Alternative PDF Viewer

The majority of computer users have Adobe Reader as their program to read .PDF documents. I use to be one of those users until I discovered Foxit PDF Reader. It is only 2.41 megabytes big unlike Adobe PDF reader which is over 10 times that size. Foxit still maintains all the functionality of Adobe yet runs way smoother and faster. Rather then waiting a few seconds for Adobe to open your PDF document, Foxit will do it in a fraction of the time.

If you do not wish to download any programs then you can choose to view PDF documents online. One such site is this one.

Test Your Computer Hardware

Having a computer that overheats is very strenuous for your hardware and will shorten the lifespan considerably. How do you know if your commuter is overheating? Easy, Just use CPUID. This free software will tell you the temperature of your CPU as well as your voltages, temperatures, fans speed. Additionally, it will tell you if your GPU is hot or not.

How can this knowledge be applied?

If your temperatures are running abnormally high that means something is wrong with your system. Either your computer isn’t stable at OC’ing at those temps. or you need a better ventilation system in your computer.

Nero 8 Ultra

The first thing many users of Nero 8 Ultra will notice that upon the completion of the install of the software about 22 applications will reside on your desktop. The variety of software range from very specific to some that are ambiguous. One noticeable application that is included with Nero 8 Ultra is drive speed, and as the name implies the application tests the speed of your drive. Nero 7 users are already familiar with most of the application offered since most of them are present in Nero 7, however for the new Nero users many of the applications may seem somewhat daunting to the first time users.

Eye Candy for Linux

One of the perks to upgrading to Linux from the conventional operating systems like Windows XP is that Linux has a plethora of tweaking features/abilities. One popular tweaking interface is Compiz Fusion. Compiz Fusion is related to eye candy because of all the features you can do to Ubuntu 7.10 once it is installed. Once you open a browser and click on the link at this site. Once done, enjoy all the animations you now have.

Free Backup for Drivers

The biggest problem after formatting your computer’s HDD is looking for the correct drivers for your computers hardware. It can be a pain in the butt and a tedious task. Luckily, there is a freeware program that will backup all your hardware drivers and places them all back on to  your computer once you format. Usually, these programs cost money which is why this is a great find.

DriverMax is a new program which allows you to easily reinstall all your Windows drivers. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Simply export all your current drivers (or just the ones that work ok) to a folder or a compressed file. After reinstalling Windows you will have everything in one place!

Download DriverMax

Disk Utilty

Many people have used the Windows Disk Defragmenter, if not, you can access it at Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools-> Disk Defragmenter. The usage is pretty simple, Just click analyze and once that is done hit Defragment. If you want a one step further application, then I suggest Defraggler. It is a completely free software that has all the features of Disk Defragment from Windows and more.

With Defraggler, you are allowed to defragement only certain folders or files, run from a flash drive and now has Vista support. In my experience, it is usually quicker to use then Microsoft’s version and in my opinion better.

Great System Rescue CD

Unforutunately, Windows is not stable enough to prevent itself from not booting when a virus corrupts your OS. When thys happens, there is the chance that your computer won’t boot to Windows, or it won’t boot in Safe Mode either. This can be a very unhappy misfortuane because you may have valuable files on that computer. Like the majority of the cmputer users, we do not back up our documents which is why we have SystemRescueCd.

Description: SystemRescueCd is a Linux system on a bootable CD-ROM for repairing your system and recovering your data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system utilities (parted, partimage, fstools, …) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). 

Download SysResCCD

Great Deletion and Recovery Tool

First off, I wish to praise about the freeware software called Ccleaner. The C stands for Crap which means crap cleaner. Ccleaner does such a wonderful job in getting rid of everything. CCleaner websites states “It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!” It is great in removing all browser history, deleting programs at startup, doing registry scan, and cleaning your recycle bin.

The recovery tool, made by the same developers, is called Recuva. Ever empty your recycle bin when it contained something you actually needed? With recuva you can get that file back. It can also get files back deleted from your flash drive. This program saved me so many times which is why I highly recommend it.

·         Simple to use interface - just click ‘Scan’ and choose the files you want to recover

·         Easy to use filter for results based on file name/type

·         Simple Windows like interface with List and Tree view

·         Can be run from a USB thumb drive

·         Restores all types of files, office documents, images, video, music, email, anything.

·         Supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 , NTFS + EFS file systems

·         Restores files from removable media (SmartMedia, Secure Digital, MemoryStick, Digital cameras, Floppy disks, Jaz Disks, Sony Memory Sticks, Compact Flash cards, Smart Media Cards, Secure Digital Cards, etc.)

·         Restores files from external ZIP drives , Firewire and USB Hard drives

·         It’s fast, tiny and takes seconds to run!

Download CCleaner

Download Recuva

Hiren’s Boot CD 9.4

Hiren’s Boot CD is an all in one Dos Bootable CD. If you fix computers often, or want a bunch of handy programs, I suggest you download this CD right away. This CD comes with so many useful softwares such as partitioning agents, system performance benchmarks, disk cloning and imaging tools, data recovery tools, MBR tools, BIOS tools, spyware removal tools, antivirus tools, and much much more. What is even better about this CD is that you can boot to CD and then run an antivirus scan.

What good is that?

Say you can not boot to your computer as a result of a virus. Just boot to Hirens Boot CD and scan your computer to remove any viruses.

Download Boot CD 9.4

If you want another link just leave a comment and I will get you one.

Remove Norton Products

I can’t stand almost any products by Norton. Almost every product they produce is a resource hog and other programs can do the same thing yet run much faster. I say almost every product because Symantec Antivirus Enterprise Edition is a good product; however, items like Norton 360 aren’t. Also it is a better idea to run Norton Removal Tool to make sure you get rid of every piece of software so none of it is left behind. This removal tool is also good in case an installation gets stuck halfway through the install.

Norton Removal Tool will remove these–and only these–Norton programs:

· Norton AntiSpam 2004/2005
· Norton AntiVirus 2003 through 2007.2
· Ghost 2003, Ghost Version 9.0 and 10.0
· Norton GoBack 3.1 through 4.2
· Norton Internet Security 2003 through 2007.2
· Norton Password Manager
· Norton Personal Firewall 2003 through 2006
· Norton SystemWorks 2003 through 2007
· Norton Confidential Online 2007
· Norton Internet Security Add-on Pack
· Norton Save and Restore 1.0
· Norton 360

Download Norton Removal Tool