# "What "little" program could you simply not do without?"



## rgarr (Oct 21, 2003)

In 2003 on another forum this generated hundreds of replies. It's been a long time since 2003 so I thought it might not only be a fun exercise but a very informative one.

Just list the one or two programs that you simply couldn't live without and state why with a link included if possible. This would be programs that are both free and paid and are compatible with Win XP 2 or Vista.

This is strictly voluntary and your choice whether or not you want to participate. I thought it might be fun because *there are a lot of new programs out there that some of us don't know about. *Thanks for your attention and I hope that you participate.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Moved to reviews, this really isn't a software issue.


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## smeegle (Jan 18, 2004)

I really like this one http://www.ccleaner.com/ It cleans up a lot of MRU's.
I always run it before I run my anti spyware programs.


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## PCcruncher (Oct 24, 2007)

Being rather short on ram, Speed it up Free helps keep my computer going by removing unneeded files in ram.


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## charles7514 (Mar 9, 2005)

WinPatrol


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Irfanview ... http://www.irfanview.com/
CCleaner ... http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
WinPatrol ... http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html
Audacity ... http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Tclockex .. http://www.rcis.co.za/dale/tclockex/index.htm .. (Vista in the classic mode only - darnit)
RPN Calculator .. http://www.educalc.net/326089.page

Sorry .. I have more than two.


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## rgarr (Oct 21, 2003)

Thanks Everyone,

This is a great start and helpful to everyone...believe me. Webroot Spy Sweeper is one that I use a lot but it is not free. I'll post a couple more in the morning when I have more time and will add the links for you. Thanks everyone! This will be a great thread if people can find it!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

PCcruncher said:


> Being rather short on ram, Speed it up Free helps keep my computer going by removing unneeded files in ram.


This actually slows the system down, it doesn't speed it up! Think about it. There is no benefit to having tons of free RAM, that translates to unused RAM.

For your reading enjoyment:

http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=41095&cpage=1

[WEBQUOTE="http://4peeps.com/ivb/index.php?showtopic=20862"]RAM RAM Optimizers/Defragmenters

Myth - "Increasing the amount of available RAM improves performance."

Reality - "RAM Optimizers have no effect, and at worst, they seriously degrade performance. Although gaining more available memory might seem beneficial, it isn't. As RAM Optimizers force the available-memory counter up, they force other processes' data and code out of memory. Say that you're running Word, for example. As the optimizer forces the available-memory counter up, the text of open documents and the program code that was part of Word's working set before the optimization (and was therefore present in physical memory) must be reread from disk as you continue to edit your document. The act of allocating, then freeing a large amount of virtual memory might, as a conceivable side effect, lead to blocks of contiguous available memory. However, because virtual memory masks the layout of physical memory from processes, processes can't directly benefit from having virtual memory backed by contiguous physical memory. As processes execute and undergo working-set trimming and growth, their virtual-memory-to-physical-memory mappings will become fragmented despite the availability of contiguous memory."[/WEBQUOTE]
I suppose this could still qualify as a program you can't live without, but I sure don't know why you would want to live with it!


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## PCcruncher (Oct 24, 2007)

After I've used my computer for a while I'll run it and sometimes it will remove up to 100-160 mb. (I don't do it when I'm in the middle of something but after I've closed a program I will) It seems to help a lot. Recently I did a system tweak which is supposed to dump the files connected with the program immediately instead of keeping them around. Which would do about the same thing.
Anyway I'll read the things in your post John will.


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## rgarr (Oct 21, 2003)

JohnWill said:


> This actually slows the system down, it doesn't speed it up! Think about it. There is no benefit to having tons of free RAM, that translates to unused RAM.
> 
> For your reading enjoyment:
> 
> ...


John Will, our moderator, is absolutely right. Remember folks, these 'little programs' are ones that are supposed to help us and not overload us. When I started out I d/l everything in sight that was free and some programs that were not.

*Keep it simple *and if you're running Win XP 2 like I am or Vista then after you have the little programs installed that will help you can *tweak your system *without putting a glut of software on your HD. Go here http://www.blackviper.com/ for help tweaking. Be careful...always backup first.

My rule is to never install something that you won't use.

A few basic programs that I use and that you might already use are: AVG...anti-virus-freeware, ZoneAlarm...firewall-freeware, ccleaner-freeware, CleanCenter...excellent-was free but I think it is now shareware and costs about $19.95. Ad-Aware 2007...spyware-free, Spybot Search & Destroy...spyware-free, Fastone Capture...best screenshot capture utility I've used-free http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64857-page,1-c,downloads/description.html


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

WinPatrol
http://www.winpatrol.com/

Not a program but a hosts file.
You can get a hosts file manager to make it more easy to use and update your hosts file but they are not needed. 
I use HostsMan.
http://www.abelhadigital.com/

Move on Boot
http://www.gibinsoft.net/gipoutils/
Old Version (Freeware) at bottom of page.

OpenExpert 1.40
http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html


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## stantley (May 22, 2005)

xplorer² lite free for home and academic use.

Once you've used a dual-pane file manager you'll never use Windows Explorer again. It also has folder tabs and bookmarks which are very useful.


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Tiny Spell.
http://www.numerit.com/


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Hace's Mmm!. Without it, I'd need to get rid of some of my 100+ context menu entries. FileMenuTools works well with it, though there is some duplication. But FMT allows control of all context menu entries.

And, in the same field, PowerMenu.

Process Tamer is another since it allows to easy control of priorities and reduces the priority of apps that tend to use a lot of CPU.


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## Gizzy (Aug 2, 2005)

there's too many to name,

Sandboxie
The KMPlayer
Revo Uninstaller
Rocketdock
Rainlendar

but those are the main ones I really love,

and Elvandil that Mmm! program looks like it'll be going on the list for me I'll have to try it out my context menu is a bit long. :up:


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Gizzy said:


> and Elvandil that Mmm! program looks like it'll be going on the list for me I'll have to try it out my context menu is a bit long. :up:


I don't know if you'll find it. There used to be both a free and pay version. The free was better than nothing, but limited. It works in both XP and Vista.

The last pay version that I know of was 2.03, but 2.02 is available at Download.com and it may even be the full version for free now.

http://www.download.com/Mmm/3000-2341_4-10396255.html


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## Gizzy (Aug 2, 2005)

Elvandil said:


> I don't know if you'll find it. There used to be both a free and pay version. The free was better than nothing, but limited. It works in both XP and Vista.
> 
> The last pay version that I know of was 2.03, but 2.02 is available at Download.com and it may even be the full version for free now.
> 
> http://www.download.com/Mmm/3000-2341_4-10396255.html


Thanks for the link,

I'm trying it out now and so far I like it now my context menu isn't as long


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

VLC (Media Player)
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/


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## rgarr (Oct 21, 2003)

ferrija1 said:


> VLC (Media Player)
> http://www.videolan.org/vlc/


This is excellent...glad you mentioned it. I use it as my default player instead of WMP.


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## RedHelix (Oct 31, 2005)

WinRAR.

'nuff said.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

RedHelix said:


> WinRAR.
> 
> 'nuff said.


Many applications will deal with RAR files, like http://www.izarc.org/, and they're totally free.


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## RedHelix (Oct 31, 2005)

Oh yeah, I know, but you never have to pay to continue using WinRAR. The only time you get the "Time's up, please buy me" dialog is when you launch the main program. I never do that; I exclusively use the shell extensions, which are the main reason I love it.


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

I use ZipGenius, it handles almost every type of compressed file.

http://www.zipgenius.it/eng/index.php


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## dan_mccartney (Dec 27, 2007)

I love WinRAR. I use it, it seems like, daily. Its great.


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## Guyzer (Jul 3, 2004)

This one and best of all it's free. ( I don't think it works on Vista )
http://www.email-remover.com/

I actually use the older ver 2.4 and have done so for years. I have never felt a need to upgrade to the newer ver so I can't speak for it but I wouldn't consider downloading any of my e-mail without using it first.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Squeez is the best all-in-one archiver that I know of. Others cannot create some archive types due to licensing restrictions, but Squeez not only can open nearly any archive, but can also create SQX, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, CAB, GZIP, TAR, UUE, ACE, JAR, BZIP and 7Z archives so WinRar and WinAce are not needed at all.


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## net_newsy (Jan 15, 2004)

JohnWill: This actually slows the system down, it doesn't speed it up! Think about it. There is no benefit to having tons of free RAM, that translates to unused RAM.

let me share my own experience guided by NiteHawk, zephyr, Whitphil and ...oh yeah! JohnWill...

FREE RAM a WASTED RAM??? TSG (08-Feb-2004) 
------------------------------------------
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-95-98-me/201721-free-ram-wasted-ram.html

.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Short Keys Lite.

http://www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm



> ShortKeys is a utility that allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user defined keystrokes. ShortKeys monitors the keyboard activity on a global nature and anytime a user defined keystroke combination is typed in, it will be replaced with the replacement text.


Also great for formatting TSG posts 

And it's free


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

ZipGenuis supports ZIP, CZIP, EXE, JAR, EAR, WAR, DSFZ, BSZ, MSKIN, CBZ, PVC, XPI, SXW, SXI, SXC, SXD, STW, STD, STC, STI, SXG, SXM, OD*, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, TAZ, TGZ, ACE, EXE (ACE SFX), RAR, R00, R01, EXE (RAR SFX), CBR, 7Z, ARJ, CAB, LZH, LHA, SQX, YZ1, RPM, ISO, NRG, CMI, WAL, and WMZ files.


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## caraewilton (Nov 7, 2007)

The two little applications I use every day:

Cutepdf
http://www.cutepdf.com/
Fantastic and easy app which allows you to create pdf documents from any programme that can print.

Popman
http://www.ch-software.de/popman/
Little app that runs in the background. Lists all the mail you have on your server. You can then delete all the junk directly off the server.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

lets see here, apart from security apps which are:
avg free
comodo firewall
ad-aware
spyware blaster
In terms of photo editing, photoshop. Nuff said.
Web browsing, well i use firefox for that and ietab addon with ad block plus was the smartest idea ever.
I have more but need to go now.  will post them later and add links


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## sharky (Jul 9, 2001)

MUST HAVE ON MY COMPUTER:
CCleaner
Free Zone Alarm
FreeRam XP Pro
the 3-month trial version of NortonAntivirus that came with my computer(which renews itself when i co-incidently do a routine computer reformat every 3 months)

SLEEPER SOFTWARE:
Advanced Windows Care V2 Personal
Spybot

Always good to go to PCPISTOP every so often for the full tests. 


Just "one"?...Toss up between CCleaner and Zone Alarm

PS Since Ad-aware changed their software interface, i kinda lost interest in using it.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Ok i have returned. 
Another app i added was AIM 5.9 with aim ad hack which takes out the garbage that aim typically comes with and makes the app very small. Can be found here: http://www.aimadhack.net/
Ccleaner by piriform, very handy in cleaning up cookies in a system: http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
By the way, spywareblaster which i mentioned earlier is passive anti malware protection which can be found here: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

That is about all i can think of right now. .


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## Tacocaster (Jul 10, 2003)

new tech guy said:


> Ok i have returned.
> Another app i added was AIM 5.9 with aim ad hack which takes out the garbage that aim typically comes with and makes the app very small. Can be found here: http://www.aimadhack.net/


I hated all the garbage that AIM came with so I refused to even update the program until I was introduced to Pidgin.

Check it out: http://www.pidgin.im/


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

A *tiny* little program that every programmer/designer -- or anyone who works a lot with graphics/photos -- should have is a multi-purpose color picker called Color Cop. _So easy to use_... and you'll wonder how you ever got along without it!


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

Because I have a lot of images/photos on my hard drive, I count Xentient Thumbnails as one on my short list of MUST-HAVES!

_*Description:* Xentient Thumbnails changes the default icons for image files in Windows explorer and replaces them with thumbnails of the images themselves. It works automatically on all image files within the Windows environment without user intervention.

Every Windows user knows that setting "thumbnails" in the folder view options results in a thumbnail view of the pictures within it. Xentient Thumbnails goes a step further by replacing all image icons on-the-fly with thumbnails that are visible in all folder views (icons, tiles, list and details views, and even images placed on the Desktop).

The utility automatically generates thumbnail icons for most popular image types including JPG, JPE, JPEG, JP2, J2K, GIF, PNG, BMP, WBMP, EMF, WMF, PCX, PBM, PGM, PNM, PPM, RAS, TIF, TIFF, and TGA. 
_

I no longer have to set all my image folders to view "thumbnails". Every image icon is a tiny version of the image itself (instead of the standard icon for the imaging/paint software applications I use for them).

LOVE IT!


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

I do run aim 5.9 on the vista unit. Doesnt work fully seemlessly, every now and then it gets bogged up and needs a reinstall but it is rare. I have aim running at around 12mb of ram right now and 00 cpu. So that is not bad at all. usually the little ad at the top absolutely kills it in terms of performance.


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

If you've been living under a rock and are unaware of NOTEPAD++, it's a free source code editor and Notepad replacement. It supports several programming languages and runs under the MS Windows environment.

_Features include:_

Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
 WYSIWYG 
 User Defined Syntax Highlighting 
 Auto-completion 
 Multi-Document 
 Multi-View 
 Regular Expression Search/Replace supported 
 Full Drag N' Drop supported 
 Dynamic position of Views 
 File Status Auto-detection 
 Zoom in and zoom out 
 Multi-Language environment supported 
 Bookmark 
 Brace and Indent guideline Highlighting 
 Macro recording and playback

I've never looked back!


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

What good is doing productive work if you have no way of backing it up? Mozy is a backup software package that offers *two gigabytes* of free remote storage. Simply create an account with them, install the software, choose which directories you would like to keep archived, then forget about it. For Home Users, you can get UNLIMITED storage for under $5/month... but most people can get by with the *2 FREE GIGS*!!

Check out Mozy Online BackUp. I use it... and love it. (Of course, I use a few methods of backing up for my really important files. This is just one.)


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

A couple more that I like:

Stickies for Windows: Customizable Post-Its!;
(Source Code for Stickies)

DateInTray : No more hovering over the clock in my taskbar!


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## LilyNBlue (Jan 10, 2008)

*And finally... the MOST practical, useful, necessary tool:
WinAudit by Parmavex*

I can't believe it's FREE!

Audit your computer to find out anything/everything you need to know. Reports are incredibly thorough and user-friendly. Just a small sampling of what I learn anytime I audit:

All drivers, processes and running programs (including PID and memory usage);
All Startup Programs (including settings/registry folders and startup commands);
All communication ports and what's using them;
All Hardware, BIOS and Network info I could possibly want;
System Management, Environment Variables, Error Logs, Scheduled Tasks;
Permissions, Privileges, Security Settings and Logs... AND SO MUCH MORE.

Whenever asked, THIS IS THE ONE I urge everyone to check out!


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## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

"*Little*" and "...*not do without*"? This:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fi...-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/download.html#

Ben. :up:


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## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

Thanks Ben...Looks good..Gonna check it out..And, I've always liked this one:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/IrfanView_d4253.html


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

aarhus2004 said:


> "*Little*" and "...*not do without*"? This:
> 
> http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fi...-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/download.html#
> 
> Ben. :up:


Next time can you post a link to the program's page, not the download page?


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

I'll second that.


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## Esbenovich (Nov 6, 2007)

IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.net/

iTunes - http://www.apple.com/

Joost (could live without it but it's pretty cool ) - http://www.joost.com/

AVG free antivirus - http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1/us/frt/0

Ad-Aware 2007 - http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

and
Alcohol 52% - http://www.alcohol-soft.com/​


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## ElusivePachyderm (Mar 3, 2008)

HostsXpert : Is a simple easy to use one time install and forget software that protects your host file, so nothing would ever Hijack it again . Also if your Host file is already hijacked,it will replace it with the default Host File

This is the authors site but if you have any questions you could run a search on Google for assurances from established sources:

http://www.funkytoad.com/content/view/13/


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## ElusivePachyderm (Mar 3, 2008)

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility:

Some how this is not a part of the std. updates, anyways this is a utility to remove those hard
to remove registry entries:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

ElusivePachyderm said:


> HostsXpert : Is a simple easy to use one time install and forget software that protects your host file, so nothing would ever Hijack it again . Also if your Host file is already hijacked,it will replace it with the default Host File
> 
> This is the authors site but if you have any questions you could run a search on Google for assurances from established sources:
> 
> http://www.funkytoad.com/content/view/13/


Does it really protect the host file? I mean lock it so nothing gets to it.
I did test some years back and it is posted here some where and Zone Alarm Pro was the only thing that keep any other program from opening it.
Others that say they lock the hosts file failed. 
Found this thread on it.
http://www.dozleng.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=4606&st=10

I use HostsMan now and all is well.  It even "Scan hosts for errors, duplicates and *possible hijacks*" 
Plus I use it to backup.

I also know now scan from other programs will look there and at time still finds thing that are ok. Spybot has some sites that it will find because they don't think it should be in the hosts file but it is in the hosts file to block those sites.

Also you can do faster scans if you disable the hosts file. Also if you rename your bookmarks.html file to bookmarks.old.html it will not scan it either. I know I have a big host file and lots of bookmarks and Spybot takes a long time on those two so you really speed the scan time up if it does not have to scan them.


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## ElusivePachyderm (Mar 3, 2008)

Personally it worked well for me . My computer was infested with viruses, (with shell corruptions, buffer overflows,explorer corruptions,corrupt drivers ...... and virtually no program ever worked without getting hijacked ) and did use quite a few programs( which I am trying hard not to name  ) to keep it from getting hijacked including the the one you just mentioned. However It didn't really work for me at least .Every time I checked it via HJT it was gone ! ,with just a blank page. . There are very few programs which do use host file to block off sources, even so all you do need to do would be to make it writable 
and only readable once you are done. Its also not recommended to use host file as means of blocking/filtering sites as it can get corrupted quite easily as far as I have heard at least


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## Magikthise (Apr 4, 2008)

I second the vote for Irfanview. A great image viewer/manipulator, and it's FREE!

My 'can't do without it' program has to be Sitespinner, by Virtual Mechanics. Being almost completely illerate when it comes to HTML, Sitespinner is a comprehensive, full-featured WYSIWYG web page editor that's very easy to use. $99.00 CAN

I created this website using it (still a work in progress btw, and opinions would be appreciated):

The International Railfan Association

Not associated with Virtual Mechanics, just a big fan!


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## mclarenvj (May 31, 2007)

CPU-Z
I really can't live without knowing how fast i'm going
really


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## 2twenty2 (Jul 17, 2003)

Foxit Reader: Foxit Reader is a free reader for PDF documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_foxit/


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