Addendum to the
June 2011 Bytes&Bits.
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http://pc3.org/bytes/?p=subscribe&id=2Free utilities and other links.In the wild old days, personal computers were a toy. You had to buy BASIC from some guy in Seattle, but then you wrote your own stuff or got it from the Community. A few years later, the manufacturers (except IBM) had to throw in all sorts of software because otherwise no one would know what to do with the durn box. Then came expensive killer apps – Lotus 123, Peachtree Accounting, WordPerfect – that were the justification for businesses having PCs. Now the most expensive (at retail) program most of us have on our computers is Windows and our hard drives are filled with stuff we paid $50-$150 for (that’s $10-$50 in 1982 dollars).
But there’s also a lot of commercial-grade programs that are priced a lot lower than that! These utilities might increase your security, make your computer run better, improve your personal efficiency, or even help you do your work. Of course, all the shareware folks welcome cash donations.
If you don’t have time to chase down links to everything mentioned at our meetings, here are a few shortcuts and recommendations. Thanks to Cliff Johnson, Dewey Williams, Jack LaPointe and many others for reminding us they’re out there. Please feel free to add your own favorites to this thread.
Get the links at
http://pc3.org/smfpc3/index.php/topic,209.0.html. These links are valid as of June 2011.
Bill Barneshttp://bloghd.zaitech.com-------------
References and resources
Windows Secrets is one of the most accessible and reliable general information newsletters I’ve seen for tips, alerts, and interesting topics. An annual donation of any amount is required to view the full content. Check out their recent series on free utilities (below) and an editor who intentionally asked for a malware infection at
http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/lizamoon-infection-a-blow-by-blow-account/.
•
http://windowssecrets.com/Get your geek on with
Steve Gibson. He’s been in the online security training business long enough for
ShieldsUp to accumulate over 88 million hits of people testing their firewall. The
Security Now podcast with over 300 episodes includes this week’s news and a very technical discussion of why actions are safe or not.
•
https://grc.com under the Services tab.
Wikipedia and
Google will answer all your technical questions.
The former offers up crowd-sourced articles on every topic imaginable. Their use of thousands of authors plus editorial input ensures bogus information doesn’t last long.
Everyone’s favorite search engine finds any text string that exists on the internet. If you don’t know what a process in your Task Manager does or whether that file that wants to run is a virus or your sound card, type it into the box. Beware that your search will bring up a good source for a virus at least as high as instructions for getting rid of it.
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/•
http://www.google.com/Personal Computer Club of Charlotte is the best place in town to find out what’s going on at the meetings and get solutions for your problems. Check out the Forum.
•
http://pc3.orgSystem UtilitiesDon't pay for software you don't need.
Windows Secrets (see above) says you should use the utilities built into Windows 7 (most are also available at some level in XP) rather than pay for commercial products.
Windows built-in utilities
• Backup
• Disc Defrag.
Don’t even bother running a defrag program. Windows 7 defrags automatically once a week.• Disc partitioning.
If you know what this is and want to adjust your disc partitions; Win7 will do it for you.• Firewall.
The Windows firewall since 2004 is effective and less intrusive than any others. If this is not adequate; you need to revise your online technique.Disc Partitioning. If you’re not happy with Windows, or you’re still running XP, try these.
• EASEUS Partition Master
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm • Parted Magic.
Self-booting CD. http://partedmagic.com/doku.phpDisc info.
• HD Tune.
Reads your drive’s diagnostics. http://www.hdtune.com/index.html• Folder Size.
Tells you who’s taking up all that space. http://www.mindgems.com/products/Folder-Size/Folder-Size.htmlSave your desktop layout. Do your icons keep getting bumped? Here’s a utility that I’ve installed on 32-bit XP and Win7 (a 64-bit solution is also offered).
•
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/save-and-restore-desktop-icon-layout-in-windows-vista/SecurityAntivirus. Lots of AV vendors are giving away their programs for home use.
• Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx• Avast.
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download• AVG.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-freeOne-time scanners. No AV product catches everything. If you suspect you have in infection; try a one-time scanner that might catch other stuff. Depending on the severity of the infection or suspected infection, I usually start with
Malwarebytes or
Microsoft System Sweeper. Then proceed with the other and install and run Malwarebytes and
Superantispyware. Always download an update from an uninfected computer immediately before using and run a "full scan" (or whatever the most intense setting is) to improve your chances of catching hidden baddies.
• MRT.
From an administrator’s login, Run > MRT. This is the same scan that runs every month along with Windows Update. It searches for a short list of current afflictions.• Malwarebytes.
My first choice in one-time scans. http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free• Microsoft System Sweeper "
an offline scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware."
http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeperI have not used these products:
• Eset. Maker of the well-respected NOD32.
http://www.eset.com/us/download/free-antivirus-utilities• Norton Security Scan.
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/WelcomePage.asp• McAfee Security Scan Plus
http://home.mcafee.com/downloads/free-virus-scan• Trend Micro.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/Antispyware.
• Superantispyware.
http://www.superantispyware.com/Productivity and funOffice suite. Open Office .org (
http://www.openoffice.org/) was acquired by Oracle and is now in limbo.
• LibreOffice.
A spinoff OpenOffice. Reportedly not quite there yet. http://www.libreoffice.org/#Media utilities.
• AVS4YOU.
Everything you need for home use: media player, format converters, audio and video editors, etc.
http://www.avs4you.com/index.aspx
