Free Software Programs
Special Notice - These pages have just been recently published and many updates will be coming in early 2011.
GMER Rootkit Detection and Removal
GMER is an application that scans for, detects, and can be used to remove rootkits. Rootkits are programs that hide themselves from the operating system and security programs. Today the most malicious viruses are usually in the form of a rootkit. GMER can be used by advanced computer users to find and manually delete rootkits. GMER can actually be used to delete virus files that many antivirus programs fail to delete. GMER runs automatically, requires no installation, and is very quick to run and find rootkits. GMER is one of the most widely used anti-rootkit programs however the information it provides is very technical so only advanced computer users should run it.
ComboFix Malware Removal
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix
ComboFix created by sUBs and published by BleepingComputer is a malware removal program that searches for common spyware and other malware programs. It is very powerful and provides a very detailed report after running. This program is intended to be ran by advanced computer users rather than everyone. The program is simple to run but the results and possible prompts while running are very technical in nature.
7-Zip Compression and Archive Software
7-Zip is a file archiver with the high compression ratio. It takes large files or directories and compresses them into a much smaller single file. 7-Zip supports many formats and can work with files of any size. The compression software built into Windows cannot handle files larger than 4 GB but 7-Zip can so if you want to easily backup a large folder or group of files then 7-Zip is a must have program. Using a combination of 7-Zip and InfoFind you can easily create an encrypted backup of all your personal files in one location.
FileZilla FTP Client
FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive graphical user interface. If you need to do any FTP work then FileZilla can greatly improve your FTP experience.
ImgBurn Disk Image Software
ImgBurn is a small CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray burning application that allows for anyone to read disks, write image files and disks, and much more. ImgBurn supports many files formats and provides easy to use screens for novice computer users and many tweakable settings for advanced needs. A common use of this program would be for writing and working with *.ISO files.
TweakPNG Image Modification
http://entropymine.com/jason/tweakpng/
Recently Firefox and Safari introduced color correction to PNG images when displaying web pages. For photos this typically will make the image look better but often on digital art and computer print screens it darkens the original image in a way that can make it look bad. For an example of color correction see this link http://hacks.mozilla.org/2009/06/color-correction/.
If you're a web designer or developer then you will want to check your PNG images in several browsers and if needed use a program to modify them. TweakPNG was used in the development of this site for many images. TweakPNG is intended as a program for advanced users of PNG file format but it can actually be used by anyone. If you have a PNG Image on a web site that is too dark then first backup the image, open it with TweakPNG, and then delete rows with the attribute "ancillary, unsafe to copy".
Windows Sysinternals Software
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
The Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications.
Tools from Sysinternals were critical during the development of InfoFind and can help with a range of topics such as determining how a program works and how virus files are running.
Slax Linux Bootable OS
Linux is an alternative operating system to Windows and Apple Mac; it’s free and is developed by companies and volunteers from all around the world. There are many versions of Linux published by many companies so it makes it hard for someone not familiar with Linux to know where to start.
If you’ve never tried Linux before and don’t want to buy a new computer to try it one way is with a bootable CD or bootable USB flash drive. Slax is user-friendly version of Linux that can run from a boot disk. Basically you download Slax and burn it to a CD or save it on a USB drive and then when you turn on the computer you can choose to run Slax rather than your installed operating system.
A great use of Slax is for recovery files from a PC that has a Virus. If you have a computer that is too infected with viruses to be able to use and you want to get your files off then you can likely use Slax to do so. First download and create Slax on a USB flash drive from another computer. Boot up the infected computer and then you can access and copy files off of the computer and onto the USB flash drive. After finishing you can simply re-install Windows on the infected computer copy your files back and then you will have a clean computer.
