[Pastork]

I just thought it would be good to share some of the best freeware programs we all may have found. What good freeware programs would you recommend? Here are some of my favorites (I am using XP, but most of these programs will work with any Windows version):

Avant Browser This is my favorite browser. It has multiple page tabbed browsing, built-in popup suppression, built-in Google search engine, integrated cleaner, and safe recovery (if the browser is shut down improperly, it will remember and display the last pages viewed upon next browser startup). It is also skinnable. It is based on the IE6 engine, but is faster than IE6. It is basically the IE6 upgrade that Microsoft ought to be offering. http://www.avantbrowser.com/

AI RoboForm Here is the description of the program from Webattack, where it received the highest rating( http://www.webattack.com/get/roboform.shtml ):

"AI RoboForm is a push-button web form filler with some serious Artificial Intelligence (AI) inside. It allows you to define your personal profile or "usual" responses to a web form. This information is then saved, and when you need to fill a form, just click "Fill Forms" button, and form is filled out. AI RoboForm is fully client-based, so it is very fast, it never disables web site functions, and it works even in pop-up HTML windows. The most important feature of AI RoboForm is high accuracy - it fills 95% of all fields correctly." http://www.roboform.com/

Belarc Advisor This program displays all the information you might want - and then some - about the software and hardware installed in your pc. I like it because it displays all the information on one page in your web browser (Internet Explorer). http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Cubemaster Gold I thought I would put up something fun. This is a Tetris clone game. http://w1.435.telia.com/~u43509647/

e-Sword After trying other freeware Bible study programs, e-Sword is my personal favorite. It offers a number of translations, Hebrew and Greek texts, a good selection of commentaries, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, devotional materials, background materials, maps, and lexicons. It also makes doing a basic Hebrew or Greek word study a breeze (via Strong's numbers). It is a very user-friendly program. http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html

ieSpell A great spell checker plug-in for IE (but works with Avant in the right-click menu as well). It enables one to check spelling in forums such as this one or when filling out forms online. http://www.iespell.com/

Leechget This is my favorite download manager. It works flawlessly with both IE6 and Avant (but I think special plug-ins are needed for use with other browsers, such as Netscape or Opera). It offers everything you could want in a download manager. http://www.leechget.de/

NET Bible This is a free HTML Bible. It is a solid translation that has some very helpful footnotes. http://www.bible.org/

Password Corral This is a very handy little program that securely stores all passwords (and other kinds of information). http://www.cygnusproductions.com/freeware/pc.asp

RegCleaner What I like about this program is its ease of use, and the fact that it has never caused any problems with my registry. It lists all the programs that are or have been installed on your pc. If you see a program listed that you know you have un-installed, all you have to do is check it and tell RegCleaner to clean. It will clean your registry of any invalid or unnecessary entries that program has left behind. http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml

Starter This is the startup manager program I use. It is easier to use than the msconfig utility in windows. http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/57830.shtml

Trillian This chat program serves as a hub for your other chat programs, such as ICQ, AIM, Windows/MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger, so that you can connect to them all with this one program. http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/trillian/index.html

XP Smoker I have just started using this great little power tool from WareSoft Software. Here is the basic description from the XP Smoker website:

"XP Smoker will do the following things for your Windows XP driven system.

Reduce subsystem bottlenecks throughout your system
Decrease application and boot load times
Increase the stability of Windows XP
Increase web browsing anywhere from 10% to 100% faster
Secure Internet Explorer features and the Control Panel applet."

Although with any such program one must proceed with caution, it is pretty user friendly. Just read the help descriptions and go the the XP Smoker forum to ask questions if unsure about what settings to choose. http://www.xp-smoker.com/


Here are some good freeware programs for combating spyware/adware:

Ad-Aware 6 http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Spybot: Search and Destroy http://spybot.safer-networking.de/

SpywareBlaster http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html

SpywareGuard http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html

Note: I have found that running SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard together virtually eliminates the need for either Spybot or Ad-Aware. To see what I mean, try running Spybot and/or ad-Aware after a few days of surfing, then try the same thing after installing and running SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard for a few days of surfing. You will see just how effective these two little programs really are!

Hope you find some of these helpful and hope to hear about some of your favorites!

Pastork

[Athanasius]

Dude, Pk...thanks so much!

[soaring_eagle]

very good ... i have nothing to add as of yet ... but i'll be trying out some of that stuff when i get home. Ta.

[J'horra]

Very nice list of programs, I am going to have to try a bunch of those.

[BlazeQ]

Yeah, good stuff

Here's a good freeware site: http://www.freewarefind.com/

[Mr.Zachcore]

well i am downloadin the adware thing right now

will it get rid of adware already installed???

[KingdomWarrior]

I will be downloading this very soon! I need several of these. Thanks

[Pastork]

Mr. Zachcore,

Yes, both Ad-Aware and Spybot:Search and Destroy will get rid of adware/spyware that is already installed.

Pastork

[Young Twig]

Adaware is a very good prog.

Here are my 2:

Quintessential CD Player (QCD) Uh, just about the rockin'est CD/mp3/ogg/mp4/wav/snd/aac/wma/TONS OF OTHER FORMATS! It's free-form skinnable and really good. Better than Winamp... IMO... It's also a LOT, no, a lot faster than WA3... www.quinnware.com

SysMetrix Another skinnable. Clock and CPU/Temp/Mouse/TONS OF OTHER STATS!!! www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix

PopUp-StopperUh, it blocks pop-ups... Kinda self explanitory. There is a free version which works well... www.panicware.com

Freeware skinnables: www.skinnables.org

[Pastork]

PopupPopper This is my favorite popup blocker for Internet Explorer. I think it is better than 'Popup Stopper.' I like the way it works with a button on the browser (nothing running in the system tray and no desktop icons) so that you can access the PopupPopper Control Panel and easily manage the sites for which you wish to allow or block all popups. I also like that it gives you the option to selectively allow or block popups as they come up. This is especially good for use with sites where you may want to access a popup occasionally. Whenever you access a site that has popups, the PopupPopper box appears and allows you to chose to 'Allow this popup,' 'Allow ALL from site,' 'Block this popup,' or 'Block ALL from site.' If you don't mind this occasional extra step (which takes all of two seconds), it is well worth having the program to be able to selectively control in a very easy way the popups you do or don't wish to allow! And , if you are like me, you tend to visit the same sites most of the time anyway, so once you have set the control you can just forget about it. http://www.bayden.com/

[Young Twig]

Originally Posted by Pastork

PopupPopper This is my favorite popup blocker for Internet Explorer. I think it is better than 'Popup Stopper.' I like the way it works with a button on the browser (nothing running in the system tray and no desktop icons) so that you can access the PopupPopper Control Panel and easily manage the sites for which you wish to allow or block all popups. I also like that it gives you the option to selectively allow or block popups as they come up. This is especially good for use with sites where you may want to access a popup occasionally. Whenever you access a site that has popups, the PopupPopper box appears and allows you to chose to 'Allow this popup,' 'Allow ALL from site,' 'Block this popup,' or 'Block ALL from site.' If you don't mind this occasional extra step (which takes all of two seconds), it is well worth having the program to be able to selectively control in a very easy way the popups you do or don't wish to allow! And , if you are like me, you tend to visit the same sites most of the time anyway, so once you have set the control you can just forget about it. http://www.bayden.com/

Yeah, that is better, thanks...

[Shredcheddar]

Those programs are great. I also like

Mozilla browser
www.mozilla.org

IrfanView Photo App.
www.irfanview.com

[Young Twig]

Originally Posted by Shredcheddar

Those programs are great. I also like

Mozilla browser
www.mozilla.org

IrfanView Photo App.
www.irfanview.com

How could I have forgotten IrfanView?