TopTop

Kenmark   International

KENMARK.US

Which Spyware Protection? Until you read this article, don't download any Spyware protection. www.CompareSpywareRemover.org Top 10 Antivirus for 2008 Read Reviews and Compare The Top 10 Anti-Virus Software Now. BigStarReviews.com Download Google Pack Protect your PC from viruses, spyware & more. Get it free! pack.google.com Anti-Spyware Reviews We've tested hundreds of programs so you don't have to. www.anti-spyware_review.com Antivirus Buyer's Guides Our Buyers Guide Offers Expert Buying Advice & Reviews. www.NetworkWorld.com Free software Firefox www.mozilla.com Windows | MacOS | Linux This PC Mag Editors' Choice Web browser has been on top of the heap since version 1.5 came out in late 2005. Read our full review of Firefox 2.0. GIMP www.gimp.org Windows | MacOS | Linux The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) does most of what Photoshop does; the Gimpshop project (plasticbugs.com) even makes it look like Photoshop. Read our full review of The GIMP 2.0. iTunes www.apple.com/itunes Windows | MacOS When you're attached to the top media player in the land (iPod), success is a given. iTunes continues to build sales and refine its organization of songs, video, games, podcasts, and more. Read our full review of Apple iTunes 7.6. OpenOffice.org www.openoffice.org Windows | MacOS | Linux You can spend a lot for Microsoft Office or nothing for this suite with full-function word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentations, even an equations editor. Read our full review of OpenOffice.org 2.3. Skype www.skype.com Windows | MacOS | Linux You'll pay to call regular phones, but if you sign up all your friends, Skype provides easy (and even international) calls and video-conferencing for nothing. Read our full review of Skype 3.0. Thunderbird www.mozilla.com/thunderbird Windows | MacOS | Linux Mozilla's no-cost e-mail alternative is extensible, fast, and easy to master. And a wealth of free add-ons means there's not much this program won't do, from calendars to encryption. Read our full review of Thunderbird 2. Ubuntu www.ubuntu.com Linux This Linux-based OS comes with many of these Hall of Fame products (Firefox, OpenOffice.org) preinstalled. WinAmp www.winamp.com Windows After a decade of playing music, the "skinnable" WinAmp has several versions, including one with full CD ripping and burning. Operating Systems ajaxWindows www.ajaxwindows.com Web A virtual operating system (aka Web OS), it uses Asynchronous Java-Script and XML (AJAX) programming to mimic the look and feel of a Windows desktop in Firefox or IE. It stores files (using Gmail) and runs its own applications, plus Web apps like Meebo and Google Maps. If you can launch a Web browser, you can get work done through ajaxWindows. eyeOS eyeos.info WebThis Web OS has ultra-simplified applications, including an RSS reader, satellite maps, a word processor, even a browser—yes, for browsing the Web while on the Web. Freespire 2.0 www.freespire.org Linux This community-driven OS is based on Linspire (formerly Lindows)—a Linux distro that looks like Windows, with an emphasis on compatibility with other platforms. Glide www.glidedigital.com Web | Flash Sleek style sets this Web OS apart, as does the ability (using a separate utility) to sync files, bookmarks, and e-mail from your real OS. Read our full review of Glide Effortless. gOS www.thinkgos.com Linux Ubuntu-based and powered by Google's apps (just don't call it Google OS), gOS comes with the $200 PCs from Wal-Mart, but you can download it for any PC. Antivirus/Anti-Malware avast! 4 Home Edition www.avast.com Windows Spiffy-looking avast! notifies you by e-mail or IM if it catches a virus. You can't schedule scans, but its recovery database can help if a virus damages your files. Read our full review of avast! 4 Home Edition.   AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition free.grisoft.com WindowsIts control center is awkward, but AVG scans files on demand, upon access, on a schedule, and in e-mail. Its rescue disks will help you recover from disaster. Read our full review of AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.   Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic www.free-av.com WindowsAntiVir scans files on demand, upon access, and on a schedule; it doesn't scan e-mail attachments until they're saved, but it does go to work on rootkits. It's especially good at coexisting with other security software. Like most good AV software, it has the Virus Bulletin's VB100% award and certification for virus detection from ICSA Labs. Read our full review of Avira AntiVir Premium Security Suite.   HijackThis www.trendsecure.com Windows Run HijackThis, save a log, and then post the log on sites that support the program. You'll quickly get personalized expert help to remove any malware. NanoScan www.nanoscan.com Windows | WebIn less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs. ThreatFire AntiVirus www.threatfire.com WindowsThreatFire detects the bad guys by their behavior, not by outdated virus signatures. It's surprisingly accurate and a good companion to standard antivirus apps. Read our full review of ThreatFire 3.   Trend Micro HouseCall housecall.trendmicro.com Windows Use the venerable HouseCall online scanner to get a second opinion, or use the app for cleanup when malware prevents installation of a local antivirus utility. Firewalls   Comodo Firewall Pro www.personalfirewall.comodo.com WindowsThis protective dragon for XP and Vista keeps hackers out of your system, controls which programs can access the Net (its whitelist of about one million means you get fewer pop-ups), and blocks tricky "leak test" techniques. It's both tough and good-looking. Read our full review of Comodo Firewall Pro.   ShieldsUP! www.grc.com Windows | WebBe sure your fire-walls are keeping your always-on Internet connection hidden from attackers. Shields-UP! provides a quick confirmation. Read our full review of ShieldsUP!.   SmoothWall Express www.smoothwall.org LinuxGot a spare PC running a Pentium 200 MHz or higher with 128MB of RAM? Turn it into a dedicated network firewall with this open-source download. ZoneAlarm Free www.zonealarm.com Windows The free edition remains a useful protector against hack attacks and against programs that abuse your Internet connection. Security   EULAlyzer www.javacoolsoftware.com WindowsWonder what you're agreeing to when you click "I Accept"? Don't worry; just drag EULAlyzer's target icon onto the EULA for a quick report on any troublesome language. Read our full review of EULAlyzer Personal 1.1.   Hotspot Shield www.anchorfree.com WindowsCreate an instant virtual private network (VPN) tunnel between your laptop and the router at any Wi-Fi hot spot to protect your data from snoops on the public airwaves, even if you're using extra encryption. If you're on a network that limits the use of certain apps (such as Skype), the VPN could give you unfettered access. It even works with your wired connection for an extra layer of security. Kruptos 2 www.kruptos2.co.uk Windows Kruptos makes a file accessible only to someone who knows the password; it includes a file shredder. PC Flank www.pcflank.com Windows | WebWhile ShieldsUP! tests your firewall's ability to stealth all ports, PC Flank performs surgical strikes that emulate specific malware attacks to verify that your firewall blocks them. SendShield www.sendshield.com Windows This Outlook add-on strips out extra info and tracked changes in Word documents attached to messages. Finance   mint www.mint.com WebMint isn't like Quicken, where you enter in all your transactions. Instead, it syncs with your bank and credit card accounts online, checks your spending habits, and tells you how to improve to save money. If you're not paying attention to your spending, it'll send you regular alerts to inform you where your money has gone (nice for making sure you haven't been ripped off). GnuCash www.gnucash.org LinuxLinux users can track their bank accounts, stocks, and expenses in this financial program using a double-entry accounting method. Office   AbiWord www.abiword.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Volunteers keep this open-source word processor alive. It closely mimics the look and feel of Microsoft Word 2003 and earlier. Read the full review of AbiWord 2.0. Gliffy www.gliffy.com Web | Flash An online-only diagramming tool with more options than you can flowchart. The free version is limited to five diagrams. Google Docs docs.google.com Web | MobileGoogle's slickly designed office suite offers online shared word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations-and best of all, finally a solid alternative in the office-suite space to the totally dominating Microsoft. Upload or e-mail your current documents for storage and editing. Read the full review of Google Docs. IBM Lotus Symphony symphony.lotus.com Web | Mobile A much prettier version of OpenOffice.org, Symphony is prepped for presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing in a single window (but lacks OO's drawing and database modules). Read the full review of IBM Lotus Symphony Beta. KompoZer www.kompozer.net Windows | MacOS | Linux A full WYSIWYG Web-page authoring tool akin to Dreamweaver, KompoZer integrates an FTP site manager for file uploads. NeoOffice www.neooffice.com MacOSThis version of OpenOffice.org has the same great tools and price (free), but with an interface designed specifically for the Mac OS. Notepad++ notepad-plus.sourceforge.net Windows Notepad++ handles text--especially source code-in ways the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding. Read the full review of Notepad++. Scribus www.scribus.net Windows | MacOS | Linux This open-source page layout tool has features comparable to big names like PAgemaker, plus support for PDFs and scalable vector graphics (SVG). Windows Live Mail get.live.com WindowsLive Mail not only reads your Hotmail, but also can check POP, IMAP, or HTTP mail accounts. It works as an RSS feed reader and a newsreader. Zoho www.zoho.com Web | MobileZoho features every tool you could want-word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, database, even a wiki-and several you never knew you needed. Some are also available off-line. Read the full review of Zoho. Calendar/PIMs   Plaxo www.plaxo.com Web Perhaps the ultimate online address book, Plaxo is enhanced with the superpowers of a social network and plug-ins for many Web-based services like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and LiveJournal for sharing across the Internet. Backpack www.backpackit.com WebBackpack is more than a to-do list site. Your five easy-to-update pages send reminders via e-mail or SMS and include a whiteboard for online collaboration. Read the full review of Backpack. EssentialPIM Free www.essentialpim.com WindowsImagine taking the e-mail out of Microsoft Outlook to get a killer personal information manager (PIM). That's what EssentialPIM is all about. Google Calendar calendar.google.com Web | MobileFeaturing seamless integration with other Google products, sharing capabilities, and SMS reminders, this Web app does for calendars what Google did for search. Read the full review of Google Calendar. Lightning www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning Windows | MacOS | LinuxTo be more like Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird needs a calendar. Lightning provides that, plus a to-do list. It can even sync with Google Calendar. Power Calculator www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx Windows This XP-only PowerToy replaces the lame Windows calculator with a mathematical powerhouse. Remember The Milk www.rememberthemilk.com Web | MobileNever forget another grocery item, or anything else, using this extensible online task manager. It'll send reminders via e-mail, SMS, and IM. Sunbird www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird Windows | MacOS | LinuxSunbird is Mozilla's standalone calendar for tracking events and upcoming tasks. It's a sister to Lightning, which adds the same functions to Thunderbird. 30 Boxes www.30boxes.com WebOne of the best-looking online calendars, 30 Boxes features easy-to-grasp pop-ups for adding events and viewing schedule details. Yahoo! Calendar calendar.yahoo.com WebTrack your schedule and share it with friends, then sync your calendar with Outlook or your phone. It's a great place to back up a handheld. Backup/Sync   Allway Sync www.allwaysync.com Windows Sync files between your PC and an external drive, filtering by folder, file name, or file type. The program displays warnings about questionable files before syncing. DriveImage XML www.runtime.org Windows Make an image of your entire hard drive for backup and restore purposes. FolderShare www.foldershare.com Windows | MacOSInstall the utility on multiple computers, create an online account where you identify each computer, and pick folders to synchronize. Up-to-date data becomes available on all those PCs whenever you make a change in a folder, with sync taking place in the background so you're never disturbed, just happy to find your files wherever you work. Read the full review of FolderShare. MozyHome Free www.mozy.com Windows | MacOS MozyHome provides automatic online backup for up to 2GB of your data. PassPack www.passpack.com Web Pack away all your passwords in this secure online vault; it even logs you in to Web sites. SyncToy v2.0 www.microsoft.com/downloads Windows Make sure folders across your networked computers contain the same files, even on drives that change location and name. WinClone www.twocanoes.com MacOS Bootcamp users: Now you can clone (back up) your Windows XP/Vista partition for reinstall on a new Mac. App Launchers   Launchy www.launchy.net Windows Launchy launches (duh) applications, files, folders, or searches via a command-line-esque interface. ObjectDock www.stardock.com Windows Organize your application shortcuts in a toolbar that mimics the look and feel of the Macintosh dock, complete with icon animations. It will even mimic Windows Taskbar buttons. Add in extras (docklets) like real-time clock and weather forecasts, even a fully functional Windows Start button and Recycle Bin, to get everything you need. QuickSilver www.blacktree.com MacOS This open-source launcher takes plug-ins that allow it to do almost anything you want in the MacOS. Utilities   Absolute Uninstaller www.glarysoft.com Windows Replace the Add/Remove Programs control panel in XP to get batch uninstalls and clear out leftovers that Windows frequently misses when uninstalling. CCleaner www.ccleaner.com Windows The extra C is for crap, and that's what CCleaner gets rid of: all the detritus left behind in the course of using Windows. CoolMon www.coolmon.org WindowsCoolMon displays all of your system's vital statistics, including use of your CPU, RAM, and hard drives, internal PC temperature, and more. Defraggler www.defraggler.com Windows Defragment your entire hard drive-or just one heavily fragmented file at a time. DriverView www.nirsoft.net Windows DriverView lists every single device driver running on your system, with extra info on each. Eraser www.heidi.ie/eraser WindowsShredders are popular in the office, so why not have the digital equivalent? Eraser adds a right-click menu that will do away with a file or folder forever. FileZilla www.filezilla-project.org Windows | MacOS | Linux Download this FTP client for accessing multiple sites or to use as an FTP server. In both cases, FileZilla has convenient drag-and-drop support. Glary Utilities www.glaryutilities.com Windows Glary offers a ton of utilities for cleaning, optimizing, and securing Windows in one package. Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc WindowsInstall anything-DOS, OS/2, or any earlier version of Windows-as a virtual machine. It'll run in a separate window on your Vista or XP desktop. Read the full review of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. SandBoxie www.sandboxie.com Web Place a layer of "transient storage"-a sandbox-between your applications and your hard disk to stay safe. SecureZIP www.securezip.com Windows Compress and decompress files on the fly, even in e-mail through Outlook integration, and encrypt archives as desired. Task Killer www.rsdsoft.com Windows Stop any Windows process dead; this is handy for clearing frozen applications. TinkerTool www.bresink.com MacOS Get access to additional preference settings in Mac OS X to turn on hidden features. Uniblue ProcessScanner www.processlibrary.com Windows | Web You can do the Ctrl-Alt-Delete salute in Windows to see what's bogging down your PC, but can you understand the results? ProcessScanner, coupled with the online Process Library, provides extra information on each process (like whether it autostarts or not, and who makes the software in question), and even lists the security risk to your system for running it. Downloads   BitLet.org www.bitlet.org Web Who needs a BitTorrent client? Just find the torrent metafile link on a tracker site, plug it in at BitLet.org, and let it retrieve the file as if you were downloading it from a regular Web site. Universal Extractor www.legroom.net Windows See what's inside any archive file—ZIP, RAR, even EXE. uTorrent www.utorrent.com Windows The tiniest BitTorrent client around (only 214K) comes with all the torrent download features you crave. Interface Enhancement   Battery Status users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat WindowsThis app runs in the system tray and takes advantage of smart battery support in XP/Vista to provide loads of info on laptop-power usage. Google Desktop desktop.google.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Let Google index and search your hard drive contents. The sidebar adds graphical widgets to your desktop. miniMIZE aquaria.za.net Windows miniMIZE puts thumbnails of your minimized applications on the desktop for easier access. Quero Toolbar 4 www.quero.at Windows Replace the Internet Explorer address bar to integrate ad blocking and make IE7 look more like IE6. Vista Drive Icon drvicon.sourceforge.net Windows Add one of Vista's best features to XP: smart drive icons showing the current capacity of each hard drive. XYplorer www.xyplorer.com Windows Multiple tabs and improved search enhance and replace the boring old Windows Explorer. Yahoo! Widgets widgets.yahoo.com Windows | MacOS Fill your desktop with tiny interfaces for everything from stock picks to RSS feeds to weather forecasts (using Doppler radar!) to Wi-Fi sensors to remote desktops to countdown clocks-to name a few. Pick from over 4,300; some are more useful than others, but almost all are interesting to look at. File View/Conversion   Foxit Reader www.foxitsoftware.com WindowsPerhaps the fastest PDF reader around, Foxit includes a free annotation tool. Add-ons enable support for new file formats and UI languages. Samuraj Data view.samurajdata.se Web You can display PDF files in your Web browser when no other reader is available. ScanR.com scanr.com Web | Mobile Instantly perform optical character recognition (OCR) on pictures by e-mailing them from your phone to ScanR.com. YouConvertIt.com youconvertit.com WebThis site turns just about any file into a different kind of file, even online videos from YouTube. It also converts units of energy, force, length, and more. ZamZar www.zamzar.com WebFile conversion is no longer a complete nightmare. Just go to ZamZar, upload a file, choose from a long list of extensions (including image, doc, music, video, and compression types), and enter your e-mail address. When it's done, ZamZar will send you the converted file. Networking   LogMeIn Hamachi secure.logmein.com Windows | MacOS | LinuxInstantly create a free, peer-to-peer VPN connection between your computer and other people's. Download the software, create a network with a unique name, give it to friends you want to join, and start sharing files with them—even your iTunes folder. NetStumbler www.netstumbler.com Windows Use it to detect any Wi-Fi network in your vicinity and see if it's open for use, or just use it to troubleshoot your own. PrinterAnywhere www.printeranywhere.com Windows Share your printer with others over the Web; in turn, send jobs to other shared printers, no matter their location. Blogging   Blogger www.blogger.com Web | MobileBlogger was one of the first blog-publishing tools. Years after Google bought it, it remains one of the best, especially for newbies. Create a brain-dead simple weblog and let Blogger host it (with a blogspot.com name) using the slew of provided templates, or use it to publish a blog on your own domain. w.bloggar www.wbloggar.com Windows This post and template editor can handle multiple blogs, across multiple blogging systems. Windows Live Writer get.live.com WindowsLive Writer is not a word processor, but a universal, WYSIWYG blog-posting tool more powerful than most blog services' own tools. WordPress www.wordpress.com WebIt lacks the simplicity of Blogger or Vox, but the commercial offshoot of WordPress.org offers some of the best tools of any hosted blogging service. RSS Readers   Bloglines www.bloglines.com Web | MobileKeeping track of your daily Web news reading can be a nightmare. This Ask.com-owned news aggregator is one of the cleanest and most straightforward methods for keeping your RSS feeds under control, and the new beta version features a great new interface that steals some of the best features of Google Reader. Google Reader reader.google.com Web | Mobile Google Reader is arguably the best RSS/newsfeed reader on the Internet. Read feeds while off-line or on your mobile phone. Netvibes www.netvibes.com Web This is a handsome combination of online RSS reader and podcast aggregator, with some widget apps thrown in. Instant Messaging   Meebo.com www.meebo.com WebThis polished Web app aggregates your AOL, Gmail, ICQ, Jabber, Windows, and Yahoo! buddy lists into a single, Web-based instant-messaging and chat-room experience. Meebo is building in extras, such as games you can play with IM buddies, as well as video and audio chat you'd find with your regular IM client software. Pidgin www.pidgin.im Windows | Linux Open source tackles instant messaging in this client, which supports more IM networks than you've ever heard of. Trillian www.ceruleanstudios.com WindowsAccess all your IM accounts (AIM, ICQ, Windows Messenger, Yahoo!, and more) from a single interface that also logs all your conversations, if you desire. Communication   GizmoProject www.gizmoproject.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Gizmo competes with Skype to offer free, peer-to-peer, over-the-Internet phone and video calls, but uses open standards. Gmail www.gmail.com Web | MobileWhat to do with nearly limitless e-mail storage space—that's the enviable quandary of Gmail users, who can store up to 5.5GB worth of e-mail and chats. And the amount is constantly growing. Other perks include advanced search options, real-time updates, and "conversations," in which e-mail chains are stored in one continuous thread for easy perusal. Mail Redirect addons.mozilla.org Windows | MacOS | Linux This add-on for Thunderbird lets you bounce a message to the proper recipient without revealing that you got the message first. ooVoo www.oovoo.com Windows | MacOSooVoo video chat is more P2P than Skype (no supernodes!), with a better picture. It supports up to six co-videoconferencers, file transfers, and group text chat. SightSpeed www.sightspeed.com Windows | MacOSSightSpeed has better video quality than ooVoo, but in a less attractive interface. More than two video chatters will cost you, as will file transfer and group chat. Audio   Juice http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net Windows | MacOS | Linux Aggregate all your favorite podcasts in one place for easy listening. Levelator www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator Windows | MacOS | Linux Levelator adjusts the levels of your audio files to give the perfect balance. Reaper www.cockos.com/reaper Windows | MacOS The name is short for Rapid Environment for Audio Production, Engineering, and Recording. That pretty much says it all. Wavosaur www.wavosaur.com WebA low-price and low-profile audio editor, Wavosaur doesn't even need installation. Just click the executable to start processing and recording sounds. It lacks some of the features of full programs like Audacity, but for quick-and-dirty MP3 editing it can't be beat. Video   Cinelerra www.osalt.com/cinelerra Linux This is professional video-editing software for the Linux crowd. Eyespot.com www.eyespot.com Web Upload your clips, mix via drag-and-drop, and share your finished videos in one spot. HandBrake handbrake.m0k.org Windows | MacOS | Linux Convert your DVDs to MPEG-4 video (or just the audio) for backup purposes. Jing www.jingproject.com Windows | MacOSx Jing shares what's showing on your monitor with others online, or records it for future viewing. Jumpcut.com www.jumpcut.com Web This online app provides Flash-powered video editing. Miro www.getmiro.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Miro combines BitTorrent downloads with video playback to become the next best thing to your DVR. MythTV www.mythtv.org Linux Use your Linux box as a homespun digital video recorder (DVR). Songbird www.songbirdnest.com Windows | MacOS | Linux The open-source answer to iTunes (from the makers of WinAmp) plays your music and videos. TVersity www.tversity.com Windows Turn your computer into a server to stream video and audio to just about any device on your network. Ustream.tv www.ustream.tv Web Our reviews call this the absolute easiest way to broadcast live video from your webcam across the Internet. Videora Converter www.videora.com Windows Convert nearly any video you can find online (or on DVD) for use on any video-capable iPod or iPhone. VLC media player www.videolan.org Windows | MacOS | LinuxForget Windows Media Player. VideoLAN's open-source VLC can replace it, and nearly every other player, too. VLC supports almost every audio format and video codec imaginable and doubles as a server for streaming your music and video to other PCs. Change its skin to make it look like the player you want—even WMP. YouTube Uploader www.youtube.com/multifile_installer Windows | MacOS If you've got a lot of YouTube videos ready to go online, upload them to the site all at once with the Uploader. Graphics   IrfanView www.irfanview.com Windows IrfanView previews images (or even audio and video) and then converts or optimizes them without opening a separate editor. Paint.NET www.getpaint.net Windows This program is probably the closest thing to Photoshop you can get free, courtesy of a student project. Picasa www.picasa.com Windows | Linux Google's photo manager makes it easy to get pictures off a digital camera, organize them, and even edit and share them. Picnik www.picnik.com Web | Flash Instantly edit pictures in this Web site. Upload images from your computer, Flickr, Picasa, or elsewhere. pikifx.com pikifx.com Web Another online pic editor, pikifx.com emphasizes special effects such as added text and borders. rsizr.com rsizr.com Web | Flash With one of the best Web interfaces yet—all in Flash—rsizr.com incorporates smart resizing to avoid distortion. Splashup www.splashup.com Web | Flash Another beauty with a Flash interface, Splashup sets itself apart with multi-image editing and a full-screen mode. Windows Live Photo Gallery get.live.com/photogallery WindowsWindows Live Photo Gallery gives Picasa (above) a run for its money, with many of the same photo-enhancing and sharing features—red-eye reduction, exposure adjustment, cropping, color, sharpen, and auto-adjust. What's more, Microsoft serves up histogram adjustment, panorama creation, and photo-CD burning. Browsers   Flock www.flock.com Windows | MacOS | LinuxAnother browser based on Mozilla, Flock emphasizes interaction with social networks and services. It also accepts many add-ons from the Firefox browser. Maxthon www.maxthon.com Windows Replace IE or Firefox (but still use their rendering engines) with this highly customizable, multilanguage, tabbed beauty. Opera www.opera.com Windows | MacOS | Linux | MobilePossibly the nimblest and most usable of all the browsers available, Opera did tabs first and still does them best. Added usability features like Speed Dial and Tab Preview keep popping up in new versions. Prism labs.mozilla.com Windows | MacOS | LinuxPrism is a site-specific browser, meaning you simply load a Web app (Gmail, for instance) and let it run like any other application on the desktop. Browser Add-Ons   DownThemAll www.downthemall.net Windows | MacOS | LinuxYou don't have to download one item at a time from a Web page anymore. DownThemAll manages batch downloads, splitting files into pieces so they arrive faster. Foxmarks 2.0 www.foxmarks.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Foxmarks can synchronize your Firefox bookmarks across multiple PCs, even multiple operating systems. Googlepedia code.google.com/p/googlepedia Windows | MacOS | Linux In Firefox, Googlepedia loads the most relevant Wikipedia entry it finds alongside your Google search results. Google Toolbar toolbar.google.com Windows | MacOS | LinuxThe toolbar brings Google's search and other functionality directly to IE or Firefox. It offers extras like auto fill, spell-checking, and one-click RSS feed subscriptions. Greasemonkey www.greasespot.net Windows | MacOS | LinuxAdd this extension to Firefox and then extend it again with thousands of scripts that change the appearance and functions of almost any Web site. IE7Pro www.ie7pro.com WindowsAdds a load of extras to IE7, including control over tabs, spell-checking, ad blocking—even Greasemonkey-esque scripts (see above). IE Tab ietab.mozdev.org WindowsDo you prefer Firefox but still need to look at some sites in IE? IE Tab will load a site in a Firefox tab using the IE rendering engine. ScribeFire www.scribefire.com Windows | MacOS | Linux This Firefox add-on sets up an interface for instant blogging on just about any blog system. Tab Mix Plus addons.mozilla.org Windows | MacOS | LinuxTake total control of how tabs work in Firefox. Adjust how they look, revive those you closed by accident, send tabs to new browser windows-essentially any tab action you can imagine. Zotero www.zotero.com Windows | MacOS | Linux Zotero makes it easy to keep track of all your research on the Web, including how to cite it in future reports. Games/Fun   Eyezmaze.com's Grow www.eyezmaze.com Web | Flash It's not a single game but a series that involves choosing "growing" items that are added to an online environment. Geni.com www.geni.com Web | FlashShare your genealogy with everyone in the family. They can contribute more individual profiles until your family tree is complete. Google Earth earth.google.com Windows | MacOS | LinuxFly over familiar terrain or foreign lands with Google Earth, a searchable database of satellite images and geographical data—even images of the heavens. You can go a step further with all sorts of downloadable, gee-whiz applications from scientists, media outlets, and other third-party developers to trick out your Earth-moving experience. Google Maps maps.google.com Web | MobileThis interactive mapping tool goes beyond driving directions. View destinations in Street View, Satellite, or Terrain modes; check traffic updates; or look up info on nearby businesses. Kongregate www.kongregate.com Web | Mobile Only 2,598 free games (as of this writing) to keep you busy online? Bring 'em on. Second Life www.secondlife.com Windows | MacOS This 3D virtual world has hundreds of thousands of denizens. Access is free, but you'll pay a bit if you want to get some real estate, or even fancy clothes for your avatar. Free (Okay, Cheap) Hardware Manufacturers of even the most basic devices generally don't give anything away. And you're not likely to find breakneck performance at bargain prices. But it is possible to get fully computerized without spending a fortune. Read on to find the best tech bargains around the Internet. DESKTOP EverexTC2502 gPC $199 street www.everex.com Green or Google, it doesn't matter what the "g" stands for. Just know that this is the lowest-cost desktop on the market today. Available at Wal-Mart. Read the full review of the EverexTC2502 gPC. MONITOR Sceptre DCL20A 20" Widescreen LCD $159.99 www.tigerdirect.com TigerDirect offers the occasional bargain display, such as this 20-inch screen with $50 instant rebate. LAPTOP ASUS color Eee PC 2G Surf $299 direct asus.com This tiny Linux notebook has just a smudge of a screen (7 inches), but you won't find a better combination of price and functionality. PRINTER Lexmark Z1300 $29.99 direct www.lexmark.com Since it includes an ink cartridge worth $18.99, the actual price of this compact color ink jet printer is arguably around $6. Out of ink? Buy a new printer. Read the full review of the Lexmark Z1300. CAMERA JAZZ JDC5 QVGA 3-IN-1 Digital Camera $10 street audio-discounters.com Small enough to hang on a keychain, this tiny shooter uses a single AAA battery to capture images measuring 352 by 288 pixels. MEDIA PLAYER Coby MP-C833 128MB MP3 Player $10 street www.cobyusa.com It plays MP3s and WMA files and has all the music control buttons you'll need, plus it doubles as a USB thumb key for file storage. MOBILE PHONE Motorola C139 from Tracfone $14.99 direct www.tracfone.com It may lack the sex appeal of an iPhone, but the C139 makes calls. They'll cost you 10 cents per minute, prepaid. Read the full review of the Motorola C139. SCANNER Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 $49.99 direct www.usa.canon.com This no-frills, three-button flatbed scans pictures at 1,200 pixels per inch over a slow but workable USB 1.1 connection. Read the full review of the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25.   Copyright (c) 2008Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.      The Best Free Software   Most software is expensive and bloated. Yet free software typically does one task and does it with precision and elegance. Among the thousands of free apps available on the Web, how do you find the best, most reliable ones for your needs? To produce this story, we asked PC Magazine staffers to share their best-loved free software and were inundated with responses. Our recommendations are the apps that real people use everyday, at work and at home, for all kinds of tasks—photo editing and DVD burning, database work and intrusion detection, VoIP calling and stargazing. They're tried and tested, the best tools you can get—and they're all free. Many of the programs we cover are open-source, with their source code available for use and modification as others see fit. We also help you navigate ­SourceForge (www.sourceforge.net), one of the best sites for finding open-source software. But before you start downloading, make sure to protect yourself. In researching this story, we had an encounter with a Trojan horse, which is not unusual. So we turned to our security expert, Neil J. Rubenking, for tips on how to protect yourself from malware. And by the way, once you get started with free software, it's hard to stop. Security avast! 4 Home Edition www.avast.com This slick, skinnable antivirus app looks like a high-tech media player, but it's really a virus fighter. It scans files on demand and on access, including e-mail attachments. No scheduling—you have to pay for that—but it can send a warning on detecting malware. A boot-time scan option removes ­tenacious malware. And it's 64-bit compatible.—Neil J. Rubenking AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition free.grisoft.com This program splits its user interface between Control Center and Test Center, which can be a bit confusing. But it does what an antivirus app should: It scans files on access, on demand, and on schedule. It also scans e-mail, both incoming and outgoing. According to Grisoft, it's totally Vista-ready.—NJR Comodo Firewall www.comodogroup.com The new kick-ass choice for free firewall protection, Comodo Firewall keeps hackers out and keeps ­unauthorized programs from accessing the Internet, even tricky ones that sneak around normal ­program control. And it resists being forcibly terminated. It works as well as all but the very best for-pay firewalls.—NJR McAfee SiteAdvisor us.mcafee.com McAfee's back-end servers crawl the Web to evaluate sites. Does the site host malicious software? Will it spam you? Are there exploits in the code? If SiteAdvisor red-flags a site you're visiting, get outta there! It evaluates all the links from Google and popular search engines so that you need never find yourself on a red-flagged site.—NJR SpyCatcher Express www.tenebril.com When we last tested it, Tenebril's SpyCatcher did very well both at cleaning out spyware and at preventing further infestation. The free SpyCatcher Express edition has almost all the features found in the paid version. It lacks antiphishing and a few high-end tools, and you have to check for updates manually, but it does the job.—NJR StartupMonitor www.snpsoftware.com StartupMonitor alerts you to programs that try to install themselves whenever you boot up Windows. Unlike most similar utilities, this one is unobtrusive and won't interfere with program installations that reboot automatically.—Ed Mendelson SuperStorm Freeware www.thegreatpuzzle.com/superstorm.php SuperStorm Freeware protects a sensitive file (up to 200KB) by encrypting it and hiding it inside a JPEG image, and then securely deleting the original. A for-pay Pro edition has no size limit and can encrypt with a user-defined password. SuperStorm can extract anything hidden by the Pro edition, and it uses a simple drag-and-drop interface.—NJR Windows Defender www.microsoft.com Microsoft bought Windows Defender's technology about two years ago, but the software colossus doesn't seem to have done much with it. The product's ability to remove entrenched spyware is mediocre, and it's not a lot better at keeping spyware out of a clean system. But it's free and built into OneCare and Vista, so use its on-demand scanner for a "second opinion."—NJR ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com The venerable ZoneAlarm doesn't have all the features of ZoneAlarm Pro's firewall. Its program control asks you whether to allow programs rather than consulting the SmartDefense Advisor database. It doesn't have the component control or OSFirewall features, so it won't block "leak test" techniques. But it's tough as nails; malware can't disable it.—NJR Productivity EditPad Lite www.editpadpro.com Windows Notepad works—that's about the only good thing we can say about Microsoft's built-in text editor. EditPad Lite, on the other hand, has lots going for it, including a tabbed interface for editing multiple files, line numbering, auto-­indenting, and printing blocks of text. EditPad Pro ($49.95) does add a lot of goodies, of course, ­including spell-checking and syntax coloring.—Ben Z. Gottesman, freelance writer Notepad++ notepad-plus.sourceforge.net With Notepad++, you get many of EditPad Pro's advanced features for free. The interface is more cluttered, but this text editor, billed as a source-code editor, includes macros, collapsible sections, and syntax coloring for over 40 programming languages, from HTML and JavaScript to Fortran and Smalltalk.—BZG OpenOffice.org www.openoffice.org If you're looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office, try OpenOffice.org. Though not as full-­featured as the offering out of Redmond, the suite includes a very capable word processor and spreadsheet that are compatible with MS Office files. There's also a presentation app, a diagramming tool, and a database. OpenOffice.org may be all the suite you need.—BZG SQL Manager Lite www.sqlmanager.net EMS creates powerful database tools and applications for data management. Of particular note is the free SQL Manager Lite edition of its software for databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and Interbase/Firebird.—Jennifer DeLeo WordPress www.wordpress.org Ready to start blogging? WordPress is among the most powerful of the many free personal blogging tools around. You can host WordPress on your own server or get a free blog at wordpress.com. Unlike most other free hosted blogs, you can have multiple contributors, customize the looks, and get the word out via RSS.—BZG Utilities & PC Management AllChars allchars.zwolnet.com AllChars lets you type foreign characters such as ñ or ü in any application. Just tap the program's hot key (Right Ctrl or any other shift-style key) followed by two characters such as n and the tilde or u and a double quotation mark, and the combined character you want appears in your document. It can also type boilerplate text such as your name or ­address.—EM AnalogX MaxMem www.maxmem.com AnalogX MaxMem is the cure for when your older, slower system has the hiccups and needs a reboot. It saves you this annoyance by freeing up memory with just a click, giving your computer its second wind.—Whitney A. Reynolds AutoHotkey www.autohotkey.com The open-source AutoHotkey lets you automate all of your repetitive tasks. Scripts can be compiled so you can share them with people who don't have the app. Not ready to create your own? You'll find dozens of user-contributed scripts on the Web site.—BZG Clipomatic www.mlin.net Clipomatic is the most compact and usable of dozens of clipboard extenders. It stores text that you copy to the Windows clipboard for pasting into any application. You can also store boilerplate text such as names and phone numbers. But avoid it if you use version 7 of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, because it blocks them from saving to the clipboard.—EM eCleaner ecleaner.tripod.com Ever need to extract text from an e-mail message or Web discussion, but the message is full of angle brackets (>) or other symbols? Or maybe it's got little bits of HTML strewn about. eCleaner quickly goes through these files and strips out the detritus. It's not fancy, but it works.—BZG FileZilla filezilla.sourceforge.net FileZilla is a full-featured FTP client that supports Secure FTP, SSL, and other protocols in a slick interface, complete with a tree-structured site manager that lets you store settings for multiple sites. An option to set speed limits can prevent download quotas from being triggered on networks that monitor bandwidth usage.—EM Foxit Reader www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php Adobe Acrobat, the ubiquitous software for PDF viewing, can slow older systems to a crawl—or even crash them. Foxit Reader lets you get your PDF goodness without the Adobe bloat. It runs small and swift, either as a standalone app or from within your browser.—WAR Gaim gaim.sourceforge.net Gaim hooks into most any chat service you could possibly want. It's a multiprotocol instant-­messaging client that works with Google Talk, AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. With Gaim, you can talk with your boyfriend on AIM while chatting with a "friend" on Yahoo! Messenger.—JD Google Desktop desktop.google.com Google Desktop includes a huge collection of widgets for displaying weather, news, file searches, Gmail, translation services, and more. Google's hard drive index searches only standard file formats.—EM Mozy www.mozy.com Mozy is a Web-based backup system that gives you 2GB of free storage, or 30 GB for $4.95 a month. Sign up with an e-mail address at which you won't mind getting a Mozy newsletter, download the client, and let it automatically back up My Documents and any other folder you choose.—EM MWSnap www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html MWSnap doesn't let you capture scrolling windows or have all the features of the best capture tool out there—SnagIt—but it gives you a lot more control than Windows' native capture utility, and it throws in some cool tools, such as a screen ruler and color picker.—BZG PopTray www.poptray.org PopTray is the premier pop-up mail checker for standard POP3 and IMAP mail accounts, including Gmail, and it can be coaxed to work with HTML-only mail such as Hotmail by following the instructions at the PopTray site. PopTray lives in the system tray, pops up reports of new mes­sages, can be controlled entirely from the keyboard, and can be customized.—EM RoboForm www.roboform.com RoboForm automatically fills in username and password fields in your browser, with an option to password-protect some or all of the passwords it stores. So you get better protection than you do from the storage features in IE and Firefox. Its SafeNotes feature stores credit card numbers or other secret data. The free version stores ten log-ins; a $29.95 Pro version stores an unlimited number.—EM Tweak UI www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx Microsoft's super-tweaker tool for Windows XP is the program to install immediately after installing XP. Tweak UI fine-tunes Start Menu and Taskbar settings, helps specify which icons appear on your desktop, sets auto log-in so you can skip entering a password, and much more.—EM Ultimate Boot CD for Windows www.ubcd4win.com This program helps you create a CD that boots into its own copy of Windows. The disc contains tons of useful utilities, from antivirus and antispyware to network and disk-repair tools. And if you're stuck, there's PacMan and Asteroids to pass the time. Rumor has it you can use UBCD4Win to create a bootable USB drive, too.—BZG WinMerge www.winmerge.org WinMerge is for programmers who know that as code grows, it gets harder and harder to spot the differences between versions. WinMerge quickly compares two text files or two folders (including subfolders), highlighting all the differences and letting you keep everything in sync.—BZG WnBrowse www.ngthomas.co.uk WnBrowse adds a super-fast, no-frills file viewer to Windows' right-click menus. It displays plain text or hex data—no formatted documents, spreadsheets, or graphics—but that's often all you need, and it opens instantly.—EM Yahoo! Desktop Search desktop.yahoo.com If you want to index everything on your system, get Yahoo! Desktop Search. It does a brilliant job of sorting, characterizing, and helping you to find all your files and e-mail.—EM Music & Audio Audacity audacity.sourceforge.net This is a powerful audio editing/recording software package that doesn't require much training. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows, and it handles many file types, including OGG, MP3, AIFF, AU, and WAV (but not WMA or AAC). Its features include 32-bit/96-KHz recording and editing (up to 16 channels), independent speed and pitch control, noise removal, a spectrogram mode, and tons of built-in effects. But it's also perfect for quick ­recordings and editing long files.—Michael Kobrin Media Monkey www.mediamonkey.com A robust digital music player for organizing, ripping, burning, converting, and playing your tunes, Media Monkey also has smart tagging, Auto DJ, and a Party Mode that lets you make requests without modifying the library. The free standard version gives you most features but limits MP3 ­encoding and slows the burn rate. The Gold version is $19.95.—Erik Rhey dBpowerAMP Music Converter www.dbpoweramp.com This do-it-all program for Microsoft Windows lets you rip CDs, convert files, and record audio. It supports MP3, MP4, M4a, WMA, OGG, AAC, APE, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and more. This app integrates with Windows, so you can simply right-click on a file to convert it.—MK CDex sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos CDex is a CD-ripping and file-conversion app for the extremely picky. It includes many different ­encoders, including LAME MP3, Fraunhofer MP3, MP2, APE, OGG, WMA, WAV, VQF, and FAAC. It also has jitter correction for error-free CD ripping and works with the CDDB database.—MK Video & Graphics DVD Shrink www.dvdshrink.org This app backs up part or all of a commercial DVD by running your Nero burning software automatically to copy the DVD directly to a new one in compressed form. Or, if you don't have Nero ­installed, you can save the compressed files to your hard drive, then manually burn them to a DVD using your own burning software. For legal reasons, the site has no download link, but it helps you find DVD Shrink on other sites. To the best of our knowledge, using the software isn't illegal, as long as you're backing up your own legally bought files.—EM Gallery 2 gallery.menalto.com If you manage a Web site—be it a personal or community site, either on your own server or a hosted service—Gallery 2 is a great tool for organizing photos and integrating them into the site. Create and manage albums, upload photos, set permissions, and much more. (See our interview with Gallery's creator, below.)—Tony Hoffman GB-PVR www.gbpvr.com With GB-PVR you can schedule and play back record­ings from almost any current video capture card or external video capture sources, but it works best with Hauppauge's popular hardware. It also records radio or Net radio and plays back DVDs. An elegant default skin and a set of default plug-ins give quick access to standard broadcast schedules, and a growing plug-in library lets you add weather and other special-interest sources.—EM GIMP www.gimp.org It's not Photoshop, but GIMP is an amazingly powerful and efficient open-source bitmap-­editing package that can look just as confusing as Photoshop if you open all its floating toolbars and sidebars. You'll need to get used to its nonstandard menus. If you make your living from graphics or photo editing, you'll probably go commercial, but GIMP gets the job done free.—EM Google SketchUp sketchup.google.com This 3D modeling tool matches what its developers call the "pencil" stage of designing—when you make quick, slightly rough-edged drawings of ­solid objects, complete with shadows but without the photorealism of commercial packages. This is the least intuitive of Google's software offerings, but it's easier to use than any rival 3D programs.—EM IrfanView www.irfanview.com IrfanView displays almost all standard bitmap image formats, is startlingly fast, and uses one-­keystroke commands for the quickest-possible access to features such as saving in a different format or flipping upside-down images. You don't get WordPerfect Graphics (WPG) support, but every­thing else is there. Make this one your default ­image viewer.—EM Picasa 2.0 picasa.google.com This photo-management tool from Google creates a library of the images on your computer (or on a particular drive), sorted by date. From Picasa you can edit images with a decent set of editing tools, send photos via Gmail, burn them to CD, or upload them to blogs, photo printing sites, or Picasa's own Web albums.—TH QuickTime Alternative and Real Alternative www.codecguide.com These apps let you play QuickTime or Real videos without Apple or Real's bloated, in-your-face proprietary players. While you're at the download site, get the up-to-date, extensive codec package and check the FAQs for advice on MPEG decoders and demuxers.—EM VLC media player www.videolan.org The recently upgraded VLC media player plays ­almost any multimedia file in almost any format, in a more compact and efficient interface than any commercial product. It can't handle Real Media and a few other proprietary formats, however. Even if you prefer Windows Media Player or QuickTime, keep this one handy for files that won't play in ­either of them.—EM Winamp www.nullsoft.com This is a classic alternative music player, free but owned by Time Warner. It's tiny and infinitely skinnable, but the reason you want it on your system even if you use iTunes is that it supports virtually every audio format (except for DRM-encrypted ones) via its enormous plug-in library.—EM Firefox Extensions Adblock Plus adblockplus.org This extension blocks even the most persistent advertising from any Web page, and a toolbar icon lets you fine-tune pages if it blocks something you want to see. If you still use the old Adblock, replace it with Adblock Plus.—EM   Bookmarks Synchronizer extensions.geckozone.org Try this to upload and download your bookmarks to any FTP server or WebDAV site you can access, including sites protected by Secure FTP. Keep your home and office bookmarks synchronized, or synchronize your home machine with bookmarks added on the road. Firefox 2.x users need the version found in the French-language site listed here; choose Installer Bookmark Synchronizer 1.03 or later.—EM FireFTP fireftp.mozdev.org FireFTP turns your browser into an FTP client, with a two-pane file manager for uploading and downloading. It doesn't yet support the increasingly common Secure FTP protocol, but it's useful for working with public FTP sites.—EM FlashBlock flashblock.mozdev.org Replacing Flash animations with a tiny arrow icon, FlashBlock removes those distractions so you can enjoy fast, unmolested browsing. If you find a Flash animation that you want to see, click on the icon or use options to whitelist animations on sites where you want them.—EM Forecastfox forecastfox.mozdev.org This weather station for your Firefox status bar shows anything from the temperature to a multipanel display of current and forecasted weather. A click takes you to Accuweather.com, and an ­option lets you create profiles for multiple cities and for displaying tooltips, labels, and alerts.—EM FoxyTunes foxytunes.com FoxyTunes installs a miniature media-player control panel on the Firefox status bar. Click on a button to see what's playing in iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any standard music program. ­Besides the usual player controls, you can hide and display the music software or launch a floating FoxyTunes toolbar that stays open when you close the browser.—EM Gmail Space www.getgspace.com Use your Gmail account as storage by uploading and downloading files through a browser-based interface. An optional status bar button brings up a miniature file manager that lets you drag files into or out of your storage space. A toolbar item brings up a full-featured file manager.—EM Greasemonkey greasemonkey.mozdev.org With Greasemonkey loaded, thousands of user-written scripts work automatically when you visit popular sites. One script logs you into eBay; ­another displays only negative feedback for an eBay member; and another adds icons below a member photo on MySpace for e-mailing, deleting from favorites, and so on.—EM MR Tech Local Install www.mrtech.com/extensions This should be the first extension you install, ­because it saves extensions and themes to your hard drive so you can find them without a Web search. It enables dozens of tweaks to Firefox's menus and tabs and lets you install officially ­unsupported extensions.—EM ReloadEvery reloadevery.mozdev.org Refresh your current page—or all open tabs—at any interval you choose. This is an ideal option for news pages or sites where you're waiting for tickets to become available. It would be even better if it could remember settings between sessions.—EM RSS Editor rsseditor.mozdev.org This lightweight editor creates and modifies RSS feeds, though it's not powerful enough for podcasting. It's faster, simpler, and easier than most standalone RSS editors, and it's neatly integrated into Firefox.—EM Session Manager sessionmanager.mozdev.org This extension saves the layout and addresses of all your tabs when you shut down Firefox, and it also lets you reopen the session later. If Firefox crashes, just restart the browser and Session Manager restores the session.—EM Zotero www.zotero.org Zotero stores detailed information about books. An icon appears in the address bar when you view a page with information about a title at Amazon.com or dozens of library catalogs. Click on the icon and full details pop into your Zotero database, where you can add notes and organize items into folders.—EM Networking & Mobility Altiris Software Virtualization Solution juice.altiris.com/svs With SVS, you can run apps virtually and enable and disable programs with a click of the mouse. When the app is disabled, it's gone without a trace; when it's enabled, it appears near-instantaneously. Free for personal use, SVS is great for trying out new appli­cations as well as running apps that conflict with one another. Apps are stored as "packages" that you can either create yourself or find prepackaged by the dozens at SVSDownloads.com, from Bit­Torrent and Open Office to the FlightGear open-source flight simulator.—BZG FreeProxy www.handcraftedsoftware.org When you're on an open wireless network, it's easy to become a little paranoid that someone is sniffing your traffic. Make your surfing invisible by setting your browser to access the FreeProxy proxy server running on your home PC, which you can connect to securely via the Hamachi encrypted link. (See page 70.) Follow the instructions on the LogMeIn Hamachi Web site and you'll be up in no time.—BZG LogMeIn Hamachi www.logmeinhamachi.com There's a good chance that if you access your office from home or the road, you connect through a VPN that encrypts all the traffic between your PC and the office network. Similarly, LogMeIn Hamachi creates an encrypted tunnel between individual PCs so you can easily and securely access your home PC from anywhere on the Internet.—BZG NetStumbler.com www.netstumbler.com NetStumbler detects 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a wireless LANs. Run it on a laptop and you can get a good overview of your own Wi-Fi network (or that of others). It seeks out poorly covered spots, and detects overlapping networks that might be generating interference (including unauthorized rogue networks).—Davis D. Janowski PowerGramo www.powergramo.com Careful—the person on the other end of your Skype call might be using PowerGramo, an add-on that ­records conversations. The free version will save the audio for your records, but you'll need to upgrade to PowerGramo Pro ($19.95) to record each person on a different track, which is useful if you use Skype to do interviews for podcasts.—BZG Snort www.snort.org Snort is probably the world's most widely used intrusion detection and prevention software. It's open-source, with a huge community of folks working to improve it. The bad news is that unless you have a lot of expertise, you'll need to be prepared to spend much time reading and learning how to run Snort.—DDJ SightSpeed www.sightspeed.com SightSpeed provides the best in free (for SightSpeed-to-SightSpeed calls) video calls over the Web. It uses a proprietary VoIP/VoIM (short for voice over IM) system and Web service to carry full-motion 30-frame-per-second video calls, as well as voice, chat, conference calling, and more. You'll need a webcam that supports up to 30 fps and a broadband connection.—DDJ Skype www.skype.com Skype is by far the most popular PC-based VoIP service; it also works in dedicated telephones and other handheld devices. The Version 3.0 beta adds click-to-call to dial regular phone numbers from your PC, and Skypecasts—moderated discussions with up to 100 people.—BZG SurfSpeed go.pcmag.com/surfspeed For years, we've enlisted the help of readers to test their Internet connection bandwidth for our surveys. We've automated the process with our own tool: SurfSpeed. The real power of this application comes after it reports to our servers and allows you to compare results with others in your ZIP code, state, or country or worldwide. Plus, you'll get a sense of how your ISP measures up to others. And so will your ISP when we publish the results!—DJ UltraVNC www.ultravnc.com The simplest free solution to access your work PC from home is LogMeIn Free (not to be confused with LogMeIn Hamachi). For a more powerful Windows remote-access solution, try UltraVNC. It adds file transfer and text chat and is considered the best-performing flavor of the open-source ­VNC (Virtual Network Computing) protocol.—BZG Fun & Games Banshee Screamer Alarm tucows.mundofree.com/winnt/preview/156803.html It's everything you'd want in an alarm clock. Banshee Screamer Alarm lets you set multiple alarms, and when each goes off, you have a choice of playing music from a playlist, running a program (though this didn't always work), playing a CD, or shutting down your PC.—BZG BZFlag www.bzflag.org This multiplayer 3D tank battle is one of the most popular open-source game projects, with more than a million downloads. It's available for Irix, Linux, BSD, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, and more. Drive your tank around and destroy your opponents, or pick up an opponent's flag and bring it back to your base.—Matthew D. Sarrel Cartes du Ciel www.stargazing.net/astropc With Cartes du Ciel (Sky Maps), it's easy to find out what constellations and planets are visible ­tonight. It displays the night sky for any location on Earth, at any date and time. For basic star charts, Cartes du Ciel outclasses many commercial astronomy programs.—TH ConWare IconAr www.conware.org This efficient utility lets you create and edit icons and cursors. You can draw the entire image using simple tools such as a pen, spray, and fill. You can also import an image (or part of it), edit it, and save it as an icon.—MDS Freeciv www.freeciv.org In this turn-based multiplayer strategy game for Linux, Mac, and Microsoft Windows, you can become the leader of your own civilization and strive to attain greatness. Win by either conquering all opposing civilizations or by using scientific knowledge to build a spaceship to send to Alpha Centauri before your rivals can do so.—MDS Google Earth 4 Beta earth.google.com Put the world at your fingertips with this virtual globe to help you plan trips (map driving routes, find restaurants, lodgings, and so on) or have fun as an armchair explorer. Includes content from Google Earth's user community, National Geographic, the UN Atlas of Our Changing Environment, the National Park Service, the Travel Channel, and more. You can also create your own overlays. The downside: It's a resource hog, and without a good graphics processor, it may crash or freeze your system.—TH Nexuiz www.nexuiz.com This 3D first-person shooter, available for Linux, Mac, and Microsoft Windows, is entirely GPL and is continuously tweaked and modded. The multiplayer death match, which has minimal hardware requirements, will keep you on your toes. Choose from 15 different player models and kill, kill, kill!—MDS Tux Racer tuxracer.sourceforge.net In Tux Racer, you play as Tux the Linux Penguin (though it's for Microsoft Windows and Mac as well as Linux). You must steer through the flags on a slalom course while picking up Tux's beloved herring. Realistic physics means you'll notice a difference between fluffy snow and slick ice. Change the weather and lighting to add to the challenge.—MDS ZSNES www.zsnes.com The ZSNES open-source Super Nintendo emulator, available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and DOS, beats other emulators with its superior compatibility, stability, graphics, audio, and usability. The best feature: two-player gaming over the Net. ZSNES can use hardware-accelerated graphics cards, so some games actually look better than they did on the original console.—MDS Free Software—At a Price One Editor's Cautionary Tale A peril in downloading free software is the possibility of picking up malware. As I researched free programs for this story, a sweep of my system with Webroot Spy Sweeper revealed my first-ever Trojan horse, the NSIS Media Extension. It's an insidious adware program that resists every effort to remove it. (Some places classify NSIS as a dangerous Trojan with the potential to offload sensitive ­information, but I haven't seen any accounts alleging identity theft from it.) Many security programs don't detect it at all, and most that do—such as Spy Sweeper—don't get rid of it permanently. Although I quarantined and deleted it, it was back on reboot, along with the pop-up ads it spawns. It actually appears in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list—but if you try to remove it that way, it simply reappears on start-up. Schrock Innovations, a Web site (www.schrockinnovations.com/removensismedia.php) dedicated to removing the NSIS Trojan, recommends starting Windows in Safe Mode, then removing both the NSIS folder that appears in C:\Program Files\Common Files and a specified Firefox folder, emptying your ­Recycle Bin, and removing NSIS Media from the Add/Remove Programs list (and also Firefox, which you'll need to reinstall). The Trojan is usually gone on rebooting, but it didn't work for me. Most of the forums I scoured provided either pat suggestions or complicated Registry tweaks, but one user reported finding two suspect files, krnsvr32.dll and wmdmb32.dll, in his Windows\system32 ­directory. He couldn't delete them, but he was able to neutralize them by moving them to a temp file and ­renaming them. I followed this method, and my system is now NSIS-free. A likely source of my infection is the Arcade Classic Arcade Pack 5, which I had gotten from Download.com, a usually dependable site. Others, too, claim to have picked up the NSIS Trojan from this arcade package, which originated from Openwares.org. We were not, however, able to reproduce the problem. Another frequently blamed source for the infection is the Foxie browser and firewall. Even reliable download sites can sometimes post problem software. My lessons: Look at reader reviews of the program on the download site, and do a Web search on the program's name along with "virus," "Trojan," or "malware."—TH Don't Get Infected! Free software is great! Everybody loves to get something for nothing. But sometimes you get more than you bargained for. That spiffy free game might be a Trojan horse. Or your new browser toolbar could be sending your private ­information back to its home base. How can you get the benefits of free programs while keeping them from dragging along viruses, Trojans, or spyware? You could stick to free feature-limited or personal-use versions of well-known products—they're almost always safe. The vendor wants to help sales of the full-blown product by getting the free version into as many hands as possible. Including spyware would be a major faux pas! Alas, only a few of the many free programs fit this profile. Big download sites scan their files for ­viruses, but they may miss more subtle problems—say, software that selects personally targeted ads by spying on your browsing habits. And with small or ­vendor-specific sites, there's no telling. So use free software to protect yourself! Install a firewall. Scan for spyware before installing apps, using one of many free scans. (But beware—some rogue antispyware programs may actually be malware in disguise. Check out spyware warrior.com.) Let McAfee's free SiteAdvisor steer you away from dangerous sites. With care, you can get something for nothing.—Neil J. Rubenking Meeting the Maker Developer: Bharat Mediratta Open-source creation: Gallery Web address: gallery.menalto.com What it is: A photo editor and manager Profession: Computer scientist and software engineer Day job: Google software engineer Q: How did you come up with the idea for Gallery? A: Gallery started in 2000 as a way to host my own photos. My wife had gone on a trip and had come back with photos. So I stuck them in a folder and made it available on the Web. But it was a horrible navigational experience. So I made a script to handle thumbnails, then one for captions, and created a tiny package that let you display the images. I thought that would be the end of it, but a friend had asked for it, so I put the code on SourceForge so we could collaborate. Soon I realized that a lot of other people were using the script and wanted features. We had hit a sweet spot for digital cameras, and online photo services were available but problematic. So the idea of hosting one's own photos was popular. Q: What is the development process like? A: We have a core team of seven or eight developers, a minor business arm that works with photo services and ISPs, and more people working on translation. The most active group is around 20 people. We follow agile development methodologies, an approach to software development that lets you manage change and work with it. All code is well tested, and core parts of it are ready for release at any given time. We have a more rigorous development environment than most. Q: Why open source? A: When I first conceived of it, I had no interest in making money. I use free and open-source software. It's a form of altruism and is its own end. Financial ends are one way to drive satisfaction, but having hundreds of thousands of people using my creation motivates me much more. We've had offers to buy the project, but I'm happy at my day job. We make money through affiliate relationships and donations—it pays for our expenses. Q: How important has SourceForge been to the project? A: It would have been challenging to do this without SourceForge. The big advantage is its distribution mechanism. Gallery 2 is a large package, and the total downloads run into the terabytes, which is expensive. SourceForge provided us with an out-of-box way to get the project going—mailing lists, forums, bug tracking. It gave us a tremendous amount of visibility.   Q: What's on the horizon for Gallery? A: We're about to release version 2.2, introducing features that will make the product more accessible to the masses, including downloadable plug-ins. Gallery 2 is modular, and in 2.2 you can get a list of modules, one-click install, and can accept or reject features. It provides one-click upgrade for all of your modules, so we can push features up much more rapidly than in the past. SourceForge.net: An Open Source Incubator Spend any time looking for free software and you're sure to run into SourceForge.net, a site operated by VA Software's Open Source Technology Group (OSTG), which also runs Slashdot, ThinkGeek, and Linux.com. SourceForge supports the development of more than 137,000 open-source software projects—in categories as diverse as games, enterprise, multimedia, and system administration—and makes them available for free download, adding more than 100 per day. "We approve all projects before they're created," says Ross Turk, SourceForge's director of engineering. "We make sure they're legitimate projects, licensed under an OSI license. Only a very small percentage are rejected. We don't exert a lot of control over the projects, but they use our tools." Project support SourceForge provides free Web space for the projects, as well as source code management software and other ­development tools, mailing lists and forums, and a centralized tracker for managing defects. The site's statistics and rankings, coupled with SourceForge's reputation, help give the projects visibility. The average project has two or three developers, but others have dozens of people working on them. Many of the programs that we feature in this article (Audacity, FileZilla, and Gaim, to name a few) were incubated at SourceForge. Navigating SourceForge.net Finding one's way around SourceForge.net used to be close to impossible for a newbie, but thanks to some new tools, it's much easier now. When you click on any category on the home page (www.sourceforge.net), you see not only capsule descriptions of software projects ordered by rank, but also a menu showing all the topics and several levels of subtopics. (Rank is determined by recent activity and interest. You can also sort the results by other fields such as the number of downloads, the registration date, the OS, and the license.) You can search for keywords within a project, and an Advanced Search feature lets you find projects by category, submission date, and other descriptors. The streamlined site also makes downloading easier. You no longer have to select a mirror site because the system automatically chooses the one it deems optimal.—TH My Favorite Free Programs   Kevin Rose Founder Digg   AVG Anti-Virus Antivirus app   Eraser Data removal tool   Firefox Web browser   GIMPShop Image editor   Picasa Photo management   SmartFTP FTP applet   Thunderbird E-mail client   John C. Dvorak Contributing Editor PC Magazine   Atomic Clock Sync Time synchronization Drupal Web content management Firefox Web browser IrfanView Image viewer Joomla Web content management Thunderbird E-mail client VLC Media Player Media player WordPress Blog software Rob Malda(aka CmdrTaco) Creator/Director Slashdot   memcached Memory management SpamAssassin E-mail filter VLC Media Player Media player XBMC (Xbox Media Center) Media player       Robyn Peterson Executive Product Director, PCMag.com   iDupe iTunes file manager   LaCie's SilverKeeper Backup tool   MacTheRipper DVD extractor   Quicksilver App launcher   Senuti iPod file manipulationt   Jim Louderback Editor-in-Chief PC Magazine   Audacity Audio editor DBpowerAmp Audio tool FileZilla FTP client/server GIMP Image editor IrfanView Image viewer VLC Media Player Media player Patrick Norton Host, DL.TV Editor, ExtremeTech. com   Audacity Audio editor Firefox Web browser Foxit Reader PDF viewer Golf? 3D golf sim LAME MP3 encoder Opera Mini Mobile web browser RazorLame User interface VLC Media Player Media player