[Jaymie1989]

List all the good programs you think people should/could have.

I would get aMSN its a verison of MSN, Yahoo and others.

Features = » Display pictures
» Custom emoticons
» Multi-language support (around 40 languages currently supported)
» Sign in to more than one account at once
» File transfers
» Group support
» Normal, and animated emoticons with sounds
» Chat logs
» Event alarms
» Webcam support
» History in color
» Ability to autoclose the filetransfer window when it is finished
» New plugins log window (Alt-P)
» Plugins compatible with supported languages
» Faster loading skin window
» Skins in chatwindow
» Resizable chatwindow bottom
» When you add a new user, you can define in which group you want to add them
» When a contact change status, the top of the chat window changes color ( green for away, grey for offline, etc.)
» New panel GUI to alert when there's a new aMSN version
» Possibility to download the new release directly by aMSN
» Automatically update language files and plugins from the web
» New gui for deleting users (also possible to block on deletion)
» Possible to add notes for each user (XML)
» Support for MSN Mobile service
» Tabbed windows so you can group conversations using tabs
» Status is displayed inside a frame, so it won't dissapear when you scroll
» Display picture in notification alert (like MSN 7)
» Statistics for history (logging)
» Now possible to choose any state for your login status (before it was only possible to login invisible or online)
» Timestamping

But that's not all! More features can be added to aMSN with [url=http://www.amsn-project.net/plugins.php:3dn51chf]plugins[/url:3dn51chf], or for the adventurous, completely change the look of aMSN with different [url=http://www.amsn-project.net/skins.php:3dn51chf]skins![/url:3dn51chf]


Homepage = http://www.amsn-project.net/

[Common Sense]

Mcafee Site Advisor

[Jason]

Mcafee Site Advisor is a good one and I'm actually a reviewer on there. My job is to go around and look for good/bad sites and then put my view forward.

May I also suggest you get EVEREST Home Edition, as it would help us a lot.

EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for home PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. It offers the world's most accurate system information and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.

New features:
- Advanced hardware monitor with OSD panel and cooling fans monitoring
- Real-time alerting for hot-plug devices
- Portable Computer page to display mobile PC related information
- Bluetooth PAN support
- File Scanner filtering
- User benchmark results manager
- Sharpness test (Monitor Diagnostics)

NOTE: Lavalys has discontinued the free edition. This is unsupported.

Although we'd help you with any problems.

I will list a few more good programs soon.

Regards Jason

[Common Sense]

Ok Ill List A Whole Bunch Of Goood Programs To Have:

Belarc Advisor-System Information Software-Like EVEREST Home Edition But It Tells You The Users On The Pc NOT THE PASSWORDS

Spy Bot Search And Destroy

[Studio 2]

HijackThis is a good program, as it shows any potential browser hacks.

3D Mark if you want some decent benchmark tests.

CCleaner is useful.

[Rik]

HijackThis should only be used if you know what you are doing or you have been given instructions tho.

[Jason]

Correct Rik, HJT can be very dangerous, especially if a user thinks it works like an antivirus scanner and just removes all the HJT entries, and I`ve seen that done in the past. So, if you feel you have a malware problem, then post in the "Malware Removal" forum and Howard or Evil will take care of you, and maybe Rik or Daveskater, and in time maybe me lol.

Regards Jason

[Howard]

I agree with Rik and Jase.

Do not use HJT, unless you know what you`re doing, or have been instructed to do so.

Better to click the link in my sig and follow the instructions.

Regards Howard

[Daveskater]

Photoshop is obviously a good program to have if you want to do photo editing, albeit a bit costly. Then again, you get what you pay for, e.g. you can't exactly compare Photoshop to MS Paint.

Word and Excel I call essential, or you could go for the OpenOffice free versions.

[tomrca]

i find two useful programmes to have and they are Everest home, althought it failed to name my mobo, and performance test.

[wektech]

I find several free programs to be consistently usefull:

Superantispyware: It scans the entire hard drive not just the known malware locations. It finds lurking malware that the others do not.

Avast Anti-virus: The modular approach to resident protection allows you to choose the modules you need and turn off the others.

CCleaner: Very effective disk cleaner and the registry cleaner is quite effective as well.

Spybot Search and Destroy: While the scanner is only marginally effective, the advanced tools such as the startup manager make the download worthwhile.

TCPOptimizer: Especially usefull on an older O/S to fully utilize broadband bandwidth.

Hijackthis!: Very powerful and very dangerous.

[evilfantasy]

If you aren't aware of this free utility then check it out. Revo Uninstaller

A programs uninstaller uninstalls the program but leaves junk in the registry and an empty folder in the program files (sometimes with a log or other "things" in it) but Revo Uninstaller scans the whole computer after it uninstalls the program and shows you what it finds and allows you to delete ALL traces. A nice tool for the arsenal.

CCleaner has a mod that can be added to it that adds extra cleaning options to the Applications menu. It is a winapp file that you download and unzip, then place in the CCleaner folder. Basically it cleans old logs. A few things that it adds to clean are programs like Adobe files (all brands), AusLogics Disk Defrag files, Avast Antivirus, Spyware Terminator and on and on. There are a hundred or so. Chances are you have half a dozen or more of the programs that it adds.

If anyone is interested go to this post at Piriform (CCleaner forums) for details and the zip file download.

I am helping to Beta test a new malware removal too called MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM). The beta testers program is closed but it can be downloaded as a public beta. This is the future of a new type of malware removal tools in my opinion. The speed combined with detection ability is astonishing. I will make a new post when it goes live. Hopefully it will remain free, but I am not sure if it will.

Cheers.

[Jason]

Thanks for the programs.

Well, if that Malware program you say doesn`t stay free, I`ll purchase so you can use it for these forums.

Regards Jason

[Daveskater]

The Revo Uninstaller sounds pretty good mate, it is annoying when you go through Program Files and there's all sorts of left over folders. It might sounds like I'm just saying tat, but I'm not and it does happen

[evilfantasy]

Well MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) went to version 1.0 this evening and is available as a full version (no more beta). But sadly it did not remain free. Sorry guys.

Although I did get a free license for continuing to give feedback on the beta updates. I feel lucky, there were only 60 free licenses available and I got one so....

[Blind Dragon]

One program I have enjoyed their free trial is System Mechanic 7. I have a fairly new install so didn't really need it to much. But I could see how it could clean up a cluttered computer. For example, removing broken shortcuts where you deleted something and the shortcut is left hanging. Looks for some security weaknesses -> catches changes to host file.

I actually got the program to move files from C:\ to D:\ partition with ease, it would move the associated files and folders, as well update the registry keys.

It does a quick scan on the hard drive for errors and if it finds them it will schedule a chkdsk /r for the next time you reboot.

the Individual tools section and performance tools sections are great. However you can just do the things they suggest to get your computer running tip top if you don't want to fine tune it.

The trial is for 30 days. And can be found on Iolo's site at http://www.iolo.com/downloads.aspx