 Windows Utilities This page includes utilities and software you may find useful. Note: The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by Wilson Stewart Systems, Inc. or the information, products, or services contained therein.
 SECUNIA SOFTWARE INSPECTOR DETECTS OUT-OF-DATE SOFTWARE Reducing security risks on your system means keeping all of your applications up to date, not just the operating system. Secunia Software Inspector detects insecure versions of applications installed, verifies that all Microsoft patches are applied, assists you in updating your system and applications, and runs through your browser. No installation or download is required.
DISKEEPER AUTOMATICALLY DEFRAGS YOUR HARD DRIVE Diskeeper is the best utility I've found to keep my hard drive healthy and operating smoothly. One of its best features is “Set It and Forget It” ®. I tell Diskeeper to defrag my hard drive when the screen saver activates. Then it stops when I move my mouse or press a key. There are many other scheduling options. Fragmentation is the primary cause of slow computers. I don't want to have to remember to defragment my hard drive every week or so. Diskeeper takes care of this task so I don't have to.
You can download a trial version before buying. Find out more.
FOXIT READER 2.3
 We've all been using Adobe Acrobat reader for so long we tend to think of it as synonymous with PDF files. But we also know Adobe Acrobat takes a LONG time to open. And if you have had the misfortune to download the latest Adobe Reader 8, you may know it is more than 20 MB in size, occupies more than 115 MB of disk space in Windows XP and takes 15 minutes to complete installation. ALL this to read a simple PDF file? And it is still slow as molasses. Why?
It also launches something called AdobeUpdater and which contacts their servers regularly. Our firewall brought this to our attention. Why should a freeware utility be contacting their server all the time... and without our permission and with no opportunity to turn it off? OK, if a utility performs a mission critical function like registry cleaning or internet connectivity monitoring, then you want to know if there's a new update available which may fix certain issues... but something to read PDF files?
We got tired of being prompted and tired of Adobe Reader, in general. We found a new utility called Foxit Reader 2.3 for Windows.
The download is less than 2 MB, it installs in a flash and occupies less than 4 MB of disk space. And it opens PDF files in a flash also. It is completely free, no strings, no adware, and for most purposes it seems perfectly adequate to us. The first time you go to visit a PDF file online with it, it prompts you to Open or Run like any download file, instead of simply opening in the browser. But if you uncheck 'always ask me' before clicking open... the next time you click on a PDF link it will open straight away in your browser as you are used to.
 If you want a simple freeware tool to create PDF files get PrimoPDF. It installs like a printer would and allows you to convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF printer, and saving a PDF file to your hard drive which you can print, send by email or whatever you need to do. Simple to use and works great.
GIBSON RESEARCH The Internet's quickest, most popular, reliable and trusted, free Internet security checkup and information service. And now in its Port Authority Edition, it's also the most powerful and complete. Check your system here, and begin learning about using the Internet safely.
ADD-IN FOR OUTLOOK TO IDENTIFY JUNK EMAILDownload and install this add-in from SpamBayes to identify and segregate spam email. It works extremely well in automatically identifying spam and junk email, and puts them in a separate Junk Email folder. If it's unsure, it puts the email in a Junk Suspects folder. You can either "Delete As Spam" which will put the message in the Junk Email folder, or "Recover From Spam" which will put the message back in its original folder. It will remember both actions next time. It continues to learn as you use it. Note: It does not work for Outlook Express.
MONITOR YOUR CPU'S TEMPERATURE Motherboard Monitor (MBM) is a tool that will display information from the sensor chip on your motherboard in your Windows system tray. MBM supports a wide range of Chipsets & Sensor Chip combinations. You can download this free program from their Web site.
COMPUTER PROFILE SUMMARY Here's an easy way to document your PC hardware specifications and your installed software. BeLarc Advisor is a small program you can download here and install on your PC. It uses your browser to provide a summary of your system. Download the program, Advisor.exe (620 kb), and install it from Start/Run or Explorer. Once the program starts, click on "Your Profile" and, in a few moments, you will see your computer profile summary displayed in your browser. Just print the page and file for future reference.
SPEAKEASY SPEED TEST  Test your internet connection speed! By measuring the download and upload rate from the following locations you are able to accurately measure your current line throughput or internet connection speed.
BANDWIDTH SPEED TEST Does your Internet connection fly like an eagle or crawl like a tortoise? Is it just your imagination, or is your Internet connection slow today? Whether you are using a cable modem, an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), digital subscriber line (DSL), integrated services digital network (ISDN) connection, or just a plain old dial-up modem, these tests will give you the answer. |
Wilson
Stewart Systems, Inc.
