Free Software Review

Ways To Make Vista Boot Faster

Due to the bad performance of Vista, now many programmers are searching for ways to make Vista boot faster. As an operating system Vista is not so much in demand as compared to the windows XP or Windows 7. People who have used computers for a long time do not want to shift from windows XP to Vista. This is due to the latter’s slow performance.

Due to the small number of options for tools Vista has been facing this problem. Users who are working in Vista find it quite slow. More over there are no sufficient tools to recover it.

Some of the softwares which help to make the software runs faster like tune XP and BootVis don’t work that well in the Vista. So this particular reason is a major disadvantage for the Vista.

So in order to make vista boot run quicker there is one way, that is to defrag your computer. Defragment will help your computer to free your hard disk thus making your computer work faster. As whenever in a Vista you are downloading any type of file it covers a lot of space in your hard disk. This making your system work slowly and this can be avoided only via defragment.

There is another way you can make your Vista work as fast as Windows XP. This is manually operating the defragment system in your computer. The manually operation of this function of defragmenting is very easy and simple. Just write the command “defrag c:-b” and press enter. Your system stars defragmenting. Till your computer gives the command that the defragmenting is over, you have to wait. Once your wait is over your Vista will be as fast as windows XP.

Once you defrag your computer you can make Vista boot run quicker and can work much more efficiently in the Vista. You should also use AutoRuns to check if there are any programs running on startup that you could do without. You’ll likely want to remove most of the programs under the “logon” tab but be certain that you don’t remove anything from Microsoft or your AntiVirus company.

CCleaner on win7

This version of Explorer is equipped with highly functional features such as instant search which employs your browsing history for prompt and more efficient search results, Web Slices which uses green Web Slice icon to help users instantly find changes on their favourite websites, and lastly the compatibility view which gives user the access to automatically fix display errors from outdated sites. These, plus more newly developed services that allow you to conveniently toggle through Windows while you multi-task are offered in this new Windows product.

Because this program can be very powerful in terms of functionality it is very important to employ highly reliable computer utility program to continuously enjoy all its features. This is where C Cleaner comes in. C Cleaner software is a registry utility tool from Piriform Company. It is a free registry cleaner program that helps remove redundant files from the registry system. The latest version of this product was developed to provide fast and more efficient registry services to 64-bit operating systems, like Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

It maintains computer in good running condition by eliminating obsolete files occupying valuable hard disk space. Additional service facilities such as registry back-up, programs uninstall assistance, and start-up program manipulations are also included in this product.

This registry utility tool rids of all browsing history and unnecessary files from Internet Explorer down to temporary files folder, Recycle Bin and third party applications It also fix registry errors made from faulty software procedures.

A regular registry scan can help resolve future issues of the inevitable registry build up.

Registry build up is caused by different factors; such as hardware and software install and uninstall process, Internet browsing, obsolete versions of driver programs, and spyware entries. Once the hard drive is saturated with registry entries it will impair the communication between your operating system and registry entries which causes delay on the computer’s response time. When this happens it becomes difficult to execute applications, desktop window freezes, and booting time takes forever, but with a reliable registry cleaner these problems can be safely resolved in no time.

Avira Antivir Personal – Download Free Antivirus

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

View PowerPoint PPT or PPS Files for Free

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

Free Windows Encryption Software

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

Free SEO Rank Checker

SEObook’s Rank Checker leaves a lot to be desired even considering the fact that it is a free program.

Description: Check your SEO rank in 3 different search engines.

Compatibility: Firefox 2 and Higher.

Necessary Info: Rank Checker is a plugin for Firefox that advertises that it will check the rank for websites in 3 different search engines. There are a few things that it does well but its main feature is a flop.

It has a nice but relatively basic interface which allows you to input your domain and then input as many keywords or keyword phrases as you would like. You can also save the entire list to check them again later. Nice feature  because no one wants to have to type each and every key word in every time they do a rank check.

Rank Checker’s main function is to check rank for the domains that you specify and it does this with 3 search engines. It seems to check Yahoo well but Google and Windows Live don’t seem to do very well with this program if they show up at all. I have a ranking on the first page of Google with some of the keywords that I checked… And they came up as having no ranking at all. To me that earns it about a 1/3 ranking…

Rating:

Conclusion: It does a good job of checking yahoo so use it for that. But if you want to check your rankings for Google, (doesn’t everyone???) I recommend that you look for another piece of software. Rank Checker can’t do it.

Rank Checker: Download free software HERE.

The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Submit Your Software for Review

If you or your company create free software you can get it reviewed here for free. I ask for nothing in return. I just want to provide people with honest reviews for good free software.

You can email me files or links. Please send all emails to Tim with a title of “Software to Review”. Please put this title on your email so I won’t delete it. Also include your contact info as well as web addresses for your software program and a direct link to download the software directly.

I will get back to you by the end of the next business day to confirm receipt of the email and give you an approximate date that you can expect to see your software reviewed on this blog. Dates given are not set in stone and will vary.

With very few exceptions, I only review Windows software. I will not review any Linux software as I don’t run any Linux systems. I currently will not review any Apple software, though it may be accepted later. I will change this page if and when I start accepting it.

Since I want to be good to my readers, every program and file will be scanned for viruses and spyware. If anything comes up, you will be notified and it will not be reviewed. End of story.

Thank you,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Create a System Restore Point

System Restore Point is a small utility to create a system restore point in Windows so that if there is a problem, you can restore your computer to when the restore point was made.

Description: An easy way to create system restore points.

Compatibility: Windows XP.

Necessary Info: When you’re repairing a PC, (especially if it belongs to someone else) it is always a good idea to have a recent system restore point. This so you can revert to it later if there becomes a problem. It does this by taking a snapshot of the computer’s registry. so you can easily revert back to it by booting into safe mode and following the prompts. It doesn’t have the ability to fix anything so please understand that. It just allows you to return to a point when everything worked. And for this program, that is enough.

Rating:

Conclusion: If you are a computer repair professional or just like tinkering with computers, get it. This program will help you have a better outcome if things go wrong.

Download free software: System Restore Point HERE.

The Free Downloadable Software Fan

FileZilla Free FTP Software

FileZilla is a free FTP (file transfer protocol) program. It is free because it is Open Source and anyone can donate talent or money to the project.

Description: A decent FTP program.

Compatibility: Linux, Windows XP and Vista, Check HERE.

Necessary Info: FileZilla has many fans out there in the ether, but I don’t happen to be one of them. In fact, I’m not a huge fan of the whole FTP program genre. But as far as FTP programs go, FileZilla is a pretty good one.

Reasons to like FileZilla:

* Its free!
* It easily saves your previous successful login data to use again later.
* Auto Updates! Stay updated and stay safe, or at least safer.
* You can easily “Clear Private Data” just as in Firefox. And it gives you choices as to what you want to clear.
* It really has many relatively advanced options as far as FTP clients go.
* Can drag and drop to and from the desktop.

Reasons not to like FileZilla:

* Folders and files are located in small windows (which can be expanded).
* The visible file structure is a tree. I’m just not a big fan.
* You can easily create a network drive under XP and Vista for FTP servers that you use often. This is what I do and prefer.

Rating:

Conclusion: If you need an FTP program, get it. It is better than most. If you use certain FTP Servers often, just create the network drive.

Download free software HERE.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan

Mozilla Firefox

Today’s free software title up for review is Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is a free web browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer but much better. It has tons of add-ons and ways to customize it, but it is great just straight out of the box.

Description: Killer web browser

Compatibility: Linux, MacOs 10.4 and higher, Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Server 2003

Necessary Info: Firefox, like Internet Explorer and others before it, is a web browser. These days, web browsers are our window to the world and what you are reading this with.

There is currently a battle raging over which browser is going to be King. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer are both fighting to become the king and Internet Explorer is losing ground.  According to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp, Firefox currently has approximately 42% of the browser market share while IE has approximately 51%. Yes there are others that take up the remaining 9%.

Firefox is an open source program and anybody can donate their time and/or effort to help the cause. And that is part of what makes Firefox so cool. You have a ton of add-on programs that you can use for purposes such as

• Blocking ads
• Checking SEO rankings
• FTP (File Transfer protocol)
• Download management
• Bookmark management
• Change the appearance

These are capabilities that Internet Explorer just doesn’t have.

Firefox is also more secure against spyware because it automatically tells you when there is an update so the program is almost always up to date and protecting you against the latest web vulnerabilities.

In short, Firefox is a great browser that is more customizable and more secure than the competition.

Rating:

Conclusion: Quit wasting your time and get it now!

Download free software here.

Thanks,
The Free Downloadable Software Fan