The Top-15 That You Should Have On Your System

Hi
Over the last three years, I have profiled thousands of software apps on the software downloading websites. With all these thousands being presented to you, it's hard to decide which apps to use and which ones to discard. To make it easier for you, I have managed to compile a list of the top 15 absolute must-have tools for everyday tasks.

These are the essential programs that we recommend you install and keep on your arsenal.

• 1. Firefox / Chrome (Web Browser)
• 2. AVG Anti-Virus (Anti-virus Software)
• 3. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Disk Defragmenter)
• 4. Glary Utilities (System Maintenance)
• 5. Malwarebytes (Spyware Removal)
• 6. IZArc (Universal Archiver / Extractor)
• 7. Google Picasa Software (Photo Management)
• 8. doPDF (PDF Printer)
• 9. Memento (Post-It Notes)
• 10. xVideoServiceThief (YouTube Video Downloader)
• 11. Mozy (Backup)
• 12. Digsby (Multi-protocol Instant Messenger)
• 13. VLC Media Player (Video Player)
• 14. Foobar2000 (Music Player)
• 15. ImgBurn (CD / DVD Image Burner)
• 16-20. Plus 5 Bonus Programs

1. Firefox / Chrome (Web Browser)

Both Firefox and Google Chrome are excellent browsers. They are both fast, user-friendly and known to be secure. So, which one do you choose? The rule of thumb here is that you should use Firefox if you're looking to add additional features (i.e. ad blocker, password manager, video downloader, page translator etc.) to your browser.

You can see all add-ons for Firefox at https://addons.mozilla.org/. There are extensions for Google Chrome as well, but the choice is rather limited.

2. AVG Anti-Virus (Anti-virus Software)

AVG Free Anti-Virus is the most popular free anti-virus software in the world. It's also the most downloaded software program according to Download.com.

Most of the MakeUseOf authors use AVG and we highly recommend it to others. It's easy to use, consumes a relatively small amount of system resources and auto-updates itself with virus definitions on a daily basis. Install it once and it will keep your system secure without your intervention.
For those of you who frequently shop online and do regular online banking, AVG recommends AVG Internet Security. While it's not free, it does offer complete Internet Protection that will keep you safe even from advanced online threats.

Download AVG Free: http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepage
Download AVG Internet Security (Free Trial): www.avg.com/gb-en/download
(Platform: Windows only)

3. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Disk Defragmenter)

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a must-have free PC maintenance tool that was designed to cure system sluggishness and prevent crashes caused by disk fragmentation. Windows already comes with its own disk-defragmenter but Auslogics Disk Defrag is considerably faster and much more efficient.
It's extremely simple to use, does not require any analysis phase and is faster than most of the other disk defragmentation software.

While there are several other free disk defragmenters, Auslogics seems to be the defragmenter of choice according to the poll results on MakeUseOf, Lifehacker and mega tech sites like CNET.
Download Auslogics Disc Defrag: www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/overview
(Platform: Windows only)

4. Glary Utilites (System Maintenance)

Glary Utilities is a free system maintenance tool for protecting, cleaning, repairing, and speeding up your PC. It comes with one-click maintenance option that automatically runs all optimizations and repair jobs with a click of a button.

But the best thing about Glary Utilities is that it integrates over 15 other useful tools that nearly every computer user likely to make use of. These are:
- Uninstall Manager
- Startup Manager
- Memory Optimizer
- Context Menu Manager
- Registry Defrag Tool
- Track Eraser
- File Shredder
- File Undelete
- File Encrypt/Decrypt Tool
- Disk Space Usage Analysis
- Duplicate File Finder
- Empty Folder Finder
- File Splitter and Joiner
Highly recommended!

Please note, it's highly recommended that you create a System Restore point when using system maintenance tools like Glary Utilities. This is a precaution to ensure that you can always revert your PC to an earlier state in case something goes wrong unexpectedly.
Note: During the installation process make sure to uncheck the Ask Search toolbar.
Download Glary Utilities: www.glaryutilities.com/gu.html?tag=download
(Platform: Windows only)

5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Spyware Removal)

[update: In the original list we recommended the Spyware 360 as a primary tool for fighting spyware. But then we found out that Security 360 was actually using the definition library of Malwarebytes.]
Malwarebytes currently ranks among top 10 most downloaded software on Download.com. It's a very simple tool that does an important job, that is protecting your computer from spyware, hijackers, keyloggers and other kind of malicious craplets.

What makes Malwarebytes standout from the pack is its huge library of threats to protect against. That's exactly what it makes so effective when it comes to detecting spyware that other spyware scanners miss. This same library made the earlier recommended Security 360 a powerful tool.
Malwarebytes may not be as feature-laden as say Spybot Search and Destroy (another good spyware removal tool), which has a ridiculous number of tools, but it is a very lightweight alternative with good spyware coverage.
There are both free and premium versions. The only difference between two is real time protection. With real-time protection Mawarebytes will alert you about the spyware before even it's able to install itself on your system.

Download MalwareBytes (Free): www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Download MalwareBytes (Premium): https://store.malwarebytes.org
(Platform: Windows only)

6. IZArc (Universal Archiver / Extractor)

One archive utility to rule them all. You no longer need a separate program for ZIP, RAR, ACE, 7-ZIP, TAR files and so on, IZArc can handle ALL of them.

Basically this unpacker/archiver gives you everything you get with other popular archivers (ex. Winzip, Winrar etc.) but with additional features and support for a huge number of archive formats. It can decompress archived folders in over 40 formats. It supports pretty much every format you're likely to come across.
There is something else, you can also use the IZArc utility to open CD image files like ISO, BIN, CDI and NRG. Do you know of any other free archiver that can do that?
Note: When installing IZArc make sure to uncheck the "recommended" option to install PalTalk.
Download IZArc: http://www.izarc.org/download.html
(Platform: Windows only)

7. Google Picasa Software (Photo Management)

Picasa automatically finds all the photos on your PC, wherever they are, and organizes them in seconds. It's an excellent photo manager, editor and viewer for your computer.
With Picasa not only you can nicely organize your photos but also fix common problems (i.e. red eyes), add cool effects and even browse photos by people in them. Yes, it includes face recognition!

Plus one really cool thing about it is that regardless of changes you make to your photos on Picasa the original version of each photo always preserved.
Features include: - create video slideshows and photo collages from your photos.
- organize photos based on the people in them.
- browse photos by folders, albums, people.
- geotag your photos on Google Maps.
- one-click fixes for common problems like red-eye, color, and lighting.
- 12 cool effects to make your best photos look even better.
You can find out more about Picasa by watching this Youtube video. The Google team compiled a getting started guide for Picasa. Highly recommended for new users.
Download Picasa Software: http://picasa.google.com/
(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

8. doPDF (PDF Printer)

Almost everyone once in a while needs to convert documents to PDF. The doPDF is the easiest tool that does exactly that. It installs a virtual printer on your computer that you can select using the print option from any program on Windows.

Whenever you need to convert a web page, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, photo or pretty much anything else to a PDF file just go to the print option in your program and select doPDF from the 'Printer' drop-down menu.
You can set the resolution to anything from 72 dpi to 2400 dpi, and the "printed" files are text searchable.
Download doPDF: www.dopdf.com
(Platform: Windows only)

9. Memento (Post-It Notes)

Chances are you have never heard about this program before. Memento is a simple bare-bones post-it notes program for your desktop. It's better than anything else out there because it's extremely simple and yet a very effective tool.

Whether you want a program to keep track of your tasks or quick note taking, Memento can help. It's very intuitive to use and consumes very few system resources. Highly recommended!
It's an excellent program - and I've compared many other free ones! I have been using this for the last 5 years and recommend it to everyone. The very first MakeUseOf article was about this app :-).
It's also easily transferable from one PC to another, it saves all your notes in Memento.notes file that is stored in the My Documents folder.
Features:
- double click memento icon on the taskbar to create a note
- show/hide notes on the desktop
- keep notes expanded or closed
- notes always remain on top of other windows
- position notes anywhere you like
- instant autosave
- notes are resizable
- randomly makes each note a new color
- make notes transparent Download Memento: http://www.guyswithtowels.com/downloads.html
(Platform: Windows only)

10. xVideoServiceThief (YouTube Video Downloader)

Almost everyone is on Youtube these days. And the fact that Youtube has more searches than Yahoo is good indication of this. The only issue with Youtube is that there is no option to download videos so that you can watch them on your computer, PSP, iPhone, mobile phone, iPod etc.
Fortunately there are lots of free software for that, and my favorite is xVideoServiceThief. Apart from downloading videos, it can automatically convert the downloaded video file to another format.

xVideoServiceThief can convert videos to several formats, including AVI, MOV, MPEG, DIVX, MP4 and several others.

Moreover, xVideoServiceThief works with other sites as well, not only Youtube. It can also download videos from Yahoo Video, Google Videos, Metacafe, Dailymotion, CollegeHumor etc.
Download: http://xviservicethief.sourceforge.net/index.php?action=downloads
(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

11. Mozy (Backup)

Backups are very important! Here on MakeUseOf we have published dozens of articles explaining why you should always keep a fresh backup of important data. And Mozy is the perfect program for that. It's an online backup and recovery service that allows you to select files and folders on your computer and safely back them up online.

It's fully automated, just set it once and it will do the backups without bothering you again. What's even better, whenever you make changes to individual documents or files within selected folders, your changes will be replicated on your backup copy as well. So your backup always stays up-to-date.

In the case of file corruption, accidental deletion or hardware failure, you may easily restore your backed up files from the web to the original computer or any another computer, be it a Windows or Mac.
Mozy offers both free and premium accounts (only $4.95/month). The only difference between those two is that free account comes only with 2GBs of storage space. It should be more than enough for backing up important files and documents. On the other hand, if you want to backup your music library, photos, videos or maybe an entire drive then we recommend signing up for a premium account.
(Discount: When signing up for premium account use 'MAKEUSEOF' (all caps) promo code to get 10% off.)
Download Mozy (Free): https://mozy.com/registration/free/
Download Mozy (Unlimited): https://mozy.com/registration/unlimited/
(Platform: Windows / Mac)

12. Digsby (Multi-protocol Instant Messenger)

If you chat on a regular basis and are active on social networks then this is a must-have program for you. There is so much this app does that it's hard to explain it all in a few lines. Firstly, it's a universal instant messenger that allows you to chat with your friends on MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, Myspace, ICQ and Jabber, all from a single messenger.

Secondly, it allows you to read and reply to your emails. That's right folks, whether you have a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account you can receive and reply to emails all from Digsby's slick interface. Currently Disgby works with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL/AIM Mail, POP Email, IMAP Mail accounts.

And that's not all, you may also monitor alerts and set status message notifications for Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIN accounts. Pretty cool, huh!
Other less important but still noteworthy features include:
- chat history (with search option)
- file transfer history to keep a log of sent/received files
- a widget for site owners to chat with visitors
(Note: Pay close attention when installing Digsby on your computer and make sure to deselect (selected on default) the additional components you don't need. Plus, once the app is installed go to the preferences window and disable Digsby research.)
Download Digsby: www.digsby.com
(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

13. VLC Media Player (Video Player)

With over 67 million downloads so far and roughly 7 downloads per second it's one of the most popular video players around.
VLC is a highly portable multimedia player supporting most audio and video formats and can play pretty much any video files you throw at it, including physical media like DVDs. Plus it doesn't need any external codec, program or codec pack to work.

The VLC can be used both by beginners as well as expert users for working with video files.
The player can also play Youtube videos, convert video files, play subtitles, etc.
Download VLC: www.videolan.org/vlc/

14. Foobar2000 (Music Player)

The foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for Windows and supports pretty much all popular audio formats. This is an audio player of choice for many audiophiles (the reader polls on MakeUseOf and Lifehacker confirm that). But what's in it for you? Well, leaving aside its rich feature set, there are two things that make it stand out from the crowd.

First, when it comes to the appearance of the player, it's HIGHLY customizable. There is NO OTHER audio player out there that can be customized as much. The Foobar2000 lets you change everything starting from buttons, layout, background colors, menus to visualization details.
But the best thing about this gem, it needs very little of your system resources when compared to Windows Media Player, iTunes or Winamp.
The Foobar2000 has also plug-ins for iPod support and things like lyrics and album art. There is also a portable version if you prefer to carry it on your thumbdrive.
Download Foobar2000: www.foobar2000.org/download
(Platform: Windows only)

15. ImgBurn (CD / DVD Image Burner)

There are many reasons we need a simple, fast way to burn disks. ImgBurn is a CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray burning application that is fast, lightweight, and completely free.

With ImgBurn you can:
- backup your data or media files to DVD.
- backup your DVD movies to your PC.
- create Audio CDs from any music files such as MP3, WAV.
- create a duplicate copy of any DVD or music CD
- create video discs (DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray) playable in your DVD player
ImgBurn supports a variety of image formats and almost all types of discs, so you don't need to look any further for your disc burning needs. There is also a portable version that you can carry with you on your USB drive.
(Platform: Windows / Linux)
Download ImgBurn: www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

BONUS (+ 5 programs)

16. Revo - Free powerful uninstaller for Windows. It can uninstall programs that you are not able to remove using Windows' default program manager.
17. OpenOffice - Free alternative to Microsoft Office. Though requires some adjustments to program settings before it can fully replace the Microsoft Office.
18. Foxit - This one is basically a lightweight replacement to Adobe PDF reader. With Foxit you may launch PDF documents as fast as notepad files.
19. Spyware Terminator - A compliment to the above mentioned Malwarebytes. It's not as comprehensive but comes with real-time malware detection and fast daily scans.
20. Portable Apps - A huge collection of free programs that you can carry on your USB thumbdrive. The suite includes several of the above apps, plus many more. Carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you where ever you go. Use them on any Windows computer without leaving any personal data behind.

So there you go, the top 15 that you should have on your system and use on a frequent basis. Since everyone is different with different needs, you will probably disagree with us on some of these choices. If so, head on down to the comments section below and let us know which apps you would put in their place and why.

If you like this article, please spread it around and share it with your friends. It took us us a while to get it done and test all the apps thoroughly.

SMS @ 1 paisa

News reports state that Reliance Communications Ltd has taken the lead and slashed SMS rates to 1 paisa per SMS. The first salvo in a new tariff war in telecom circles has begun. It will certainly put pressure on other telecom operators to follow suit.
The new SMS rates are in the form of add-on plans and are for all Reliance CDMA and GSM customers. By loading a voucher of Rs. 11/- the 1 paisa per SMS plan will be activated. My friends in Reliance say that a fee of Rs. 11/- will be automatically deducted every month from the balance of the prepaid subscriber. Should the subcriber not have sufficient balance on that day, he/she will revert back to 50 paise per SMS. So that's one catch.
Customers also have an option of going in for an unlimited daily SMS plan by having Re 1/- deducted from their balance. (Bad idea because Re 1 = 100 paise = 100 SMS' a day!)
A Third option given to prepaid subscribers is to load a Rs. 14/- voucher. This voucer will give a balance of Rs. 10.50 + odd and will also give daily 500 national SMS's free. Subsequent SMS will be charged at 1 paisa. A Re. 1/- daily fee will be deducted from the balance.
I, myself, have subscribed to the Rs. 11/- per month SMS pack on my post-paid billing Reliance Connection and I should be enjoying SMS @ 1 paisa within a day or two, WOW!!
My tired fingers don't seem to be rejoicing at this news, are they! ;)

Kickass tips for secure Computing

System security is a major concern. Perhaps now more than ever before, vulnerabilities in many popular Web sites, OSes, and applications are uncovered almost daily that potentially leave PC users open to attack. There are many steps security conscious users can take to help lock down their PCs, however, in an effort to prevent unwanted intruders from accessing private data. Common sense is the first line of defense. Users should never hastily click “OK” on pop-ups without reading the window contents. Never accept files or open e-mails from unknown senders and don’t click links in unsolicited e-mails, especially if they ask you to reset a password. Never giving out your passwords is also a must, regardless of who’s asking. Your ISP, bank, or other service providers will never ask for login passwords (account passwords are a different story). Don’t write your passwords down anywhere they can easily be found either. And always use complex passwords that are not easy guess. Never use your date of birth, anniversary, a pet’s name, or generic words a dictionary attack could exploit, for example.
If the idea of memorizing a complex password seems daunting, simply add some extra characters to the word or name you prefer to use to make it harder to guess. For example, an enterprising cracker would have no trouble brute forcing a password like “camera”. “X3#camera#3X”, on the other hand, would be much more difficult to ascertain, and it shouldn’t be much more difficult to remember.
Users should also make an effort to hide their systems from intruders in the first place. If you have a broadband internet connection, even if it’s connected to a single PC, at the very least install a router with a built-in firewall that also uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to hide the system from the outside world. Using a software firewall on the PC as well, to track or block inbound as well as outbound traffic, is also a good idea. Even if you’re not technically proficient enough to configure some of the more complex options available in today’s routers and firewalls, simply having them in place adds a level of security that will protect the PC from a myriad of generic attacks. With a router and firewall installed, generic bots and port scanners won’t find a potentially vulnerable PC at the end of an internet connection when methodically scanning a network.
PC users should also ensure that their applications and operating system are fully patched and up to date. If left unpatched some vulnerabilities can be exploited in a just a few minutes when the PC is connected to the internet. Users should also keep anti-malware applications running on their systems at all times. Anti-malware applications can often prevent a vulnerability from being exploited if a patch for an OS or application hasn’t been released.

50 Paise STD

Hritik Roshan, the pied piper of "Telelyn"stands out in his fancy clothes, pulling in all the telecom "rats" or should I say, (calling) rates, and dumping them down the hill.

At 50 paise a minute, it is actually cheaper to call, then to send a post-card!

And its not only Reliance. Airtel, Idea and Vodafone too have reduced rates to similar levels* conditions apply!

Why have these rates unraveled so quickly and to such low levels.

I don't reckon that volume growth will in any way make up for the 50% reduction. I feel that there are 2 factors behind this reduction in rates.

1) The first: New Entrants:

Etilsalat DB (of Dubai) and UniNor (a JV of Unitech and Telenor of Norway) have received licences to roll out service at national level. Maybe this is a Grand Welcome being planned by our existing players for the new kids on their block. It should definitely push back the break even point by a few years.

2) The Second: Spectrum Allocation:
The one rarity in the telecom space - Spectrum. Spectrum is nothing but the frequency (in lay mans terms) allocated to the telecom operators. Think of it as the width of the road that cars drive on. The wider the road, the lesser the jams. Similarly the more the spectrum with the operators, the lesser the network congestion. And one way of justifying the use of more spectrum is by showing more subscribers.

All I can say is that it only gets interesting from here onwards. Bills will fall in real terms as rates for voice and SMS fall to 50 paise.

Now its upto the operators to make up for fall in revenue from other value added services such as dialer tunes, internet usage etc

FUN : Can any one explain me...

1.If all the nations in the world are in debt(am not joking. even US has got debts), where did all the money go? (weird)

2.When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it? (to be given a thought)

3.What is the speed of darkness? (absurd)

4.If the "black box" flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of that stuff?
(very good thinking)

5.Who copyrighted the copyright symbol? (who knows)

6.Can you cry under water? (let me try)

7.Why do people say, "you've been working like a dog"
when dogs just sit around all day? (i think they meant something
else)

8.Why are the numbers on a calculator and a phone reversed? (God
knows)

9.Do fish ever get thirsty? (let me ask and tell)
10.Can you get cornered in a round room? (by ones
eyes)

12.Why do birds not fall out of trees when they sleep?
(tonight i will stay and watch)

13.What came first, the fruit or the color orange? (seed)

14.If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from? (No comments)

15.What should one call a male ladybird? (No comments)

16.If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured would they remember that they forgot? (can somebody help )

17.Can you blow a balloon up under water? (yes u can)

18.Why is it called a "building" when it is already built? (strange isn't it)

19.If you were traveling at the speed of sound and you turned on your radio would you be ! able to hear it? (got to think
scientifically)

20.If you're traveling at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, what happens?

21.Why is it called a TV set when theres only one?
(very nice)

22.If a person owns a piece of land do they own it all the way down to the core of the earth? (this is nice)

23.Why do most cars have speedometers that go up to at least 130 when you legally can't go that fast on any road? (stupid, break the law)

24. If drink & drive is not allowed why the hell they have parking in Bars ? ( Good Question )

Twitter Commands

Here is some reference on how to use and understand Twitter Commands.

@username: The command used for public replies to a tweet by the user noted after the @ sign.

D username: For a direct message to only the user in question. "DM" also works.

RT @username: For Re-tweet or a tweet you want to rebroadcast. Prefaced with the original twitters's user name.

ON username or OFF username: Turns mobile phone notifications on or off for a single user. STOP and QUIT will cut off all Twitter SMS messages for all users.

FOLLOW username and LEAVE username: To see or stop seeing the tweet of a user. Twitter displays a drop down message saying it has carried out your command. However, to really take them off your list, go to their profile and click Remove next to "You follow username".

WHOIS username: Provides a brief information about the user.

GET username: Displays a particular user's most recent tweet.

STAT: Informs you how many followers you have and how many are following you.

Happy Twitting !!!

Twitter Disasters

Follow some Guidelines below if you want to protect yourself against unfortunate disasters. i mean protect your Twitts:- your twitter updates

Twitter Never Forgets: With a little effort one can dig out your twitts after months even as there is no approval method who follows you. Anybody can read your tweets sometime land you in trouble. So it is better protect your updates. Click settings and check the Protect My Update Box, by which your tweets will not be visible to anyone approved as a follower. But, anything you have tweet out already will be available, especially on third party Twitter interface.

Locking Out Twitter Twits: Never bash a person in Twitter, they can get on you easily. You can make your account protected, block a user on Twitter in the "Action" section on the profile page removing you from his follower list and prevents your updates from displaying in his page. But your current friends can still copy and paste your tweets or save them through screen capture.

Linking Twitter with Others: It will be disaster if you link Twitter with others like Facebook. So be careful when you link Twitter with other applications. Even your employer or future employer can know about you before you can realize.

Happy Go! Careful

Recover Hacked Yahoo Account from Customer Care Number

A friend of mine, Nishant Verma who studies B.Tech in ICFAI,Hyderabad got into a serious trouble. HisYahoo account was hacked and now he calls me to help him get back his account recovered in which he has his university forms and other mandatory emails from his college and other professional institutes.



As normal, I advised him to use paasword recover page but of no use coz; his account is being hacked.
While on this I found a new way to recover your yahoo a/c and this helped him and me, a sigh of relief since I cannot see my friend in depression.

Here's some solutions we found that helped him reset his password.

•  Call 866-562-7219, press 2, press 2. Be ready to provide Date Of Birth, date account was hacked, some details about the last emails you accessed, and the answer to your secret question.
•  Repeatedly email customer service at mail@cc.yahoo-inc.com
•  Email account:--> security-help@cc.yahoo-inc.com, in the subject line, put your old password.
•  Call 1-(408) 349-1572, tell them you're a premium member (even if you're not), they will transfer you to password department.

 So what can you do to prevent yours?

1.If your security question is to write your mother's maiden name. DO NOT write the truth. Remember this is not a passport verification. Write something else. At least MIS-SPELL the name. But then the catch is you must remember this. Remember if you are on line, there is a lot of data about you floating around.

2.Give a secondary email address. Though often not mandatory, when the hack happens you will wish you had done it. So might as well do it now.

3. When it happens, respond swiftly. When your account is hacked, it will take some time to get it back. Put in the time. Or put someone on it...someone who you trust. Don't delay




Have you ever gotten your Yahoo account hacked? How easy/hard was it to regain control of it?

Upload Photos To Facebook From Mobile

You can send photos from your cell phone directly to your Facebook Profile page. It's easy to do and it's a great way to share what you're doing and seeing with your friends or family.Here is How to Upload Photos To Facebook From Your Cell Phone!

First, you need to make sure that your cell phone number is registered with Facebook. If you know it already is, you can skip this para. If you aren't sure it's registered, then log into your Facebook account. Go to the top of the page and click on "Settings". This will take you to the "My Account" page.

Click on the tab that says "Mobile". On the Mobile page, click on the link that says "Register For Facebook Mobile Texts".

This will open up a box, which prompts you to choose your Country and Mobile Service Provider from two drop-down boxes. Make your selections and click on "Next".


The next box, tells you to do the following: "Using your mobile phone, send a text message containing only the letter "f" (without quotes) to 32665 (FBOOK)". Send the text message as instructed and then click on "Next".


A few seconds after you send your text to Facebook, you will receive a text back from Facebook that contains your alphanumeric mobile activation code. Go back to your Facebook page, enter the code in the box provided, and click on "Confirm".
This will take you to the Confirmation page showing that the Facebook Mobile Application has been added to your profile. Your cell phone is now setup to send photos to your Facebook Profile page.

Now that your mobile account is setup, you are actually ready to upload a photo! Take a picture with your cell phone and send it as a picture message to this address: mobile@facebook.com.

If you want to add a caption to your picture, just include it in the subject line of your message!

Very shortly, the picture you uploaded will appear on your Facebook page! It will be positioned at the top of your message column with any caption you wrote below it. Any pictures you upload will also be saved in your Profile under Photos for you and others to view later on.

Apply Online for New PAN Card

This post is an update to my previous post "Now Submit Grievance related to PAN Card directly to Gov. of India".

I found a new link in Gov. of India Portal where any citizen of India who have to submit return files to income tax officials can now directly apply online for PAN Card.

Both the procedures for application of PAN Card is listed below:-

1)Online Application for New PAN (through UTITSL)

2)Online Application for New PAN (through NSDL)

Now Submit Grievance related to PAN Card directly to Gov. of India

Any grievance related to PAN card can easily be consulted by the Officials of Indian Government.Yes, This is true and not a false promise by Government of India.

Here is the link. Click here to submit grievance related to PAN.

 

Permanent Account Number (PAN) refers to a ten-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Income Tax Department in India. It is a must to have a PAN Card number those who file their income tax returns, because from 2005 onwards, it has been made mandatory by the Income Tax Department to quote the PAN on return of income as well as on all correspondence with any income tax authority in the country.

Indian Government has established a resource portal online especially for citizen of India. Here it is.

Not only issues related to PAN card are solved here but many official issues which might take you months and years without this online portal. This website is really helpful for those citizens of India who can request/complain their official documents grievance directly to the Gov. of India.

Short Form Business Communications

Below are some frequently used short forms in business communication like e-mails, faxes and letters:



a.k.a. - also known as



On Monday morning, Kay El, a.k.a. The Boss, walked in happily and greeted her assistant, Pee Jay.



approx. - approximately



Checking her e-mail, Pee Jay read, "Today is the boss's birthday. Can everyone please slip off quietly to the cafeteria in approx. 15 minutes?"



ASAP - as soon as possible



Pee Jay opened up her daily planner and scribbled ASAP next to some of the urgent items on her to-do list.



Attn. - for the attention of



Leafing through the stack of mail to be sent out, Pee Jay asked her boss, "To whom should I address the cheque for the annual report?"



Her boss replied, "Just write 'Attn: Ms. Christine Jalleh'. She'll know what to do with it."



Bcc. - blind carbon copy or blind copy to. In this case, the carbon copy is sent to an e-mail recipient whose e-mail address is not visible to the cc or other bcc recipients.



"By the way, I think it's better if you bcc me in your e-mail to Brown. We wouldn't want him thinking that I'm supervising you for this project."



Cc. - carbon copy, or copy to



"But I would like to be cc-ed on the e-mail to Mr Green as I have not yet introduced the both of you to each other."



c/o - in care of, used when sending a document to A who will receive it on B's behalf because B is away from the office.



"Boss, I think Christine is back in China this week. Would it be all right if I sent the cheque in care of her assistant? I'll still write her name on top with c/o Ah Sis Tern below."



COD - cash on delivery, where a person makes payment for an item purchase after it has been delivered.



"I'm also sending out the cheque for the set of Business English reference books we bought COD on eBay."



e.g. - exempli gratia (for example)



Pee Jay replied to the e-mail, "Hi everyone. Please remember that the boss doesn't like surprises, e.g. everyone shouting 'Surprise!' in the cafeteria."



et al. - et alii (and others). Usually used to list co-authors after the lead author in a bibliography, this form is now popularly used to address the other people other than the recipient in e-mails.



She received a new e-mail, which read, "Dear Pee Jay et al., I was reminded that the boss does NOT like surprises ..."



etc. - et cetera (and so on OR and so forth)



This means that we will not be able to collectively surprise her by springing out of the cafeteria doors as we had planned, etc.



exc. - except



"Can everyone, exc. Pee Jay, be at the cafeteria in 5 minutes? We need to figure out a surprise without the surprise element. Thanks!"



FYI - for your information



Her boss's voice brought the young assistant back to the present, "Pee Jay, I'm forwarding you all these e-mails FYI, okay?"



FYA - for your action



"Note that some of these e-mails are FYA ..."



i.e. - id est (that is)



After acknowledging her supervisor, Pee Jay decided to help her colleagues out and typed, "She's in a good mood today, i.e. we won a new account and completed a major project."



K - thousand, e.g. 450K = 450,000



"Just to give you an idea of her mood, it's a 450K retainer for the first quarter ..."



PA - personal assistant



The immediate reply to Pee Jay's e-mail read, "Thanks for the info, Pee Jay - you're the best PA!"

p.a. - per annum (per year)



Pee Jay smiled and responded, "Haha, there is a reason why I'm paid RM65K p.a."



p.p. - per pro (used when signing a document on someone's behalf)



Looking back at her paperwork, Pee Jay signed some invoices on her boss's behalf, inserting p.p. just before her signature.



Pto. - please turn over, used at the end of a page to indicate that there is a continuity to the text.



"By the way, please remember to type Pto. on the first page of the proposal you're sending. The last time we sent it to him, he forgot to read the subsequent pages," chimed in Kay El.



viz. - videlicet, namely



She got up and left a note on Pee Jay's work station before leaving. Scribbled on it was, "Can I pass you my slice of birthday cake after I cut it? I really don't need a lot of carbo, viz. refined flour, at my age." The note ended with a wink.

This will never happen in your life again

This will never happen in your life again
7th August,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh


Suddenly something clicked in my mind while logging out for sleep. Though I was feeling sleepy and decides to go for sleep, I thought of this while reading an article online. May be it can be of use or fun, I felt it should be posted so that my readers could read. Tough its timepass, but yet so amazing.

Here it is;


On August 7 , 2009

At 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds on the 7th of August this year, the time and date will be

12:34:56 07/08/09




1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This will never happen in your life again??!!!!

How to open a demat account

How to open a demat account
4th August,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh




To open a Demat account, you must contact a DP of your choice some are-ICICI securities, Kotak securities, Reliance money, Religare, Karvy, India bulls etc.
And then collect the relevant forms. The forms must be duly filled and signed by all the account holders.
The nomination facility is also available.
The documents that must be provide with the form areas follows:
• Proof of identity (POI) copy of any one proof
-passport
voter id card
Driving license
Pan card with photograph
Identity card/document with applicant’s photo issued by
central government and its departments
Statutory /regulatory authorities
Public sector undertaking
scheduled commercial bank
Public financial Institution
Colleges affiliated to universities (this can be treated as valid only till the time
The applicant as a student)
Professional bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, ICSI, bar council etc
• Proof of address (POA) copy of any one proof.
Ration card
Passport
Voter ID card
Driving License
Bank Passbook
Verifying telephone bill/electric bill (not more than two month old)
• Copy of PAN card is mandatory

There are no restrictions on the number of DP account to be opened by an individual.
Once the account is opened, the depository issues a unique 8-digit number if through NSDL. This number is called client ID number or the beneficiary account number or De-Mat account number.
The DP ID starts with in followed by 6 digits.
For CDSL account holders, they are issued 16-digit beneficiary account number. This number is unique for every investor registered with CDSL.

History

Blogger (formerly Blogspot until 2006) is a blog publishing system. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. The service itself is located at www.blogger.com

 

, and blogs that do not publish to their own websites are hosted by Google at subdomains of blogspot.com.

History

• On August 23, 1999, Blogger was launched by Pyra Labs. As one of the earliest dedicated blog-publishing tools, it is credited for helping popularize the format.
• In February 2003, Pyra Labs was acquired by Google under undisclosed terms. The acquisition allowed premium features (for which Pyra had charged) to become free. About a year later, Pyra Labs' co-founder, Evan Williams, left Google.
• In 2004, Google purchased Picasa; it integrated Picasa and its photo sharing utility Hello into Blogger, allowing users to post photos to their blogs.
• On May 9, 2004, Blogger introduced a major redesign, adding features such as web standards-compliant templates, individual archive pages for posts, comments, and posting by email.
• On August 14, 2006, Blogger launched its latest version in beta, codenamed "Invader", alongside the gold release. This migrated users to Google servers and included some new features.
• In December 2006, this new version of Blogger was taken out of beta.
• By May 2007, Blogger had completely moved over to Google operated servers.
• In October 2008, Turkey temporarily blocked access to Blogger.^{[1][verification needed]}

Blogger was ranked 16 on the list of top 50 domains in terms of number of unique visitors in 2007.^{[2][dated info]}

 Redesign

As part of the Blogger redesign in 2006, all blogs associated with a user's Google Account were migrated to Google servers. Blogger claims that the service is now more reliable because of the quality of the servers.^[3]
Along with the migration to Google servers, several new features were introduced, including label organization, a drag-and-drop template editing interface, reading permissions (to create private blogs) and new Web feed options. Furthermore, blogs are updated dynamically, as opposed to rewriting HTML files.
In a version of the service called Blogger in Draft,^[4] new features are tested before being released to all users. New features are discussed in the service's official blog

 

.

Integration

• The Google Toolbar has a feature called "BlogThis!" which allows toolbar users with Blogger accounts to post links directly to their blogs.
• "Blogger for Word" is a free add-in for Microsoft Word. This add-in allows users to save a Microsoft Word Document directly to a Blogger blog, as well as edit their posts both on- and offline. As of January 2007^[update], Google says "Blogger for Word is not currently compatible with the new version of Blogger", and they state no decision has been made about supporting it with the new Blogger.^[5] However, Microsoft Office 2007 adds native support for a variety of blogging systems, including Blogger.

• Blogger supports Google's AdSense service as a way of generating revenue from running a blog.
• Blogger offers multiple author support, making it possible to establish group blogs.
• Blogger offers a template editing feature, which allows users to customize the Blogger template.
• Google Docs has direct publishing integration to Blogger
• Windows Live Writer, a standalone app of the Windows Live suite, publishes directly to Blogger.

Forum

Ask your Query here or make any new thread here below:----->>>

Disclaimer

This disclaimer applies to any site that displays the README link. If you visit or got here from such a site, please read through the categories that apply to you and respect the author's wishes. If you are interested in using README as your personal disclaimer, please CLICK HERE to get a logo. Last update 03/07/03. Personal relationships and privacy Do not assume that you know everything there is to know about a writer simply because you read their weblog on a regular basis. Any judgements you make will be based on the information they have provided you about themselves, which is probably vague, incomplete or embellished. Whatever opinion you form on them as people, or their life as a whole, is probably best kept to yourself. Remember, you are the reader. An obvious exception to this would be if someone were asking for advice or opinions. Never contact the writer for more details on events or personal information than what they have already provided on the site. Chances are if the information you seek isn't readily available, they have found it too personal or innapropriate to share. If you are close to the person they will eventually tell you privately, so intrusive questions are not necessary, just leave it alone. If you are meant to know, you will. If you have a real life relationship with the writer, remember that communication is very important. View weblogs as online journals, no less sacred than a diary hidden between the mattresses. First of all let them know that you read their site, especially if they did not tell you personally. If they do not want you reading it, or suddenly stop posting entries, ask them why and if necessary, stop going to the site. It is important that as a friend, relative, co-worker or whatever you may be to the writer, that your presence at their weblog not impede their ability to express themselves. Remember this is their outlet. They may not want you to read certain things they might write about you or others you care about, in order to spare your feelings, avoid drama or maintain their privacy. You should respect this and immediately stop going to the site, and never relay any information you gather at their site to others who might use it against them. If someone writes about you and you don't appreciate it, approach them about it. Try to remain calm and polite. Explain that you are entitled to your privacy as well. There are many compromises that can be reached from using vague nicknames to protect your anonymity, or not mentioning you at all. If you are upset because they are writing negative things about you, be reasonable, try to see if there is a way to resolve the issues and mend your relationship with the writer. If that doesn't seem to be possible, stop going to the website. They will eventually get bored and move on. Ex-friends, lovers and estranged family members who have been cut out of the writer's life should refrain from reading their journal. If the relationship has ended, there is no reason you should get daily updates on the person's life. If you simply can't help yourself, do it quietly, and never repeat what you read or use it to hurt the writer. Feedback and initiating contact If they have a guestbook, sign it. Compliments will always be graciously accepted and appreciated. Criticisms and reproaches are fine if you have a problem with something, but try to remain constructive and not be an asshole. No one is forcing you to give out your opinions, so if you don't have anything remotely positive to say, it may be best to keep quiet. When contacting a person for the first time, have a clue. If they have a detailed biography and personal information that describes their life from the day they were born, chances are they won't appreciate you wasting their time asking them how old they are or where they live. Writers put a lot of thought and time into their sites, so take the time to read the information they provide you with before you ask for more. Never assume a writer owes you any response. They may receive from a few to hundreds of messages per day. Some will gladly write back immediately, others will never reply. Try not to take it personally, because chances are it has more to do with their schedule than anything else. If you get upset and nasty about feeling rejected, you will probably ruin any chances you had of befriending the person. Don't delude yourself into thinking that you will be as important to the writer as he/she is to you. Remember, you are peering in on their life, sharing their thoughts, and though they may become quite special to you, you remain a mystery to them. If they are cold or unreceptive to your advances, keep in mind that you are a stranger to them at this point, and they may or may not want to keep it that way. It's entirely their choice. Don't be a psycho stalker. You shouldn't contact people with messenger services unless they list their handles on their website. If you got it from someone else, forget you ever had it, they probably meant to keep it somewhat private. A writer has the right to stop writing at any time for any reason they see fit, and at no point must they justify or explain these reasons to you or any of their readers. It's their weblog, they can do with it as they please. Offensive language and materials The internet is a place that encourages free and creative expression, and as in any environment where people are given this freedom, conflict may arise. If an author uses language or materials that offend you, leave. Contacting the person or their isp, demanding they remove the content or change their ways is absurd because you are viewing their content of your own free will by visiting their site. Simply stop going there and you won't have to see whatever it is you don't like about the site. An obvious exception to this would be if someone were providing illegal materials, in which case it would be appropriate to complain to their isp or contact wuthorities. Copyright and courtesy Never ask someone to make you a layout, to help with your site or show you how to do a certain script or graphic effect that they have on their site, unless they specifically offer their help. There are plenty of tutorials available to help you, just use a search engine to find what you need. Never use anything off a person's site, be it writing, images or html code, unless they say otherwise. People are very attached to their work and don't usually respond well when others help themselves to it. Copyright is protected by law and in effect the minute something is created, whether the author has a © notice or not. There are online tools where you can learn about copyright laws like What is Copyright?and Redistribution In Graphics Has To Stop. Under no circumstances should you ever direct link anything, this includes link buttons and any other graphics the writer may offer. Direct linking is when you type something like to display the yahoo link button, instead of actually saving it and uploading it on to your server. It is essentially bandwidth theft, because it uses data transfer, and the owner of the server has to pay for it. Always save the image and upload it to your own server unless the author specifically states you can do otherwise.

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In simple terms,its a web site, where I write stuff on an ongoing basis to share current issues related to my surroundings, college, city, state, country and many other to the best of My Knowledge.


Aditya Bikram Singh

Contact me

 

Contact Me

e-mail ---
adityabikram@hotmail.com
adityabikram@in.com

Mobile No.---
+91-9903637040

Find me on Web ---
http://adityabikram.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/adityabikram
http://facebook.com/adityabikram
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?rl=ls&uid=1145389014524706722

About Me

Hi, I’m Aditya Bikram Singh,20 years old, born to a Rajput family of Varanasi. I was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and is living there since birth with frequent visits to Benaras (mordernised from Varanasi) before emigrating (I think so... but not actually) to Durgapur (in West Bengal itself) in 2008. Much of that time was spent at Mary's Kindergarten and Maria's Day School (we were popularly called Marians);

Originally an engineering student by Power (I mean Power Engineering disciple), I’ve been an accidental technologist for over a 3 years now. I’ve spent most of my teenage life travelling to and fro between Calcutta (oops Kolkata, sorry I 'm used to it) and Varanasi, hanging out (generally called adda spots) with the school friends (known as my best friends) and in the late teenage started spending quite a large no. of days browsing online and testing Beta versions Computer Softwares and posting resources in my blog (still on as hobby).

In 2006 I became involved in Internet technologies, starting with simple static HTML pages before progressing to dynamic, database-driven websites. One of the main static HTML projects started in 2007 spawned 2 pieces of software (one in 2007, one in 2008) and a further 2 database sites (in early and late 2008).

Internet people love acronyms because they make communication much more efficient, as we can see from the following typical conversation:

Person A: What's up?
Person B: Not much.
Person A: LOL. HEFY?
Person B: ROTFL.
Person C: PMFJ, but IMHO,
OJIOGBUOLSWMR
TJVAIFWNTMITSI
HDHGCOAC.

Ha! ha! ha! Hope you'd like the joke, anyway

I’m passionate about the things that interest me. My family. My Friends. My local place. My Blog , Web Browsing, using Beta Softwares mostly freewares and ofcourse the most prominent one; My power engineering subjects. A retarded hippie at heart, I listen primarily to music made in the bollywood. Ghajni, Jab we Met, Namstey London,Veer Zarra, Slumdog Millionaire, Dhoom, Fanna, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, The Band, America, The Who (some bit of Hollywood also if I not mind) A.R.Rahmann, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam Classics that sort of thing. I read voraciously and collect books as well, but only in specific genres. Detective fiction, as in Da Vinci Code. Caper fiction, as in Chetan Bhagat Series. Mathematics as in Hardy or Ramanujan. Management as in Dale Carneige. Information and Technology as in John Seely Brown, digit, Fastrack, PC Quest. Humour as in PG Wodehouse.

Now lets share about my likes and diskikes;

I am a harmless Creature, until all my hormones work properly

I hate people who act over smart

And I can forgive the person who kills me, but not the one who misused me.Now I know, you are thinking, what the hell this person might be of use??
The answer is, I also don’t know.But still I hate people who misuse me..now leave it.

I love to live with my friends and for friendship I don’t consider their any previous achievements. I love all those who feel comfortable with me and who make me feel comfortable with them…

And I never ever go behind any person(irrespective of their SEX) who don’t like my attitude and don’t want to be my friend..

I believe in GOD..I am optimistic.I am Moody.

I always think positive –> Which have never helped me to achieve anything, but still it has become a habit.

I forgive people soon, as I feel this life as too short and have no time to keep on proving others as wrong and we the only perfect!

I love innovative things.
I love to be Honest.

I guess, you are my friend..because you read until here, soooo long.Do you know….Friendship isn’t about…whom you have known the Longest….who came 1st or who Cares the Best…Its all about Who came and Never Left.

So wanna be friends
You can find me here--->>>
http://adityabikram.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/adityabikram
http://facebook.com/adityabikram
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?rl=ls&uid=1145389014524706722

Hope this is the 1st time in my life after my 10th standard final exam, I am writing something sooo long.

I love animals a lot…..in zoo.But some of my friends prefer to live in Home.hahah..Oops,Sorry.I know, its a bad joke!

I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.

FRIENDS

FRIENDS
2nd August,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh


Happy Friendship day to all of you.  


Here is song from Queen...

Another red letter day,
So the pound has dropped
and the children are creating,
The other half ran away,
Taking all the cash and
leaving you with the lumber,
Got a pain in the chest,
Doctors on strike
what you need is a rest.
It's not easy love,
but you've got friends you can trust,
Friends will be friends,
When you're in need of love
they give you care and attention.
Friends will be friends,
When you're through with life
and all hope is lost,
Hold out your hand cos friends
will be friends right till the end.
How it's beautiful day,
The postman delivered a letter
from your lover,
Only a phone call away,
You tried to track him down
but somebody stole his number.
As a matter of fact,
You're getting used to life
without him in your way.
It's so easy now, cos you got
friends you can trust,
Friends will be friends,
When you're in need of love
they give you care and attention,
Friends will be friends,
When you're through with life
and all hope is lost,
Hold out your hand cos
friends will be friends
right till the end.
It's so easy now,
cos you got friends you can trust,
Friends will be friends,
When you're in need of love
they give you care and attention,
Friends will be friends,
When you're through with life
and all hope is lost,
Hold out your hand cos
friends will be friends
right till the end.
Friends will be friends,
When you're in need of love
they give you care and attention,
Friends will be friends,
When you're through with life
and all hope is lost.
Hold out your hand cos
right till the end -
Friends will be friends.

Fingers Magic

Fingers Magic 

31st July,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh

Practice this Mudra's atleast 3 to 5 Min 

every day for lifetime Diseases free.

Note: For Illustration, we put both hands closer,

 but in practice no need to put your hands closer.

 

Akash Mudra : For Ear problems

 

  

Dhyan Mudra : For Concentration power, 

Free from Depression, and for all 

Mind related problems

  

Hraday Mudra: For Asthma, and 

Respiration related diseases

 

  

Jal Mudra : This is for Blood purifier 

and all skin diseases.

  

Ling Mudra: Headache, Fever etc.

 

  

Pachan Mudra: Do only after taking food.

It is for Digestive system.

  

Pran mudra: Eye problems, Nervous problems

 and it also charge all parts of the body.

  

Prithvi Mudra: For peace of mind, 

Body active etc.

  

Surya Mudra: Cholesterol etc.

 

                                                                                  

Vayu Mudra: For joint pains, 

stomach problems etc.

RapidShare Easy Download for Firefox users

RapidShare Easy Download for Firefox users
27th July,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh




The most annoying thing about RapidShare is that downloads doesn't begin immediately. Users are first required to click on FREE and then wait till the counter gets to zero, which can take up to a minute, and then click on Download. Only then does the file download commence. If you move away to other sites during the wait period and then forget about it, after some time the session expires and you have to start all over again.




But using userscripts in Firefox you can automate this entire process. Two Greasemoneky scripts that does it are Rapidshare Flukke's autodownloader and Rapidshare Robot. If you don't already have Greasemonkey, then download it and install any of the two scripts.
Now when you open a Rapidshare link in a tab, the script will automatically click on the FREE button, wait for the counter to finish counting and then automatically click on the download button and start downloading. No user intervention is required. These scripts make downloading from Rapidshare just like any other file download.

Must Have Freewares For PC

Must Have Freewares For PC
26th July,2009 Aditya Bikram Singh

For the First time I'm going to provide you here a list of Freewares that I've used for about 3 years now and satisfy enough with their ability. The List is greatly contributed by Maxmillian_X who posted it on May 8,2009.

Enjoy - every product here is one that I use or have used. :)

System cleanup utility (good for routine system maintenance) - CCleaner, nCleaner Second - both are quality, but I would say CCleaner is a more intuitive to use. You can do a lot of damage with nCleaner Second if you are not careful!

Defragmenting your hard disk - JKDefrag (for more of you techie folks), Defraggler - Windows defragment is OK, but JKDefrag is quicker, and does a lot more optimization (move large files to the end of the volume, for example). Defraggler is a bit more user-friendly when it comes to appearance. Both are quality products.

Create PDFs - PDFCreator - Creates a new printer in your control panel, and allows you to convert anything that you print to a PDF.

Read PDFs - Foxit PDF reader - Nice non-resource intensive PDF reading software.

Antivirus - Avast 4.8 Home, AVG 8.0, - You should NEVER surf without some form of AV installed. Avast! is nice because it can scan your system for viruses while the screen saver is active, and protects your PC against multiple vectors. Honorable mentions: Avira AntiVir. Want free AV for a Windows server? Use ClamWin (no real-time scanner, so you will have to run scheduled scans, but it works VERY well).

Spyware Protection - Ad-Aware 2008 (not a real-time scanner), ThreatFire, SuperAntiSpyware - Spyware sucks, and these tools do a great job of cleaning them up. I would recommend installing a combination of these utilities, using one to clean-up after the other.


IE Spy/Malware Protection - IE-SpyAds - This will keep 99% of activex components from being installed on your system through IE. If you are going to use IE, you should use it with *ahem* protection.

Firewall - Comodo - Very configurable - looks sharp, excellent reviews (replacing Kerio).

Remote Control (Technical Support) - CrossLoop - This one is great for consultants and other at-home tech folks - totally secure and SO easy to use. Crossloop makes remote controlling mom's computer a dream. CrossLoop now supports Mac!

Remote Control (Extending your office) - Logmein - Access your computer from a secure (256-bit encrypted) connection. You don't need someone on the other end to approve your connection (like Crossloop).

Screenshot Utility - FastStone Capture 5.3. If you can find it, use it. Newer versions are not free. Can't find it? Use Easy Capture. Are you an advanced user? Screen Captor is superior to both utilities.

VPN - Hamachi - Connect two disparate networks together with little trouble. Great for hooking up with your buddies for online gaming, or home "family" support over the Internet.

File Recovery - PC Inspector File Restore, Recuva - Did you accidentally delete your files from your digital camera? Use this to restore it. Good for system drives as well.

Internet Browsing - FireFox - Tabbed browsing, all sorts of great add-ons available, spyware/popup blocker, best of all NO activex support.

Email Client - Thunderbird - Built in spam protection, RSS reader and more.

FTP Client - FileZilla, WinSCP - Secure FTP, save your sessions, easy drag & drop interface.

Office Productivity - Microsoft Live Office (online), Google Docs (online), Open Office (local install). The non-MS apps are MS Office compatible. Text, Spreadsheet, Presentation software -These will do for 90% of your low to middle of the road users.

Zip Archiving - IZArc - New to the list is 'IZArc', recommended by fellow freeware addict, Carputers. I have to agree. If you use WinZip, then you can use IZArc. Excellent interface, supports the widest amount of archive formats, great features, just great all around!

Keep track of startup programs - Sysinternals AutoRuns - Excellent tool to discover what the heck is running at startup - definitely for advanced users. Can produce a CSV file for viewing later (or to post to online support forums), etc. VERY thorough. You can use this to help you clean up malware that is slowing down your system. Also recommended is Hijack This, which features a huge user-community.

Graphics Editing - The Gimp - EXCELLENT freebie editor with a lot of built-in effects and layering capability. If you like the Photoshop interface, you can try GimpShop. Want something simpler? Use Paint.net.

Image Touch Ups, Photo Processing - Picasa - Easy to use program that can help you catalog, view, burn, and touch-up photographs. Also, you can use Picasa to upload photos to your blog, and submit them to online digital image printing services. A digital camera's best friend.

Image Thumbnail Viewer - The classic, Irfanview, my personal favorite - FastStone Viewer and another popular one, XNView.

CD Burning - CD Burner XP Pro - Supports burning from/to ISO image files, audio CD's, DVDs, etc. - Especially nice if you have a burner, but no longer have the OEM burning software that came with it. Other quality apps are Infra Recorder and Express Burner Free.

Backup software - Syncback - Backup to/from an FTP location, compress and encrypt data, supports directory synchronization, and much, much more.

DVD viewing (video) - VLC Media Player - Play your DVD/VCD/MPEG videos from a single player. Works GREAT! You can use VLC to watch DVDs without re-installing the OEM DVD software. You can also use it to convert videos (transcode).

Video conversion - Any Video Converter Free. Convert a video file to a myriad of different formats, great for copying videos to your IPod, Zune, or other personal media player.


Video codecs - K-Lite codec pack - this will enable your computer to play just about any video type out there.

RSS News Reader - Google Reader (online), FeedDemon NewsGator (which now will synchronize with Google Reader!) -Keep up with your online news and blogs (*ahem*, like this one?).

Multi-IM/chat client - Pidgin, and if you don't use IRC, then Digsby is for you!

More Freewares will be available as an update list as I found them