[PCWorld]

Post your comments for 15 Great Free Utilities You've Never Heard Of here

[edstfm]

Is "What's Running" Vista Designed? It does not state this at the download site. Thank You, Ed Bye

[VulturEMaN]

One program that I've found incredibly useful, but not many people know about is Unlocker.http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/It does alot of what other programs you posted there do, but better. And by better, I mean its one of the 5 progs that I install as soon as I do a fresh install of windows.

[walgreene]

Is 'System Information...' significantly different from Belarc?

[davedogman]

I had very bad experience with Eusing Free Registry Cleaner. System slowed to crawl. Use with extreme care.

[sharee100]

I don't need or want any of your new freebies. I downloaded the registry mechanic. It crashed my system. I downloaded a driver update program. All it did was link me to the manufacturer's website. I can do that myself without additional software clogging up my system. II already have better security, better photo editing and management, better system management software and windows media player works just fine.

[kfrist]

The registry cleaner is dangerous. I ran it and got ~1500 entries. After looking through some of them, I had the registry 'fixed'. The cleaner wiped out software registration information and account information. I was tempted to reload the registry! This is not the first time I have had trouble with your recommendation on the registry. I probably have put too much trust in PC World.

[VulturEMaN]

most free programs that mess with the registry just aren't worth it guys.I've been using TuneUp Utilities since 2004, and the new 2007 edition is very very good.

[lavonlewis]

I am using a new Dell Inspiron E1505 running Vista. I downloaded and tried to install SpyCatcher Express, but it jammed something up and I had to do System Restore to be able to boot.

[SpiritWind]

{size:18px}[/size]:D Hi all : Your 2 recommended spyware killers are not that good and should be AVOIDED ; much better is the "trial" version ( which can after 30 days become the "Free" ver ) of AVG Antispyware from www.ewido.net and the FREE ver of SUPERantispyware from www.superantispyware.com . Both of these are often recommended by anti-malware Experts on many Support Forums . I did NOT see any of the 15 I would put on my computer .

[VulturEMaN]

Come on guys...don't bash the topic....you gotta sift through it a bit :PGoogle SketchUp is an EXCELLENT small, portable program. I have it on my flash drive for when I feel like doing a quick 3d drawing of something to convey a point to a colleague or fellow teacher.

[Chesterfield]

[quote:7f2b19d0e2] Your 2 recommended spyware killers are not that goodand should be AVOIDED[/quote:7f2b19d0e2]I highly recommend Spy Catcher. I didn't like Windows Care much but Spy Catcher is a great find. Please try and use these programs yourself before coming to your own conclusion because you could miss out on something that can be really helpful. SpiritWind is not really giving any reasons except he thinks they are not that good. I'll give you a great reason to download SpyCatcher... it is the only free anti-spyware that I have found that has active protection, that is it is always looking for spyware that is trying to get on your system. The other ones he suggests to use do not have this feature... AVG may but not after the trial runs out. The only protection they have depends on you constantly scanning your system, and only detects files AFTER they are on your comptuer, SpyCatcher stops them from getting on if it can find them.You can never have too many anti-spyware/malware services and it is suggested to have at least 2 so that you can multiple updated databases that are searching for new threats that another one may not have picked up.SuperantiSpyware is a good one, and another one that is highly recommended is Ad-Aware SE you can find on download.com for free as well.Edit: I didn't mean to imply that someone can't like the program if thats how they fell about it, but please list some good reasons why so other people can get an idea about the pros/cons of it

[VulturEMaN]

NOD32 scan weekly Spybot running on weeks 1 and 3 AdAware running on weeks 2 and 4 + TuneUp Utilities running 1Touch Tuneup monthly = Scheduled protection to all heck.Last time I had a problem with ANYTHING was when I decided to see if my college's copy of Symantec Corporate Antivirus was worth using. After a few minutes of testing it out (purposely downloading stuff laden with virii and other malicious stuff), it failed miserably. Then I reinstalled NOD32 and all was fixed in 3 scans and 2 reboots :P

[gwaddangit07]

[quote name='kfrist']The registry cleaner is dangerous. I ran it and got ~1500 entries. After looking through some of them, I had the registry 'fixed'. The cleaner wiped out software registration information and account information. I was tempted to reload the registry! This is not the first time I have had trouble with your recommendation on the registry. I probably have put too much trust in PC World.:evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil:I highly agree! PC WORLD what the hell are you thinking? Where do you come up with these incredibly dangerous apps? I will NEVER again download anything you recommend! I am done with your 6th Grade advice. You are not helping anyone. Get it yet?:evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil:

[pgralla]

I've used the program for quite a while, and have never had a problem with it. You might want to contact the maker about it.

[bogey1]

alert! Beware of the EUSING FREE REGISTRY CLEANER. I just tried it. It found over 1300 errors, and dutifully "corrected" them, but in the process destroyed my 'Hosts File' so that I could no longer access internet sites AND it turned off my System Restore so that I couldn't even go back to a 'non-registery cleaner time'. Fortunately, uninstalling via the program's own 'uninstall' option restored my hosts file, and I could keep my System Restore turned on. BEWARE THIS PROGRAM!

[Number3124]

why isn't Spybot S&D on that list! S&D is the BEST anti-spy program and its FREE

[cccjpm]

[quote name='Number3124']why isn't Spybot S&D on that list! S&D is the BEST anti-spy program > > and its FREE The key part of the title of the article that includes "...You've Never Heard Of" should tell you why Spybot S&D wasn't mentioned. If you haven't heard of Spybot, Ad-aware, AVG or Avast! then you haven't been paying any attention for quite some time....

[zemat]

Great tools, but also might want to mention SysInternals line of tools. Now part of M$, these free tools are very handy. I've replace the typical Win Task Manager with the more advanced SysInternals Process Explorer. This tool not only shows what is open, but also lists it by the parent application- nice to see if my video driver has svchost open or something more sinister calling it.

[Harmonic7]

[quote name='VulturEMaN']One program that I've found incredibly useful, but not many people know about is Unlocker.> > http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/. ...That's for sure. For those who don't know what it does, there's a glitch in XP which often disallows files which have recently been opened to be renamed, moved, or deleted w/out a reboot. Unlocker overrides this & lets you do what you want in spite of what the OS thinks is best. Almost always works but be aware that the more often you use it w/out rebooting, the more you risk an Explorer crash (which is still far less frustrating than having to constantly reboot).- Regarding Reg Cleaners - Eusing is a good 1 but they're all dangerous (even the relatively mild 1 in CCleaner can occasionally cause problems). And w/ 'zillions' of entries in the reg, clearing out the useless ones makes little or no difference (however, for safe cleanup of many 'garbage' entries, try MRU-Blaster www.javacoolsoftware.com/mrublaster.html ). Best to use tools like Eusing for hunting down missing entries, corruptions, misdirections, etc which can be manually corrected. In any case, it's not wise to trust any reg cleaner's recommended 'fixes'. Unless you know how to deal w/ them, investigate them carefully, backup the keys you intend on changing or removing, & set a Restore Point. Playing in the reg is a great hobby & you can do some amazing things but, unless you're highly knowledgeable about it :cry:, it's best to be somewhat of a thrill-seeker :D 'cause you could easily trash your system (or so I've heard - been lucky so far :wink: ).- walgreene: "System Information for Windows" (SIW) is different enough from Belarc it's certainly worth having both (or @ least giving it a try).- (There's an interesting discussion of "SpyCatcher Express" @ www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14863451 if anyone's interested.)