Software you just must have

theloft

To keep your computer running sweet, these tools are great: Crap Cleaner - use Google to get a free download site and RegClean (for a Registry clean up) same. Crap Cleaner has a Registry cleaner element but think RegClean is best. I use
https://www.download.com for most of my freeby downloads, but have just been recommended to this site : http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm#5
which lists the 46 best free utilities (their opinion). Also don't forget to use ScanDisk and Disk Defrag (already on your system if you have Windows.[/COLOR]

wolfman

Free Applications:
- Opera
- Winamp or foobar2000
- CCleaner
- VLC
- Trillian

There are a few applications that I think are worth paying for:
- Acronis TrueImage v8 (£15) - Cheaper and better (in my opinion) than Norton Ghost. If you go for v9 it's £30, but you can also backup Linux partitions.

- SyncBackSE (£8) - Excellent piece of backup software. There are other free options, but this offers a huge amount of features and settings, and it's only £8.

- Nod32 (£30) - My AV of choice as it's very light and fast. Been using it for years and always been very happy.

Quincy_3

IvanOpinion wrote:

sevlow, you would have been better upgrading to SP2 immediately after doing an XP install and before loading anything else. I have found that trying to run some modern applications on pre-SP2 is a waste of time (which might explain your problems). I have managed to get SP2 loaded on top of fully loaded systems but they have always been a bit flakey whereas when loaded onto a clean XP install the systems seem much more stable.

Ivan

I agree with Ivan that you should update but the first thing to get would be a proper firewall like sygate or kerio.

sevlow

Thanks Ivan,

I tried to load SP2 dirctly on a nex XP installation and after installing both VP and Fwall, but both gave issues.

SP2 loaded on a clean installation without a hitch, but then the bitdefender(VP) and Outpost(Fwall) gave conflicts when subsequently loaded.

When I reversed the process the SP2 loaded was terminated by frequent system reboots near the point of completion.

I guess getting to the root cause of these issues with the variables involves is a no starter. happily Zone Alarm Internet security is flashing away happily.

Other comments are;

Zone alarm does not check incoming mail unless you use Outlook.

Opera includes a mail client and I have set this to collect mail from my POP3 account and my Hotmail account too. You need to install Hotmail Popper to interface between Opera Mail and Hotmail but it works really well.

rhoeds121

theloft wrote:

To keep your computer running sweet, these tools are great: Crap Cleaner - use Google to get a free download site and RegClean (for a Registry clean up) same. Crap Cleaner has a Registry cleaner element but think RegClean is best. I use
https://www.download.com for most of my freeby downloads, but have just been recommended to this site : http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm#5
which lists the 46 best free utilities (their opinion). Also don't forget to use ScanDisk and Disk Defrag (already on your system if you have Windows.[/COLOR]

Use Norton Antivirus if you want your computer to run slower than it ever has. I got so sick of mine i binned it and now use Mcafee which is total garbage but at least it doesnt lock the machine up like norton
use RegClean at ur own risk, ive heard too many horror stories to touch it with someone else's barge pole

bring1t

In terms of backups, microsoft have released a free tool called synctoy, it is very good and very free!!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx

masonic

sevlow wrote:

SP2 loaded on a clean installation without a hitch, but then the bitdefender(VP) and Outpost(Fwall) gave conflicts when subsequently loaded.

Did you disable XP's firewall (which will have been turned on by SP2) before trying to install them? If they work together happily before SP2 maybe the problem lies elsewhere.

I think some of the problems of getting these sorts of programs to play nice with each other comes from them being more and more overlapped. I know I had problems with Zonealarm and Kaspersky AV because Kaspersky included 'Protection from Network Attacks', which I needed to disable to stop my computer from restarting every time I connected to the internet.

I noticed in an earlier post that you seemed prepared to spend some money on this best of breed security solution. Did you consider buying a Router as an alternative to a software firewall?

Quincy_3

masonic wrote:

Did you consider buying a Router as an alternative to a software firewall?

I would have both soft and hard firewall. :beer:

masonic

gizmoleeds wrote:

Opera. Better than both of them - take some time customising the layout to one which suits you and you can't go wrong.

Thanks for that recommendation. I downloaded it and am having a play this evening. So far I am quite impressed. I've never really got on with Firefox and some sites just seem to performing much better for me with non-IE based browsers at the moment; this site particularly.

masonic

Quincy wrote:

I would have both soft and hard firewall. :beer:

Better safe than sorry, eh. Running more system-level software does pose a small risk in itself, though, doesn't it? I suppose it depends whether the benefits are worth it. To be honest, I don't know. Any comments?