I thought it would be a good idea to get a list of useful programs that we could keep here. If a mod comes across this - could you sticky it please. It would be quite helpful. I'm bound to have missed some programs, so if there is some that you think should be on this list - post here or PM me and I'll add them to the list.

With all these programs, there is no right or wrong one to use. Many of these programs are free or at least will offer evaluation periods. Try a few of them and see which one you like the best.

Virus Scanners

If you don't have a virus scanner on your PC - get one and fast. New viruses are released every week and some scan spread all around the world in a matter of hours. The news nowadays is constantly filled with talks of new viruses trying to do this and that. The best way of putting a stop to them is to have a virus checker constantly running on your PC. Here are a few to select from:

Norton Antivirus - One of the most popular virus scanners out there. My personal choice.
McAfee VirusScan - Also another of the more popular virus scanners out there.
Eset Nod32 Antivirus
Kaspersky Antivirus
Kaspersky Online virus checker - Kaspersky also offer a free, online virus check for those who don't want to buy a virus scanner (tisk tisk).
AVG Antivirus


Firewalls

Firewalls are another great way to stop many threats out there on the internet today. A firewall will only let programs send/receive if you say it can. This way you can make sure that your internet browser can access the internet, but any nasty spyware that sneaks in won't be able to. Windows XP comes with a built in firewall but if you don't have XP, or want more control, consider the following.

ZoneAlarm - Very user friendly but still powerful. Comes in several version - including a free one
McAfee Personal Firewall
Norton Personal Firewall
Sygate Personal Firewall - Free for personal use


Spyware Removal Tools

Do you keep getting annoying adverts popping up while surfing the internet? Does your browser keep setting your homepage to some rubbish? Well then you have some spyware on your PC my friend. Try downloading one of these bad boys to get rid of it,

Adaware - Along with Spyware: S&D, a must have on your PC. Looks good, updated regularly.
Spyware: Search & Destroy - Another great spyware removal tool.

Combined with Adaware, your PC should be adware free.

Also check out the sites for McAfee, Symantec (Norton) etc. for Spyware removal tools as well. You will have to pay for these ones I'm afraid though.

Internet Browsers

Firefox - Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere, you should have heard of Firefox. It's a free internet browser that is rapidly taking away market share from IE. It's faster, safer and has a number of nice extras like themes and extensions.
Internet Explorer - Out of fairness I put this here. I think Firefox is much better but IE is still the most widely used.
Opera - Another alternative to IE.
Avant Browser - Before Firefox, this was my browser of choice. It is actually just a wrapper round IE adding some extra features to it like tabbed browsing.

Email Clients

Fed up with Outlook Express? Well why not try on one of these email clients for size.

Mozilla Thunderbird - Firefox's sister program. Lovely email client with tonnes of features. Like Firefox you can download extra themes and extensions to make the app even more appealling,
Pegasus Mail - Some nice features like allowing you to OK attachments before they are downloaded from your email server.



I'll add some more useful programs on here later, but for now - this will do. Some linux programs may also follow I guess. Finally, sorry for being so bias towards Firefox/Thunderbird. As you can tell I'm not Microsoft's biggest fan.

RickJ

For real image mapping try GoogleEarth. It's awesome!!

senator

You bet, great advice and for an added treat go to GoogleMoon http://moon.google.com/

This one is the same as Google earth, but with the moon. If you bring the magnification up all the way on any part of the Moon, Google has a little surprise built in.

RickJ

Windows Print Screen feature is junk.
I've tried several and have now used Print Screen Deluxe for many years.
I love it.

RickJ

Adobe PhotoshopElements.

It's got many of full blown Photoshop's features but is only $89. Blows Paint Shop Pro away, in my opinion.

Here's a comparison of it and full Photoshop.

RickJ

I save everything...so use Outlook Extract to keep my OE folders cleaned up

From the site:
"OutlookExtract is a tool that helps you to extract your e-mail messages and Attachments contained in Outlook and Outlook Express either as Mime (*.eml), as Mapi (*.msg) or decoded as Text or Html Files. You can also convert them to Pdf format."

I tried a bunch before buying this one. It works great.

http://www.outlookextract.japler.com/index.htm

Curlyben

I have been using Admuncher for about 18 months and I no longer suffer from website adverts of any kind !

AS you can see I have 'saved' over 6 GIG of download just by not having adverts, makes for a lovely clean surfing environment.

It quite happily works with all browsers and hardly uses any resources.
I use this with Firefox with the adblock extension, its sweeeeeeet

Wendy225

This is for Networks of 5 or less Cpu's
Network Magic

I thoroughly tested it out on 4 different networks, as I work on computers,
My own has 2 Wireless laptops and 2 hard wired, and it shares printers, files and tracks who is on the network, its an excellent program.

It does work with my win98se cpu, but they don't include win98 in their ads.

If you have an older Router, you may have to call them for some help, but it has worked with the one's I have tried so far, it's an extremely easy progam, and it's free if you have AOL.

www.networkmagic.com

LTheobald

OK, I'm going to update this post. So I'll combine all suggestions into one (probably with how recommeded them to). Any other suggestions - keep them coming.

Nez

Ben,whilst I agree with you in that it looks a good program (Admuncher),you have to pay after one month,as it's shareware.As I use Firefox,and Mozilla 1.7.12,there is a "free" adblocker for Firefox.Yes I know Admuncher is supposed to work in any browser,but I hardly use IE.Any thoughts?

Wendy225

I could not do without a Windows Explorer replacement program,

The one I like is PowerDesk or Explorer Plus, which is a Powerdesk clone, they are great for running your entire library of files.

Also Picture finder Por of Free Picture finder, 2 great programs for finding and retrieving pics off the net, you type in the name and it finds them, I use it for my Movie and Tv Star Photo collections.

I use Frostwire for downloading Music, I tested it against Kazaa, Limewire and a couple of others,it won out in speed, reliability and overal search results and for being safe to use.

If you enjoy making slideshows, then try ProShow Gold
For Pc Fix it and or Utility programs, then try Advanced System Optimizer, Ace Utilities, Tune Up Utilities any of these 3 or all of them are great to have.

For adware/spyware
Adware SE
Spybot
Spysweeper
Spyware Doctor

I like to use on occasion to scan my system with Emco's Malware Destroyer and Bazooka

For Anti Virus Protection
Nod32
Ewido
PC Tools Anti Virus

Free Online scans are Panda,Trend Micro and Kaspersky and Ewido has an excellent Malware scanner.