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FAQ

Woody recommends...

1. List of favorite software
2. Another list of favorite software
3. Yet another list of favorite software
4. Tweetdeck: Twitter.com interface

Seth recommends...

1. Audacity: Sound recorder and editor
2. CCleaner: Erases unneeded files, cleans Windows registry, cures old Windows of slowness (replaces MSConfig, Add/Remove Programs, RegEdit)
3. EASEus is free open source software that works like Partition Magic, to easily resize, convert, and combine hard disk partitions.
4. FireFox: Web Browser (replaces MS Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, NetScape
5. Ghostery: a FireFox add-on that blocks some (nobody can block all of them, except by government legislation *hint-hint*) tracking software. Also of interest: reputation.com (find out what data miners and trackers know about you), privacyChoice.org (helps you opt out of some trackers), and NetworkAdvertising.com / AboutAds.info both of which are umbrella organizations for data miners & trackers and have opt-out menus.
6. NoSquint: a FireFox add-on that automatically makes whatever webpage you're looking at grow to fill the horizontal dimension of your screen. The practical aspect of this is that without fiddling, you can zoom in on a webpage to make the text nice and large for tired eyes to read.
7. MozBackup: Free tool to back up and restore Mozilla Thunderbird (email) and FireFox (web browser).
8. OpenOffice: Office Productivity Software (replaces MS Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.)
9. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor: Did your useless brother-in-law forget his Windows log-in password? Is your boss offering you a free beer and pizza if you can break into a company laptop to see if your coworker is surfing pr0n at work? No problem. Works with Win2k, WinNT, WinXP, Vista, and Win7. 3 megabyte free download. Use a free program like PowerISO to burn this "CD image" onto a CD (or, if you're clever, make a bootable USB stick), start the PC using the CD or USB stick, and follow an easy menu and the tutorial at this link.
10. PDFcreator: OpenSource software, always free. Converts any document or picture or webpage into a PDF document, by posing as a printer. Open your favorite program, whether it be Word, Photoshop, Firefox, or any other. Open the document you want to convert...and go to your "print" menu. Instead of printing a page on paper, PDFcreator pops up in your list of printers and gives you the optioin to simply "print" a PDF file onto your PC's hard drive, memory stick, etc.
11. Thunderbird: Email client (replaces Outlook Express, Outlook)
12. Videolan, also known as "VLC": Media Player. Replaces Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Media Monkey, RealPlayer, PowerDVD, etc.)
13. WiVik: a free onscreen keyboard that can be controlled by mouse or 6 on/off keys (such as mouse buttons or keyboard buttons). Works with all Windows programs. Designed for people who have trouble typing. It also offers several keys that attempt to guess what you might type. So, for example, typing a "t" gives you several keys offering "the" "to", "that", "they". Also offers speech output: Now you, too, can sound like rock star mathemagician-in-a-wheelchair like Stephen Hawking! Thanks to Club member Brian G. for suggesting this.

Leons recommends (note: some are available for Linux PCs but not for Windows)...

1. OpenOffice: Office Productivity Software (replaces MS Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.)
2. VirtualBox 2
3. Foxit Reader: PDF Reader (replaces Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader). Caution: (July, 2011) version "FoxitReader502.0718_enu_Setup.exe" messes up Windows desktop icons.
4. Gimp: Photo & Illustration Paint Program (replaces MS Windows Paint, Adobe Photoshop)
5. Dropbox
6. Google Earth
7. Deluge: torrent downloader
8. Calibre ebook mgr/reader/etc.
9. OpenCPN chartplotter
10. Qalculate calculator
11. AcidRip: DVD ripper
12. AVIdemux: video editor (replaces Windows MovieMaker, etc.)
13. K3B: DVD/CD burner
14. VLC Media Player: media player (replaces Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Media Monkey, etc.)
15. Handbrake: rancoder DVD & other
16. Songbird: media player
17. Audacity: audio editor
18. GParted: partition editor for hard disks
19. Evolution: Email client / customer database manager (replaces Outlook Express, Outlook)
20. Thunderbird: Email client)
21. QIF Entry allows you to enter Quicken transactions on your iPad. You can export the entered transactions into a file (in QIF format) and then import them into Quicken

Roger recommends...

1. AutoHotKey: Macros and batch files for Windows. Execute several actions with one krystroke or by clicking on one icon. Free software.
2. Beyond Compare: Copy and compare files & folders. Great tool for performing simple backup copying, similar to the old DOS xcopy command. Does not choke and stop like Windows' copy-paste command. (NOT free; 30 day trial.)
3. Comodo Firewall
4. Crystal Disk Info (Portable Edition): Identifies the type and model of your disk drives, including ones in your external USB drives like external Buffalo hard disks.
5. Firefox Browser
6. Flux slowly dims your monitor as the sun goes down. No more blindingly bright screens as darkness falls. Nice.
7. Folder Size does exactly that: in Windows Explorer, it adds the size of all folders to the folder icons. Freeware, and good stuff.
8. ImgBurn: Convert ISO files to burned CDs and DVDs. Tries to install near-malware "ask.com" toolbar during installation.
9. NetMeter: Network monitor
10. NetWorx: monitors & records bandwidth usage, provides visual/audible alerts, exports data, etc.
11. USB Disk Ejector
12. eRightSoft's Super: Video/audio converter. Version 38 was adware free; versions 46 & upward won't install if you use your good sense and firewall to block it ALSO installing an almost-virus bit of malware called "adware:Win32/OpenCandy".
13. Revo Uninstaller
14. Sysinternals Process Explorer
15. Sysinternals Autoruns
16. Unlocker
17. Driver Magician / Lite
18. Everest Ultimate
19. Piriform Speccy
20. Belarc Advisor
21. Event Log Explorer
22. FileHippo Update Checker
23. Malware Bytes
24. Secunia PSI: security updates for all your software
25. ShellExView
26. Vista Switcher
27. Vuze: Torrent downloader
28. PeerBlock: Block unwanted "peers" during Torrent downloads
29. Sunbird: Scheduler
30. Tweetdeck: Twitter.com interface
31. Windows XP Movie Maker: *.avi file editor
32. Mediainfo: supplies technical & tag information about your video or audio files
33. Tray It!: Minimize any program to the System Tray (prevents overloading the Task Bar)
34. Task Bar Shuffle: Move icons around in the system tray and move minimised tasks around on the task bar.