Good "Free" Stuff For Your PC

Today is another "Things Computerish" day, wherein I point out some of the good free stuff that I use. "Free" as in "It doesn't cost me one thin dime, and is More Than Good Enough". This is stuff that I use and depend on. This stuff should all be at the top of the list for anyone who is at all concerned about getting the best out of their Windows computer.

SECURITY

Virus Protection: AVG AntiVirus can be had HERE. Good, solid stuff, and it does not get in the way of normal operations like Norton, or McAfee. You'll have to dig a little on their site, but trust me, it's worth it.

SpyBot Search and Destroy is HERE. Afraid of Malware? You're not? You should be! Use this, and you'll happy.

AdAware Personal is HERE. See above.

UTILITY

The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows can be had HERE. If you are the "Family, Neighbors, and Friends Local Computer Geek", and you don't have this, you're working 'way too hard. Also true if you are a professional supporting a Windows desktop environment. You don't need it often, but when you do need it, you need it Real Bad.

DIRMS is one of my favorites. It's included in the UBCD, and is a really good disk defragger - much better than Microsoft's included disk defragmenter. Stand-alone DIRMS can be had HERE. I highly recommend that you boot with the UBCD, and then use DIRMS to do a thorough and complete defrag of your system's hard disk. Your system will run faster and your hard disk will be less likely to fail.

AutoIT is for geeks only, and is available HERE. If you have to do lots of scripting, AutoIT is far superior to any other scripting language I've worked with. The learning curve is very steep, but the folks in the forums will be delighted to help, and the end result is simply astounding. If you have to support lots of PCs in a networked environment, you really need this one. If your management is being difficult, work up a couple of simple tasks (I used an installer for a terminal emulator that has lots of install options), and then do a Dog-And-Pony Show.

APPLICATIONS

NoteTab can be found HERE. Think Notepad on steroids. Good stuff, and absolutely free!

FireFox can be had HERE. I don't use it (I have to support Internet Exploder 6.0, so I use it, and I know it all too well!), but Mrs. OWW won't use anything else.