Our Premiums
For many years, our membership premiums for joining WBAI were only available during the station's membership drives. No more. You can donate to WBAI for one of our premiums at any time. Your donations help keep the show on the air. WBAI also takes donations without a premium using a credit card.
Anyone who donates $25 or more during the May 2009 membership drive will get two documents. The first is Hank's just completed writeup that details three ways to repair Windows XP. There are step by step instructions, with pictures. In addition, we'll send you Hanks' writeup on Netbook computers. Netbooks are small, cheap laptop computers. Are they for you? Read Hanks's document. We send these by email, so be sure to provide an email address when making a pledge.
Priority answers by e-mail to all your personal hardware and software technical questions. Most answers provided within 24 hours or less. If the Computer Guys can’t solve your problems themselves, they will get some industry expert to jump in. You have over 100 years worth of Computer experience at your beck and call.
Technical Consulting, on a one-to-one basis usually costs in the area of $150 per hour, therefore, we believe, the GoldCard membership gives you, the listener, an inexpensive opportunity to avail yourself of the technical knowledge of the entire radio show staff and all their industry contacts at the same time that you are benefiting WBAI and helping them to keep the Personal Computer Show on the air.
From time to time, in order to solve a problem when email is not available to you or is not effective, a member of the staff may call you on the phone.
BONUS: Gold Card Membership now includes a ready to run CD Boot Utility which can be used to (re)set passwords of systems running Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista. See below for more on this CD. The CD Boot Utility is also available (for the first time) as a separate premium.
Have you ever tried to use a Windows computer but didn't know the password? If so, then you needed this password reset CD. Simply boot the computer from the CD and it lets you change or remove the passwords associated with all Windows userids. The software works with Windows XP, Vista, NT4, 2000 and 2003 server.
You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. There is also a registry editor and other registry utilities that work under Linux and can be used for other things than password editing.
Our Toolkit DVD contains dozens of free programs. If your computer can not read DVDs, let us know and we'll send CDs instead.
Our favorite free software. No Adware. No trial versions. No limited versions. Just 100% free software that we use and recommend. Below is a list of the contents of this disk. All of these programs are free and may be redistributed by you to your friends and family.
All of the programs on this DVD (or CDs) are free for non-commercial use, though many of them have paid versions available with extra features.
Newly added:
- The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is stripped down version of XP that runs off a boot CD. In addition to Windows, it includes many very useful utilities for dealing with a large number of software and hardware problems. We include instructions for creating the CD and we include the necessary software for creating the CD.
- Instructions for creating a startup CD that can be used when the Windows administrative password is forgotten, to change the password. The software works with Windows XP, Vista, NT4 and 2003 server.
- Instructions for installing Windows XP on a USB flash drive or a flash memory card
- How To Integrate Service Packs into a Windows XP Installation CD
Windows Service Packs
- Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 [64 bit and 32 bit standalone] April 15th 2008 [New]
- Windows XP Service Pack 2
- Windows XP Service Pack 3
Network Related White Papers
- How to Setup a Home or Small Office Network
- ManufacturersDefault Passwords
- List of Default Router Passwords and Default Router IP Addresses
- Setting up EVDO on a laptop computer to act as an Access Point
Wine
Wine is a program that allows Linux users to use Windows programs. Wine sets up a fake windows file system on your Linux partition and enables you to load programs that will only run on a Windows platform. Programs such as your training CD's, or Excel, Word, Internet Explorer. Wine has not yet been perfected it does have some problems. But it does give Linux users an opportunity to use some of their must have programs that only operate in Windows.
OFFICE RELATED
IBMLotus Symphony
Office2003 SP3
Office2003SP3-KB923618-FullFile-ENU.exe
Office2003_sp3changes.exe
OpenOffice [released April 2008]
OOo_2.4.1_Win32Intel_install_wJRE_en-US.exe [Updated]
PORTABLE APPLICATIONS
PortableApps.com Suite™ - your computer, without the computer
PortableApps.com Suite™ is a collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.
PortableApps Standard - 1.0 for Windows, English 89.5MB
PortableApps Lite - 1.0 for Windows, English 30.4MB
PortableApps Base Edition 1.0 - It's just the essentials (menu, backup, etc) so it's less than 1MB to download and install. Like all editions, you can easily add apps to the PortableApps Menu from the PortableApps Directory.
Firefox Accessibility Extension - make Firefox more accessible
The Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension makes it easier for people with disabilities to view and navigate web content. Developers can use the extension to check their use of structural and styling markup that support functional web accessibility.
On-Screen Keyboard Portable - a virtual keyboard to go
On-Screen Keyboard Portable is a handy way to bring your settings for the Windows' built-in On-Screen Keyboard with you from PC to PC. It will remember your hover preferences and other options and provides an easy way to launch it right from the PortableApps.com Menu.
Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable - bringing your portable life into focus
Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable is the handy Virtual Magnifying Glass utility packaged in PortableApps.com Format so you can easily use a screen magnifier on any PC you use.
GIMP Portable - image editing on the go
GIMP Portable is the popular the GIMP for Windows image editor packaged as a portable app, so you can take your images with you and do your editing on the go.
KompoZer Portable & Nvu Portable - web editing on the go
KompoZer Portable / Nvu Portable is an easy-to use web editor packaged with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind. KompoZer is an unofficial bug-fix release for Nvu that fixes many of the outstanding bugs in Nvu 1.0. As Nvu is no longer updated, KompoZer is recommended.
Notepad++ Portable - text editing to go
Notepad++ Portable is the handy Notepad++ text editor packaged as a portable app so you can do your development on the go. It has all the same great features of Notepad++ including support for multiple languages and an extensive plugin system, but there's nothing to install.
XAMPP - the complete, portable server
XAMPP is an integrated server package of Apache, mySQL, PHP and Perl (the AMPP in XAMPP) that all run from a removable drive. Everything is pre-configured and ready to go just by unzipping or installing it.
DOSBox Portable - classic DOS games to go
DOSBox Portable emulates an Intel x86 PC, complete with sound, graphics, mouse, modem, etc., necessary for running many old DOS games that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems. While not restricted to games, the emphasis has been on getting DOS games to run smoothly, which means that communication, networking and printer support are still in early developement.
Mines-Perfect Portable - find mines on the go
Mines-Perfect Portable is the entertaining Mines-Perfect minesweeper clone packaged as a portable app, so you can do your mine hunting on the go. It has all the same great features of Mine-Portable, including the extra board layouts (Hexagon, Triangle, 3d).
PokerTH Portable - texas hold-em on the go
PokerTH Portable is a Texas Hold-Em style poker game that supports up to 6 computer-generated opponents as well as network play against opponents all over the world.
Sudoku Portable - portable puzzle fun
Sudoku Portable is the entertaining and addictive Sudoku puzzle game packaged as a portable app, so you can play on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
FileZilla Portable - FTP in your pocket
FileZilla Portable (formerly Portable FileZilla) is the popular FileZilla FTP client packaged as a portable app, so you can take your server list and settings with you. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or on a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
FireFTP Extension - an FTP extension for Portable Firefox
The FireFTP Extension works within Portable Firefox and gives you access to a lightweight FTP client using much of the built-in functionality of Firefox. It includes SSL/TLS support, file diffs, image thumbnails, resumes, proxy support and more. And, since it uses Firefox for many of its functions, it's a very small download.
Miranda IM Portable - compact, portable instant messaging
Miranda IM Portable is the popular Miranda IM packaged as a portable app, so you can take your instant messaging client on the go.
Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition 3 Beta 3 Rev 2 Released
Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition 3 Beta 3 has been released. It's the second beta of the upcoming Mozilla Firefox 3 web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app, so you can take your browser, bookmarks, settings and extensions on the go. It's also a great way to test out all the new features of 3.0 without affecting your existing Firefox installation. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it's open source and completely free.
Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition - your browser, your way... in your pocket™
Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you.
Mozilla Thunderbird - Portable Edition - real email, on the go™
Mozilla Thunderbird™, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Thunderbird email client bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app, so you can take your email, address book and account settings with you. You can also add in GPG and Enigmail to encrypt and sign your email.
Pidgin Portable - instant messaging made portable and secure
Pidgin Portable (formerly Gaim Portable) is the versatile Pidgin instant messaging client packaged as a portable app, so you can take your IM settings and buddy lists with you. It has all the same great features as Pidgin, including support for AOL, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and Jabber networks, but there's nothing to install on the local PC. You can also easily add portable encryption plugins for secure, encrypted messaging.
PuTTY Portable - portable telnet and SSH
PuTTY Portable is the popular PuTTY telnet and SSH client packaged as a portable app, so you can connect in to your systems on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Sage Extension - an RSS extension for Firefox Portable
The Sage Extension works within Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition and gives you access to a lightweight RSS reader using much of the built-in functionality of Firefox. It supports RSS and Atom feeds, feed discovery, customizable feed layouts and more. And, since it uses Firefox for many of its functions, it's a very small download.
WinSCP Portable - SFTP, FTP and SCP on the go
WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.
Audacity Portable - sound editing and recording to go
Audacity Portable is the popular Audacity audio editor packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio files along with everything you need to edit and record on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
MPlayer Portable - the movie player to go
MPlayer Portable is the popular MPlayer media player packaged as a portable app, so you can take your video files along with everything you need to play them on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
VirtualDub Portable 1.7.8 Released - Submitted by John T. Haller on February 19, 2008 - 10:21pm.
VirtualDub Portable 1.7.8 has been released. VirtualDub is a video processing and capture utility with batch processing capabilities. This new release updates VirtualDub to the latest version and has an improved launcher and installer. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format for easy use from any portable device and integration with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it's open source and completely free.
VLC Media Player Portable 0.8.6d Released - Submitted by John T. Haller on February 1, 2008 - 4:40pm.
VLC Media Player Portable 0.8.6d has been released. VLC Portable is the popular VLC media player packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio and video files along with everything you need to play them on the go. This release updates VLC to the latest version, has an improved launcher and installer and is now digitally signed to ensure integrity. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it's open source and completely free.
AbiWord Portable - word processing made portable
AbiWord Portable is the lightweight AbiWord word processor packaged as a portable app, so you can edit your documents on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Lightning Extension - for Thunderbird Portable
As an alternative to Sunbird Portable, you can also use the Lightning Extension from Mozilla. It has the same functionality as Sunbird (scheduling and tasks) except that it installs as an extension, integrating itself into Thunderbird's interface. It also takes up far less space than the standalone Sunbird Portable does.
Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition - your calendar in your pocket, without a PDA
Mozilla Sunbird™, Portable Edition is the handy Mozilla Sunbird calendar bundled with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your schedule and to-do list with you.
Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition - real email, on the go™
Mozilla Thunderbird™, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Thunderbird email client bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app, so you can take your email, address book and account settings with you. You can also add in GPG and Enigmail to encrypt and sign your email.
OpenOffice.org Portable - the complete office suite that's completely portable
OpenOffice.org Portable (formerly Portable OpenOffice.org) is the complete OpenOffice.org office suite -- including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package and database -- packaged as a portable app, so you can take all your documents and everything you need to work with them wherever you go.
Sumatra PDF Portable - the portable PDF viewer
Sumatra PDF Portable is the lightweight Sumatra PDF packaged as a portable app, so you can view PDF files on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
7-Zip Portable - the portable file archiver
7-Zip Portable is the popular 7-Zip packaged as a portable app, so you can take your file archiver with you and work with your compressed 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR files and more on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
ClamWin Portable - antivirus to go
ClamWin Portable is the popular ClamWin antivirus packaged as a portable app, so you can take your antivirus with you to scan files on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Command Prompt Portable - a quick link to the command line
Command Prompt Portable is a simple utility that allows you to easily add a customizable command prompt to the PortableApps.com Menu.
Eraser Portable - securely erase your data
Eraser Portable is a secure data removal tool that runs directly from your iPod, USB thumbdrive, portable hard drive or any other portable media. You can plug it right into any Windows computer and use it just like you would on your own. It is a repackaged version of the popular Eraser utility designed with portability in mind, so it has all the same great features of Eraser, but there's nothing to install.
KeePass Password Safe Portable - your passwords, secured to go
KeePass Portable is the popular KeePass Password Safe packaged as a portable app, so you can securely carry your email, internet and other passwords with you. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Toucan - sync, backup and secure, all in one place
Toucan is a custom built portable app for advanced users to synchronise, backup and encrypt their data, wherever they are.
winMd5Sum Portable - check Md5 sums on the go
winMd5Sum Portable is a simple MD5 sum checker that allows you to check and compare the md5 sums of files. It's portable, easy-to-use and quickly installs into the PortableApps.com Menu.
WinMerge Portable - compare files on the go
WinMerge Portable is the popular WinMerge differencing tool packaged with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can compare files on the go. It has all the same great features as WinMerge including syntax highlighting, patch file generation and more.
software995
Professional quality software at affordable prices
All of our products are available as FREE downloads. The free versions are fully functional, not a trial and do not expire. The free versions display sponsor pages, which may be disabled at any time by purchasing a key. None of our products contain spyware.
Purchasing also entitles users to technical support by email (12 hour response). Keys for any particular product are available from that product's web site. In addition, we offer the Software995 Toolset key. This is a single key covering twelve of our products (with the exception of OpenOffice995), available at 29.95 for individuals, or special volume discounts.
PdfSuite995 www.pdf995.com
The pdf995 Suite of products is a complete solution for your PDF creation and document publishing needs, offering ease of use, flexibility in format, and industry-standard security. And all at no cost to you. Pdf995 is the fast, affordable way to create professional-quality documents in the popular PDF file format. Its easy-to-use interface allows you to create PDF files by simply selecting the "print" command from any application. Combined with pdfEdit995 and Signature995, it offers numerous features.
OmniFormat
www.omniformat.com
OmniFormat is a free document conversion utility which allows dynamic conversion and image manipulation of over 75 file formats including HTML, DOC, XLS, WPD, PDF, XML, JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG, PCX, PPT, PS, TXT, Photo CD, FAX, MPEG and more.
PhotoEdit995
www.photoedit995.com
PhotoEdit995 allows you to create or edit graphic images, retouch photographs, and perform other alterations on image files including jpeg, gif, tiff, and Photoshop psd. When used with the free Photo Edit graphics module, it is a professional image editing solution whose capabilities rival those of similar programs.
SearchWithin
www.searchwithin.com
SearchWithin is a free full text index search engine that allows you to search inside the files on your drive or network. It looks beyond the titles and inside PDF, HTML, Text, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Word Perfect and Microsoft PowerPoint documents. SearchWithin works just like major search engines, using advanced querying and full-text search technologies to help you find the information you need fast.
UltraPdf
www.ultrapdf.com
UltraPdf is an exciting, new way to publish and share digital photographs, PDF, HTML and Microsoft Office documents. UltraPdf binds multiple photos and documents into a single, indexed UPDF file making it easy to organize and distribute digital photo albums, project documents and presentations. PhotoShare is the first of our specialized products to take advantage of the UPDF format, specifically designed for managing and emailing your digital images.
BackUp995
www.backup995.com
Backup995 is a utility that protects against data loss from computer hardware failures and damage from malicious internet viruses. Backup995 is the quick and easy way to safeguard against loss of valuable files. Backup995's Incremental Backup Technology, its Backup Scheduler and its Data Archiving features mean that from now on backups can be done automatically, quickly and on a regular basis.
Zip995
www.zip995.com
Zip995 is the fast, free way to open and create popular Zip Archive format files. It is fully compatible with other Zip Archive utilities. It includes advanced archiving features such as encryption, variable compression levels, file updating and the ability to create self-extracting zip files.
Ftp995 www.ftp995.com
Ftp995 is a powerful FTP-client for Windows 9x, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP. It provides access to many advanced FTP client features including: the ability to resume Uploads/Downloads (if the server supports it); site manager with folders; timeout detection; firewall support; SOCKS4/5 and HTTP1.1 Proxy support; SSL secured connections; SFTP support; upload/download queue; and drag&drop .
ePad995Paperless Notes
www.epad995.com
ePad995 allows you to create virtual sticky notes and reminders directly on your Windows desktop. ePad notes are software notes for your computer screen. Jot down tasks, messages, ideas, appointments, phone numbers, birthdays, or just place a memorable quote in a note and stick it on the desktop. ePad notes can be positioned anywhere you wish, or hidden in your task bar. Accessing them is simple, and the notes are even resizable. ePad note contents can be formatted to include fonts, colors, transparency, display mode, effects, hyperlinks, bullets and numbering. You can paste a website URL or email address in an ePad note and have it right on your desktop. The Find feature allows you to quickly locate a note by content or title.
WordBrowser995 Desktop Dictionary
www.wordbrowser995.com
WordBrowser995 is an English language dictionary and thesaurus for your PC desktop. It offers easy access to definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and compound phrases. WordBrowser995 quickly looks up text typed into the Word box in real time. It also looks up selected text in Internet Explorer or the Windows clipboard. It draws from a comprehensive collection of over 150,000 words and phrases to provide the most relevant results.
ClipPad995 Clipboard Extension Utility
www.clippad995.com | Download now
ClipPad995 helps increase productivity by installing a ClipPad utility that adds
functions not available with the standard Windows clipboard. ClipPad
helps you to access thousands of 'clips,' instead of just one.
Note: ClipPad995 is not included in Toolset pricing.
OpenOffice995 Business Applications Suite
www.openoffice995.com| Download now
The Business Applications Suite consists of professional quality applications for creating, viewing and editing Microsoft Word documents (.doc), Powerpoint presentations (.ppt), FrontPage webpages (.html) and Excel spreadsheets (.xls).
Included:
a full featured word processor with professional formatting and layout tools, spell checking, autocomplete and autoformat as you type.
a comprehensive spreadsheet with advanced functions and tools for data analysis.
a presentation application with built in tools to: create and edit drawings, diagrams and pictures; add clipart and animation effects; create slideshows.
Note: OpenOffice995 is not included in Toolset pricing.
UTILITIES
Agent Ransack Freeware 'lite'
Requires: Win 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/SP2/2003. Agent Ransack is a free tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack displays the text found so you can quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file! Agent Ransack provides compelling advantages over similar search tools: Regular expressions that allow complex rule based searches. Immediate contents results view. Various wizards to walk the user through the searching process.
AM-DeadLink 2.8.1 detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser Bookmarks. If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can verify it in the internal preview and delete it from your Browser. Additionally you can download FavIcons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks. AM-Deadlink works with Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Firefox. AM-DeadLink is Freeware! Detects dead links and duplicates in browser bookmarks and text files. If a bookmark has become unavailable you can verify and delete it permanently. Additionally you can download FavIcons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks.
Atomic Clock Sync - atomic.exe
Free PDF Creator - PrimoPDF
Convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF®
printer - it couldn't be easier! Within minutes, you can create
high-quality PDFs by converting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and
virtually any other printable file type.
FreeUndelete is a freeware data recovery program for deleted files. In case of accidental deletion of files on a NTFS (used by default in Windows XP, 2000 and NT), FAT32 or FAT16 file systems FreeUndelete is the utility to help.
GMail Drive shell extension 1.11
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Gmail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to. Ever since Google started to offer users a Gmail e-mail account, which includes storage space of 2000 megabytes, you have had plenty of storage space but not a lot to fill it up with. With GMail Drive you can easily copy files to your Gmail account and retrieve them again.
When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer.
You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag'n'drop like you're used to with the normal Explorer folders. Because the Gmail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.
Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There's still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters). Since the tool hooks up with the free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool's ability to function. I cannot guarantee that files stored in this manner will be accessible in the future.
HD Tune
A hard disk utility which has the following functions:
Benchmark: measures the raw performance: Transfer Rate, Access Time, Buurst Rate. Also,
Hard Disk information which includes firmware version, serial number,
disk capacity, buffer size, transfer mode. Also, Hard Disk Health:
S.M.A.R.T. Information (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology), Temperature,
Power On Time,
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8
This utility will format any USB flash drive, with your choice of FAT,
FAT32, or NTFS partition types. Optionally you can also make the disk
BOOTABLE by specifying a file location. Use the Windows
IE PassView v1.01
IE PassView is a small utility that reveals the passwords stored by
Internet Explorer browser. It supports the new Beta version of
Internet Explorer 7.0, as well as older versions of Internet Explorer, v4.0 - v6.0
JKDefrag
A disk defrag utility for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/X64. Completely
automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with two
optimization strategies, and can handle floppies and USB
disks/sticks. Included are a Windows version, a commandline version
(for scheduling by the task scheduler or for use from administrator
scripts), a screensaver version, a DLL library (for use from
programming languages), and versions for Windows X64.
PageDefrag
One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface
is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for
exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither
show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor
defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of
the leading causes of performance degradation related to file
fragmentation in a system.
PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters
cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files
and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it
defragments event log files and Windows hibernation files.
PC Inspector File Recovery
Recover lost data--even if your older system's FAT or boot sector is damaged.
Depending on how your files were lost, it may be hard to recover them. This
data recovery program recovers lost files and finds partitions
automatically, even when the boot sector of your machine has become
damaged or erased. Even when a file's header entry is no longer available, PC Inspector File
Recovery can recover the file. The program lets you save recovered
files on network drives. It recovers files with the original time and
date stamp, so maybe it'll be like nothing ever happened.
PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a file data recovery software designed to recover lost pictures or lost
files from digital camera memory (CompactFlash, Memory Stick,
SecureDigital, SmartMedia, Microdrive, MMC, USB Memory Drives...),
even Hard Disks and CDRom. It works at least with FAT, NTFS,
EXT2/EXT3 filesystem even if they are severely damaged. PhotoRec is
safe to use, it will never attempt to write to the drive or memory
support you are about to recover from. Recovered files are instead
written in the directory from where you are running the PhotoRec program.
PS PassView
Protected Storage PassView is a small utility that reveals the passwords stored
on your computer by Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and MSN
Explorer. The passwords are revealed by reading the information from
the Protected Storage. Starting from version 1.60, this utility reveals all AutoComplete strings
stored in Internet Explorer, not only the AutoComplete password, as
in the previous versions.
Restoration
Recover deleted files--or delete them for good--with this small program. We've all done it:
accidentally deleted a vital file a few minutes before
an urgent deadline--and then couldn't find it in the Recycle Bin.
Fortunately, there's no need to panic, yet.
Restoration is a free program that can scan your hard drive, floppy diskette or
USB thumb drive and find files that have been deleted (Windows
doesn't actually destroy files that you delete: it just marks the
space they occupy as being available). It can then recover any
recently deleted files it finds with a single mouse click.
You can filter the results if you know the name of the file you are looking for, which is much easier than wading through the list of the hundreds of deleted files it usually finds (including temporary files, cached Web files, etc).
Restoration doesn't need to be installed to work. Just keep the program on a
floppy or an optical disc and pop it into the drive and run it when
you need it (This approach also prevents your accidentally
overwriting the deleted file). Although the program has not been
updated since 2004, it still worked well in my informal tests and it
recovered several files that I had deleted without problems.
Operating Systems: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows XP.
SIW
SIW is a tool that gathers detailed information about your system
properties and settings. A utility that includes detailed specs for
Hardware, Software and Network as well as real-time monitors for CPU
and Memory Usage.
SpeedupSystem.doc
Tips on speeding up a system that is running slow.
TroubleShootingRules.xls
Decision table rules to diagnose hardware and software problems.
TreeSize
TreeSize tells you how your disk space is being used. It can be started from
the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of the
selected folder, including its subfolders. Each folder can be
expanded in Explorer-like manner to view the size of its subfolders.
Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while
TreeSize is working without having to wait. The results can be
printed in a report. This version is a slimmed down, but fully
functional and free version of TreeSize Pro and does not offer the
graphical pie charts.
Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in
the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings,
Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Version 2.10 requires
Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.
TweakVI Basic from Totalidea Software
The first software designed to both tweak and optimize Windows Vista. Tweak hundreds of hidden features of Windows Vista, optimize your machine and customize it to your needs. Unlike other tweaking utilities, TweakVI bundles lots of different utilities in one. It was developed to combine both tuning and optimizing features to increase the speed of your Windows Vista system. TweakVI - designed for easy and secure Windows Vista tweaking - tweaks Windows Vista. Activate hundreds of hidden Windows Vista settings, clean your registry, activate system and software restrictions, display detailed system information, create a 256 MB RAM drive, protect your privacy, clean your harddrive, manage TrueType fonts, improve your internet connection, optimize your CPU, optimize your RAM, manage system updates. Version 1 build 1050 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Windirstat
Windirstat is a colorful and nifty tool to check the makeup of your hard drive --
especially if you're looking for immense files.
It scans your drive and produces a treemap that shows each file as a
colored rectangle that's proportional to the file's size. For
instance, in the attached screen capture, the big purplish blue
rectangle on the left represents what seems like two billion MP3s;
the green blob signifies images. Click on a filename in the left
panel and it shows you where it is on the color grid below. Select a
big block on the color grid and it leads you to the file. The toolbar
includes buttons to zoom in on a color cluster, copy a path, open the
file (or Windows Explorer), and, of course, delete files.
VIRTUALIZATION
VMWare Player version 2.0.2
Run virtual machines on your Windows or Linux PC with VMware Player 2.0.
This free desktop virtualization software application makes it easy
to operate any virtual machine created by VMware Workstation, VMware
Server or VMware ESX Server, as well as Microsoft virtual machines
and Symantec LiveState Recovery disks. You can also use Player to
evaluate one of the many virtual appliances available from the
VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace
Citrix XenServer v4
Citrix XenServer enables businesses to deploy high-performance Windows and
Linux virtual machines rapidly and easily, and to manage them and
their related storage and networking resources from a single
easy-to-use management console.
Express Edition: a free starter package for bringing virtualization to every server
http://www.xensource.com/products/Pages/XenExpress.aspx
About Membership Drives
WBAI, Pacifica Radio, is a non-commercial listener supported radio station and part of the Pacifica Radio Network. Since there are no commercials or corporate sponsors, the station is dependent on the memberships of its listeners.
A basic membership in WBAI costs $25. Larger donations come with assorted gifts/premiums from WBAI. Support WBAI.