A godsend for people like me who mess up their computer all the time.

Regrun watches for changes to the registry, the auto-started programs, system files, drivers etc. Prevents stupid programs from autostarting themselves, and protects against trojans etc.

It comes with a registry editor, a process manager etc. It makes backups of the system configuration. It allows you to do a clean boot (halfway between full boot and safe mode). It allows you to automatically start programs with delays etc.

All those little tools sound like nothing much but the whole just turns out to be absolutely essential.

Penguinet is a small but full featured ssh and scp shareware client.

It has most of the features you need (supports key authentication, tunneling) and no useless bells and whistles.

It is a great tool - much slicker to use than the free tools (putty or cygwin) and better than many more expensive tools. At the price if you use ssh/scp it really is worth buying.

The author is still improving it too

http://www.siliconcircus.com/

Total Commander - the tool i have owned the longest and still use. Does everything, read on http://www.iphi.net/more.php?id=107_0_1_0_M14

Penguinet - for ssh, scp. See separate entry http://www.iphi.net/more.php?id=103_0_1_0_M14

Ascomp Synchredible - a really well done sync tool. See separate entry http://www.iphi.net/more.php?id=104_0_1_0_M14

AVG Virus Scanner - a good virus scanner.  See separate entry http://www.iphi.net/more.php?id=105_0_1_0_M14

Regrun - protects your pc from yourself (and trojans). See separate entry http://www.iphi.net/more.php?id=31_0_1_0_M14

Foobar 2000 - simple music player which can deal very well with large folders http://www.foobar2000.org/

Object Desktop

Acronis True Image

O&O Defrag

GUL - a simple freeware download manager. Misses a few cool features but does import/export/management so i keep going back to it even when i test other tools. Free but no longer developed.

Dachshund AntiCrash and BatteryDoubler - actually work!

Slim Browser, by flashpeak - based on i.e. - adds tabs, popup filters, a nice interface and a great way to view source (great for developers). Some teething problems still. http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/

Ashampoo uninstaller - watches installations and helps cleaning up stuff. Works better than mcafee for quite a few things

Poco Mail 3 - a great and safe client. Lots of options and features.

NetScan Tools - check things on the net

Slickedit - takes a while to get it to work like you want, but you can be sure you *can* make it work as you like. One of the few complete editors taking perl and php seriously

Top Style - style sheet and html editor.

Photo Impact - image editor

Copernic Agent - web search tool

Win Organizer - outliner, organiser

Easy Message - a all-in-one instant messenging tool. Pretty nifty

Grab Clip Save - simple, free, can take screenshots of games. Go get it!

Spinrite - i just wish it did ntfs Update: it does now

Some software has earned a permanent place on my computer - because it’s stable, well done, useful. Here’s a new set I either didnt think of last year or which has earned the place since last year. If you try them and like them, please register them…

Regrun - watches what is happening on my pc and blocks anythig suspicious

Gamedrive - i got virtual drive with my soltek motherboard and liked it, but many modern games did not like it. Gamedrive can make a virtual CD of any game or software CD so that one does not need to juggle CDs anymore.

Acronis True Image I had DriveImage but it let me down (funny, the same happened with partition magic, powerquest is losing their touch if you ask me), This is a lot friendlier as it lets you get single files out of partition backups and works most of the time without even a reboot. Kudos!

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Some software has earned a permanent place on my computer - because it’s stable, well done, useful. I just realised some programmes had barely a description so here’s an update.

Update: out of all these, I still use Total Commander, Object Desktop, PhotoImpact, Spinrite, Xnews, and poco (but Opera is my main mail client nowadays, poco got slow with the quantity of email in it).I still occasionally use Netcan and dreamweaver but havent upgraded, same for Slickedit.

Total Commander - some people have told me it looks dated but once they use it a while they stop complaining… It’s a file manager, gives access to the command line, can compare and synchroniye, search within files, zip and unzip and supports pretty much any type of compression, includes an ftp, can manage file extension associations etc. etc. etc. It has even plugins to do even more things (access third party file systems and encryption etc), Shareware, very good price for what you get.

Visual Slickedit - This is unashamedly a programmer’s editor and has features that are very cool if you’re a developer… and very ‘duh?’ if you’re not. Shareware. Pricey but worth it, and yes of course my version is really legal!

Stardock’s Object Desktop. Anyone who gets frustrated at the way the basic windows GUI looks and works should try it. Unlike many similar products this suite of programs also lets you improve the way windows works, not just the looks. Shareware.

Ulead PhotoImpact - an excellent image editor and probably the best value for money. It’s a photo editor with all the trimmings and a very complete but easy interface. It was one of the first to offer drawing elements that remained “vectored” throughout the editing process (can change the text even after loads of effects have been applied, resize a box or bullet even after it have had textures and all applied to it). This makes it a very good web layout and graphics creator.

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Genre: games • computers • flight / space • action • Topics • Great Stuff! • Platform: Pc • Has a multiplayer option
Developer: Parallax • Publisher: Interplay •
Status: Released in 1995 • I played this one • It's a classic! • I own it!

Genre: games • computers • action • Topics • Great Stuff! • Platform: Pc • Has a multiplayer option
Developer: Bullfrog • Publisher: Electronic Arts •
Status: Released in 1994 • I played this one • It's a classic! • I own it!

Genre: games • computers • action • Topics • Great Stuff! • Platform: Pc •
Developer: Bethesda Softworks •
Status: Released • I played this one • It's a classic! • I own it!