Create a Windows XP and 7 dual-boot system staged for an easy migration
Resize your existing Windows XP partition and then install Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration on the same hard disk. Disk partitioning software for free, such as Easeus Partition Master Home Edition 4.0.1. And best of all, Easeus Partition Master will safely adjust partitions while keeping data intact.

Top 5 Tips For Building A Gaming PC On A Budget
Recommended 5 tips to building a gaming PC without spending a year’s salary.

Advanced System Care Free V3 - TOP MARKS
With more than 10,000 improvements, Advanced SystemCare Free v3 scans more, repairs more, cleans more, and optimizes more for your computer than ever before. Advanced SystemCare Free (formerly Advanced WindowsCare Personal) has a one-click approach to helping protect, repair, clean, and optimize your PC. With over 20,000,000 downloads since 2006, this fantastic, award-winning program is free.

How do I Restore files from a damaged hard drive using ZAR?
Zero Assumption Recovery (ZAR) is a shareware-based utility that can scan your hard drive for files, even if it has been re-formatted or is damaged, and recover them.

ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS-FREE
AVG ver 7.5: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition#tba2
AVAST: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
AVIRA AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic - http://www.free-av.com/
Other free antivirus tools: ClamWin, Comodo, Antidote Lite

SYGATE PERSONAL FIREWALL - FREE
Free for personal use, Sygate Personal Firewall provides best of breed security in a user friendly interface, protecting your PC from hackers, trojans and DoS attacks. Sygate Personal Firewall delivers unobtrusive, highly configurable, enforceable rule-based security policy by constantly operating in the background of your PC. Policies regarding applications, trusted IP addresses, ports, protocols and scheduling can be customized to support and secure any network configurations or requirements. Designed with high performance in mind, it delivers top-notch security without sacrificing your computing power.

Nova Scotia Food Establishment Inspection Reports
There are approximately 5000 food establishments in Nova Scotia, including restaurants, takeouts, grocery stores and other food-service facilities. Based on a risk assessment, Food Safety Specialists visit each establishment one to three times a year. After each visit, the operator is provided with an inspection report that confirms they are in compliance with food safety regulations or requires them to take corrective action to address violations and food safety issues. The inspection report disclosure web site provides information to the public concerning the results of these inspections.

 SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Is 100% Free and will detect and remove thousands of Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, KeyLoggers, Dialers, Hi-Jackers, and Worms. SUPERAntiSpyware features many unique and powerful technologies and removes spyware threats that other applications fail to remove.

 ProjectWoman - How Tos and Tips
Find handy hints for using software such as Microsoft Office 2007 and other office applications. Elsewhere on projectwoman.com you'll find tutorials, articles, how tos and tips on photography and Photoshop CS3.

Top 5 Tips for Buying a Hard Drive
If you’re buying a hard drive, make sure your computer supports that kind of hard drive.

How fast are your download speeds?
Speedtest.net is a free broadband speed test with servers located all over the world. Compare your results with others and easily share them.

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Tips
Here is a quick list of recommended photo software and Web sites:
Free Shape Collage Maker
Picnik
Pixenate (photos from here can be uploaded to Flickr as well.)
MyTheme
Phixr
FotoFlexer
PixVue - is an image management application for windows
Picasa - free software  from Google that helps you with organizing, editing and sharing your photos.
JAlbum - Free web photo album software.
Flickr - the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.
Webshots (Note: Webshots is owned by CNET Networks)
Shutterbug - the latest camera reviews, tips and tricks

(UPDATED) KeyLogger-Scrambler Personal is a free plug-in for your Web (IE & Firefox etc) browser that protects your username and password from keyloggers. It defeats keyloggers by encrypting your keystrokes at the keyboard driver level, deep within the operating system. When the encrypted keystrokes reach your browser, KeyScrambler then decrypts them so you see exactly the keys you’ve typed. Keyloggers can only record the encrypted keys, which are completely indecipherable.
[1.114M] [Win2k/XP/Vista] [FREE]

KANTARIS MEDIA PLAYER - FREE Play almost anything. Excellent Program.
Kantaris Media Player can play almost anything you can throw at it - AVI, MPEG, MGEG-AVC, WMV, MOV, MKV, quicktime, matroska, divx, xvid, H264, MP3, WMA, OGG files and more. It can also play DVD's and audio cd's. The player also displays some of the most beautiful music visualizations ever seen. All this is completely free.
It is based on code from Videolan client (VLC) and Bass audio library. The graphical user interface is similar to that of Windows Media Player.

FREE MUSIC - 10 Top Sites
If you love to download music for free... legally... check out these sites.

KeepVid Downloading videos from YouTube
(and similar websites) is very easy. Hundreds of tools and browser plugins exist that can do it. But there is a simpler solution that doesn't require you to install anything. KeepVid is a website where you can simply fill in the URL of the webpage that contains the video that you wish to download, and it will give you a download link for the video. It sometimes even allows you to get a higher quality version of the video. The downloaded videos (FLV/MP4) can be played with your favorite player if you have got the K-Lite Codec Pack installed.

FILEMAIL - FREE SERVICE - Send up to 2GB without registering
Sending large files up to 2Gs FREE has never been easier!
First, the files you want to send are uploaded to one of several www.filemail.com   servers located in Oslo (Norway) and San Diego. Files are encrypted on our servers using a 128bit AES algorithm to ensure security and privacy. A small e-mail is delivered to the recipients, containing a short message from you and a hyperlink where the files can be downloaded. The recipients click the hyperlink in the e-mail, and are taken to the download page. After the specified number of days/number of downloads, the files are removed completely from our servers.

LINKSCANNER Lite - Protect Yourself from Malicious Website.
Evaluate sites before you visit them is with the free LinkScanner Lite application. Rather than rely on second-hand reports, LinkScanner analyzes the code of a given site to check for stealth downloads and other malicious behavior.

FREE "OPEN OFFICE" - Rival to Microsoft Office MSWORD & Excel
OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

FREE Microsoft Office Templates
Lots of Free templates for work, home, and play

FREE LABEL TEMPLATES
autofillPDF-Labels 1.0 is a site that’s got tons of free, fillable PDF label templates for U.S. letter-size label sheets. Fill your information in one field and watch as your information automatically fills all label fields within that sheet! All you need to do is download and open up a template, fill a label field, and hit the Tab button on your keyboard! Print your labels in an instant. Find more information on the How To page.

Top Five Tips for Installing Windows XP
Even with the advent of Vista, many people are still installing (and even re-installing) Windows XP. Normally, it’s a relatively easy and painless process. But, as with anything, something could always go wrong.

 "BEST FREE SOFTWARE Reviews"
Security, Internet and Networking, Photography, Audio, & Video, Productivity Applications, Disk Management, Utilities, Programming.

Canadian Consumer Information Gateway
*Bookmark This Site. Everything from warranties to financing, as are the types of fraud and deception we must be wary of.

 http://www.snopes.com/ - UBAN LEGEND - Reference Pages

*10 things you MUST know before you register a domain name with anyone.

REINSTALLING AN OS
5 Tips For Reinstalling An OS

Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites
"Rogue/Suspect" means that these products are of unknown, questionable, or dubious value as anti-spyware protection. If you have any of the programs listed on this site remove them immediately.

Is Your Operating System Up-To-Date ???
Run the Secunia Software Inspector to make sure that your system is up-to-date:

ADD BLOCKERS
Adblock Plus This is one of the most popular Firefox add-ons, and for good reason.
Ad Muncher Not happy with your ad-blocker? Try this one, a favorite of columnist Steve Bass.
Quero Toolbar This navigation bar replacement blocks some advertisements and gives you plenty of other useful options.
Super Ad Blocker Tackles even the most annoying ads, including pop-ups, banners, and the distracting fly-in and slide-in types.
Ad Annihilator Blocks many pop-up ads, cookies, and other distractions, but it's a geeky tool and you'll need spare time to configure it perfectly.

Here are some tips to cleaning your LCD screen:
* Use clean water, such as distilled water.
DO NOT use tap water as it contains a lot of nasty stuff that could harm your display.
* Use a soft fiber cloth, such as micro-fiber cloth that you use to clean your glasses, or a soft cloth towel.
* DO NOT use anything abrasive, such as paper towels, napkins, or tissue paper.
* DO NOT use anything corrosive, such as alcohol or acid.

ULTIMATE BOOT CD FOR WIN
http://www.ubcd4win.com/
After you download and install the big 180 Meg program, UBCD4Win - will help you to create a bootable CD which contains software that allows you to repair, restore, or diagnose almost any computer problem. Please note, this is only for the more savvy computer users.

A GOLDMINE OF PROGRAMS TO PUT ON A USB STICK.
http://www.snapfiles.com/features/ed_usb_software.html
These FREE programs do not require any installation and can be run directly from a USB drive. Keep some useful apps handy while on-the-go!

AUTOMATICALLY  Synchronize Your PC's Clock to the World Time Standard
http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/index.htm

VIRUS TREATS
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/default.aspx
Each week, CA Security Advisory Team tabulates the top 5 virus/malware threats based on reports received from around the world by CA's VIRTUE ™ virus sample processing system. This current list represents the top 5 reported threats. They also provide free cleaning utilities.

CNET
An Award winning IT website. Full of the latest tips, tricks and advice for all levels of PC users as well as providing a "Consumer's Report" on Hi-tech items such as cameras, video, audio...ext.
http://www.cnet.com/

High Quality Password Generator
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

BETTER than Google for Image Searching -
Search the web for images. The most accurate and fresh image search on the web.
http://www.picsearch.com/

What is zSHARE? - It's FREE (an excellent website)
In few words, zSHARE is a free image, video, audio, flash and file hosting provider, and it's mainly used to share files that are too big to be sent via e-mail. With zSHARE you can host files, images, videos, audio and flash on the same place and as long as they remain active they can be downloaded unlimited times. There is no time limit, but files not downloaded for more than 10 days are automatically deleted. After uploading you'll be given a link to your file that can be shared via e-mail.

TOP 10 MOST RECENT VIRUS ALERTS
http://www.sophos.com/security/top-10/

Microsoft Technet Sysinternals Utilities
Download over 60 Microsoft utility programs to help you diagnose/improve your OS.


Get Some Office Training For Free From Microsoft

(*Excellent)  SITE ADVISOR
A special browser plug-in for IE or Firefox which tags Malicious Websites.
They test Websites to help keep you safe from spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.

HOUSECALL- FREE Virus Scan
Scan your hard drive for viruses and spyware with this FREE online tool. You simply choose the drives you want to scan and click on the "Scan" button. For a high speed connection, allow approximately 1min/1Gig of files per harddrive. Example, it will take 30 minutes to scan 30 Gigs of files.

WWW.WinXPTutor.com
This site contains tips and HOW TOs for most of the common tasks in Windows XP, and should help any audience with skill level Basic to Advanced.

Top Registry Repair Tools
http://free-registry-downloads.com/

EXCELLENT OLDER VERSION PROGRAMS - because new is not always better
http://www.oldversion.com/

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

Top-100 essential downloads of free software & freeware for Windows XP
This site even beats out Microsoft and Google as the most visited website.
http://100-downloads.com/

The Internet is full of surprises.
If you only use it to check your e-mail and look at the weather forecast, then you're definitely missing out. Many bright minds have developed services that make the Internet more than just "that thing I use to keep in touch with my relatives." PC World has a roundup of the 30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet. Take some time out of your busy schedule to browse through the fun and useful tools that are referenced here.
30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet

Check your PC's vulnerability - go to
http://www.grc.com/default.htm
and run "Shields-UP"

Recommendations for Anti-Virus software, Spyware and Malware checkers, Firewalls, Pop-up blockers and more.
http://ask-leo.com/recommendations.html

PHISHING/PHARMING
Protect your savings from Phishing attacks.  See the hosting location and Risk Rating of every site you visit.
Help defends against all kinds of online fraud, including phishing, pharming, and DNS exploits. with Netcraft or Fraudeliminator.
1. NETCRAFT
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/
2. FRAUDELIMINATOR
http://download.lockergnome.com/download/104192

ANTIMALWARE
MS Antispyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx ,
SpywareBlaster: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html ,
StartUpMonitor: http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml ,
WinPatrol: http://www.winpatrol.com/,
Adaware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/,
Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

TOP TEN ROGUE ANY-SPYWARE
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/?p=727

PRACTICING SAFE WEB
After installing a new hard drive or reformatting your old drive and re-installing your OS and other favour programs., following these steps before going on line to download the latest windows, antivirus and spyware updates.
1. Install one (only one) of the Firewalls listed above.
2. Install one (only one) of the Antivirus programs
3. Install at least two or more of the Antimalware programs.
4. Connect on-line and download/install the latest windows, antivirus and spyware updates.
5. Scan you system for viruses and spyware. if you run a virus scan and find something, you're well-advised to keep at it until you get at least one scan with no results. This may take 4 or more scans.
6. Do a complete scan of your system at least once a month.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
Defrag your hard drive at least once a month, more is better. Everyday is a bit much because it does cause wear and tear on the hard drive. If you feel your system is slowing down it could also be due to spyware. Scan often and keep your antivirus and spyware up to date.

Windows XP Shortcut Keys
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/home/windows_keyboard_shortcuts.pdf

WinXP - Printing Multiple Photo's Information
http://www.meryl.net/articles/archives/003000.php#003000