After a raft of posts asking about the best ways to prevent and get rid of Spyware, Adware, Pop Ups and other annoying online things, we have decided to put up a definitve guide to sorting these things out so that the forum isn't clogged up with further requests.
First of all, this forum no longer poses a threat from adware or pop ups due to the fact Wimmy pays $100 every 6 months to keep it free from it. This money comes from BOO memberships, so the very best way to prevent these nasties turning up via this forum is to join BOO !!
Now, below are a number of links to free solutions, but please bear in mind that you really need a good Anti Virus program running and a good firewall. Do not rely on the Windows XP firewall as this provides minimal protection. Make sure you subscribe to regular updates of any A/V program and best of all, do not visit dodgy sites or open suspicious emails. Trust me, there is
NO pill that gives you extra inches or prolongs your erection, just as there is no such thing as free porn or mature housewives ready and willing in your area tonight !!
Ok, here are some links.....
Anti Virus
AVG Anti Virus
Norton Anti Virus Not free, but one of the best
AntiVir
ClamWin
Firewalls
Zone Alarm
Kerio 4 Personal Firewall
Spyware
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spyware Blaster
CWShredder CWShredder™ finds and destroys traces of CoolWebSearch. CoolWebSearch is a name given to a wide range of different browser hijackers. Though the code is very different between variants, they are all used to redirect users to coolwebsearch.com and other sites affiliated with its operators.
Zone Alarm Spyware Detector A free online scan from the makers of Zone Alarm
Adware
Ad-Aware
Browsers with Built In Pop Up Blockers
Avant Browser
Mozilla Firefox
Other Software
Shields Up ! These micro programs plug gaping holes inherent in Windows software.
Shields Up ! This page test various known security issues and shows you where possible threats may attack your system.
Broadband Reports Another free security check
Spacemonger A great little free tool that graphically shows you what is on your Hard Drive and how much space it is taking up.
GIMP Don't worry, this isn't some kinky bondage related piece of software. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a fantastic open source image manipulation program in the mould of Photoshop, except that it's free !! You have to try this if you want to play with your photo's of your cars. This is a link to the Windows version but it is also available for Linux where it is a hugely popular standard.
dbpoweramp A free tool that allows you to convert virtually all audio formats.
OpenOffice Open source office productivity suite that is comparable to Microsoft Office and will read all Microsoft Office formats, including Word, Powerpoint, Access and Excel.
VLC Media Player A media Player that plays any media you throw at it ! Oh, and it's free
.
BitTorrent The original BitTorrent client, often mentioned in these pages and great for downloading and sharing (legally of course
).
Azureus Java BitTorrent Client A Java based BitTorrent client that gives you the benefits of torrents with much more besides.
Limewire One of the most popular P2P file sharing programs.
Larabie Fonts Not software, but a link to a shed load of quality Freeware fonts.
nLite nLite is a GUI for permanent Windows component removal by your choice. After removal there is an option to make bootable image ready for burning on cd or testing in virtual machines. With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install doesn't include, or even contain on cd, unwanted components.
CPU-Z A benchmarking tool that allows you to check the running speeds of your PC's components. Ideal for checking how well your overclocking is doing and for proving your speeds to the doubters
Aquamark 3 Benchmarking software in the mould of 3DMark, but free !.
DC++ File sharing using the Direct Connect protocol.
VirtualDub VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP), licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video.
CDex CD Ripping software.
DVD Shrink DVD back up tool.
Netcraft Toolbar A toolbar that helps combat
phishing.
Alex Feinmans ISO Recorder Power Toy A freeware ISO image copy program.
Recuva A tool that can restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer.
I will add to this post over time. If you discover a site or piece of software that would help others increase their security, please drop me a line and I will add it to this list.
I hope you find this all helpful
Rob
Mk.2 Marea Weekend 1.8 16v 115 ELX
