More Programs to Make Your Life Easier

PC Decrappifier: Yes, that is the real name. WONDERFUL for ridding your computer of all the pre-loaded garbage and trial software. WARNING: you can mess this up if you are not careful. Rule of thumb, don't delete anything that is manufacturer specific, for instance, my Toshiba had several programs for the trackpad and the nifty buttons that let you open Media Player automatically.

Avast! Anti virus: a great alternative to AVG which has been made less effective in its recent release.

Malware Bytes: an extremely thorough spyware/adware/trojan detector. Does what Spy Bot Search and Destroy and Hijack This used to do in a more user friendly way.

CleanUp!: the name says it all. If it's not malware and preloaded bloatware goofing up your machine, it is usually the enourmous cache of files your pc saves everytime you visit a website. This takes care of that, and can even empty your recycle bin for you.

Open Office 3.0 (et. al.): Why spend as much as you did on your computer to write papers? Sure, the early versions were WAY unstable, but now you can even save in Word formats so you can actually print in the computer lab. You'll love the interface if you cut your teeth on Word Perfect.

K-Lite Codecs Pack: Every codecs you could ever want and many that you did not even know existed (because they are from other planets).

D Ban: Completely nukes a hard-drive. Mind you, it really, REALLY, does clear it. As opposed to just scattering data like Windows reformatting, this overwrites all your data with 1's and 0's. We used it on my fossil of an HP (read some of my xanga/myspace posts about that saga) and re-installed XP and it runs like a new computer.

I did not include links, but you can go to Download.com or just use you Googleing skills.

Have fun, and if you break something, blame Brent because he showed me most of these!