Links to Computer-Related Web Sites - Page 1 - A to G |
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The website links are arranged in alphabetical order. Use either of the menus below to access them.
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Required to read documents in the PDF format. - Version 6.0 is available now - http://www.adobe.com/acrobat
Gymnast v3.5 - Windows9x/2000/XP - 1.4MB - free
Converts your documents to the PDF format, readable by the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
http://www.oakworth.demon.co.uk/gymnast.htm
Foxit PDF Reader is a free reader for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it. Much better than the bloated Acrobat Reader. -
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
ADSL Guide (For advice on (A)DSL broadband connections to the Internet) - http://www.adslguide.org.uk
ADSL Resource Page (Caters for all of your DSL requirements) - http://www.nwfusion.com/research/dsl.html
AMI - American Megatrends Incorporated (BIOS manufacturer) - http://www.megatrends.com
Home Page - http://www.amd.com
Ask AMD - to access the AMD Knowledge Base - http://ask.amd.com/
AnandTech (Motherboard and other useful information and reviews) - http://www.anandtech.com/
ANTI-VIRUS - VIRUS PROGRAMS/SCANNERS
The links to virus scanners have been moved to the new Security pages on this site.
ATI - the famous video-card and video-chip manufacturer - http://ati.amd.com/
Creative (Labs) - European site for sound-card drivers, forums, a Knowledge Base, and manuals.
http://www.europe.soundblaster.com/support/drivers/most.asp
Audacity - version 0.98 - W9x/2k/XP - Free - 1.3MB - import all the major audio formats, edit, mix, and apply effects until you have created the masterpiece you probably fluked. - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Award (BIOS chip manufacturer - now part of Phoenix) - http://www.phoenix.com/en/home/
Look under the letter B for other BIOS or BIOS-related sites.
Click here! to go to the page on this site that covers backups.
Batchrun - allows you to create batch files by using a program with a graphical user interface (GUI) -
DOS Batch Files - http://www.fpschultze.de/batstuff.html
Xen - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mrx9000
Try copying "dos batch files" (as is) into the Google search box at the top of this page to find more sites.
The BIOS section of this site contains plenty of useful information on the BIOS setup program.
Bioscentral.com -"BIOS Central is not for everyone. It is intended to be a technical reference home site for technicians and advanced computer users who troubleshoot computers using Power-On Self-Test cards or diagnostics, developers or technicians who want to find or add POST code information, users who want to flash their BIOSes, people who want to solve computer hardware or firmware problems, and anyone who wants to submit or read a competent review on PC maintenance products like diagnostic software, test cards, and recovery tools and other utilities. You are still welcome if you are a computer neophyte. On both sides of this text you can see many links to click on to access our reference lists and other material. You may learn some useful and interesting things here." - http://www.bioscentral.com/
CTBIOS - a DOS utility that can identify a BIOS. Click here! to download a copy in a 36KB Zip file.
Award (BIOS chip manufacturer - now owned by Phoenix) - http://www.phoenix.com/en/home/
AMI - American Megatrends Incorporated (BIOS manufacturer) - http://www.megatrends.com and http://www.ami.com/.
BIOS (CMOS) Battery Replacement Site - how to replace a BIOS battery
http://www.monster-hardware.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6
LostCircuits BIOS Guide - http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/bios2/1.shtml
BIOS Upgrades - site (Covers all BIOSes) - http://www.unicore.com/
BIOS Wizard - identifies your BIOS - replacements can be purchased here - http://www.esupport.com/index.cfm
Basic BIOS Tweaking Guide (12/07/2001) - http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=67
BIOS Tuning Guide (26/02/2002) - http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=192
BIOS Tweak and Settings Guide - http://www.3dspotlight.com/tweaks/bios/print.shtml
Wim's BIOS Page - probably the best BIOS site on the web - http://www.wimsbios.com/
Flashbios Site - Inter alia, an inexpensive BIOS chip reprogramming service - http://www.flashbios.org
BadFlash.com - Jack (the site owner) provides an excellent, efficient, inexpensive service. E-mail him the identification string of the BIOS your computer uses, and a link to the download of the particular BIOS file update, and he will send you a BIOS chip pre-programmed with it, ready to install in the motherboard. - http://www.badflash.com/
Note well - read the documentation that is provided before attempting to use these programs.
Boot-US - http://www.boot-us.com/
TinyApps - "Small is beautiful" - http://www.tinyapps.org/system.html
Find others by using a phrase in the Google search box at the top of this page such as: free + "boot manager" + "enter your version of Windows between these quotation marks".
BOOT FLOPPY DISKS/CDs/DVDs
August 9, 2005. - BartPE is a free utility that allows you to create a bootable Windows XP CD that operates from the CD completely independently of an installed version of Windows, allowing you to troubleshoot and repair an ailing installation of Windows. For more information on the utility and how to use it to create the bootable CD visit Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD. - http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Many plugins are available that you can add to the BartPE CD in order to increase what it can achieve. To find them, enter bartpe + plugins in the Google search box at the top of this page with its Web radio button enabled. Here is a site that offers such plugins:
BartPE Plugin Repository - http://www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugins_Repository.php
Moreover, you can add entire programs, such as this excellent free disk-imaging application:
DriveImage XML - Image and Backup logical Drives and Partitions - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
You could therefore make an image of an entire hard drive and save it to a recordable DVD disc if the system can be booted from a BartPE CD with this program installed on it.
The Ultimate Boot CD set of utilities is indispensable for thousands of DOS, Windows, and Linux users. Windows and DOS users should download the 44.7MB .ZIP file, which contains a self-extracting .EXE. Linux users should download the 101MB .ISO download. You then burn these utilities to a bootable CD. Visit the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) site to see all of the open-source or freeware products that are provided in the downloads. - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
This free command-line utility for Windows XP only can be used to burn an ISO file to CD/DVD disks: http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
Bootdisk.com (Downloads of ready-made boot disks, drivers, patches, Microsoft's RegClean, and TweakUI) - http://www.bootdisk.com
Emergency Boot CD from http://www.ebcd.pcministry.com/
Bart's Boot Disks
Everything you need to create network, CD-ROM, or Windows NT4 boot disks is on this website. There are files available that you can use for creating a boot disk for SCSI devices, or even a bootable CD. -
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ - system boot disk
http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd - bootable CDs
Boot-disk sets for Windows XP Home and Professional - links to pages on Microsoft.com
XP Home Edition - "Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 1 Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install"
XP Pro - "Windows XP Pro Edition with Service Pack 1 Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install"
Startdisk.com
"This single disk offers: Virus Scan Option, Restoration of System Files, Rapid Windows Installs, Identification of PC Hardware, Extraction of Windows CD files, Year 2000 Readiness Check, Full Hard Drive Test, and PC Memory Optimization. CAUTION: The Ultimate Boot Disk is optimized for modern PCs. If you have less than 32MB of RAM or a CD-ROM drive that's slower than 4X, it is not recommended you use these disks." - http://www.startdisk.com/
Read NTFS Disks from DOS - This freeware NTFS file system reader fits onto a FreeDOS bootable floppy disk, which means that, should your NTFS based Windows system (NT/2000/XP) become fatally corrupted, you can still access your NTFS hard drives. It even includes a file search and copy utility. (832KB) - http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm.
BootIt NG - If you want a good paid-for disk-imager and multi-boot and partition manager, this one is recommended: "BootIt™ Next Generation (BootIt NG) (BING) is a partition and multi-boot manager with a powerful and simple-to-use set of tools for partitioning, imaging, and multi-booting your computer. It combines the features of several standalone products costing hundreds of dollars more."
Bowsers.com - http://www.browsers.com
The Firefox browser from Mozilla.com
November 9, 2004. - Mozilla has released its superb free Firefox 1.0 browser that has been two years in the making. Firefox is already the second most popular browser being used on the web, but it is still dwarfed by Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, which holds a 94% share of the market. However this state of affairs might change significantly as soon as more people realise that Firefox is much less prone to security problems than Internet Explorer. - http://www.mozilla.com/
Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail and newsgroup client is also a free download from Mozilla.com: http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
Because Sun's Java Runtime Environment isn't installed automatically, many enterprise web applications can fail to work. But it's a simple matter to download and install the latest version of this software from Sun Microsystem's Java site. A manual or offline installation is advisable, because you download the Java installer first and then run it on your computer. There are also many websites that require the use of Microsoft's ActiveX controls, which Firefox doesn't support, because they allow direct control of the system, and Internet Explorer's default support of them can be exploited by rogue sites, viruses, and hackers. Microsoft Update and ClearType sites are good examples of sites that use ActiveX controls, and therefore can't be accessed by Firefox.
Opera 8.5
- http://www.opera.com/
Opera
8.5 for Windows is receiving very good reviews as the number two browser
after Internet Explorer. It is heralded as the fastest browser. Many are they
who are paying for the edition that is not supported by advertisements. If you
have trouble accessing websites, Opera can identify itself as Internet Explorer.
A version for Linux is available.
Crazy Browser - http://www.crazybrowser.com/
OffByOne 1.1MB browser - free - good reviews - http://offbyone.com/
PC Buyer Beware! - http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/
Intel: Build Your Own PC - http://www.intel.com/cd/personal/computing/EMEA/ENG/build/index.htm
Tweak3D.net - http://www.tweak3d.net/
PC mechanic - Build Your Own PC - http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm
Build Your Own Server - http://www.pcmech.com/byos/index.htm
Build Your Own PC - http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/
Motherboard Homeworld - http://www.motherboards.org
Tom's Hardware Guide - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/
Hardware Central - http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/109/1/
CachemanXP - http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=7
For a free old version of Cacheman look at http://www.oldversion.com/.
Bart's way to create bootable CD-ROM disks - the best site I have found on the subject:
Windows XP - Burning CDs - http://aumha.org/a/xpcd.htm
Webmonkey CD Burning Basics - 5-page article - http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/38/index4a.html
Troubleshooting/tutorials on CD-R/CD-RW drives and burning software - http://www.5starsupport.com/
ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! - http://www.imgburn.com/
ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! - http://www.imgburn.com/
ISO Recorder - a free command-line ISO-recorder for Windows XP only that can be used to burn ISO files to CD/DVD disks so that they function as programs - and you can also download CreateCD - a command-line CD-burner for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 - http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
Easy CD-DA Extractor is a music converter that copies audio CDs, converts music files from one format to another, and burns audio CDs, MP3 CDs, WMA CDs, and regular Data CDs. Supports all popular audio file formats such as 3G2, 3GP, MP1, MP2, MP3, Windows Media Audio, Ogg Vorbis, MP4, M4A, AAC, aacPlus (HE-AAC, AAC+, HE-AAC+PS, eAAC+), FLAC, Musepack, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, Monkey's Audio, CUE and M3U. - http://www.poikosoft.com/
CDBurnerXP Pro - If you're using Windows Media dump it and install a decent program. Before you spend money, try the excellent free program CDBurnerXP Pro from http://www.cdburnerxp.se/. - The critics are raving about it.
Audio CD burning - A website to help novices to burn audio CDs that provides links to freeware programs that can do the job properly - http://www.sticksite.com/tape2cd/.
DeepBurner - 1.42MB - Windows 9.x/2000/XP - easy and free CD and DVD burning software - Very simple to use. As soon as you enter the program, it presents a split screen - one for the files to go on the CD/DVD, and the other is the file browser. Drag-and-drop the files you want burnt to the CD/DVD from the right window to the left window. In the lower left corner is a marker that lets you know how much in the way of files you've loaded and how much space is free when using a 22 minute, 74 minute, or 80 minute CD. You can click the printer icon to make a label for the CD/DVD and its case. Place a blank CD/DVD into the drive and click Burn Disk. - http://www.deepburner.com/
Offline CD Browser - Free - Index and catalog your removable drives to get your files organized and categorized - http://hem.spray.se/anders.peterson/ocdb.html.
CD-R FAQ sites
Webmonkey MP3 Overview - http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/31/index3a.html?tw=multimedia
CD-R information site - Masses of CD-R and CD-RW information - Go here for the latest firmware information - http://www.cdrinfo.com/
The Firmware Page - Update Your CD/DVD Drive Firmware. Most users know that they can update their BIOS but not many know that they can also update the firmware of (most) CD and DVD drives. This site has full details plus some handy tips for overcoming the region locking on your DVD drive.- http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php
Look under the letter D for DVD sites.
CloneCD v3.0.9.1 - Win9X/NT/W2K/XP - 2.18MB - Inter alia, can copy copy-protected CDs - http://www.elby.org
Compaq - the new Hewlett Packard site for the combined company - http://thenew.hp.com/
CompletelyFreeSoftware.com - http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/
Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts - http://www.fonerbooks.com/pcrepair.htm
Computer terms and acronyms defined or explained - look under the letter G for Glossaries of PC terms
Lian-Li - http://www.lian-li.com/
Antec - http://www.antec-inc.com/
Coolermaster - USA - http://www.coolermaster.com/
Elight - http://www.enlightcorp.com/
Creative (Labs) - European site for sound card drivers, forums, a Knowledge Base, and manuals -
http://www.europe.soundblaster.com/support/drivers/most.asp
CPUID - identifies processors and provides information such as their speeds, etc - http://www.cpuid.com/
CPU Killer - The latest super-fast processors operate at speeds (frequencies) that old programs (such as those designed for an MS DOS system) weren't designed to run at. Consequently, such software may fail to work properly, if at all. CPU Killer is a free utility that allows a user to slow a super-fast processor down sufficiently to be able to run old software. - http://www.cpukiller.com/products/cpukiller/
Crucial (RAM delivered directly to the purchaser on a motherboard basis.)
See the RAM page on this site for the US and UK Crucial Memory Selectors and the Memory Calculator.
Latest update for the Belarc Advisor - http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Getdataback - "I have found and use a program called Getdataback for NTFS by Runtime Software - http://www.runtime.org/ - and it is fantastic. It has only failed once in more than 2 dozen attempts at recovering deleted files or even corrupted file systems as well as damaged hard drives (the time it failed was a completely failed hardware issue). We use the NTFS version, as that is what we have in our environment, but they make a version for FAT filing structures. The nice thing with them is they allow a download to try the software and allow you to see what can be recovered first. If it is what you want then purchase the program and that allows the data to be resurrected."
This excellent free disk-imaging application is also available from http://www.runtime.org/:
DriveImage XML - Image and Backup logical Drives and Partitions - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
DTI Data Recovery - http://www.dtidata.co.uk/
See the Hard Disk Drive Problems page on this site for information on a batch of faulty Fujitsu drives.
Adroit Data Recovery Centre - provides a professional data recovery service in the Far East - http://www.adrc.net
Ontrack: EasyRecovery recovers the data from inaccessible hard disk drives. Recovery software seldom comes free because of its complexity. This software is no exception to the rule: Data Recovery Software - http://www.ontrack.com/software/.
But here is an excellent exception to the rule...
The free Drive Rescue utility - http://home.arcor.de/christian_grau/rescue/index.html
PC Inspector File Recovery - Free - 3.8MB - Windows9.x/2000/XP - Find and recover lost data, files, or drives on a FAT 12/16/32 or NTFS file system. You should obviously not install the software on the drive from which you intend to recover data, install it on a second and independent drive, including a Zip drive, or even burn the program's files to a recordable CD. It can recover files on network drives. The program can't reconstruct files from data drives or disks that are mechanically or electronically damaged, and it should only be used by the computer-literate. - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
Recover 4 All - recovers files emptied from Recycle Bin:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Kaus/homepage.htm
"Best $49 I ever spent on utility software. Inside of an hour, I was back up and running with all my data restored. I have since had the opportunity to use the software on other "dead" drives and it was always able to recover some level of data, even after a format. The downside is that this utility only works on NTFS partitions. If they came up with a version that worked on FAT partitions, they would have the market cornered. Just wanted to drop you a note to tell you about this wonderful utility at a bargain price. The web link is:
http://www.restorer2000.com/."
CD/DVD Data Recovery Tool - http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/
CD/DVD Diagnostic - "Recovers lost data, photos, files, music and more from CDs and DVDs. Now supports DVD recorder discs! More tools, more features and more capable than the competition." - http://www.arrowkey.com/
Free Hard Disk Utilities: Recover Deleted Files and Lost Data: -
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/1,collid,1295,tk,lg,00.asp
Free CD Utilities: Burn Disks, Fix Damaged Tracks - these tools let you detect corrupted files, rip tracks from your disks and burn them: - http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/0,collid,1289,tk,lg,00.asp
eImage Recovery - a program designed to recover images - http://www.octanesoft.com/
MS DirectX download - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.asp
DX Extractor (removes DirectX 9.x from all versions of Windows) - http://www.geocities.com/clb92001/
DXBuster (removes some versions of DirectX from Windows 9.x/Me/2000) -
http://www.dxbuster.de/index_e.html
DirectX information and ideas - http://www.mvps.org/directx
DirectX information page - Shep's site - of newsgroup alt.windows98 -
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/directx.html
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/defrag.html
Three hard-disk-drive testing utilities -
Adenix S.M.A.R.T. Indicator - http://www.adenix.net/smart/indicator.html
Active Smart - http://www.ariolic.com/
Drive Health - http://www.helexis.com/
Note that most of the major hard-disk-drive manufacturer's provide free utilities that test their drives from their websites and enable the transfer of data to a new drive.
PC World's diagnostic and/or benchmarking utilities:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/0,collid,1304,tk,lg,00.asp
Free BCM Diagnostics Suite: - http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,5044,00.asp
Free RAM Diagnostic Software:
Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic tool: - http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
Memtest86: - latest version - http://www.memtest86.com/ and http://www.memtest.org/
You can make use of the Google search box at the top of this page to locate sources of your own that provide free or paid-for diagnostic testing utilities for computer hardware. For example, to locate free utilities that diagnose faults in dial-up modems use a search phrase such as free + "dial-up modem" + diagnostic + utility. Experiment with the wording if a particular search fails to turn up useful site links.
A typical DLL problem: when trying to run the program, an error popped up indicating CNCS232.dll was missing or corrupted. I entered the file's name in Google to find it on the web, and then saved it to the Windows/System folder, and the problem was fixed. You can also use sites such as DLL Downloads:
If you want to use Google, there's a search box provided at the top of this page.
DLL - Resolving MS DLL version conflicts:
Different Microsoft applications can install different versions of the same DLL and this can often create major problems. You can sort out the mess at this useful MS site:
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/
Drive Rescue - Free - Undelete and data recovery tool:
http://home.arcor.de/christian_grau/rescue/index.html
The major computer motherboard and adapter-card chipset manufacturers' sites: -
Intel - http://www.intel.com/ - chipset page - http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/
VIA - http://www.via.com.tw/ and the Official VIA Forums - http://forums.viaarena.com/
NEC - http://www.nec.com/
ATI - http://ati.amd.com/
nVidia - http://www.nvidia.com/ - nVidia drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALi) - http://www.ali.com.tw/
Silicon Intergrated Systems (SiS) - http://www.sis.com/
The drivers on the CD that comes with new computer or video card will probably already be out of date by the time you buy it. Therefore it is a good idea to download the latest drivers from the Internet. Newer games tend to have problems with older drivers. The same is true for Microsoft's DirectX, which you should also keep up to date. Newer games often ship with the runtime installer of the current version of DirectX, which you run while online to obtain the latest version. Here is a list of the most important graphics-card driver links:
ATI-based graphics cards (Radeon, All In Wonder, IGP) - http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
ATI Catalyst [Drivers] Installation Guide (06/11/2003) - http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=569
Intel integrated graphics (chipsets i865G, 915G) -
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/support_intel.asp?iid=HPAGE+header_support_download&#
NVIDIA-based graphics cards (GeForce, nForce) - http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
S3-based graphics cards (Deltachrome) - http://www.s3graphics.com/drivers.jsp
SIS integrated graphics - http://download.sis.com/
XGI-based graphics (Volari) - http://www.xgitech.com/sd/sd_download.asp
Network drivers - Network-Drivers.com - This site maintains listings of network drivers available on the web, organized by company. Includes links to useful resources. -
http://www.network-drivers.com/
Driversguide.com - An excellent site when you can't find device drivers - particularly for older devices. -
DriverGuide Toolkit - a simple, reliable method of backing up your system's device drivers. Use this tool to back them up so that they can be restored easily after a disaster strikes. -
http://www.driverguidetoolkit.com/
http://www.monitor-drivers.com/
http://www.3dchipset.com/ (Recommended by Sysopt.com)
http://www.modemdriver.com - Comprehensive list of manufacturers - existing and out of business
http://www.linmodems.org/ - Linux modem drivers and general modem ID site
DVD Shrink 3.2 - "Recently, compressed domain transcoders have reached quite some popularity. These transcoders are based on algorithms designed to recompress an MPEG-2 stream in real-time for TV broadcast. These programs can transcode an entire DVD movie in only a few minutes, because they do not have to decode and re-encode the entire video stream, but only part of it. I will not go into a detailed explanation of the mechanisms used as they are quite involved but basically what you get is a size (and hence quality) reduction per time unit that cannot be rivaled by regular MPEG-2 encoders (though the latter category can yield better quality). DVD2One was the first program to be based on these principles, now DVD Shrink is the first free program to offer this functionality." - http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvdshrink31-main.htm
DVD COPYING SOFTWARE - DVD Copy Software Review - http://www.dvd-copy-software-review.com/
DVDPlusRW.org - http://www.dvdplusrw.org/ - "This web site is dedicated to the DVD+RW and DVD+R format, and as such it is by far the largest - independent - online source for DVD+RW information. It will provide you with lots of product information, technical stuff, downloads, promotional material, compatibility lists, media overviews and other resources about DVD+RW. This site provides you with the most interesting, unique and up-to-date DVD+R and DVD+RW related information available on the web. Have a look around, and make sure to come back regularly as we will frequently add more intresting material! Don't forget to visit our discussion forum for all your DVD+RW questions, comments and inquiries."
Compatibility of the new DVD+R DL (double-layer) standard with existing DVD drives:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers
ISO Recorder - a free command-line ISO-recorder for Windows XP only that can be used to burn ISO files to CD/DVD disks so that they function as programs - and you can also download CreateCD - a command-line CD-burner for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 - http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
DeepBurner - 1.42MB - Windows 9.x/2000/XP - easy and free CD and DVD burning software - Very simple to use. As soon as you enter the program, it presents a split screen - one for the files to go on the CD/DVD, and the other is the file browser. Drag-and-drop the files you want burnt to the CD/DVD from the right window to the left window. In the lower left corner is a marker that lets you know how much in the way of files you've loaded and how much space is free when using a 22 minute, 74 minute, or 80 minute CD. You can click the printer icon to make a label for the CD/DVD and its case. Place a blank CD/DVD into the drive and click Burn Disk. - http://www.deepburner.com/
DVDINF Pro - is a free utility that provides all the details you might want to know about an installed DVD drive, including the driver and version of firmware being used -
If you want the it for free, there are hundreds of sites that offer free copying software. Just enter a search term such as dvd + copying + software in the Google search box at the top of this page to obtain the links to many sites that provide it. Remember that it is illegal to copy DVDs for the use of others or to sell. You should only back-up DVDs that you have purchased legally.
Doom9.net - "Welcome to Doom9.net - the definitive DVD backup resource" - http://www.doom9.net/
DVDRHelp.com - http://www.dvdrhelp.com/
How to capture Video, TV, Cam, DV, 8mm, Hi8 - http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capture
If you want to create DVD Video disks to watch on a DVD home player (not a DVD drive), visit http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers to find out which DVD formats the player supports.
Understanding DVD Formats - http://www.dvdirect.com/TSS/charts/DVDFormats.htm
The Firmware Page - Update Your CD/DVD Drive Firmware. Most users know that they can update their BIOS but not many know that they can also update the firmware of (most) CD and DVD drives. This site has full details plus some handy tips for overcoming the region locking on your DVD drive. - http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php
VideoLAN - an excellent free program specifically designed to stream audio and video across a LAN -
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml
End-It-All 2.0 is a very useful tool that can close all or only selected running programs with a single click. If you're having problems with ScanDisk or the Windows Disk Defragmenter, you can use it to close all of the programs running in the background. First, close all of the Windows programs showing on the taskbar, run End-It-All. Now, with one click, all of the background programs, except Windows Explorer, the System Tray (the box in the bottom right-hand corner), and any others you've given protection from within the program, such as a firewall, can be shut down. The program doesn't appear to have a site of its own, but it can be downloaded from many download sites. Entering "end-it-all" in the Google search box at the top of this page will bring up the links. Here is one of them: http://www.docsdownloads.com/Tier1/enditall.htm
Eraser 5.0 - Erases files up to 34 times to make sure that they cannot be recovered -
http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/
http://www.bootdisk.com/ - Look for the Errors section on the Home page
http://www.geocities.com/budallen98_98/windows_protection_error.html - Windows 9.x protection errors
http://www.geocities.com/budallen98_98/dmancode.html - Windows 9.x - Device Manager error codes
http://www.geocities.com/budallen98_98/errorcode.html - Windows 9.x - List of error codes
ExcelTip.com - http://www.exceltip.com/ - MS Excel tips
http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/fdiskformat.html
Enter fdisk in the Google search box at the top of this page to find more links to relevant sites.
Note that FDISK has an option that can be used to remove a non-DOS partition (e.g., a partition created with Windows XP's setup program that has set the system up to use XP's native NTFS file system).
Find a missing file or replace a corrupt DLL file - See the Microsoft DLL Help Database, under the letter M.
FIREWALLS - Go to this Security page on this site for the links to free software firewalls.
The Font Thing - The site to visit for font information. - http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html
Fonts.com - http://www.fonts.com/
Fontosaurus.com - The FAQ explains how to download and install the font on your computer. - http://www.fontosaurus.com/
There are hundreds, if not thousands of computer-related Forums, many of which are conducted live in real time. Here are just a few. Use the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to find others by using terms such as "Computer forum", "PC forum", "Mac Forum", pc + forum, computer + forum, etc.
Overclock.net Forums - http://overclock.net/
Computer Hardware Forum - Welcome to the MCSE forums - http://hardware.mcse.ms/
Tweak3D Forum - Bulletin Board - http://www.tweak3d.net/.
Web Developer.com - programming discussion forums - http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum
The overclocking and modding forum: To visit it, go to http://www.computershopper.co.uk/ and scroll down the left-hand navigation bar to the Interactive heading. Click on IT Forums. There are several forums, including the Overclocking and Modding, Help, and general discussion forums.
Sundry excellent forums:
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/index.php
http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/ - (The forum deals with adware/spyware/snoopware matters)
http://www.broadbandreports.com/ - (Forums on broadband matters - accessed from the Home page)
http://reviews.cnet.com/4002-7600-5137381.html
http://www.experts-exchange.com/
http://www.codingforums.com/ (Forum for computer programmers)
"The Sysinternals [freeware] web site provides you with advanced utilities, technical information, and source code related to Windows NT/2000/XP/2K3 and Windows 9x, Windows Me internals that you won't find anywhere else. Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell alone write and update everything here. We welcome all suggestions and comments." -
Sysinternals was an independent organisation but it is now owned by Microsoft. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx for the great free utilities.
Obtaining old versions of free softwareIf you have problems with a new version of a program, or it develops a security problem, you should visit OldVersion.com, where the old versions of many free programs that are no longer available are made available as free downloads: http://www.oldversion.com/ |
http://www.djbdesigns.com/wtvzone/downloads.htm
http://www.freewaregaming.com/
http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/
http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html
MSN (Microsoft Network) Gaming Zone - http://zone.msn.com/
3DSpotlight.com - Your definitive PC hardware and gaming resource - http://www.3dspotlight.com/
Freeware Gaming - Hundreds of free downloadable games. Categories include Puzzle/Logic, Sport Card/Casino and Action/Arcade - http://www.freewaregaming.com/.
Smiley’s Games Emporium has more than 30 games to play for free online. Classics to choose from include Asteroids, Breakout and Centipede. All of the games are written in Java, which means that you don't need to download any plugins to play. - http://www.clickets.com/targets/Games/Games.asp
Gaming Links page - http://www.infinitefrontiers.0catch.com/Links.htm
Classic Free Games - http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/08/04/2016246
GeForce FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions answered about the GeForce video (graphics accelerator) cards.
Use this redirector, because the site often changes address - http://go.to/geforcefaq
GetRight - software downloader - can resume broken downloads - shareware - http://www.getright.com/
Steve Gibson is the creator of the SpinRite hard-disk-drive maintenance and repair utility, the ShieldsUp site that tests for hacker vulnerabilities, the Wizmo system configuration utility - and others. You can also read his detailed accounts of the hacker attacks his site has suffered. There is no www in his website address:
There's a Google search box at the top of this page.
Google is probably the best search engine in existence. Usenet newsgroups are a mine of useful information, but you will probably have to sift through tons of silt to find the occasional nugget. If you don't have the time to wade through newsgroup posts, use the little known Google Group Search Engine at:
http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=
It's a wonderful time saver, and will often get you results when every other method fails.
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PC Buyer Beware! Copyright © Eric Legge 2004-2008. All rights reserved.