Some of Strommer's favourites:

 

 

 

 

 

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Registry Edits for Windows XP - "Tweaks and Tips" www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

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Fresh UI is a fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows. Loaded with hundreds of useful settings for Windows XP/2000/ NT4/98/95/Me, it covers the customizing techniques that you'll be glad to know. This software is 100% free, no banner, no spyware. www.freshdevices.com/.

Tweak UI is a Microsoft 'PowerToy' that gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

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Fresh Download is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager that turbo charges downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite mp3 files, software, picture collections, video, etc. Unlike other similar utilities, this software is 100% free, no banners, no spyware. www.freshdevices.com/

 

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30 Essential Pieces Of Free Software for Windows www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/12/01/30-essential-pieces-of-free-and-open-software-for-windows/

Auslogics Disk Defrag - Its quick. Free too. You will never want to use Windows defragmenter again. www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/

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DeskPins allows you to keep any window on top of others with a few clicks.The `on top` window is marked with a colored pin that can be quickly removed by simply clicking on it, returning the window to its normal state. If you don't understand the need for this, think of copying a number of selected sentences from one document to the next: unless you configure a split screen, one document will keep disappearing. Most people will not need this every day but when it is needed it saves time and a hassle. Another freebie: www.snapfiles.com/get/deskpins.html

Get rid of those annoying adverts with this free web page filter.
Proxomitron is highly flexible, user-configurable, small but very powerful, local HTTP Web-filtering proxy. It allows you to get rid of many common annoyances as simple as clicking on one of the filtering rules included with the program. But best of all, the Proxomitron's rules aren't 'hard-coded' - you can look at them, modify them, or even write entirely new ones.
www.download.com/Proxomitron/3000-12768_4-10517575.html

HijackThis is a free utility which quickly scans your Windows computer to find settings that may have been changed by spyware, malware or other unwanted programs. HijackThis creates a report, or log file, with the results of the scan. Get it here: www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/hijackthis.php

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This site will analyze your HijackThis results to tell you what malware is probably on your computer. www.prevx.com/hijackthis.asp

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RogueRemover is a utility that can remove various rogue antispyware, antivirus and hard drive cleaning utilities. Rogue applications are applications that rather than remove spyware, provide false positives, distribute malware or spyware, advertise, or provide useless uninstallers. The main point is that rogue applications are useless and eat up system resources. (Free at first.) Get it here: www.malwarebytes.org/rogueremover.php

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Forget Window's Search utility. Use Ava Find to find any file on your computer instantly - as you type the file name! Download this free program here: www.shareup.com/Ava_Find-download-5634.html

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I have given this simple but very practical program to many friends who love it. TClockEx is a nice little program that enhances the clock that is built into the Windows taskbar. See the date as well as the time on the taskbar in one glance, and with any format you like, how it appears: day, month, year, minute, second, week, time zone. It includes a calendar and system resource monitor. Free. Download here: www.majorgeeks.com/TClockEx_d5445.html

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Listen to hundreds of Internet Radio Stations: www.radiotower.com