BrowserMaster is a free app that registers itself as your system’s default browser and gives you the option to select which browser to use when opening internet links. It applies to links clicked from outside a browser, such as desktop shortcuts, links in documents, links in IM and email apps, etc.

This article will introduce you to three online mind map tools that are free to use and have solid functionality.  A number of note taking tools were previously covered on Freewaregenius, and I’ve previously written about Bubbl.us, another mind map tool. This article will present three more tools: Text 2 Mind Map, Creately, and Lovely Charts, which can all help you brainstorm and diagram your thoughts.

[Editor's note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].

The concept behind this free program is to "automate repetitive tasks". It presents a wide range of functions involving text insertion and automation, launching apps or URLs, manipulating windows on the desktop, grabbing screenshots, and optimizing programs in memory. You can launch functions via keyboard shortcuts or in many cases from the program’s icon in the system tray.

TweetMyPC is a free Twitter application that can shut down your PC remotely and/or perform a range of commands as soon as you send it a tweet. Other commands include restarting your PC, downloading stuff to your PC, and even sending files to you from your PC – all based on your tweets. TweetMyPC v2.0 is multiplatform (Windows/Mac).

[Editor’s note: this review was contributed by blogger Ishan of ILoveFreeSoftware.com].

This posting will describe how to change your default system browser on Windows XP to a portable version of Mozilla Firefox using a free program called DefaultBrowser, doing so reversibly and without installing the non portable version. The same process described here could be used to change your default browser to any portable (or non portable) browser.

[Editor’s note: this posting was contributed by Freewaregenius reader Elioz Hefer; to whom I offer my extreme thanks and gratitude].

STDU Viewer is a free, all-around edocument and ebook reader that supports PDF, Deja-Vu (DJV), Comic Book Archive (CBZ, CBR), TIFF, Text, and XPS documents. It offers a good range of functions including a tabbed interface for multiple document views, a powerful search function, user defined actions for double-clicking on any of the four quarters of the screen, navigate by thumbnail preview, bookmarking, and versatile layout/zooming options.

FileSeek is a free desktop search program that can search file and folder names as well within file contents. It performs searches efficiently, on-the-fly and does not pre-index your drives or constantly spend PC resources tracking changes on your hard drive. Most importantly, it supports regular expression queries as well as multiple filters for inclusion and exclusion of files and folders. It integrates into the Windows right-click context menu.

There are many ways to check RSS feeds. Two of the most popular are using a local RSS client (such as RSSOwl) and using a web-based reader (such as Google Reader). This posting will present nine interesting (and at times unusual) free ways to check RSS feeds, including using dekstop widgets (KlipFolio), RSS feeds as tabs on the side of your screen (Stick), RSS feeds within a dockable desktop area (SideSlide), as desktop sticky notes (Note Mania), embedded in your desktop wallpaper (Chaos Wallpaper), as news-tickers scrolling across your screen (EasyDeskTicker), and delivered as emails in your inbox (FeedMyInbox).

HideOutlook is a small, free Outlook extension that minimizes Outlook to the system tray instead of the taskbar. It also enables right-clicking on the HideOutlook icon in the system tray to start common tasks such as creating new emails, notes, appointments, tasks, etc. For Outlook Express use HideOE, a sister extension that performs the same function.

ManicTime is a free app that runs in the background, measures your computer usage, and provides detailed stats on your activity. It can report on your general computer usage, on the specific applications that you’ve been using as well as the specific web sites that you’ve visited. It allows you to “tag” chunks of time with user-defined tags in order to allocate time in a way that makes sense to you and refine the analysis.

JStock is a free, open source stock-monitoring software. It can create a database of stocks and download and deliver data and charts for these in real time for more than 20 world markets and going back up to 10 years. It can also set-up stock portfolios where it records all transactions and calculates profit or loss. Two features stand out, however, the first is Alerts delivery (SMS, Email, or in the system tray) that are based on user-created "Stock Indicators". The second is a built-in chat function designed to enable JStock users to communicate with each other and share information. JStock is multiplatform (Windows/Linux/Mac/Solaris).

uTodo is a simple yet powerful freeware to-do list software. It provides a lot of flexibility for organizing to-do lists across both different “lists” and tags in addition to setting dates and priorities. It can be used to implement a GTD- influenced task management system and even includes a GTD template that users can use as a starting point and customize. Can convert items to sticky-style notes visible on the desktop (and hide them back again), and can be used portably from a USB.