DOWNLOAD.ZONE - Blog

Can a VPN Provider See My Traffic and History?

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 01:21:00 +0000

The answer is dictated by the provider you choose, but technically, all VPN companies can see your traffic and history. However, most of them choose to delete this information by directing it to a "null" file or folder. These are the so-called newspaperless companies. Nowadays, more and more VPN services present themselves as the strong protectors of the privacy of Internet users, which means that they do not keep any record of your online activities, either for themselves or for third parties. The only exception to the rule is the tiny bit of information they store about your purchase and subscription. The scope of details may vary, but more often than not, they collect your name, address, password, valid email address and credit card information. Still, there are companies that are raising the stakes even further by allowing you to pay via anonymous methods, like Bitcoin. This increases your privacy to an ultimate level.

You have to be careful when dealing with the notion of non-journaling, as this is a pretty gray area. There are countries whose legislation requires companies (not only VPNs but also ISPs) to store newspapers for a specified period of time. In Australia for example, the requested storage period is 2 years. In other cases, no appropriate legislation is present, but a court order may be sufficient to compel the company to hand over the registered newspapers. The case is similar in North America, as we learned from the battle between Apple and the FBI. The reason for such an outcry against privacy is that the authorities are looking for and hitting those who prefer the torrent. Unfortunately, there are more and more VPN companies that have turned over their own clients to copyright owners who have filed complaints. Since companies must act in accordance with the law of the country in which they are incorporated, it is best to keep your head down and be careful, as Big Brother might keep an eye on you.

Why Is It Vital to Keep Your Traffic Hidden?

Well, here are 2 things to consider:

1. If your address and traffic are hidden, you can access any type of online content you want. And the best part? Your ISP - and no one else for that matter - will know. So you can easily enjoy quality American entertainment wherever you are in the world. Yes, this even applies to countries that outright ban this type of Internet content.

2. Your ISP will not restrict your bandwidth. Of course, not all ISPs do this, but enough of them use it to be a problem for many users. Simply put, if they can't see your exact online traffic, they won't know if they need to limit your connection speed and bandwidth.

So, as you can clearly see, keeping your online traffic hidden is a safe way to benefit from quality internet anonymity.

Best Driver Updater Software

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 05:14:00 +0000

Driver updater tools do just what you're probably thinking—they help you update some or all of the device drivers installed in Windows for your computer's hardware. These free driver updater programs make it easy to keep your drivers updated. Use one, and you won't need to deal with Device Manager so much, nor will you need to go find the right driver from your hardware maker yourself.

Driver Genius

Occasional false positives the title suggests, this is the nineteenth version of Driver Genius, by Avanquest Software. What Avanquest offers is a small but effective tool that manages driver updates on the PC that tracks more than a million hardware drivers to make sure that the right ones are on your computer. The level of user intervention is very low, as this solution is practically fire-and-forget. Once installed, the application scans the drivers installed and matches these against a driver versioning database, and then downloads and installs the latest ones. When these activities are scheduled is controllable by the user, so that it doesn’t repeat the typical Windows irritation of initiating a reboot while you are using the system. And, it notifies you of new driver releases. What makes this one stands out is that it will bundle all the drivers into an executable file for you, a facility that accelerates the reinstalling of a system dramatically. It also purges old drivers, so Windows can’t reinstall them accidentally. This Platinum release has a few extras, including a system booster that tweaks a system for greater performance and another tool that optimizes SSDs.

AVG Driver Updater

Drivers that update from a name people trust.AVG makes a very popular anti-virus suite, and exclusively for the PC it also offers a driver management tool, AVG Driver Updater. As the name hints, this tool scans the system and identifies drivers that are past their best date and replaces them with the latest versions. It checks with 100+ hardware makers to get the latest official drivers and also snapshots the working drivers on the system in case they need to be reinstalled for any reason.AVG has a good reputation for making reliable code, and this utility works tirelessly in the background to keep the computer performing at its best. If the weakness of this product is the driver database, this limitation isn’t reflected in the price. From AVG it costs $39.99 per year, making it one of the more expensive options.AVG provides a trial version to download and install that will scan your system and report those drivers that need an update. But, the trial won’t update them without a purchase.

Driver Reviver

Be a MacGyver with Driver Reviver. It makes a wide range of other Reviver branded software products for both the PC and the Apple Mac, although this one is exclusively for the PC. Driver Reviver is a driver maintenance tool by ReviverSoft, since 2014 a subsidiary of Corel. What it aims to do is keep the drivers on the system concurrent, and avoid the system accidentally installing corrupt or malware-infected drivers. One feature that we liked was that it creates a restore point before installing drivers. Enabling the system to be restored more easily, should the new drivers cause a problem. It also has a useful option to scan automatically when Windows starts, allowing drivers to be updated before you’ve started working on the computer. ReviverSoft claims that its driver database contains over 10 million files. Although, we assume that this includes all versions of many drivers because we don’t think that there are so many hardware devices for Windows. Whatever the exact truth, its driver database is very comprehensive.

Driver Booster 7

IObit is a software house that has created several enhancement and optimization products that includes Driver Booster 7 in its roster. Driver Booster 7 is a driver maintenance tool and sources its drivers from the official manufacturers’ websites. Before passing those on to your computer, IOBit tests that they’re intact and have passed the Microsoft WHQL tests. Where this product deviates from the norm in driver support applications is that the free version will update drivers, but only two a day. The paid ‘Pro’ version has no limit on use, more drivers, and initiates a backup before installing new drivers, but the free version has plenty of useful features. One feature that is in both we especially appreciated is that it has a silent mode where it won’t interrupt you when applications are in full-screen mode. If only Microsoft were so considerate of its customers. The free version of Driver Boost 7 will download and install drivers happily, but you avoid adverts and can pay for some additional features with Driver Boost 7 Pro for $22.95. And, that license covers you for a year on three computers.

DriverFinder

DriverFinder is a basic tool that scans your Windows system and identifies those drivers that are either missing or need an update. And, it can find the latest versions and install those. Most drivers it sources come directly from the hardware makers, so they’re generally the ones you’ll want. And, it can also backup all the drivers currently used, which is ideal for those that need to reinstall a system promptly. However, there are a few weaknesses to this solution that needs to be mentioned. It has no install-all option, meaning that if you discover that the system needs twenty updates, you’ll be clicking twenty times to resolve each of them. This issue is only a problem initially, as once you’ve run it a few times the likelihood is that it will only find one or two drivers that need updating at each scan. It also doesn’t include a scheduler to run scans automatically, though you can have it run automatically when Windows launches. Signing up comes with a promise of no automatic recurring, or auto-billing.

Conclusion

After following the above instructions, you should be able to update your device drivers. This will be useful for meeting minimum requirements for applications/software, to fix bugs that out-of-date drivers may be causing, or to improve the performance of your hardware.

How to Create Partitions with AOMEI Partition Assistant

Sat, 23 Nov 2019 07:01:00 +0000

AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant is essential software that allows anyone with little computer knowledge to properly manage the hard disk partitions. This easy to use software that allows users to perform several important tasks on the hard the disk which is very tough otherwise. Whether you want to create the partition with the exact size, delete the current partition then add the deleted space to another partition or you want to safely merge two partitions together, or copy the whole disk partition to another SSD, AOMEI Partition Assistant will do them all. With AOMEI Partition Assistant is it is not only easy to perform these complicated tasks but also incredibly fast.

In general, AOMEI Partition Assistant provides 3 major hard disk functions – Partition Copy Wizard, Disk Copy Wizard, and NTFS to FAT32 Converter which expands to several small/big tasks that you will ever need to perform in your hard disk, safely. Below I have listed all the features of this software in detail. Let’s see how they can help us in hard disk management and protecting our data.

Features of AOMEI Partition Assistant

Partition Management

This partition management tool provides you the full control over your Hard disk and allows you to manage every partition in an organized way so that you will be able to store and access data quickly and efficiently. With partition Resize/move feature; you can easily extend the partition without rebooting the system.AOMEI Partition Assistant even allows you to merge unallocated disk space to an existing partition or create a separate partition out of it. This will solve the low disk space problems and allows you to optimize your hard disk space properly.

Copy Disk/Partition

To protect your data from unexpected situations, software modifications, viruses, and other updates, AOMEI provides a facility to copy disk and copy partition. You can move the whole disk or part of the Hard disk to new SSD within a few clicks.

Migrate OS to SSD/HDD

With AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can smoothly copy/migrate your existing OS and all its components on to a new Hard disk or SSD without installing everything. This can be a time & money-saving process when you are in a hurry to use your new system but don’t have a Windows OS CD to install it.NTFS to FAT32 Converter.As Windows is evolving, a lot of things got changed like the disk format, partition type, file syntax, etc. That’s why a lot of users facing issues with unsupported GPT or MBR formats, FAT/NTFS file system. If you are also facing these issues them AOMEI Partition Assistant will help you to change from one format to another.

Make Bootable CD

Have you ever encountered a problem where your current OS fails to boot? AOMEI has a feature to make a bootable CD so that you will not worry about the situation anymore. For those who have less hard disk management tasks, AOMEI provides Free version of AOMEI Partition Assistant which supports windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP (32/64-bit). In which it allows basic features such as Resize, shrink, move, extend, merge, create, delete, format, and wipe partitions along with other important features available in the pro version. But if you have a heavy-duty task and want to take benefit of all amazing hard disk management features that I told above, buy AOMEI Partition Assistant pro which only costs $47.95 but saves you from a lot of headaches when required. This PRO version is also available as a free trial for you to properly try and test the AOMEI Partition assistant by yourself.

Conclusion

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition is a great tool for every disk partition manager's needs. It's also free, it has no remarkable downsides, it's both easy-to-use and comprehensive and therefore it gets my full appreciation.

Best Utility Software for Pc

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 06:42:00 +0000

Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. Utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure operates. Utility software, along with operating system software, is a type of system software, distinguishing it from application software.

CCleaner

As a computer gets older, it collects unused files and settings which take up hard drive space making it run slower. CCleaner Software cleans up these files and makes it faster instantly. It is a freeware system optimization and cleaning tool. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally, it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

Everything

Everything is search utility software that locates files and folders by filename instantly on the Windows operating system. The interface of utility software is based on a standard explorer window, and users across all domains can learn about this utility software quite easily.

KeyFinder

Magical Key-finder is utility software that retrieves the product key used to install windows from your registry. A community-updated configuration file is also maintained that retrieves the product keys for various other applications. It scans your computer for licensed applications and generates a list of them. You can simply click on the applications and the tool would show you the required key.

Iolo System Mechanic

This Iolo System Mechanic utility software fixes bugs and errors in your PC. In this manner, it helps to restore your PC to its optimum speed and stability. It gives a faster start-up and faster downloading speed to your system. System Mechanic can also improve the CPU speed and provide improved graphics for richer user experience.

Partition Wizard

The Partition Wizard is used to organize disk partitions to use your disk at the optimum level. It can analyze your disk usage and help manage its usage. It works by checking the file system, aligning SSD partition and migrating OS to SSD.

IObit Advanced SystemCare

It is a one-click solution to clean your PC, optimize it and prevent it from external threats. IObit Advanced System Care acts as a computer cleaner which gives a faster PC response providing you a safer and more stable system. It can protect your personal data which gives a sense of security by using this utility software.

iMonitor EAM

It is a surveillance utility software that monitors the system of an employee. It can be used by various enterprises, large or small. IMonitor EAM lets organizations record employee’s computer activities including keystrokes, clipboard activities, screenshots, and emails and file documents.

Conclusion

Utility computing holds great promise for its customers. It can help to leverage existing assets while implementing critical initiatives and improving data availability and application resiliency. Imagine if accessing computing resources were as simple as flipping a switch. No hardware and software to maintain; you simply access them as you need them, and pay only for what you use.

Best Trading Software For Windows

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:09:00 +0000

Trading software, a set of computer programs that facilitate trading in financial instruments such as stocks and currencies, also helps improve stock-picking decisions through fundamental and technical analysis features. Some software also allows transaction processing.

MetaTrader 5

The MetaTrader 5 is one of the leading forex and CFD trading platforms on the market, and it is compatible with Windows PC devices. The platform offers everything you could wish for from top-notch analytic tools, swift execution, market updates, robots, and more.

To get access to the MetaTrader 5 you first need to open an account with a forex broker that has the MT5 integrated. Many of the leading brokers support MT5 these days so that is not an issue.

If you’re using a Windows Smartphone, you can opt for MT5’s sister platform the MetaTrader 4 which is mostly for forex trading but fully compatible with Windows mobile OS.

Trading View

Trading View is another state of the art platform that’s commonly used by many professionals. Unlike the MetaTrader 5, TradingView app is used to trade more assets such as stock, commodities, and more. In other words, Trading View is a more comprehensive platform that can be used for many types of trading.

Obviously, Trading View is also compatible with Windows, making it one of the best trading tools for Windows.

eToro

eToro is a leading forex and CFD broker that has developed a unique copy trading platform as well as the leading social trading network in the world.

This means that trading with eToro is like nothing you’ve ever tried before. However, the reason we’ve included eToro’s platform on this list is because of how well-developed the platform and all of its features are.

PTMC

PTMC is actually a software to keep you connected with stocks, Forex/CFDs, futures, and ETFs.It's equally valuable for both professional traders and investors as they can make correct decisions by watching the charts and analytical tools. It works for various markets and covers multiple brokers.

PTMC trading platform technology allows the connection to any operating broker via an Application Program Interface or Multi Account Manager.

E-Trade

E-Trade is considered to be one of the leading stockbrokers in the world, and its software is loved by many. Trading with E-Trade on a Windows PC is smoother than you could ever dream of and we really believe that it should be a part of every serious trader’s toolbox.

Best 5 Social media management tools

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:09:00 +0000

Social media is a powerful tool for growing your business, driving traffic to your website, and keeping your followers in the loop. Social management platforms will help you manage multiple social profiles in one place, schedule posts in advance, run contests, track analytics across platforms, and the list goes on. There are three major features that a good social media management tool should always have. These are publishing and RSS integration, social engagement, and great analytics reporting. Here are some of the very best social media management tools out there.

1. Sprout Social: Sprout Social is a complete social media management tool for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. It includes the full gamut of scheduling tools, including the ability to post to multiple networks at once. You can stick to your own schedule or have Sprout Queue automatically schedule posts at the best time for you. One notable publishing feature is the ability to tag updates so that you can easily recall them later for analytics purposes. This allows you to tag and track entire campaigns, post types, subject matters, and any other content you may be trialing.

2. Hootsuite: Hootsuite aims to provide an all-in-one platform for social media management across multiple sites. As expected, there's an option to search and filter through existing social media, in order to find brand mentions, insights, and demographic information. This offers 2 plans Hootsuite free plan and Hootsuite premium plans. Additionally, with any of Hootsuite's plans, you have the option to schedule posts from multiple profiles across multiple social media sites. This allows you to ensure any marketing campaigns are properly timed and targeted when and where you need them to be. This is especially when posts can be tagged to ensure you store them in the right place for use at the right time.

3. Iconosquare: Few services offer such deep management of Instagram accounts as Iconosquare. Aimed entirely at those with Instagram business accounts and Facebook Pages, Iconosquare helps you, monitor, publish, and analyze visual content on the social web. The service uses a modern, responsive dashboard that feels like it has been designed with the Instagram generation in mind. Navigation is simple using the pop-out menu to the left of the screen, with clean white backgrounds, bold typography, and sparing use of eye-catching colors. Iconosquare is able to schedule content in advance for both Instagram and Facebook. This includes a single image and video posts for Facebook, plus Instagram carousels and Story updates too.

4. Buffer: Buffer is an intuitive, streamlined social media management platform trusted by brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media. We have a suite of products for publishing, engagement, analytics, and team collaboration. Our products are carefully considered and highly refined in order to help social media marketers and teams work more efficiently and effectively. Buffer has basic publishing features, such as scheduling and adding posts to a queue. However, it’s not made for evergreen posts. In other words, it will not let you upload hundreds of posts and then recycle them. It also can’t publish them on your social media until you tell it to stop. It does have the RSS feed that helps you publish posts from blogs.

5. TweetDeck: If Twitter is the bread and butter of your social media strategy, then TweetDeck is likely the best social management platform for you! TweetDeck will allow Twitter birds to use custom timelines, create and manage Twitter lists and searches, and add team accounts. It is also free for Twitter users! While TweetDeck may not be the all-in-one platform you’re searching for, it is the perfect tool for social marketers managing multiple Twitter accounts where these live conversations are critical for business success.

Do you know these top Social Media Android Apps?

Conclusion

Social media management tools come in all shapes and sizes, and what suits you best depends on your and social media goals needs. All these social media management tools are good options but a choice among these is purely based on personal preferences.

Best Music Player Apps for Ubuntu

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 05:52:00 +0000

The popularity of Linux is increasing rapidly and so the number of Linux users is too. Hence developers are working on new applications for the Linux platform all the time. Now there are thousands of applications available for various Linux distributions which were not the case a few years back. Finding a music player for Ubuntu is not difficult. A veritable orchestra of options exists, some new, some old, some in tune with modern trends, others riffing to their own beat. Everyone loves listening to music while working or in their free time so today we are going to have a look at the Best Music Players for Ubuntu which you must try.

1.Clementine: Clementine is a free and open-source cross-platform music player which is very popular among Ubuntu users. It is easy to use and flexible music player with a very simple user interface. The best thing about Clementine is its simple navigation which makes you feel at home even if you are a new user. Clementine music player offers many excellent features which include search and play music from a local library, listen to online radio from the likes of Spotify, Magnatune, SKY.fm, and many more, lyrics and artist info, etc. You can also play songs stored on Dropbox, Google Drive, and One Drive. It also supports desktop notifications on some Linux distributions.

2.Rhythmbox: Rhythmbox is the default music player in Ubuntu and as such merits a place in this list. Widely used, Rhythmbox is a reliable, dependable, and extensible GTK music player that uses the Gstreamer backend. The standard layout of the app is straightforward to navigate, and it’s easy to filter through your music using the column browser or the search box. The app lets you do more than just play, manage and sort music and create playlists. It can scrobble to Last.fm, and it has built-in support for podcasts and internet radio stations. The player also boasts integration with online music service SoundCloud.

3.Banshee: Banshee is billed as the music player app, and it goes a fair way to matching the claim. Banshee is an open-source cross-platform music player developed by Novell Inc. It uses the GStreamer platform for encoding and decoding various media formats. It can also play music from portable media players including Android devices and Apple’s iPod. Banshee offers many other features that can be enabled by installing additional plugins. It has a simple and clean user interface with every tab is placed perfectly.

4.Audacious: Audacious is a free and open-source music player which focuses on high audio quality with the use of minimum resources. The best thing about this audio player is that it works perfectly well on PCs with low specifications. It supports all the major audio formats. Audacious has a very simple user interface with everything placed perfectly for easier navigation. You can also customize themes and appearances in an Audacious music player. All the necessary controls in this MP3player for pc are stacked at the top that can be used to add music files to the playlist, skip the song, pause it, or shuffle and repeat it.

5. Amarok: Amarok is KDE’s default music player. This open-source tool has been around for years and serving linux enthusiasts with pleasure. Even after losing its charm in recent years and sliding out of the spotlight, it manages to give a tough competition to other players in this collection. It’s the best music player for Ubuntu. It boasts of featuring a large set of features and plugins.

Conclusion

All the music players enlisted above are definitely up to the mark with the performance. We believe these Ubuntu Music Players will introduce you to the new experience of listening to music. All these music players are good options for Ubuntu but a choice among these is purely based on personal preferences.

Best Music Making Software for PC

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 05:56:00 +0000

Music production software are digital audio workstations that give music artists a platform to record, edit, mix and otherwise refine their audio tracks. Above all else, they enable users to create music without any live instruments, which is probably preferable to banging away at the drums in a garage. Beyond that, there are numerous features and advantages with the digital tools available.

ACID Pro 365: ACID Pro is a veteran when it comes to music production software, and the first version of this software was released 20 years ago. The new version offers a new and sleek user interface as well as a powerful 64-bit engine. In addition, there’s support for 24-bit, 192kHz multitrack recording. Lastly, the application has a CD burning feature, but you can also save your projects in various audio formats including MP3, WMA, WMV, AAC, FLAC and more. Overall, ACID Pro 365 is a great music production software, and with 16 different available instruments, and 9GB of ACID loops.

FL Studio: The Best Free Music Production Software for Beginners. This is one of the best DAWs for those looking to start out and get their feet wet in the music-making world. FL Studio by Image-Line has been out and about for quite some time, being one of the most popular software to date. It’s got your standard protocol with pitch shifting, correction, time-stretch, cut, paste and the works, but its interface is especially well-suited for the beginner. It’ll take a little bit of reading to start going, but once you’ve got the hang of it you’re good to go. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there dating back to 2005 giving tutorials for pretty much any feature you need to be explained. You can use MIDI keyboards, record into it with a microphone, do your standard editing and mixing — it just gives you what you essentially need in music software with a simple interface.

Audacity: Audacity is open-source software that’s one of the most popular music editors with already millions of downloads. This cross-platform app works with not just Windows, but also with macOS and Linux. This program allows you to not only record music from several different sources but also post-process nearly any type of audios. With the help of this software, you can also add different effects to your music, fine-tune the pitch, bass, and treble, and even assess tracks using its tool for frequency analysis.

GarageBand: GarageBand is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and music sequencer that can record and playback multiple tracks of audio. GarageBand has for years been a simple, accessible, yet very capable way of getting your songs recorded without needing to know too much about the mechanisms involved. Recent versions have brought GarageBand into line with Logic Pro X in terms of style, while also bringing across impressive features such as Drummer, which intuitively plays along with your compositions, alleviating the need for hours of careful MIDI programming. GarageBand's elegant layout and lack of too many control options make it an ideal place for those new to working in a digital environment.

LMMS: LMMS (which used to stand for Linux MultiMedia Studio) is cross-platform music production software, available on both Mac and PC as well as Linux. It’s suitable for all levels of music producers and is a good fit for a beginner. LMMS has five editors that will help you create melodies (Song Editor) and beats (Beat + Bassline Editor), as well as make your own mixes (FX editor) and arrange samples. LMMS software also has a wide variety of instrument synthesizers. Among other good qualities of LMMS is its compatibility with external software. The program supports VST and LADSPA plugins with which you can mix a multitude of extra effects into the music track. You can export your files into MP3, AIF, and WAV as well as transfer files from different music production software.

Auslogics backup and file recovery software

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:52:00 +0000

Auslogics all-in-one File Recovery software recovers all file types, from any media device and from all common file and operating systems. It uses advanced file recovery techniques that make it possible to recover all possible file types. Even when damaged by viruses or spyware, or located on damaged or deleted partitions. And even after a quick drive format. Our recovery experts guarantee you the best possible result.

To keep it simple, the only thing you need to do is walk through an easy to use built-in Recovery Wizard. The Recovery Wizard lets you take advantage of the flexible built-in search options to minimize file recovery time; you can select the drives you want to scan, specify the file types, when last modified, specify a date range or just search for a deleted file by name.

Just in case that's not enough, you also get some very useful extras. Like the ability to create an image of your hard drive, which you can use to recover the files later, without worrying whether using your PC will overwrite them. There's also a shredder, which will securely delete confidential files so you can be sure that no-one else will be able to recover them. Or you can use the Disk Wiper to securely wipe the free space on a disk drive, ensuring that all deleted files are now gone forever.

The advanced filter lets you sort the scan results so you don't need to go through hundreds of files to find the file(s) you are looking for. The preview option lets you preview photos, videos, documents and PDF files right from the program when file names don't tell you much. Just browse through the list of deleted files found during the scan.

Auslogics File Recovery software supports file recovery from ALL major file systems: NTFS, Fat16/32, and exFat. Plus, you can preview content, create an ignore list, check out file details (e.g. clusters, date of last access), and view content in hexadecimal mode. Simply select which items you want to recover and Auslogics File Recovery takes care of the rest. Otherwise, you may wipe items (this way, they cannot be retrieved through similar apps by other users.)

Hootsuite Social Media Management Platform

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 10:11:00 +0000

Hootsuite is a free social media business suite. Manage and track multiple social media accounts within a custom dashboard.

With Hootsuite, you can write, send, schedule and track posts from a simple interface across multiple networks and multiple accounts. Hootsuite is web-based and does not require any software download. It is easy to use and is great for monitoring analytics and performance.

Social Media Dashboard

Hootsuite primarily runs from a social media dashboard, which provides a clear picture of all your social media activity across all of your accounts and allows you to post to all of them from one place.

Hootsuite gives you access to up to three of your top social media streams for free. Choose from Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Instagram, Google+ amongst others. This can be so much easier than trying to manage all of your accounts directly from a browser or individual mobile apps.

Social Media Monitoring Tool

A really useful, albeit less used, aspect of Hootsuite is the social media monitoring tool. With it, you can track what people are posting to your accounts, and you can also monitor what they are saying about your brand. This is done by creating a feed that is based on a search term i.e your business name. The monitoring tool then gives you access to a stream of all public mentions, which include that search term. It doesn’t matter whether they have been directed to your accounts or not. This is a useful tool although it doesn’t offer the degree of flexibility or features that dedicated social media monitoring tools have. It is, however, a good option for SMB’s which have a unique brand or business.

Features

Access your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Foursquare accounts from a single application.
Update your profiles: send and program comments, upload images, check-in at the places you visit, etc.

Welcome the assistant to import the column distribution from your web configuration.

HootSuite Pros

Lots of social networks supported.

You can use Hootsuite to manage many different social media accounts. Here is a list of social networks they support with no applications to install:

facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WordPress
FourSquare
Instagram

Here are some social networks Hootsuite supports that do require you to install an application (some free and some are paid):

YouTube
Storify
Viadeo
Dailymotion
SoundCloud
Vimeo
Reddit
Ping.fm
Mixi
MySpace
Ning
Tumblr
Blogger
StumbleUpon
Scoop.it
Xing

Low Cost

For their Pro version plan, it only costs $9.99/month which will be more than enough for most small businesses. You can pay monthly or yearly. You do get a price discount for paying annually.

Manage Accounts Multiple Stream

It’s very easy to manage all your social media accounts in different tabs. Their all-one interface allows you to add different networks you wish to monitor quickly. The organization is excellent for monitoring multiple Twitter streams, Facebook business pages, etc.

Auto-Schedule Posting

It’s very easy to auto-schedule different posts on your social networks. You can upload a .cvs file and schedule 100’s of the post to go out at various times throughout the day, week, month, and year.

Lots of Apps

There are lots of different applications you can install.

HootSuite Cons

There are some cons to using Hootsuite. They are listed down below:

Fees

There is a monthly or yearly fee for using HootSuite’s Pro or Enterprise plans. It can be a $100+ a year.

Free Account

The free account you can start with Hootsuite is limiting, but then again it is free. You can manage three social media accounts, have basic analytics, basic message scheduling, have access to basic applications, etc.

Auto Scheduling Problems

There are some bugs when you auto schedules your post which does take some additional time. For instance, you can’t add images to all the social networks you want to use. Meaning that you will have to add them in once your .cvs file manually is uploaded.

Extra App Fees

To use some of the apps, you’re going to want use. You are going to have to pay $.99 to $4.99 more each month.

Overwhelming

Since Hootsuite is very robust, it can be very overwhelming for people that are not all that computer savvy.

Also read: Importance of Social media Management tools