get a chance to examine the file list, but you can even open individual files in your applications—look at an image in Preview, for example.

Unlike many archive tools, Zipeg keeps track of Mac-only meta data, such as resource forks, file permissions, and Finder attributes. You won't lose anything by archiving your Mac files.

Zipeg is available for Mac as a Universal Binary, meaning that it will run under 10.3.9 or later. You can also grab the Windows version, which runs under XP and Vista.,

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Nothing lasts forever. If you don't believe it, fire up your MacBook, unplug it, and go on battery power. No matter how good battery technology has gotten, you will eventually run out of juice. Not only that, but you probably know that your battery has a life expectancy, independent of its current state-of-charge. Batteries can be charged and discharged a finite number of times before their efficiency starts to drop off. It might be nice to know how much charge you've got left in your system now; it wouldn't hurt to know what kind of shape your battery is in either.

coconutBattery is an application that lets you keep an eye on your remaining battery charge. Now you can have an idea how much charge you've got left on your system, but also how your system's ability to be recharged compares with its original capacity. You can save all this data in the program, by the way, so you've got snapshots over time, keeping an eye on how your system's doing as it ages. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to keep good enough track of how your battery is doing that you will be able to predict when it'll make the most sense to replace it.

coconutBattery is a Mac application. To use it, you need to be running OS X 10.4.5 or better.

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Mom just got a new computer. Dad just upgraded to a new operating system. Kids at school can't figure out how to tweak their systems to work the the college's network. Sound familiar? And what about the panicked phone call asking you in all your glorious geekiness to fix their problem. Sure, you can try to talk them through the process, but what about the "picture worth a thousand words" thing? Wouldn't it be easier if you could just turn the crank for them, or at least watch over their shoulder while they do the work?

TeamViewer allows you to share a computer desktop, and even to drive a system by remote control. Now instead of having to rely on repeatedly asking the "what do you see now?" question, you can actually see what is happening on the remote system in real time.

TeamViewer is free for personal, non-commercial use. It is available for both Mac and Windows systems.

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Generally we don't get too excited about screensavers: more swirly lines, vast star fields, baskets of adorable kittens, that sort of thing. Here's one that's different from anything we've run across before.

Word Clock is exactly what it says it is. When your screensaver fires up, your display is filled with a clock, of sorts. Rather than an imitation of an analog clock face, or yet another digital clock, you get a clock that is actually a complete sentence. All of the text necessary to spell out any day and time is displayed on the screen; the text appropriate to give you the current time is highlighted, and changes second-by-second.

Highly customizable, you can choose colors, fonts, and layout parameters for your display. It's even available in over a dozen languages, 'cause you never know when you might need a Hungarian clock.

There's a PC version of Word Clock in the works, but currently it's only available for Mac. It's a Universal Binary, so it requires OS X version 10.3 or later.

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Can't get enough YouTube? Whether it's the latest viral video, some slick "how-to" program, or any of a zillion other types of content, we've all grown addicted to YouTube. Here's a tool that helps you download YouTube videos to your machine, so that you can enjoy them again and again.

Free YouTube Downloader does exactly what the name suggests: it enables you to grab those videos and save them locally. Just copy and paste the URL of the content you want, and press the button. It couldn't be easier. It supports multiple downloads as well—just type several addresses into the box, each on a separate line.

Free YouTube Downloader is a Java application, which means that it will run on Linux, Macintosh, Windows, or just about any other platform that has Java Runtime Environment Standard Edition, with Java version 1.5 or better.

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How much of your hard drive space is taken up with duplicate files? Sure, they were all important when you created them, but now you've got three identical copies of that report you created, and you don't even know where they all are. Is that really the kind of clutter you need?

There are several tools out there that will help you to discover duplicates on your system, but Duplicate Files Searcher goes one better. Not only does it work on your local hard drive, but you can also use it to check for duplicates on removable media like CDs, DVDs, and even USB drives. In addition, you can also search mounted network drives, which can help you find stuff you've left on your network share as well.

Duplicate Files Searcher does a byte-by-byte compare of your files, so you know that you're identifying actual duplicates, and not just documents with the same name and different content. You don't want to clobber all your incremental backups, after all.

Duplicate Files Searcher is a Java app, so it'll run on just about anything.

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Intrigued by competition? Always want to be "the best"? If that obsession extends to your computer, you may be a candidate for Xbench.

Xbench is a benchmark tool that lets you see what your machine is capable of. Compare your system with others, or get the nitty-gritty on what your baby can really do. Armed with that info, you'll be able to go tweak to your heart's content. You can check your disk read and write speed, graphics and screen draw, memory fill and copy, and CPU performance, among others. It even supports multi-processor systems.

Xbench is a Mac application. It's distributed as a Universal Binary, so it works on both PowerPC and Intel Macs, and requires OS X 10.3.9 or later.

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Archive files are a good thing. Collect all your stuff and jam it into a single file. Easy to keep track of; easy to transport. Hey, with ZIP files, you can even share them across platforms. When you go from a Mac to a Windows machine, though, you can get a bunch of nasty looking Mac-only stuff. Don't freak out your Windows-using buddy—try YemuZip.

YemuZip creates ZIP archives, but with a difference. You can choose whether your intended audience is running a Mac or a Windows box. Archives created for Mac bring all the goodies along; those intended for Windows cut all the Mac-specific meta data out, so you get a nice, clean looking archive, instead of one that prompts a lot of questions.

YemuZip is a Mac application. It requires OS X 10.3.9 or later. It's distributed as a Universal Binary, so it's equally at home on PowerPC and Intel Macs.

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You're reading along in a document or web page and come across some numbers. You want to do a quickie calculation, but now you're stuck—do you start-up the ten-key sitting on your desk—you do still have a desktop calculator, right—or do you fire-up Excel? Neither of those is a particularly satisfying option. Wouldn't it be nice to have an on-screen calculator that would let you do that quick calculation without making a major production of it?

Calq is just such a tool. You can start Calq up when you need it, or add it to your start up items and call it up with a hotkey combination. Either way, you get a calculator that overlays the windows on your screen and lets you do calculations through the keyboard. It's so unobtrusive that once you're done using it, it even puts itself away—after several seconds of inactivity, it hides itself, just waiting for you to call it up again.

Calq is available for both Mac and Windows. The Macintosh version requires OS X version 10.4 or later. The Windows version wants XP or Vista.

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RapidoWrite is a cross-application text replacement tool. If you're constantly typing the same text into letters, forms, and so on, why not automate the process? Now instead of typing your whole address, just type "addr" or any other string of characters, and it will expand out to the text you've assigned to it. Use it for signatures, addresses, or even whole documents—it's up to you. It's easier and quicker for accessing regularly visited web pages than digging through lists of bookmarks.

To use the power of RapidoWrite, you just type your abbreviation and hit [Return], and that's it. It will automatically replace the abbreviation with your selected text, and you're on your way. It works with any application, so you don't have to use one tool with your word processor and another one with your web browser.

RapidoWrite is a tool for Macintosh users. It requires OS X version 10.4 or later. It will run on both PowerPC and Intel machines.

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