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Recommended Software

All of the information, instructions, and recommendations on this Web site are offered on a strictly "as is" basis. Remember "Murphy's Law." Please take the proper precautions before attempting any of the tips or modifications listed here.

Contents

Communications

Mozilla Firefox

• Web Browser. Open Source.

Mozilla Firefox Plugin Check

• Check your version of Adobe Flash Player
• Direct Download Links to the current Adobe Flash Player executable installer o
  • For Windows 7 (64-Bit Systems)
    • Download 64-bit Flash Player 11 for Internet Explorer (IE) browsers
    • Download 64-bit Flash Player 11 for non-IE browsers (Firefox, Opera, etc.)
  • For Windows 7/Vista/XP/2008/2003
    • Download 32-bit Flash Player 11 for Internet Explorer (IE) browsers
  • Download 32-bit Flash Player 11 for non-IE browsers (Firefox, Opera, etc.)
  • For Mac OS X 10.4 – 10.7 (all)
    • Download Flash Player 11 for Safari, Firefox, Opera
• Flash Settings Manager
• Note: ProDesignTools.com, is an affiliate of Adobe Systems

NoScript

• NoScript Firefox extension provides extra protection for Firefox, Flock, Seamonkey and other mozilla-based browsers: this free, open source add-on allows JavaScript, Java, Flash and other plugins to be executed only by trusted web sites of your choice (e.g. your online bank), and provides the most powerful Anti-XSS protection available in a browser.

QuickProxy

• Easy one-click toggle to disable or enable proxy server settings.

Video DownloadHelper

• DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.
• re: Conversion: Disable the automatic conversion in DownloadHelper, since it will add a watermark/logo to the resulting video. Use FormatFactory to convert the downloaded .flv to .avi or .mp3.

Mozilla Thunderbird

• E-mail client. Open Source.

• Free Web-based e-mail with losts of on-line storage. Supports POP3 (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) so you can use Thunderbird to access your Gmail account. Using Thunderbird allows you to store your e-mail locally which allows you to backup your e-mail.
• To backup your Gmail by downloading all the mail to your your local hard drive
  • Go to: Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab > POP Download section:
    1. Enable POP for all mail (even mail that's already been downloaded)
    2. When messages are accessed with POP "keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox"
       
  • This setting will leave everything on-line in Gmail but you'll have a local duplicate of everything in Thunderbird that you can then backup.
• If you can't afford to loose the contents of your Gmail account, then make sure to download and backup on a regular basis.

Multimedia

VLC Media player

• VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player supporting most audio and video formats (H.264, Ogg, DivX, MKV, TS, MPEG-2, mp3, MPEG-4, aac, ...) from files, physical media (DVDs, VCD, Audio-CD), TV capture cards and many network streaming protocols.
• It can also convert media files, transcode and act as a streaming server over unicast or multicast and IPv4 or IPv6.

JetAudio Media player

• Audio/Video playback. Supports All Major File Formats, including RealAudio.

Xvid Codec

• To play XviD and DivX videos you may need to install the XviD codec on your computer. Try VLC Media Player first.

GSpot Codec Information Appliance

• Establishes what codecs (audio and video) are required to play a media file.
• Determines whether these codecs are installed on your system.
• Isolates problems associated with these codecs.
• Isolates problems associated with media files
• Shows framerate, duration, aspect ratio, bitrates, "hidden" info, and more.

FastStone Image Viewer

• Fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, retouching and color adjustments. Its innovative but intuitive full-screen mode provides quick access to EXIF information, thumbnail browser and major functionalities via hidden toolbars that pop up when your mouse touches the four edges of the screen. Free for home users.
• Warning: As of v4.6, the embedded EXIF thumbnail image is not updated when an image is cropped and saved to a file. Unfortunately, this failure allows the viewing of the original thumbnail image using readily available tools. Also, Android OS phones using Gmail automatically display the preview of this incorrect EXIF thumbnail by default. This is a privacy/security issue. See: Cat Schwartz Exposed

DVD Flick

• DVD Flick can take a number of video files (avi, wmv, etc) stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks, subtitles, as well as a menu for easier navigation.

Audacity

• Audacity is a free audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

  • Record live audio.
  • Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
  • Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
  • Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
  • Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
  • More...
• How to Create a Clean Version of a Song

ImgBurn

• A lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application. Supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

DAEMON Tools

• A virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulator. Let's you access an image / ISO of a CD/DVD.

BonkEnc Project

• A CD ripper, audio encoder and converter for various formats. It can produce MP3, MP4/M4A, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Bonk and FLAC files. Can convert FLAC to MP3. Free, Open source.

FormatFactory

• A multifunctional media converter. Converts all popular video, audio, and picture formats to other formats. e.g. flac to MP3, mkv to avi, flac to mp3, etc.

Mp3tag

• A tool to edit metadata (ID3, Vorbis Comments and APE) of common audio formats. It can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists and more.

Mp3splt Project

• A utility to split mp3 and ogg files by selecting a begin and end time position, without decoding.
• By not decoding, editing, then re-encoding an MP3, you won't degrade the audio quality.

Merge MP3

• Merge/combine multiple sound files into one recording.
• Does not decode, then re-encode the MP3's, so you won't degrade the audio quality when merging.

AllToAVI

• A tool to convert, especially ogm and mkv, files to avi, with subtitle and audio track selection, video resizing, bitrate selection and codec selection.

Medieval Cue Splitter

• CUE Splitter is a freeware tool that split a single big audio track, mostly an album or a compilation, into the relative individual audio tracks, using information contained in the associated "CUE" file. (MP3, APE, FLAC, OGG, WAV, WMA, etc.) See: Split CD Images To Individual Tracks

Security / Privacy

NoScript

• NoScript Firefox extension provides extra protection for Firefox, Flock, Seamonkey and other mozilla-based browsers: this free, open source add-on allows JavaScript, Java, Flash and other plugins to be executed only by trusted web sites of your choice (e.g. your online bank), and provides the most powerful Anti-XSS protection available in a browser.

LastPass

• LastPass is a password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure. Optimally, you should have a different username/password for every Web site. You'll only need one strong password for LastPass, and let LastPass encrypt, remember, and fill in the username and password for all the other Web sites you visit.
  • LastPast Configuration
    • Make sure to uncheck "Remember Email" and "Show My LastPass Vault After Login" on the Login screen
    • And under: Preferences > General: enable "Automatically Logoff when all browsers are closed for (mins)" and set the time to 1 min
• Video: Why use LastPass?
• SecurityNow! Episode #256: In-depth review and evaluation of LastPass (52:28 - 01:53:00). [Show Notes]
• Review: LastPass password manager
• Password Haystacks

TrueCrypt

• Free open-source file and hard disc drive encryption. Can encrypt an entire hard drive partition or a device, such as USB flash drive, floppy disk, etc. AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent (256-bit key), Triple DES, and Twofish (256-bit key).

AntiVirus & Malware Scanners and Cleaners

Live AntiVirus and Recovery Discs

• Links to free ISO files that you can use to create bootable discs that can clean an infected Windows system.

Microsoft Security Essentials

• Provides real-time protection for your PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

• Detects and removes malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect.
• A free version is available.

Spybot - Search & Destroy

• Searches your hard drive for so-called spy- or adbots; little modules that are responsible for the ads many programs display. But many of these modules also transmit information about your surfing behaviour and more to the net.

Diagnostics

Process Monitor by SysInternals

• Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity. Free.

SpinRite by Steve Gibson ( grc.com )

• Hard drive data recovery and maintenance
• SpinRite is worth every penny of its $89 cost.
• I recommend that you run SpinRite on:
  • all your hard drives on a regular basis.
  • new hard drives before putting them into production.
• SpinRite 6.0 may stop responding to USB keyboard input on some systems.
  • My experience is that the USB keyboard input stops working properly after SpinRite has been running for a while. This is more than enough time to select the drives or partitions and the operation level.
  • Some have have said that plugging the USB keyboard in the port under the Ethernet port works. That has not been my experience.
• Beware: It's confirmed that some malware/viruses/trojans have been named SpinRite.exe. You've been warned. You should purchase a legit copy to be safer and to support the author.

OS Utilities

Bulk Rename Utility

• Allows you to easily rename files and directories. Replace numbers, insert strings, convert case, add auto-numbers, process folders and subfolders, and more.

Programming / Web Development

Web Developer extension

• The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools to Mozilla Firefox.
• Lets you examine, filter, etc. the different components of a Web page, such as CSS, Forms, etc.