Lock those Windows...

Recommended Products and their latest versions. These are all final release versions of programs that we use on our personal computers. Better yet: they're all FREE*. We recommend avoiding "beta" release as they are considered to be in testing and may still be "buggy".

As we do not host anything other than ourselves, find links to the manufacturers websites below. Banners and Buttons (where available) also direct-link.

ADVISORY: MBAM vs IoBit



Category - Manufacturer - Product - Version




I - Zone Labs - ZoneAlarm Firewall - (version number unavailable) - (32- + 64-bit Win 7, 32- + 64-bit Vista SP1/SP2 Home Premium/Business/Ultimate, 32-bit XP SP2/SP3 Home/Pro)





OS - Microsoft - Win7 (SP not yet released)

OS - Microsoft - Vista - SP 2

OS - Microsoft - XP - SP 3

IB - Microsoft - IE - 8* (Win7 - prebundled with OS, Vista)

*IE9 is currently in Beta release. Until the Full and Final version is released CF will continue to recommend IE8.
IB - Microsoft - IE - 7 (XP*)

*IE 8 is designed for Win7 and Vista, but is also compatible with XP systems provided they have the proper patches and hardware
(including dual-core processor, graphics card, SP2, and Adobe Flash 10 ActiveX).
Lesser-endowed XP's should continue to use IE7.

A - Microsoft - Windows Media Player (WMP) - 12 (Win7 - prebundled with OS)

A - Microsoft - Windows Media Player (WMP) - 11 (Win XP SP2+, Vista)

A - Microsoft - Windows Media Player (WMP) - 10 (Server 2003 SP1/SP2) [follow WMP11 button for 10 download]





Update Jan 2011 A - AmericaOnline - AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) - 7.5
(Win2000, Win XP, Win Vista, Win7. IE6+, IE7+ recommended) Update

Update Jan 2011 IB - AmericaOnline - AOL - 9.6 (Win XP, Win Vista, Win7)Update

IB - AmericaOnline - AOL - 9.0VR (Win 98, Win 2000, Win ME, WinXP, Win Vista)

IB - AmericaOnline - Netscape - 9.0.0.6 ***Netscape Discontinued 1 March 2008*** merged into Mozilla





Update - IB - Mozilla - Firefox - 3.6.13
(32-bit Win 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Win7, 64-bit Win7 capable; Mac 10.4+, Linux) - Update

**Though Firefox 3.6 will run under 64-bit Win7, Mozilla Firefox does not officially support 64-bit Operating systems. 64-bit FF is currently in development; release date TBA.
See here for more information.

**Firefox 2.x support has been discontinued by Mozilla as of Dec 2009; final update is 2.0.0.19.
Firefox 3.0 support has been discontinued by Mozilla as of Jan 2010.
Firefox 3.5 support has been discontinued by Mozilla as of August 2010.
Gecko 1.8 support (engine underlying FF2, and Thunderbird 2) will be discontinued by Mozilla as of a yet unpublished date*.
Gecko 1.9 (FF3) support calendar has not been announced.
Gecko 2.0 will be released under FF4 which is currently in Beta.

*Date believed to be at some point in 2011 or 2012. Will advise as information becomes available.





UpdateI - Sun Microsystems - Java - Version 6 Update 23
(32- + 64-bit Win 2000, Win 2003, Server 2008, XP, Vista, Win7; IE7+)Update





Update - I - Adobe - Shockwave - 11.5.9.615 (WIN XP SP2+, WIN Vista, Win7; Mac 10.4+, Mac G3+ with Safari 2.0+) Get Shockwave Update

Update I - Adobe - Flash - 10.1.102.64 (WIN 2000, Server 2003, Server 2008, WIN XP, WIN Vista, Win7; Mac 10.4+; Solaris 10, Linux Redhat 5+, Linux openSUSE 11, Linux Ubuntu 7.10+ and 8.04+) (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera) Get Flash Update

I - Adobe - Flash - 9.0.246.0 (WIN 98, WIN ME, Mac 10.1-10.3, Linux Redhat 3-4, Linux Novelle SUSE 9.x-10.1)

CF Advisory *Some users have reported issues with IE7 and Shockwave 11 under Vista SP1. Issues have also been reported with Flash 10 and IE 7 under Vista SP1 ("IE has encountered and error with a plug-in and needs to close" then IE restarts). It is unclear if XP or IE 8 are also affected. One possible fix may be to install the latest QuickTime release. QuickTime 7+ is required for Shockwave 11. See also Adobe KB: Troubleshoot Shockwave. Reinstall of Shockwave AFTER install/upgrade of QuickTime may be necessary. Advisory

*I - Apple - QuickTime Free Download - 7.6.9 (WIN XP SP2+, Vista, Win7, and MAC)
**The latest QuickTime also installs with iTunes.

I - Adobe - Acrobat Reader - X (10) (8.1.4, 7.1.1)(Win 2000, Server 2003, Server 2008, XP SP 2+, Vista, Win7; Mac 10.4.11-10.6;
Linux SUSE 10 SP 2, Linux Ubuntu 7.10, Linux Red Hat WS 5; Solaris 10 u5, OpenSolaris 2008.11) Get Reader





AM - Grisoft - AVG - AV 2011 (Win 2000, XP, XP Pro-64, Vista, Vista-64, Win7, Win7-64)





Update Dec 2010 AM - MalwareBytes - MBAM - 1.50.1 - (32- and 64-bit Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win7) Update





AM - Safer-Networking - Spybot Search & Destroy - 1.6.2 (Win 95, Win 98, Win ME, Win NT, Win 2000, XP, XP AMD64, XP Tablet, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, Win7, Win PE, Win Mobile CE 3.0-Mobile 5; Symbian UIQ 2; Linux/Unix Wine)

Spybot S+D supported browser list

*Lavasoft AdAware and Norton/Symantec products may identify Spybot S+D as "conflict" software;
users can safely ignore any such identified conflicts.





U - Trend Micro - HijackThis - 2.0.4 - (Win98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, Win7; IE 6.0+, FF 1.5+)

**HijackThis is a diagnostic utility ONLY and does not make any changes to the system. HijackThis should only be utilized by an Advanced User or under the guidance of an experienced technician.

U - TrendMicro - CWShredder - (Version number unavailable) - (Win98SE, 2000, ME, XP)

**CWShredder removes elements of malware/spyware agent CoolWebSearch that may remain after other attempts at cleaning

U - TrendMicro - RootkitBuster - (version number unavailable) - (32-bit Win 2000, 2003, XP SP2+, Vista, Vista SP1, Win7)

**RootkitBuster aids in the removal of traditional and MBR rootkits. 64-bit OS not supported at this time.





Update 25 Jan 2011 - U - Piriform - CCleaner - 3.03.1366 - (32- + 64-bit Win 2000, Server 2000, Server 2003, XP, Server 2008, Server 2008R2, Vista, Win7; IE 6-9, Rockmelt, Chrome, Opera, K-Meleon, FF 2-3.6, Safari) Update






Update - U - IoBit - Smart Defrag - 1.5 (32- + 64-bit Win 2000, 2003, 2008, XP, Vista, Win7; functions with Solid-State drives) Update *Full release at MajorGeeks mirror download site

Update 18 Jan 2011 - U - IoBit - Smart Defrag - Beta 1.21 (Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win7) Update *Beta release at IoBit





NEW LISTING - U - AutoPatcher - 1.3.0.1 (32- and 64-bit WIN 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008) NEW

**WIN7 support is currently in development. AutoPatcher may be deployed from optical and external drives, USB Flash, and via Network share. Please see the AutoPatcher site for more details.





NEW LISTING - U - Symantec - Norton Removal Tool (SNRT) - version number unavailable (WIN 98, 2000, ME, XP, 2003, Vista, Win7) NEW

*Select your product from the listing here then follow the instructions given. Removes pre-installed and after market Norton and Symantec products including Norton 360, Norton Ghost, pcAnywhere, and WinFax. We strongly recommend replacing removed Norton AntiVirus with AVG (listed above).


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key:

OS - Operating System, IB - internet browser, I - internet plug-in/add-on, A - application, AM - Anti-Malware, U - Utility