Programs Which Deserve A Mention

The programs listed here have been or are used by me personally. I therefore know they are very stable and serve a good purpose. Whether you just need an extra program to give your computer an edge or just perform some useful routine, these programs deserve examination. These programs are not unique and there are other similar programs available. The point is, those mentioned are tried, tested and work well. I have not included the obvious top end or well known applications.

These are just a couple of the programs I believe deserve a special mention for the reasons given. I have tried to not get too technical and keep the descriptions as short as possible. In most cases, there is plenty of help either online, FAQ's or support via Email.

Winrescue, by Superwin is in my mind, the next best thing to tape or other media backup. It has rescued my PC on a number of occasions. It is a program which backs up your most vital PC files to a Folder. This includes the Registry, Application Data, Start up and System files. It can then restore everything as it was when the backup was run. If it is run before installing any application or program, it will ensure you can recover your PC if it gets messed up in the process.

I have even had my PC trashed by a Scanner Driver! Was I glad I had run Winrescue first. It allows you to set the PC back to what it was before the event which crashed it. Run on a regular basis, it will ensure its backed up data is never too far out of date. There are various versions for Windows, and NT. The initial version is a 30 day trial version and there are a few minor restrictions.

Innoculate - Personal Edition, is an excellent Virus Scanner which rates amongst the best. It is by Computer Associates and the nice thing is that it is currently FREE for personal use. Like other similar programs, it can be updated over the internet and its internal scheduler can be set to remind mind you as often as you feel necessary to do the update.

Once installed and registered, the update is simply a matter clicking to agree on the download of latest signature files and then agree it can install them for you. Nothing could be easier. I have set mine to update every seven days. It works with Dial Up, Cable and / or Proxy Servers. Its overhead is quite small compared with other similar programs nor does it seem to slow down the PC either on boot or when running. It can be downloaded from this link.

Copernic is an excellent search engine and has several categories for search criteria. Be it Web, Newsgroups, Software etc, you can set the category to search in. I was first introduced to this in 1999 and the program has just continued to get better. You can download a slightly reduced option version which can at a later stage be registered to obtain the full subject functionality. In its download form, it is extremely useable and a lot of people won't want any of the missing features. I like the way it does simultaneous searches through several search engines together. Get it here.

Adfilter is just great for getting rid of those nuisance POP UP screens and the unwanted adverts they portray. True, there are some instances when you want the pop ups and adverts to display, like when you are using a free web service which relies on advertising to pay for what you are using. In this case, Adfilter has an exception list and the sites URL is simply entered into this list. Adfilter also has the facility to be used as a Web Site Filter with Adult content filtering being the main purpose. This can filter out Bad Language, Pornography and Violence. It is protected by Password if needed so it cannot just be turned off by anyone.

Finally, it has a feature which stops your Private information being passed out from your PC back to unauthorised parties. In test's I have conducted, it certainly stopped pop up screens I had previously encountered. Trying to go or select links to other less friendly or adult sites met with an Adfilter Blocking message. If you have children or in a Company/Firm responsible for stopping people accessing sites which could get your firm into dispute, then do try this. Its free for 14 Days after which they would like you to register and buy the appropriate license/s.

Winroute is a combined NAT server and Firewall with an Internet sharing and Mailbox facility for one or more computers. NAT stands for 'Network Address Translation'. All Internet activity is passed via Winroute which modifies the PC's TCP/IP address before sending the request out to the internet. When the reply comes back for that address, Winroute accepts it and restores its correct address before sending back to the orginating PC.

On the next request, the address sent out will usually be different from the previous one. This ensures anyone trying to hack addresses will have a hard time holding an address long enough to track it. Unknown received addresses and 'Pings' are simply blocked. The Firewall has the standard facility of setting input and output port exceptions thus allowing special software, using non standard ports, access to and from the internet. Its Mail Server is great and can act as an internal mail server and or internet mail server.

A scheduler is included to allow automatic connection to an ISP to download mail to its mail server. When the user next logs in and checks mail, any received mail is already on the server and instantly transferred. There are many more features not mentioned and it does require a little knowledge to set it up correctly. There are excellent FAQ's and guides to assist the user and a number of newsgroups mention Winroute. 'Winroute Lite' is a version which does not support a mail server but will allow the new user to get to know it.

I am sure there are many programs which either fulfill a special role or are simply too good to be missed, like Innoculate. So don't just keep it a secret and share your program 'Gems' with others. Please let me know ([email protected] ) your favourite or special program which you feel may be of benefit to others and I will test it out and post any such 'Gems' here afterwards.