Links from Posters

This page updated August 24, 2006

The links below were submitted by posters, usually in posts on the Tech Forum. The vast majority of links are for Windows, simply because no one seems to submit links for anything else.

The links have been verified but, for the most part, the quality of the software has not been evaluated so the links do not constitute recommendations. In some cases, experience with the programs has allowed us to insert comments in italics. These comments are suggestions only, and do not constitute legally binding recommendations.

[ Audio/Video | Browsers | Communications | Forums | General Software
Info / Tutorials | Security | Software Collections]

 

Audio / Video Related Links
Cole 2K Codec Pack A very comprehensive set of codecs to let you play almost any media files. Note: This is an excellent collection and works flawlessly with WinXP. We've noted some problems when using it with Win98, but these have not been investigated yet.
Divx Codec A codec that may be needed to play certain .avi files
Gspot A useful utility that can help to identify the audio and video codecs that are required to play .avi files. Works also for most mpeg files.
Realplayer Alternative A program that plays .rm and .ram files without having to install Realplayer
Quicktime Player A video player that plays most formats, but is needed to play .mov files.
Video Help A useful website with lots of information and tutorials about video clips, codecs etc
Xvid Codec A free codec that plays certain, Xvid encoded avi files.

 

Browsers
Firefox Internet Browser that is more configurable for security than other leading browsers. Note: Far more secure than Internet Explorer. Allows creation of user profiles on encrypted drives. Stop using IE, use Firefox.

Firefox has a "feature" which is a potential security risk. If you're downloading something via Firefox (an image, or any other file) FF immediately starts the download to your "temp" directory, then, when you decide where you want to put the file, copies it to the final destination and deletes the temp one. However, the temporary file is not encrypted, and it's only deleted, not wiped, so it can be recovered. This is a topic of hot debate at Firefox, but so far it hasn't changed. For questionable downloads, use Opera instead.
Opera Opera 8.5 is faster (much faster on older computers) than Firefox, and it's now free. It also doesn't suffer from the download security "bug" that Firefox has. Opera supports "profiles", but it takes some skill and editing of config files to get them where you want them. There have been posts about this on the Tech Forum and details will be included on our forthcoming Security pages.

 

Communications
Gizmo Internet telephony/instant messenger program. Also allows you to make outgoing calls to regular telephones at low cost. Comparable to Skype with some additional features.
Miranda Miranda Instant Messenger is a multi-protocol instant messaging program that is extendable by means of a multitude of plugins. Includes TTS (Text To Speech) on incoming messages (handy if you feel like closing your eyes!) Plugins allow encryption on all protocols, but only with matching Miranda users (i.e. Miranda's encryption isn't compatible with Trillian's). Works with Jabber, which is missing in Trillian.

While Miranda doesn't officially support "profiles", it can be done (will be explained in our forthcoming Security pages). Miranda allows you to choose whether your ICQ contact list will be stored on the server or not, and even lets you edit the list that is stored on the server. Very useful.
Skype Skype is free Internet telephony that just works. Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. Also allows encrypted instant messaging.
Trillian Instant messaging software that works with different protocols. Can also encrypt the communication if you use ICQ or AIM protocols. Note: We strongly recommend AGAINST using the "official" ICQ and AIM clients. They do not allow encryption and AOL's privacy policy is a joke (they own ALL communications that pass through their servers and can use it in any way they want without asking you). We recommend using encryption for all instant messaging.

You can easily set up "profiles" to put all your data on an encrypted drive, too. Note that Trillian 3.1 and later keep ICQ contact lists on the server, something that's of questionable security.

 

Forums
Boards2Go Do you want your own message forum, but don't have a webserver to run it on ? Look no further. Uses a simple threaded model similar in appearance to the Tech Forum. Note: We run the backup Tech Forum on boards2go.
OneCenter Create a discussion forum (message board) for your web site, and let your visitors discuss topics of interest. Note: Unfriendly to forums hosted by BLs, even if they are not BL related.

 

General Software Links.
AIDA32 AIDA32 is system information and benchmarking tool with full hardware & software information on 80 pages. It comes with a built-in hardware database and physical information for CPU, motherboard, hard disks, optical drives, chipset and much more. Note: Very comprehensive. Available from a lot of sites. If the link at the left doesn't work, use Google to find one that does.
Auto Hotkey A simple yet powerful hotkey (shortcut key) scripting language for Windows, supporting both mouse and keyboard macros
AutoIt AutoIt v3 is an opensource BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI.
Agent Popular Newsgroup reader software.
CD Checker Free software for checking CD's for damage or corruption.
EBCD EBCD is a bootable CD, intended for system recovery in the case of software or hardware faults.
EmuMail Various Email Tools.
Fat 32 Converter Information for users that haven't yet converted to the FAT32 file system. While the information is old and a little inaccurate now, its still valid information for users.
GW Basic GW-BASIC, Manual, tutorials, examples and games. This is the old IBM PC BASIC from the 1980's.
Iconedit A program to create and edit Icons.
Image Magick Image Format Conversion Utility.
Image Manipulation GD Library for dynamic image creation on unix systems.
Irfanview Free Image Viewing / Manipulation program. Note: This is an amazingly good and comprehensive freeware program with features that rival the best commercial software. A "must have" if you work with images.
Knoppix KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals.
Memokit A piece of software that apparently frees up unreleased memory and improves system performance.
Memtest86+ Comprehensive memory testing program.
Nero CD / DVD Burning software. Can also burn dual layered DVD's.
Ontrack Data Recovery Can help recover data from a hard drive.
Regclean Old registry cleaner from Microsoft. Still works and is free. Unsupported product.
Regcleaner Registry Cleaner for Windows Systems.
Spam Combat G-Lock SpamCombat is email filtering software that lets you eliminate all unwanted messages at the server level without receiving them with your email client.
Spinrite Software that can help recover data from Hard Drives.
Syncback A highly configurable synchronization and backup program. Freeware.
Textpad Very powerful and configurable text editor.
Tweak XP A collection of tools that can help to improve the performance of Windows XP.
Video Conferencing Video Conferencing Software.
Visual Dialog Script Easy yet powerful language set allows you to quicly learn and develop your needs.
Winbatch Macro scripting language that provides batch automation for every Windows system
Winrar Compression software that can decompress many formats and can compress to zip or rar. Can encrypt files and split files into smaller sizes.
Winzip Can compress and decompress zip files. Note: Probably not needed with Windows XP, which handles zips internally.
Xat jpeg optimizer Software that can optimize jpeg images.
ZTreeWin Directory tree "walker" and much more. If you've ever used XtreeGold you'll love ZtreeWin. (Note from Somersault: I'd never be without ZtreeWin on any Windows computer.)

 

Information / Tutorials
AIS Aliveproxy A list of free and commercial proxies.
Batch Scripting The primary objective of this site is to teach you how to use batch and other scripting languages yourself.
Bios Beep Codes A useful page that gives you an idea what your computer is trying to say with its beeping.
Clearing Internet Explorer History Microsoft article on clearing internet explorer history.
Data Recovery from RAM RAM is not as volatile as you may think.
Digital Tampering Digital Tampering & Forensics. Information about recognizing digital tampering.
General Computer Info Some useful general computer information here.
How to subnet a network Information on how to Subnet a network.
Security Links A collection of safe email and other anonymous services.
Web Design Group A collection of help files for HTML 3, HTML 4 and CSS. Note: These are the ones we use for reference.
Windows Security Policies In this article, you'll learn how to restrict access to Windows' features by implementing security policies.
Upgrading to Win XP Information on how to upgrade from Windows 9x to Windows XP.
Win 2000 Dual Boot Info Advice on how to make your computer able to boot from a choice of Operating Systems.
Win XP Info General and useful information on Windows XP.

 

Security
AVG Anti Virus Anti Virus Program. Note: Well known and reviewed by experts.
Bestcrypt Commercial Software for creating encrypted virtual drives, for storing sensitive information. Note: Well known and reviewed by experts. Probably secure.
Delindex The primary purpose of Delindex is to delete Index.dat files which are never resized, and only get bigger. These files contain all your web surfing history since they were (re)created, and large index.dat files can cause performance issues with browsing. A must for IE users! Note: Windows 98 and ME only.
Drivecrypt Another drive encryption program. Note: Well known and reviewed by experts. Probably secure.
dsCrypt, DSE, SureCrypt. Wildcrypt Several very small file encryption programs. Note: Not much known about these: use at your own risk.
Esafe Software for helping to secure your computer on the internet and an intranet.
Gibson Research How secure are you? A great resource that can scan your computer and see if it offers any exploitable security holes that can be used by a hacker. Note: Probably the best known and most respected security site on the net.
Kerio Personal Firewall A free firewall for personal use. It can help protect your computer from hackers whilst on the internet. Note: Allows rules to be edited by advanced users. This is an essential feature for maximum security.
Mcafee Anti Virus Anti Virus Program that can help protect your computer from thousands of virii. Note: Well known and reviewed by experts.
Norton Anti Virus Anti Virus Program that can help protect your computer from thousands of virii.Note: Well known and reviewed by experts.
PGP A variety of encryption products from the granddaddy of them all.Note: Well known and reviewed by experts.
Ports A list of commonly attacked computer ports.
Safemail A list of secure Email providers, as well as general information on email security.
Scramdisk Hard Drive Encryption software.
TrueCrypt True Crypt (Free) Disk/file encryption software.
Zone Alarm (Free) Free Version of this popular firewall. Can help protect your computer from hackers on the internet as well as alert to outgoing traffic from your computer.

 

Software Collections
Bravenet A complete webmasters resource. From forums to web trackers, they are all here
CGI Resource Index Thousands of CGI scripts for you to use on your website.
Daemon Tools Information and software for making backups of your legally owned CD's.
Drivers Can't find a driver for your system, that you need ? Here you will find many, many drivers. To download, you are required to register (Free)
Freeware Home A huge selection of freeware programs to make life easier for you.
Freeware from Dariusz Stanislawek A small collection of tiny freeware programs, including an intriguing text editor, encryption software and utilities.
Hotscripts A great resource full of free and commercial scripts in many different programming languages, for use on your website.
Network Tools A useful resource for finding details about an IP address or a web domain.
Network Tools (DSL) Various tools for people with DSL Connections.
Speedguide Tools and tweaks for people using cable or DSL connections to improve performance.

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