PhotoRec:Recover deleted files

PhotoRec is free software for recovering deleted files from your computer. Yes, even if you’ve emptied your recycle bin! This works because the files still exist on your computer,it’s just that all links to them are gone. It can recover lost files including video,documents and archives. It works with hard disks and removable media such as digital camera memory cards. It can even recover data from scratched cds in some cases! It recognizes more than 80 file types, the whole list is available here.

I know from experience that there’s nothing more annoying than losing photos from a digital camera memory card or from your hard drive, because they’re pretty much irreplacable! So if something like that happens to you its well worth checking this out! It’s freeware, so you have nothin’ to lose (and hopefully your files to gain), by going here for more info and the download!

Mp3 Player - winamp

Winamp

Freeware Version Available

The ever popular winamp, probably the best free mp3 player available and does more than just play mp3s.(Listen to online radio and even watch online tv). Also the pro version rips mp3's from cd.
Lots of plug ins and extras available.

www.winamp.com

dvd player - windvd

WinDVD

WinDVD is one of the very best software dvd players available!! Highly recommended!Personally, i especially like the 'quick clip' ( make an animated gif for use as an avatar, etc)
and smooth reverse playback features.

InterVideo WinDVD

Iconoid: Clear up your desktop

Iconoid is a neat little freeware program that runs on startup in the taskbar and can be set to keep the desktop icons hidden until you click on the desktop. It means your can see your wallpaper without messy icons in the way, as well as keeping your desktop looking a lot tidier.

One tip: set it so it keeps your icons hidden until you actually click on the desktop, and also so it hides itself on startup. All in all it’s a very customizable small program that can help your desktop look more neat and tidy.

Highly recommended for any neat freaks or wallpaper fans who want things to look a little tidier. Get it here.

Second Life: Have another go!

Second Life is a very impressive “life simulation” game, you sign up (free), download the software and then you create your character which can be very detailed. You can change every aspect of their appearance which is fun in itself. Then comes more fun, walking around the game world, and after you get used to it its pretty cool as you can build a house, get a job, make friends, do just about anything that you could do in real life, and i do mean anything!

When i first saw this i thought it would be just another “sims” type game that would lose its appeal pretty fast, but, man, i was wrong! As i ended up staying in my “second life” that entire first day! The only downside is that if you have an internet connection that slows down at times, the game can slow down a lot.

This is all free to do but you get the option to pay per month if you wanna do more advanced things, but the free version should be enough for most people, unless you get addicted, in which case, don’t blame me! : )

More details and fun at http://www.secondlife.com/

Firefox - Highly recommended browser

Firefox

Freeware

More than 46 million downloads (and growing fast daily) lots of people are currently using firefox
as their main internet browser and for good reasons.

Firefox is the fastest browser available. Even the most complex webpages on dial-up load lightning fast. And it is totally free! No banner ads, nothing. It is fully customisable, and configurable to the individual user. You can configure Firefox to run as you wish, with just the right amount of features you wish, which makes this program truly individual. So I wouldn't pass this one by. Some pages may not cause the browser to work properly, but that has to do with Microsoft-specific programming. As more people break away from IE, more webpages will definately start developing Mozilla compliant programming. The browser has a very clean, and lean interface, which maximizes the browsing window. The more advanced user may want to check out the extensions which can be added to it to provide some more useful functions.

Also Supports FULL range of W3C internet standards (including XHTML, which IE ignores)

Doesn't allow stealth ActiveX installs which is one of the main causes of security problems for IE users

Tabbed browsing- its like when you first used the internet, once you get used to it you'll wonder how you ever managed without it

RSS support- if you're stuck with IE, you need a separate program to read RSS feeds, but Firefox handles them as a BOOKMARK- you just click and it drops down a list of recent stories in that feed

Firefox is a highly popular browser due to its ease of use and better security than internet explorer against spyware, etc. highly customizable and highly recommended! and free!

Firefox Features

* Live Bookmarks
* Extensions
* Themes
* FastFind
* Improved Security
* New Tab Controls

Click here to get firefox!

FoxIt Reader

You know how it is, you always end up having to read a pdf file sooner or later and that means being forced to download the massive, and resource hogging adobe acrobat reader, well now there’s an alternative! Foxit reader is a freeware, lightweight program for opening pdf files and it doesn’t try to use half your computer’s memory!

Simply click a pdf file link as usual and it loads up in foxit reader in a couple of seconds, so u can have all the functionality without it taking so long to load that you start forgetting why you clicked on it in the first place! This program does exactly what it says and with a download size 1/20th the size of Adobe’s Acrobat reader.

For more details: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Anti Spyware - good free programs

Ad Aware

Freeware Version Available

Free version available and has a very good reputation

Spybot Search & Destroy

Freeware

Free and has a very good reputation

Spyware Sweeper

Seems to be a good and
highly recommended spyware remover,30 day trial

Softany Monitor Control: control that monitor without monitoring the controls

This little program provides easy access to all your screensavers or enabling, disabling your screensaver, all from a task bar icon, and much more too.

The main feature i love about this program is the ability to set it so that it disables your screensaver when certain programs are running such as antivirus, spyware scanners, defrag programs, etc. I also like the feature to disable the screensaver from running when and if your monitor is planned to switch off after a certain amount of time. Both these features are useful so your screensaver isn’t slowing up more necessary tasks or running when the screen has turned itself off.

So if you’re anything like me, you probably like to change your screensaver from time to time just to keep things interesting when you’re at your computer, (or rather, not at your computer!) but you also wanna not slow up things, you’ll find this little program useful.

For more details go to http://www.softany.com/MonitorControl/index.htm

Wallpaper Master

wallpaper master

If you are like me, you probably get tired of seeing the same picture at your desktop background all the time, wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a new one every day or every time you booted up or every hour or whenever you decide?

Well in short, that’s what wallpaper master does plus a whole lot more, i had been searching for a wallpaper randomizer for some time but this one does just about everything you could think of, you can group your wallpaper collections by category so maybe you are in the mood for space themes one week or clouds the next, you decide, the skies the limit, pun intended!

check it out here. free and pro versions.

Rainlendar: Free calendar application

Rainlendar is a very small, free program that displays a skinnable, very customizable calendar on your desktop. You can also set reminders, with or without alarms for whatever date or time you choose and it has a useful to-do list as well.

This is a very useful calendar/to do list/reminder program that just sits in a corner on you desktop showing the current month with today marked and any days you have anything planned for, the to-do list or events list can be shown or can remain hidden. You can download skins at the website and at some other skin sites so that you can have it looking the way you want it, maybe integrating nicely with your desktop background.

It also displays the current date in the tray icon. I don’t know why this little program isn’t more well-known as its very light on the computer resources, looks good and is quite useful.

You can download it here at the homepage

Irfanfiew: you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it

Irfanfiew is a very useful, small, efficient and easy to use image/photo viewer for windows for anyone who requires free image viewing software with basic image manipulation such as resizing, cropping, fixing lighting issues, etc.

That’s the simple explanation, but it also has more advanced features for those who need them (batch conversion, slide show creation, support for different file formats etc). I’ve been using this software for years now and its definitely one of my “must have” applications i highly recommend to anyone who wants a little more control over their images than the overly simplistic built in windows image viewer.

One tip: use the keyboard shortcuts for extra speed and convenience when navigating through pictures etc and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without this useful software!

You can get it for free right here

Spyware blaster

Spyware blaster

We’ve all heard about the spyware epidemic of recent years that continues to plague just about any computer connected to the internet (and if you haven’t heard about it I suggest you check my antispyware recommendations, its most likely one reason why your computer is running so slow! as just about every computer gets affected sooner or later). But as we all know, prevention is better than cure and that’s why one of the first things I install on a new computer is spywareblaster, a free program that blocks thousands of spyware from even being allowed into your computer in the first place.

Download it, install it, run the update and choose to protect all (or just any browsers you use) then that’s it! It’s done its job and doesn’t even have to be run again, but I recommend running the update from inside the program every once in a while to get the latest protection, this can be done automatically if you choose to upgrade to a paid version, but that’s the only real difference. It doesn’t remove currently installed spyware but is a very good preventative measure.

Locknote

Locknote

Ever wanted a private way to store important or personal details such as passwords, personal thoughts, maybe that next book you’re writing, or your plans to take over the world?

Here’s a very useful and simple to use little program for anyone who wants a secure and private way to keep private notes, to-do lists, or anything else in a simple text file, without having to install and learn a complicated program.

It simply allows you to password protect text files. It comes in a self contained executable file, so no installation is required at all, you simply drag your text file onto the program icon and it then turns it into a password protected file which is also encrypted with AES 256bit encryption (very strong) so your private stuff inside stays private!

To access the file simply double click it as normal and you’ll be prompted to type your password, quick and simple little program that does exactly what it says!

You can try Locknote here. Freeware.

dvd player - powerdvd

Cyberlink Power dvd

Regarded by many as THE best software dvd player available, ( i guess it depends on personal preference,which is why i use this AND windvd!) like windvd, this player also offers many advanced features regarding picture and sound quality, but personally,one of my favorites is the ability to watch two subtitles on screen at once, this may come in useful for someone learning a new langugage for example.

CyberLink PowerDVD 6

Firewall - zonealarm

Zonealarm

Freeware version available

Alongside a good antivirus program and pyware programs,
these days its very important to have a firewall, without one, your computer is the equivalent of having a house with all the doors and windows open for anyone to enter and do as they please, but we are talking thousands of open windows and doors on a pc!
Just waiting for a hacker to take advantage!

First thing i do when installing a computer system is install zonealarm because
Zonealarm is an excellent and easy to use firewall with a great reputation!

It is pretty easy to use and suitable for the computer novice,being quick to install and set up,with a fast learning curve.

Some of the features i especially like are the "engage internet lock" and "stop internet activity" buttons,good for the truely paranoid as this is effectively the same as disconnecting your internet connection!

It is available in both free and paid versions.

Also check out Zone alarm security suite.
( Firewall with antivirus,anti spam,privacy settings and much more..Great firewall. Anti-virus. Superior email protection, including blocking Phishing(password stealing)emails. Cookie Control. Net Blocking. Secure password storage. It has it all!
after all why have all those separate programs when you can have it all in one? )

Its also worth mentioning that ZoneAlarm firewalls are currently protecting over thirty million computers!!

ZoneAlarm Free Download

Internet Explorer 7: An improvement, but strangely familiar

Internet Explorer 7.0 was finally released recently, the first update of IE in almost four years! About time huh? The internet has changed a lot in recent years. So its about time Microsoft caught up with the “better browsers” that are frequently updated, such as Firefox and Opera. Speaking of which, one of the first things you’ll notice when you try Internet Explorer 7, is the ideas they got from these browsers when designing it. First thing you notice is the search engine box in the top right corner. Hmmm! Now where have we seen that before? Also tabbed browsing, both these features long present in Firefox and Opera.

Upon installing and running it for the first time, there’s a page with a couple of settings such as turning on the phishing filter (also available in the recent release of Firefox 2) and some other settings like setting your language and location, and joining the customer experience program.

I gotta admit, firefox is definitely my browser of choice, but i’m pleased to see they’ve finally given Internet Explorer this much needed update. Even though they seem to have lifted the main features from what a lot consider to be better browsers, as i mentioned before. So nothing too innovative here. They also have “add-ons” available, another idea from Firefox, although most of the IE ones aren’t free (or as useful as Firefoxes, who incidentally, now call their extensions “add-ons” too). It also has options for RSS feeds now, if thats your thing. Active X seems to be disabled by default, which is a good thing considering the IE security reputation in the past!

To sum it up, the new Internet Explorer is a step in the right direction, but i doubt they’ll be winning back any Firefox users, including me! : )

You can check it out here for more info or to download it (or just wait and windows update will install it anyway if it’s set to automatic updates)

first post

Hello and welcome! I decided to create this blog because i download a lot of shareware and freeware and am somewhat a perfectionist in deciding which programs to use on my computer for various things.
So i thought i should make a blog to share my experience and recommendations.
I've found out the hard way what software is bad and good,
(just about all of this software i'll be mentioning has been used and/or tested by me personally)
So maybe i can save you some time and make your computer using life more productive and enjoyable!

If you enjoy this site, please bookmark it and check back from time to time. Enjoy!