Hey guys, just thought I would post up some good, free software…unless I specify otherwise, I have personally used each one. I only have a little time, but I’ll update this thread from time to time. This should be enough to get most of you started…make sure you run the junk file removal programs BEFORE running any antivirus/antispyware programs…it will reduce scanning time and may actually remove malware located in temporary locations. Those of you using Windows 98, be sure to read the system requirements as some of these require Windows 2000 & higher. Please let me know if any of the links are broken.
Enjoy!
Antivirus:
Avast: [url=\"http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html\"]http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html[/url]
or
AVG: [url=\"http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1\"]http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1[/url]
NOTE: If you are currently running an Antivirus, uninstall it before installing one of these. If you have Norton installed, you must follow specific instructions to fully remove it...simply using add/remove programs will not work correctly)
Firewall:
Zone Alarm: [url=\"http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp\"]http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/comp...reeDownload.jsp[/url]
Sygate Personal: [url=\"http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160\"]http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160[/url] (no longer updated, but still works)
Junk File Remover:
CrapCleaner: [url=\"http://www.ccleaner.com/\"]http://www.ccleaner.com/[/url] (very popular program)
*During the installation of CrapCleaner, you will be prompted with a bunch of checkboxes to add or remove features of the program...watch for this because you will want to uncheck the Yahoo toolbar that is installed unless you uncheck the box
Cleanup!: [url=\"http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/\"]http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/[/url]
Registry Cleaner:
RegScrubXP: [url=\"http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048\"]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048[/url]
Spyware Removal:
Adaware: [url=\"http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1\"]http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Person...tml?tag=lst-0-1[/url]
Spybot: [url=\"http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1\"]http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Dest...tml?tag=lst-0-1[/url]
Windows Defender: [url=\"http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx\"]http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx[/url]
A-Squared: [url=\"http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/\"]http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/[/url]
Ewido: [url=\"http://www.ewido.net/en/download/\"]http://www.ewido.net/en/download/[/url]
(NOTE: Ewido is not free, but the 14 day trial is fully functional and worth running at least once)
Defrag: (Windows built-in defrag sucks)
O&O Defrag 2000: [url=\"http://www.filehippo.com/download_oo_defrag/\"]http://www.filehippo.com/download_oo_defrag/[/url]
Startup Monitor:
Autoruns: [url=\"http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html\"]http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html[/url]
Internet Browser:
Firefox: [url=\"http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/\"]http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/[/url]
E-mail Client:
Thunderbird: [url=\"http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/\"]http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/[/url]
CD/DVD Burning:
CDBurnerXP Pro: [url=\"http://www.cdburnerxp.se/\"]http://www.cdburnerxp.se/[/url]
DVD Backup: (you\'ll most likely need instructions which will come later)
DVDFab Decrypter: [url=\"http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDFab_Decrypter\"]http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDFab_Decrypter[/url] (removes protections)
DVDShrink: [url=\"http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm\"]http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_so.../dvd_shrink.cfm[/url]
Audio Editing:
Audacity: [url=\"http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/\"]http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/[/url]
Image Manipulation:
GIMP: [url=\"http://www.gimp.org/\"]http://www.gimp.org/[/url]
Graphics Viewer & Image Batch Resizing:
Irfanview: [url=\"http://www.irfanview.com/\"]http://www.irfanview.com/[/url]
Office Suite (alternate to Word, Excel, etc):
OpenOffice: [url=\"http://www.openoffice.org/\"]http://www.openoffice.org/[/url] (WILL open Word, Excel, Powerpoint files)
System Info Tool (displays detailed info about your system):
Everest Home Edition: [url=\"http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html\"]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html[/url]
Belarc: [url=\"http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html\"]http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html[/url]
FTP:
Filezilla: [url=\"http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/\"]http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/[/url]
Multimedia Player:
VLC: [url=\"http://www.videolan.org/vlc/\"]http://www.videolan.org/vlc/[/url] (can play DVDs)
Text Editor:
SuperEdi: [url=\"http://www.wolosoft.com/en/superedi/\"]http://www.wolosoft.com/en/superedi/[/url]
You will probably need instructions for some of the programs and I can answer most of your questions...if I can\'t, I\'ll do my peachiest to find the answer. If you\'re looking for a particular piece of free software, please put in your request and I\'ll do what I can to help you out.
~Mike
Enjoy!
Antivirus:
Avast: [url=\"http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html\"]http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html[/url]
or
AVG: [url=\"http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1\"]http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1[/url]
NOTE: If you are currently running an Antivirus, uninstall it before installing one of these. If you have Norton installed, you must follow specific instructions to fully remove it...simply using add/remove programs will not work correctly)
Firewall:
Zone Alarm: [url=\"http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp\"]http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/comp...reeDownload.jsp[/url]
Sygate Personal: [url=\"http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160\"]http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160[/url] (no longer updated, but still works)
Junk File Remover:
CrapCleaner: [url=\"http://www.ccleaner.com/\"]http://www.ccleaner.com/[/url] (very popular program)
*During the installation of CrapCleaner, you will be prompted with a bunch of checkboxes to add or remove features of the program...watch for this because you will want to uncheck the Yahoo toolbar that is installed unless you uncheck the box
Cleanup!: [url=\"http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/\"]http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/[/url]
Registry Cleaner:
RegScrubXP: [url=\"http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048\"]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048[/url]
Spyware Removal:
Adaware: [url=\"http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1\"]http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Person...tml?tag=lst-0-1[/url]
Spybot: [url=\"http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1\"]http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Dest...tml?tag=lst-0-1[/url]
Windows Defender: [url=\"http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx\"]http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx[/url]
A-Squared: [url=\"http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/\"]http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/[/url]
Ewido: [url=\"http://www.ewido.net/en/download/\"]http://www.ewido.net/en/download/[/url]
(NOTE: Ewido is not free, but the 14 day trial is fully functional and worth running at least once)
Defrag: (Windows built-in defrag sucks)
O&O Defrag 2000: [url=\"http://www.filehippo.com/download_oo_defrag/\"]http://www.filehippo.com/download_oo_defrag/[/url]
Startup Monitor:
Autoruns: [url=\"http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html\"]http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html[/url]
Internet Browser:
Firefox: [url=\"http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/\"]http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/[/url]
E-mail Client:
Thunderbird: [url=\"http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/\"]http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/[/url]
CD/DVD Burning:
CDBurnerXP Pro: [url=\"http://www.cdburnerxp.se/\"]http://www.cdburnerxp.se/[/url]
DVD Backup: (you\'ll most likely need instructions which will come later)
DVDFab Decrypter: [url=\"http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDFab_Decrypter\"]http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDFab_Decrypter[/url] (removes protections)
DVDShrink: [url=\"http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm\"]http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_so.../dvd_shrink.cfm[/url]
Audio Editing:
Audacity: [url=\"http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/\"]http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/[/url]
Image Manipulation:
GIMP: [url=\"http://www.gimp.org/\"]http://www.gimp.org/[/url]
Graphics Viewer & Image Batch Resizing:
Irfanview: [url=\"http://www.irfanview.com/\"]http://www.irfanview.com/[/url]
Office Suite (alternate to Word, Excel, etc):
OpenOffice: [url=\"http://www.openoffice.org/\"]http://www.openoffice.org/[/url] (WILL open Word, Excel, Powerpoint files)
System Info Tool (displays detailed info about your system):
Everest Home Edition: [url=\"http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html\"]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html[/url]
Belarc: [url=\"http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html\"]http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html[/url]
FTP:
Filezilla: [url=\"http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/\"]http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/[/url]
Multimedia Player:
VLC: [url=\"http://www.videolan.org/vlc/\"]http://www.videolan.org/vlc/[/url] (can play DVDs)
Text Editor:
SuperEdi: [url=\"http://www.wolosoft.com/en/superedi/\"]http://www.wolosoft.com/en/superedi/[/url]
You will probably need instructions for some of the programs and I can answer most of your questions...if I can\'t, I\'ll do my peachiest to find the answer. If you\'re looking for a particular piece of free software, please put in your request and I\'ll do what I can to help you out.
~Mike