Slashdot Mirror

This list is part of a much longer list that I maintain and sometimes publish.

* 7-ZIP -- Create/Extra ZIP and many other other file compression formats, very powerful. Note can open some installer EXE and MSI files (see Microsoft Orca for more MSI options) (free, open source, Windows, there may be Linux/Mac variants). http://www.7-zip.com/

* CCleaner -- System optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. (free, closed source, Windows) http://www.ccleaner.com/ **Alternate Tool** BleachBit -- Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there. (free, open source Linux/Windows) http://bleachbit.sourceforge.n...

* Greenshot -- Good Screen Shot tool with simple annotation options. (free, open source, Windows) http://greenshot.sourceforge.n...

* IrfanView -- Image Program View, convert, crop, optimize, sideshow, batch Processing etc (free noncommercial, closed source, Windows) http://www.irfanview.com/

Instantbird -- Multi Protocol Instant Messaging (IM) Client - AOL, MSM, Yahoo, etc (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) **Alternate Tool** Pidgin - Multi Protocol Instant Messaging (IM) Client - AOL, MSM, Yahoo, etc (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://pidgin.im/

* KeePass Password Safe -- Good Quality secure password manager, stores passwords encrypted. (free, open source, Windows Linux/Mac with Mono) http://keepass.info/

* LibreOffice -- Power-packed Open Source personal productivity suite for Windows, Macintosh and Linux, that gives you six feature-rich applications for all your document production. Excellent replacement for other Office Suites, can open many different and sometimes odd file types -- (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.libreoffice.org/

* Mozilla.org FireFox -- Web browser for more security then Internet Explore (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.mozilla.com/ http://www.mozilla.org/

* SpeedCrunch -- fast, high-precision and powerful cross-platform desktop calculator (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.speedcrunch.org/ & http://speedcrunch.blogspot.co...

* UltraEdit -- Probably the absolute best most powerful text editors around, edit huge files, FTP, column mode, and more (shareware, closed source, Win/Mac/Linux) http://www.ultraedit.com/ **Alternate Tool** Noteppad++ -- Good Text / Source Code Editor replacement for Microsoft Windows Notepad/Wordpad (free, open source) http://notepad-plus.sourceforg...

* VLC Media Player -- One of the best media players out there. Highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. (free, oen source, Linux/Mac/Windows)
http://www.videolan.org/

This list is part of a much longer list that I maintain and sometimes publish. There are few others, but some are more as needed special use cases. * 7-ZIP -- Create/Extra ZIP and many other other file compression formats, very powerful. Note can open some installer EXE and MSI files (see Microsoft Orca for more MSI options) (free, open source, Windows, there may be Linux/Mac variants). http://www.7-zip.com/ * CCleaner -- System optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. (free, closed source, Windows) http://www.ccleaner.com/ **Alternate Tool** BleachBit -- Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there. (free, open source Linux/Windows) http://bleachbit.sourceforge.n... * Greenshot -- Good Screen Shot tool with simple annotation options. (free, open source, Windows) http://greenshot.sourceforge.n... * IrfanView -- Image Program View, convert, crop, optimize, sideshow, batch Processing etc (free noncommercial, closed source, Windows) http://www.irfanview.com/ Instantbird -- Multi Protocol Instant Messaging (IM) Client - AOL, MSM, Yahoo, etc (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) **Alternate Tool** Pidgin - Multi Protocol Instant Messaging (IM) Client - AOL, MSM, Yahoo, etc (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://pidgin.im/ * KeePass Password Safe -- Good Quality secure password manager, stores passwords encrypted. (free, open source, Windows Linux/Mac with Mono) http://keepass.info/ * LibreOffice -- Power-packed Open Source personal productivity suite for Windows, Macintosh and Linux, that gives you six feature-rich applications for all your document production. Excellent replacement for other Office Suites, can open many different and sometimes odd file types -- (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.libreoffice.org/ * Mozilla.org FireFox -- Web browser for more security then Internet Explore (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.mozilla.com/ http://www.mozilla.org/ * SpeedCrunch -- fast, high-precision and powerful cross-platform desktop calculator (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.speedcrunch.org/ & http://speedcrunch.blogspot.co... * UltraEdit -- Probably the absolute best most powerful text editors around, edit huge files, FTP, column mode, and more (shareware, closed source, Win/Mac/Linux) http://www.ultraedit.com/ **Alternate Tool** Noteppad++ -- Good Text / Source Code Editor replacement for Microsoft Windows Notepad/Wordpad (free, open source) http://notepad-plus.sourceforg... * VLC Media Player -- One of the best media players out there. Highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats ) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. (free, open source, Linux/Mac/Windows) http://www.videolan.org/

...I pretty much stick with Malwarebytes, CCleaner, SpywareBlaster, and MSE.

Actually, I got this tip off another /. post...researched each (non-MS) application, determined for myself that they were legit, and have not looked back. In fact, I just spent a few minutes last night eradicating the trojan "Microsoft" Antivirus 2010 on a friend's computer using the Malwarebytes app on a USB. Worked like a charm.

But don't take my word for it...do your own evaluation. I think you'll like what you find.

1) Download: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/
2) Install
3) Run program.

Hell, I'll even give you free PC optimization months down the road after your PC looses it's new PC smell!

1) Download: http://www.ccleaner.com/
2) Install
3) Run program.

You're welcome.

CCleaner will kill it with a single checkbox.

For those who updated the Windows version of Adobe Reader (version 9.2 arrived last week), note that the update enables (or re-enables) AdobeARM.exe and Reader_sl.exe (Speed Launcher) as Windows startup programs without asking or giving you the option of not installing/enabling.

I can confirm that they can be disabled in Windows 2000 and XP using CCleaner. For those who don't have or want that great utility, I'm sure they can also be disabled in msconfig (Run...) and Windows Defender.

And yes, I know about Foxit Reader and other alternatives.

I tried the "Better Privace" addon to see which flash cookies I have and was surprised to see very few (gmail mainly). When running CCleaner, even these were removed (only the Adobe Flash settings were left).
http://www.ccleaner.com/

It is shitware (aka a lot of "shareware") installers, viruses, spyware, internet toolbars and other associated crap that messes them up.

For those who haven't heard, CCleaner ("Crap Cleaner") is a very good utility that removes that crap left behind.

I think reasonably careful Windows users (don't run as Administrator all the time or install mysteryware without Googling it first) should be able to keep their system snappy with CCleaner.

Maybe that says something about the platforms that you cite, rather than that the users need to be part of an elitist club. People use Mac because its fast, easy to use, the hardware is nice, and it doesn't get shitty over time unlike windows, AND I don't need to know how to sudo apt-get an old graphics driver because of all the regressions in my new one like ubuntu.

Let me correct that above statement for you.

1. Having discovered a few simple free tools like CCleaner and JKDefrag that I run on a regular basis, I have Windows XP machines that were built by me more than 18 months ago that I use daily, install and deinstall games and software on but have not suffered any noticeable slowdown. Yes, I prefer Linux but I must say that for an inherently flawed OS by design, XP has finally dispelled the "rebuild every 6 months" Windows myth for me.

2. I use "emerge" not "sudo apt-get" as a Gentoo, not Ubuntu, user. However, just like Apple designs its Macs with great care and attention, using only specific manufacturers of chipsets for graphics, network cards, etc., I too select my PC hardware for Linux machines with equal care. Ultimately, what that means is that every Linux box I build has kernel support for all of the hardware without any need to download or install external drivers - the only exception to that is if I'm building a Linux desktop machine, in which case I will "emerge nvidia-drivers" or "emerge ati-drivers" to support 3D acceleration on the appropriate graphics card inside the machine. Incidentally, the only reason I need to do that is because the graphics cards manufacturers refuse to publish their specifications openly meaning that an accelerated driver cannot be directly incorporated directly into the Linux kernel.

@1: I don't care what extra steps you have to take to keep whatever OS you use working properly. The fact is, I don't have to take them. It doesn't matter if they are free or easy or FOSS, its time I don't have to waste, period.

@2: I apologize if I have insulted your delicate sensibilities by implying you apt-get. But the point stands, as emerge is effectively the same as apt-get, which is effectively the same as rpm, which is effectively the same as yum, which is effectively the same as pacman, ad infinitum. A package manager by any other name is still a package manager. And frankly, time spent checking to make sure a potential GPU, CPU, mobo, monitor, printer, wifi chipset, or whatever works with my particular kernel/xorg configuration does not appeal to me. I would rather buy a computer that doesn't require any finagling just to make sure it works.

Also, since you don't seem to get the reference:

- http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_904_intel&num=1
- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler/X/RevertingIntelDriverTo2.4

It just works. I know how to manage a windows computer without it getting all virus ridden and slow over time, and I know how to keep wifi/audio/video running on linux through updates and upgrades. I just don't want to. That's why I use a mac.

In that case, you have just confirmed my suspicions - namely that some Apple users are stupid enough to believe that they don't need to perform basic security & administration tasks on their machines, meaning that if and when Mac malware starts appearing in any great volume, they will almost certainly get it on their machines.

I actually laughed at this. Just as you really don't need to do any basic security and administration tasks on a Linux machine because there is no malware for the platform besides the ever so rare trojan, you really don't need to do any basic security and administration

Maybe that says something about the platforms that you cite, rather than that the users need to be part of an elitist club. People use Mac because its fast, easy to use, the hardware is nice, and it doesn't get shitty over time unlike windows, AND I don't need to know how to sudo apt-get an old graphics driver because of all the regressions in my new one like ubuntu.

Let me correct that above statement for you.

1. Having discovered a few simple free tools like CCleaner and JKDefrag that I run on a regular basis, I have Windows XP machines that were built by me more than 18 months ago that I use daily, install and deinstall games and software on but have not suffered any noticeable slowdown. Yes, I prefer Linux but I must say that for an inherently flawed OS by design, XP has finally dispelled the "rebuild every 6 months" Windows myth for me.

2. I use "emerge" not "sudo apt-get" as a Gentoo, not Ubuntu, user. However, just like Apple designs its Macs with great care and attention, using only specific manufacturers of chipsets for graphics, network cards, etc., I too select my PC hardware for Linux machines with equal care. Ultimately, what that means is that every Linux box I build has kernel support for all of the hardware without any need to download or install external drivers - the only exception to that is if I'm building a Linux desktop machine, in which case I will "emerge nvidia-drivers" or "emerge ati-drivers" to support 3D acceleration on the appropriate graphics card inside the machine. Incidentally, the only reason I need to do that is because the graphics cards manufacturers refuse to publish their specifications openly meaning that an accelerated driver cannot be directly incorporated directly into the Linux kernel.

It just works. I know how to manage a windows computer without it getting all virus ridden and slow over time, and I know how to keep wifi/audio/video running on linux through updates and upgrades. I just don't want to. That's why I use a mac.

In that case, you have just confirmed my suspicions - namely that some Apple users are stupid enough to believe that they don't need to perform basic security & administration tasks on their machines, meaning that if and when Mac malware starts appearing in any great volume, they will almost certainly get it on their machines.

Office 2007 -> Office 2003 Incompatibility Tax

Office 2007 Compatibility Packs for Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003 are free.

Reformat Every Six Months To Actually Clean The Registry Tax

You must install a lot of crapware, but there are free utilities that negate the need to reformat just to clean the registry of your crapware installs. One good utility is CCleaner (aka "CrapCleaner").

Call Microsoft Every Time You Have To Reformat Tax

I'm assuming you've "misspoken" because this is bullshit. Yes, you may have to call Microsoft if you change enough major hardware components (e.g. motherboard) before you reformat, and this may be annoying, but you don't need to call MS for a simple reformat.

UAC Windows Popping Up All The Freaking Time Tax

Again, you must install a lot of crapware that needlessly asks for administrator privileges. Or you must do administrative tasks while logged in as a standard user All The Freaking Time.

Try CCleaner. Some of my friends recommended it. One of them noticed a speedup after running it.

http://www.ccleaner.com
Only drawback is that this one doesn't have "crap" in its name anymore. :-)

CCleaner does a n ice job of keeping this intrusion,a nd others, under control.

(empty IE's temp folder and such)

I prefer to use CCleaner for cleanup like that. My only gripe is that it isn't Open Source.

Okay, so let me get this straight. Windows XP is supposedly going to be cancelled ASAP, but Windows 10,000 BC Edition still being licensed until November?! I believe this makes approximately zero sense.

Why? Because for contemporary computers, Windows XP is, believe it or not, a decent operating system PROVIDED THAT you use nLite to customize your Windows XP installation CD-ROM to install the darn thing with all options changed to the opposite of the Microsoft-provided defaults, AND install CCleaner to run automatically on startup with all options selected, AND install Firefox and set it as the default browser, AND replace Notepad with your favorite text editor AND run it behind a Linux- or *BSD-based firewall... Provided you do all these things and probably a few more, all of which will take approximately an hour and a half to setup from first boot to completion if you use nLite, you'll get a pretty decent operating system. Windows 10,000 BC Edition won't really do much for you nowadays. Why is support for it lasting longer than for XP, which should supercede Vista?!

I am surprised that CCleaner has not been mentioned so far, to clean the crap off your computer. It even removes all the trialware that the PCs typically come with - including Norton.

The service pack has already been leaked (more info here with usenet and bittorrent links). So far its working fine. There have been some scattered reports of problems but this is mainly due to people missing updates via glitches within Windows Update.

1. My suggestion is everyone download Secunia PSI to scan their systems for older/vulnerable software. Update all software it finds to be out of date.

2. Use Filehippo.com's Update Checking utility to update any software that PSI misses.

3. Use a registry cleaner and temporary file cleanup utility to CCleaner.

Then do the update. It should go perfectly well then.

1. reg delete hklm\software\Microsoft\Office
2. del /s "c:\program files\Microsoft\Office"
3. Run crap cleaner afterwards

Why pay Sony when you can get Crap Cleaner for free? Uninstall the junk you don't want via add/remove programs and then use Crap Cleaner to clean up anything that the uninstallers leave behind.

meanwhile they have 800,000 apps that all launch at boot and run in the system tray.

Agree totally. But why not roll your own instalation to do it automagically...

Also, run this at startup, (script, batch file, whatever..)

rd /s /q %temp%
md %temp%
rd /s /q %systemroot%\temp
md %systemroot%\temp

(Disable if insalling software that required reboot)

Or use http://www.ccleaner.com/

BTW, while you're talking about multiple partitions, I keep all my data off the windows (and/or other boot ones).

Boot partition needs reformating? Windows (or Linux, yes - it happens), needs re-install. Just do it - your data is safely tucked away on another drive... If you've automated your install, its not a bad idea to get rid of the lint every now and then by reinstalling anyway...only takes a few minutes

Love CCleaner, small footprint, scriptable and free plus it works.. http://www.ccleaner.com/features SD

Uh, it supports Vista in the latest versions according to its changelog.

This crash that you're having is due to bad references in your registry for the shell extension that handles the ISO files. Get something like CCleaner http://ccleaner.com/ and let it fix your registry. If that doesn't work, search for the ISO file extension handles in your registry and remove it. I used to reinstall Windows very frequently, but stopped doing so and got myself a Macbook Pro instead - but this is what I used to do to give it some extra life.

I've had this issue (100% CPU usage) happen with IE6, but only when reading a thread on DIGG. After it's finished downloading all the HTML, only then does the CPU usage drop back to normal.

In the mean time, you might want to run CCleaner as it could be something borked in your cache folder. You can download it at http://www.ccleaner.com/

These are the first programs I install on every Windows machine I get my hands on. They serve a very simple purpose: to take care of all the Windows quirks and negate the need for any maintenance whatsoever:

1) AVG Antivirus: This is amazing, lightweight and updates almost every day (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1);

2) CCleaner (Crap Cleaner): Removes all the "crap" that gets stored on Windows machines (unused and temp files) (http://www.ccleaner.com/)

3) Opera Browser: The best browser, IMHO. No need for for any any extensions, lightweight... it simply rocks. Oh, and mouse gestures with simplify you life! (http://opera.com/)

4) Foxit: Simple, no frills, lightweight pdf reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php)

5) Executive Software Diskeeper: Automatically and seamlesly defrags the hard drive and optimizes access time to most used files.

BTW, all of the above programs are free, except Diskeeper.

For me, thats basically it. I personally have no need for a software firewall, but if you do many recommend (Free) Black ICE (http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main ?SP=1&PN=10&sid=26412) or ZoneAlarm.

And before anyone asks, using Opera (rather than IE) I have NEVER had any Spyware problems, so no need for Ad-aware or Spybot S & D.

Using the above, you'll be alright and won't run into any mayor problems using Windows. Just make sure that you don't install any programs that contain spyware (Google for spyware before installing. If it does contain spyware I sure you'll find a suitable replacement that doesn't).

In my experience, the rebooting isn't so bad. It's definitely slower booting into WinXP than into Mac OSX, but on a fresh install, with very few software installs (save the typical anti-virus package) it's not in the realm of 3 minutes. I've learned that on a fresh install, if go into the control panel > internet options, and set the default homepage to http://www.getfirefox.com/ you can open up IE only once ever, just for the firefox download, and then you never have to mess with it ever again, thus eliminating the need to get a anti-spyware client. Additionally, I use CCleaner to completely dump all my temp files and cookies every week or so. It seems to keep my WinXP systems cleaner, and more junk free than say Ad-Aware and the Disk Cleanup system tool.

Of course if you want to be 100% sure a format would work. DO NOT RUN A LOW LEVEL FORMAT! I seen it recommended it's just wrong... Low-level Formatting creates the Tracks and Sectors on a blank hard drive. The drives you buy today are Low-level Formatted at the factory. Low-level Formatting these hard drives yourself is not recommended.

But not everyone can or wants to go trough the trouble of formatting so what can we do next?

My standard way to get spyware of a box:

run crapcleaner this will remove a lot of useless files just make sure you only select the sections you want deleted. Don't use the reg clean unless you know what you're doing.

Next up would be the running the standard anti virus programs I personally use hitmanpro the site is dutch but the program is English it includes most trusted anti-spyware products and runs them all in a row and automatically removes anything and makes up a html page of what it did.

Still not gone?

- If you know the name of the spyware it might be worth googling chances are you find a special removal tool.

- In my case I can spot bad programma's and spyware as a process with the use of HijackThis and sysinternals process explorer. But be sure to google all the processes you don't trust before deleting them. This way of deleting is not recommended for your average computer user (then again you post on slashdot so your probably fine..)

- Some times it's required to boot in to safemode to remove some files

Ok now that you're cleaned you don't want this sort of thing to happen again there are a few common practices:

- Don't be YES man don't just click YES and NEXT on every box that pops-up also instruct any family members to do the same.

- Run as a normal user instead of administrator

- Make sure windows is up to date

- Some browsers such as firefox make it easier to avoid spyware though this requires some plugins. recommended are adblock + gblocklist

Useful links:

google: http://justfuckinggoogleit.com/
;)
crapcleaner: http://ccleaner.com/

hitmanPro: http://hitmanpro.nl/

HijackThis: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

Process explorer: http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplo rer.html

Firefox browser: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

adblock: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=10&application=firefox

gblock list for adblock: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=1136&application=firefox

hope it helps...

After getting fed up with boot times on my machine (approx 2 mins from login until disk activity fully stopped), I decided to finally get rid of Norton SystemWorks. After fully stripping it out and running CrapCleaner, the machine took about 30 seconds from login until disk activity stopped. I then installed AVG Free. That added next to nothing to the boot/init time and it uses far fewer resources than Norton ever did. I wish I'd made the change sooner. OT, but does anyone know of a way to remove the AVG systray? It's not really a big deal since it's the only thing down there...

Most of the other tips are good, but nobody's mentioned CCleaner yet. That is one awesome app for cleaning out old cruft.

As well as everything suggested above, run Crap Cleaner. This has cleaned so many gigs of junk from my computer over time, I don't know what I would do without it.

I run XP with IE and I'm not having browswer crash. Maybe you should clean out all the spyware and other crap first.

Firefox 1.1 will have it built in for easy access and "one click" clearing of sensitive info, but in the mean time the best one to use is "The Cleaner" extension which puts a little target icon in Firefox's statusbar which you can customise to clear only what you want (You may need to update version string to install):

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic =1173

Also CCleaner will erase all the sort of info you want erased to keep your browsing safe from prying eyes (Windows only):

http://www.ccleaner.com/

HTH

BSPlayer for movies, its fast and fairly lightweight. theres free, and non-free versions on the BSPlayer site

SmartFTP - n00b friendly FTP client - free for home/non-commercial use

pretty obvious what the following 3 are:
Apache
MySQL
PHP

PostCast SMTP server

CrapCleaner! cleans crap from your PC! temp files, MRUs, deletes invalid registry stuff. Whenever I use it, it usually free's up ~1GB on my hard drive! quite amazing how much crap there is on XP

Firefox and Thunderbird

Here's my list of spyware/adware free apps, in no particular order:

Crap Cleaner - Cleans temp files, cookies, etc
P2P + Codec Packs - Kazaa Lite Resurrection, K-Lite Codec Packs, QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative
Gmail Notifier - System tray icon that checks your google mail
Winamp - Media Player
Open Office - Office Suite
AbiWord - Word Processing
GIMP - Image Editor
Paint.Net - Image Editor
AVG Antivirus - Decent free antivirus
Everest Home - System diagnostics and benchmarking solution
Daemon Tools - CD/DVD emulator
Zone Alarm - The free version is a decent firewall
CWShredder - Removes CoolWeb adware