Windows Toolkit

Adobe Reader 6.0

The quintessential Adobe Acrobat reader is required to read PDF files. PDF files are a compact method of distributing publishable content in its original form, and you will find them used extensively for publications ranging from technical documents to press releases.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/
Operating system: Windows 98SE/Me, Windows NT/2000, Windows XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows

ZoneAlarm 3.7.159

This popular cut down version of the Zone Alarm Pro personal firewall is easy to use while still offering a high level of protection against attempts to read, retrieve or send information from your computer. ZoneAlarm successfully blocked all attacks in the APC labs tests and the spyware detection was good (APC March, page 67). This free version provides a strong firewall but doesn't offer advanced configuration and tracking proceedures, protection against email borne viruses and worms or technical support. The free version also does not offer the Internet browsing features for controlling cookies, ads, pop-up windows, JavaScript and ActiveX scripts.

Licence: Free for personal and non-profit use (excluding government and educational entities).
Online: http://www.zonelabs.com/
Operating system: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP.
Requires: 486 processor, 8MB RAM, 3MB hard disk space.

Install instructions

		Windows

Adware is known by many names - spyware, trackware or even Big Brotherware. While producers of adware claim its purpose is to collect information about Internet habits to deliver ads tailored to a surfer's interests, privacy advocates are concerned about the potential misuse of this data. Ad-aware identifies and removes these surreptitiously installed applications. Using updateable "reflists," which are similar to antivirus DAT files, Ad-aware scours your system - including Registry and temporary Internet files - and looks for traces of recognised adware modules. The latest version includes easier restore proceedures, user defined scans and exclusions including single folder scanning, automatic quarantine and integrated reference file updates with scheduling ability. The Plus and Professional versions of Ad-aware have customisation features and allow for real-time adware blocking so it doesn't get installed in the first place.

Licence: Free for individual use only. Profit business entities, governmental entities or educational institutions must purchase a valid end user license in order to use the software.
Online: http://www.lavasoft.de/
Operating system: Windows 98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires: N/A.

Install instructions: Uninstall any previous versions of Ad-aware and RefUpdate from your PC before installing version 6..

		Windows

DirectX 9 runtime is necessary for running the majority of game demos and other rich media software. DirectX 9 also provides support for the latest generation of 3D graphics acceleration hardware. The latest version of DirectX offers updated graphics features, faster frame rates and improved support for massive multiplayer games.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.microsoft.com/directx/
Operating system: Windows 98/Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows

DivX Video bundles together the DivX Player and DivX codec for video compression and decompression. The DivX codec allows for high quality video with small file sizes. Consequently, DivX is a popular format for downloading shared files over DSL or cable modems. The latest version is optimised for AMD Athlon and Athlon XP processors and supports the new MPEG-4 based DivX file format. The DivX Player 2.0 provides DivX movie playback with support for the MPEG-4 format and offers a skinnable interface system. The latest release has been built to integrate with the crop of DivX Certified hardware devices coming in 2003.

Licence: Free for personal use.
Online: http://www.divx.com/
Operating system: Windows 98/Me, Windows NT/2000, Windows XP.
Requires: DirectX 7.0 or later.

Install instructions

		Windows

The original and the best, ICQ started the online personal paging we now take for granted. Over the years, ICQ has developed and matured into a full-featured, cross-platform messaging and contact service that connects millions of people worldwide. Just about every user on the Internet now has two forms of online contact: their email address and their ICQ number.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.icq.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows

This small program will change the title bar or "Microsoft Internet Explorer" part at the top of Internet Explorer to whatever you want. This is an easy and quick utility for those who don't want to bother messing with the Windows registry, but want to make this simple change to Internet Explorer.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: N/A.
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires: Internet Explorer.

Install instructions

		Windows

If you don't have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer, you can still view presentations created with PowerPoint 95, 97, 2000 and 2002 with the PowerPoint Viewer 97 from Microsoft. PowerPoint users can share their presentations with others that don't have PowerPoint installed by giving them the freely distributable PowerPoint Viewer. PowerPoint Viewer users can view and print presentations, but cannot edit them. The PowerPoint Viewer supports all PowerPoint 97 and PowerPoint 95 features, but some PowerPoint 2000 and 2002 features are not supported, such as picture bullets, automatic numbering, animated GIFs, VBA and ActiveX controls.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://microsoft.com/downloads
Operating system: Windows 95/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires: N/A.

Install instructions

		Windows

The free RealOne Player includes a media player, music jukebox and a built-in media browser to play a wide variety of streaming media formats on the Web. The free RealOne Player does not include access to RealOne channels or programming, premium player features or RealOne member services.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.real.com/
Operating system: Windows 98/Me, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later/2000, Windows XP.
Requires: Pentium II 233MHz, 64MB RAM.

Install instructions

		Windows

The program searches your hard drive for so-called "spybots" or "adbots". These are the programs responsible for displaying advertising in some freeware and may transmit information, including your Internet surfing behaviour to another server. You can choose which ones you want to remove. In most cases the host still runs fine after removing the spyware/adware however some programs may cease to operate without these components. Spybot can also remove your usage tracks, making it more complicated for unknown spyware to transmit useful data. It also contains some routines to find and correct invalid registry entries.

Licence: Freeware. Donation welcome.
Online: http://security.kolla.de/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires: 64MB RAM, full functionality on admin account only for Windows NT/2000/XP.

Install instructions

		Windows

What machine would be complete without a powerful, fast, high-quality MP3 player? Just as WinZip is the undisputed king of Windows-based Zip utilities, the same is true for Winamp and MP3 players. With hundreds of skins, plug-ins, visualisation and sound tools, this is far more than an MP3 player - it's your musical interface to the Web.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.winamp.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows

Get more play, your way with Windows Media Player 9 Series. Get fast and flexible playback with the best audio and video quality for Windows and the Web. Includes special new features optimised for Windows XP.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.microsoft.com
Operating system: Windows 98 SE/Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP.
Requires: 233MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 100MB free disk space.

Install instructions Please note: Windows Media Player 9 is intended as a major system upgrade and installs Digital Rights Management (DRM) functionality on your hard drive. Standard un-installation procedures will not rid your PC of the player. Please read thoroughly the End User Agreement and Supplemental End User Agreement before proceeding with installation.

Windows				Windows XP

The world's most popular Windows-based Zip utility, this product allows you to view, extract, create and otherwise manage Zip files based around PKWare's popular compression algorithms. It also manages TAR, BinHex and UUencoded files.

Licence: Shareware.
Online: http://www.winzip.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows

This popular FTP client was one of the first Windows-based FTP clients and has become an easy-to-use, feature-packed tool. While FTPing with your browser will suffice for infrequent transfers, if you intend to transfer a large number of files over the Internet a comprehensive FTP client is highly recommended. WS_FTP is one of the best.

Licence: Freeware.
Online: http://www.ipswitch.com/products/WS_FTP/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000.
Requires:

Install instructions

		Windows