Windows XP tools
Files for these applications can be found in the \software\winxptools\ folder on this disc.
X-Setup Xteq X-Setup is a so-called "hacker" or "tweaker" program. It allows you to change settings that are normally hidden deeply in configuration files such as the registry fast and easily. X-Setup runs on any Windows version (including XP), X-Setup is freeware.

Powerpack 2003 Pro TweakNow PowerPack is an easy-to-use Windows 98/ME/2000/XP utility that lets you fine-tune Windows and Internet Explorer. With it you can tweak your registry, clean up your hard drive, or increase your multimedia and game performance. This trial version gives you 10 days use or 45 executions.

File Compair 2 This useful program lets you compare single/multiple files against a file to see if they share the same binary code (ie if they are the same file or not). Other similar programs use a partial checksum, which can be flawed. This method does take some time on larger files, but is also 100% accurate. With File Compair 2.0 you can compare a file against as many other files as you want.

Magic Folders Magic Folders makes any folders you choose (and sub-folders) completely invisible to others. These invisible folders and files can't be deleted, viewed, modified, or run. You can use Magic Folders to protect your finances, taxes, business and personal documents. Yet, just enter your password and you'll instantly have complete and normal access to all your folders and the files within.

Win XP/2K

Win 9x
Ram Idle Professional RAM Idle Professional is a smart memory management program that will help keep your computer running more efficiently, faster, and longer. It works by freeing up physical RAM wasted by Windows and other applications. RAM Idle also includes a Cache and startup manager program designed to improve speed by optimising your Windows settings. The program supports Windows 98/ME/2000/XP. This trial runs for 10 days.

Cacheman 5.11 This utility is designed to improve the performance of your PC by optimising the disk cache, memory and other settings. It prevents frequent paging to the hard disk caused by poor memory management, so you get improved performance, faster system reaction time and greater stability. Cacheman also corrects generic problems on systems with more than 512MB of RAM.

TurboZIP TurboZIP is a secure archiving and auto backup tool. You can open, catalogue, organise and view just about all popular archive and email attachment formats, and create most common archive types. As well as toolbars, wizards, and context-sensitive menus and dialogs, it also offers command line support for unattended backup and compression operations.

Fast Explorer 2001 This utility lets you to manage context menu items of file objects displayed in a file manager, such as Windows Explorer or similar application. It's a simple way to make frequently used file actions quickly accessible. Fast Explorer supports both static and dynamic menu items. You can create new menu items, submenus, dividers, specify menu bitmaps and hint text, and manage existing menu items added by other programs.

SiSoftware Sandra 2002 Sandra (System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices connected to your PC system. The standard version is free for personal/educational use.

Handybits File Shredder When you delete a file, Windows simply removes the reference to the deleted file from the file system, but disk clusters still contain the file data, so your confidential information can be accessed by others after the file deletion. You can configure File Shredder to overwrite a file data with random information up to 15 times, so it is practically impossible to recover the original data. Free for personal use.

Active Ports 1.1 This tool for Windows NT/2000/XP lets you monitor all open TCP and UDP ports on the local computer. Active Ports maps ports to the owning application so you can watch which process has opened which port. It also displays a local and remote IP address for each connection and allows you to terminate the owning process. Active Ports can help you to detect trojans and other malicious programs.

Advanced NT Security Advanced NT Security Explorer (ANTExp) is an application for Windows NT, 2000 and XP system administrators seeking out holes in system security. It analyses user password hashes, and tries to recover plain-text passwords. If it's possible to recover the password in a reasonable time the password should be considered to be insecure. Conversely, the program can be used for recovering lost passwords in some cases.

StartEd StartEd helps you manage programs that load from the Registry, Startup folders and Win.ini. You can view, edit, delete and add entries to your startup configuration; view detailed information about each startup entry; print out or copy the startup list to the clipboard; launch files; create shortcuts on on your desktop (useful for temporary disabled items).In addition the program detects more than 70 Trojan Horses.

Easy MP3 converter If you have MP3 files you want to burn onto an audio CD, or need TO convert WAV files to MP3, Easy MP3 Converter should come in useful. It supports MP3, MP2, Xing VBR and CD quality WAV. The program offers a manual batch mode too, and can automatically convert all entries in M3U and PLS format play lists. This shareware costs $19.95 to register.

CD to WAV/MP3 Ripper This program offers fast CD music ripping from audio CDs to WAV files or MP3. You can rip to MP3 on the fly (no temp file is made) with selectable bit rate. The free version is ad financed, but you can purchase an ad-free version for $15.

Easy MP3 CD Extractor This audio CD to MP3 ripper (or audio grabber) can extract digital audio (DA) tracks from an audio CD and save them as files on the hard disk. These extracted audio tracks can be stored as WAVs or MP3s. Ripping to MP3s is on-the-fly, and the program supports CDDB (Internet Compact Disc Database) lookup for track listings, automatically normalisation, and reading & writing of ID3 tags.