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Free software and advice
The following links are for useful software which is freely available for non profit use
The purveyors of the software referred to on this page are in no way connected to Box Technic nor
to any of its employees, Box Technic receives no financial gain from suggesting the use of this software.
The purveyors of this software may require personal details, these details are purely for their use and
Box Technic has no knowledge of them. Box Technic cannot provide
technical support for these products beyond that provided by the original vendors. Box Technic
assumes no responsibility for any damage done to users systems by using any of the software referred to from this page.
Please note if you are connected to a corporate intranet or a local area network you should contact the administrator of the
network before attempting to install any of the software listed below. Listings are alphabetically sorted within their section
and are not intended to imply any other kind of ranking. Box Technic recommends that you back up
your system before installing or using any software referred to on this page.
Windows Update
Periodically Microsoft release updates for their operating systems and software products,
Box Technic
recommend that you take advantage of this service as these updates may prevent damage to your system by a virus or a malicious third
party. If you do not use a broadband connection it is possible to request CD's containing the updates but you must contact Microsoft
directly for this service.
Free Firewall Software
A firewall protects your computer from access by persons or programs from the internet by controlling the automated
responses it makes when an attempt is made to access the machine.
Windows XP users have a built in firewall and do not need to install any other, but it must be turned on to be effective.
See the
Microsoft Windows XP Firewall
page for details on how to do this, also see the
Microsoft Windows Security page for more
information on security in general.
Box Technic recommends the use of a proprietary firewall to protect your PC, however
if you do not have one and are not using Windows XP then below are links to free firewall software.
Free Anti Virus Software
Viruses are programs designed to exploit the way the operating system on your machine works in order to spread themselves
further. They perform no useful function and slow your machine down, use your disk space and may damage information held
both in memory and on your hard disk drive. A worm is a specialised form of a virus that uses your internet connection to
spread to other computers.
These programs must execute on your machine in order to be effective, this is generally accomplished by attaching the virus
to an email or hyperlink on a web page and you clicking on it to activate it, sometimes the virus has infected a useful program
and running that program will infect your machine. A virus scanner prevents these programs from running on your machine and
further removes the virus from any infected programs on your hard disk drive.
It is vitally important
that the virus scanner is kept up to date with frequent updates from the vendors site in order for it to be effective
Box Technic suggest that a successful update should be performed at least once a week
as a minimum.
Box Technic recommends the use of a proprietary virus scanner, however if you do not have
one on your machine then below are links to free virus scanning software.
Free Spyware Removal Software
Spyware is software or cookies or settings in your registry designed to monitor the way you use your machine and report this
information back to a third party possibly for malicious purposes, for example a keystroke logger is spyware designed to capture
passwords as you type and enable a third party to access your machine at a later date without your knowledge. Adware is similar
but your web site preferences are monitored in order to target you more specifically with advertising, it's market research by stealth.
Both spyware and Adware take up space on your hard disk drive, use your processing power to perform their monitoring activities
further they may steal bandwidth from your internet connection to report these activities. All of this costs you money and slows
down your system even if you don't notice it.
It is important that the spyware and adware removal software is kept up to date with frequent updates from
the vendors site in order for it to be effective Box Technic suggest that a successful update should
be performed at least once a week as a minimum.
Box Technic recommends the use of proprietary software to remove and prevent installation of spyware
and adware, however if you do not have such software then below is a list of software which will remove spyware and adware. To the
best of our knowledge and information all of these products may be used together as complimentary products.
Free Anti Spam Email Software
Email spam is the bane of email systems, consisting of unsolicited, useless and frequently obscene material sent to your mail
account it obscures the emails you wish to read by simple weight of numbers, occasionally these emails are also used to deliver
viruses and spyware and the world would be a better place if they didn't exist
ISP's frequently offer spam blocking as a free service for their customers
Box Technic recommends the use
of such services where available or proprietary software packages to block spam delivery, however if your ISP does not provide such a service or
you do not have such proprietary software then below is a list of free software which can help block spam delivery.
HiJackThis Analysis Tool
HiJackThis is an extremely powerful system analysis tool which will also allow you to repair any problems you detect,
you should not use this tool unless you are an expert or are being directed by an expert,
it is very easy to render your system totally unusable with this tool
CCleaner system optimization and privacy tool
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and
freeing up valuable hard disk space.