Free Utilities

AD-Aware - Some of the ad-enabled software that finds its way from the Internet onto your computer is spyware. Some spyware not only tracks what you do on the Web but sends reports back to its site/developer. AD-Aware can identify the culprits for you and disable the ones you wish to be disabled.

Xdrive - offers 100 MB's of free space on the Web to store your files - MP3's, pictures or documents (either free up space on your hard drive or store back-ups online). You can play MP3's online, re-download them to your hard drive or share them with your friends...

Blade's MP3 Encoder - will convert .wav files to MP3, shrinking a 6 megabyte song to about one tenth the size.

Gurunet - this is an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas and more for your online convenience. By pressing 'alt' and clicking on any word or name in a document Gurunet supplies you with info on that person, place, business (including stock quotes) or thing. If you 'alt' click on a phone area code you can even get the location and current weather there.

Corkboard - is part personal information manager (PIM) and part screen saver. Its got calendars, sticky notes, to do lists, built in alarm, animated gizmos, Holiday themes and more. Here's a screenshot. (There are many add ons for it after the free registeration)

Password Sesame - once this program is set up, it watches for a log-on page - then automatically launches to list your password and user ID
(you don't need to sort through the list).

RegClean - removes errors from the Windows 95/NT Registry. The program scans your Registry for problems and provides you with the option of canceling or automatically fixing the errors and creates an Undo.reg file in the RegClean folder (it intentionally errs on the side of caution - better safe than sorry). My computer used to freeze-up alot more often, especially when shutting it down. I've found this utility helpful.

PrintKey - Want to capture anything on your monitor's screen? If you want to post a picture of your 'Desktop' on the Web or capture just a small rectangular area of a Webpage to view later - this utility is very handy. Captures can be saved in several formats or just sent to your printer. PrintKey can also resize the image, adjust the colors and more.

----HARD DRIVE UTILITY----

DISK USAGE WINDOWS - If your Hard Drive is getting full, this utility is not only easier but Many times faster than Windows Explorer for finding out which of your files or folders are the most bloated. It actually allows you to view the Size of all the major folders on your hard drive in one window. Pick one of those folders and you can see the size of IT'S folders and files in a single window.

----COOKIE MANAGING UTILITIES----

*COOKIES are small bits of information placed on your hard drive usually to keep track of how often you visit a WebSite, what ads you view, how long you spend on a page and other harmless info.... BUT they Can be used to obtain your phone number, real life address and even your credit card number.... Beware the sites you visit!

ZDNet's COOKIE MASTER allows you to view and Safely delete your browser's cookies. Cookie Master is one of several utilities that are free downloads to ZDNet members (don't worry - membership is Free).

Once any unwanted cookies are deleted you can surf with your remaining cookies invisible with ANONYMOUS COOKIE. This utility also allows you to refuse cookies without having to configure you browser to notify you of a Website's attempts to place a cookie on your hard drive and relieves you of the Chore of constantly refusing the cookies manually. Two clicks turns the anonymous feature On or Off.

----MISC. LINKS----

The World Fact Book has information and maps of all countries of the world as compiled by the CIA (yes, even the CIA has a Web site).

visits since september 1997