Windows Repair and Tech Support Software

Piriform’s CCleaner (short for Crap Cleaner, literally.) cleans up your hard drive as well as your registry and keeps your PC clean.

Description: After achieving over 200 million downloads, you would have to think a software is pretty darn good, right? I have used it on many computers and I’ve never had it crash, freeze, or act unreliably. With the features that it has and how well it functions, I have to say that CCleaner is worthy of the highest honor I can give it on this site. To see how many that is though, you’ll have to read (or skip) to the bottom of the post.

Compatibility: Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP and XP 64, 2003, Vista 32 and 64

Necessary Info: CCleaner cleans the junk out of your different programs including:

• Internet Explorer - Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat.
• Firefox - Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history.
• Opera - Temporary files, URL history, cookies.
• Windows - Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.
• Registry cleaner - Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more… also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.
• Third-party applications - Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more…

PROs: It cleans all the junk listed above and does it for free.

CONs: I haven’t yet figured out which check-box prevents the software from removing my commonly used Start Menu Items. I should probably be more diligent in my search but up till now, I haven’t been. This is pretty minor!

Rating:

CCleaner: Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

written by Tim \\ tags: Computer Repair, Registry, Speed Up, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows XP

EASEUS Partition Manager V2.1 is a very cool, free computer repair tool. It is difficult to find good, free partition software. Well, here it is.

Description: EASEUS Partition Manager allows you to resize and move your Hard Drive partitions which isn’t a huge deal. The fact that Partition Manager is free and it can resize and move partitions from within Windows. That is a big deal..

Free Partition Software

Compatibility - Free version: Windows 2000 and XP
Compatibility - Pay versions: Windows 2000, XP, XP 64, Vista 32 and 64, Server 2003

Necessary Info: This program is only free to home users running Windows XP Home or Pro. If you are a business or run Windows Vista, user you must pay for the program. Sorry but those are the license details.

This program has a nice user interface that is easy to navigate. You click on the partition that you want to resize and click the “Resize/Move” button. In the next window you choose how you want to resize or move the partition.

*Note: If you want to enlarge your C: drive, you will have to reduce the size of your D: drive partition. And be certain to move the D: drive partition to the end of the drive so you don’t have to do that in another action. This program takes some time!

Rating:

Conclusion: It resizes your partitions from within windows and does it well. That is almost unheard of! It worked so well that I actually bought the professional version to use with my Onsite Computer Repair company.

EASEUS Partition Manager: Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

written by Tim \\ tags: 5 Thumbs-Up, Computer Repair, Hard Drive, Tech Support Software, Windows 2000, Windows Repair Software, Windows XP

Avira AntiVir Personal is (in my humble opinion) the best free antivirus software available. It is what I use on my own PCs.

Description: Avira AntiVir Personal is a free antivirus program. It performs updates every day and catches a higher percentage of viruses than almost any other antivirus program. Just check the latest test results from AV-Test.org at Virus Bulletin.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP 32 and 64, Vista 32 and 64

Necessary Info: AntiVir Personal is a free antivirus program from German software manufacturer Avira. Avira consistently ranks in the top 2 or 3 in Antivirus comparison tests by AV-Test.org. Check the latest test results. Of course this is the free version of the commercial software and they want you to purchase the full version but the free version is good for at least 1 full year. I haven’t had it for a complete year yet so I am not certain what happens after the year is up but I am sure that they want you to purchase the full version.

PROs: Great antivirus software that scans every file that is opened or saved. It does not slow your PC down nearly as much as McAfee, Norton, AVG, or most of the others. It is quite lean in comparison and catches more viruses. This is a win-win situation! It updates every day to ensure that your virus definitions are as current as they can be. It can be configured to perform a virus scan every day.

CONs: If you want it to perform a virus scan every day, you have to configure it yourself. When the program updates it’s virus signatures it puts a pop-up on your desktop to encourage you to purchase the commercial version of the software. Simply click “OK” and it goes away.

Rating:

Conclusion: Avira AntiVir Personal requires less of your systems resources than most antivirus programs and catches more viruses than most of the competition. Get it. The only reason that I give it 4 thumbs instead of 5 is the pop-up that encourages you to purchase the commercial version.

Avira AntiVir Personal: Download free antivirus software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

written by Tim \\ tags: 4 Thumbs-Up, Antivirus, Free Software, Security, Tech Support Software, Windows 2000, Windows Repair Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Microsoft’s free PowerPoint Viewer allows you to read the .PPT and .PPS files that your friends and coworkers send you.

Description: A free and downloadable software utility from Microsoft. Shocking isn’t it? They actually have quite a few including Autoruns.

Compatibility - OS: Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, 98 SE, ME, Server 2003, XP
Compatibility - Program: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, 2002, 2000, 97

Necessary Info: Since not everyone needs to create PowerPoint Files, Microsoft has graciously (lol) allowed us to view them for free. This is a no-frills utility. All it does is allow you to view files. You can’t create them, modify them or even resave them in this program. But it does what it says which is why I give it 4 thumbs.

Rating:

Conclusion: It is a free way to view PowerPoint files. Nothing more, nothing less.

Microsoft’s PowerPoint Viewer: Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

written by Tim \\ tags: 4 Thumbs-Up, Free Software, Microsoft, Utility, Windows 2000, Windows XP

TrueCrypt is a free encryption software for Windows. And even if they charged for it, I’d recommend it.

Description: Encrypt sensitive data quickly and securely.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP & Vista, OS X 10.4 & 10.5, Linux - Check Here.

Free Encryption Software

Necessary Info: TrueCrypt is an free open source encryption program that has versions for Windows, OS X and Linux. There is almost no limit to the size of the programs that you can encrypt. Trust me, I had a 4 gigabyte encryption file.  =)

From their own website “TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc).”

There is a ton of documentation so I’m not going to cover it all here but do check out their documentation page.

LifeHacker has a great post on how to use truecrypt.

Rating:

Conclusion: TrueCrypt is good free encryption software for windows. Trust me, I use it myself! Don’t forget to use a strong password!

TrueCrypt: Download free software HERE.

The Free Downloadable Software Fan

written by Tim \\ tags: 5 Thumbs-Up, Free Software, Open Source, Security, Utility, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows XP