be very useful to any PC tech or user. Although I have certainly not tested or even known about some of the tools,
many others have downloaded/installed them and these sites are well-known within the IT community.
Sysinternals
License InfoHome Page
Utilities Index
Free Download (Sysinternals suite)
Site Discussion (Blog)
Forum
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MajorGeeks
*** Look to left of home page under 'Files' heading for categories of tools available ***Intro
About
Home Page
Top Free Downloads ('Must Have' according to their site)
Geektionary
Geek-Wear
Forum
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TechNet
*** Microsoft resources for the IT pro ***Home Page
Downloads
TechNet Library (Tech documentation for Microsoft products)
Online Support
Blogs/Forums
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Other (Free) Tools
CDBurnerXP (Burn CDs/DVDs using this software on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7; burn ISO images to disc)Defraggler (Defragment tool free for personal or corporate use; can defrag entire disk or individual folders/files)
Recuva (Undelete tool to restore files deleted from disk. memory cards, MP3 player, etc)
Evolution (Collaboration software includes mail, calendar, contacts, task list, etc. Supports MS Exchange Server)
Pidgin (IM client that supports all popular chat networks such as AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, etc)
Skype (Free voice/video calls via Internet connection; just beware of potential security issues)
PeerGuardian (Open source peer-2-peer software; run this minimized before using any torrent download software)
BitTyrant (Torrent download software; this BitTorrent client is optimized for fast download performance)
7-Zip (Open source file archiver with a high compression ratio and AES-256 encryption; also supports ZIP, TAR formats)
MS Calculator Plus (all features of standard Microsoft calculator; also allows you to complete many types of unit conversions; Description)
Mapquest (Get directions from anywhere to anywhere in the USA)
Google Maps (web mapping service that can integrate into third party apps/websites using Google API, get street views, directions, etc. More info)
Google Account (Create a new account or sign in an existing account; can be used for GMail, Picasa and other Google services)
Google Earth (View satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean)
Picasa (Easy way to find, edit, and share your photos; need an active Google account)
VMware Server (Free virtual machine software download)
Microsoft Virtual PC (Free virtual machine software download)
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Multimedia
GIMP (Open source graphics editing tool, including photos)Plugin registry (A repository of optional extensions for the GIMP)
FlaskMPEG (An MPEG transcoding program)
VirtualDub (Open source video capture/processing utility)
Audacity (Open source sound editor; used for recording and editing sounds)
Blender (Open source 3D content creation suite; powerful tool but hard for novices to use)
CamStudio (Open source recorder software that can capture all screen activity to AVI and streaming Flash videos)
Codecs.com (Wide variety of video and audio codecs available for download)
K-Lite (Collection of codecs and related tools; should be able to play 99% of all the movies downloaded from the Internet)
QuickTime (Apple's media player; takes advantage of the latest video compression technology, called H.264)
Real Player (Download video from thousands of Web sites with this free media player; always keep security as high priority)
Winamp (plays your audio and video files, allows you to rip and burn CDs, sync your music and videos to your iPod, etc)
Other Media Players (Download.com offers a variety of players, including Windows Media Player)
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Popular Downloads/PDF Writers
Be sure to always apply any security patches (updates), especially critical ones. Bad guys are trying to usepopular software applications as a vehicle to attack systems and gain unauthorized access to confidential data.
Adobe Reader
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Shockwave
Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
.NET Framework
CutePDF (Free download; Pro paid version Here)
PDFCreator (Open Source)
Free PDF Writers
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Free Developer Tools
MS Web PlatformWindows PowerShell
PowerGUI
Visual Studio Express
SQL Server Express
MySQL Community Edition
Postgres SQL Server
PHP
Perl
Python
jEdit
Eclipse
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Other Resources
N3NCY (Ernie's site; Network Engineer who has provided much input to many of the links on this page)Kelly's Korner (Troubleshooting Windows XP)
Black Viper (General computer/gaming info)
AutoIt (Freeware Windows scripting language)
U3-Info (Source for U3 information, news, articles and more)
Everything USB (Software)
Everything USB (Everything!)