That’s not such a big problem on today’s computer systems on the other hand who have enough power to handle those programs. But there are many programs out there that provide great functionality and design without going over the board size wise.

This list is dedicated to those programs. It lists 50 software programs for Windows that use 100K or less. Best of all, the programs are functional and should be useful to many Windows users.

All programs have been tested on a Windows 7 Professional test system.

• Audioplayer: A fully functional music player that supports MP3, MPGA, WAV, MIDI, AU, WMA and ASF sound files as well as WPL, ASX, WMX, WAX and M3U playlists. Internet media is also supported and no install is required (64K) (homepage)
• Resize Enable: lets you turn usually non-resizeable windows into resizeable windows. (42K) (homepage)
• Picture Watermarker: Picture Watermarker is a simple and user friendly software that allows you to put text or image over your images and brand them. Picture Watermarker will allow you to open any .jpg, .bmp,.jpeg image and add text or image across the image. (16K)(homepage)
• Backup Utility: This program will copy all the files in a certain directory of a specified type into another directory. Effectively, it is a very simple and easy to use backup utility. Backup jobs can be saved, and you can specify restrictions such as file size, date, and type. (40K) (homepage)
• CD Recover: This is a lossy disc copying program. Designed for recovering as much information as possible from a corrupted file. The program is optimized for recovering corrupt video data from CDs. Supports multiple file retrieval methods. Say goodbye to CRC errors at the end of a file copy. (40K) (homepage)
• CPU Speed Adjuster: Ever tried to play an old game, or run an old program on a modern PC? Notice how everything runs way too fast? This program lets you slow down your PC so that you can run all your old programs again at the speed that you require. CPU usage can be limited to within a percentage. (30K) (homepage)
• Hoe Key: Tiny hotkey program, configurable with an .ini file. (26K) (homepage)
• Clipomatic: Clipomatic is a clipboard cache program. It remembers what was copied to the clipboard and allows you to retrieve it, even after you’ve copied something else to the clipboard. Clipomatic only works with text (96K) (homepage)
• Encopy: This utility is designed for data rescue from damaged mediawhen standard system copy fail, freeze and or reject medium. This software try rescue data from media like these and even in some cases of serious damage might restore data. It is not possible to rescue everything perfectly, but in most cases this way might be useful. (30K) (homepage)
• Roadkil’s Undelete: Allows you to undelete files that you have accidentally deleted from your drives. (51K) (homepage)
• Lens: Magnify any portion of the screen while you move the mouse cursor. (6K) (homepage)
• Minute Timer: Minute Timer (MinTimer) is a general-purpose, simple desktop count-down timer and alarm. (39K) (homepage)
• Windows Pinner: This utility allows you to “pin” a window to the top of all other windows.
  The idea for this tool arose when I had to do a documentation for some program. Instead of repeatedly switching from one window to the other I thought it helpful to have my word processor staying in front of the other one… (63K) (homepage)
• Dir Graph: DirGraph provides a graphical view of the space used by your files and directories. It allows you to navigate around this view – zooming in to see greater detail and zooming out to see the bigger picture. (35K) (homepage)
• Raw Copy: This program copys a disk as a raw image from one drive directly to another. This utility is designed for people who have faulty drive and want to transfer the data directly to another drive without doing a file by file copy. This saves the need for operating system re-installs and allows drives with an unknown file system to be copied (including from console game machines, data recorders, mac etc).(66K) (homepage)
• Roadkil’s Disk Speed: Performs disk speed test and provided details about how fast your disks can transfer data. The information provided includes data transfer rate for linear reads, random read transfer rate and the seek time of the drive. (48K) (homepage)
• Disk Wipe:Securely erases the contents of a disk replacing it with random data or leaving the drive completely blank. Numerous passes can be performed to ensure data is totally unrecoverable. Program works on hard and floppy disks aswell as USB/Flash drives. (49K) (homepage)
• File Splitter: FileSplitter is a freeware and open source, no frills tool to split up files into a specified number of chunks. Whether you’re on dialup and need to transfer large files over the internet without worrying about timeouts or disconnection; want to send that large presentation or document via email or even put that movie file on rapidshare (11K) (homepage)
• Dead Pixel Buddy: This is a dead pixel test program. It allows you to easily test your LCD screen for dead pixels. (26K) (homepage)
• Pitaschio: Pitaschio is a freeware which makes it convenient to use Microsoft Windows. (61K) (homepage)
• My Uninstaller: MyUninstaller is an alternative utility to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system. It displays the list of all installed application, and allows you to uninstall an application, delete an uninstall entry, and save the list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML file (45K) (homepage)
• Notify: Runs hidden in the background until it detects any kind of change in a directory it has been told to monitor. When a change occurs (e.g. create, delete, modify a file) it visually alerts the user. Can be used, for example, to detect incoming information over a network or to detect tampering of files. Uses very little memory and practically no CPU time. (15K) (homepage)
• Mail PassView: Mail PassView is a small password-recovery tool that reveals the passwords and other account details (56K) (homepage)
• RegScanner: RegScanner is a small utility that allows you to scan the Registry, find the desired Registry values that match to the specified search criteria, and display them in one list. After finding the Registry values, you can easily jump to the right value in RegEdit, simply by double-clicking the desired Registry item. You can also export the found Registry values into a .reg file that can be used in RegEdit. (52K) (homepage)
• CurrPorts: CurrPorts is network monitoring software that displays the list of all currently opened TCP/IP and UDP ports on your local computer. For each port in the list, information about the process that opened the port is also displayed, including the process name, full path of the process, version information of the process (product name, file description, and so on), the time that the process was created, and the user that created it. (62K) (homepage)
• Dizzy: DIZzy displays DIZ, NFO and other confusing, ASCII-extended text files in a pleasing graphic format. It supports drag-and-drop, file associations and command line. DIZzy is an amazingly small, self-contained, flexible and free program. (8K) (homepage)
• Surecrypt: SureCrypt is an ultra small encryption program designed for fast processing of extremely large files. It can encrypt or decrypt files as fast as Windows Explorer can copy them. SureCrypt presents a flexible user interface with detailed record of all operations. (9K) (homepage)
• Metapad: Once upon a time, one of the most useful programs for everyday use was known as Microsoft Notepad. I realized that Notepad was quite powerful and did a lot of what I wanted in a simple text editor. Yet I found the user interface to be unlike most 32-bit Windows applications and actually quite poor.. (39K) (homepage)
• Capster: Have a program run at the startup of windows, but only if your caps-lock key is down at the time. (5K) (homepage)
• Startup Monitor: StartupMonitor is a small utility that runs transparently (it doesn’t even use a tray icon) and notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup. It prevents annoying programs from registering themselves behind your back. (60K) (homepage)
• Color Cop: Color Cop is a multi-purpose color picker for web designers and programmers. It features an eyedropper, magnifier, variable magnification levels, 3 by 3 and 5 by 5 average sampling, snap to websafe, color history, and a 42 color complementary palette. (61K) (homepage)
• CPUID: Displays information about your computers processor(s). Speed, cache size, features, clock multipliers, codename, brand plus much more information is displayed. (47K) (homepage)
• Tiny IRC: Are you tired of IRC clients bloated with features you never use? Your search is over! TinyIRC Pro packs the common features you need for day to day IRCing into a small package. If you want to take your IRC client on the road, with TinyIRC Pro its as simple as copying it from your hard disk to a floppy or USB key. (60K) (homepage)
• Kill disk: powerful and compact software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It’s a hard drive and partition eraser utility. (58K) (homepage)
• YourCPL: Some of the items in your Start menu really belong in Control Panel. YourCPL puts them there. Anything you can run from a command line can be added. (6K) (homepage)
• Startup Control Panel: Startup Control Panel is a nifty control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. It’s simple to use and, like all my programs, it’s very small and won’t burden your system. A valuable tool for system administrators! (34K) (homepage)
• ‘Reso: Make a shortcut to run an app at your favorite resolution. (9K) (homepage)
• Emunge: A very simple program designed to take a piece of text from the clipboard or entered into the program’s left window pane and perform a series of regular expression search and replace operations, producing the output text in the other window pane. (19K) (homepage)
• Hash: Hash is a small GUI tool designed to perform MD5, SHA1and CRC32 hashing functions on a number of files. The file size and modified date is also optionally shown. Results displayed in the window can easily be copied to the Windows clipboard or saved to a text file. (16K) (homepage)
• Volumouse: Volumouse provides you a quick and easy way to control the sound volume on your system – simply by rolling the wheel of your wheel mouse.
  It allows you to define a set of rules for determining when the wheel will be used for changing the sound volume. (51K) (homepage)
• File Compare: Compares two folders of files in binary (recursive) to see if they are identical. (41K) (homepage)
• FoldersReport: The FoldersReport utility scans a drive or a base folder that you select, and displays essential information for each folder that it finds: The size of all files inside the folder, The real files size on the disk, number of files inside the folder, number of hidden files, number of compressed files, and number of subfolders. (27K) (homepage)
• Text Merge: Gives the user the ability to easily merge selected text files into a single file. (21K) (homepage)
• Serps Finder: SERPs Finder is a free SEO (Search Engine Optimization) utility that allows you to find rankings of your pages in all major search engines. SERPs Finder can easily check search engine position of your site for a given query in Google, Live Search, and Yahoo! Search. (37K) (homepage)
• TinyResMeter: A small tool that displays useful information about system resources in real time, but it also gives much more detail when you right-click on the displayed fields. (48K) (homepage)
• Mini Explorer: A fast and tiny alternative to Windows Explorer. (36K) (homepage)
• Boss Key: BossKey is a simple virtual desktop program. Create hot-keys to switch between the desktops and have one set of windows/applications on one and a different set of windows/applications on another and flip between them instantly with a single keypress (7K) (homepage)
• Memtest: A thorough, stand alone memory test for x86 architecture computers. (75K) (homepage)
• Win32Pad: Win32Pad is a feature filled text editor that is written with a programmer in mind. Its main purpose is to provide enough functionality that is missing from notepad without sacrificing file size and performance. It’s very fast and powerful. This editor is written so that you can install it and start using it. (39K) (homepage)
• Wireless Net View: WirelessNetView is a small utility that runs in the background, and monitor the activity of wireless networks around you. For each detected network, it displays the following information: SSID, Last Signal Quality, Average Signal Quality, Detection Counter, Authentication Algorithm, Cipher Algorithm, MAC Address, RSSI, Channel Frequency, Channel Number, and more. (44K) (homepage)

That’s usually not a very pleasant thing to do as it takes lots of time to download and install all these programs. The Smart Installer Pack tries to reduce the time it takes to install popular software by providing an interface to download and install dozens of popular software programs.

The program will display a full screen interface after installation that can be used to select some or all of the included software programs which will then be automatically downloaded and installed (one after the other). Included are programs like Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Filezilla FTP Server, Digsby, Skype, RocketDock, Picasa and iTunes among dozens of additional programs.

The latest version of the selected software programs will be downloaded according to the developer’s of Smart Installer Pack. One limitation that is currently in place is that the software programs are listed in groups of eight on individual pages and that it is only possible to download software from one page at a time meaning it is not possible to go through all pages to select all software that should be downloaded and installed.

It is also a good idea to check the version of the programs downloaded with the latest version on the developer’s website (or through an existing update function in the software) to make sure the latest version has indeed been installed.

Smart Installer Pack would be more user friendly if all software programs would be listed on one page to streamline the process and make it more comfortable to the user.

Probably one of the most important pieces of software you think about when looking to keep your PC healthy is anti-virus software. You have the option of purchasing top of the line software that will provide excellent protection, however unless you’re running a business where damage caused by a virus could be potentially expensive, there are many free anti-virus programs that provide great protection too. Avast! and Avira are two very well regarded anti-virus programs which, if you so desire, you can pay to receive even better protection with their premium versions. If you want even better protection it is recommended you download a spyware and adware removal program, the best ones quite unanimously being Spybot and Ad-Adawre, both free programs as well.

If your PC’s hard disk has Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (or S.M.A.R.T) you can enable it through your PC’s BIOS in order to monitor your hard disk by having it report on factors that affect your hard disk’s reliability. In order to see the results of this you need to download a free program called Active Disk Monitor, which can easily be found through Google or any other major search engine. Installing this will allow you to see the health of your hard disk so you will be able to anticipate failures so that you can purchase a new one and make appropriate backups before you lose all of you data.

Browsing the internet, running programs, deleting files and other typical activities on your PC causes many temporary files to be created on your PC. This can cause your computer to run slow and valuable hard disk space to be taken up. To remedy this there are two easy to use pieces of PC software that you can download and run for free. The first program is known as Clean-Up. Clean-Up will go through your computer and delete many of these unnecessary files and the best part is it works very fast and only requires the press of a button to run. The other program is called CCleaner. This program will also delete those unnecessary temporary files. It is best to run both of them so you can maximize the amount of files that are deleted. CCleaner also has another function though: it will clean up your registry. While having a registry with broken and useless keys doesn’t normally cause a big problem, it doesn’t hurt and sometimes if there are a large amount of problems it can cause problems. Also, to make sure you get rid of as many unnecessary files as possible you can also open up your internet browser, such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, and chose to clear the cache, delete cookies and other such things.

Obtaining PC software for maintenance can be a chore at first, but it is very important and in the long run can help yo

There are whole communities for open source software. These are legally created programs that have been designed by programmers who are tired of the strangle hold certain industry giants have on the market. They are called “open source” because the source code is transparent and can be redesigned by anyone who wants to improve or alter the program. However, if you aren’t a programmer, this isn’t necessary. The programs are constantly being improved. Linux is one such site and program. Linux is a computing platform that replaces Windows. Many consider it to be easier to use than Windows, less cumbersome and of course, it is free.

There are also websites that provide feedback and links to various types of free software. One such site is PC-WORLD. If you navigate to their site and click on “downloads” they have categories like; utilities, anti-virus and security, office, etc. If you click on one of these links you will get a whole list of screened software. Some of the software is for sale, some is “shareware” and some is free. Most of the free programs are just as good as the programs for sale. You should stay away from “shareware” as most of it requires you to sign up for a website or allow tracking cookies to be placed on your computer. Compromising your security isn’t necessary. The free software is usually well written, user friendly and often takes far less of your computers thinking power to operate. For example, there is a search utility called “Agent Ransack”. It is completely free, is tiny compared to Microsoft’s search feature yet does a MUCH better job at quickly searching your computer.

Of course there are the free software programs that are becoming quite famous and are readily available. Internet browsers are the most common because they can easily pay for their development by selling advertising. Mozilla’s Firefox is a very popular free browser. Google Chrome is another. There is a full office suite called Open Office that is becoming more common that replaces Microsoft Office while still being compatible. Open Office provides word processing, a spreadsheet program compatible with Excel, basically everything offered by Microsoft office but it is completely free.

What you get from commercial software is a look. Commercially sold software is almost always bloated and saps computing power because it has a very sharp color scheme and looks really slick. If you aren’t hung up on looks, free software performs as well or often better. And with the more popular free software like Firefox, their graphics are becoming higher and higher quality. One word of caution: When searching for free software, go directly to the download site. Don’t download from the many “free software” sites that offer pages of links. You often have to compromise your privacy or security to use these sites. Find the name of the software then go directly to their site to download directly from the developers. And no matter what, always scan you new software with an anti-virus program before opening and installing it.

We have already covered two of the applications and would like to recommend a few more that might be interesting to try out. Comparer is a file comparison tool that can compare (among other things) all file properties. File Replicator is another interesting program. It can search for a certain file in a selected folder and replace that file with another one. Think of updating files that reside in multiple locations on the computer’s hard drive.

I do not want to spoil the fun of exploring all those new programs. What you find there is a wide variety of software programs from Notepad++ plugins to cryptographic applications and a dog breeding records keeper. It is definitely worth a visit; And who knows, maybe you find the program there that you have been searching for all of your life.

It would not be Ghacks if we would not ask you to contribute to that list. The only requirements are that the software has to be free. It does not matter if they are Open Source, freeware or donation ware. If they are free they have a chance to make it on the list.

Asking for names for any kind of software program would make it very hard for us to turn the information into a list. We have therefor decided to divide the process into different articles which will only accept programs of one specific category.

We start with security applications. This can be anything from antivirus programs to antispyware, firewall or process monitors. Yes, some applications fit in more than one category. Name them whenever they fit in so that they can be included in the list.

Please include at least the name of the application. A link to the program’s website would be great and helpful as well. The results will be published at the Computer Software Recommendations article.

So come on. Let us create the best recommended software article ever.

The manufacturer receives good money from the companies so that they can put their trial versions on the computer.

And so the PC Decrapifier was born. The software program automatically scans a computer and gives the user the option to remove many of the applications that come preinstalled with the computer. The software program is easy to use. The user just to make a few selections, like creating a System Restore Point, before it will present the detected software and tools in a list.

The user may select some or all of the applications in the list to be removed from his computer system. The software program has been designed with ease of use in mind. Even inexperienced users will be able to remove the trial software installed on their system almost effortlessly.

The new version of The PC Decrapifier is a complete rebuild and although it does not feature many additions yet it means that the author will be able to release updates more frequently in the future.

Zoundry Raven is a portable blog editor that I discovered yesterday at the Download Squad (Welcome Back, btw). It’s compatible to multiple blog plattforms including WordPress, Typepad but also Blogger and LiveJournal. A total of 24 different blog plattforms are supported currently and chance is that yours is included.

Zoundry Raven asks during installation if it should be installed as a portable blog editor. This would mean that you could install it on a removable drive, for example an USB stick, and use it from there no matter where you go.

Before you can start using it you need to add at least one account to the application. All that needs to be done is to enter a url which will automatically be analyzed by the software. It will detect the blogging plattform that is being used and request login credentials.

After that all (!) posts, images, links and tags get downloaded and it is possible to look through them and open them online. Each post can be edited using the available WYSIWYG editor. One thing that I think is missing is the ability to check all links for broken links, that would be a very valuable feature.

The editor creates a tag cloud that displays all the tags used. A click on a tag loads the articles related to it which can be edited. It is for instance possible to add or remove tags that way as well. (removing tags is not really recommended because the search engines will have a broken link in their index)

The most important part of a blog editor is obviously writing and publishing new blog entries. That’s pretty comfortable as well. You click on the Write button, pick a website, categories, type in title, tags and start writing the article.

Writing an article that way is pretty comfortable and has the advantage that it can be done offline. Publishing the article on the other hand lacks the feature of scheduling that article which is a pretty important feature in my opinion.

Several media storage providers can be added to use additional space for files and images that are embedded in the article. They range from custom ftp accounts to Picasa and Flickr.

Zoundry Raven is a nice and clean blog editor. If you just publish and edit articles you will probably like it. I already mentioned the features that are really missing (link checker and scheduler) which keep me from using it. The link checker would be a huge selling point in my opinion and I believe that many bloggers would install the software program just for that feature alone.

There is no information about compatibility. It runs fine on Windows XP Service Pack 3.