Free Software You Shouldn't Be Living Without

  It is mindboggling what software is available out there and everywhere.  What's more boggling is what free software a person can dig up on the internet.  There is, most likely, an app for that.  Office, games, diagnostic, security, etc., etc.  Of course, a lot of it is crap.  And some is down right malicious.  There are evil mind's afoot.
    But all is not lost.  There are also plenty of good decent people out there, too.  And for argument to all the pessimists and naysayers I offer, why do the bad guys have to hide and lurk in the shadows if there are not.  All is not lost.
  The folks at Malwarebytes are definitely on that list for giving us such a fine product as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software.  I have had the free version for years, and it has removed to many pieces of malware for me to recall at this point.  And that's the stuff that would be lurking under the scenes, bogging my machine down and keeping tabs on my private business.  That makes me angry.

  I survived an incident recently where I accidently clicked on an ad while I was attempting to download 7Zip, and this ad had slipped through the screens of the forum site where I was.  Well, it didn't go very good.  I actually thought 7Zip was coming down the line, so I said OK to the install.  When I noticed that it was not 7Zip installing I tried to stop the process, but the installer wouldn't let me.  It finished and I had a "classic music player" of some kind and a "classic arcade game player".

  I immediately started Malwarebytes, and then I went to uninstall programs.  The programs all but begged me not to uninstall without at least trying them, and I had to make some effort to get that process to initiate.  But thank the powers that reign it did and they went.

  Malwarebytes already showed 6 pieces of crap detected, and though I hadn't done anything manually to initiate my ZoneAlarm Anti-Virus, it suddenly popped up with a quarantine and destroy alert on 2 viruses.
Q and D being the worst possible situation with a malicious program, and bypassing any permission requests, time being of the essence.  In the end, Malewarebytes snagged 14 pieces of malware.
  And man do I appreciate it!  I was shuddering at the thought of the CryptoLocker countdown screen suddenly appearing at any moment and doom riding in on a jet black steed.  But they did not.  And I must praise highly these two free programs, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and ZoneAlarm Security.

  When my adrenaline level subsided and my breathing got back to normal, I looked at these programs closer.  I went to their respective homepages and checked them out with new respect.  I can't afford the Pro version of ZoneAlarm just yet, but at $24.95 once, yes, once, period, I upgraded Malwarebytes.  And that just gives me a bunch more management options, really.  I was actually paying for what they had already provided.  And after what I feel they did for me for free, I really felt like I owed them that much at least.  And when I can afford it, I'm going to do the same with ZoneAlarm.  That's a big decision, too.  With all the anti-virus,anti-spyware software available it's difficult to make a decision.  One person likes one and not another, and the next person you ask is the opposite.  So that real world experience was the kicker.

  I'm just really glad Matt Payne told me that Microsoft was no longer putting any resources into Security Essentials development, because I had used that for years.  Thanks, Matt.





Speaking of Matt, I tried one of the free programs he offered us, and Speccy is just down right pretty cool.  It's a system information utility that goes way beyond what most such utilities offer.
  Speccy shows the brand, model, veersion, driver, file, location, capacity, operating condition, and more about your computer's CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, disk drives, optical drives, audio, peripherals, network, and OS.  Plus, it displays temperature reads for compatible hardware.
  The UI is a cool gray tone mix with colorful icons and looks good.  I'm really just amazed in a way that such a small little program could be so weighty.  Speccy is useful.  That lands it in a small category of desirable in a huge sea of trash.  I love it and love playing around with it.  It's by Piriform, which kinda explains that useful factor to anyone paying attention.

Simple interface makes things easy 

I have come to trust Piriform over the years, largely because of  CCleaner