Software free advice

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My name is Barry Thompson and I'm located in Banyo. That's in Queensland, Australia where I've lived and worked for 20 years. Call me now on 07 3267 8461 or 0431 661 314, or Send in an Inquiry Form

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websites, PHP, MySQL. software, power protection

Koala Computing

Web site design, PHP, MySQL, domains, database software & power protection. Let me help you to get more out of your computer.

Why a Koala? Databases, interactive websites

Barry Thompson : Software that I use
Like most people, I've built up a "library" of useful software over the years. Some of this consists of utility programs which just make life easier but, recently, in common with anyone who is on-line regularly (and ADSL means that I'm on-line all the time!) I've had to devote a lot of attention to security. So, I'll deal with security issues first, then list the other stuff for your interest. Firstly, you MUST have a firewall. No ifs, no buts! There is no doubt that a reliable software firewall provides worth while protection.

Sunbelt Personal Firewall	This seems to do everything that I want. It used to be called Kerio and seems to do an excellent job of controlling what goes in and out of my system. Mind you, because I'm connected to the internet via a router, I already have significant protection against incoming nasties. Gibson's 'Shields Up' and 'Leaktest' both like SPF, anyway! I've tried Zone Alarm and Comodo but found them clumsy so I've gone back to the simpler product.
I've been using the Mozilla browser and email applications for quite a while.

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser	Seems to be more secure than IE plus heaps of handy plug-ins. Features tabbed browsing, integrated search and live bookmarks. Stops pop-ups and is resistant to spyware and viruses. Many people claim to have had less of those problems as a direct result of swapping to FF. The fact that Mozilla is enthusiastic about developing it further is encouraging too!
Mozilla Thunderbird Email Client	Safer, faster, and easier than OE with features such as intelligent spam filters, a built-in spell checker & extension support.
For viruses, spyware and other malware, I use a combination of applications, working on the principle that different programs may trap different problems.

Avira Antivir free antivirus	They also sell a Premium Version and a Premium Security Suite. Their site also offers free security tools. overnight.
SUPERAntiSpyware	Highly rated. Offers protection against trojans, worms, dialers, highjackers, spyware and keyloggers. Run once a week after checking for updates.
Diamond CS ProcessGuard	ProcessGuard runs as a service under Win2000, XP and 2003. This makes it more difficult for the bad guys to stop it. It comes in free and full versions but even the free one does the useful job of warning you if anything that hasn't run before tries to do so, letting you decide whether this is a wise move!
Sysinternals RootkitRevealer	To quote Tech Support Alert: "Rootkits are a special kind of software tool used to hide trojans, viruses and other malware from your anti virus scanner and other security products. Unfortunately, they are extremely effective ... Thankfully, there is a new class of security product now available, called rootkit detectors".
There are also some on-line services which will scan your system and check for malware or for system vulnerability.

Shields Up!	A very useful program from Gibson Research which can tell you whether your system is vulnerable to attack.
Panda On-line	This is an on-line service that will search your system for viruses, spyware and other undesirables. Like others of this type, it is very zealous so use your judgement before deleting everything that it doesn't like. However, if you suspect that your system has been compromised, running a test from a clean, third party computer makes good sense.
Trend Micro	An alternative to Panda. The one irony about these on-line services is that they are all rather fiddly to run under Netscape/Mozilla. I suspect that this just means that they haven't completed full Mozilla versions yet. So, you may chose to use IE6 to run them and then close it again!
Then you need to back up your applications and data files in case of malicious attack or hardware failure.

Karen's Power Tools	I use Karen's Replicator, a flexible, reliable backup/synchronise/restore program that you can "set and forget". I back up data files between my hard drives, including to my 500gb external drive ... and I don't even have to be there! This is just one of Karen's Power Tools and I suggest that you follow the link and check them all out.
Acronis True Image	Complete disk imaging, cloning, system disk backup, and bare metal restore for workstations and home PCs. The disk backup file contains the exact copy of a hard disk, including all the computer data, operating system, and programs. After a system crash you can restore the entire system or simply replace lost files and folders from your disk backup.
Useful applications if you need to back up DVDs.
DVDFab Decryptor	Will copy an entire DVD.
DVD Shrink	Will edit out superfluous space from a DVD image and compress the rest. This will let you back up a 9gb DVD onto a significantly cheaper 4.7gb blank. I've heard of DVD Shrink causing problems under Windows 2000 so, to avoid the risk, I run it in a Virtual Machine (see above). If you use 9gb DVD blanks, you don't need this.
Super DVD Copy	Takes the output from DVD Shrink and burns it to a DVD.
Image/graphics applications.
CompuPic	My long time favourite image viewer, resizer, colour adjuster, slide-show, montage maker, etc. I'm still using an early version (1.80) because I still like it. However, the later versions are very good and, naturally, have a few more features!
XnView	Another image viewer - also converts and adjusts and is very good for precise resizing. Lots of features - do they suit you?
FastStone Viewer	Very popular freeware graphic viewer. Also on this page, a good screen capture program and a photo resizer.
JAlbum	JAlbum is a free tool that produces web based photo albums with index pages and slide shows from image folders - and it's just the best program for doing it! You control the look - many skins available. JAlbum needs at least v1.3 of Suns Java runtime (or equivalent) to run
GOMplayer	Video player - plays all common formats.
Now we come to the "little helpers".

Gregory Braun's Program Launch Toolbar	16 columns of 14 launch buttons - that's 224 programs all accessed from one tray icon. The latest version is shareware and I upgraded from the older freeware version, simply because it's so useful andI was feeling mean for not paying up!
HTML-Kit	This has become my standard "work horse". To quote their website : "HTML Kit is a full-featured free editor for HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and other text files. Over 400 plugins are available for it, including HTML Tidy for creating standards compliant web pages."
Arachnophilia	If you want to try your hand at creating websites, this is an excellent "nuts and bolts" HTML editor. It used to be my favourite and is still very good if you're focusing mainly on HTML. Plus the whole website is worthy of exploration!
Filezilla	Once you have one or more websites, you'll need a mechanism for uploading the pages and any images.. Tjhis is a very good freeware FTP client, very easy to use.
Open Office	A wonderful alternative to MS Office, much better priced (FREE!) and with what some believe to be a few superior features. Of course you can continue to use your old Microsoft Office files - or exchange files with people still using Microsoft Office without any problems .
Chaos Manager	Combined appointment reminder, phone book, address book, note pad which sits in the system tray on stand-by. Optional password protection or encryption.
Ccleaner	A freeware system optimisation and privacy tool! Removes temporary files created while surfing the web, empties the Recycle Bin, deletes files from your temporary folders. It frees disk space and reduces the "clutter" on your computer helping it to run more efficiently. It also can be used as a way to protect your privacy on the Internet.
Color Pic	Very useful for picking the colour value from any pixel of the screen.
Disktective	A very useful disk space reporting tool.
SC Disk Info	A program which tells you an amazing amount of information about your hard disks.
1 by 1 Directory Player	Simple mp3 player, 29k in size. Point it at a directory of music files and away it goes.
BBox Music Player	A free music player, tagger, converter, ripper and organiser Can play almost any sound source.
Flexible Renamer	Remarkable sophisticated freeware renamer. It lets you create new serialised names or just replace partial names, operating on all or only selected files in a folder.
Deep Burner	Free and commercial versions available. Easy and reliable.
CDBurner XP Pro	Free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including audio CDs and bootable CDs. It will also create and burn ISOs.
WinMerge	Open Source differencing / merging tool, works on files or folders.
Foxit PDF Reader	Small, fast, free alternative to Acrobat Reader.
Programmer's File Editor	A multi-file text editor, robust and flexible, oriented towards programming but generally useful as your default editor. It handles huge files - I've had jobs that required fiddling with files of 15 million records. Can your editor do that? Plus you can have macros and key recording/playback.
Edit Pad Lite	Compact, general purpose text editor. Open as many files as you like and use tabs to switch between them. Highly configurable.
Folders Report	This site has many more useful freeware applications - including several password retrieval tools.
Process Library	What are all those processes sitting in Task Manager? Find out here!
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