Recomendations

Most useful Software out there!

Software	Address	Explanation

	Flash FXP	by far the best software for transferring files between your computer and a file server across the internet.
	Pop-up Stopper Pro	Tired of pop-ups? This software is great for stopping them and making it easy to manage cookies (little files that keep track of where you have been on the internet)
	CCleaner	CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)
	STOPzilla	This software I have mixed emotions about. It has a yearly subscription and will only function on the computer you buy it for. (you can not uninstall it and use it on another computer) But one thing about this.. IT WORKS.. it removes every single bit of virus or spam that I have come across. Even those that Norton, CA, and McAffee could not even detect.
	Computer Associates E-trust Personal Edition	More cost effective than Norton or McAfee and does a better job. Also has a firewall product for your home computer
	RoboForm	With as many different sites, Usernames, and variations of logins (what? I can't believe someone already used my standard login name) It is hard to keep track of what name and passwords you used where. This easy to use software keeps track of all your logins passwords and even standard form information (like name, address phone number) so you can fill in the blanks with a click of your mouse rather than having to type it all in very time
	Usenet Explorer	Super powered news group reader. Not for newbie's. Nothing better for the news group geeks.
	Win RAR	In my humble opinion a better option than WinZip and certainly better than the windows built in version.
	Tweak-XP Pro	Control just about every aspect of your windows XP operating system with this easy to use software. Works with pro and home version
Removed
	Music Match JukeBox	One stop software for everything to do with listening to music through your computer. I am taking this one off my list. The latest versions have become clunky and have started to experience frequent crashes.Once it crashes you have to kill every process that is associated with it to restart it (rebooting does the same thing)
	Ad Aware	I removed this one due to the changed that were made in the latest version. They went to a yearly subscription and I have found it is no where near as effective as it once was.
	Computer Associates E-Trust Inoculate IT	I am removing this one due to changes they have made in the interface. CA has decided to use a web interface to control how their programs runs and is configured. I have serious problems with that as most spam and viruses attack web browsers which would make you unable to control or run the software

Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!!!! Things to avoid!!!

real player

There are a number of reasons to avoid this software. I will list them in order of severity.

First, if you choose the default install it will change your system so it becomes the default player for everything (I don't know about you but I like wav files and MP3's played in something else)

2nd, it loads additional software (spy ware {namely gator}) onto your computer.

3rd it loads a quick start application that holds memory aside for real player so it can start faster (effectively reducing the memory available for your computer thus slowing down your computer)

4th it contains its own advertising engine so they can flash advertisements on your computer whenever they wish.

5th (and not last but if you need more I will provide them) the company will not allow their format to be played by anyone except them... which means if you want to play a real audio file you are forced to use their player.

Norton antivirus

I know many people swear up and down at how good Norton antivirus is. Unfortunately I disagree with the philosophy that Norton antivirus seems to have (in fact most of Symantec software seems to have this philosophy) The philosophy that I am speaking of is simply this. Symantec seems to think that Microsoft has not done a very good job in building the windows operating system. So Symantec decided to "fix" those problems in addition to providing the services that they sell.

Well here is the trouble I have with that.... all the rest of your software expects windows to be a certain way when they are installed. Symantec software changes that. While this may be good for the antivirus software and for windows core applications it often causes ("often" could also be replaced with the words "almost always") problems with other applications that you wish to use.

In addition to this Norton seems to integrate itself to heavily in the operating system. If a virus does happen to get on the system... the antivirus software is now part of the problem not the solution.

Kazzaa and Morpheus

Both of these are attempting to fill the gap left when Napster left the internet. They seem to do the job they are designed to do rather well. To their credit they tell you up front that by using these applications you are also running spam engines on your computer.

But also be aware that certain files that these programs run are not removed when you uninstall these applications. Previous versions of Morpheus didn't uninstall anything except the shortcut to the program. It left all the spam components in place and all the registry settings in place so you were running their spam software whether you uninstalled the program or not.

The above statements are the opinion of Patrick Moran and may not reflect the opinions of ELBC

Updated January 3rd 2008