Happy New Year to all my readers. I have been going through my magazines for very good free software, software that has been verified. All the software in these blogs have been installed and tested on our old system to ensure there are no nasty's in them before added to these blogs. All these titles are for any version of Windows except where stated for a specific operating system. You will find a multitude of different software in this blog.
First up is a game which is free. It is called Octodad. It is about an octopus masquerading as a human. Here is a screen shot.
This is a fun game and takes some getting used to especially as you have to control an octopus walking like a human, great fun.
When one installs software doesn’t it always want to load at startup? All this can make it slow for the system to load and run. There is a program where one can check what is in the startup and and allow one to edit this to one’s requirements. It is called WhatinStartup.
The advantage of this is that it also checks what loads in the registry as well.
When we install new software, wouldn’t it be great if we could update the software automatically instead of having to remind ourselves to check for updates? This is a program which will do just that. Ketarin is that program. Here is a screenshot and also there is a how-to on the site as well. It only works once you install new software.
As an sister to this type of program there is also one to check for updated drivers. This is called SlimDrivers. There is also a subscription if you want to get the drivers downloaded automatically, but it is not compulsory.
This next pair of programs I do suggest you install. They are both to do with rootkits. Rootkits are explained by this which explains it better that I can and was copied from the internet: A rootkit is a collection of tools (programs) that enable administrator-level access to a computer or computer network. Typically, a cracker installs a rootkit on a computer after first obtaining user-level access, either by exploiting a known vulnerability or cracking a password. Once the rootkit is installed, it allows the attacker to mask intrusion and gain root or privileged access to the computer and, possibly, other machines on the network.
The first program is called SpyDLLRemover which checks and finds hidden DLL files as used in rootkits. As you can see from this screenshot there are 4 levels of identification although only three are shown here the forth is green and means it is ok.
The other program from this stable is the real deal for finding rootkits which we all know are the little beggars who can take over our computers, is StreamArmour. Once again, here is a screenshot
As you can see, this is more involved and you can also do a full system scan, which includes all discs. One word of warning if you decide to do a full system scan, best run it overnight or make sure no other programs are running as this program goes deep into your system and can slow down open programs. Mind you, this program I find very effective and include it as a must have and run regularly just in case some nasty has infiltrated my system, you never know until it is too late.
During a computers lifetime many programs and hardware are added and removed and most of the information is held in the registry. When we uninstall or remove hardware, not always does the registry clear out every relevant information. It then gets fragmented just like the disc drives do, and takes a while longer to load. This program defrags the registry RegistryDefrag. After it defrags the registry it will need to reboot the system. From the same stable is this uninstaller program Uninstaller. There are many uninstaller programs on the market both free and paid for but this one is simple to use.
Next up is a utility program to check for and repair disk errors. It is called CheckDisk and will check that your disks are clean and not dirty. By dirty I mean that Windows does a regular check of the underlying file system where all the files needed to run the system are stored. If it finds inconsistencies in that file system, a check disk is scheduled to run at boot-up time (because it cannot run on files which are being used in a Windows environment. Once it has run, Windows can restart. However, if a disk is dirty then you will get CHKDSK running everytime you load your system. This is a screenshot
Not sure what antivirus software you have but here is a free one which seems rather good. It is called Zillya! Antivirus. It looks comprehensive but unable to give you a screenshot just yet as program is on old system but will take one and put it on next blog.
Do you have more than one computer and would like to synchronise folders between them? There is a program for you in Bamboo. Here are some screenshots.
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When you delete files or folders from your computer, how confident are you that the data has been eradicated and cannot be read? All it ever does is remove the markers to the file but the data is still there until overwritten. What you need to do is write a destructive pattern over the data to make sure it cannot be read. Sounds complicated but there is a program that will do just that for you. It is called FileKiller.
Here is a screen shot for you:
The one good thing about this program is that there is no setup required, all you need to do is put it in a folder and run whenever you want to delete files, of course making doubly sure that you do not need that file anymore because once it is gone, it is gone for ever.
Last but not least, are two programs to do with video, one is a downloader and one is a converter, but both from the same stable. First up is FreemakeVideoDownloader and it supports 40+ sites including youtube and facebook. There is also a video tutorial on the site to help you use the program. Here is a screen shot:
Next up is FreemakeVideoConverter. It can convert 200+ input formats and will also burn blue ray and dvd’s and so much more. Here is a screenshot:
Once again there are intro tutorials.
Well, I think that is enough for now, this has been quite a long blog but I hope you will try some of these programs and I will look for more in future blogs.
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