200.04 - Disable Vista Welcome Center

As you've probably figured out, the Windows Vista default setting is set to show the Welcome Center screen every time you start up your computer. While the Welcome Center is mildly interesting the first time you see it, you'll more than likely get tired of it rather quickly.

You can easily change the setting though by unchecking the Run option under the Startup button, located at the bottom of the Welcome Center screen.

1.) To do that, go to Start, Control Panel.

2.) Select Welcome Center.

Now, similarly, the Vista Sidebar is also shown by default. While some users will find the Sidebar and its widgets very useful, you may want to use that space on your desktop for something else. If that's the case, you can turn the Sidebar off. Here's how:

1.) Go to Start, Control Panel.

2.) Right click on the Windows Sidebar icon in the system tray.

3.) Choose Properties.

4.) Uncheck the "Start Sidebar When Windows Starts" checkbox.

5.) Click OK.

200.04
Contributing Source:
Microsoft
7/16/08

200.03 - Bel Arc Advisor Computer Report

The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser

This is a very comprehensive report of everything on your personal computer. The report lists all information concerning your PC including Serial Numbers and all Product Key Codes for the software loaded.

The report checks the status of your virus program and all the needed windows update. The report includes all the license numbers for the software that you have installed as well as the current versions.

This is an invaluable report that you can run for FREE. The product is Secure and no information is shared anywhere else. You can then print the 5-6 page report for your records.

200.03
Contributing Source:
Belarc.com
7/16/08

200.02 - Spam Blocker For OE & Windows Mail

Free Spam Filter for Outlook Express & Windows Mail

SPAMfighter has partnered up with Microsoft to build the strongest, safest, and most effective anti spam tool on the market. If you use Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail and you want to get rid of spam, just install SPAMfighter. And if you use it at home, it's 100% free.

Whenever new mail arrives, it will automatically be tested by SPAMfighter, and if it's spam, it will be moved to your spam folder.

• Award winning spam blocking technology
• Protects against "phishing", identity theft, and other email fraud
• Free automatic updates
• Used by more than 5 million happy users around the World
• Protects all the email accounts on your PC
• Unique picture filter that can recognize spam which is sent as a picture
• Automatic "real mail" protection - means no lost business mails!
• Blacklist domains and emails
• Spam Abuse Reporting with one click
• Automatic Whitelist management

200.02
Contributing Source:
Spamfighter.com
7/16

200.01 - Eusing Register Cleaner

The more software and hardware you install and uninstall, the more full your Registry gets. A great deal of software doesn't clean up after itself, and leaves behind old and obsolete Registry entries, or upon install creates invalid ones. There will be pointers to missing DLLs, listings of no-longer-valid file extensions, invalid paths, invalid ActiveX Controls, and much more. The more your Registry fills with this junk, the slower your PC gets and the more often you'll have system crashes.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner helps to fix the problem in a simple, two-step process. Tell it to scan your Registry, and it goes through and identifies common problems and junk.

Then tell it to repair the Registry, and it tidies things up. Because changing the Registry can have serious impact on your system, the program lets you first look at the problems it finds, and tell it to only fix some of them. If you get into trouble, the program also lets you revert to the previous version of the Registry.

Total Cost: FREE - Download from PC World:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64953-order,1-page,1/description.html

200.01
Contributing Source:
Eusing Software
7/16/08