Carol’s Vault

Windows 2

Disclaimer : While i know that most of these freeware are safe and stable because i installed and tested them, I will not be responsible if something goes wrong with your installations. Some of them are buggy and some are beta.

If by any chance you do get in troubles with one of the installations, you can always leave a comment and I or someone else will help you fix it.

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Read first the entry and download the freeware needed. Make a new folder into My Documents and download there to avoid clutter and find them easily. You can find Pimp that Windows Part 1 here.

Note: Most of the apps listed here are linking to FileHippo.com, a trustworthy downloading source.
Let’s start with the essentials. We only need freeware and we will only use freeware.

1. Secure Windows
2. Compress/ Decompress
3. Pick a browser
4. Pick an email client
5. Pick an anti-spam
6. Check System Information
7. Style your Windows
8. Communication
9. Video/Audio tools
10. Image tools
11. Desktop and other related utilities
12. Maintenance
13. Back it up

1)Start by securing your Windows

A freeware antivirus-choose from :

Comodo Antivirus
Avg 7.5
Avast Home
BitDefender
Clam Win
( I recommend Comodo or Avast Home)

A freeware firewall -choose from :
Comodo Firewall
Zonelarm free
Sunbelt Kerio
Outpost Firewall
Sygate
(I recommend Comodo Firewall or Zonealarm Free)

A freeware antispyware (i recommend more than 1)- choose from :
Comodo Antispam
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Avg Antispyware

Windows Defender
Spybot
(I recommend Lavasoft with Avg or Spybot with Windows Defender)

A prevention freeware

Spyware Blaster .
Don’t even think about leaving this one out.

Beware of the rogue antispyware software!

Quick note : I’ve tested Comodo antivirus together with Comodo firewall and the antivirus was hanging. Remove it if it causes troubles and replace it with another one.

2) Compress/Decompress

Now we need a compression freeware such as 7Zip or Zip Genious. They both open all type of archive formats.

3) Pick a browser

Choose from : Firefox ,Avant ,Opera ,Maxthon (fast,secure and reliable) or install them all. It’s all up to you.

4) Pick an e-mail client

Choose from : Thunderbird (Recommended) ,Pegasus Mail , Incredimail (fat in graphics), Eudora or just use Outlook.

5)Pick an antispam for your e-mail client

Choose from : Spamihilator, SpamBayes ,Comodo AntiSpam ,K9

6) Check your system information

Let’s move to the next step now and have a look to the device information with SandraLiteCpuZor Everest Home Edition.To monitor your pc’s voltage and temperature use SpeedFan.
If you would like to see some deep information about your computer such as software and your license keys, your missing patches and your systems vulnerability, then i recommend Belarc. ,

7)Style your Windows

Our next step is to get rid off the classic look of your Windows and to do so, please follow this link to Pimp that Windows part one -Looks and Easy access.

You’ll find there everything you need to transform your desktop from a boring one to a fancy one.

8 ) Communication

No need to go deep into this one. Pick your favorite from : MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, Skype.

Need more? Go here.

9) Video/Audio Tools

I don’t know what you would prefer so i provide you with a link to some of the best video/audio players,music files organizers and sound editors.
While we are here, let’s pick up some burning tools as well.

10)Image tools

Some of the best image and graphics editors at the moment are GIMP or Gimpshop, Paint.NET, Blender, Inkscape.

Of course ,there are others, but i am only giving you now the best ones.
To view your images ,use FastStone Image Viewer or use Picasa (it organizes your images as well).
To take a screenshot use Fast Stone Capture.

11)Desktop and related utilities

Time to take care of those office stuff and let’s start by installing OpenOffice.org . We all know by now what is for so let’s go on with a PDF Creator then a Notepad++ followed by a desktop publishing freeware PagePlus SE.

When you are done with we’ll go over to Html/css/php editors and we’ll have the following : Nvu editor -see some screenshots here, then if you are into php you’d want to have PhpDesigner 2006 and TopStyle Lite for your css needs.

To publish entries to your blog, choose between Qumana and Windows Live Writer.
Transfer your files with FileZilla or SmartFtp.
To catch up with the news, use the GreatNews (rss) Reader.

I will skip over the Desktop search and file sharing. But if you want to install any of them, head over to Filehippo and pick your file sharing , or here for desktop search freeware (scroll down the page).

12)Maintenance

Let’s move to the next step and take care of the maintenance.

You’ll only need few tools here.

By the moment we are done with installing everything, we’ll need to defragment and put all the files next to each other, check for some reg keys and some other important tasks.

There’s no need to install 20 apps in order to keep our system clean and running smooth. We need 3 instead from which 2 are multi-functional.
Advanced WindowsCare – will take care of the errors on your pc, clean it, prevents security threats and so on. What can i say? It’s a great one.
RegToy -Now that’s a tweaker. It has lots of features that tweaks your system from startup to shut down.

Some of the included features are :cleaning junk files and registry, cleaning ram, rename,encrypt and split files, uninstall manager…etc.

This one is a beauty.

Iobit SmartDefrag- This tool does your job. Just set it to defragment and that’s it. If you don’t want it, then just use the Windows defragmenter.

Extra:

CCleaner – this is just an addition and it is not really necessary to install it because the Advanced Windows Care and RegToy will take care of the same things. Anyway, install it if you want.

13)Back it up

Time to back up to make sure we haven’t done all this work for nothing.

Go and grab Comodo BackUp ,Cobian Backup, HDClone Freee Edition,
or choose another backup utility from here …or just use the original backup app incorporated into your Windows.
After you’re done with all the installations, clean the junk files, do a quick scan and when you are done, secure your files by backing them up.

That’s all for now. You are done!

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