Customise your XP

If you’re bored of the way your XP looks, check out these pages:

http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/09/24/how-to-add-shadow-and-transparency-effects-to-windows-borders/

http://www.studio7designs.com/windows-themes/

http://www.freewaregenius.com/2009/06/23/forty-three-of-the-best-free-windows-enhancements-that-you-should-know-about/

http://customize.org/

NetPeeker – Taking back the internet

It’s about time we took back the internet from the software, spyware, malware and other ‘wares.  NetPeeker’s feature-packed firewall has a nifty bandwidth monitor.

Freeware Genius – my new favourite website

I found this website which is exactly what I need, a run through of tonnes of good freeware out there.

http://www.freewaregenius.com/

My favourites:

• Desktop Media
  
• Explorer Breadcrumbs (unlock toolbars to position it where you want)
• WinFlip
• Copy Handler
• Everything

(Note – it can be hard to find the link to download the software – it’s very small at the bottom – see this image)

Free Antivirus

I didn’t like the new AVG 8 so I did a bit of research and found the best scoring free Anti-Virus freeware is AntiVir by Avira which nicely includes a custom install for switching off parts of the software.

Network Scanner – See who’s using your Wi-fi

With everyone going wireless it’s a good idea to keep an eye on who is using your network, this great little app does the job brilliantly and as it’s a stand-alone piece of software it doesn’t require installing.

http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/

Before you hit “Start Scanning” you will want to choose Options > Auto Detect Local IP Range and select the network adapter which is connected to the net.

Don’t forget the Router will show up in the list also!

Real Desktop

While I’m waiting for BumpTop Desktop to be released (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ) there is a fun free imitation found at Real Desktop

Unfortunately, the free version is limited… and its definitely not good enough to pay for.

RocketDock – who needs a mac?

I can’t believe this little app is free!  Have you very own fluid toolbar like the one found on a Mac.

Has to be seen to be believed:

http://rocketdock.com/download

PC Tools I use

Undeleting, Anti-virus/spyware, Registry Cleaning…

Real and Quicktime Alternatives

Realplayer and Apple’s Quicktime both take over your computer and eventually you come across a site that makes you want to install them…

There are free alternatives:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm 

They both come with a program called “Media Player Classic” which I use as a replacement to Windows Media Player.  You can download the Lite versions which don’t come with this, but I think it’s a great little video player which is much more stable and speedy.

The Font Thing

Having lots of fonts installed in windows can slow down the loading of applications.

This is the best font manager I’ve ever come across.  It can view all fonts on your computer and install/uninstall the ones you want.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html

My favourite features are that it can “Load” fonts, which means they’re only installed until you reboot and “Collections”… which great way to group together similar fonts.