Recommended Windows Software
Note that I’m in the process of reorganising this at the moment so it may be a bit disorganised!
********** Essential Software (i.e., Install and use all of these on a regular basis!) **********
AntiVirus (Use only one!)
If at all possible that you can afford it, please please please buy a copy of Eset NOD32 Antivirus. It is the best antivirus product available and is worth every cent! Eset also have an all-in-one security product called Eset Smart Security which is essentially NOD32 Antivirus with a firewall and anti-spam but I don’t like or recommend all-in-one products so please avoid this!
If you wish to use a free antivirus product then please use one of the following:
Anti-Spyware – Essential (Install all of these!)
Firewall
Drive/Driver/Registry/System Cleaners
Internet & Email
Multimedia & Codecs
- QuickTime or preferably QuickTime Alternative
- RealPlayer or preferably Real Alternative
Video Drivers (Obviously choose one depending on your video card!)
Picture Viewers
Secure Password Database
File compression
File Viewers
- Adobe Acrobat Reader or preferably Foxit Reader
PDF Converter
CD/DVD Writing
Software Uninstaller
Disk Defragmenter
********** Other non-essential Software **********
Software Inspectors
Antivirus Removal Tools
Other Antivirus Updates
Anti-Spyware
- AVG Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) (30-day trial reverts to feature-limited freeware) – Updates
Disable the option to “Start with Windows” as this will clash with Microsoft Windows Defender
- Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition 1.06 (Download from OldApps.com or from OldVersion.com) – Updates
I prefer this version to the newer…
Drive/Driver/Registry/System Cleaners
Firefox Add-ons
There is an easier way to install Spoofstick. You will need Winzip to do this. Right click on the Spoofstick.xpi file and choose “Open with Winzip”. When the Winzip window opens you will see three files (install.js, install.rdf and spoofstick.jar)listed. You will want to right click on the install.rdf and choose “Open with” and have it open in Notepad. Once it is opened in Notepad, find the line that has “maxversion>1.0″ and change it to something greater than 2.0 (I changed mine to 2.5). save the file (File > save) and exit out of notepad, Winzip will popup with a message saying that the install.rdf has changed since it was extracted and do you want to update the archive with this file; hit yes, exit out of Winzip and install the extension.This works with other extensions that have been abandoned to get them to work with FF 2.0.
Internet Tools & Utilities
Email Client & Spam Filter
Multimedia & Codecs
MP3 Creation (See Radified Guide & Best MP3 Guide for more info!)
Document Viewers & Office Productivity
Hardware/Software/System Information
File Copy/Replication/Synchronisation
Folder Size
Screen Saver
Startup Control
Data Verification & File Recovery
NTP Time Sync Client
Virtualisation
How Vulnerable is an Unprotected PC on the Internet? « The Blog That Should Not Be said
[...] Recommended Software [...]
The Rooster said
Can I suggest that you add Comodo anti-virus and Comodo Firewall to your list?
Mel said
Just installed Comodo Firewall earlier so will see how it goes first. As for Comodo Anti-Virus, I will not be using it myself so will wait a while to see what the online community at large thinks of it before adding it to the list.
Matthew Jabs said
Great page…
A ton of good info here. Thank you for compiling this list and placing it all together!
Tis I said
well you had a few months to play with comodo firewall .. whats your eminent opinion.. did tryout comodo av and decided pretty quick smart to return to my trusted avast ..
Mel said
I was impressed with Comodo Firewall when I was using it, so definitely recommend it, but just be aware that it is a relatively new product. I don’t use it anymore as my new mobo has an onboard, hardware NVIDIA firewall which is excellent.
As for Comodo Antivirus, I would not touch it with a bargepole, going by what I’ve read about it. Avoid it at all costs. Avast! is the best of the free, trustworthy, antivirus products. The best of all, but costs (a little) money is NOD32…and it’s worth every cent!
Andrew said
Alright Mel,
Small little free program that can save your USB drives from that poxy drive not recognised error. Testdisk6.6 http://www.cgsecurity.org
Cheers
Andrew.
Chris said
Nice page Mel a nice little program for backups and syncing folders.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_syncback/
Spyware said
Hey great blog would you be interested in a link exchange
Mel said
Spyware, I only link to sites I find useful or interesting and that I may use in the future, and I would hope people would do this with my blog if they find it interesting. I am not interested in link exchanges as my links would just get too big and messy. Thanks anyway.
z-dog said
Archived Flash updates available here Flash updates archived at Adobe
Links for 04-Sep-2007 « The Blog That Should Not Be said
[...] Recommended Windows Software [...]
z-dog said
MS Sync Toy .. Use full tool for copying files .. used on Site – set ups.. and PCS for stand-alone pcs
permissions are not carried over on servers but handy for those sites you need to tidy up..
For those that remember the BSOD screen saver sysinternals are far from gone
here is their Sysinternals suite of programs
and mel how about an update on this page .. tut tut tut .. next you’ll be telling me your working now..:-0
Mel said
@Z-dog
How about you update your blog before you start having a go at me you lazy fecker!