Best Free System Information Utility

Best Free System Information Utility The freeware utility AIDA32 was the best system information / inventorying tool ever, regardless of price. It documented just about every aspect of your hardware and software configuration as well as checking networks and providing memory benchmarks. However the developer announced in March 2004 that the free product had been frozen and development work shifted to another organization where AIDA32 was re-launched as a commercial product called Everest [1]. You can however still find the old AIDA32 at the second link below [2] and the non-discontinued free version of Everest called Everest Home here [3]. The old AIDA32 works better across networks while Everest Home covers more modern hardware than AIDA32. Another inventory utility for networks is Spiceworks [4], currently available as a free beta version. It's a browser based inventory program that allows LAN managers to quickly discover and document the hardware, software and patch status of their network PCs. That rather bland description seriously under-sells the usefulness of this product. It's got a terrific filter system that allows you to target your inventory request plus a highly customizable reporting system. On top of that it has a great interface, is easy to use, can handle Linux and Mac OS X workstations and uses standard network protocols. If you only need to inventory a single PC then you should also check out Belarc Advisor [5]. It's free for non commercial use and while not quite as thorough as AIDA32, it has the advantage of being actively developed. My current favorite for home use is the SIW utility [6] written by Gabriel Topala. It "displays detailed specs for motherboard, BIOS, CPU, devices, memory, video, disk drives, ports, printers, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic. It also displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. " That's impressive enough for a freebie but my favorite feature is SIW does not need installing; all you need to do is run the executable. This means one less installed program on your PC as well the fact that you can run the program directly from a USB flash drive.
Code:
[1] http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en [2] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html Freeware, all Windows versions, 2.9MB [3] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html Freeware, all Windows versions, 4.0MB [4] http://www.spiceworks.com/ Free beta, Windows XP Pro with 512MB RAM on the administrator's PC, 7MB. [5] http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Free for personal use, all Windows versions, 945KB [6] http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/about_siw.html Freeware, Win98 and later, 1.18MB

Best Free Process Viewer

Best Free Process Viewer PrcView has long been my personal choice but Process Explorer [1] has pushed it aside. The reason? A better display setup coupled with more features and even more information. Process Explorer uses two vertical panes. The top contains all active processes while the second shows either all the handles opened by a selected process or, optimally, a list of DLLs and memory mapped files. A very handy search feature allows you to work backwards from named DLLs or handles to the owning process. The feature list is almost endless though only a few will ever be used but average users. The latest V10 release adds even more features including a faster refresh rate. Quite simply Process Explorer is an astonishing product and a freeware gem. Another option is What's Running [2] , a new comer that has number of features that could make it the best choice for a lot of users. First, processes are shown in a tree rather than a list, a representation that makes the parent and child relationship crystal clear. Second, What's Running doesn't only show processes; it also displays, in separate tabs, running services, dlls, drivers, IP connections, startup programs and system information. The startup tabs and IP tabs are of particular interest as they are of sufficient quality that you don't need separate dedicated applications to provide this information. So is What's Running better than Process Explorer? For expert users no, but all other users will benefit from the clear, non-confusing display and the fact they get a first class startup manager and IP enumerator in a single product. NOTE: If you can't download What's Running from the developers website [2] try the MajorGeeks download site [3].
Code:
[1] http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html Freeware, Windows 9x and later, 640KB. [2] http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx Free beta, Windows 2000 and later, 1.09MB [3] http://www.majorgeeks.com/Whats_Running_d4778.html <= alternative download link

Best Free Registry Editor

Best Free Registry Editor I've used the full version of Resplendent Registry Editor for years and have never had any reason to look for an alternative. Recently a subscriber asked me what was the best free registry editor and that made me realize I've never looked at that particular product category. The first product I checked out was Registrar Lite [1], the free version of Resplendent Registry Editor and I'd have to say it's an impressive freebie. To start with, it works totally reliably - an essential feature for any registry editor. On top of that, the user interface is simple, the functionality excellent and, perhaps most importantly, it has a really fast search. I did, however, miss a "search and delete" option - that's unfortunately only available on the full product. That said, it leaves Regedit for dead. If you know a better free registry editor, drop me an email. NOTE: It looks like Resplendent have pulled the Lite download page from their site. You can still get it though from various download sites including MajorGeeks [2].
Code:
[1] http://www.resplendence.com/reglite Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.0MB. [2] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download469.html

Best Free Sticky Notes Utility

Best Free Sticky Notes Utility Some people hate these programs others swear they can't work effectively without them. I used to be in the first category but with so many things on my plate these days, I'm slowly being converted. The function that I find really useful is the reminder that pops up at a designated time and date. I use it for simple things like "put up the latest issue on the web site." ATnotes is a neat implementation that features configurable alarms, resizable windows, variable fonts and a host of other useful features. The product is remarkably similar to the class-leading commercial sticky notes utility called, TurboNotes, a case perhaps of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. NOTE: As of the 30th of May 2005, development work has ceased and the author's site pulled down. However someone has built a mirror of the author's site [1] where you can read about ATnotes and download the final version. You can also download ATNotes from the a number of other sites including the second link below. If you want an alternative that is still being developed try StickyPad. Some folks actually prefer it to ATnotes and I must admit the interface is very slick but I find the alarm function to be rather inflexible. It cannot for example handle recurring events such as birthdays. If you want that functionality you are better of with another sticky note program called "Stickies" from Zhorn Software. It's not quite as svelte as the other two programs I've mentioned but it's very effective in operation.
Code:
[1] http://atnotes.free.fr/news.html (723KB) [2] http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,17660,00.asp [3] http://www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/stickypad.html (550KB) [4] http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/ (596KB) 40 Best Free Secure Erase Utility Eraser [1] is a free, GNU license utility that will securely erase files, folders or even whole disks from any Windows or DOS PC. Eraser overwrites data area with selectable random data patterns and also wipes data in the paging file, Internet cache, temporary files, Internet cookies, unused disk space and a number of other places where data can secretly lurk. It handles FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS partitions as well. Erasing files with high security will always be a difficult and time consuming task and can never offer absolute 100% safety. However Eraser makes the task about as easy as it be, with a security level beyond most conceivable requirements. The author's site is sometimes unavailable but you can find Eraser at numerous download sites including MajorGeeks [2]. If Eraser is overkill for your needs try Simple File Shredder[3]. It's not as comprehensive a solution to secure deletion as Eraser but it's much easier to use. Another rather different alternative is Darik's Boot and Nuke [3]. Its an Open Source program that's used to construct a floppy disk or CD that will automatically wipe the all hard drives of any PC booted from the disk. It's great for bulk disk cleaning of PCs and is useful too as an emergency tool for quickly removing sensitive information. However this power makes it a dangerous tool in the hands of beginners.
Code:
[1] http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ Free GNU license, all Windows versions, 2.4MB [2] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4221.html [2] http://www.scar5.com Freeware, Windows NT and later, 1.24MB [3] http://dban.sourceforge.net/ Free Open Source, All Windows versions, 1.99MB

Best Free Resource Meter

Best Free Resource Meter This is cute. TinyResMeter [1] is an itsy-bitsy system monitor. Unlike many other monitors, it doesn't consume a lot of CPU utilization in order to tell you your CPU utilization. In addition to CPU usage, you can optionally monitor cache, RAM, page file and swap file usage, running processes and threads, disk space utilization and a number of other parameters as well. Also built-in, is a screen grabber that saves the current screen to disk when you press PrintScreen. How the author fits all this into 92KB beats me. A new version is on the way offering even more functionality. If you are like something a little fancier than TinyResMeter then check out StatBar [2]. It's got more features than you could ever want though but at the cost of a higher resource overhead needed to run the program. Nice product though and easy to try out as the program doesn't require installation.
Code:
[1] http://www.pesoft.com (92KB) [2] http://www.statbar.nl/ (1.65MB)

Best Free File Cleaner

Best Free File Cleaner My first choice here is CCleaner [1], a product that started off as pretty basic but has continued to improve to the point where it is now very close to the best in its class regardless of price. It's very effective in freeing up disk space by removing unused and temporary files, cookies, Recycle bin entries, Windows hot-fix files, sold prefetch data, history and cache files in many applications such as Internet Explorer and Firefox and much more. Additionally it will check the Windows Registry for invalid entries. There are some minuses: first the installation settings are quite aggressive so do check them carefully. Second the product installation, by default, includes the installation of the Yahoo Toolbar so if you don't want it, make sure you uncheck that option. Finally I wouldn't trust this product to do your Registry cleaning; that's a job for a specialist utility. Similarly if your aim is to remove all your surfing traces rather than just to clean up your disk I'd be inclined to use a specialist cache cleaner. However if simply freeing up disk space is your objective the CCleaner is hard to beat. A good companion to CCleaner is Empty Temp Folders. It's not as complete a product as CCleaner and it's been a while since it was last updated however I find it always manages to clean more temporary file than CCleaner. That's why I suggest you use both. Another cleaner with a solid following is Steven Gould's CleanUP! [3] It's a compact, well designed and very well maintained and is a real alternative to CCleaner. I've had a couple of instances of it causing problems on my test PC but this may be specific to my setup. Certainly the feedback I get from users has been uniformly excellent.
Code:
[1] http://www.ccleaner.com/ Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.4MB [2] http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/emptemp Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 667KB [3] http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/download.html Freeware, Windows version unstated, 331KB.

Best Free TCP Settings Tweaker

Best Free TCP Settings Tweaker Whether you use a modem or broadband, you'll get a faster connection if you tweak your connection's TCP parameters. Among the most important of these is MaxMTU which, in simple terms, needs to be set to the largest value possible without your data being broken up into smaller chunks en-route. Most techies determine MaxMTU by trial and error pinging using different packet sizes but it's a tedious procedure and definitely not for beginners. TCPOptimizer from SpeedGuide.net is a free utility that will do the job for you automatically. Furthermore, it will use this value to advise you on your other TCP settings and then apply these values at the press of the button. There are commercial programs that will do much the same thing but TCPOptimizer does it just as well and is totally free. The only minus is the lack of in-program help however you'll find a useful FAQ at the SpeedGuide site. (225KB)
Code:
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in.php?category=100