AntiVir Personal Edition
  - The best free antivirus software around as detailed in the PC World Antivirus Review.
CDBurnerXP is a free alternative to Nero or other CD Burning software
CutePDF creates a virtual printer to allow you to create pdf files by simply printing your document to it
Easy Gif Animator
 - Excellent animated gif editor; trial version allows 20 uses
Firefox Portable
  - The best internet browser around. Faster, safer and easier to use that Internet Explorer.
  - Features include: multi-site home page, tabbed browsing (view 10+ sites a the same time),
                           favourites search, fully customisable, take it on a memory stick when you travel.
  - Copy it onto a memory stick and you can use it anywhere in the world!
  - Add-ons add even more useful functions and options to Firefox.
      - Autocopy automatically copies highlighted text to clipboard
      - Better Gmail 2
      - Bookmark Synchroniser automatically syncs your home and office PC.
      - Brief is a fantastic an easy to use RSS news feed manager
      - Coral IE Tab (download from here or here) allows you to display a website using Internet Explorer.
           - Replaces IE Tab that no longer works with Firefox v3.6+.
      - Chinese Pop-up Translator allows Chinese website text to be translated into English
      - DeskCut creates a shortcut to the current page on your desktop.
      - Download Status Bar displays the progress of your downloads at the bottom of the screen.
      - Fasterfox optimises connection speed and allows link background-prefetch
      - Firetune quickly optimises Forefox for your computer and internet connection
      - Flashblock automatically stops those annoying adverts from starting
      - Forecastfox displays weather forecasts at the bottom of the screen.
      - Foxytunes controls your music player from within Firefox's status bar
      - Hide Menubar hides the File/Edit menubar and show sit when ALT is pressed
      - LeechBlock is a time management tool that controls when and how long you have access to websites
      - Menu Editor allows right-click context menus to be tidied and setup as you want them
      - MinimiseToTray puts Firefox and its sub-windows into the system tray
      - Multirow Bookbark Toolbar replaces >> to right of toolbar with 2 or more lines of items
      - Multifox allows multiple Hotmail accounts to be open at the same time
      - Pdf Download enables background download of .pdf files instead of waiting for them to load
      - Read It Later is a brilliant extension that lets you save pages for later online or offline reading
      - Tab Mix Plus provides even more customisable options for tabbed browsing.
      - Windows Media Test Page
  - Hacks
      - 5 Tips to Reduce Memory Usage
      - Increase Speed (Firefox 3)
      - Install Flash Portable
      - Make Firefox your default browser in Vista
      - Make Firefox your default browser in XP
      - Run Multiple Instances
  - Plug-Ins
      - *** Check current version of all installed plug-ins
      - Adobe Flashplayer and Shockwave Player, essential for your browsing experience.
             (Check your current version of the players here and here)
             (Manual install here and here)
      - Quicktime Alternative (Test your version here)
Fastone Image Viewer
  - A small, fast and easy to use image viewer and editor
  - Features include: supports all major formats, convert picture, red-eye, slideshow, wallpaper,
                           large number of effects and tools, EXIT editing, emailing utilities
Foxit Reader
  - A super alternative to Adobe pdf Reader that won't slow your PC down and use 100+Mb of disk space.
gPhotoShow
 - A great screensaver that gives more control over how photos are displayed
IconMaker (Online)
  - Convert existing images into or create your own icon files
Paint.NET
 - A greatly superior image editor to the standard 'Paint' that comes with Windows
Panorama Perfect
  - Create superb panoramic images from your photos
PDF995
 - Convert all your Office documents to pdf format simply by printing them to the 'pdf995' printer
 - Quick and simple to use. You need to install the printer driver and converter software as instructed
    (The software contains advertising that can only be removed by purchasing a license. If you prefer
      non-advert software use PrimoPDF, but the files it creates are quite a bit bigger)
PDF Split and Merge
 - A great tools for merging pdfs together or removing pages from them
Photo Story
  - A free slide show editor, quick and easy to use, great for kids to make their own projects
  - Features include: slide effects, music embedding, auto-fadeout of music, special effects
Pixelfusion
  - Windwos Media Player plugin that sharpens low resolution downloaded videos
Quicktime Alternative and K_Lite_Codec_Pack
  - A superior alternative to Quicktime.
  - Uninstall Quicktime and install both these to browse and play Quicktime videos.
Real Alternative (Includes Media Player)
  - A great and superior alternative to Realplayer. Uninstall Realplayer and replace with this.
Scan2PDF
 - An excellent free application that does exactly what it says it does
Thunderbird Portable
  - Fabulous, free email software that is a great replacement for outlook.
  - Move it onto a memory stick and you can access your emails anywhere in the world!
  - Add-ons
      - add even more useful functions and options to Thunderbird.
          - Attachment Extractor make sit easy to download all downloads
          - Change Quote and Reply Format customises the test used at the top of inline replies
          - Edit Sender lets you change the details of underlying the account you are using to send the email.
          - Lightning upgrades Thunderbird to include calendar and events.
          - Menu Editor allows all menus to be edited, reordered and personalised
          - More Functions For Address Book adds extra import/export/copy and birthday functionality.
          - Quick Move Button creates 2 buttons that you can add to the toolbar to quickly move email to a folder.
          - Quicktext allows pre-determined / favourite text to be quickly inserted into emails.
          - Quote + Compose Manager gives options to edit the way in which replies are presented.
          - ScheduleWorld syncs your contacts, calender and events between PCs and also with Outlook.
          - Show Folder Size tells you the disc space used for a particular mail folder
          - Toolbar Buttons adds many useful toolbar buttons including Return Receipt / Edit as New
          - Webmail give access to Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail/AOL email
  - Hacks
      - Change order of accounts in Account Manager
      - Make Thunderbird your default email client in Vista
      - Shared inbox for all accounts
Utilities
Vuze file sharing and download software
  - Torrentz search
WavePad Music Editor
  - Very easy to use music editor.
  - Features include: cut, copy, delete, insert, silence, trim, fade in/out, change speed,
                             change pitch, split.
  - Don't install 'Recorder' and 'Switch as they stop working after a 14 day trial period.
Website Development
  - Blogger.com Very easy to use, lots of designs to select and step-by-step guides on how to do it.
  - Google Sites easy to use with 100Mb storage, but with limited selection of layouts
  - Pbwiki.com easy to use and setup, but only 10Mb free space
  - Wordpress.com 3Gb of storage with easy to use interface
Winamp
  - Great alternative to Media Player with superior library and more efficient memory use.
  - Add-ons:
      - Find File On Disk adds 'Explore Item Folder' to the item in Media Library
      - Shutdown after playlist has ended
Zonealarm Firewall
  - The best firewall around and what's more it's easy to use and free!
  - If you aren't using a  firewall or are only using the XP firewall then you MUST get this.

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Utilities AoA Audio Extractor creates mp3 from video files Allway Sync synchronises your files with an external, virtual or network drive Auslogics Disk Defrag defrags your hard disk to improve speed Cablenut optimises your internet connection Cacheman improves the speed of your computer CCleaner deletes temporary files, history, caches and cleans the registry EasyCleaner makes it easy to clean and monitor your computer's setup Firefox:   - Firebug for developers to investigate, change and test all objects on a web page   - FoxyProxy lets you swap proxy quickly via the status bar   - Link Checker checks your webpage links   - Gspace allows ftp to gmail   - Mr Techs Toolkit - allows more control of extensions   - Stylish lets you use css to adjust websites to your personal preference   - Vacuum urlclassifer.sqlite to reduce size of database file FreeRIP converts audio CD to MP3 or WAV GMER scans computer for rootkits malware GSpot interrogates a file to find codecs or specific software needed to open it IE Privacy Keeper deletes your history, temporary files and searches from Internet Explorer and Firefox Image Optimiser Online reduces the size of your gifs, jpgs and pngs for web publishing ImgBurn creates and burns disc images e.g. iso, bin Java: Runtime Environment is needed by browser; SE Runtime environment is for specific apps Logmein VPN service   - How to share files Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBAM) scans computer for malware Movie Joiner stitches together mp3 files OpenDNS gives parental and content filtering services to your internet with anti-phishing and anti-malware Pagebreeze is an excellent free GUI HTML Editor alternative to FrontPage/Dreamweaver PDF to Word Converter PortableApps AppCompactor Proxy Checker checks to see if proxy is working Proxies to overcome Restricted Internet Broadcasts:   - Canada: www.freeproxy.ca          - HK: search list   - Singapore   - UK: www.daveproxy.co.uk, babylonproxy.info, www.afunnel.com   - Other Countries (You'll need to search for your country's name) RealVNC allows remote control of computers Redirect Checker details the HTTP META headers for a webpage redirect. Regseeker allows easy access to registry. Includes registry cleaner for improved performance Rname-It allows you to rename multiple files at the same time  Spybot Search & Destroy removes spyware from your computer Ultrasurf anonymous browsing with IE Text Exchange /  Replace:   - Batch Replacer   - Search List 1   - Serach List 2 Trendmicro Housecall Spyware Detection scans computer for spyware, adware and hidden tracking software. Video Converter converts from and to the majority of video formats Video Flip and Rotate quickly rotates your mp3 videos. Video Joiner stitches together mp3s Vista:   - 99 Performance Tips   - Autoplay Disable to stop memory sticks always popping up   - Autorun.inf Creation   - Display Chinese Characters rather than seeing lots of ??????? in your window titles   - Dual Boot   - File and Folder Permissions, an introduction to the different security groups and settings   - FileTypes editor that lets you add edit associations to file types not already setup   - How to Geek   - Iconoid changes appearance of desktop icons e.g. change colour of text and text background   - Partition Manager extends disk drives when Vista's disk manager won't   - Remove Bluetooth Exchange Folder from My Documents   - Services Guide   - Unassociate File Types resets default program to blank so you can reset it next time you open a file   - Wallpaper Changer changes your desktop background automatically using your own photos WinRAR rar compression utility XAMPP for Windows creates an APACHE MYSQL server test bed on your local PC XP:  - ATF Cleaner deletes temporary files to free up space on your hard drive (XP only)  - Autorun.inf Creation  - Hack to install East Asian Language Pack (Chinese) if files are missing from computer  - Page File Monitor displays the size of your page file and it's maximum usage  - Shortcut to shutdown the computer that allows you to assign a hot key to shutdown  - Speed up shutdown by forcing programs to cloase quickly  - TweakUI and PowerToys allow you to tweak XP to suit your needs  - X-Setup automatically login and lots of other tweaks back to top