Windows; Mac; Linux Being able to focus on writing can be a tough task, but there are apps that try to help draw your attention to the task at hand. One such free program is FocusWriter that, despite it's simplistic interface, has a wealth of features and settings available to help you hit your writing goals.

Windows only Programs like Notepad++ have features that let you quickly manipulate bodies of text, which is something that can be really useful. Unfortunately these features are always restricted to the app you're using making them only marginally useful compared to what they could be.

Windows only HDR is the process of combining multiple photos with the hope that the resulting image is clear in both the light and dark areas. Getting good free HDR software that is capable of merging the photos together can be a little tricky since there are a lot of things it has to take into account, such as perfectly aligning each image.

Windows only A few months ago we pointed out that Notepad++ has an option to find and replace text in multiple files, but that is obviously not the sole purpose of the app. If you need to perform a find and replace operation across multiple files I'd highly suggest that you try out a program that focuses on that kind of task, such as TextCrawler.

Mac only The web-based version of Google Reader is pretty good, but it can be nice to use a desktop app from time to time. On the Mac you would be hard-pressed to find a decent  Google Reader desktop app, but the newly released Cappuccino is exactly that. It is a rather complete Google Reader app that comes equipped with folder/group support and sharing features.

Windows only I've always felt like Windows would benefit from a native virtual desktop implementation, but that is something Microsoft has yet to provide. There are plenty of third-party apps that can add this to just about any Windows operating system, but more often than not they aren't that great.

The Tilt 3D Firefox extension provides a unique view of any website using WebGL. It combs through the source code of a site and generates a 3D view that web developers may find useful. The extension's 3D view helps identify areas of the site that contain various HTML elements like a div, span, table, and many others.

Mac only A couple months ago we covered a Mac app called Moom that would let you move windows to various positions on your screen much like what is offered in Windows 7. The grid interface it incorporates is intuitive and I still stand by how much more productive the app makes me, but I know some of you were probably drawn away by the fact that it is $5 to buy.

Windows only When working with large XML files they can take awhile to load depending on the program you're using, but the free (and portable) XML Explorer can handle some big files with ease. This XML file viewer can pull up a 100MB file in just seconds, and it displays the information in a tree view so that you can efficiently browse the contents of the file.

Windows only Many times when I'm moving a window it is to take a peak at something that lies behind it. There are tools I've seen in the past where anytime you start moving the window it will immediately become transparent so that you can see through to what is in the background, but it quickly becomes annoying when it happens you move a window.

Mac only Do you hate the drop shadow that appears around all the windows and menus on your Mac? If you search around there are hidden settings on the Mac that you can modify to have the shadows disabled while taking a screenshot, but being able to disable them 100% of the time was a little tougher for me to find.

Windows only Sometimes it's nice to save spreadsheet as a CSV file because it's such a basic format that a lot of programs support it. If you're using Excel to work with CSV files it might be a little overkill, and maybe you'd instead be happier with a more basic editor such as the Tabular Text Editor.

Windows only I know a bunch of people who customize the appearance of their desktop, but many don't know that Windows 7 supports themes that rotate between desktop backgrounds and automatically adjusts the color of the Aero interface.

Windows only We've posted about other music download utilities in the past, and thought that Songr would be a good one to cover as well. It's a free program that can be used to search for music around the Internet, and more often than not can find high quality versions of the songs you're looking for.

Windows only I've tried out several free VPN services in the past and generally they are difficult to use or are extremely slow. When I tried out SecurityKISS I was pleasantly surprised at how it surpassed both of those hurdles. I was able to download the software, install it, and get connected to a VPN in under a minute.

Windows only Windows 8 will usher in a new version of Windows Explorer that is polished up with the Ribbon interface, which is something users tend to either love or hate.

Windows only Using scheduled tasks on your Windows PC you could create things that emulate an alarm clock, such as playing some sort of media. It's not impossible to do that way, but also not all that convenient. Start My Day is a free app that wants to help get your computer ready each morning without you having to fuss around with scheduled tasks.

Windows only If you're one of those people that have to suffer with a PC that takes minutes to boot up this is something you'll want to consider doing. It can be frustrating when restarting a computer that takes forever because many times you can't just walk away and come back to it ready to be used.

Windows only Many people consider magnifiers to only be for accessibility purposes, but they are also useful when working on projects that require pixel-perfect precision. Pointing Magnifier is a free Windows app that works really well when it comes to needing to do more than just read what is on the screen.

Windows only Markdown is a language that is supposed to make writing easier by letting users compose formatted content in a plain-text editor. Getting used to some of the syntax can take time, but there is a lot of intuitiveness behind it as well. Once you decide that you want to give Markdown a try I recommend checking out the free MarkdownPad app for Windows.