some good programs to have :-)

i just reinstalled everything and have just had to reinstall alot of programs. here are some that, for me, i think are either must haves, or just good to have...

Everest Home Edition
Our freeware system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for home PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. It offers the world's most accurate system information and diagnostics capabilities, including memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=3

kareware
Karen's Power Tools are very good, i have 8 of them, and love them all
http://www.karenware.com/
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp

Sysinternals
like Karen's Power Tools there are too many to name individually. however, as well as the better known programs from Sysinternals - Process Explorer, Filemon, PageDefrag etc. there are some other great programs too; like hostname. it will convert IP addresses to host names and vice versa. you can then use karen's Discombobulator to come up with addresses like this one below...
http://64.91.226.241/index.php?
or there's bginfo, which will display your system info on your wallpaper.

controlling Prefetch Parameters
with this you can control prefetch parameters. for example, you can firstly flush your prefetch, then only monitor boot files.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2495

Agent Ransack
this is something you can replace windows search with. it will search your hard drive faster, and it doesnt call home like the windows search.
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/pageloader.aspx?page=home

PowerShell-XP3.01[/u]
adds all the listed items to your context menus (right click)
http://www.jastek.net/programs.php

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
some nice little programs from microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

AxCrypt
a very easy, and good, File Encryption Software. (just right-click what needs to be encrypted, and pick enccrypt)
http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/

NirSoft
another site like karenware and Sysinternals. lots of good software.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html

Hoverdesk
as above.
http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

The Freeware Book
a small browser that only has bookmarked links to freeware sites, 1000's of freeware programs, all from sites which are united against adware and spyware.
http://www.freewarearena.com/html/index.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=3

WebTutor
DESCRIPTION:
Easy to use web page authoring tutorials covering basic and advanced
web page design. The tutorials are in HTML format so you can go
through them with your web browser. If you've never created a web
page before, the basic tutorial will guide you gently though basics
of HTML. And, if you know the basics, the advanced tutorials will
show you how to add additional features to your page.
if you dont know anything about web design, you have to download this, and i promise you you will have written your first web page within 5 minutes
direct download

A must-have plugin if you have Irfanview
this plugin lets you right-click on a picture then change it to another image extension. click where it says screenshot from the link below to see the extension, and get the plugin.
http://www.baxbex.com/products.html#irfan

ULead Gif Animator v2.0
this, i think is a good find. it's a very good gif animator. i have recently tried out a fair few, and this was the one i liked best for gif animations (i did my avatar with it, and im a complete beginner, so if you have never tried any gif animations you can do it too
i dont think you will find this version free anywhere else...
Courtesy UK's "PCFormat" magazine..the ***FULL*** version of Ulead's acclaimed Gif Animator...Get it Today! Thanx Chuck for a new link! 2/4/03
direct download, from son of spy site son of spy home page is here

TUGZip
a very nice archiving utility.
http://www.tugzip.com/

Two desktop calendars
Rainlendar is a customizable calendar that displays the current month. also on the site is Rainmeter - Rainmeter is a customizable performance meter, which can display the CPU load, memory utilization, disk space, network traffic, time and many more things.
http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/index.php?pn=projects&project=rainlendar

and my favourite LClock, although i have to say it hooks the system
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1092761816/1

http://https://www.wilderssecurity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=146220&stc=1

CS Fire
a nice system monitor.
http://www.croftssoftware.com/files/index.php?id=13

DiamondCS
a few more things to download. if you haven't come across the first link before, take alook, you might find somting you like
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=console
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=products

Firefox extensions
and lastly some Firefox extensions...
these are all worth downloading, mainly because if you dont like any of them you can easily uninstall them. i'll just give the names of them, and the extensions home page, because you download link might be different, im not sure though, if you have have different version of FF.
ForecastFox
DictionarySearch
user agent switcher
i'll have to leave it there, because i dont know how to find the others i have installed in the window im looking at
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/e...ation=firefox&version=1.0 &os=nt&category=All

i hope you find at least one thing you like

EDIT
i forgot a couple of things.
from Wayne "As many of you would know there is a critical vulnerability that allows attackers to gain control over a remote system simply by enticing the victim into viewing a specially-crafter JPEG file.

A free scanner has now been released to help with the detection and disinfection/repair of JPEG files infected with MS04-028 exploit code. The scanner is available in both console and GUI user interfaces, and at less than 30kbs in size it's a quick download and easy to use. More information and the direct download link can be found here:"
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/jpegscan/

Kana Checksum
Kana Checksum is a Windows' program that can be used to verify the file by calculating its CRC32 checksum or MD5 checksum.

To calculate the checksum of the file, either drag and drop the file into the program window, or use the browse for file button, and then select the checksum required.

For easier access, it can be easily integrated with Explorer, so you can verify the file by right click that file and select Kana Checksum from the popup menu. (did you see the right-click bit? all you have to do to check the sum is right-click the file and scan)
http://www.kana.homeip.net/index.php?doc=crccheck&page=features

Flux Scanner- from the a² people emsisoft
i dont know how useful it is now, or what the situation is with the trojan, or even what Defs and detections have been added to other scanners, but heres the scanner anyway
http://download1.emsisoft.com/fluxscan.exe

 

here are some nice links.
Teach Yourself C in 21 Days
http://lib.daemon.am/Books/C/

http://www.techbooksforfree.com/

i got this from Nick S a few days ago.
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/gg243376.html?Open

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorials.html

http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/

http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/tipsandtricks/keyboard_shortcuts_windows_xp.htm

i think i should leave it there, the thread's starting to go abit all over the place. i hope its Ok

 

Thanks for all those links Ice!......a bit of light reading!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share Iceni60, very good stuff!

 

Have you seen his user name BigBuck?

Jimbob