Linux/Windows: While Windows already has the immensely popular CCleaner , Linux users lack a good program to clean up their drive. Enter Bleachbit, which frees disk space, shreds files, and overwrites free disk space with a simple checkbox-based interface. More

Android: If you frequently read on your phone while sitting or laying in odd positions, you might find the automatic screen rotation frustrating if you’d prefer to read in portrait mode all the time. Here’s how to fix that. More

Android only: Creating folders on a home screen, then finding and dragging apps into them, isn’t quick or precise. Apps Organizer, and its broader cousin Folder Organizer, make creating and accessing batches of apps, contacts, and bookmarks much easier. More

Windows only: CCleaner Enhancer updates the popular system cleaning utility with support for cleaning up after 270 more applications, so you can keep your system even more crap free. More

Mac only: If you have an especially large monitor, multiple monitors, or are just used to the Windows way of doing things, free app MenuEverywhere makes the menu bar drop-down menus accessible from any window on the desktop. More

By default, Windows’ Control Panel broadly groups its options, tucking the nitty-gritty stuff you might be looking for into very general categories. You can, however, create a shortcut that lists all your Control Panel options in one list.

Linux tip: Many users are all too familiar with using Ctrl+Alt+Del (or, on a Mac, Cmd+Opt+Esc) to kill unresponsive processes. There isn’t a comparable keyboard shortcut for Linux by default, but a number of equivalent methods help deal with stuck processes. The closest thing that mimics the Windows task manager in Ubuntu is the System Monitor application

If you take your laptop to destinations beyond your couch, you expose it to intermittent connectivity, greater risk of theft, always-depleting batteries, and many other variables. Prepare your laptop for productivity on the go with these apps and utilities. Photo by jimmyroq .

Linux Live: If you want to put your computer through the paces and get some feedback and benchmarks, you’ll be hard pressed to find a tool more packed with tests than the Phoronix Test Suite Live CD. PTS Desktop Live is an Ubuntu Live CD with the Phoronix benchmarking suite preconfigured and installed. Reboot your machine with the CD in your drive—or on a USB drive—and you’ll boot into the test suite with access to 52 tests and 10 profiles.

Windows only: Open source notification system Growl for Windows has finally hit the 2.0 milestone, and with it comes a ton of new features that let you further customize the way you receive your pop-in corner notices. Among the new features are images in notifications, playing sounds when notifications are received, keyboard shortcuts, history, and notification summaries. There is also support for pushing notifications to iPhone, email, and Twitter, as well as pulling notifications from other machines on your network (whether they are PCs or Macs).