Top free tools for Windows: Autoruns
Download: Autoruns
Purpose: Controls autostarting programs
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Windows Server 2008, 2003
Cost: Free
Programs that run automatically when Windows starts bedevil every Windows consumer, from rank beginner to grizzled veteran. There's one industrial-strength autostart listing tool that knows all, sees all, and lets you do something about it.
If you've never used Autoruns, you're in for somewhat of a shock. Autostarting programs lurk in the most obscure corners of Windows. The Everything tab (shown in the screenshot below) lists every program that starts automatically, in the order in which it is run. Click on the program to see details. Right-click on a program and choose Search Online to look up the program on the Web, using your default browser and search engine.
You can filter out the Microsoft programs and have Autoruns just show you the third-party interlopers: Click Options, Hide Microsoft and Windows Entries. Then click the Refresh icon. You see all the self-running stuff deposited on your machine.
Top free tools for Windows: LastPass
Download: LastPass
Purpose: Store and retrieve passwords online
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Mac, Linux
Cost: Free for Windows, Mac, Linux; $1 per month for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian
It sounds crazy, right? Store all of your passwords on a website. Meshuggeneh.
I'd been using AI Roboform to manage my passwords for years, until I bumped into this all-in-the-cloud password manager. Like Roboform, LastPass keeps track of your user IDs, passwords, and other settings, and it offers them to you with just a click. But there's a big difference: Roboform stores your passwords on your PC, while LastPass encrypts them, then stores them in the cloud.
LastPass does its AES-256 encrypting and decrypting on your PC, using a master password that you have to provide -- and remember. The data that gets stored in the cloud is encrypted, and without the key (which only you know) the stored passwords can't be broken, unless you know somebody who can crack AES-256 encryption.
LastPass works as a browser add-on for IE, Firefox, or Chrome, so all of your passwords are stored in one place, accessible to any PC you happen to be using, as long as you have the master password.
