A bunch of links we thought you might find useful, from media players to browsers, from plug-ins to anti-virus and security software. Best of all, the stuff listed is freeware and won't cost you a penny.

AVIRA ANTIVIR - long a favourite at NM HQ, Antivir is more reliable than the leading paid-for antivirus suites and takes up less system resources. In our own tests, it detected significantly more troublesome stuff than Norton or McAfee, particularly on javaware-infested websites. There's a more extensive paid-for version available with additional features, but for most users using Antivir in conjuction with our recommended firewall ZoneAlarm along with Spybot Search & Destroy and AdAware should make your system secure enough for sustained peace of mind. AntiVir provides updates at least once a day and is also capable of hunting and killing those latest nasties, rootkits. We recommend setting the scheduler to run a full scan once a week, but also do a manual scan in between. AntiVir has an always-on Guard function to keep you safe from viral and trojan-related harm.

ZONEALARM FIREWALL - reknowed for its simplicity and ease of use, ZoneAlarm from Check Point (formerly Zone Labs until 2003) is a strong and secure software firewall which gives you both web and local network firewall with outbound program control and port stealthing. Easier to use than all its freeware rivals, and in our experience more reliable. Integrates seamlessly with Windows XP onwards, doing what the built-in Windows XP firewall can't.

SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY - Spybot can fix problems with tracking cookies, system internals (Registry), Winsock LSPs, ActiveX objects, browser hijackers and BHOs, and also includes an "Immunize" feature to block the installation of spyware before it occurs. eleases detection updates along with help improvements, new languages, and better heuristics algorithms. Don't have a computer without it. We recommend running it once a week.

LAVASOFT ADAWARE - Ad-Aware is an anti-spyware/anti-adware program developed by Lavasoft that detects and removes spyware or adware on a user's computer. It also detects dialers, Trojans, malware, data-mining, aggressive advertising, parasites, browser hijackers and tracking components. We recommend using AdAware alongside Spybot S&D (above). The link provided is for the free version, although more comprehensive paid-for versions are available. Run it once a week.

 

What else would we recommend but Firefox, the new daddy of browsers. Less cluttered than IE, less bug-prone than IE, less prone-to-crashing-your-damn-computer than IE, less-bloated and system-hogging than IE, more customisable than IE. It really is everything you could want in a browser. Here's the download link and our recommended plug-ins that enable it to do useful stuff:
FIREFOX - download it and stop using that Internet Explorer crap. Currently on version 2x, with tons more promised in the imminent v3, this is what you need to see the web as it is supposed to be. Did you know IE doesn't follow global standards for how it presents a website to you? Microsoft wanted their own version of coding used which they would own, rather than a global standard. Screw MS, get Firefox, already the world's favourite independant browser. It's constantly evolving too, and you can change its appearance with a couple of simple clicks.
Mozdev UNPLUG - Watched a video on Youtube or another site you wished you could save and watch offline? Now you can. UnPlug is a FireFox extension which lets you save video and audio which is embedded on a webpage (within reason, it doesn't work on Myspace or some other sites using variable-layer Flash encoding). You can see the sites Unplug works on here.
Other Firefox add-ons & plug-ins - there are literally hundreds of things that Firefox can have added to it, from dictionaries to news feeds, search tools to alerts, even enhanced browsing security features. Go get 'em.

 

If you've nabbed a video or two from Youtube or similar sites and are now wondering "what the hell do I do with an FLV file?", look no further:
WIMPY FLV PLAYER - Wimpy FLV Player can handle FLV (Flash Video) or SWF (Shockwave Flash) files, and requires no installation. It's freeware with no strings attached, and you simply run it and open the file you want to play in it.
VIDEOLAN - VideoLAN is a freeware open-source multi-format mediaplayer, and can handle almost anything you throw at it, including FLV files and Windows WMV, as well as functioning as an audio player. There is an installable version and - at least last time we looked - also a standalone version.
MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC - This is a compact freeware media player for Windows. The application mimics the look and feel of the old, light-weight Windows Media Player 6.4 but integrates most options and features found in modern media players. It is a standalone program and requires no installation. More info here.
QUICKTIME ALTERNATIVE - want to be able to play Quicktime/Mov format video without that pain-in-the-arse installation of Quicktime itself? Install the codecs and you'll be able to run the files in Media Player Classic (see above) which is also included in this download.
REAL ALTERNATIVE - on a similar note, this does for RealMedia files without having to install the notoriously-bad system-hogging privacy-invading RealPlayer/RealOne. As with Quicktime Alternative, Media Player Classic is included in the package if you don't already have it, and will happily play RM/etc files once the codecs are installed.

 

Not free, but stuff we think is worth the money (and no, they don't pay us to say that!):
UR SOFTWARE "YOUR UNINSTALLER" - When you uninstall a program, various bits inevitably get left behind, cluttering up the computer's essential registry. "Your Uninstaller" takes care of that and dutifully sweeps up the crud when you use it to uninstall the program instead, stopping your pc from getting clogged up and slowing down.
UNIBLUE POWER SUITE - Until we tried this out, we had no idea you could defrag your registry. Turns out you can, and it really does speed shit up! PowerSuite includes the Registry Tuner, which helps correct errors and problems in the Windows registry as well as the above-mentioned registry defrag option, SpeedUpMyPC which optimises more things than I've got time to type, and finally SpyEraser which does what it says on the tin (and unlike Spybot and the free version of AdAware has an always-on guard function). The programs are available separately, but might as well save yerself a bunch of notes and get the package at a discount.

As with all software, we recommend you utilise your favourite search engine and do some hunting for reviews and testimonials before just taking our word for it.