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/

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.

This lovely piece of software is not for the feint hearted. I’ve never felt inclined to have a firewall because of the built in NAT firewall in my router and the basic Windows one.  However, sometimes it’s nice to know just which software is accessing the internet and just what exactly it’s doing with it.

This program lists all the processes that are running and the exact bandwidth usage of each.  If things start going slow on the net, pop open this program, see what’s using what and even deny it access (with the firewall switched on) or close it altogether.

If you instantly think “What’s svchost.exe?” – it’s an important windows process.  Anything else popping up that you’re worried about, stick the name in google (with the .exe at the end) and you’ll soon find out what it is.

(http://www.net-peeker.com/Download.htm – You probably want the personal version)

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)

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.

I’m quite careful about checking suspicious files I download so I installed it without the constantly running “guard” saving boot-up time and the CPU.

The one downside is that when it updates the virus database, you get a “Buy premium edition” pop-up which is just annoying.  Luckily I found this fix -UPDATED- (for WinXP) which prevents this pop-up making it the perfect anti-virus for me.

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!

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.

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

Undeleting, Anti-virus/spyware, Registry Cleaning…

Freeundelete:

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

Great if you’ve gotten into the bad habit of shift-deleting everything and realising the Recycle Bin would have been a better choice.

AVG Anti-virus:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/frt/0

AVG Anti-spyware:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/us/frt/0

There are obviously other free anti-virus/spyware programs but I like these two. I’m open to alternatives though.

My favourite feature of the anti-virus is the email shield which add to the signature that the attachments have been checked for viruses. My favourite feature of the anti-spyware is the analysis, which shows you running processes and gives you the option to delete those that autostart (no need to look at msconfig). And a right-click on the system tray icon allows you to uncheck “start with windows”. I wish more programs had this.

EasyCleaner:

Loads of handy features here for cleaning up the crap on your PC. Just remember to backup first!

http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

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.

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.