Wireless Routers

You want to make sure that any router you buy supports both 802.11b and 802.11g standards. Some of the cheaper routers only support 802.11b. 802.11b is an old wireless standard. It is slow. 802.11g is the new standard. It is five times faster than 802.11b. All 802.11g routers also support 802.11b

Here's a selection of 802.11g wireless routers.

Linksys WRT54G

Netgear GR614

DLink D1624

Process Explorer

Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs they have loaded, and more. This uniquely powerful utility will even show you who owns each process.
Process Explorer

Eusing Registry Cleaner / Window Washer / CD to MP3

Eusing Software has some nice free utilities....

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner enables you to scan your registry for invalid entries. It provides a list of all errors that were found, and you can choose to remove all items, or only selected errors. Before the program deletes any keys, it automatically creates a backup of the registry and allows you to easily undo any changes if needed. You can choose to scan the entire registry or only selected sections.
Download Eusing Free Registry Cleaner


Free Internet Window Washer is a privacy cleaner, that allows you to erase common Internet and computing tracks, including browser cache, cookies, visited websites, typed URLs, recent documents, index.dat files and more. It supports MS Office tracks as well as Firefox and Netscape, Instant Messengers and dozens of 3rd party applications. It also includes an option to overwrite deleted data multiple times, so it cannot be easily recovered.
Download Free Internet Window Washer



CD to MP3 Freeware is an easy to use CD ripper that allows you to extract audio files from a CD and convert them to MP3 format. It can automatically retrieve title information from the CDDB database, normalize the output files and supports additional LAME options. You can also use the software to record to MP3 with your microphone, or to convert WAV files to MP3 format.
Download CD to MP3 Freeware

How to hide user accounts from other users

How to hide user accounts from other users

If you have several users sharing an XP computer and you want to hide the User Accounts applet in Control from those who don't need to have access to it, here's how:

1. Click Start | Run.
2. Enter gpedit.msc in the Run box to open the Group Policy Editor.
3. In the left console tree, expand User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Control Panel.
4. In the right details pane, doubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets."
5. Click the Enabled option.
6. Click the Show button.
7. Click the Add button.
8. In the Add field, enter nusrmgt.cpl

Sysinternals' Autoruns

See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login. Vastly superior to MSCONFIG.
Autoruns

User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

Microsoft's User Profile Hive Cleanup Service (UPHC) helps your PC to shut down more quickly. The User Profile Hive Cleanup service helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off. System processes and applications occasionally maintain connections to registry keys in the user profile after a user logs off.
It's small download. It makes a difference. Link.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) is an easy-to-use tool helps you determine your PC's security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Improve your security management process by using MBSA to detect common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer systems.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Microsoft Private Folders

UPDATE: (7/20/06) Because of an outcry from corporate system administrators (who feared that the tool would be used by employees to conceal company materials) Microsoft has withdrawn the Private Folders application. That's a shame because Private Folders afforded a nice measure of privacy to home users.


Microsoft hands out 'private' folders

By Dawn Kawamoto

Microsoft has introduced Private Folder 1.0, free software that lets people store sensitive data on their home or work computers in a password-protected folder.
Private Folder 1.0, which is saved to a person's desktop, aims to shield private data from others when they have access to someone's computer or account. The potential fallout from IT administrators remains to be seen, should their colleagues opt to hide sensitive data in a private, password-protected folder. Microsoft does not offer support for the software.

"Private Folder 1.0 is a useful tool...to protect your private data when friends, colleagues, kids or other people share your PC or account," the software giant said in its announcement.

People who want to download the software are first required to run their computers through the Windows Genuine Advantage program. The controversial antipiracy tool is designed to verify that people have a legitimate copy of Microsoft Windows.

Those using the software also must have Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition or Media Center Edition, with Service Pack 2. The software also needs a high-resolution Super VGA video adapter and monitor to work properly.

Some observers are raising concerns about the potential headaches Private Folder may create for IT administrators.

"Oh great, have they even thought about the impact this could have on enterprises. I'm already trying to frantically find information on this product so that A) I can block to all our desktops and B) figure out how we then support it when users inevitably lose files. I can see the benefit in this product for home users, but it's a bit of a sloppy release by Microsoft," said an individual named Stuart Graham in a posting on MSBlog, a site related to Windows Server 2003.

Another individual, Daniel Goldleaf, said on MSBlog that companies should have terms of usage for corporate PCs that instruct employees not to download software onto their systems.

"If they install (Private Folder), uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs," Goldleaf added