Freeware programs to keep handy?

[Cooper]

I guess I'm my family's, and my boss's, tech kid, so I want to be prepared, especially after I was /way/ in over my head. My Dad's laptop got a virus that knew what I was trying to do, and every time I removed viruses, it would hide itself, and add new ones.

Normally, most of them are fine, and I rarely have to go in, but there are two pop-ups they always click on and NEVER should: A pop-up that claims they need to update their program everyone uses, like java or flash, and of course, my sister will click on almost anything. I think she's getting better, but still, every time she gets on my parent's computers, they get viruses.

I have handy: Malawarebytes, rkill, and fixncr.reg.

Any programs of any types, not just freeware or virus removal, would be good to hear about.

[mjr]

Are you looking for software in general, or software specific to removing viruses? And what type? Development? Office? Networking? Graphics?

If you're looking for software in general, I can make a few recommendations.

First, if you want a Microsoft Office type software, I'd suggest going with OpenOffice. It basically has all the functionality of Microsoft Office, but it's free, and you can save in the Microsoft formats (.docx, .xlsx, etc.)

If you want to learn development, PHP and Perl are both free to download. Microsoft has "express" editions of several of it's products, including Visual Studio and SQL Server, so if you want to learn to develop with Microsoft technologies you could go that route.

Also, the Java Development Kit (referred to as the JDK) might be helpful.

I do also believe that Oracle has a version of their database you can download, as well. You have to register at their site (no charge, just requires your name and email), and the two zip files are HUGE (they're each probably 1 GB zip files). If you go that route, I'd recommend JDeveloper for your Oracle Database learning.

Additionally, you might want to look into MySQL as another database. I can't really recommend an IDE (development environment) for it, because I use EMS MySQL Lite, and I don't know if they started charging for newer versions or not.

As far as development environments, I've already mentioned Visual Studio. There's also Eclipse, and Eclipse for PHP. Notepad++ is pretty good, too.

If you're looking for a good email client, I'd suggest Mozilla Thunderbird.

As far as Graphics go, on my machine it's a little buggy, but you might want to check out the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (also referred to as GIMP) or GIMPShop (a "hack" of GIMP that's closer to Photoshop).

If you have the ability and the resources to do this (i.e. a separate, but newer computer that's just laying around) I'd also suggest Ubuntu Linux as an operating system (on a SEPARATE computer -- I have this setup at home). Ubuntu has hundreds (if not thousands) of apps to choose from...

That's just some stuff off the top of my head.

[dalesys]

There's a stickied thread on this topic in Tech Help...

[CaptainJaneway]

I know you want free software but I suggest you invest in a good anti- virus program with a built in firewall plus anti-spam and what not.

You should look at getting Norton 360 which will do all the above and tune up your pc. I have it on all my computers and it is pretty good at catching stuff. It allows you to install on three computers.

Norton also has a parental control that is free to download with Norton. You can monitor and block things on the computer to keep them from going places they shouldn't.

You also might want to think about setting up separate accounts for your parents and sister. So if your sister clicks on something she shouldn't and it has a virus at least you can isolate the problem.

If they are using IE you may want to switch over to firefox or chrome. The have plugins that you can download to prevent pop ups or not to accept cookies. Besides IE is a virus waiting to happen anyway. It is prone to a lot of problems.

For your virus problems try hijackthis that will at least let you look and see where the virus is hiding. You may want to boot in safe mode.

You can try going to Norton's website and see if you can run their free scanner. They do have virus removal tools.

Though if the virus won't let you remove it in windows you may have to do it at boot. You may have to make a boot disk or if you get the Norton software you can pop that in and it will do the scan before you boot into windows. just make sure that you select the cd rom to boot first in the bios.

[Lady Legira]

You should look at getting Norton 360 which will do all the above and tune up your pc. I have it on all my computers and it is pretty good at catching stuff. It allows you to install on three computers.

Given I know a Grey Hat who can be in and out of Norton in under 30s and you'll never know that they've been there, it's not on my recommendations.

I use the full AVG and I've never had a problem with it. Also they do a free version for anti virus which I've used and it's always been pretty good.

[fireheart]

I use avast on my laptop. Very easy to use.

[BlackCat]

One freeware program that I highly recommend is Macrium Reflect. I use this as my backup program (or when I transfer computers to keep a handy copy of my previous computer). The neat thing about it is that you can 'mount' the backup file as if it was the actual hard drive(s) plugged in (except it's read only) (It's similar to Symantec Ghost)

(This is a program that when someone at work asked about a backup proggy and I mentioned it, half the other people in the room all started saying yeah I use that too, it's great)

[Rapscallion]

There's a stickied thread on this topic in Tech Help...

True dat.

Rapscallion