Facebook Forced To Let You Vote On Privacy Changes
What Will Google Announce Next Week?
Top 25 Downloads For Your Computer
The first thing you should do when you get your new laptop or computer is uninstall all that free trial crap that gets loaded on by the manufacturer. Six Months of Earthlink, two weeks of Adobe Photoshop Elements, McAfee Anti-Virus, one month of MusicMatch... who needs it? Not you! (Besides eventually charging you money, a lot of these programs you didn't ask for can slow down your computer.)
Now that you've cleared out some room on that hard drive, start installing some of these free and useful applications, many of which are open source (meaning anyone can view and alter the code of the program to improve or customize it if they have the skill or desire). Here are 25 applications -- almost all of them free -- that will let you do almost anything you could need to on your computer, without you having to spend a dime.
Ad-Aware
(Windows XP and Vista)
One of the biggest annoyances and dangers online is the dearth of spyware, adware, and other random software that gets silently installed on your PC by thieves, hackers, and disreputable sites -- at best, it slows down your system; at worst, it spies on your computing activity and lets online scammers steal passwords and other sensitive information. Cleaning the malicious code that gets loaded on your PC is a hassle and a half, especially if you don't have a tool like Ad-Aware to do most of the heavy lifting for you. Ad-Aware searches the files and registry entries on your computer and matches them against a list of known malicious software. After it reports back its findings, it will either delete or quarantine the offending code, saving you the trouble of searching through the daunting Windows registry yourself. We've found Ad-Aware to be the easiest and least resource-heavy of these anti-ad-and-spy-ware tools.
Now that you've cleared out some room on that hard drive, start installing some of these free and useful applications, many of which are open source (meaning anyone can view and alter the code of the program to improve or customize it if they have the skill or desire). Here are 25 applications -- almost all of them free -- that will let you do almost anything you could need to on your computer, without you having to spend a dime.
Ad-Aware
(Windows XP and Vista)
One of the biggest annoyances and dangers online is the dearth of spyware, adware, and other random software that gets silently installed on your PC by thieves, hackers, and disreputable sites -- at best, it slows down your system; at worst, it spies on your computing activity and lets online scammers steal passwords and other sensitive information. Cleaning the malicious code that gets loaded on your PC is a hassle and a half, especially if you don't have a tool like Ad-Aware to do most of the heavy lifting for you. Ad-Aware searches the files and registry entries on your computer and matches them against a list of known malicious software. After it reports back its findings, it will either delete or quarantine the offending code, saving you the trouble of searching through the daunting Windows registry yourself. We've found Ad-Aware to be the easiest and least resource-heavy of these anti-ad-and-spy-ware tools.
40 Years Later 'Napalm Girl' Tells Her Story
Disney World Scammers Scored Four Years of Free Vacations
Lost Dr. Seuss Cartoons Show Another Side Of The Author
Stranger's Kiss Keeps 16-Year-Old From Committing Suicide
Rookie Cop Reportedly Berated, Called 'A Rat' For Arresting Off-Duty Officer
Zhang Ziyi Slams Prostitution Allegations
Walmart Ending Membership in Conservative Group
Apple CEO Tim Cook interview at D10: the liveblog
Disturbing Video Allegedly Shows Montreal Torso Suspect Murdering Victim
How I Went Bankrupt at 23
Can a New Guy Save Best Buy?
Chain Food Showdown: The Best & Worst Buffalo Wings
Woman Claims Kangaroo Stalked Her for 2 Days, Then Attacked
Facebook, Week Two: Fortunes Made and Fortunes Lost (Mostly Lost)
Student Ate Roommate's Brain And Heart, Cops Say
A Journey To The Hottest Place On Earth: Dallol Ethiopia
PHOTOS: Charlize Theron's Short And Shoulder-Baring Style
Heidi Klum's Sexiest (And Scariest) Outfits
Maine Police Believe Ayla Reynolds Is Dead
LOOK: Photos Of Military Moms Breastfeeding In Uniform Cause Controversy
George Zimmerman's Bond Revoked
National Spelling Bee Winner Is I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E
Witherspoon Bigamy Case Heats Up
Is Kate Walsh Leaving 'Private Practice' Next Season?
Calif. Man Becomes Internet Sensation In China For Random Act Of Kindness
Space Agency Predicts Date Of World-Ending Galactic Smash-Up
See Kim Without Her Wig On 'Don't Be Tardy For The Wedding'
Kansas Police Search For 12-Year-Old Girl Who Disappeared With Canadian She Met Online
Is This The Most Timeless Hairstyle, Ever?
New Discovery Sheds Light On Amelia Earhart Mystery
Jim Moret: 'Still The Most Beautiful Girl I've Ever Seen'
The Coolest Movie Posters You've Never Seen
Comments
53
Subscribe to commentsTrimOct 21st 2008 5:48PM
Interesting ploy here. I just downloaded this program. It scanned my new computer and it detected 595 problems of which NOT ONE would be fixed without the purchased program. Nice. As they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. This is a play to get money for their program. BEWARE...you too may get fooled by this. My suggestion, leave it alone.
ForestWindOct 21st 2008 7:56PM
ummm... "dearth" means a lack of. Perhaps you'd like to substitute "plethora" which means a more than enough?
Or "superabundance" or "excess?"
KENOct 21st 2008 6:55PM
You have missed the most obvious solution to your problems. Get off those PC's and buy a MAC!!
CherylOct 21st 2008 6:41PM
After reading the "fix" was free I attempted to download and use the cleaner.............wrong and misleading. Nothing more than a pitch to purchase. Another misleading heading which eventually chips away at any credibility AOL might have had with me as a consumer.
JamiOct 21st 2008 6:43PM
I am sorry.. I put the wrong anti virus up there.. I was looking at Alta Vista when I was writing my response.. what I ment to write was Avast.
Download it.. install it and use it. When it says time has expired and it asks for a serial number all you have to do is click on it and it will send you a serial number for a year. At the end of the year.. you just ask for another free serial (product registration) number. That simple. It is very user friendly and totally free.
MonkeyOct 21st 2008 6:44PM
Super Anti Spyware is about 5x better than AdAware, also I prefer Avira AV to AVG, AVG tries too hard to download updates as the system starts, Avira waits for idle time to download updates, but it does have a nag screen. Also Avira doesn't have 1/10 of the false positives that AVG does.
JohnOct 21st 2008 10:01PM
Lavasoft is ok but Super antivirus spyware (for free) is a whole lot better and finds stuff that Lava, Norton and Mc Affee don't...
superantivirus.com
JaniceOct 21st 2008 7:43PM
Ad-Aware is NOT free! I just downloaded it, ran the scan and it told me I had to buy the "key" to clean up my computer.
Ed BrideOct 21st 2008 7:44PM
Why would the shortage (dearth) of malware be an annoyance?
Perhaps there's a dearth of solutions.
Frank MaxantApr 8th 2009 6:16PM
"Dearth"? I'd love a dearth of that stuff! (Don't rely only on spell-check; go back to your dictionary.)
EdOct 22nd 2008 12:21AM
This is a scam. You download the software, run it, it tells you that you have all kinds of problems, but won't do anything unless you BUY the program. A TOTAL waste of time.
GeorgeOct 23rd 2008 12:09PM
It's supposed to be free.However, after downloading the programI find that they want you to purchase a "key" before they will fix the problems. Even when I tried to purchase the "key" nothing happened. What a scam!
pOct 25th 2008 11:11PM
Ad-Aware is free. Go to Lavasoft.com