Miscellaneous

Enso - Replaces Capslock with a more useful version, allowing commands such as wiki <whatever>, google <whatever>, map <whatever>, open <whatever>, play song/artist/album <whatever> (iTunes only), play/pause track, upper/lowercase highlighted selection, etc.

Unlocker
Unlocker is an explorer extension that allows you with a simple right-click of the mouse on a file or folder to get rid of error message such as error deleting file or folder, cannot delete folder: it is used by another person or program. Unlocker can unlock files, folders, dll, and can also delete index.dat without restarting your computer.

Notepad++ Free
Notepad++ is a free (free as in "free speech", but also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement, which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment. This project, based on the Scintilla edit component (a very powerful editor component), written in C++ with pure win32 api and STL (that ensures the higher execution speed and smaller size of the program), is under the GPL Licence.

Start++
Start++ is an enhancement for the Start Menu in Windows Vista. It also extends the Run box and the command-line with customizable commands.  For example, typing "w Windows Vista" will take you to the Windows Vista page on Wikipedia!

Restoration
Restoration allows you to scan your hard drive for files you have deleted. The reason this works is that when you delete a file, it doesn't actually get deleted off of the hard drive. Windows just changes a byte in the file table telling the hard drive that that section of disk can now be overwritten. If that section of hard disk hasn't been overwritten, you can get your file back! However, if that section has been overwritten, this method will not work, so it is best to do it as soon as possible.

Explorer Suite
Explorer Suite is a free suite of tools including a process viewer and a PE editor. Created by Daniel Pistelli, Explorer Suite is a free suite of tools including a process viewer and a PE editor. called CFF Explorer.

Window Clippings
Window Clippings is a powerful yet unobtrusive screen capture tool. It is designed to produce the highest quality screenshots with the least amount of effort. Window Clippings 2.0 was recently released and includes many new features and improvements. It is free to use but a license is required to unlock some of the more advanced features.

VMware Free Player Trial
This software suite allows users to run multiple instances of x86 or x86-64 -compatible operating systems on a single physical PC. VMware Fusion provides similar functionality for users of the MacIntel platform, along with full compatibility with virtual machines created by other VMware products. For users without a license to use VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion, VMware offers the freeware VMware Player product, which can run (but not create) virtual machines

Multimedia Converters

SUPER Free
SUPER, Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer. A GUI to ffmpeg, mencoder, mplayer, ffmpeg2theora & the theora/vorbis RealProducer plugIn. If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER © is all you need. Supports most video formats and also portable formats for PSP, Nintendo DS, PS3, iPod, Zune, PocketPC and NEC, Nokia, Siemens, SonyEricsson mobiles.
This is the old 2008.30 version, the new version sucks, just use the old one

MediaCoder Free
MediaCoder is a universal media transcoder which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution, converting between almost all popular audio/video formats with high performance and abundant adjustable parameters.

DVD Flick Free
DVD Flick aims to be a tool to convert various PC video formats to a DVD that can be played on pretty much any standalone DVD player. It's main target audience is people who know at least the basics about DVDs and video and audio files. 

Multimedia Players

AIMP2 Free
An advanced multimedia player that includes an audio converter, recorder, and tag editor. Includes an easy to use interface, small size and minimal use of system resources.

Foobar200 Free
Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

Winamp Free Edition
Winamp, the ultimate media player, allows you to manage and play audio and video files, rip and burn CDs, enjoy free music,  access and share your music and videos remotely, and sync your music to your iPod , Creative, and Microsoft Plays for Sure devices .  Winamp features album art support, streams audio and video content, and provides access to thousands of online radio stations and podcasts.

VLC Media Player Free
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Debuggers, Disassemblers, Coding, Reverse Engineering

OllyDbg
OllyDbg is a debugger that emphasizes binary code analysis, which is useful when source code is not available. It traces registers, recognizes procedures, API calls, switches, tables, constants and strings, as well as locates routines from object files and libraries.

IDA Pro 4.9 (Freeware)
The Interactive Disassembler, more commonly known as simply IDA, is a commercial disassembler widely used for reverse engineering. It supports a variety of executable formats for different processors and operating systems. It also can be used as a debugger for Windows PE, Mac OS X Mach-O, and Linux ELF executables. Although IDA performs a large degree of automatic code analysis to a certain extent, leveraging cross-references between code sections, knowledge of parameters of API calls, and other information, it is focused on being interactive. A typical IDA user will begin with an automatically generated disassembly listing and then rename, annotate, or otherwise add information to the listing, until it becomes clear what it does, creating an effective reverse-engineering.

Resource Hacker
Resource Hacker is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems.

Visual Studio Express Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio Express is a set of freeware integrated development environments (IDE) developed by Microsoft that are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 product line. The idea of express editions, according to Microsoft, is to provide a streamlined, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn IDEs for less serious users, such as hobbyists and students.

Bloodshed Dev-C++
Bloodshed Dev-C++ is a (FREEWARE) full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the C/C++ programming language. It uses Mingw port of GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) as it's compiler. Dev-C++ can also be used in combination with Cygwin or any other GCC based compiler.

Bloodshed Dev-Pascal
Dev-Pascal is a (FREEWARE) full-featured integrated development environment (IDE), which is able to create Windows or console-based Pascal programs using the Free Pascal or GNU Pascal compilers.

Chatting & Messaging

X-Chat
XChat is an IRC chat program for both Linux and Windows. It allows you to join multiple IRC channels (chat rooms) at the same time, talk publicly, private one-on-one conversations etc. Even file transfers are possible.

mIRC
mIRC is a popular Internet Relay Chat client used by millions of people, and thousands of organizations, to communicate, share, play and work with each other on IRC networks around the world. Serving the Internet community  for over a decade, mIRC has evolved into a powerful, reliable and fun piece of technology.

Windows Live (MSN) Messenger
Instantly connect to the people who matter the most—via text, voice, or video. Even if they’re offline, you can leave a message or send a note.

Miranda IM
Miranda IM is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Windows. Very light on system resources and extremely fast, Miranda IM requires no installation and can be made to fit on a single floppy disk or USB drive. Featuring a powerful plugin-based framework and boasting over 350 plugins, Miranda IM is one of the most flexible and customisable messaging clients on the planet.

Pidgin
Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client. The software supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various different services from one application.

Trillian
Trillian is a proprietary multiprotocol instant messaging application for Windows created by Cerulean Studios that can connect to multiple IM services, such as AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, Jabber, and Skype networks (the latter four with Trillian Pro which allows for additional plugins).

PC Optimization Tools

FreeRAM XP Pro
FreeRAM XP Pro includes automatic memory monitoring and optimization; advanced tray support; fast, threaded freeing with a stop option; multiple system-metric monitors; a simple and attractive GUI; memory reporting and diagnostic logging; and real-time memory information.

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.

JKDefrag
JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. Included are a Windows version, a commandline version (for scheduling by the task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts), a screensaver version, a DLL library (for use from programming languages), versions for Windows X64, and the complete sources.

ATF Cleaner
ATF is a new, freeware, temporary file cleaner for Windows, IE, Firefox and Opera with a simple, easy-to-use interface.

CCleaner
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! 

TCP Optimizer
The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run. The program can aid both the novice and the advanced user in tweaking related TCP/IP parameters in the Windows Registry, making it easy to tune your system to the type of Internet connection used. The tool uses advanced algorithms, and the bandwidth*delay product to find the best TCP Window for your specific connection speed. It provides for easy tuning of all related TCP/IP parameters, such as MTU, RWIN, and even advanced ones like QoS and ToS/Diffserv prioritization. The program works with all current versions of Windows, and includes additional tools, such as testing average latency over multiple hosts, and finding the largest possible packet size (MTU).


Microsoft Bootvis
BootVis is a performance trace visualization utility that you can use with Windows XP systems. Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Here are some key features of "BootVis": · Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds · Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds · Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

Auslogics Disk Defrag
Disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup and shutdown and sometimes to system failures. Auslogics Disk Defrag is designed for fast optimization of today's modern hard disks. The program is FREE.

Auslogics Registry Defrag
Data is frequently removed from the registry, but the allocated space remains. This can adversely affect computer performance. Registry Defrag removes the gaps, making the registry contiguous, smaller and faster to access. This program is FREE.

PC Pitstop
Run our free Optimize scan and identify many common problems that plague most computers. Find out what it takes to get a better performing computer without the expense or difficulty of adding new hardware. Most computers are not Optimize for their internet connection. Overtime leftover registry keys and files will throttle down your system's speed. Run Optimize now to detect common issues that obstruct your computer's true performance. 

Firewalls

ZoneAlarm Firewall
ZoneAlarm is designed to protect your DSL- or cable-connected PC from hackers. This program includes four interlocking security services: a firewall, an application control, an Internet lock, and Zones. The firewall controls the door to your computer and allows only traffic you understand and initiate. The Internet lock blocks Internet traffic while your computer is unattended or while you're not using the Internet, and it can be activated automatically with your computer's screensaver or after a set period of inactivity. Zones monitor all activity on your computer and alert you when a new application attempts to access the Internet.

Comodo Firewall Pro
FREE Comodo Personal Firewall - Secure your system against internal attacks such as Trojan viruses / malicious software and external attacks by hackers. With a user-friendly single click interface you can allow or block access to the Internet offering complete immunity to attacks and total protection of your personal information. Comodo Personal Firewall is a software that helps you to protect internet connection and traffic monitor. Real time traffic monitoring enables you to react instantly to threats and identify bandwidth bottlenecks. Silent Security Technology means no needless alerts with out-of-the-box protection against hackers, Trojans and other unknown threats. Comodo Personal Firewall is the powerful and effective, easy to manage barrier that keeps hackers out and personal information in.

Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall
Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network. Kerio Personal Firewall is a necessity for all desktop computers connected to broadband Internet, using DSL, cable, ISDN, WiFi or satellite modems. Within an organization, Kerio Personal Firewall prevents a single computer from attacks initiated by internal users. Remote workstations and laptops running KPF are protected from Internet born attacks.

Outpost Firewall Free
Block invaders and control use of your PC with this firewall. Your PC is your data's castle, and any invading programs need to be shot with flaming arrows and knocked into the moat. This firewall utility monitors each component of each run to make it even more difficult for malicious code--or even intrusive ads--to penetrate your PC's defenses. Its advanced logging helps you determine what's going on. The program lets you save different configurations--work identity and your personal identity, for instance. You can block certain programs or web sites by something as specific as time of day or day of the week, making it easier to enforce your self-imposed deadlines.

PCTools Firewall
PC Tools Firewall Plus is a powerful free personal firewall for Windows® that protects your computer by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. By monitoring applications that connect to the network Firewall Plus can stop Trojans, backdoors, keyloggers and other malware from damaging your computer and stealing your private information.


Jetico Personal Firewall v1
We are pleased to introduce first version of our new software - Jetico Personal Firewall. The software offers detailed, configurable event logs, reports, plus the option to view and edit the firewall configuration. The modular architecture is as open as possible to assist with easier evaluation of the security. The Jetico Personal Firewall enables you to Protect your computer against hackers and malicious software when networked or connected to the internet. Choose a pre-defined Security Policy. Edit an existing Security Policy (i.e. the firewall rule set configuration). Create your own Security Policy. Monitor running applications that access the network. Monitor selected/all network packets as well as selected network events.

Spyware/Adware & Junk Removal

Ad-aware Free Edition
Ad-Aware is no ordinary anti-spyware, it is the original anti-spyware product, offered to consumers worldwide to protect their personal and home computers from malware attacks. And today, with over a quarter of a billion downloads, computer users put their trust in Ad-Aware more than any other anti-spyware software program.

Spybot Search&Destroy
Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers anf sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

SUPERAntiSpyware
SUPERAntiSpyware is the most thorough AntiSpyware scanner on the market. Our Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware that other products miss! SUPERAntiSpyware will remove ALL the Spyware, NOT just the easy ones!

PCTools Spyware Doctor
Did you know that numerous programs tested against Spyware Doctor detected only small fraction of Spyware and completely removed an even smaller amount? Also most of them were unable to effectively block Spyware in real time from being installed on users PC in the first place. Spyware Doctor has the most advanced update feature that continually improves its Spyware fighting capabilities on daily basis. As Spyware gets more complex to avoid detection by AntiSpyware programs Spyware Doctor responds with new technology to stay one step ahead.

Spyware Blaster

Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today.
By simply browsing to a web page, you could find your computer to be the brand-new host of one of these unwanted fiends! The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available: Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox. Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

Commercial Anti Virus Software

Symantec Norton AntiVirus Trial
Norton AntiVirus (NAV) is a popular product of Symantec Corporation and is one of the most widely used antivirus programs. Norton AntiVirus automatically detects and removes viruses, spyware, adware, and other potential security risks. Norton AntiVirus is sold as a standalone product and is also included as part of Norton Internet Security and Norton SystemWorks. In addition, there is also a standalone corporate edition version called Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition. It is aimed at a centrally managed corporate environment and has different features not present in the traditional retail version of the software.

Kaspersky AntiVirus Trial
Award-winning antivirus software which protects your PC from viruses, Trojans, spyware, rootkits and other malicious programs. Reactive detection methods are combined with proactive technologies to provide balanced and effective security, while automatic updates ensure uninterrupted protection and peace of mind.

ESET NOD32 Trial
ESET NOD32 Antivirus protects you without requiring you to become an expert in malware. Because everybody deserves the best protection possible, ESET NOD32 Antivirus gives you the same high-grade protection chosen by thousands of corporate IT professionals around the globe. Join the ranks of those who have said "NO" to weak protection, bloated security suites, and slow performance. Family packs are also available for multiple computers.

McAfee VirusScan Trial
McAfee VirusScan is a popular antivirus program created and maintained by McAfee, formerly known as Network Associates. VirusScan is designed for home and home-office use; McAfee also develops VirusScan Enterprise for use in corporate environments. The product is not available as a standalone package, but is included in the McAfee VirusScan Plus package or as part of McAfee Internet Security Suite. McAfee also produces a similar product for Mac OS X under the name of VirusScan for Mac.

BitDefender Trial
BitDefender is an antivirus software suite developed by Bucharest-based software company SOFTWIN. It was launched in November 2001,[1] and is currently in its tenth version. BitDefender replaced SOFTWIN's earlier AVX (AntiVirus eXpress) product range. The BitDefender range includes antivirus products for home users, businesses, enterprise users and internet service providers. Home editions support Microsoft Windows, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile; business and enterprise editions support Microsoft Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. The current version of the security suite includes antivirus, anti-spyware, firewall, e-mail spam filtering and parental control components.

Trend Micro Anti Virus Trial
Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2008 is the essential security you need to safeguard all your data and files. With automatic scans, updates and outbreak alerts, you can rest easy knowing you have systematic, ongoing protection against the latest malicious viruses, worms, Trojan horse programs, and spyware.

Panda Antivirus Trial
The new Panda Antivirus 2008 is the easiest-to-use protection for your computer. Just install it and forget about all viruses, spyware and online fraud. And you hardly have to lift a finger, so you can chat, share photos and videos with friends, read your favorite blogs or simply surf the Web, with complete peace of mind. And it's so light, you won't even notice it.

FREE Anti Virus Software

AVG Free Edition Free
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is the most popular free solution available at no cost to home users and provides the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers.

Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Free
Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic reliably protects your private computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.

avast! Home Edition Free
avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. Both of these conditions should be met! Our company offers the Home Edition free of charge, since, in our opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient prevention; however, many users are not able to or do not want to pay for antivirus software

ClamWin AntiVirus Free
ClamWin is a Free Antivirus program for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and 2003. ClamWin Free Antivirus comes with an easy installer and open source code. You may download and use it absolutely free of charge. It features High detection rates for viruses and spyware, Scanning Scheduler, Automatic downloads of regularly updated Virus Database, Standalone virus scanner and right-click menu integration to Microsoft Windows Explorer, Adding to Microsoft Outlook to remove virus-infected attachments automatically.

All-In-One (Analysis/Diagnostic/Benchmarking)

AIDA32 Free
AIDA32 is a professional system information, diagnostics and benchmarking program running on Win32 platforms. It extracts details of all components of the PC. It can display information on the screen, print it, or save it to file in various formats like HTML, CSV or XML. For corporate users, AIDA32 offers command-line switches, network audit and audit statistics, remote system information and network management.

SiSoftware Sandra Lite Edition Free
SiSoftware Sandra (the System Analyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Everest Home Edition Free
EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for home PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. It offers the world's most accurate system information and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.

Fresh Diagnose Free
Fresh Diagnose is a utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, hard disk performance, video system information, mainboard / motherboard information, and much more

Benchmarking Tools

PC Wizard Free
PC WIZARD 2008 is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.

Prime95 Free
Prime95 is the name of the Windows-based software written by George Woltman that is used by GIMPS, a distributed computing project dedicated to finding new Mersenne prime numbers. Prime95 has become extremely popular among PC enthusiasts and overclockers as a stability testing utility. It includes a "Torture Test" mode designed specifically for testing PC subsystems for errors in order to help ensure the correct operation of Prime95 on that system, which effectively stress-tests a PC.

Futuremark Products Demo
Futuremark's 3DMark®, PCMark®, SPMark® and VGMark® benchmark products for PCs, handhelds and smartphones are endorsed by the industry leaders, thousands of publications and millions of consumers. Our benchmarks are developed under the Benchmark Development Program (BDP), which enables industry's key players to work with us in developing unbiased industry standard benchmarks.

OpenSourceMark Free
COSBI OpenSourceMark is the definitive, comprehensive open source benchjoe. The Windows XP GUI framework and many tests are written in Delphi 2005, but a number of tests are in C and C++ (both VC++ and g++). There are Linux projects also.

Super PI Free
In August 1995, the calculation of pi up to 4,294,960,000 decimal digits was succeeded by using a supercomputer at the University of Tokyo. The program was written by D.Takahashi and he collaborated with Dr. Y.Kanada at the computer center, the University of Tokyo. This record should be the current world record. ( Details is shown in the windows help. ) This record-breaking program was ported to personal computer environment such as Windows NT and Windows 95 and called Super PI. In order to calculate 33.55 million digits, it takes within 3 days with Pentium 90MHz, 40MB main memory and 340MB available storage.

PassMark Perfomance Test Demo
Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.

AquaMark Free
AquaMark allows PC users to easily benchmark their current and next-generation PCs by measuring and comparing the performance of the systems. AquaMark provides a reliable benchmark which helps users to configure their systems for the best gaming performance. The benchmark executes a complete state-of-the-art game engine and generates 3D scenes designed to make the same demands on hardware as a modern game. This software utilizes recent hardware features of the new DirectX 9 API, such as PixelShader 2.0, while staying fully backward compatible to DirectX 8 and 7 graphics hardware. The program offers a great variety of standardized and used defineable evaluation schemes. 

System Monitoring and Information Tools

IceSword Free
IceSword is delete-enforcer, not really System Monitoring but it's a way of force-deleting files and such, this program combined with Process Explorer and Autorunsis a great way of removing spyware/malware.

Autoruns Free
Autoruns is simply a check up program on what processes or files are ran automatically by the system, a great tool when removing spyware and such

Sysinternals Process Explorer Free
Process Explorer is a system monitoring and examination utility and can be used as the first step in debugging software or system problems when in the hands of an experienced software engineer.

Sysinternals Process Monitor Free
Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity. It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities, Filemon and Regmon, and adds an extensive list of enhancements including rich and non-destructive filtering, comprehensive event properties such session IDs and user names, reliable process information, full thread stacks with integrated symbol support for each operation, simultaneous logging to a file, and much more.

Process Guard Trial
Basically tells you what every file is doing when it does it, and whether or not it should allow it. At first it can be annoying, until you set certain files' permission. After that, if you ever have a program doing something it shouldn't, it will tell you. If something is starting something else up, closing something, accessing the registry, etc, it will tell you. It can also stop keyloggers/rootkits/many other things. Very nice, but requires user input.

GPU-Z Free
GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

CPU-Z ---- Alternate download Free
CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

WinDirStat Free
WinDirStat shows a graphical representation of all files on the drive you scan, and you can delete any unwanted stuff.

Hijackthis Free
A general homepage hijackers detector and remover. Initially based on the article Hijacked!, but expanded with a lot of other checks against hijacker tricks. It is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs/URLs, just the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.
As a result, false positives are imminent, and unless you are sure what you're doing, you should always consult with knowledegable folks before deleting anything.

SpeedFan Free
If you need a tool that can change your computer's fan speeds, read the temperatures of your motherboard and your hard disk, read voltages and fan speeds and check the status of your hard disk using S.M.A.R.T. or SCSI attributes, then you came to the right place. SpeedFan is the software to go. It is fully configurable and you can create custom events to handle every situation in an automated way. SpeedFan works under Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. SpeedFan works fine on Vista 64 bit too. The relevant driver is now signed with my digital certificate. And this all costs you absolutely nothing!

CPUInfo Free
CPUInfo provides quick verification of key system parameters such as processor speed, model number and cache settings. CPUInfo is a 'no install' program, just download cpuinfo.exe and run to see your results. No installation is required.

Auslogics System Information Free
Auslogics System Information provides comprehensive and easy to understand information about your system configuration. It can show hardware configuration, video-card information, OS details, list of running processes and other information. This program is FREE.

Motherboard Monitor Free
Motherboard Monitor (MBM) is a tool that will display information from the sensor chips on your motherboard in your Windows system tray. MBM supports a wide range of Chipsets & Sensor Chip combinations. It can sense temps from Cpu, HDD, GFx and Mobo. It does also sense Fan speeds. If it senses that your hardware is overheated it can protect it by Shutting it down (user configured)

CoreTemp Free
Core Temp is a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature. The uniqueness of it is that it shows the temperature of each individual core in a each processor in your system! You can see in real time how the CPU temperature varies when you load your CPU.

Create your own HTTP Server

Step 1: Go to http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

Step 2: Look for mirror field and select a download mirror you want and pressChange. If you're contented with the mirror, skip this step.

Step 3: Click the latest version and download the win32-x86-no_ssl.msi

Confused where to download?

Mirror A
Mirror B

Note: The mirrors I provided came from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi. So I have no guarantee if the mirrors will be stable for a long time or not.

Step 4 (Version 1): Install Apache

Apache HTTP Server Procedure.
- Installation Wizard will appear. Click Next >
- License Agreement will appear. Read and select I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next>
- Read This First notice will appear. Read and press Next >
- Server Information notice will appear.
> On Network Domain field. Type your Network Name (e.g. Your Name).
> On Server Name field. Type the DNS you created (e.g. sigaw967.dnsalias.com).
> On Administrator's Email Address field. Type your email address (e.g. Your Name@xxxxx.com) or just enter your email address like blahblahblah@yahoo.com if your PC's security is low or below the average. This is to avoid spam mail.
> On Install Apache HTTP Server *.* programs and shortcuts area. Select for all Users, on Port 80, as a Service -- Recommend.
> Click Next.

Step 5 (Version 1): Select Typical and press Next >, Next>, and Install.

Step 5 (Version 2): If you selected Custom Just click the one with the Red X and select This feature will be installed on local hard drive, or disregard and pressNext >,and Install.

Step 6: After Installation click Finish.

Step 7: Go to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache*.*\htdocs

Step 8: Look for index.html 

Step 9: Modify the html file and save.

Step 10: Share your links!

10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Win XP

1. Disable Indexing Services
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next

2. Optimise Display Settings

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons

3. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
2.Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the bottom.button below.

4. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer

5. Improve Memory Usage

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

1. Go to Show Wizard and select All
2. Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows

6. Optimise your internet connection

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

1. Download and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot

7. Optimise Your Pagefile
If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Run BootVis - Improve Boot Times

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

1. Download and Run
2. Select Trace
3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
5. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

9. Remove the Desktop Picture

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok

10. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Fonts folder
3. Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

10 Simple Steps To Clean Your Computer

1.  Get Rid of the Nasties
Viruses and spyware don’t always break your computer, but they do always slow it down.  They’re more common than you may think, and can hang out in your system, gumming up the works, without you even knowing it.  Microsoft Security Essentials is a great, easy, all-in-one solution to keep your computer healthy and running in top form.  Download it here:http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/market.aspx

2.  Update Your OS
Windows issues updates all the time.  These can patch holes in the software, closing vulnerabilities that viruses and spyware exploit, and generally make Windows run better.  If you’re running Windows XP, right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop, select Properties and click on the Automatic Updates tab.  Make sure you set them to download and install automatically.

3.  Purge “Bloatware"
Still have that Norton Trial software installed from when you bought your machine three years ago?  Get rid of it!  Every time it pops up a window “reminding” you to buy it, I’m guessing a little voice in your head mutters unpleasant things.  It’s also slowing down your system as the antiquated software runs in the background.  Search for “Norton Removal Tool” (or “McAfee Removal Tool”) to make sure that you get the software fully uninstalled.

4.  Speed Your Startup
MSConfig is a tool built in to most versions of Windows.  Even novice computer surfers can use this tool to stop programs from starting automatically every time you boot up.  While certain things are necessary for Windows to function, if your system is trying to turn on iTunes, your printer, and Adobe every time it boots up, the poor thing’s got a lot of things to get going before it can launch your Sudoku.  Click the "Start" button.  If you have a search option, type “msconfig” into the search field.  If you don’t have a search option, but have a “Run” button on the startup menu, click that instead. When you do this, a window will appear on screen with the word "Run:" next to a blank text field.  Type "msconfig" in the blank text field and press "Enter". Click the "Startup" tab at the top of the menu.  Uncheck the boxes next to programs that you don't need during startup – but only programs you recognize!  Click the "Apply" button, then select "OK", and restart your computer.  I can almost hear your computer sighing in relief from here.

5. Defrag Your Hard Drive
Every time you save a file, or update software, your hard drive stores each new thing in chronological order.  This means that when you launch Word, your system has to search all over your hard drive to find all the pieces that have been stored over the months, or years.  Defragging simply means that your hard drive will take all the “like” things and put them together, allowing programs to launch and work faster.  Windows 7 comes configured to defrag automatically, however Windows XP users will need to start the process manually.  From the Start menu, right-click the “My Computer” option.  Select “Manage” and choose disk defragmenter under the Storage section. Keep in mind that the process can take several hours, so set it to run at night.  Also, remember to disable your system’s hibernate mode & screen saver before starting.  When the process is complete, restart your PC.

6.  Repair the Registry
Your system’s registry is like your hard drive’s table of contents.  If there are incorrect entries, it can take your drive longer to find all the pieces of data it needs to launch and run programs.  Glary Utilities is a great free application that you can install to quickly and easily fix registry errors and optimize your system’s performance.  Download the free version here:http://www.glaryutilities.com/

7.  Clear Out the Cookies
Every time you visit a website, it stores little pieces of itself, or programs, on your system.  The idea is that the next time you visit the site it will load that content faster.  The problem is that it’s rare that we return to the same sites and see the same things over and over again.  Instead, the process of digging through several MBs of temporary internet files will lead all websites to load more slowly.  Clear out your cache with CCleaner , a top rated free software program for cleaning out temporary files and making your system run at its best.  One tip: use the cookies tab to select cookies you want to keep from sites you visit often and/or want to continue to login to automatically (like your email, or your bank).

8. Clean it, No Really!
Your computer has a fan in it that draws in air to cool the CPU and components.  If this fan or vent becomes clogged with dust, pet hair, or other nasties, your system  can overheat, causing it to run more sluggishly and eventually break.  Grab a can of air and take your PC outside for a field trip.  Don’t just blow into the intake vent: open the case, don’t blow air too closely at the components, and blow dust away from the case.

9.  Ditch Internet Explorer
There are many alternative browsers you can use to access the Internet.  Most techies agree that Google’s Chrome is the fastest option that doesn’t compromise compatibility.

10. If all else fails…
A surefire way to ensure that your system is running as close to good-as-new as you can hope to get is to back up your data, format your hard drive, and reinstall Windows.  Keep in mind that you will need to reinstall all of your software, including office.  Don’t forget to install your anti-virus and anti-spyware before surfing the net!

Getting on a regular maintenance schedule will save you, and your trusty computer, much pain and suffering.  Especially if these tips keep you from drop kicking your PC off the roof!  If you’re struggling with any of these steps, or want more info, check out my website,http://www.callnerds.com/.

Hacker can shut down Apple MacBook battery

Las Vegas (CNN) -- Forget computer viruses and worms. What's maybe the worst thing a hacker could do to your laptop? Access it remotely and shut it down -- or maybe even blow it up.
Which is why famous Apple hacker Charlie Miller wanted to do just that.
"I don't want to wake up one day and have my computer blow up," said Miller, who is an avid user of Apple products. "I want to be the one looking at that -- not the bad guys."
How would a person blow up a laptop without even coming near it? By tampering with the software that runs its battery, said Miller, who demonstrated a way to hack into an Apple laptop battery and shut it down, but fell short of actually making it explode.
Apple did not respond to a CNN request for comment.
Miller explained his hack in a presentation at the Black Hat security conference Thursday in Las Vegas. After the talk, he sat down with CNN to talk about Apple security, hacker ethics and why long passwords can be annoying.

Source and complete article :http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/08/05/miller.apple.battery.hacks/index.html?hpt=hp_bn11

Solar flar may disrupt your life!!

(CNN) -- We're nearing the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, so double-check your GPS and watch where you're going.
On Thursday, the sun unleashed a massive solar flare (see video of the flare and how its effects have been moving toward Earth). Solar flares can disrupt radio communications, including devices that use Global Positioning System technology, such as cell phones, airplanes and car navigation systems.
So if you're relying on your GPS for driving directions, to find your location on your phone's mapping tool or for any other purpose, have a backup navigation system handy, such as a printed map.
Even more important, pay close attention to where you are and where you're going. Don't rely solely on your GPS to give you directions.
In 2006, research from Cornell University proved that solar flares can cause GPS devices to lose signal. This can cause these devices to temporarily misrepresent your location or otherwise malfunction.
"If you're driving to the beach using your car's navigation system, you'll be OK. If you're on a commercial airplane in zero visibility weather, maybe not," said Paul Kintner Jr., head of Cornell's GPS Laboratory. In fact, the Cornell researchers warned in 2006 that 2011 would probably see lots of GPS disruption.
In addition, solar flares can disrupt power systems. 
This week, National Geographic reported: "Under the right conditions, solar storms can create extra electrical currents in Earth's magnetosphere -- the region around the planet controlled by our magnetic field. The electrical power grid is particularly vulnerable to these extra currents, which can infiltrate high-voltage transmission lines, causing transformers to overheat and possibly burn out."

Source and complete article:http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/08/05/solar.flare.gps/index.html?hpt=hp_bn11

Hacker group vows to 'kill Facebook'

(CNN) -- Apparently, "Anonymous" won't be accepting your friend request.
Members of the shadowy collective known for its politically motivated Web hacks and attacks are targeting Facebook for what they claim to be the social-networking giant's misuse of personal information.
"Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed," the speaker said in a YouTube video, which was posted July 16 but started circulating widely this week.
Using a voice modulator to disguise his (or her) voice, the speaker, who purports to represent Anonymous, invites viewers to "join the cause and kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy."
"Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your privacy settings, and deleting your account is impossible," the speaker says. "Even if you delete your account, all your information stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time."
The video also makes the unsubstantiated claim that Facebook has been selling user information to government agencies and giving it to security firms so they can spy on people.

A Facebook spokesman declined comment Tuesday on the alleged Anonymous plot.
But the site has repeatedly said it doesn't sell information and doesn't share user information with any third parties that the user hasn't approved.
"We do not share your personal information with people or services you don't want," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post last year. "We do not give advertisers access to your personal information. We do not and never will sell any of your information to anyone." 
The announced date for the "operation," November 5, is Guy Fawkes Day, a commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot in which Fawkes and others placed explosives under the British House of Lords in 1605.
Anonymous's most common mode of operation is launching distributed denial-of-service attacks. In a DDoS, multiple people use scripts to repeatedly access a website, slowing it badly or shutting it down if its servers can't handle the traffic.

Source & complete article: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/08/09/anonymous.facebook/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Did Apple Doctor Evidence in Galaxy Tab Case

Doubts have arisen that Apple may have fabricated evidence regarding its application for an injunction with a German court that led to a temporary ban on sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets in Europe, foreign media, including the American IT magazine PC World, reported Tuesday.

The Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, granted Apple a preliminary injunction on Aug. 9, meaning that it acknowledged Apple's argument that the tab infringed on Apple's design patent for its iPad.

Based on photographs, Apple claimed that Samsung's product had copied elements of the iPad's design, but PC World and other media are now reporting that one of the pictures, which places the two rivals side by side, seems to have been altered.

In the picture, the aspect ratio of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been changed to appear longer and more closely resemble that of the iPad 2. In its real state, the former has an aspect ratio of 1.46, compared to 1.36 for the iPad2, but the ratio seems to have shrunk through distortion in the picture submitted. 

If Apple is found to have deliberately offered misleading evidence for its case, it is expected to have a significant impact on the court's decision.


Source: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/08/17/2011081700685.html

4 Simple Tips For Longer-Lasting Laptop Batteries

Keep it cool. Heat is the primary killer of batteries. Tell your employees to be careful not to let their laptops overheat. One common way that happens is packing a running laptop into a backpack or briefcase. If the laptop fails to go to sleep (and let's face it — sleep glitches are common), then the laptop can get crazy hot in an enclosed space. You can almost smell the loss of battery longevity.

Recondition your battery regularly. Most laptop manufacturers (except Apple) don't generally tell you about this, but a simple process known as reconditioning (or occasionally, recalibrating) can breathe new life into your laptop battery and add capacity back. To do that, turn off your screen saver and any other power management tools which put your PC to sleep. Fully charge the laptop, and then let it run all the way down — right until it powers down due to lack of juice. Then charge it back up again and restore your power management stuff. Do this every few months (such as three times a year).

Remove it when you're not using it. When you leave your laptop plugged in at your desk all day every day, the battery never gets a chance to discharge and recharge — which is critical to its long-term health. Thankfully, there's a simple solution: Remove the battery. As long as your laptop is connected to AC power, the battery isn't necessary; it'll run without it. Just remember to pop it back in before you take your laptop on the go.

Start with a super-sized battery. When you purchase your next round of laptops, upgrade to the extended-life battery. Not only will it give you significantly longer runtime to start with — great for road warriors and anyone else who works away from the office a lot — but the inevitable loss of battery life will have a less pronounced effect. The added cost of the larger batteries is worth the investment, because they end up lasting significantly longer.

How to Increase Download Speed

There are hundreds of thousands of sources to download multimedia data from the Internet, and if you can learn how to increase download speed you will be able to obtain them much faster. There are many times when we are downloading something and are left absolutely frustrated about the speed at which the download is taking place, and you will be happy to know that there are some ways to increase download speed without upgrading the computer.

It obviously helps to have a faster computer with a high configuration, and this is perhaps the easiest way to increase download speed. By improving the speed, the memory and the space in the computer, you can greatly enhance computer performance, and this has a direct impact on the download speed of your machine. But if you do not wish to spend money on upgrading your computer, or have a highly advanced PC already, these following ways 'on how to increase download speed' may prove useful to you. 

Increase Download Speed

Slow downloads can be very frustrating, especially when you are downloading heavy items. Sometimes this task can take days to complete, and you must try all that you can in order to speed up this process.

Internet Connection
The very first thing that you need to take into consideration is the Internet connection. If you do not have broadband Internet already, go ahead and get it since it is much faster than the old dial up Internet connections. If you are already on an active cable connection, ask your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about more advanced options. The speed of your Internet connection is obviously the most vital thing, and the faster Internet connection you get, the better your download speed will be. You will not be wondering how to increase download speed in utorrent if you had a 20 Mbps Internet connection.

Running Programs
Shut all programs and applications that are running in the background while you are downloading. This will speeden up the entire process considerably. It is also advisable to set these downloads for a time when you are not working on your PC, as this means that there are no programs running in the background that can slow the download speed.

Antivirus Software
In most probability, your antivirus software on the PC will be carrying out regular updates and security scans. While these scans are going on, the entire machine will run much slower than normal. This is something that is unavoidable, so you must ensure that your downloads and antivirus scans are not functioning at the same time. Most times we are unable to realize how to increase download speed on our computer because we are ignorant about anything that is happening, in the background, in the machine.

Prioritize Downloads
If you are downloading too many files at the same time, all the downloads will be much slower. What you need to do is determine which movie downloads and/or music downloads are more important, and pause the others until these are completed. The more you prioritize your downloads, the faster they will be completed. This is a point you need to remember when you are specially wondering about how to increase download speed in Firefox.

Time of Download
There are certain times in the day when there are more people trying to download the same file as you. If you are finding your download speed immensely slow, then maybe you should just try the download at a different time during the day. When there is less traffic, the download speed will be noticeably higher. Following some other ways to make computer faster will also be useful to you.

Download Accelerator
There are certain free software downloads available over the Internet, that are known as download accelerators. These manage the active downloads on your machine, and increase the performance of the computer when there is something being downloaded. This program alters the way in which the machines resources are distributed, and this helps in many different ways. If you are looking for answers to how to increase download speed in bittorrent, a download accelerator is the solution for you.

Computer Optimization
If you manage to optimize your computer, the download speeds will be far more satisfactory. You can learn how to defrag a computer to make it run more efficiently, and you can even learn how to optimize Windows Registry.

By following these tips on how to increase download speed in Vista and XP and other operating systems, you are ensuring that you never have to deal with slow download speeds ever again. This will be very refreshing for you, and will make your downloads much faster and smoother.

CCleaner

CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download.

Download it here: http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER