So you’ve purchased an app from the iTunes store and it doesn’t work or it doesn’t work like you expected it to. What do you do? Well there is a way you can request a refund from Apple for the app. First let’s review their policy.

In order to get a refund the app must have one of the following problems:

1) Corrupt or faulty in some way.
2) Different in appearance or function from the description in the App Store.
3) Unworkable in your geographic area.

If you situation matches this then simply drop off an email to: iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com with the following information:

* User Name

* Details about the problem you’re having and why you’re requesting a refund

* The iTunes Order Number (Can be found in your account)

Good luck!

(Note: This information was first found at iPad Help Forums.)

Program:BlueScreenView

Price: Freeware

Site: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Description: Open “Minidump” information from Windows and tries to isolate a likely cause.

If you’re working on a computer that continually crashes and and gives you grief you can try using a very simple program called BlueScreenView to attempt to fix your issues. Now it won’t automatically solve Blue Screens for you but it will attempt to read error logs that those blue screens leave behind and give you a likely reason (such as a program or driver).

The program is small, portable and extremely easy to use.

Program:CCleaner (Crap Cleaner)

Price: Freeware

Site: www.ccleaner.com

Description: Cleans temp files from windows and also has a registry cleaner.

CCleaner is one of those tools that you really need (or if not need then will miss) when you’re doing tuneups or setting up a new computer. We all know that over time computers get filled with crap. Crap from the internet, crap from installers, crap from applications. The crap takes the form of temporary files such as browser cache and temp backups of your files as well as other things.

Introducing the Crap Cleaner! CCleaner will scan your computer and find all this crap and present it to you in a nice list form. All you need to choose is what to delete. (Hint: Probably everything.) I’ve seen the cleaner remove gigabytes of crap. Amazing!

The program also has a registry cleaner, and I know that there are many out there that are iffy about these as some tend to corrupt the registry. I’m happy to say that I’ve used CCleaner on hundreds of machines and it’s never messed anything up. However it does prompt you to do a registry backup, something you should be doing anyway before working on a clients machine. The cleaner will find obsolete keys such as file extensions not in use anymore and outmoded dll file keys.

And as if that is not enough the program also has a startup removal tool. It will scan startup  locations on your computer and let you choose which programs to stop from loading when Windows starts up. However I’m not as fond of this tool as I tend to use HiJack This for my startup removal needs.

The summary? CCleaner is a great tool that I use everyday, it’s user friendly and safe.

Program: Unknown Devices

Price: Freeware

Site: www.halfdone.com/ukd/

Description: Identifies devices connected to your computer.

Since there are still many people going about downgrading computers from Vista to XP I thought it might be useful to you guys to post the “Unknown Devices” program today.

Basically what the program does is act like a more detailed Device Manager, it not only lists the devices by the names given by the Device Manager but manufacturer names as well. When device manager only says: “Unknown Device” the Unknown Devices program will find out the devices name so that you can hunt down the drivers.

Very useful and it’s also portable so you can keep it on your USB flash drive.

Program: JkDefrag

Price: Freeware (GPL Open Source)

Site: www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag

Description: Disk Defragmenter

JkDefrag is a program that I think I’ve fallen in love with. After years of using the drab Windows Defragmentor I tried out JkDefrag. The program is named after it’s creator Jeroen Kessels who develops the program then gives it away for free, including the source. Ain’t he a nice guy?

The degragmentor program itself has no buttons to press or an overcomplicated GUI. You simply launch the one executable and the programs starts to do its’ job. If you need to change some settings (such as having the programs analyze the disk only and not defragment it) you can do so with a command prompt. Probably the most helpful aspect is it’s ability to run over networks and from portable flash drives (so you can add it to your tool kit.)

JkDefrag does not only defragment the disk but optimize it as well. It strives to put all important and heavily used data onto faster areas of the disk (such as the beginning) while putting less used data onto slower areas.

It also has a pretty cool “status” screen where it actually shows the data being moved. It’s freaked out many people not in the know, great conversation starter.

Program: Revo Uninstaller

Price: Freeware

Site: www.revouninstaller.com

Description: Alternate uninstaller utility

The Revo Uninstaller from VS Revo Group is one of the most helpful utilites out there. Okay picture this: you’re doing a tuneup and you come across an old program that the client wants you to remove. You try using Add or Remove Programs (or Programs and Features in Vista) and the program does not uninstall. You try going into the programs directory and using the uninstaller directly…and nothing happens.

That’s where Revo Uninstaller comes in. It also tries to use the uninstaller included with the program you want to remove but when that fails it goes much deeper. It actually scans the computer for files that belong to the app you want to remove and removes them itself. It also removes that programs entries from the registry.

An example: I tried to remove a program called Comodo Antispam from a clients computer. I launched the included uninstaller but after it finished Comodo was still there! So I grabbed a copy of Revo Uninstaller and in about 3-5 minutes the application was gone!

Highly recommended. It’s fast, effective and easy to use.