TweakHound’s Blog

(last updated 04 February, 2010)

This is the story of my attempt at making a 100% usable freeware Windows XP machine. It has been revised several times since I first published it thanks to feedback and suggestions from readers. I’ve done a lot of research and tried a lot of programs. There are also 2 companion articles: The Vista Freeware Machine and The Windows 7 Freeware Machine. This is not an exhaustive list of freeware programs but the result of the aforementioned research and installs blended with my own personal preference and opinion. You are free to recommend a FREE program but you must list exactly why you think it is better. i.e. – If you say it uses less resources then provide a concrete example (with stats), if you call it bloatware then show why, etc.

About this articles links:
The first link will be to that applications home page. The second link (download) will go directly to the download page at Major Geeks so that you may download the programs faster.

The Install
I do most of my installs based on the method here: The Right Way To Install Windows XP.
My machines are then tweaked using the XP Tweaking Guide.

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Office

OpenOffice – (download) Highly usable in the home environment. You may run into small compatibility issues (formatting) when sending documents to Microsoft Office users. It isn’t Microsoft Office, that can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. It is the only real alternative to Microsoft Office.

To just view and print Office documents in their native format:
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats - “By installing the Compatibility Pack… you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats.” You should run Windows Update after installing any of these for important security updates, there are a lot of them.

Foxit Reader – (download) “a free PDF document viewer, with incredible small size, breezing-fast launch speed and rich feature set.” I have yet to find a non-Adobe PDF viewer that renders and prints PDF documents as well as this one. Pay attention during install. You do not need the toolbar and don’t let it change your home page. I don’t like the Adobe Reader and it’s ever growing bloat (installing Adobe Air without permission was the last straw). Adobe seems to have issued takedown notices for Adobe Reader Lite and Adobe Reader SpeedUp has not been revised in over 3 years.

Kompozer – WYSIWYG web page editing.

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Multimedia

File associations are key! When I speak of file associations I mean file types that are not specific to that app.

A file association refers to what type of file opens with a particular program. Many applications will try to be the default application for a particular type of file. That is, what application loads when you click on a file. For instance: iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player will all try to be the default for opening a .mp3 file. Each subsequent application install will try to overwrite the previous system settings. That is why it is important to decide which application you want to handle which type of file from the start (during install).

To fix or configure file associations, see here: Change which programs Windows uses by default

Multimedia – Codecs (choose only one)
*** 64-bit Users – download 64-bit versions from the software authors site.
Codec definition at Wikipedia.

K-Lite Codec Pack Standard – (download) – This is the program I usually use. I do not install Media Player Classic.

Multimedia – Audio Players

MediaMonkey – (download) I prefer listening to and managing music with this app. No file associations.

Foobar – (download) I use this only for “quick playing” or previewing mp3 and wav files. The only associations allowed are .mp3 and .wav.
OR
WinAmp Lite – (download) I use this only for “quick playing” or previewing mp3 and wav files. When installing do not install; Winamp Agent, anything to do with CD’s, User Interface Extensions, Visualizations. The result is a very fast launching app that uses very little resources. The only associations allowed are .mp3 and .wav.

iTunes (w/Quicktime) – I use this only to manage my iPods and on a very rare occasion shop the store (I prefer Amazon MP3). Quicktime is also for use in my browsers. No file associations. Turn off the look for speakers, T.V.’s etc. See Ed Bott – Slimming down the bloated iTunes 8 installer for a guide on installation. No file associations.

Multimedia – Audio Editing

Audacity – (download) Sound recorder and editor. Audio geeks, be sure to install lame and check out the plugins. No file associations.

Multimedia – Tag Editor

Mp3Tag – (download) Full-featured, wonderful app.

MP3 Tag Studio – I’ve been using this for years. Free version has an ad banner. (I paid for this program many years ago because I found it so useful, free lifetime updates)

Multimedia – Audio CD Ripper

Audiograbber – (download) Excellent tool. Audio geeks, be sure to install lame. The English language home page is down or abandoned. German language home page is still up. No development in over 2 years. Don’t know if project is dead or not.

Exact Audio Copy – The only decent alternative to Audiograbber I can find.

FWIW – I don’t actively use these programs but install them for others. I use a pay-for program called dBpoweramp (free full use 30-day trial). Probably overkill for the average user.

IMHO – Do not use iTunes or Windows Media Player to rip CD’s. Better quality and control over the process can be had by using the above programs. If using the MP3 format always use the LAME encoder.

Multimedia – DVD Ripper

Handbrake – (download) “open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.”

Multimedia – Video Player

Windows Media Player 11 – It works perfectly and has a good GUI. Plays everything you could want it to play (see Codecs above). Seems to use less resources than previous versions. Turn off all privacy options. File association’s, just what you want it to play.

VLC (VideoLan) – (download) Default GUI sux, fortunately it is skinnable. I like the Heaven and WMP11_B skins (when I use them). This program is fast and uses less resources than Windows Media Player 12. File association’s, just what you want it to play.

Multimedia – Video Editor

Avidemux – (download) The only video editor I’ve used and stayed with. Does the job quite well and improves with every version.

Multimedia – Video Converter

TMPGEnc – Converts AVI to MPEG and does it well.

Multimedia – Picture Views, Editors managers

XnView – (download) Viewer, converter, editor. Try it, you’ll like it.

Paint.Net – (download) Editor. If you need more than this you should probably take up Graphic Arts.

Picasa – (download) “Picasa is a software download from Google that helps you organize, edit, and share your photos. It’s free, and easy to use.”

#1 way to screw up image viewing/editing and help bog down your computer – Install the software that came with your camera. The built-in picture viewer and the viewers/editors above are far better than the garbage that the camera makers put on that install CD. You don’t need that CD for anything. Just plug your camera in, Windows 7 will do the rest. The programs on the CD will also leave processes running on your computer. The last computer I worked on (vista) had both Canon and Kodak {hi/hers (hers-old, camera replaced by iPhone)} running in the system tray.

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Utilities

Utilities – CD/DVD Burning

CDBurnerXP – (download) It just burns CD’s baby!

ImgBurn – (download) Creates and burns CD/DVD images.

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Utilities – Security

The best security you can have is you. Here are the basic steps for security. Yes my fellow Geeks, you and I know but obviously everyone else does not :

1 – Do not click on a link in an email from a source you do not know. For emails from folks you do know, if you put your cursor over the link, the actual address should show.
2 – Keep Windows XP and your applications up to date. Even if you have auto update enabled you should periodically manually check for updates.
3 – Firewall. Both a hardware (router) and software firewall.
4 – Use anti-virus and anti-spyware.
5 – Use that pop-up blocker in your browser.

I appreciate that many of you are, shall we say, highly security conscious. Many of the solutions that you have recommended can have a legitimate use in the right hands but in the wrong hands can also render a computer somewhere between a PITA to use , and unusable.
- It is my personal preference not to use 3rd party firewalls because I do not find them necessary. If that’s your thing then by all means go for it.
- I do not use any hosts based (as in the hosts file) security methods. I prefer to use browser/firewall solutions. Also, there is and has been considerable debate as to the usefulness of hosts based methods which I’m not even going to touch. If you are interested in such methods see here and here.

*I am not a security expert. If you know of a good, up to date, comprehensive guide for this topic, please let me know so that I can post a link to it here. To date I’ve not found a single decent guide.

Anti-Virus

Microsoft Security Essentials – This is what I’m running on 1/2 my machines (and the only free anti-virus I’m currently using). The only free anti-virus I’m putting on folks computers right now. Fast, low system resource usage, easy to use and manage. Once installed is tied in to/ replaces Windows Defender for anti-spyware. Free to install on multiple computers.

Firewall

Online Armor Free Firewall – At the top of the heap at Firewall Challenge ( http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php ). Comodo is rated highly too, I just prefer the options that Online Armor provides.

Anti-Spyware
Most pay-for anti-virus programs include this. For instance, I use AVG Anti-Virus (multi-computer license). This has anti-spyware / web shield /linkscanner included.

Windows Defender – Free from Microsoft. This is the one I use.

Anti-Spyware Scanners

I only do manual scans with these. Real-time protection is only for the paid versions.

SuperAntiSpyware – (download) “Detect and Remove Spyware, Adware and Remove Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers, Parasites, Rootkits, Rogue Security Products and many other types of threats.”

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware – (download) Does pretty much the same thing as the program above.

Drive Encryption Software

True Crypt – “Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.”

Security – Other

Secunia PSI – “The Secunia PSI is an invaluable tool for you to use when assessing the security patch state of software installed on your system. It constantly monitors your system for insecure software installations, notifies you when an insecure application is installed, and even provides you with detailed instructions for updating the application when available.” I do not start this with Windows or leave this running but I do scans with it periodically. Also, I’ve set it up to only scan the C: drive by creating ignore rules (thanks Resin).

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Browser
*Opinion – Do not use Toolbars (Google, Yahoo, etc.). They are 100% completely unnecessary, slow your browsing, and track your usage habits.
I use 2 browsers on my machine.

Internet Explorer 8 – IE 8 is set to high security on my machine, default on other folks machines. I use it only for things like shopping. I do not browse in IE8.

Firefox – I am not one of those people who believe that Firefox is more secure than IE 8, especially after I add a bunch of plugins (in practice, if you strip it down and use noscript then you may have a point). With the plugins it is a feature rich browser and is the main browser I use. FWIW – Many security folks recommend the NoScript plugin.

Plugins I use:
Security / Privacy
Adblock Plus – Ultimate ad blocker.
NoScript – “It allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice” Can be a PITA for some users but I don’t surf the web without it.
Better Privacy – Cookie deleter, including those hard to get rid of “super-cookies”.

Other
DownThemAll – Download manager.
FlashGot – Multimedia downloader.
IE View – Open pages in Internet Explorer while in Firefox.

Google Chrome – Google’s browser. Now has extension support. Folks seem to either love it or hate it. I’m in the second group. Lately Google and Chrome have been under attack for privacy reasons. Google, err, uhh….., Bing it for more info.

Browser Extra
iGoogle – highly customizable home page with gmail integrated.

Download Manager
Free Download Manager – (download) Normally I use DAP Premium which rocks. The freeware version of it sux.

FTP Client
FileZilla – (download) Fast, secure, all the features you need. What more could you want?

Instant Messenger

Pidgin – (download) Free, no ads, works with multiple IM accounts. Lots of cool plugins.

BitTorrent

Utorrent- (download) No Java, fast, highly configurable.

Email Clients

Thunderbird – Customizable, works with multiple email accounts. Easy to backup. Can also be run from a thumb drive.

Gmail – Lots of online storage. Good features. Access it from anywhere.

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System Tools

Autoruns – (download) View and configure what starts up with Windows.

CCleaner (slim) – (download) All-in-one System cleaner. Set it to auto-start. Opinion – Don’t use the registry cleaner.

Bleachbit – Advanced system cleaner. WARNING, this is only for advanced users. Pay careful attention to what boxes you are checking and their descriptions.

MyDefrag (formerly JkDefrag)- Good defragger.

Puran Defrag (download) – Excellent defragger. Once a pay-for program that is now free for home users.

7-Zip – (download) The best file archiver / extractor I’ve every used.

IZArc - Another excellent archiver / extractor.

Renamer – (download) File renaming tool.

RocketDock – (download) OS X style application launcher. I love this thing.
Some of the icons I use are in a zip file here: my_rocketdock_icons
I recommend putting them directly into the Program Files\RocketDock\Icons folder ( 64-bit users: Program Files (x86)\RocketDock\Icons).

SyncToy – Excellent, fast, configurable backup tool.

SIW – (download) System info tool. Lots of good info on everything in or on your system.

File Hash Checker – “This simple tool will allow you to compute the MD5 and SHA1 hash of any file.”

Boot CD
UBCD4Win – This is my #1 PC diagnostic and recovery tool. I have used this CD and it’s tools to rescue people’s computers and files for several years now.

UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool. Almost all software included in UBCD4Win are freeware utilities for Windows…UBCD4Win is based on Bart’s PE. Bart’s PE builds a Windows “pre-install” environment CD, basically a simple Windows XP booted from CD. UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you need to repair your system problems.

Finishing Up
After installing and configuring all the programs I:
- Run Autoruns
- Boot into safe mode and do an advanced disk cleanup.
- Reboot and run my defragger.
- Then I boot with my Acronis True Image Boot Disk and make an image.

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Pooper Scooper Specials
Tweaking programs, Optimizers, Memory Boosters, System Boosters, Registry Cleaners.
Horrible, rotten, nasty, misleading, wastes of time and money. Even the free versions aren’t worth the stuff in the pooper scooper.

FAQ’s

Q – Why do you recommend against using registry cleaners?
A – Because in the hands of the non-Geek they can produce any number of problems. These can be from programs acting “strange” to Vista not booting. Then folks blame Vista somehow. If you want to use them then know what you are deleting.

Q – Why no free disk image software?
A – Imaging software isn’t an easy thing to create. Especially when you factor in that it is useless without a boot CD. I have yet to find a non-free disk imaging product that has good hardware compatibility on the boot CD’s, much of this is related to the Linux kernel since that is what the boot CD’s use. If it works for you great but a quick search via the web or the products forums will show many problems with these programs. Even the pay-for programs sometimes have issues. Although I do use a BartPE type disk (UBCD4Win) and hardware compatibility is better in that environment I cannot recommend a product that would require you to create these disks since they can be difficult for the non-geek to create.
There is a free version of Acronis True Image for Western Digital hard drive users: Acronis True Image WD Edition Software