FAO Dr Strangelove - Freeware, Freeware, Freeware

Hello Doc, I have recently taken your advice on a number of free programs for my brand spanking new computer, many of them replacing bought programs and out performing them on every level.

I am currently in need of a Firewall as my last one got shipped when I uninstalled McAfee, The guys in the shop all said I needed Norton 360, I think Norton must be offering a lot of commision on each one sold because they were really pushy so I told them they all needed to sit down in a cold dark room for a few hours to atone for their lies, I caught one guy telling an old lady that if she valued her bank details she wouldn't use a free program because that was why they were free. Free = Useless according to thye drone in PC World. (No I didn't buy my computer there, mine came from the little computer shop in the back streets where all the smackheads go to pawn their recent aquisitions)

Ok up to now I have -

Avira - AntiVir (Free Anti-Virus Protection)
http://www.free-av.com/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

MalwareBytes -Anti-Malware (Free Anti-Malware Protection)
http://malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Gimp 2 (Free Picture Editing/Gif creating software)
http://www.gimp.org/

Firefox (Free browsing with all my lovely extensions)
http://www.getfirefox.net/

Open Office (Free Office software compatible with MS Office)
http://www.openoffice.org/

VLC Player (Free media player)
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Advanced SystemCare (Free registry/spyware sweeper)
http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

SpyBot - Search and Destroy (Free Spyware Destroyer, an old favourite and still the peice of software I trust the most.)
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Please can you let me know which Firewall you would reccomend, and don't say the windows V**** one plx... or Norton 😛

Also I am considering moving my whold system over to Linux, how easy is it to change systems from V****? (apologies to the Mods for obfuscating the naughty words.)

If anyone else has some sofware gems that they use which are FREE and have no spyware/malware etc etc attached please feel free to post them here!

http://www.dvdflick.net/

Author DVD's from AVI and other video files.

Originally posted by cadwah
Hello Doc, I have recently taken your advice on a number of free programs for my brand spanking new computer, many of them replacing bought programs and out performing them on every level.

I am currently in need of a Firewall as my last one got shipped when I uninstalled McAfee, The guys in the shop all said I needed Norton 360, I think Norton must be off ...[text shortened]... ich are FREE and have no spyware/malware etc etc attached please feel free to post them here!

Originally posted by KJCavalier
Comodo firewall.
http://www.comodo.com/

Originally posted by rookie54
about four years ago i downloaded comodo after learning of it thru an internet forum...
it worked well, az far az i could tell, for about three months...
then one day a window popped open telling me i had an update to install...
so i did...

my system crashed completely...

i was not even allowed to restore, without the destructive type restore thing ...[text shortened]... afore tha "update"...

i hope comodo works well for you...
it did not for me...

rookie

Originally posted by KJCavalier
Comodo firewall.
http://www.comodo.com/

I've used these free Firewalls in the past and they all worked ok for me:

http://free.agnitum.com/ = Outpost

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/ = PC Tools

I have happily used Zone Alarm too:
http://tinyurl.com/5de5as = Zone Alarm

Comodo is well known and usually reliable too as far as I know.


If I remember correctly the PC Tools one was the easiest to use.

I use the free version of this firewall, I have been for years.

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/

I haven't had any problems, but I would be interested in others opinions.

I have used 'Zone alarm' but was very dissatisfied.

I use ZoneAlarm for firewall duty. Works fine for me...


CCleaner to keep temporary files, browser caches etc. lean and mean. Has an uninstall module that works much quicker than Windoze's bloated module.
Revo Uninstaller works even better, removing all traces that a program was ever installed on your system.

MediaMonkey for the music library and wicked tagging of music.

Foxit Reader for PDFs.

NotePad++ to replace Notepad as default text editor.

Paint.NET can replace MSPaint as default image editor for quick image editing.

TerraCopy installs and replaces the default windoze copy/move dialog and gives you much more control and actual robust error handling when copying large amounts of files.

Digsby for all your IM needs.


Also, after you have FireFox up and running, check out these extensions.

These are practically essential for me:
Adblock Plus 1.0.2
All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.10
Better Gmail 2 0.8.2
Download Statusbar 0.9.6.5
Extended Statusbar 1.5.3
FlashGot 1.1.9.6
NoScript 1.9.5
Tab Kit 0.5.6
Ubiquity 0.1.8
Greasemonkey 0.8.20090123.1
Remove It Permanently 1.0.6.6
Session Manager 0.6.6.1
UrlbarExt 1.5.9

These are optional, but very helpful:
Aviary 0.8.6
CLEO 4.1
CustomizeGoogle 0.76
DownThemAll! 1.1.4
Drag & Drop.io 2.0.1
FEBE 6.1
Fotofox 1.4
Google Toolbar for Firefox 3.1.20081127W
IE Tab 1.5.20090525
Image Zoom 0.3.1
Jetpack 0.2.1
PDF Download 2.2.0.2
QuickRestart 1.1.5
Read it Later 0.9946
Sxipper 2.2.2
Xmarks 3.1.1

For greasemonkey, get these userscripts:
Tubelink
Linkify Plus
SSLGoogle
VidzBigger
PLUS Obviously the AWESOME ourobouros scripts for RHP... but I guess you know that already?

Originally posted by cadwah
Also I am considering moving my whold system over to Linux, how easy is it to change systems from V****? (apologies to the Mods for obfuscating the naughty words.)
[/b]

Originally posted by Crowley
Get yourself the latest version of Ubuntu. The installation is almost less painless than Windows and it can safely repartition your drive so you can try it out, or you can even run it off the CD.

Well worth the download: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Originally posted by Crowley


Well worth the download: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Since we seem to be on the subject, I have a question for the group concerning firewalls.

Back in the day, when broadband was young, everyone was naked to the internet and there was no built-in OS solution, things like Zone Alarm and BlackICE were a necessity.

Fast forward to today and pretty much everyone has their PC behind a NAT router and has the firewall which was added to XP with SP2.

So, do you really need to install further firewall software on an XP machine at this point? That is, assuming you've got decent anti-virus and are behind a NAT router.

Originally posted by cadwah
Downloading - 1Hr 39 Mins Remaining 😕

Does all the software I mentioned earlier work with Ubuntu?

Originally posted by cadwah
Can I run them both on the computer to see if I like it first? I wasn't aware that was possible, it has just made switching over even more attractive.