Vista Tutorial - Free Software List for Vista

Here's the Ever Growing List:


AbiWord -

AbiWord is a free multi-platform word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks.

Active ISO Burner -

Active ISO Burner is a application that will allow you to burn an ISO image file to CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, CD-RW, DVD-RW, DL DVD+RW, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

abcAVI Tag Editor -

abcAVI Tag Editor is little stand alone utility for viewing/editing tags in AVI files. In short it allows you to get information on movie from Internet Movie Database or type it by yourself and save that info inside AVI file. Supports RIFF INFO tags, MovieID tags, IDivX tags. Allows editing more than 40 tags, not only "Title", "Subject" and "Copyright". Support of RIFF INFO tags ensures backward compatibility with standard Windows players like MS Media Player.

Ad-Aware Free -

A great adware and spyware removal program.

Adobe Flash Player -

A browser add-on that allows you to watch videos online in your web browser.

Adobe Reader -

A PDF file viewer that also installs a add-on for your web browser.

Adobe Shockwave Player -

NOTE: For more information on this, see the FAQ's page.

The Shockwave Player is a web browser add-on that allows you to view interactive web content like games, business presentations, entertainment, and advertisements from your web browser.

Agent Ransack -

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.

AnVir Task Manager Free -

A replacement for the Windows 7 Task Manager that provides more detailed information about the processes running on your PC with an advanced startup manager.

Any Video Converter Free -

Any Video Converter Free is an All-in-One video converting tool with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed and excellent video quality. It allows you to effortlessly convert video files between every format! This free version supports DVD NTSC, DVD PAL, MPEG-I, MPEG-II, MPEG-4 and Flash FLV video profiles.

A-Patch -

To customize all versions of Windows Live Messenger. 71+ features.

A-Squared Free -

This program helps to remove infections of Trojans, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Dialers and other malicious programs.

ASTRA32 -

NOTE: You have your choice of just a stand alone or installing program.

ASTRA32 (Advanced Sysinf Tool & Reporting Assistant) performs computer configuration analysis and provides detailed information on your computer hardware and its working modes. This is an alternative to Vista's System Information.

Attribute Changer -

Attribute Changer is a power user tool to change all kind of file and folder attributes, date, time and even NTFS compression. Exif date and time information stored in digital images are easily altered with Attribute Changer. Basic features include changing file and folder attributes within en masse. More advanced features include relative and partial date/time stamp modifications. Realtime monitoring and reporting is also available. File and folder filters are available to include/exclude filesystem objects based on various criteria.

Audacity -

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
• And more! See the complete list of features.

Auslogics Disk Defrag -

Defrags your hard drive. It has a progress graph so you can see what is going on. Also gives you a full detail report with a percentage of performace increase.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner -

WARNING: As with all registry cleaning programs, you should verify the scan results before just simply deleting them.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner will scan your computer for registry errors and problems, and fix the Registry, increasing PC performance and stability.

AutoRuns -

NOTE: You will need to right click on the autoruns.exe file and click Run as administrator for the program to run properly.

This utility shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond MSConfig.

AutoSizer -

AutoSizer automatically resizes programs for you, keeping them at a specific size or keeping them maximized. One popular use is to keep Internet Explorer maximized when you go on the web. It works with most software programs, and supports maximizing to specific monitors on multi-monitor computers. Use the handy Always On Top system tray menu to quickly position specific programs above all others.

Avast Antivirus Home Edition -

NOTE: You must register this program even though it's free. The registration will be good for a year. After that, you must re-register. It is still completely free though. You can get free skins for Avast here: Free download - new skins for your avast! 4 antivirus program

Very good antivirus program that auto updates the definitions and optionally the program itself. Has a VRDB (Virus Recovery Database) that you set to help in recovering from a VIRUS if infected. Full of options.

Avira AntiVir Personal -

Another good antivirus program.

AVG Antivirus -

NOTE: Do a custom install and do not install the email scanning option. Otherwise it can corrupt Windows Mail.

Another great antivirus program that auto updates.

AxCrypt -

A free open source file encryption program.

Batchrun -

Batchrun is a nice little software to help making batch files easier.

Belarc Advisor -

Builds a very detailed profile of your hardware and software with serial numbers and product key numbers. Very informative.

BIMP Lite -

BIMP Lite is a small and simple batch processor for image files, that allows you to perform various functions on multiple images. It can be used to create thumbnail images from your pictures, add a prefix/postfix (with meta variables), rename using a sequential number, change the case of filenames, replace/remove spaces & underscores, flip or rotate images and also apply anti-aliasing, inverse, greyscale and bevel effects. The thumbnail resizing allows you to force a specified width or height and keep the proportions, or define fixed image dimensions. Images can have text overlayed on them at any corner or side, as well as the center of the image. This text can include meta variables such as image height, width, number of colours etc. In addition, the program can also convert the file format to GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, MIFF, TIFF, PCX or TGA. All of the actions can be performed individually, or combined. BIMP now also includes an FTP client, so you can automatically output images to a remote server via the File Transfer Protocol.

BitKinex -

BitKinex is a handy network client supporting multiple transfer protocols (FTP, FTP(S), SFTP, HTTP(S) and WebDAV). In contrast to other clients BitKinex uses multiple connections not only for file transfers but for browsing remote directories as well.

BitPim -

BitPim is a program that allows you to view and manipulate data on many CDMA (Code division multiple access) phones from LG, Samsung, Sanyo and other manufacturers. This includes the PhoneBook, Calendar, WallPapers, RingTones (functionality varies by phone) and the Filesystem for most Qualcomm CDMA chipset based phones. To see when phones will be supported, which ones are already supported and which features are supported, see online help.

BitTorrent -

BitTorrent is a free torrent client program used for file sharing.

Blender -

Blender is a free open source 3D content creation suite.

BootSkin -

NOTE: See the tutorial on this also. The free version will not let you create your own bootskin, but instead only let you use a downloaded bootskin to use as your boot screen.

Stardock BootSkin Vista is a program that allows users to change their Windows Vista boot screens.

BlueScreenView -

BlueScreenView scans all your minidump files created during 'blue screen of death' crashes, and displays the information about all crashes in one table. For each crash, BlueScreenView displays the minidump filename, the date/time of the crash, the basic crash information displayed in the blue screen (Bug Check Code and 4 parameters), and the details of the driver or module that possibly caused the crash (filename, product name, file description, and file version). For each crash displayed in the upper pane, you can view the details of the device drivers loaded during the crash in the lower pane. BlueScreenView also mark the drivers that their addresses found in the crash stack, so you can easily locate the suspected drivers that possibly caused the crash.

Bulk Rename Utility -

NOTE: Be sure to download the correct 32 bit or 64 bit version for your version of Vista. To see all the features, see: Features - Bulk Rename Utility

Bulk Rename Utility is a simple utility which allows you to rename multiple files and folders, based upon flexible criteria. For example, you can add a prefix or suffix to a file, or you can change three letters with four other letters in a filename. There are lots of ways to manipulate file and folder names.

CCleaner -

Cleans junk and temp files for Vista and most other programs. It is also a registry cleaner, cookie manager, program uninstall manager, and a startup program manager. A all in one utility program basically.

ClipMagic -

ClipMagic is an information manager which provides extended clipboard capabilities to save all clips for later use. A major shortfall in Vista is that the clipboard can only store one item at a time, each new item deleting the last. This free clipboard program stores clips in a convenient categorized format with information; about the window the clip came from, the URL if it came from a web page and the time and type of clip.

Cobian Backup 9 Amanita -

Cobian Backup is a multi-threaded program that can be used to schedule and backup your files and directories from their original location to other directories/drives in the same computer or other computer in your network. FTP backup is also supported in both directions (download and upload).
Cobian Backup exists in two different versions: application and service. The program uses very few resources and can be running on the background on your system, checking your backup schedule and executing your backups when necessary. Cobian Backup is not an usual backup application: it only copies your files and folders in original or compressed mode to other destination, creating a security copy as a result. So Cobian Backup can be better described as a "Scheduler for security copies".
Cobian Backup supports several methods of compression and strong encryption.

Comodo Internet Security -

NOTE: For more information about this program, see: release notes

Comodo Firewall and Comodo AntiVirus are bundled together in the Comodo Internet Security package. You can select to only install one or both of them. The firewall program is one of the best ones that you can use. The antivirus program is not as good as Avast, but may be just as good later.

Comodo Memory Firewall -

Comodo Memory Firewall is a buffer overflow detection and prevention tool which provides a defence against one of the most serious and common attack types on the Internet - the buffer overflow attack.

Comodo Registry Cleaner -

A registry cleaner program that helps you repair and optimize the registry.

Core Temp -

Core Temp is a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature. It shows the temperature of each individual core in each processor in your system. You can see in real time how the CPU temperature varies when you load your CPU. It's also completely motherboard independent.

CPU Speed -

CPU Speed measures the REAL speed of your Intel or AMD central processing unit (CPU).

CPU-Z -

NOTE: Click on the version number towards the bottom to download. This is a standalone EXE program.

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers and displays information for you on some of the main devices of your system. EX: CPU, Mainboard, Memory, and System. See the link for full details on what is does.

D-Color XP -

NOTE: This program was made for XP, but I have not experienced any problems with it yet.

D-Color allows you to change the appearance of the desktop icon text foreground and background colors. It also allows you to change the view of your desktop icons from Large, Small, and Tile view icons.

Defraggler -

Piriform, the makers of CCleaner, Defraggler differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to only process the whole drive unless you want to. Simply run it, select the file defragment in seconds. You can also set Defraggler to run on a schedule.

DeskSave -

In Windows, when screen resolution changes, the order of the desktop icons very often gets mixed up. With DeskSave you can easily recover a previously saved icon layout either manually or automatically.

DeskScapes -

NOTE: See this tutorial: How to Enhance Windows Vista DreamScene with Stardock DeskScapes

Stardock DeskScapes extends Windows DreamScene with the ability to run .Dream animated wallpapers. .Dream files can be looped video, or dynamically generated in 3D, or change based on a set of triggers. DeskScapes turns Windows DreamScene into something more. DeskScapes can only be used with Vista Ultimate.

DesktopINIFix -

Desktop.ini a text file that allows you to specify how a file system folder will be viewed (ex: icon). DesktopINIFix is a small utility that fixes the desktop.ini file for various shell folders in Windows Vista.

DesktopOK -

Save and restore the positions of icons for each screen resolution. Each user can then have their own arrangement.

Digsby -

Digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list.

Disk2vhd -

Disk2vhd is a "Windows Sysinternals" utility program that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk - Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).

DisplayFusion -

DisplayFusion will make your dual monitor (or triple monitor or more) experience smooth and painless advanced multi-monitor wallpaper support, Flickr integration for image searching, and fully customizable window management hotkeys are just a sample of the many things DisplayFusion can do.

Ditto -

Ditto is an extension to the standard windows clipboard. It saves each item placed on the clipboard allowing you access to any of those items at a later time. Ditto allows you to save any type of information that can be put on the clipboard, text, images, html, custom formats, .....

DreamMaker -

Stardock DreamMaker allows you to create your own animated .dream wallpapers for DreamScapes. DreamMaker is a free utility for Windows Vista Ultimate only.

Drive Backup Express -

This simple easy to use software backs up your hard drive when and where you tell it, and recovers whenever you need to.

Duplicate Picture Finder -

Duplicate Picture Finder scans any given set of folders and attempts to locate duplicate images for you. But what makes this tool different from all the others out there, is that it does exactly what you would do - it uses visual comparison to determine whether images are the same, enabling it to locate images that different sizes but are visually identical.

DVD Flick -

DVD Flick is a multithreaded free GPL open-source DVD Authoring tool for making dvd's from avi, mpg, mkv etc. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks, subtitles as well as a menu for easier navigation.

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition -

NOTE: Only free for the 32-bit Vista.

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition is a FREE disk partitioning utility for extending system partition, better disk space management, settling low disk space problem.

EasyBCD -

EasyBCD, by NeoSmart Technologies, is used to tweak the Windows Vista bootloader. You can use it to setup and configure Windows boot entries, and to quickly boot right into Linux, Mac OS X, or BSD straight from the Windows Vista bootloader. You can also add an entry to your old XP partition or create a duplicate for testing purposes, debug the Windows Kernel, or setup multi-booting to have mulitple operating systems.

Eraser -

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

Everything -

Everything is a search engine program used to locate files and folders by name instantly on your computer.

Executor -

This is a multi purpose launcher and a more advanced and customizable version of Windows run.

Extension Manager -

NOTE: This program was written by one of our members Mr.Thunderbird.

This tool makes it very easy to manage extensions' icons, and even descriptions with a few clicks. It also has functions like changing drive icons, changing OEM logo and info, and registration information.

Fast Explorer -

This handy utility allows you to manage context menus items of file objects displayed in a file manager like Windows Explorer or any other application that deals with shell's application programming interface. It's a very simple way to make your often used file actions quickly accessible.

FastStone Capture -

FastStone Capture allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web-pages. It has features such as floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, text annotation, resizing, printing, cropping, emailing and many more.

FavIconizer -

FavIconizer will scan all links you have in your C:\Users\(user name)\Favorites folder and check if the website has a FavIcon. If it has one, FavIconizer will download that icon and adjust the link in the Favorites folder to use that Favicon.
After FavIconizer is finished, you have all the FavIcons back in your favorites instead of the standard web "e" icon.

Fences -

Fences, by Stardock, is a program that helps you organize your desktop, and can hide your icons when they're not in use. It allows you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. These groups can help bring organization and consistency to your computer's desktop, solving the "constant mess" problem that has plagued the desktop since its inception.

FileMenu Tools -

This program by LopeSoft lets you customize the right click context menu of Windows Explorer. It configures the following aspects:

• Add some build-in utilities in order to do operations over files and folders.
• Add customized commands which let run external applications, copy/move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.
• Configure the "Send to..." submenu.
• Enable/disable the commands which are added by other applications to the context menu.

FileNote -

FileNote is a little shell extension that will allow you to add textual descriptions to your files. It adds one command to the shell context menu of a file object. This command lets you easily edit or create a text file that has the same name as the initial file, but with the extension TXT.

FileTypesMan -

NOTE: This is a standalone EXE file, and does not install. Be sure to download the correct version for your 32 bit or 64 bit Vista.

FileTypesMan is an alternative to the File Types tab in the Folder Options of Windows XP. It displays the list of all file extensions and types registered on your computer. For each file type, the following information is displayed: Type Name, Description, MIME Type, Perceived Type, In New Menu, Excluded, Flags, Browser Flags, Default Icon, and more. FileTypesMan also allows you to easily edit the properties and flags of each file type, as well as it allows you to add, edit, and remove actions in a file type.

FileZilla -

FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.

Firefox -

This is an alternative web browser other than Internet Explorer.

FlashGet -

FlashGet is a download manager that uses a MHT (Multi-server Hyper-threading Transportation) technique, supports various protocols and has document management features.

Flash Movie Player -

Flash Movie Player is a free stand-alone player for ShockWave Flash (SWF) animations, based on the Macromedia Flash Player plugin. In addition to all Macromedia Flash Player abilities, it has some extended features, such as animation rewinding, advanced full screen mode, playlists, browser cache integration and exe projectors support.

Folder2ISO -

Folder2Iso just creates an iso from any kind of folder (with the subfolders).

Format Factory -

Format Factory is a multifunctional media converter. Provides functions below:

• All to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF.
• All to MP3/WMA/AMR/OGG/AAC/WAV.
• All to JPG/BMP/PNG/TIF/ICO/GIF/TGA.
• Rip DVD to video file , Rip Music CD to audio file.
• MP4 files support iPod/iPhone/PSP/BlackBerry format.
• Supports RMVB.

Foxit Reader -

A PDF file viewer and browser add-on like Adobe Reader.

Free Audio Editor (FAE) -

Edit audio files visually; Record audio from a microphone or any other available input device; Apply various effects; Burn audio CDs from MP3, WMA, WAV, and OGG; All in one program, simple and intuitive - FAE (free audio editor).

Free Disk Analyzer -

Disk Usage Analyzer helps you organize your files and manage disk space by locating the largest files on your disk. You can quickly find where are your largest files, such as videos, photos and archives, and move them elsewhere, possibly to a backup drive. You may also decide to simply delete unneeded files. Disk Analyzer is fast and easy to use, summarizing your disk usage in a friendly format with visual graphs. Disk Analyzer is integrated with Windows so that you can view, open or delete files in the same way as in Windows Explorer.

Free Download Manager (FDM) -

Free Download Manager is a download accelerator and manager program. In addition, it allows you to: adjust traffic usage; to organize and schedule downloads; download video from video sites; download whole web sites with HTML Spider; operate the program remotely, via the internet, and more.

Free Registry Defrag -

This is a program used to compact and defragment your registry by removing gaps and wasted space, to help improve the whole system performance.

Free Studio -

Free video and audio conversion software. This supports a wide range of audio and video formats that you convert from one to another format or back.gaps and wasted space, thus helping to improve the whole system performance.

GanttProject - GanttProject: Home

GanttProject is a free and easy to use Gantt chart based project scheduling and management tool. Features include:

• Task hierarchy and dependencies
• Gantt chart
• Resource load chart
• Generation of PERT chart
• PDF and HTML reports
• MS Project import/export
• WebDAV based groupwork

GFI Backup -

GFI Backup is an easy-to-use backup and recovery software solution that allows users to backup all their important files and, whenneeded, recover the data within minutes using the product’s wizard-driven interface. GFI Backup does not use a proprietary format; all data is saved to common ZIP files. This makes it easy to restore data to a computer that may not have GFI Backup installed on it.

GIMP - GIMP - Downloads

GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package program. This page should help you get a taste of what GIMP is capable of.

Gizmo Central - Gizmo Central -- Enliven your PC

NOTE: It comes in 2 flavours, "free" and "donor edition" and the only difference is that the donor edition gets the updates way before the free version.

This app allows multiple toolbars that you can customize in dozens of different ways, and much more.

Glary Undelete - Glary Undelete

Glary Undelete is a easy to use yet powerful file undelete solution for FAT and NTFS file systems. It will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. It will even recover files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

gMote - handform.net :: gMote

gMote is a customisable tool that provides fast access to frequently used actions via mouse gestures.

GOM Media Player - GOM software - Free, Simple, Light, It just plays! - GOM Media Player, GOM encoder

A media player program that has a lot of features.

Google Chrome - Google Chrome - Download a new browser

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

GParted -

The GParted application is the GNOME partition editor for creating, reorganizing, and deleting disk partitions.The GParted application enables you to change the partition organization on a disk device while preserving the contents of the partitions. With GParted you can accomplish the following tasks:

• Create a partition table on a disk device.
• Enable and disable partition flags such as boot and hidden.
• Perform actions with partitions such as:
  • create or delete
  • resize or move
  • check
  • label
  • copy and paste

GPU-Z - GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

NOTE: No installation required, this is a standalone EXE program.

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

Grabtxt - misbah: Grabtxt 1.0

As most developers, while testing a program you may get runtime errors displayed as windows error message boxes and would have to type these error messages in a search engine to find more about these errors and how to fix them. This tool will make this task very easy.

Half Shell - Hotkeys

WARNING: This will only work with the 64-bit Vista.

Half Shell allows you to open selected folders in the 32 bit shell by pressing Shift-Enter. This enables you to use most 32 bit shell extensions.

HandBrake - HandBrake

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder.

HashCheck - HashCheck Shell Extension

The HashCheck Shell Extension makes it easy for anyone to calculate and verify checksums and hashed from Windows Explorer. In addition to integrating file checksumming functionality into Windows, HashCheck can also create and verify SFV files (and other forms of checksum files, such as .md5 files).

HashTab - HashTab... is the coolest thing ever!

HashTab is a Windows shell extension which adds a tab called "File Hashes" to the Windows Explorer file properties. The tab contains the MD5, SHA1 and CRC-32 file hashes. These are common hashes that are used to verify the integrity and authenticity of files. Many download sites list the MD5 hash along with the download link. The HashTab makes it very simple for Windows users to check these hashes on any file on the system without using external tools.

HDGraph -

HDGraph is a tool allowing to graphically display the hard disk space usage. It shows all the directories and subdirectories of the hard drive on a single graph, allowing to see the largest directories at a glance. It is compatible with all storage visible in the Windows explorer : folder of hard disk drive, USB key, network folder, CD, DVD, etc...

HijackThis - TrendSecure | Download TrendMicro™ HijackThis™

Trend Micro™ HijackThis™ is a free utility that generates an in depth report of registry and file settings from your computer. HijackThis makes no separation between safe and unsafe settings in its scan results giving you the ability to selectively remove items from your machine. In addition to this scan and remove capability HijackThis comes with several tools useful in manually removing malware from a computer.

HWiNFO(32) - HWiNFO(32) - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools

A professional hardware information and diagnostic tool supporting the latest components, industry technologies and standards. This tool is designed to collect and present the maximum amount of information possible about the computer's hardware which makes them suitable for users searching for driver updates, computer manufacturers, system integrators and technical experts as well. Retrieved information is presented in a logical and easily understandable form and can be exported into various types of reports.

HWMonitor - CPUID

CPUID Hardware Monitor is a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, fans speed. The program handles the most common sensor chips, like ITE® IT87 series, most Winbond® ICs, and others. In addition, it can read modern CPUs on-die core thermal sensors, as well has hard drives temperature via S.M.A.R.T, and video card GPU temperature. Special hardware monitors such as abit® uGuru and Gigabyte® ODIN™ power supplies serie are supported too.

HTML Explorer Thumbnails - Ave's Vista Apps: HTML Thumbnails in Explorer

NOTE: Click on the image to download the ZIP file, and be sure to extract the correct 32 bit or 64 bit version from the ZIP download. Read the "readme" file for important instructions.

In Vista, Windows Explorer no longer shows thumbnails of HTML files. This functionality has simply been removed. This little addon for Windows Explorer will show thumbnails for HTML, MHTL and URL files.

IcoFX - IcoFX - The Free Icon Editor

IcoFX is an all-in-one solution for icon creation, extraction and editing. With a wealth of tools and more than 40 effects at your fingertips, there’s virtually no limit to the icons you can create. You can easily convert your favorite images into icons, or icons into images. IcoFX gives you the possibility to create icon libraries or change icons inside exe files.

Iconoid - Iconoid - Download

• Save and Restore Icon positions for each (or every) screen resolution
• Transparent icon backgrounds or use any color
• Select any color for icon text
• Automatically hide icons when you don't need them and show them when you do
• Automatically or manually select the best color for the text background
• Quickly minimize all windows so that you can see your desktop wallpaper.

IconRemover - IconRemover - freeware tool for complete removal of 'Safely Remove Hardware' Icon

NOTE: You may want to create a Safely Remove Hardware shortcut to use instead though.

A freeware tool for geting rid of 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon.

IconViewer - Download IconViewer

IconViewer is a Windows Explorer extension that lets you easily view, copy, and save icon (ICO) and PNG files contained within .EXE programs and .DLL libraries. Open a file's Properties box, select the "Icons" tab, and view the icons contained in the file. This program is real handy to have for getting these ICO and PNG files.

IE PassView - IE PassView - Internet Explorer Password Viewer

IE PassView is a small utility that reveals the passwords stored by the Internet Explorer browser per website.

ImgBurn - The Official ImgBurn Website

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application. It supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.

InfraRecorder - InfraRecorder » Welcome

InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows much like Nere. It offers a wide range of powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration.

Input Director - http://www.inputdirector.com/

Input Director is a Windows application that lets you control multiple Windows systems using the keyboard/mouse attached to one computer. It is designed for folks who have two (or more) computers set up at home and find themselves regularly sliding from one system to the other. With Input Director, you can share a single keyboard/mouse across a set of systems. You switch which system receives the input either by hotkey or by moving the cursor so that it transitions from one screen to the other (in a very similar fashion to a multi-monitor setup). The idea being that you can position the monitors from two or more systems in a row and use a shared keyboard/mouse to control all of them. Input Director also supports a "shared" clipboard, in which you can copy data onto the clipboard on one system, transition across to another and paste.

InstalledCodec - InstalledCodec - Disable/enable codec drivers and DirectShow filters installed on your system

NOTE: This is a stand-alone exe file that does not install on your computer.

InstalledCodec is a small utility that displays the list of all Codec drivers and DirectShow filters currently installed on your system. For each component the following information is displayed: Display Name, Type, Disabled Status, Installed/Modified Time, File Description, File Version, Company Name, Product Name, Filename, File Size, CLSID, Driver Key, and Filter Merit. It allows you to easily disable or enable any Codec or DirectShow component, or export the list into a text, xml, or html file.

iReboot - Download iReboot 1.1 - NeoSmart Technologies

iReboot is NeoSmart Technologies' simple yet effective reboot helper tool. iReboot sits in your taskbar at startup (only taking up 400KB of memory!) and lets you choose which operating system you want to reboot into. Instead of pressing restart, waiting for Windows to shut down, waiting for your BIOS to post, then selecting the operating system you want to boot into (within the bootloader time-limit!); you just select that entry from iReboot and let it do the rest!

IrFanView - IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

A great graphic viewer and editor like Paint, but a whole lot better. It has a ton of options and is fully customizable with plug-ins and skins. You can use transparency to for thumbnails, etc...

ISODisk - ISODisk, free software for mount and create ISO disk image

ISODisk is a ISO disk image file tool, allows you to create virtual CD/DVD drives up to 20 drives, mount an .ISO disk image and access the files on it as if it were burned to CD or DVD. This free program can quickly create ISO image file from CD/DVD-ROM, with ISODisk, you don't need to install any other virtual drive software. Once you map the archive to a virtual drive, you are able to view the contents in Windows Explorer.

ISO Recorder - ISO Recorder v 2

This program will allow you to record and burn ISO images to a CD/DVD, copy disks, make images of the existing data CDs and DVDs, and create ISO images from a content of a disk folder.

IZArc - http://www.izarc.org/download.html

IZArc is is a archive utility supporting many archive formats like:7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO. With a modern easy-to-use interface, IZArc provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools.It allows you to drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, creating self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, converting from one archive type to another, view and write comments and many more. IZArc has also build-in multilanguage support.

Jing Project - Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.

Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.

JkDefrag - JkDefrag v3.36

JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer. It is completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. 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), versions for Windows X64, and the complete sources.

KeePass - KeePass Password Safe

A Password manager that helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key-disk. You can also use the Portable version to allow you to store your passwords securely on your USB thumb drive.

KeyScrambler Personal -

A browser add-on, protects all your inputs against known and unknown keyloggers in IE, Firefox, and Flock: your login credentials, credit card numbers, passwords, search terms, Java, Flash, PDF Forms, web email, and more.

KLS Mail Backup -

KLS Mail Backup is an easy to use backup program that allows you to back up and restore your Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Firefox profile files.

KMPlayer - KMPlayer - Download

KMPlayer is a video and audio media player which can play a large amount of formats such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, and QuickTime among others. It handles subtitles and allows you to capture screenshots. You can set audio and video effects, slow down or increase playback speed, select parts of a video as favorites, and many more. KMPlayer is completely customizable with a wide selection of skins and color schemes, and the configuration options are extensive.

Launchy - http://www.launchy.net/

Launchy is a free windows and linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.
Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

LiberKey - http://www.liberkey.com/en/

LiberKey groups a lot of free software. True "swiss army knife", it offers local and/or portable use.

• Local use (directly installed in a hard disk directory)
• Portable use (installed on USB key, external hard drive, music player such as iPod, ...)

LockHunter - LockHunter - a free tool to delete files blocked by any processes

LockHunter is a free tool similar to Unlocker to delete files blocked by someone you do not know. LockHunter is useful for fighting against malware, and other programs that blocks files without a reason. Unlike other similar tools it deletes files into recycle bin so you may restore them if deleted by mistake. Supports 32-bit and 64-bit Vista.

LogonStudio Vista - Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software

NOTE: See this tutorial: How to Change the Logon Screen in Vista

Stardock LogonStudio will allow you to change the logon screen to whatever you want. You can download from a ton of already created logon screens or create your own from any .jpg, .png, or .bmp file.

Macrium Reflect - Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

Macrium Reflect Free Edition is a disk imaging program. It is a complete disaster recovery solution for your home and office. Protect your personal documents, photos, music and e-mails. Upgrade your hard disk or try new operating systems in the safe knowledge that everything is securely saved in an easily recovered backup file. Macrium Reflect suports backup to local, network and USB drives as well as burning to all DVD formats.

Madotate - Madotate - Download

NOTE: Download and extract the files, then run (merge) the reg file to install. Next move the other EXE files to where you like (ex: C:\Program Files) so you can create shortcuts from them to use.

Madotate is a 3D desktop management program that helps organizing your work a lot. It lets you view any open window in 3D, rotate it in any position, and zoom the window in and out.

MagicDisc - Freeware MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD-ROM(MagicDisc) Overview

MagicDisc is very helpful utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD drives and CD/DVD discs.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Malwarebytes.org

This is anti-malware program that scans your computer to help keep your computer from becoming infected with viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and malware.

Marxio File Checksum Verifier - http://www.marxio-tools.net/en/marxio-fcv.php

Portable file checksum verifier that allows you to calculate many file checksums (hashes) and compare them with original one. Thanks to its simplicity and portability, it aims to be a portable, versatile and "must have" tool for dealing with single files and their checksums - to calculate, compare and verify them.

Maxthon Browser - Maxthon Browser - Full-Featured Browser

A nice web browser that shares Internet Explorer's rendering engine and a few other things like internet options. It can also save your Favorites online. It has many other features as well.

MediaMonkey Free - MediaMonkey » Download

MediaMonkey is a music manager and player with a lot of features.

Memtest86 - Memtest86 - Download Page

Memtest86 is a comprehensive stand-alone memory diagnostic program that you boot from at startup to test your RAM. You can download a ISO file to burn to DVD to boot with, or a floppy disk package installable from Windows to a USB flash drive or floppy disk to boot with.

Miranda IM - Miranda IM - Home of the Miranda IM client. Smaller, Faster, Easier

Miranda IM is the smaller, faster, easier instant messenger with support for multiple protocols. Designed from the ground-up to be resource efficient while still providing a rich feature set, Miranda includes support for AIM, Jabber, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu and more.

MozBackup - MozBackup - Backup tool for Firefox and Thunderbird

MozBackup is a simple utility for creating backups of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite and Netscape profiles. It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, cache etc.

MRO - Faves Downloads

NOTE: Description page at - Most Recently Opened Folder

MRO (Most Recently Opened Folder Utility) is a Task Tray icon/background process combination for reopening the most recently opened folders you opened with Explorer.

Mp3tag -

Edit MP3 tags, find album tags and cover online, rename files faster.

MyDefrag - http://www.mydefrag.com/index.html

MyDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer (a maintenance utility to make your harddisk faster) for Windows. Fast, low overhead, with many optimization strategies, can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. Included are a set of easy to use scripts for endusers, a scripting engine for demanding users, a screensaver, and a combined Windows plus commandline version that can be scheduled by the Windows task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts.

My Lockbox - My Lockbox - Files and Folders Password Protection - Hide Folder, Lock Folder, Password Protect Folder - FSPro Labs

My Lockbox is a security software enabling you to password protect any folder on your computer. The protected folder (lockbox) is hidden from any user and application of your system, including Administrator and System itself. It is impossible to access the lockbox not only from the local computer, but also from the net. The program is extremely easy to use. You can set the lockbox location and the password during the setup procedure. After the setup is done, lockbox will be hidden and locked until you enter the valid password. My Lockbox Control Panel allows you easily change basic lockbox parameters: lockbox location, protection status, password. In addition, skinned user interface lets you choose from different skins to select the most comfortable look and feel of the software.

Network Monitor - Download details: Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3

Microsoft Network Monitor is a protocol analyzer. It allows you to capture network traffic, view and analyze it.

NetWorx - Bandwidth monitor, bandwidth speed test, bandwidth and traffic monitoring tool for Windows

You can use NetWorx to collect bandwidth usage data and measure the speed of your Internet or any other network connection. NetWorx can help you identify possible sources of network problems, ensure that you do not exceed the bandwidth limits specified by your ISP, or track down suspicious network activity characteristic of Trojan horses and hacker attacks. The program allows you to monitor all your network connections or a specific network connection (such as Ethernet or PPP) only. The software also features customizable visual and sound alerts. You can set it up to alert you when the network connection is down or when some suspicious activity, such as unusually heavy data flow, occurs. It can also automatically disconnect all dialup connections and shut down the system. The incoming and outgoing traffic is represented on a line chart and logged to a file, so that you can always view statistics about your daily, weekly and monthly bandwidth usage and dialup duration. The reports can be exported to a variety of formats, such as HTML, MS Word and Excel, for further analysis.

Nexus - http://www.winstep.net/index.asp?cat=nexus

Nexus is a multi-level dock system. Nexus provides fast access to your most frequently used applications, with flexible options allowing it to dock or float anywhere on the screen, providing a myriad of "On Demand" possibilities.

Norton UAC Tool - User Access Control - Vista User Account Control - UAC | Norton Labs

The Norton User Account Control tool will replace parts of the Windows Vista UAC system, and allow you have a "Remember Me" exception list for UAC to suppress future prompts from the same action.

Notepad++ - .:: NOTEPAD++ ::.

Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. From HTML to Java and over 40 other languages, Notepad++ makes parsing code easy with clear syntax highlighting and auto-completion intelligence.

Notepad2 - Notepad2 Modifications

Notepad2 is a free, open-source text editor. It has features such as auto-indent, brace matching, syntax highlighting, and code folding.

Office Accounting Express 2009 - Download details: Office Accounting Express 2009

NOTE: To read about all of the features, see: Easy to use accounting software from Microsoft

Microsoft Office Accounting Express is an easy to use accounting package that works with other Office applications you already know.

OpenOffice - download: OpenOffice.org Downloads

OpenOffice is a open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages.

OpenWithAdd - Registering programs with the "Open With" dialog

NOTE: See this tutorial: How to Add a Program to Open With in Vista

When you right-click a file and choose Open With, and click the Choose Program... option, the list of registered applications are displayed in the Open With dialog. Programs that are not already listed in the Open With dialog can be added manually using the Browse... option. OpenWithAdd tool can be helpful in circumstances where, when you browse to locate an application, it does not get added to the Open With dialog.

OpenWithView - OpenWithView - Disable/Enable items in the 'Open With' dialog-box of Windows

OpenWithView is a small utility that displays the list of all available applications in the 'Open With' dialog-box of Windows, and allows you to easily disable or enable the applications in the list. When an application is disabled, it won't be displayed in the 'Other Programs' section of the 'Open With' dialog-box. This utility can be useful if your 'Open With' window displays too many applications, or you want to remove the applications that you don't use frequently.

Outpost Firewall Free - Outpost Firewall FREE

Agnitum's Outpost Firewall Free gives you firewall protection with standard packet and application filtering to safeguard your data against unauthorized third parties. Plus, you get advanced protection against illegal program activity that will help stymie unknown threats.

Paint.NET - Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing

NOTE: This runs in both the 32 bit and 64 bit Vista, but in 64 bit Vista it runs as a full native 64-bit program.

Paint.NET is a image editing and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition -

A great backup and recovery program full of features.

Partition Wizard - http://partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Partition Wizard Home Edition is a free partition manager designed by MT Solution Ltd. Home users can perform complicated partition operations by using this powerful but free partition manager to manage their hard disk partition such as Resizing partitions, Copying partitions, Create partition, Delete partition, Format partition, Convert partition, Explore partition, Hide partition, Change drive letter, Set active partition and Partition Recovery.

PCalc -

AnalogX PCalc allows you to enter any equation in the EXACT same format as C/C++, and it will process it with the same precedence, giving you the results in a variety of formats! PCalc also supports the use of user-defined variables, and also has most of the common constants used already defined.

PC Decrapifier - Download | The PC Decrapifier

NOTE: This runs from a standalone exe file that does not install on your computer.

The PC Decrapifier is a program designed to remove or uninstall a specific list of unwanted software in an unattended fashion. It can be used to clean off most of the annoying software that is typically shipped with newer PCs.

PC Tools Firewall Plus -

PC Tools Firewall Plus is a free personal firewall for Windows that protects your computer by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. By monitoring applications that connect to the network Firewall Plus can stop Trojans, backdoors, keyloggers and other malware from damaging your computer and stealing your private information

PC Wizard 2008 - CPUID

NOTE: For this program to work properly in Vista, you must check Run this program as an administrator in the Compatibility window for this program's shortcut after it is installed. For how, see: How to Use Compatibilty Mode in Vista

PC WIZARD 2008 is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.

PDFCreator - SourceForge.net: PDFCreator

PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application.

PDF-XChange Viewer -

A PDF file reader that is an alternative to Adobe Reader.

Phrase Express - Clipboard Utility - Snippets Organizer - Email Signatures

Organize frequently used text snippets. Expand abbreviations as you type. Launch programs with text shortcuts. Auto-Complete repetitive phrases. Quick Access to the Windows Clipboard History. Correct Spelling mistakes in any application.

PhotoFiltre - Graphisme et utilitaires

PhotoFiltre is a complete image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look.

Picture-Shark - download watermark picture shark freeware image gallery protect

NOTE: You will need to right click on the installation program and click on Run as administrator for this to install.

This is a program that will allow you to add a watermark to any image. The watermark's transparency can be fully adjusted to what you want.

Pidgin - http://www.pidgin.im/

Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.

PopMan - PopMan

PopMan is a POP3 and IMAP4 manager. It can be used to list all e-mails received on your incoming mail server, without having to load these mails completely. Unwanted e-mails can be deleted directly from the server. You can use PopMan to check your e-mail accounts in the background. When new e-mails arrive, you will be notified.

POP Peeper - http://www.poppeeper.com/

POP Peeper is an email notifier that runs in your Windows task bar and alerts you when you have new email on your POP3, IMAP (with IDLE support), Hotmail\MSN\LiveMail, Yahoo, GMail, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, iWon, Lycos.com, RediffMail, Juno and NetZero accounts. IMAP supports allows you to access AOL, AIM, Netscape and other services. Send mail directly from POP Peeper and use the address book to email your frequently used contacts. POP Peeper allows you to view messages using HTML or you can choose to safely view all messages in rich or plain text. Several options are available that will decrease or eliminate the risks of reading your email (viruses, javascript, webbugs, etc). POP Peeper can be run from a portable device and can be password protected. Many notification options are availble to indicate when new mail has arrived, such as sound alerts (configurable for each account), flashing scroll lock, skinnable popup notifier, customized screensaver and more.

Privatefirewall - http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html

Privatefirewall is a multi-layered endpoint security software that protects Windows desktops and servers from malware and unauthorized use. Personal firewall, packet inspection, URL filtering, process monitor, and application/system behavior modeling and anomaly detection components stop hackers, spyware, viruses and other forms of malware before they can cause damage.

Process Explorer - Process Explorer

NOTE: This program does not install. It is a stand alone EXE file with a help file.

Process Explorer is an advanced process management utility that picks up where Task Manager leaves off. It will show you detailed information about a process including its icon, command-line, full image path, memory statistics, user account, security attributes, and more. When you zoom in on a particular process you can list the DLLs it has loaded or the operating system resource handles it has open. A search capability enables you to track down a process that has a resource opened, such as a file, directory or Registry key, or to view the list of processes that have a DLL loaded.

Process Lasso - Process Lasso, the Windows process priority optimizer!

NOTE: See these tutorials also: How to Make a Program or Process Run with a Higher or Lower CPU Priority in Vista and How to Set the Processor Affinity for a Application in Vista

Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically adjust the allocation of CPU cycles so that system responsiveness is improved in high-load situations. It offers capabilities such as default process priorities and affinities, termination of disallowed processes, a system responsiveness graph, logging of processes, and much more!

Process Monitor - Process Monitor

NOTE: This program does not install. It is a stand alone EXE file with a help file.

Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry, and process/thread activity. It is way more advanced than the Resource Monitor that comes with Vista.

ProduKey - ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) of Windows/MS-Office/SQL Server

NOTE: Be sure to download the correct 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) version of Produkey for your version of Vista.

ProduKey is a small utility that displays the ProductID and the CD-Key of MS-Office, Windows, Exchange Server, and SQL Server installed on your computer. You can view this information for your current running operating system, or for another operating system/computer - by using command-line options. This utility can be useful if you lost the product key of your Windows/Office, and you want to reinstall it on your computer.

Quick Media Converter - Free MP4 AVI 3GP FLV Video Media Converter Free Software - Quick Media Converter Home Page - Free FLV TO AVI DIVX DVD MP4 MPEG MP3 H264 IPHONE IPOD MOV WMV XVID WII XBOX PS3 3GP 3G2 TS VOB MKV SWF OGG Free Video Audio Converter Cocoon Software DOWNLO

Quick Media Converter is a free universal Video and Audio converter and much more , designed to be as simple to use as it may get,Quick Media Converter supports a myriad of formats and codecs : Check Here

Rainbow Folders - Programy Aionela (English Version) - Free software for everyone !

Rainbow Folders allows you to change the color of any folder.

Rainmeter -

Rainmeter is a Windows customization application. Empower your desktop with an expandable library of useful tools – handy notes and application launchers, weather and feeds from the web, system status and more. Then, rearrange and modify them to suit your personal style.

ReadyBoost Monitor -

A program that monitors ReadyBoost peaks, cache size, graph, read and write speed.

Real Temp - Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring

Real Temp is a temperature monitoring program designed for all Intel single Core, Dual Core, Quad Core and Core i7 processors.

Recuva - Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File Recovery - Home

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

RegScanner - RegScanner Tool: Alternative to RegEdit find/search of Windows

RegScanner is a small utility that allows you to scan the Registry, find the desired Registry values that match to the specified search criteria, and display them in one list. After finding the Registry values, you can easily jump to the right value in RegEdit, simply by double-clicking the desired Registry item. You can also export the found Registry values into a .reg file that can be used in RegEdit.

Rescue Kit Express - FREE Rescue Kit 9.0 Express - Don't wait for disaster, get instant data recovery software!

Rescue Kit professionally fixes boot problems as well as retrieves your data when your system fails to boot. It even rescues deleted partitions.

Revo Uninstaller - Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Uninstall Software, Remove Programs, Solve uninstall problems

WARNING: This program will work in the 64-bit Vista, but it will not recognize any installed 64-bit programs. It will only help you uninstall 32-bit programs.

Revo Uninstaller helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs installed on your computer even if you have problems uninstalling and cannot uninstall them from the Vista Programs and Features control panel applet.

RivaTuner - RivaTuner v2.09 download from Guru3D.com

RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters. The widest driver-level Direct3D / OpenGL and system tuning options, flexible profiling system allowing to make custom settings on per-application basis, both driver-level and low-level hardware access modes, unique diagnostic and realtime hardware monitoring features and exclusive power user oriented tools like built-in registry editor and patch script engine make RivaTuner's feature set absolutely unmatched.
RivaTuner supports all NVIDIA display adapters starting from Riva TNT family up to the latest GeForce 7 series and widest range of NVIDIA drivers starting from the oldest Detonator 2.08 up to the newest ForceWare drivers family.

RocketDock - RocketDock - About RocketDock

RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher dock station for your desktop. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. With each item completely customizable there is no end to what you can add and launch from the dock. Now with added Taskbar support your minimized windows can appear as icons on the dock.

RunAlyzer - The home of Spybot-S&D!

From the makers of Spyboy Search & Destroy, RunAlyzer is a autostart & configuration manager that allows you to view and edit all the spots where Windows Vista looks for programs or services to start. It's a combination of a standard configuration manager and an advanced tool to locate and remove places where hijackers, spyware, and other malware hide.

Samurize - http://www.samurize.com/modules/news/

Samurize is an advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows. IT professionals, overclockers, gamers and desktop modders alike can use Samurize for system information, weather reports, news headlines and much much more.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) - Download - Personal (PSI) - Vulnerability Scanning - Secunia.com

The Secunia PSI is a free security tool designed with the sole purpose of helping you secure your computer against vulnerabilities in programs by checking your PC for insecure programs exposing you to security threats.

7stacks -

7stacks lets Windows 7 (and Vista and XP) users have "stacks" of icons in their Taskbar (in 7) or QuickLaunch Toolbar (in Vista and XP). By using stacks, users can reduce icon clutter, and combine a group of related icons into a single icon

7-Zip - 7-Zip

NOTE: After installing, use compatibility mode to set this program to run as administrator. You will then need to go into Tools and the Options menu to select the file associations you want 7-Zip to be able to use.

A Zip utility program used to open 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS files. Fully customizable for which file type you want associated to 7-Zip.

ShadowExplorer - ShadowExplorer.com - Manual

NOTE: Previous Version tutorial: How to Restore Previous Versions of a File and Folder in Vista
ShadowExplorer is an alternative program for all editions of Vista for the Previous Versions feature that is only available for the Vista

Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions. If you do not have one of these versions, then this is a great alternative.

ShellExView - ShellExView - Shell Extension Manager For Windows

NOTE: Be sure to right click this program and click Run as administrator. Be sure to also download the 32 bit or 64 bit version for your version of Vista.

This is an excellent tool to view and manage all installed shell extensions. If available, it displays the description, as well as version details, company information, location, file name and more. You can optionally disable or enable any item. This can be very useful to disable an extension that you do not need or that has been left behind in your right click context menu from a previous software install.

SIW - SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala

SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner. The system information is divided into a few major categories:

• Software: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Secrets (Password Recovery).
• Hardware: Motherboard, Sensors, BIOS, CPU, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.
• Network: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.
• Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), MAC Address Changer, Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.
• Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.

Smart Defrag - Defragment Disk | Smart Defrag | Free Disk Defragmenter Download

A good hard disk defragmenter by Iobit.

SourceSnap - Hotkeys

NOTE: You will see it listed towards the bottom.

Small utility for programmers to snap up selected source code or text to a file via hotkey. There are 2 save methods. A save to a new file, and an append to the snap file(add snippet.) In addition, you will have the possibility to customize the hotkeys according to your preferences.

SpaceSniffer -

SpaceSniffer is a portable disk scanning tool application that lets you understand how folders and files are structured on your disks. By using a Treemap visualization layout, you have immediate perception of where big folders and files are placed on your devices.

SpecialFoldersView - SpecialFoldersView - Easily jump to special folders in Windows

Windows operating system have dozens of special shell folders that are used for storing application settings and files, storing Internet files, saving temporary files, storing shortcuts to other files, and so on. This utility displays the list of all special shell folders in your system, and allows you to easily jump to the right folder simply by double-clicking the folder item. You can also save the list of all folder paths into text/html/xml file.

SpeedFan - Download SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. info for those hard disks that support this feature and show hard disk temperatures too, if supported. SpeedFan supports SCSI disks too. SpeedFan can even change the FSB on some hardware.

Spybot Search & Destroy - The home of Spybot-S&D!

NOTE: Select your language and click on Download in the upper right corner. Spybot S&D takes a bit to open after you click on the shortcut.

This is a great spyware protection program. You can use this program along with Windows Defender and other anti-spyware/adware programs for added protection.

SpywareBlaster - SpywareBlaster

SpywareBlaster, by Javacool Software, helps prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Spyware Terminator - Download free spyware removal and protection program - Spyware Terminator

This is another great spyware and adware removal program. It comes with an optional free Web Security Guard web browser toolbar to help protect your computer while you browse the web.

StandaloneStack - Chris'n'Soft » StandaloneStack

Allows you to create a toolbar that displays the shortcuts inside as stacked icons when you open the toolbar.

Start++ - Files: Start++ 0.8.1

Start++ is an enhancement that adds new functionality to the Windows Vista start menu and command line.

StExBar - StExBar | Stefan's Tools

NOTE: Be sure to download the correct 32 bit or 64 bit version for your version of Vista.

The StExBar adds a new toolbar in Windows Explorer that provides many useful commands for your everyday use like Rename, New Folder, Console, Show system files, etc. You can also add as many custom commands as you like to.

Stickies - Stickies

Stickies is a sticky note application to post notes on your desktop. Features include:

• Once on screen, stickies will remain where placed until closed, even through reboots
• Stickies appearance can be customised; fonts, colours and buttons may be changed, and styles saved. Stickies can be resized.
• Stickies can snap to each other and to the sides of the screen to keep them neatly lined up
• Stickies can be attached to a web site, document or folder so they only show when it's on screen
• Stickies can be transferred from one machine to another either over a TCP/IP network connection, or by using an SMTP mail server or MAPI client:
  • Hierarchical friends list, which may be automatically transferred from other friends
  • Play a sound file on receive
  • Signature for transmitted or emailed stickies
  • Favourite friends, and custom lists can be made
• Stickies can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified date and time, or to wake every day, week or month, to act as reminders.
• Stickies can have alarms set to ensure you notice them at a point you choose
• Stickies can be transferred to and from your Palm or PPC PDA.
• International language and RTL text support
• Stickies works with Windows Vista
• Stickies is small and simple, it writes to a single text file, and does not alter the registry
• AD network administrators can use Group Policy to control settings
• API to allow integration with other applications

STDU Viewer -

STDU Viewer is a document viewer for multiple file formats. The goal of this software is to replace the multiple document viewers with a single simple application. STDU Viewer supports TXT, TIFF, PDF, DjVu, Comic Book Archive (CBR or CBZ), XPS documents format.

Subtitle Workshop - URUWorks - 100% Software Uruguayo

Subtitle Workshop is the most complete, efficient and convenient freeware subtitle editing tool. It supports all the subtitle formats you need and has all the features you would want from a subtitle editing program.

Sumatra PDF - Sumatra PDF viewer by Krzysztof Kowalczyk

Sumatra PDF is a slim, free, open-source PDF viewer for Windows.

SUPERAntiSpyware - SUPERAntiSpyware.com - AntiAdware. AntiSpyware. AntiMalware.

This is another great spyware protection program. You can use this program along with Windows Defender and other anti-spyware/adware programs for added protection.

SuperCopier -

SuperCopier replaces Windows explorer file copy and adds many features:

• Transfer resuming
• Copy speed control
• No bugs if You copy more than 2GB at once
• Copy speed computation
• Better copy progress display
• A little faster
• Copy list editable while copying
• Error log
• Copy list saving/loading
• etc.....

Supersonic Download Accelerator - Supersonic Download Accelerator

Supersonic Download Accelerator is a simple and reliable download manager with excellent features like, segmented downloads for acceleration, simultaneous downloads and many others. Supersonic increase your download speed by finding multiple sources and allows you to preview downloads. For download you can even use links stored in you clipboard, moreover, both protocols HTTP and FTP are supported.

SweetIM - Emoticons Winks Smileys Nudges Games and Free Add-ons for AIM, MSN & Yahoo Messenger - SweetIM

A Messenger add-on that adds more emoticons, winks, audibles, sound FX, Display Pictures, and Nudges. It can also add a optional IE7 browser toolbar that allows you to add favorite icons and emoticons to any web based application including web based email such as Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Gmail, Web Forums, Blogs and more.

SysInspector - ESET SysInspector

ESET SysInspector is a diagnostic tool for Windows systems. It peers into your operating system and captures details such as running processes, registry content, startup items and network connections. Once a snapshot of the system is made, ESET SysInspector applies heuristics to assign a risk level for each object logged. Its intuitive graphical user interface enables the user to easily slice through the large volume of data using a slider to select objects of a particular color coded risk level for closer examination.

TeamViewer - http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx

TeamViewer establishes connections to any PC or server all around the world within just a few seconds. You can remote control your partner's PC as if you were sitting right in front of it.

TeraCopy - Copy your files faster with TeraCopy

TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, providing the user a lot of features:

• Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.
• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.
• Windows 7 x64 support.

TextMaker Viewer - TextMaker Viewer 2008 - Free document viewer for .doc, .odt, .tmd, .rtf, and more

This program by SoftMaker lets you open, view, and print documents from Microsoft Word, TextMaker, OpenOffice.org, OpenDocument, as well as other common office file formats. See link for supported file types.

The Sage -Sequence Publishing - TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus, a powerful language reference system that couples a professional dictionary of the English language with a multifaceted and extensive thesaurus

TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a professional software package that integrates a complete dictionary and multifaceted thesaurus of the English language into a single and powerful language reference system. TheSage can look up words directly from almost any program (IE, Word, Firefox, Outlook, Thunderbird,... ) and is 100% portable.

The Windows Vista Flip 3D Activator - The Windows Vista Flip 3D Activator

The Windows Vista Flip 3D Activator is a tiny utility for Windows Vista and Windows 7 that greatly enhances the Flip 3D feature by allowing you to control it with your mouse. It allows you to choose one or more corners ("Hotspots") of your desktop, any mouse button, or both, to activate Windows Flip 3D. Once activated, you can use the mouse to select a window.

Thumbnail Sizer - Ave's Vista Apps: ThumbnailSizer

NOTE: You will need to have the "Windows Aero" color scheme running. Click on the image to download the ZIP file, and be sure to extract the correct 32 bit or 64 bit version from the ZIP download.

Ave's Thumbnail Sizer allows the user to change the size of Vista's Window thumbnails that show when one hovers over the taskbar button with the mouse pointer for the opened window.

Thunderbird - Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox

Mozilla Thunderbird is an alternative email client program other than Windows Mail.

Trader's Little Helper - Trader's Little Helper

Traders of lossless compressed audio files (e.g. ape, flac, mkw, or shn files) have to handle a lot of different applications to decode, encode, create/verify checksums, fix sector boundary errors, or create torrent files. Moreover most of the tools used are command-line programs requiring a deeper knowledge of how to use various parameters. Trader's Little Helper bundles the most important features of those applications in one single easy-to-use frontend.

Tray - Tray free download and review at CoreDownload

NOTE: For a direct download, see: http://www.favessoft.com/TraySetup.zip

Tray was written by one of our very own members MilesAhead. It is a program that give you a shortcut to allow you to open and close your DVD or optical drive tray.

ThreatFire - Download ThreatFire Free

PC Tools ThreatFire is a signature based anti-spyware program that alerts you to what it thinks is acting suspicious. It includes a rootkit scanner and much much more.

TreeSize Free - https://www.jam-software.de/customer...80&language=EN

TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to. TreeSize Free can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize Free is working. The space, which is wasted by the file system, can be displayed and the results can be printed in a report.

TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux - Downloads

TrueCrypt is an open source app which lets you create and mount an encrypted virtual drive. You can store whatever you want in this drive, and it will be completely inaccessible and invisible to anyone who doesn’t have the passphrase.

TweakVI - Totalidea Software :: Product :: Tweak Windows Vista - Vista Tweaks - TweakVI - Tweak-VI - Tweak-Vista - TweakVista - TweakXP - Tweak-XP - Tweak XP - TweakUI - Outlook Backup - Outlook Notes - FireTune

This is a program designed to tweak and optimize Vista. Only the Basic edition is free, but it includes desktop tweaks, Start Menu tweaks, IE & Firefox tweaks, Hardware tweaks, System info, Virtual Desktops, System folder tweaks, Mouse tweaks, Outlook tweaks, and Shutdown tweaks.

Types - Types

NOTE: Types runs from standalone .exe file and does not install onto your computer.

Types is a lightweight configuration utility for Windows that allows you to edit program associations, icons, context menus and other properties of various file types displayed in the Explorer.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker - Ultimate Windows Tweaker v2, a Tweak UI for Windows 7 & Vista | The Windows Club

Ultimate Windows Tweaker v 2.0 is a freeware Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows 7 & Windows Vista, 32-bit & 64-bit. It can simply be downloaded and used as a portable application to customize your Windows to meet your requirements. With judicious tweaking, it can make your system faster, more stable, and more secure with just a few mouse clicks. The tweaker detects whether you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista installed and accordingly offers you the relevant tweaks only.

Unlocker - UNLOCKER 1.8.7 BY CEDRICK 'NITCH' COLLOMB

WARNING: This program does not work with the 64 bit Vista, but I had to add it since it is a very helpful program.

Unlocker is a utility program used to help you delete a file that you get one of these errror messages on:

• Cannot delete file: Access is denied
• There has been a sharing violation.
• The source or destination file may be in use.
• The file is in use by another program or user.
• Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

UK's Kalender -

This program helps you organizing your dates and tasks and reminds you of upcoming events.

USB Image Tool - alex’s coding playground » USB Image Tool

USB Image Tool can create images of USB memory sticks and MP3 players, that are mounted as USB drives. It allows you switch between images with different music styles on your MP3 Player or to make an exact backup image of your USB Stick.

Virtual Box - VirtualBox - VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualization for x86 (32-bit) hardware that allows you to run multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Virtual CloneDrive - SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive

Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive.

Virtual PC - Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 download

NOTE: This is only supported on Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions, but it will run on Vista Home Premium to.

Virtual PC 2007 is a powerful software virtualization solution that allows you to run multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously on one workstation, providing a safety net to maintain compatibility with legacy applications while you migrate to a new operating system.

VistaGlazz - VistaGlazz | CodeGazer

Normally in Windows Vista, the transparency only lasts until you maximize a window. VistaGlazz ensures transparency, even when your windows are maximized. Creative minds on sites like DeviantArt create cursors, icons, wallpapers and themes. After using VistaGlazz you can now use custom styles as well.

Vistalizator - Vistalizator - change display language in Vista Home and Business

NOTE: See this tutorial for the Ultimate edition: How to Change the Display Language in Vista

This tool allows you to change the display language in Vista editions other than (officially supported) Ultimate:
Like the Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium and Business editions.

Vista Battery Saver - Vista Battery Saver - Home

This program will help save up to 70% of your laptop battery by disabling those nice, but greedy Vista features. Running in the taskbar with private workset of 5.5M and 0% CPU, it will do all of the work for you by enabling and disabling customizable features when the power source changes or battery power fall under a certain percent.

Vista Firewall Control - Vista Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

You can use the free version of this program by Sphinx to make using the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security a lot easier to use.

Vista Folder Background - Ave's Vista Apps: Vista Folder Background

NOTE: Click on the image to download the ZIP file, and be sure to extract the correct 32 bit or 64 bit version from the ZIP download. Read the "readme" file for important instructions.

In Vista, the ability to have custom backgrounds in explorer folders is gone. Ave's Vista Folder Background application makes folder backgrounds possible again.

Vista Forums SysInfo Tool - VistaForums SysInfo Tool

This tool can help you by displaying information about your Computer Info, UAC Status, Installed Apps, Services, Codecs, Hot Fixes, Event Log, WEI Score, Users, Memory (RAM), Video Card, Drives, CD/DVD Rom, IDE/SATA drives, Network, System Restore, and Running Processes. You can also save this displayed information to a txt file, copy it to the Clipboard, or print it out.

Vista Shortcut Manager - Shortcut Arrow (Method Two)

Frameworkx Vista Shortcut Manager allows you to either remove the shortcut overlay arrow or to customize it to what you want. It will also allow you to add or remove the Shortcut name extension for shortcuts.

Vista Start Menu - Vista Start Menu – Convenient alternative to Start menu

NOTE: You can just exit the program using the notification area icon to return to your default Windows 7 Start Menu at anytime. Just run the program again to use the program's Start Menu again.

Vista Start Menu is a very nice replacement for the default Start Menu that came with Vista. It is full of customizable features. See the link for more details about this program.

VistaSwitcher -

VistaSwitcher is a task management utility for Windows OS. Once installed, it replaces the default Windows Alt-Tab dialog with a nice box that shows a list of all running tasks with their names and preview snapshots and enables the user to take actions on them using the mouse and keyboard shortcuts. With just one click, you can switch to a task, minimize, maximize, restore the main window or close the process.

Vista Visual Master - Vista Visual Master - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

Vista Visual Master will help you to customize your Windows Vista easily. With a simple interface it brings you an All-in-One set of classified tools, settings and tweaks. You can change the look of the windows and buttons, change the system icons and hundreds of file icons, reconfigure the boot and logon screen, patch and apply your new themes, and you can customize Windows Vista according to your wishes.

VLC Media Player - VideoLAN - Open Source multimedia and streaming solutions for every OS!

VideoLAN VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. It doesn't need any external codec or program to work.

Weather Watcher - Vista Forums

A weather monitoring program that sits running minimized to a tray icon in the notification area. Get all your weather needs met here with a built in weather alert alarm feature that you can put your own sound for. Fully customizable.

Winamp Media Player - Winamp Media Player Features and Other Winamp Releases - Download Winamp Media Player for Free

MP3, Multimedia, and Music Player.

WinAudit -

WinAudit is easy to use, no special knowledge is required to use the programm. It is a self-contained single file that needs no installation or configuration. It can be run from a floppy disk or USB stick. It gives you a PC audit and inventory of software, licenses, security configuration, hardware, network settings...

WinDirStat - SourceForge.net: WinDirStat: Windows Directory Statistics

WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows.

Windows Live Mail - http://www.vistax64.com/windows-live...downloads.html

NOTE: Contacts will have to be manually imported from within WLM. (Tools, Contacts, File, Import, Address book for current Windows User.) To see the Menu bar, press ALT+M and check "Show all menus".

A replacement for Windows Mail that also supports website based email like Hotmail. It supports Pop3, IMAP, HTTP website (EX: Hotmail) email, and is a lot more stable. Plus, WLM will minimize to a tray bar icon and has a separate Inbox for each email account. WLM will automatically import Windows Mail messages, accounts, and settings into it.

Windows Product Key Viewer - RJL Software - Software - Utility - Windows Product Key Viewer

NOTE: See this tutorial: How to See The Product Key in Vista

Windows Product Key Viewer is a free utility that will display the installed Windows Product Key (cd key) and other important Windows system information.

Windows Sidebar Styler - Windows Sidebar Styler at Stanimir Stoyanov’s Blog

NOTE: See this tutorial: How to Change the Windows Sidebar Theme in Vista

This program will allow you to customize the appearance of Windows Sidebar by changing it's theme to what you want.

Windows SteadyState - Install Windows SteadyState

Windows SteadyState makes it easy to keep your computers running the way you want them to, no matter who uses them.

WinPatrol - BillP Studio: WinPatrol Download

NOTE: WinPatrol Plus is not the free one.

WinPatrol is a anti spyware/adware program that uses a heuristic behavioral approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. Traditional security programs scan your hard drive searching for previously identified threats. WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge.

Wireless Migrator - Wireless Migrator - Home

Handy small program, that knows to backup and restore all wireless networks setting from your computer. For some reason, there is no way to do it by using regular Windows Vista tools.
This feature is extremely useful, when you have to reinstall your computer or use the same settings of wireless networks for different machines.

Wise Disk Cleaner- WiseCleaner.com - Downloads

A very thorough junk and temp file cleaner. Has the option to delete to the Recycle Bin for restoring purposes.

Wise Registry Cleaner - WiseCleaner.com - Downloads

WARNING: As with all registry cleaning programs, you should verify the scan results before just simply deleting them.

A very thorough registry cleaner. Can be helpful in finding errors in the registry to fix. Has a backup feature to restore registry changes if needed.

World Viewer - Download details: Word Viewer

With Microsoft Word Viewer and the Compatibility Pack, you can view, print, and copy Microsoft Word document contents to another program. However, you cannot edit an open document, save a document, or create a new document.

XdN Tweaker - XdN » XdN Tweaker

This is a program designed to tweak and optimize Vista. XdN can tweak things like disabling Windows Mail's splash screen, disabling user account control, better save folder views, remove or replace IE7's search box, disable the "send to" option, and much more. Has a installing and stand-alone exe version.

XnView - XnView

XnView is a program used to view and convert graphic files that is really simple to use. It supports more than 400 different graphics formats.

XRECODE - Converter for MP3,WAV,OGG,WMA,FLAC,APE,WavPack,CUE files with full unicode support.

XRECODE is a parallel audio converter with full Unicode support that can extract audio from video files, convert multiple files in parallel by taking full advantage of multi-core CPU, and much more. This program supports a wide range of file types.

Sean, think of this program as an extension that allows easy accessibility to the buried advanced options in the firewall, not only are the program controls readily accessible through the icon in the tray, you also get activity notification through pop ups.
Try it and you will say that windows firewall should have been built with this feature.

And, if u listed CPU-Z, don't forget the GPU-Z!

techPowerUp! :: Downloads

µAmp
All Common Music Formats (.mp3,.wma,.ogg,.wav)
Native x64 Codec www.fmod.org
Themes - Open Theme Editor Available on Download Page
Intuitive Interface, Simple Design made to be Easy to Use
Low CPU Usage and Memory Usage (Better than Winamp)
available @
Tommorowland

great list.

Thank you Priji. I'm glad you like it.

Shawn

Hi,
there's another GPU oriented free stuff named "GPU Caps Viewer". don't get stuck, it is surely NOT a pure caps detector, just check it out:

oZone3D.Net - GPU Caps Viewer - Graphics Card Information Utility - GPU Core Temperature - OpenGL Extensions - GPU Stress Test

(I have no idea whether most ppl need it, but it's indeed free and mention-worth)

It's a stupid little program. It makes animated backgrounds. You have control of a number of aspects into the animations and you can control the colors/multi-gradients into it as well.

I believe the last time I used it that you can save in AVI format. Surely with a little bit of work, a little that is, you can put these into Dreamscape format. I played with it at one time a few year ago and you can make the background any size you want.

Check it out .. hopefully it'll be good enough for the list!

Reptile v2.0

Enjoy!