60 MAXIMUMPC | MAY 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
SOFTY
AWARDS
Don’t confuse our Lifetime Achievement
Award with those of other awards
shows, where the recipient is nearing
the end of his or her career and being
tossed a sappy sympathy trib-
ute. Far from it. SlySoft’s
AnyDVD is in the prime
of its life and getting
better all the time.
In fact, it’s precisely
because of this
application’s stead-
fast commitment
to service that we
honor it here.
For many years
now, AnyDVD has given
law-abiding consumers
an easy way to circum-
vent the copy protection
on their movie discs in
order to create backup cop-
ies or play the content on
other devices. And just as
soon as new DRM is imple-
mented, AnyDVD is right
there with an update. Case
in point: the AnyDVD HD
upgrade, which offers Blu-ray
and HD DVD support. Bravo!
AnyDVD will be accepting
its award from an undisclosed
overseas location.
49 euros, http://www.slysoft.
comOld-school antivirus and anti-
spyware applications work in
a very simple and predictable
way. They scan every fi le you
download and every app you
install on your PC for malicious
behavior. This worked really
well back in the days when
there were just four or fi ve new
threats every week. Today, hun-
dreds of new threats surface
regularly, and the old “scan for
known baddies” approach sim-
ply doesn’t cut it. That’s where
ThreatFire comes in.
Instead of scanning against
a known database of viruses and
malware, ThreatFire monitors
applications for naughty behav-
ior. When an app does some-
thing suspicious, ThreatFire locks it down and prompts the user to take action.
Yes, we’ve been promised this type of protection before, but ThreatFire actually
works, and it’s less of a system hog than more traditional scanners. That’s what
we like to see!
Free, http://www.threatfire.comIf you don’t mind com-
promising a smidgen on
audio quality, Radiotracker
offers an incredibly easy
way to build a huge
library of free—and legally
acquired—digital music.
The program works by
monitoring Internet radio
streams for the types of
music you like. You can
confi gure it to target spe-
cifi c genres (Americana,
world, jazz, acid rock,
etc.), particular artists, or even specifi c songs, and it will scan thou-
sands of stations looking for just that.
When Radiotracker encounters songs that fi t the profi le you’ve created,
it automatically records them to your hard drive in MP3 format—it even
grabs ID3 tags and album artwork. The audio quality is limited to whatever
bitrate the station is streaming at, but the tunes are free and legal!
$40 http://www.radiotracker.comRadiotracker
Build a massive MP3 library
on the cheapThreatFire
Why waste time scanning for bad apps when you can simply
block suspicious behavior instead?Someone, somewhere on the Internet
is playing your favorite song right now.
Radiotracker can not only find it but also
automatically rip it to your hard drive.Threatfire watches over your system
to make sure malicious apps don’t
infect your PC.AnyDVD!
THE 2008 LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
shows, where the recipient is nearing
the end of his or her career and being
tossed a sappy sympathy trib-
ute. Far from it. SlySoft’s
AnyDVD is in the prime
of its life and getting
better all the time.
In fact, it’s precisely
because of this
application’s stead-
fast commitment
to service that we
honor it here.
For many years
now, AnyDVD has given
law-abiding consumers
an easy way to circum-
vent the copy protection
on their movie discs in
order to create backup cop-
ies or play the content on
other devices. And just as
soon as new DRM is imple-
mented, AnyDVD is right
there with an update. Case
in point: the AnyDVD HD
upgrade, which offers Blu-ray
and HD DVD support. Bravo!
AnyDVD will be accepting
its award from an undisclosed
overseas location.
49 euros, http://www.slysoft.
comshows, where the recipient is nearing
the end of his or her career and being
tossed a sappy sympathy trib-
ute. Far from it. SlySoft’s
AnyDVD is in the prime
of its life and getting
better all the time.
In fact, it’s precisely
because of this
application’s stead-
fast commitment
to service that we
honor it here.
For many years
now, AnyDVD has given
law-abiding consumers
an easy way to circum-
vent the copy protection
on their movie discs in
order to create backup cop-
ies or play the content on
other devices. And just as
soon as new DRM is imple-
mented, AnyDVD is right
there with an update. Case
in point: the AnyDVD HD
upgrade, which offers Blu-ray
and HD DVD support. Bravo!
AnyDVD will be accepting
its award from an undisclosed
overseas location.
49 euros, http://www.slysoft.