in your task bar, it's accessible from any application. Comes with a host of other
features such as dictionary/thesaurus access and even a calculator. If that's not
enough for you, it's totally customizable. A serious second choice is the new
Google DeskBar which shares many of the features of Dave's Search Bar but is
geared exclusively to Google searches.

(380KB)

(452KB) Best Free Download Accelerator Updated
Star Downloader 1.43 is not only free of charge, it's free of ads, spyware and other
undesirable extras packed into most free download accelerators. On top of that, it is
blindingly fast and has a raft of features including automatic mirror site detection,
automatic resumption of failed downloads, download scheduling, anti-virus
integration and more. If you are not yet using a download accelerator, go get this
product and start counting the time you save. The faster your internet connection,
the more you will gain. Users with slow modem connections will, unfortunately,
benefit least. (1.4MB)

Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover New
Ewido the best of a new crop of anti-Trojan programs. On my recent tests over at
www.anti-trojan-software-reviews.com it emerged as was one of the few products
that could reliably detect polymorphic and process injecting Trojans that were
totally missed by anti-virus products like Norton and AVG. No, it's not as good as
TDS-3 or Trojan Hunter but you get what you pay for. You see, the free version of
Ewido doesn’t have a memory monitor but the on-demand scanner is so good


Best Free File Cleaner
I've tried quite a few commercial products designed to clean unneeded temporary
files off your hard disk but must say that the free utility "Empty Temp Folders"
ranks with the best. It takes a few minutes to set up but after that, just press a
button to recover many megabytes of disk space. (667KB)

Best Free Resource Meter
This is cute. TinyResMeter is an itsy-bitsy system monitor. Unlike many other
monitors, it doesn't consume a lot of CPU utilization in order to tell you your CPU
utilization. In addition to CPU usage, you can optionally monitor cache, RAM,
page file and swap file usage, running processes and threads, disk space utilization
and a number of other parameters as well.
Also built-in, is a screen grabber that saves the current screen to disk when you
press PrintScreen. How they fit all this into 96KB beats me.

Best Free Spam Filter for the Average User Updated
Mailwasher is for most folk, the easiest way of dealing with Spam. It's a free email
preview utility that allows you to check your email on your mail server before you
download it to your PC. The advantage of this approach is that you can kill
unwanted messages including spam, viruses and large attachments before they get
anywhere near your computer. Mailwasher automatically flags for you any
messages containing viruses and possible spam which makes for quick and easy
identification. It also will send a message back to the spam mail sender saying that

anything else. Besides, next time you are asked what pop-up stopper you use, you
can answer; "why, I use The Proxomitron" and how cool is that. The first link
below is to version 4.5, the last and final version of this superb utility. The
following two links offer useful setup and usage tips. Note: For Novice PC users I
suggest you try the news Google tool bar rather than The Proxomitron. It's free as
well and has an excellent popup filter built in. It's not as flexible as as The
Proxomitron, but it requires no setup. As a bonus it also makes Google searches
easier.

Best Free Sticky Notes Utility New
Some people hate these programs others swear they can't work effectively without
them. I used to be in the first category but with so many things on my plate these
days, I'm slowly being converted. The function that I find really useful is the
reminder that pops up at a designated time and date. I use it for simple things like
"put up the latest issue on the web site." ATnotes is a neat implementation that
features configurable alarms, resizable windows, variable fonts and a host of other
useful features. The product is remarkably similar to the commercial sticky notes
utility called, TurboNotes. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Maybe not.
(723KB)
Best Free Secure Erase Utility
Eraser is a free, GNU license utility that will securely erase files, folders or even
Best Free Inventory Tool
AIDA32 is arguably the best system inventorying tools I've used regardless of
price. It will document just about every aspect of your hardware and software
configuration. Throw in the fact that it checks out networks, gives memory
benchmarks and that it is totally free, and you end up with a product that should be
in everyone's toolkit. Download from the link below but remember to download
the documentation as well. Corporate users need to register - but there's still no
charge. The developer announced in March 2004 that the product has been frozen
and there will be no more development. However, as of today, it is still the best in
its class.

Best Free Anti-Scumware Utility New
There's a scumware plague at the moment. All it takes is a visit to a pushy web site
or a loaded shareware install and next minute your Internet Explorer homepage has