Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft

Windows users (XP, Vista and Office Programs) might want to browse this big list of free programs available for download from Microsoft. Lots of goodies here, worth browsing.

Ultimate List of Free Software from Microsoft

156 Useful Run Commands

For Windows XP users, a nice article from FixMyXP, detailing 156 Useful Run Commands.

If you've made the leap to Vista, there's a link in the article to a similar list for Vista users.

The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide

I think a lot of us are still using Windows XP (rather than Vista) and if, after all these years, you haven't tuned it up, here's the ultimate guide to whipping Windows XP into shape. A good read for any XP user.

The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide (Steve's Tech Guide)

30 Quick Fixes for Windows XP and Vista

From PC Advisor comes a nice round-up of tips and tricks - 30 quick fixes for Windows XP & Vista. Tips include Windows speed tweaks, How to automate disk cleaning, Solve sluggish web surfing and many more. Worth a browse for any Windows user.

How To Use VMWare To Survive a Computer Crash

How To Use VMWare To Survive A Computer Crash is an excellent article that detail how you can use free, VMWare software to create an image of all your software, bookmarks, passwords and setting to have handy in case of catastrophic computer failure.

Good to know!

How to Keep your old PC alive

How to keep your old PC alive - a nice article, outlining 8 things you could do with an old PC to keep it alive. Options suggested include a Firewall/Proxy Server or a Media Station.

Best Free Computer System Recovery Tools

From website Lifehacker (the other one) a nice list of The Best Free Computer System Recovery Tools.

And one more, mentioned in the comments, Super Grub, which is a tool for dual-booting Windows and Ubuntu Linux.

Put that old computer to use

A great article from Daily Cup of Tech, detailing a bunch of possible uses for an old computer - everything from using it as a File Server to a Print Server to a Firewall/Router.

Old Computer Use

How to find out what kind of memory your computer has installed

A nice article from the How-To Geek, What Kind of Memory Does My Computer Have Installed?. The article outlines a couple of ways to find out what kind of memory your computer has and slots open, without having to open up your computer and look.

14 Programs You Didn't Even Know You Needed

14 Great Programs You Didn't Even Know You Needed.

"With these programs, you can eliminate a lot of annoying Windows limitations and you can enhance your computing fun tremendously and cheaply - or even for free".

Worth a read because who doesn't like tremendous fun and free?

How to Monitor Your Internet Bandwidth Usage in Windows

There are a lot of reasons why you might want to monitor your internet bandwidth usage. Maybe you have a bandwidth cap. Maybe you're afraid your ISP is going to cancel you for being a bandwidth hog. Whatever the reason, website Simple Help walks through how to set up a monitor using free windows program AnalogX Netstat.

How to monitor your Internet bandwidth usage in Windows

How to Monitor Your Internet Bandwidth Usage in Windows

There are a lot of reasons why you might want to monitor your internet bandwidth usage. Maybe you have a bandwidth cap. Maybe you're afraid your ISP is going to cancel you for being a bandwidth hog. Whatever the reason, website Simple Help walks through how to set up a monitor using free windows program AnalogX Netstat.

How to monitor your Internet bandwidth usage in Windows

What do you install after a Windows re-format

An interesting discussion over at ThemBid.com, asking What do you install after a Windows re-format?. The author outlines his checklist of re-installs and the commenters add their suggestions as well.

10 Things to do if Windows XP won't boot

10 things you can do when Windows XP won't boot - if you use it you know, some day, it's going to happen! Best to be prepared by reading up on what to do now.

Add Copy To/Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

A really nice Windows hack from the How-to Geek on how to Add Copy To / Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu.

You can either do it manually (as outlined in the article) or download the registry entries. Apparently it works for XP and Vista. A really handy Windows hack!

How to Make Windows XP last for the next 7 years

If you (like me) didn't make the leap to Vista and are still running XP, this article from Computer World might interest you, too.

How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years outlines some of the ways to bring some of Vista's goodies to XP and how to keep XP tuned up to keep running smoothly. A good read for anyone wanting to hang in with XP.

How to Use Winamp to manage your iPod

How-to blog Simplehelp offers up a quick and easy tutorial on How to use Winamp to manage your iPod as an alternative to using iTunes.

11 Ways to Fix Your Laptop

11 Ways to Fix Your Laptop - what to do if your laptop is suffering from things like overheating, slow hard drive, battery won't charge etc.

A good bookmark for when the day comes.

How to Clean up a Windows Spyware Infestation

A great "how-to" from Coding Horror on How to Clean Up a Windows Spyware Infestation, that walks through the process of cleaning a computer of unwanted spyware.

A great article and worth bookmarking just in case you ever need it.

How to dual boot Windows XP and Linux

Dual boot: Windows XP & openSuSE 10.2 details the process for setting up a dual boot Linux/Windows XP computer, for anyone who has wanted to give Linux a try but keep their Windows XP intact. This tutorial is specific to openSuSE, but may still offer some valuable information for doing the same with other linux flavours.

A couple of computer crisis and health tip sites

PC World - How to Survive the Worst PC Disasters - tips for everything from a computer that won't boot to being sued by the RIAA. A good read if you want to be in the know before it happens.

Practical Tips for a Healthy PC offers up some great tips as well as offering some links to some software to help with the various tasks.

Diagnosing Funny Computer Noises offers up some tips to understanding what is likely the cause of that "scratching-skipping" sound or other ominous sounds.

10 tips for improving your wireless network

10 tips for improving your wireless network from Microsoft. Some basic but good tips for fine-tuning a wireless network for the best range and strength.

Tasklist: the ultimate resource to identify running processes in your computer

How many times have your wondered what a particular process is in Windows tasklist? My solution has always just been to search for the particular process name. TaskList.org - List of Windows Proccesses and Descriptions seems like a much easier solution and a worthy bookmark for future quick reference. "TaskList.org is the ultimate resource to help you determine if your computer is infected with spyware, adware or viruses."

How to Secure a Wireless Lan

I love the first paragraph of this article, challenging us all to hover our mouse over our network icon to see if it says "Unsecured". Guilty! (although in my defense, I'm sitting in the middle of the bush with no neighbours ;) If you're guilty as well and your neighbours are a little closer, this article will walk you through how to lock that puppy down.

How To Secure A Wireless LAN (WLAN) | Daily Wireless

Complete Guide to Optimixing Windows XP

The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP - for those of us who didn't make the jump to Vista, it's never too late to whip our old WinXP into shape! Optimising Windows XP is a pretty comprehensive guide on how to do that, featuring tweaks from basic to advanced.

A Whole Lot of Vista Tips

I didn't make the leap to Vista. I'm still a little hardware challenged. But I'm with those of you who have in spirit ;) Here's a great post with a whole lot of Vista tips and tricks. Windows Vista :: the How-To Geek

Take Windows Vista Business for a test-drive

Windows Vista Business Test Drive. Log in with your email address and take WIndows Vista Business for a spin without having to install it on your PC. Once loaded, you can just explore or take some guided tours or watch some feature videos. Requires some version of IE, so you'll want to switch from Firefox before you load up that link ;) You'll also be required to install an IE plugin as well.

Use Windows Uxtheme Patcher to add more themes to Windows XP

If you feel the urge to spruce up your Windows XP look or maybe you want your Windows machine to look like a Mac. STUDIO7DESIGNS Uxtheme Patcher and Windows Themes explains how to do it with the supplied Uxtheme Patcher and links to some great looking themes to try out. Of course, once the Uxtheme patch is installed, there are thousands of other WIndows XP themes on the web to try out as well.

List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft - yes, that's free and from Microsoft. And a lot of the. Worth a look!

The Five Best and Worst Things About Wndows Vista

Thinking about the upcoming Vista release? The folks at O'Reilly are aiming to get us all prepared with their WindowsDevCenter.com -- The Five Best and Worst Things About Vista. If you're like me and haven't taken the Vista beta for a test drive, you'll find this a good Vista primer read.

See what's running on your PC with Process Scanner

ProcessLibrary.com - The online resource for process information!

"Now you can harness the power of the industry's leading and most definitive process listing with just one single click! Process Library now lets you search for and identify all the processes that should - or should not - be running on your computer. What's more it's fast, comprehensive and FREE to all PC users."

For anyone who sees a long list of processes running and has no idea what they're doing or if they need to be running (and slowing down our computers!)

A couple of Vista related links

Vista Start menu Emulator was developed for people who will continue to use Windows XP but would like the Vista start menu.

For those that plan to upgrade to Windows Vista, CNET offers up the Vista Readiness Advisor to check your computer's current ability to run the new features in Vista.

How to Install an Additional Hard Drive: Video How-to from PCWorld

If you're thinking about adding another hard drive to your computer, you might want to check out PC World - How to Install an Additional Hard Drive video tutorial on how to do it yourself.

If you scroll down on this page, you can see some of the other how to videos from PCWorld, including how to reinstall Windows XP, how to set up a wireless network and more.

30 Essential Pieces of Free Software for Windows

30 Essential Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows is a great list of Windows software, that moves beyond the obvious (Firefox, Open Office, Gimp etc.) to include some lesser know, but valuable choices. Worth a look!

16 Hidden Windows XP Goodies

16 Hidden Windows XP Goodies lists 16 hidden windows programs that can be accessed through the command line. Unfortunately, beyond the command line string, there's not much information on these hidden programs given so I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves.

Everything you need to know about Windows Vista

PC World - Everything You Need to Know About Windows Vista - you know, in case you want to know um ... everything.

This PC World article promises to give you the bottom line on what Vista does better than XP, where it needs improvement--and how to perform the upgrade, step-by-step.

Resurrect your old PC for Music with Linux

O'Reilly -- Resurrect Your Old PC for Music—with Linux - this article will show you how to resurrect a tired old PC by installing a modern operating system, and then revitalize the computer as an internet-enabled CD player, DVD burner, and MP3 jukebox.

The article recommends Knoppix because it can be booted from the CD, so it can be tried first before installing to the HD.

WiTS: Windows Inspection Tool Set

WiTS: Windows Inspection Tool Set - "provides you with cross-linked, filtered views into a Windows system. View operating system information, processes, services, users, network interfaces and connections, file shares, printers and more. All views are linked allowing for easy navigation between related objects."

6 Tools for Data Recovery

Even if you don't need it today, you'll need it someday because it happens to all of us ... eventually. 6 Tools to Help You Recover Data. It's always good to know what tools are out there ahead of time!

10 Things you should know about connecting Mac OS X systems to Windows Networks

10 things you should know about connecting Macintosh OS X systems to Windows networks - A good read for anyone contemplating getting this. It's sure to make life easier!

Royale Noir: secret XP theme

Royale Noir: secret XP theme uncovered Apparently Microsoft developed this theme but never put it into wide circulation. Until now. It's very, very nice! And since it's signed by MS, there's no need to hack any dlls or install any theme software. Just follow the easy download information in the article.

(Direct link to Royale Noir theme download)

If you're looking for a nice widescreen wallpaper that goes nicely with this theme, here's the one that I grabbed.

IE7 Bugs list growing

So IE7 has been out and about in wide circulation for a few days now and the list of IE7 bugs is starting to be compiled.

Design Detector: IE7 Old Bugs for New compiles a list of their own and points to some others documented elsewhere.

maratz.com: IE 7 Quirks lists a few bugs found, including an interesting font-family ordering bug. Apparently IE7 doesn't appreciate Helvetica listed before Arial. Hmmm. Arial Windows font, Helvetica Mac font. Hmmmm.

Must Have Add-Ons for IE7

Let me just preface this link by saying I don't use Internet Explorer. I am a dedicated Firefox user. That said though, I know my from my stats that a lot of people do use IE, so ... these links are for you ;)

IEBlog : Must Have Add-Ons for IE7 - from the IE Blog, a look at some of the new Add-Ons available for IE for web development, security, sharing etc.

Microsoft toolkit to disable automatic delivery of IE7

If you have automatic updates on in WindowsXP and are living in fear of the day (coming soon!) that MS sends IE7 your way BUT, you don't want to turn automatic updates off and miss those regular security patches, MS has obliged with a Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to download and install to head it off.

Note that MS is planning to send the IE7 update out as a high-priority update. I guess that's a matter of opinion ;)

Three free anti-virus programs compared

Stop Viruses for Free! - Three free guardians for your computer - Softpedia - takes a lcloser ook at Avira AntiVir, AVG and Avast! but stops short of making a recommendation.

On a related note, AVG released v7.5 yesterday, which offers some more functionality, better detection algorithms, smaller installation/update files, Vista readiness and a refined interface (the icons are much improved and definitely nicer looking!0.

20 Things many don't know about Windows XP

20 Things the Average Person Doesn't Know About Windows XP - I guess I'm one of the many because a few of these were new to me!

10 Ways to Protect your home network

Daily Cup of Tech - 10 Ways to Protect Your Home Network - nice look at ways to secure your home network. It stops short of the nitty gritty details of implementing some of the recommendations, but it's a nice overview and would certainly point anyone interested in the right direction for more information.

10 Windows Explorer alternatives

10 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed - Simplehelp - some good alternatives, many free, reviewed and rated so it's easy to see which ones to look at first.

How to remove IE7 Betas

Word on the street is that IE7 final will be released tomorrow. If you'd like to remove any IE7 betas or release candidates ahead of a new install of the final version, Uninstall Internet Explorer 7 Rc1 has some information on how to do it.

Unlocking the mysteries of svchost.exe

Ever wonder what's up with all those 'svchost.exe' entries in your task manager? Langa Blog: Unlocking the Mysteries of 'Svchost.exe' offers up a little insight.

Install Multiple Internet Explorer IE Versions

From the same site that recently described how to install IE7 in standalone mode, comes Install multiple versions of IE on your PC | TredoSoft.

Obviously this is a great tool for developers and designers for testing and it seems relatively bug free. It would appear there is a bug relating to PNG image display if IE7 is installed, as it overwrites a certain dll that will take effect in lesser IE versions. Beyond that though, looks like a great tool.

Installer files are included and as part of the install, you can pick and chose which versions of IE you want to install (do we really need to test in IE4?!).

Unlocker

Who hasn't run in to this windows frustration? I recently had a battle with it when trying to get McAfee off of my new Dell computer. It was especially frustrating because of the sheer number of processes that were associated with the program and trying to find them all and shut them off just so I could uninstall it! I wish I'd known about UNLOCKER!

Unlocker identifies all the files associated with the program that are in use and unlocks the program with two clicks. Looks like a must-have Windows utility to me!

Hidden Graphics Program in Windows XP

Smartbro's Ups And Down: Hidden Program Of Windows Xp shares a font/logo/icons design program hiding within Windows XP.

"To start the program go to Run in the Start Menu then type eudcedit and click OK."

More information on how to use the program can be found here.

What slows Windows down Part 2

A while back, I posted a link to an article about which programs slow down Windows the most. Now, PCSpy follows up with another look at the subject, with an expanded list of test programs. ThePCSpy.com v8 - Articles - What Really Slows Windows Down (Part 2) and details the testing parameters as well as adding some expanded test results. Interesting and reassuring to see some of my most-used programs near the bottom of the list!

IE7 RC1 in Standalone Mode

Internet Explorer 7 Release Candidate 1 in standalone mode(IE7) offers up a nice solution (with installer!) to run IE7 alongside other versions of IE, which is, of course, great for browser testing.

IE7 when installed this way isn't ready for primetime. It lacks "Favorites" capability and apparently has some trouble with pages that require passwords but it's perfect for doing a quick rendering check.

How to disable balloon notification in Windows XP

How to disable balloon notification in Windows XP - Techie Corner - in case you've been wanting to see them disappear!

Master Windows XP keyboard shortcuts

Incredible Windows XP shortcuts and tips you WISH you knew before you read this! -PART 1 at Technology and Music Newsblog - besides the ones most of us know (above), there are a bunch more that can really speed things up in Windows, MS Word and IE Explorer. Apparently these work (mostly) in earlier versions of Windows as well.

Update: Here's another link dedicated to the Functions Keys and what they all do.

What Slows Windows Down

TPCSv8 - Articles - What Slows Windows Down? - a great article, which documents the results of testing a Windows system with various software/conditions and determines which programs are most responsible for system slowdown.

The test results are very interesting and perhaps, not surprisingly, Norton tops the list of the worst for system slowdown, by a long shot. It's interesting to see how some of the others fall out. Head on over and check out the complete list of results.

Remove Saved Passwords and Usernames from Windows XP

Have you ever saved a password/username in Windows XP and immediately wished you hadn't? Well, you can get it back, according to Tech Recipes, it's this simple ...

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in the following and press ENTER:

rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr

4. When the Stored User Names and Passwords dialog box appears, select the information you want deleted and press the Remove button.
5. Press the Close button when you are finished.

You can find this and more great tips at XP: Remove Saved Passwords and UserNames - Tech-Recipes.com

How to minimize iTunes controls to Windows toolbar

How to minimize your iTunes controls to your windows toolbar in about 3 easy steps.Showing iTunes Controls on the Toolbar

Of course, you can do this with Windows Media Player as well.

Alternately, for Firefox users, the nice FoxyTunes extension player installs in the toolbar and supports a raft of players.

10 Free Ways to Beautify your Desktop

10 1 Free Ways to Beautify your Desktop - some good ideas and resources if you're in the mood to spruce up your desktop.

10 Windows Freeware Apps worth knowing about

10 Unknown Windows Freeware Applications You Should Know About - just in case you didn't know about these things you should know about.

Folder Size for Windows

Folder Size for Windows Explorer - will show sizes of folders and files in the same column. Functionality that we wish Windows had out of the box!

How to Install a Web Server and Why

Installing a web server, and why you would want to - a how-to and a why-to.

Uses XAMPP, which I have used myself and can vouch for it being really easy.

IE7 Standalone Launch Script

JonGalloway.ToString() : IE7 Standalone Launch Script

How to get rid of thumbs.db

I have always been annoyed by the littering of thumbs.db files all over my computer. No longer ... Get rid of Thumbs.db

Remote Desktop for Dummies

Remote Desktop for Dummies�on�Tech Pedia - a how-to for "everything you need in order to remotely use your computer."

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