1. eaning up your system and help to speed it up. The tools below are all free and from my personal collection. So, why not catch up on a little much needed maintenance?

1. CCleaner (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
This is probably my favorite maintenance tool. What does the C in CCleaner stand for you may ask? C = Crap and it’s exactly what it does. Cleans out the crap by removing all the stuff you don’t need such as your temporary files, recycle bin, clipboard, etc. You can also use the registry tool to find and fix errors.

2. Revo Uninstaller (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Revo Uninstaller lets you uninstall programs in a quicker and smarter way. It scans before & after you uninstall a program & finds all the folders and files associated with the program. You can remove all traces of the program, including registry items.

3. Ad-Aware 2008 (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista(32- and 64-bit)
Ad-Aware cleans your system by scanning your RAM, Registry and hard drives for known data-mining, advertising & tracking components.

4. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/2008 Server)
Disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup and shutdown and sometimes to system failures. Auslogics Disk Defrag is designed for fast optimization of today’s modern hard disks. Get the maximum performance out of your expensive hardware investments.

5. Auslogics Registry Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Your registry is accessed by Microsoft Windows and many other programs hundreds of times per second. This leaves your registry fragmented and can slow your computer down. Auslogics Registry Defrag can speed your computer up by defragmenting your registry.

Other Great Optimization & Cleaning Tips
11 Ways to Optimize your MAC
Guide to Tweak & Optimize Windows Vista
Optimize Windows XP
LifeHacker’s Top 10 Ways to Clean Up Your PC

I currently use each of the programs listed above on a regular basis and love them all. Each of the programs listed is awesome in it’s own respect, but CCleaner is hands down my favorite maintenance tool. Revo Uninstaller is shooting up my list of favorites as well. The ability to remove all traces of folders, registry entries, etc. when uninstalling programs is fantastic. Do you have any favorite, free maintenance tools you’d recommend? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

I wanted to share some of the best free programs that are available to help [...]]]> In today’s information age, if you don’t have defense to help prevent and fight against all the spyware, adware, viruses and countless other threats that exist, you are losing the battle. Fortunately, we can defend ourselves by using free programs.

I wanted to share some of the best free programs that are available to help keep spyware down, speed up your system, block those popups, keep the viruses away, etc. I have a computer security background, but am in no way an expert on these programs. I linked each program to its download.com downloading location since they are a reliable downloading source that will provide you with additional information, ratings, downloads, etc.

The listing below will hopefully provide enough options for both MAC & Windows users. Also, the extensive listing is to provide different options for you. I wouldn’t recommend downloading too many of these programs, since it would bog down your computer.

Anti-Spyware
1. Ad-Aware 2008 (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista(32- and 64-bit)
Ad-Aware cleans your system by scanning your RAM, Registry and hard drives for known data-mining, advertising & tracking components.

2. HijackThis (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP)
HijackThis is a very handy program that scans your registry and files, then gives you a report. Rather than try to “fix” any programs yourself, you can copy the log file and post it in the HijackThis forum for assistance. They can tell you exactly what to remove. I’ve used this program on several occasions and love it.

3. Spybot – Search and Destroy (Windows 2000/XP/Vista)
Spybot finds and removes adware files from your computer and has the capability to clean Web-usage tracks from your system. If you are on the advanced side, you can use it to fix adware and malware-related inconsistencies in your Registry.

4. WindowsDefender
Windows Defender gives you protection against pop-ups, security threats from spyware, slow performance and other unwanted programs. It will find the spyware and remove it. Windows Defender gives you real-time protection and provides recommendations for actions to take against spyware.

5. SpywareBlaster (Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista )
SpywareBlaster prevents spyware from being installed by preventing the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, dialers, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted programs. It also includes a System Snapshot feature, which lets you take a snapshot of your computer in its clean state that you can later revert back to if necessary.

6. Spyware Terminator (Windows 2000/XP/Vista )
Spyware Terminator gives you real-time and antivirus protection. Use it to remove spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, home page hijackers, and malware threats. It’s easy to use and doesn’t suck up too much of your system resources.

Privacy
7. CCleaner (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Another program I use on a regular basis, CCleaner is an excellent tool to remove your temporary files, history, cookies and many more unecessary stuff that slows down your computer as it builds. It will surprise you how much memory it frees up. It normally eliminates around 300MB to 500MB of space each time I run it.

8. KeyScrambler (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
KeyScrambler is a free plug-in for your browser that helps to protects everything you type from both known and unknown keyloggers.

9. Eraser (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Eraser is an advanced security tool that lets you completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive. It works by overwriting it several times to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive.

10. Simple File Shredder (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server)
Simple File Shredder securely deletes your files so they can’t be restored. The deleted file will exist in a recoverable state until it’s over-written with other data. Simple File Shredder overwrites your files with with random bytes before it’s deleted. If the file was ever restored using recovery software, it would be worthless.

11. Hotspot Shield (Mac OS X 10.4) | Hotspot Shield (Windows 2000/XP/Vista)
Hotspot Shield lets you maintain your anonymity and protect your privacy when accessing free wi-fi hotspots.

Encryption
12. AirSnare(Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server)
AirSnare is an intrusion detection system that monitors your wireless network. When you get any unfriendly addresses or requests, you’ll get an alert and you have the option to track it’s access to IP Addresses and Ports.

13. TruCrypt(MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard)
TrueCrypt helps protect your sensitive data by its open-source disk encryption software. You can encrypt an entire hard disk partition or a device, such as USB flash drive.

Anti-Virus
14. AVG (Windows 2000/XP/Vista )
AVG Free Edition Antivirus provides provides a high level of detection. It’s easy to use and is lean so it won’t slow your system down by its use. AVG Resident Shield provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run.

15. Avast (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista )
Avast is a lean antivirus program that doesn’t suck up all your computer’s resources. It takes care of your viruses and also provides live scanning as a first line of defense.

16. iAntiVirus (Mac OS X 10.5)
iAntiVirus protects against threats attempting to gain access to your Mac and personal information. You’ll get real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your Mac remains safe and virus free.

17. Avira AntiVir (Windows 2000/XP/Vista )
Avira AntiVir is an easy to use antivirus that provides malware recognition of viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, worms, etc. The Virus Guard gives you real-time monitoring.

Firewalls
18. ZoneAlarm (Windows 2000/XP/Vista)
ZoneAlarm is an easy to use firewall that allows you to configure outbound protection. ZoneAlarm works by giving you a pop-up alert and you can allow or deny the connection.

19. Ashampoo (Windows 2000/XP)
Ashampoo FireWall is a program that is lean and doesn’t suck up too much of your memory and resources. It is simple to setup and features a Configuration Assistant that helps guide you through each step of setting your firewall up. If you are a beginner, just select Easy Mode and it will walk you right through it.

20. Online Armor (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Online Armor Firewall is mentioned as the “first free firewall to pass 100% of leak tests out of the box.” Online Armor is a powerful firewall that has several security features, but is also designed to be easy to use.

Firefox Plugins
21. McAfee Site Advisor for Firefox (Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Firefox 1.5)
McAfee Site Advisor is a tool that protects you from various web-based security threats, which include spyware, spam, adware, viruses, online fraud and identity theft, etc. When you are surfing the net, downloading or even registering online, Site Advisor provides safety ratings.

22. Flashblock (Windows XP/Vista, Firefox: 1.4.1 3.0a7) Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that blocks all Macromedia Flash content on a webpage from loading. If you wish to view a particular placeholder, you can click to view it.

23. WOT (Windows (all), Mozilla Firefox 1.5/2.0/3.0/3.)
WOT lets you see reliability of companies and websites and warn you before you interact with a harmful sites. As you search with Google, you will see a icons by each link; green to go, yellow to slow down, red to stop. You can easily customize the protection level to your way of surfing the Web.

24. Adblock Plus (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista, Firefox 1.5, Thunderbird 1.5, SeaMonkey 1.0)
Adblock Plus elminates ads and banners. Right-click on a banner and choose Adblock from the context menu – the banner won’t be downloaded again. Or click Adblock Plus icon in the toolbar to see all elements of the page and block the banners.

Utilities
25. Smart Defrag (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Disk fragmentation is generally main cause of slow and unstable computer performance. Smart Defrag helps defragment your hard drive most efficiently. Smart Defrag not only defragments computer deeply but optimizes disk performance. With ‘install it and forget it’ feature, Smart Defrag works automatically and quietly in the background on your PC, keeping your hard disk running at its speediest. Smart Defrag is complete free for home, organization, and business.

26. Glary Utilities (Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Glary Utilities is a collection of easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. You can clean junk files, invalid registry entries, traces of your internet activity and so many more tasks with this program.

27. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/2008 Server)
Disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup and shutdown and sometimes to system failures. Auslogics Disk Defrag is designed for fast optimization of today’s modern hard disks. Get the maximum performance out of your expensive hardware investments.

28. Speedfan (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003)
Ever wanted to checkout your voltages, fan speeds and temperatures within your computers that have hardware monitor chips? Speedfan can do all this and more.

29. Auslogics Registry Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Your registry is accessed by Microsoft Windows and many other programs hundreds of times per second. This leaves your registry fragmented and can slow your computer down. Auslogics Registry Defrag can speed your computer up by defragmenting your registry.

30. Recover Files (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Ever delete something you wish you could get back? Recover Files can undelete and recover deleted files after you’ve deleted them. Recover Files can get back files you have deleted from your recycle bin, drive, flash cards, portable devices, etc.

31. Process Explorer (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server)
Process Explorer gives you detailed information about processes your computer is running. You can see each processes memory statistics, security attributes, icon, etc.

32. Belarc Advisor (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Belarc Advisor is a handy tool that shows a profile of both installed software and hardware. You’ll see information such as Microsoft Hotfixes and software serial numbers

33. Abexo Free Registry Cleaner (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP)
Abexo Free Registry Cleaner can help make your computer faster by cleaning your Windows registry. You can backup, cleanup and defragment your registry with this tool.

34. Free IP Scanner (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Free IP scanner is a IP and port scanner that can help you monitor and manage your network. It works by pinging each IP address to check if it’s alive and can also resolve its hostname, scan ports, etc.

35. MSKeyViewer (Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
MSKeyViewer retrieves Microsoft product installation keys and service pack levels, then provides them in a listing for you. This can come in handy. If you ever need to reinstall software, chances are you don’t have the product keys. It supports quite a bit of different products.

36. Fresh Diagnose (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Fresh Diagnose works by analyzing and benchmarking your computer. It can handle many types of hardware, including CPUs, hard disks, video systems, and mainboards. This tool can help show you more information about your computer and components, detect or diagnose problems, and increase performance.

Do you have any great free utilities or programs you would like to share?

Though the article specifies Geek, many of these are programs are ones that we all can use, regardless of knowledge level.

The categories are below and are also shortcuts to [...]]]> Ever wonder what programs computer geeks use? Free Geekery has published an article that covers 101 Great Freeware and Shareware Programs Every Geek Needs.

Though the article specifies Geek, many of these are programs are ones that we all can use, regardless of knowledge level.

The categories are below and are also shortcuts to those programs;
Audio | Browsers | Compression | Desktop Enhancements | Download/Upload Clients | E-Mail Tools | FAX and Telephony | Graphics & Photo | Internet (Surfing) | iPod Tools | MySQL Database Tools | Networking | Office Productivity | Personal Finance | Programmers | Security | System Utilities | Tweaks | Web Authors/Owners

Are there any great freeware or shareware tools that you prefer? Do you have a recommendation for any other great sites that offer free tools?