My Ultimate guide to Twitter

Twitter is really becoming popular in fact id say it ll be the email of the 21st century , but it can be very confusing to understand how to use it if you've never used it or are new to it so I've created this article that shares all the links i think will
teach people how to begin using Twitter or if you've already begun using it this information will dramatically improve how you use Twitter. Simply copy and paste any links you cant click on and paste them into your browser URL bar, when i have more time ill make more of the links click able. I will shorten the links using the website bit.ly so at the end of the long links to information youll see a short link you can click on starting with bit.ly... if you click these links the full article will open up in your browser.



If you appreciate my hard work please click the Digg button on my blog so others can find my blog and all the useful info on it thanks a lot oh and obviously feel free to tweet about this article !

How to Archive your conversations

http://twitoaster.com/

Are your Twitter followers listening to you ?

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/is-your-twitter-audience-listening.html

Backgrounds to use for your Twitter layout

http://netastica.net/resources/30-amazing-backgrounds-for-twitter-lovers/34/

http://www.designzzz.com/sites-amazing-twitter-profile-layouts/

The Basics of starting to use Twitter, you need to understand this info to use it

Don't worry you wont need to read everything in each of these links as many will be saying the same as the others but i include all these links as they do have a few different nuggets of wisdom for you so have a good look at these links so you can start using twitter properly, good luck.

http://news.cnet.com/newbies-guide-to-twitter/

http://www.thetechupdate.com/a-ten-point-starters-guide-to-8twitter97/

http://controltheweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-twitter-messages-work-when-you-use.html

http://technmarketing.com/web/first-5-steps-after-joining-twitter/

http://mashable.com/2009/05/31/twitter-tutorials-youtube/

http://tribalwriter.com/2010/02/22/a-writers-starter-guide-to-twitter-or-everything-i-wish-someone-had-told-me-when-i-first-started-using-twitter/

http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/twitter-101-a-refresher-in-replies/

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article/twitter-cluelessness-guy-kawasaki

http://www.writingbycoaches.com/twitter.html

http://help.twitter.com/entries/127871-how-to-change-your-profile-picture-or-information

http://help.twitter.com/entries/15357-how-to-customize-your-twitter-design

http://weconnect.pbworks.com/Twitter

http://smedio.com/2010/03/22/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-tweets/

http://www.twitip.com/how-to-get-ignored-on-twitter/

http://www.freetwittermanual.com/

http://dwesterberg.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/twitter-for-beginners-%E2%80%93-part-4/

http://courtneyparham.blogspot.com/2010/04/8-best-beginners-guides-to-twitter.html

http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/5-ways-to-give-back-to-your-twitter-friends/

http://www.thetechupdate.com/twitter-7tips23/

http://www.cio.com/article/492019/Twitter_Bible_Everything_You_Need_To_Know_About_Twitter

http://www.twitip.com/category/twitter-for-beginners/ this website covers a lot about using
twitter but more as a business tool

http://www.babybacon.com/index.php/random-pictures/misc/the-amazing-stats-of-twitter/

How to Block unwanted followers

http://www.techprone.com/how-to-block-unwanted-twitter-followers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+techprone+%28TechProne.Com%29

Celebrities on Twitter

http://celebwitter.com/

How to use the Chats feature of Twitter ( its is a must use feature )

eg i take part in #scriptchat which is for conversations about screenwriting..the craft of writing films it takes place at 8pm GMT on Sundays

http://studentbranding.com/the-branding-benefits-of-twitter-chats/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StudentBrandingBlog+%28Student+Branding+Blog%29

Conversation tips

http://www.mirnabard.com/2010/01/21-twitter-conversation-tips/

Create a poll on Twitter

http://pollpigeon.com/

Direct link to official Twitter info

http://twitter.com/

http://blog.twitter.com/

http://help.twitter.com/forums

The artilce below is on twitter banning third party advertising

http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk/msg/6f573eefb855b7ef?pli=1

Twitter Directories

http://www.bloggingtips.com/2009/08/08/6-twitter-directories-to-add-yourself-to/

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/03/02/search-within-your-friends-and-followers-on-twitter

http://wefollow.com/

How to Easily browse your old tweets

http://www.twimemachine.com/

Find out when people you follow are asleep

http://www.sleepingtime.org/

Find out how much influence you have on twitter

http://twitter.grader.com/

http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/about

Find out who is stealing your bitly links

http://www.dailybloggr.com/2010/04/scraping-on-twitter-how-to-find-out-whos-stealing-your-bitly-links/?utm_source=YourNetBizWealthCreation.com&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DailyDose4me+%28Daily+Bloggr%29&utm_content=Twitter

or click this shortened link to read the article http://bit.ly/cdT1ac


How to Find like minded people on Twitter

http://www.dotsauce.com/2010/03/26/connect-with-like-minded-people-on-twitter/

How to Get more followers on Twitter

http://jobmob.co.il/blog/get-many-twitter-followers-power-user-secrets/

http://tremendousnews.com/2010/01/14/7-ways-to-get-more-followers-nobody-will-ever-tell-you/

http://www.twitip.com/how-to-get-noticed-on-twitter/

http://www.stateofsearch.com/10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers-10-essential-tools-to-do-it/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stateofsearch+%28State+of+Search%29

click this shortened link to go to read this article
http://bit.ly/9Ljro8

http://www.davidrisley.com/2010/03/22/turning-strangers-into-twitter-followers/

http://www.twitip.com/8-tips-on-guest-posting-your-way-to-twitter-dominance/

Getting the media to pick up your story on Twitter

http://www.prnewsonline.com/prinsiders/Do-Something-Different-Engage-the-Media-Using-Twitter_13764.html


How journalists should use Twitter

http://www.npr.org/blogs/sundaysoapbox/2010/02/weekend_editions_top_10_twitte.html

How to back up and save Twitter accounts

http://www.tothepc.com/archives/tools-to-backup-save-twitter-account-tweets/

ive just tried a service called backupmy.net which is free to use, the website has had lots of problems recently, its security certificate had expired & opening the site in ie8 browser causes ie8 to crash. I also tried to backup my tweets which takes a long time to do so they directmessage you when its done..but when i got the DM from them and re logged into their service they hadnt backed up my tweets ! Anyway today 5 August 2010 i allowed backupmy access to my twitter account again & it had backed up some of my tweets. It has backed up 1597 tweets going back to March 9 2010 of the 5831 tweets ive done in total..i dont know why they only backed up to March so ill ask them. They give you 3 ways to view the backed up tweets the 1st is html, you just click the html link and your tweets are shown in a webpage. the 2nd link is for JSON which ive never heard of nor had my Microsoft Windows Vista pc it doesnt know how to open this file type i searched for more info and found this site http://www.file-extensions.org/json-file-extension so i selected notepad as the programme to open this file & it opens the info but its aweful to look at or read..heres an example of what the info looks like

[{"place":null,"user":{"name":"dave saw","profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_background_tile":true,"profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_link_color":"009999","follow_request_sent":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","contributors_enabled":false,"favourites_count":125,"id":17108735,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","listed_count":13,"profile_use_background_image":true,"profile_text_color":"333333","protected":false,"lang":"en","utc_offset":0,"geo_enabled":false,"time_zone":"London","screen_name":"chained","verified":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","notifications":false,"followers_count":395,"statuses_count":5751,"friends_count":330,"profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","following":true,"location":"england uk","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg"},"favorited":false,"truncated":false,"text":"Two men, including Guyana ex-MP, convicted in #plot to blow up J#FK #Airport fuel tanks http://news.therecord.com/News/article/755314","id":20237110904,"contributors":null,"geo":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"source":"web","coordinates":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 17:19:57 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"favourites_count":125,"follow_request_sent":false,"contributors_enabled":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"statuses_count":5750,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"@UN control the population then if 1 billion are hungry , stop poor people having children they cant feed","id":20236679617,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":14159148,"in_reply_to_status_id":20236423897,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":"UN","created_at":"Tue Aug 03 17:13:03 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"follow_request_sent":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","contributors_enabled":false,"favourites_count":125,"id":17108735,"listed_count":13,"profile_use_background_image":true,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","statuses_count":5748,"friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":true},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"perfect example of why uk must #bringbackhanging http://is.gd/e0D0E #paedophile cautioned in 2006 if hung then further attacks not possible","id":20236557095,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 17:11:07 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"follow_request_sent":false,"contributors_enabled":false,"favourites_count":125,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","statuses_count":5747,"friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"#cambridge uk people please help catch hit&run #driver http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Cyclist-injured-in-hit-and-run.htm","id":20236295410,"contributors":null,"geo":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 17:07:01 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"follow_request_sent":false,"favourites_count":125,"contributors_enabled":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","friends_count":330,"statuses_count":5746,"followers_count":395,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":true},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"#nasa #iss fix plan http://www.universetoday.com/70271/nasa-schedules-two-emergency-evas-to-fix-cooling-system/","id":20236071456,"contributors":null,"geo":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 17:03:39 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"contributors_enabled":false,"favourites_count":125,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","follow_request_sent":false,"id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","verified":false,"profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","statuses_count":5744,"friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"@SpyScroll Your #google topredict future with CIA link doesn't work , please check it & resend thanks","id":20225246249,"contributors":null,"geo":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":63293969,"in_reply_to_status_id":20224852103,"coordinates":null,"source":"mobile web","in_reply_to_screen_name":"SpyScroll","created_at":"Tue Aug 03 14:22:57 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"contributors_enabled":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","favourites_count":125,"follow_request_sent":false,"id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","verified":false,"screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","geo_enabled":false,"friends_count":330,"profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","statuses_count":5742,"followers_count":394,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"why are so many twitter back up services so crap ? can anyone recommend a free service that actually works ? use #twitterbackup hashtag","id":20196522410,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 04:46:58 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"follow_request_sent":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","contributors_enabled":false,"favourites_count":125,"id":17108735,"listed_count":13,"profile_use_background_image":true,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","statuses_count":5745,"friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"www.beingahuman.blogspot.com has a great guide to twitter & it lists all the free software you need to use #honestyhour","id":20196188025,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"created_at":"Tue Aug 03 04:41:12 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"favourites_count":125,"follow_request_sent":false,"contributors_enabled":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"statuses_count":5750,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"@backupmytweets i tried using ie8 browser instead of firefox but ie8 just crashes on www.backupmy.net u got major problems & certificate old","id":20196004691,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":18267528,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":"backupmytweets","created_at":"Tue Aug 03 04:38:05 +0000 2010"},{"user":{"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"efefef","name":"dave saw","show_all_inline_media":false,"profile_link_color":"009999","profile_sidebar_border_color":"eeeeee","profile_background_tile":true,"favourites_count":125,"follow_request_sent":false,"contributors_enabled":false,"url":"http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com","id":17108735,"profile_use_background_image":true,"listed_count":13,"description":"i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info","utc_offset":0,"lang":"en","protected":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","verified":false,"geo_enabled":false,"notifications":false,"profile_background_color":"131516","screen_name":"chained","time_zone":"London","profile_background_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG","friends_count":330,"followers_count":395,"statuses_count":5750,"profile_image_url":"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg","created_at":"Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008","location":"england uk","following":false},"place":null,"truncated":false,"favorited":false,"text":"@backupmytweets your twitter service isnt working u sent me a dm saying my backup is ready but its not..help !","id":20195544312,"geo":null,"contributors":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":18267528,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"coordinates":null,"source":"web","in_reply_to_screen_name":"backupmytweets","created_at":"Tue Aug 03 04:30:26 +0000 2010"},{

aaarggghhh !!! thats what i call unreadable. the 3rd option backupmytweets gives you is XML
when i click on this it says This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

heres an example of what the info looks like..


−


−

dave saw
efefef
false
true
eeeeee
009999
false
http://www.beingahuman.blogspot.com
false
125
17108735
−

i run www.beingahuman.blogspot.com for film news and pc help and pinkfloyd info
13
true
333333
false
en
0
false
London
chained
false
131516
false
395
5751
330
−

http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/89340410/tongue.JPG
true
england uk
Sun Nov 02 02:00:09 +0000 2008
−

http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/304532769/th_funny_normal.jpg

again this isnt what i want from a twitter backup..what i want & im sure anyone looking to back up their tweets is something readable like the HTML option but in a file we can save eg a PDF file...does any one know of a backup service that does this ? i dont want to rely on backupmy.net always being available online ( i wish them luck & hope they do.) but i want all my tweets saved
in a way that i have all the info on my Pc so i can look at the data any time i want..i dont want to have to even go online to look at the info. HELP ME

Another service ive tried is called twitter backup from johannburkard.de but on 5 August 2010 i cant see the info on how to use this on that website anymore so ive tweeted the programme maker asking where its gone.

i just found the link to it its http://johannburkard.de/blog/programming/java/backup-twitter-tweets-with-twitterbackup.html

or heres a link to it from a software listing website
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Other-Internet-Related/TwitterBackup.shtml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Anyway this only adds newer tweets so its an incremental backup..good idea. A comment on this site by a user of the programme said Twitter only keeps your last 3200 tweets which is 160 pages, is this true ? when i used this software it took 3 hours to do but then it said error couldnt write to c:\twitterbackup.xml access is denied
i found the programmes save path in c\users\nameofmypc\appdata\local\temp ...we need to be able to save any software from the internet in proper locations like c\programmefiles so its easy to find the software we install.
i installed twitter backup again it was version 3.0.2 i saved it to c\users\mypcname by right clicking the download the software link and choose save as.
But i just can not get this programme to work, theres a real lack of detailed steps on johannburkard.de about how to get it to work. what little info there is fails to say which OS the instructions are for ! i had to email the developer and he said the info was for Windows XP but im on Windows Vista. so ive spent many hours so far trying to fully backup all my tweets and im yet to find a programme or service that does what i want...any one who reads this and knows of a better service please let me know asap thanks.




How to direct message multiple people at once

http://tweetguru.net/multi/

How to follow trends on Twitter

http://www.twitscoop.com/

How to get banned by twitter

http://businessontwitter.co.uk/twitter/2010/03/how-to-get-banned-by-twitter/

How to make use of Twitter

http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/150-ultimate-round-up-of-helpful-twitter-articles/

http://writingtipsblog.com/2010/02/21/my-big-list-of-twitter-articles-and-tips/

How to get re tweeted

http://smedio.com/2010/03/29/seven-reasons-people-will-retweet-you/

http://www.ruhanirabin.com/the-art-of-re-tweeting-in-twitter/

http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/top_10_ways_to_write_retweetable_tweets/

http://modelsupplies.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/how-to-become-instantly-rt-able-a-twitter-guide/

How to phone and voice message twitter users

http://twit2tel.com/docs/howto/

Hot to stop your twitter account being hacked

http://problogservice.com/2009/11/02/stop-the-twitter-hack-attacks/

http://twittercism.com/repeat-offenders/



How to write longer tweets

http://www.twitlonger.com/

Icons you can put in tweets...but be warned most make your tweets look childish

http://tweetsmarter.com/

http://twsym.com/index.php

Don't tweet about stuff like this or you may get unfollowed

These are the things many people wont want to hear about in tweets

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/twitter_stop

http://www.mastermindblogger.com/2009/7-tips-to-avoid-getting-unfollowed-on-twitter/

http://webstudio13.com/2009/11/17/50-things-to-avoid-when-you-tweet/

http://dailyuw.com/2010/3/4/pop-culture-crackdown-top-10-twitter-annoyances/

Lists feature of Twitter

http://i.downloadsquad.com/2010/03/29/tlists-indexes-twitter-lists-and-provides-curation-tools/

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-unique-ways-to-use-twitter-lists/

Legal consequences of saying things on Twitter

http://jeroenhoekman.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/twitter-can-get-you-sued-or-in-prison-as-well/

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/police-twitter-riots-social-media-activists

http://www.slate.com/id/2251429/ this is about the fact the us library of congress is archiving tweets so be careful what you say it could come back and bite you in the future

Make money tweeting

( be warned if people spam me i unfollow them )

https://app.sponsoredtweets.com/signup/e64843805023b8d2eaef39451387eb57?utm_source=sponsoredtwts&utm_medium=referral%20program&utm_campaign=tweeter%20referral

How to use Twitter for Marketing

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5575/Chart-of-the-Week-How-Twitter-Tactics-Work-For-B2B-Marketers.aspx?source=BlogTwitter_[Chart%20of%20the%20Week:%20H]

http://blogspot.fluidnewmedia.com/2010/03/random-thoughts/

http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/free-resources/twitter-marketing-best-twitter-apps/

http://marketmetweet.com/tweetbrand-get-it-now.html

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5575/Chart-of-the-Week-How-Twitter-Tactics-Work-For-B2B-Marketers.aspx?source=BlogTwitter_[Chart%20of%20the%20Week:%20H]

This article below is for people who use the linkedin social network

http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/25/linkedin-deepens-integration-with-twitter-becomes-a-full-fledged-client/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29



The Most re tweeted people

http://askaaronlee.com/50-most-retweeted-people-on-twitter/

People who don't use Twitter

http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/17/why-i-dont-use-twitter/

People who inspire on Twitter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2morrowknight/16-people-on-twitter-who_b_541932.html

How to Put Twitter conversations on your website

http://tweetboard.com/alpha/

Resources for Twitter

http://netastica.net/resources/a-big-list-of-twitter-related-resources/29/

The Search feature of Twitter

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/01/twitter-popular-tweet-search/

The article below is about a new Microsoft project that searches twitter data

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsofts-social-networking-lab-launches-new-twitter-viewing-tool/6356

Search for links that are on Twitter

http://backtweets.com/

Search tool to see who gets re tweeted a lot

http://twidentify.com/

Services and apps for using Twitter

http://botw.org/articles/twitter-apps-and-services.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twitter_services_and_applications

http://www.slideshare.net/pistachio/the-best-twitter-tools-smash-summit

http://netastica.net/resources/a-big-list-of-twitter-related-resources/29/

A Services for comparing pictures of people you might fancy

http://www.hottweeters.com/

How to Share files on twitter

http://filesocial.com/

Share photos or videos on twitter

http://twitpic.com/

http://yfrog.com/

Share video from your mobile phone to social networks eg Twitter

http://qik.com/

Software addons for Firefox for Twitter

http://www.aboutonlinetips.com/twitter-tools-for-firefox-browser/?

Tech info compiled by @scobleizer

http://twitter.com/scobleizer/favorites

The most popular users and list on Twitter

http://twittercounter.com/

http://twittercounter.com/pages/100/980

The power of Twitter to affect your business

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/28/cherchez-la-fame/

The shorty awards

http://shortyawards.com/

URL shortening services to use for free

http://bit.ly/

http://sqi.sh/links

Visualising Twitter

http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/02/visualizing-twitter.html

http://computationallegalstudies.com/2010/01/24/large-scale-130000-zoomable-visualization-of-a-twitter-network/

http://trendsmap.com/

Warning make sure your on the real Twitter

http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/07/wwwtwitter-com-best-website-ever/

Why teachers should use Twitter

http://lauradoggett.com/2009/03/nine-great-reasons-why-teachers-should-use-twitter/

Why use Twitter ? how do you benefit from it ?

http://technmarketing.com/web/top-6-ways-to-benefit-from-twitter/

World news on Twitter

http://www.twitter4groups.com/rta/home;jsessionid=364765C104090FDD7AEED49D7C60C7C1

http://www.breakingtweets.com/

The future of Twitter as a Business

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144144

Computer schedule to stick to

I'm often asked how often should i do this ? or when should i do that ? , so here's a list of the Computer tasks i recommend people carry out on their computers in order to keep them as safe to use as possible and in as good a working order as possible.

DAILY

1. Do a quick scan of your PC with Prevx antispyware programme this only takes a minute or so if no other scanners are running at the same time. If you run it while another antispyware scanner is scanning it'll take a lot longer to do its own scan, eg it took 12minutes to scan 20,000 files while i was running Malwarebytes antispyware at the same time so don't do this !
2. Scan your PC with Windows free antispyware product called Windows defender, you only have to set this up once to schedule a daily scan to detect and quarantine any Spyware
3.
4. Use Ccleaner to remove cookies, tracking cookies, cache, history and junk files and to remove registry errors this will take about 1 or 2 minutes to do.
5. Burn the data you want to keep to dvd's so you have a proper backup of data you want eg
photos, your camcorder videos, letters etc. Why ? because hard drives fail !
6. Empty your recycle bin so your PC gets back the space the files you delete were taking up.
7. Make sure your Antivirus is up to date, most release updates to catch the latest viruses every day.
8. Synchronise your bookmarks using the xmarks FireFox addon and Itunes if you use an IPhone. Xmarks does this automatically or you can sync your bookmarks as often as you want or need to.


WEEKLY TASKS

1. Scan your entire PC .. all hard drives with your antivirus programme, you can set it up to scan weekly at the same time. If you want you can do this daily to be extra safe.
2. Run your backup software, this can be set to do this automatically. You must have a backup plan as hard drive failures happen all too often, or a virus can destroy data. Most good external hard drives come with backup software so you can set it to copy all data on your other internal hard drives over to it, then if you get a problem all your data is saved.
3. Update Spybot search & destroy then do a full scan of your PC to find spyware
4. Record Internet radio shows you want to keep as many shows have a 1 week limit on when you can listen to them again eg bbc.co.uk/radio1
5. Update Spyware blaster
6. Scan your PC with Malwarebytes antimalware make sure you update it first
7. file away the dvds/cds/bluray disks you make with your precious data into wallets so they don't get scratched or dusty
8. Make sure your PC is making restore points regularly

DO THESE TASKS AS & WHEN YOU NEED TO
1. Update your OS ( operating system eg windows xp/vista/7 ) Microsoft issues patches every 2nd Tuesday of the month but sometimes issues a patch on other days to fix bad flaws hackers are exploiting. A taskbar icon will show up when Microsoft is downloading patches for you, you must set your PC to automatically update the OS
2.Backup your data...Ive said do this daily, some do it weekly but if a harddrive fails as mine did youll loose all data you didn't backup so if you only backup weekly you could loose up to 1 weeks worth of data..your photos, camcorder video, documents etc
3. Update the software programmes you use when told a newer version is out as often newer versions come out to fix holes in them hackers are exploiting to get viruses into your PC.
 check my brilliant blog say weekly to see my useful software article as ill update it weekly roughly to say the latest versions available. I'm also going to start a PC diary article so you can read what changes i make to the software i recommend people use and when ( by date) i make the changes.
4. Send error reports to Microsoft if they ask you to or any other programmes that crash ( go wrong) this helps the software maker diagnose what went wrong and fix the software.
5. Get the latest drivers for your PC, this is more of a monthly task as drivers arnt updated that often. use something like drivermax software to do this.
6.Upload your own photos to a website like flickr.com so family/friends/followers can see them,
7. Upload videos you make with your camcorder to the internet to share them with people you know.
8. Report bad websites to Mcafee siteadvisor the must have FireFox brower addon, if you go to a website and your antivirus immediatly warns you its detected a virus on the site report it so every other Internet user is warned that website isn't safe to use.
9. Write down how much data you've downloaded weekly or monthly by looking at Dumeter if you use that software if you have a limit on how much data your allowed by your isp ( Internet service provider) eg when i used BT British telecom (the isp i left as its so slow for the price eg you got 2mb when you paid to get 8mb speed and it lost your connection a few times a day) in the uk for £25 a month you were allowed a maximum of 40gb a month of data to be sent to your home computers. With 2 or 3 people in a home using the Internet its very easy to go over this limit as every website you view is sent to you as data, it all adds up. if you view online videos like bbc iplayer or Youtube again that's a lot of data so keep an eye on how much data you downloading or uploading eg if you post videos to YouTube like i do . This way you can avoid extra fees many isps charge for going over the limit your allowed.
10. As and when they happen write down the allows you let through your firewall eg Zonealarm ( see the bottom of my article called useful software to use for what i allow)
11. Report and block spam you get on Skype the voip free Internet phone call service if you use it.
Skype has a good instant messenger and every so often some arse hole contacts you saying buy this stock or see these women who want to date you etc...just click the message and report the spamming bastards and block them.
12.Forward phishing emails you get as emails to companys you use to help protect not just yourself from scams but also every other user of the service eg auction websites, online payment services, banks. use the genuine website of services you use to find what email address to forward suspicious emails to.

Screenwriting

I love Films and im interested in the art of screenwriting but ive never had time to write one but ive been buying books to learn how to do this for years the books i own are..

1. John Truby presents the anatomy of story, 22 steps to becoming a master storyteller
i got xmas 2008 its $30, its anti the simple 3 act structure
ive read a little of it as of 2010, its first published in 2007

2. Screenwriting for dummies by laura Schellhardt $19.99 or £12.95 copyright 2003
ive read some of it as of 2010.

3. The definitive guide to screenwriting by syd field
first published in 2003 , ive read most of it

4. The devils guide to hollywood the screenwriter as god ! , Joe Eszterhas
copyright 2006, first published in uk 2007
i highly recommend this, he tells all he knows about the industry its often funny, its not a
guide to screenwriting though.

5. Backstory 5 , interviews with screenwriters of the 1990s edited by Patrick Mcgilligan
copyright 2010, i got as an xmas gift in December 2009 so ive only just started it, Again its not a guide to how to screenwrite but should be very interesting.

6.Robert Mckee , Story, substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting
ive read all of this, i got it in August 2002, its copyright 1998.

7. Crafty screenwriting, writing movies that get made, a development executives real world approach to writing screenplays that will get optioned, bought, and produced by Alex Epstein
First edition is 2002, ive read it all.

8. The 101 habits of highly successful screenwriters, insider secrets from Hollywoods top writers by Karl Iglesias. copyright 2001, i bought in june 2008 and have read it all.
i highly recommend it.

9.Writing screenplays that sell by Michael Hauge.
this is the first book i ever bought on screenwriting in october 1995 for £11.99, ive read it all, but its a hard read. It was first published in 1998 . I recall seeing a guy at a trail station holding it in a tommy lee jones movie where a volcano erupts under La ! ( some insider joke i guess to place the book in a movie scene )

10. Oscar winning screenwriters on screenwriting, the award winning best discuss their craft, by Joel Engel. Copyright 2002 $14.00 its not a guide to how to Screenwrite.

11. How to write a movie in 21 days by Viki King
of the title gets your attention but honestly no ones going to manage that !
its Copyright 1988, the paperback which i have was first published in 2001
i first began reading it in August 2009 and havent finished it as of 2010
It costs $15 us

12. Joseph Campbell the hero with a thousand faces
first published in 1949, the paperback i own was first published in 1993 it costs £9.99 and ive not yet read it.

13. Teach yourself screenwriting by Raymond G Frensham
Copyright 1996 its £6.99 and ive not read it yet.

Other things ive bought to help me Screenwrite include the Magazine called Script which costs £5.75 each but as of 2010 ive only got 2 copies as it doesnt teach you much.

Final draft 7 software was about £270 in shops in 2005, i got mine on Ebay from someone who gave up for about £90, you have to transfer ownership of the software and your limited to how many times you can reinstall it..which is a major pain if a hard drive fails or you change computer.
The only script i own as of 2010 is Braveheart screenplay by Randall Wallace
its a reproduction i got on Ebay for about £15 its in uk a4 size. but its useful to see a full size script.

I also own 7 scripts that are printed as small books..
1 Get shorty by Scott Frank from novel by Elmore Leonard ( free with esquire may after 1996)
2 Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi ( free with Total film magazine year i dont know maybe after 1993)
3 Withnail and i by Bruce Robinson ( free with sight and sound magazine 1995 )
4 True romance by Quentin tarantino ( free with premier magazine 1995 or so)
5 The bad and the beautiful by Charles Schnee 1998 book i got for £1 at a book sale ive not read it as of 2010
6 The Ghost and the Darkness by William Goldman 1996 book again i got for £1 at a book sale
7 Four weddings and a funeral by Richard Curtis 1994 book again cost me £1 at a book sale
ive not read it as of 2010



This article was started on 12 jan 2010

How to use paypal to pay for goods & services ( Article 74 )

To pay me or anyone else using Paypal is very very easy but incase youve never used it or cant remember how to use it ill provide very detailed steps to follow so you cant go wrong .Step 1 click this link https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_home&country_lang.x=true Step 2 bookmark this website in your browser by clicking bookmarks in the top left of the Firefox browser then click bookmark this page and then check the name for the website makes sense for you and youll be able to remember it and what its for ( you can edit the name to whatever you want it to say eg paypal payonline ) choose which folder to save the bookmark in eg bookmarks ( again you can create more folders in your drop down bookmarks if you save lots of websites eg you might want to group all the news websites you look at in a folder called news. If your using Internet explorer 8 browser you click favorites on the top left then add to favorites. Step 3 Then signup in the top right of Paypal's website to join them for the first time ( follow their instructions to join ..its their website so its their job to explain how to do this ) if your already a member click login in in the top right. Type your email address you gave to Paypal and your password ( or if you use Roboform software to remember your passwords click the Paypal name from the Roboform toolbar ) Select go to my account from the drop down box and login. Step 4 your shown your account such as if you have any money added to your Paypal account and recent purchases you made using paypal , eg Ebay auctions prefer you to use Paypal so most peoples first reason to use Paypal is to pay for things bought on Ebay. Now to send money to some one click the send money tab which is 2nd from the left up the top just below the Paypal logo. Step 5 enter the persons email address you want to give money too .  I also accept donations to help me run my website WWW. BEINGAHUMAN.BLOGSPOT.COM which teaches people which software to use on their computers and how to install it, which Movies are out in the Cinema or out on dvd, i list hundreds of useful websites to use ( my article 42 found in the archives of september 2005) and of course i deal with mental health and drug issues due to growing up next door to PinkFloyd's Syd Barrett who went mad from using drugs and i use this site to warn people against damaging their brains by using drugs so if you wish to donate any amount of money to me please do. Step 6 enter the amount you want to give the person eg £25 and select the correct currency eg GBP British pounds to pay me, then select what it is your sending the money for eg for goods or for an ebay item or for services ( in my case if paying for my computer help or to donate to me to keep my website running). Then click continue. Ok thats enough help, using Paypal is simple enough..i have more to say about it in my Article 42. Thanks for paying me

Domain names for sale ( article 73 )

I own the following Domain names ( internet website addresses) which are for sale to the highest offer, they are listed on Afternic.com which is where you go to bid on them in order to buy them to use to make a website for business purposes. The minimum offer is $600 each im willing to sell them for reasonable prices, Heres what i own to sell...

www.10Downingstreet.tel
www.AlternativeInvestments.tel
www.BorrowCash.tel
www.BuyTickets.tel
www.CashLenders.tel
www.Electricity.tel
www.FinancialAdvisors.tel
www.Goldinvesting.tel
www.Intellectualproperty.tel
www.Investments.tel
www.Mortgagesnow.tel
www.Moneysafehaven.tel
www.Taxfreecashisas.tel
www.Venturecapatalists.tel
www.michael-jackson.asia
www.michael-jackson.im
www.investmentlegend.tel


Go to Afternic.com or contact me to make me an offer on any of these brilliant names. Once you own them you can do whatever you want with them to make money !

New movie releases ( article 72)

This article lists films by rough alphabetical order, so the newer the film is for each letter the lower it is in the list, ive abbreviated some things which will become very simple to remember as you bookmark this site and keep using it, eg cin = cinema, imdb stands for international movie data base..go to imdb.com for more info on any film i remind you of on my website the number eg 7.1 stands for average score out of ten a films got overall from all who vote for it on imdb id say films scoring under 6.0 tend to be poor anything above 6.5 tends to be well made and worth watching. Cert= certificate to guide you on what age you should be to view a film. dir=director, ill sometimes say which film studio made/produced the film. I give the release dates for uk cinemas mostly or ill say if its the release date from another country and i give the uk dvd sale/rental dates. Any film studio wanting me to give more info on there film should email me please include u.s.a cinema release date and uk, plus u.s.a and uk dvd release date info and any other info like who stars in it and crucially whats the story about ! i will then review submitted films in more detail.



310 to yuma, cin 14.9.07 western , russell crowe , good film
28 weeks later , dvd 10.9.07 cin 11.5.07 horror, zombies.
300 , dvd 5.10.07 cin 22.3.07 gladiator type fighting
30 days of night ( alaska vampires) cin 2.11.07, imdb 6.7, dvd 14.4.08
.45 , thriller about the lenghts a woman will go to win, milla jovavich, dvd 28.1.08
27 dresses, cin march 2008, lady rexamines her always the bridesmaid lifestyle.
2012 doomsday, cin feb2008 usa,
21, cin 11.4.08, columbia pictures, action/adventure, true story of cheating to win at blackjack in vegas
10,000bc, cin 14.3.08 cgi (computer generated images) looks like nonesence to me..wooly mammoths
2001 maniacs, comedy/horror, imbd 5.4, rel 13.7.06, robert englund, remote georgia townspeople attack 8 students.
1408, dvd 28.12.07 good horror john cusack,based on a stephen king novel
2 days in paris dvd 21.12.07 ( newyork couple)

are we done yet? , dvd 24.9.07 comedy, ice cube
atonement, cin 7.9.07 kiera knightly set in ww2, child lies and gets a man sent to prison, tragedy, good film. on dvd 2 feb. 08
a mighty heart , cin 21.9.07 angelina jolie ( true story of the daniel pearl kidnapped reporter, good)
apocalypto, dvd 11.6.07 miyans good, director mel gibson, a bit gory !
across the universe , cin 28.9.07 love story in 60's
and when did you last see your father? , cin 5.10.07
aqua teen hunger force colon movie , ( comedy) dvd 5.10.07
alphadog , cin 20.4.07
amazing grace, (PG) william wilberforce story, cin 23.3.07
alvin and the chipmunks , ( live action/cgi) cin 21.12.07 for kids
all the boys love mandy lane cin 15.2.08 school mates killed off nasty horror
aaja nachle cin 7.12.07 newyork dance
the assasination of jesse james by the coward robert ford ( brad pitt) western cin 7.12.07, dvd 11.4.08
american gangster, cin 16.11.07, denzel washington, russell crowe about usa drug dealer, universal studios, dvd 10.3.08
august rush , cin 23.11.07
alien vs predator requiem , cin2008 sequel to the ok first film. dvd 12 may 08
asterix at the olympic games , animation
awake, thriller, jessica alba, hayden christensen, cin4.4.08
a very british gangster, donal maintyre documentary dvd 31.3.08
afro samurai, 2007, animation,action,adventure, drama,fantasy, imdb 7.9, sword fighting, samuel l jackson
a history of violence, imdb 7.6, action,crime,drama, thriler, rel 10.11.07 netherlands, viggo mortensen, ed harris, said to be good
american crude, imdb 2.4 comedy/drama, several eccentric and troubled strangers cross paths
aces n eights, imdb 6.5 rel 15.3.08usa, ernest borgnine, western, railroad forcefully taking property, tvmovie.
a lawyer walks into a bar, imdb 4.5 documentary, rel 2007 usa, about the stress of facing the bar exam for lawyers.
Adulthood , the follow up to kidulthood, cin 20.6.08 a mans released after 6yrs jail in the uk
Angus, thongs and perfect snogging, about 10yr old kids cin 25.7.08 trailer looks rubbish
A complete history of my sexual failures, cin 27.6.08 man interviews his ex's to see whats worng with him
angel, adaption of elizabeth taylors novel.an edwardian melodrama, rel 29.8.08 cin

baraka/chronos dvd 28.9.07 baraka is a documentary showing amazing scenes of nature on earth.highly recommended.
brick lane, cin 16.11.07 bangladeshi in london
blueblood ( oxford v cambridge boxing) dvd 5.10.07
bee movie cin 14.12.07 renee zellwegger voice. animation foe kids. dvd 19.5.08
blame it on fidel , cin 26.10.07 parisian girl into radical socialism
bridge to terabitha , dvd 22.10.07 cin may 2007
brothers solomon , cin 2.11.07 socially inept brothers try to find perfect mates
the breed , cin 27.4.07
beowulf , cin 15.11.07 based on a old folklore like a monster. dvd 17.3.08, anthony hopkins,angelina jolie
balboa , dvd 21.5.07 stallone, boxing
bring it on to win it , ( cheerleaders) dvd 21.12.07 for girls
billa , cin 21.12.07
the bourne ultimatum, dvd 21.12.07 matt damon as cia killer, good film
bratz the movie dvd 4.12.07
balls of fury, cin 26.12.07, very poor comedy about pingpong, christopher walken.
bruges, darkly comic, cin 18.4.08, universal studios, hitmen try to lay low, colin farrel, ralph fiennes
blue state, imdb 6.5 rel 12.2.08 usa, romanticv comedy about a democrat who moves to canada
black sheep, 2007, comedy/horror, imdb 6.1, violent lambs !! dvd 31.3.08 looks funny..but isnt
be kind rewind, uk cin 22.2.08 comedy
before the devil knows your dead, dvd 26.5.08, cert15, philip seymour hoffman
butterfly on a wheel, dvd 28.4.08, thriller about race to save a kidnapped child good film, good twist in plot.
better things, small town england, multi narative drama, rel late 2008
bill, imdb 6.8, comedy/drama, a man whos been cheated on turns to a wise teen for help, jessica alba, greenstreet films.
Bhoothmath cin 9.5.08 indian family
babylon ad, vin diesel and gerard depardieu mercenarys hired by mafia to deliver a package rel 29.8.08
Brideshead revisited cin 3.10.08 period drama based on a 1945 novel..posh yound people in uk

chuck and larry, adam sandler + kevin james comedy about gays cin 21.9.07 some funny bits , phil l will love it ( inside joke)
control , cin 5.10.07 love story of ian and debra curtis
captivity, dvd 29.10.07 sick horror elisha cuthbert, kidnapped by crazy people..hollwood has no morals.
closing the ring cin 28.12.07 shirley mcclaine, christopher plummer fiction love story neve campbell
chronicles of narnia prince caspian
charlie wilsons war , tom hanks julia roberts cin 9.1.08 trying to bring down soviet empire,drama imdb 7.5
code name the cleaner, cin 7.12.07 janitor with amnesia
cloverfield, quite good monster movie set in newyork, action/mystery/thriller/scifi, uk cin 1.2.08
on dvd 9.6.08
crazy like a fox, imdb 6.1, virginia farmer looses home to real estate developers, he hides in a cave nearby, and plans to take his home back, drama/comedy,2004,
caramel, momentum pictures, pg, cin 16.5.08, life and love in a beauty parlour
Columbus day, crime/drama/thriller, val kilmer,a thief meets a kid and tries to keep him from harm and escape to see his family
Cassandra dream, colin farrel, ewan mcgregor, dir. woody allen gambler forced to kill to pay off his debt ok film
catacombes dvd 3.3.08 horror cert18
chaos, dvd by 27.3.08
chemical wedding, writer bruce dickinson ( ex heavy metal singer) supernatural thriller, uk cin 30.5.08
Camping sauvage, french language, rel 28.5.08cin, 17year old has affair with 40yr old
chocolate, 2008, imdb 6.0, woman who does martial arts goes after a gang who owe her money (thai film) rel 6.2.08 thailand
cleaner, rel 18.1.08cin finland, crime/thriller, samuel l jackson, ed harris, eva mendez, crime scene cleaner uinknowingly participates in a cover up imdb 6.3
California dreamin, romantic comedy cert15, rel 30.5.08 terrible film
charlie bartlett cert15 eccentric teen gives prescription drugs to students, cin 16.5.08 sounds rubbish
City of men set in rio
Choke, sam rockwell angelica houston based on a novel by chuck palahniuk ( fight club) out 11.8.08
Cj7, 2008 comedy scifi imdb 6.6 from hongkong

daddy day camp , cin 19.10.07 cuba gooding jnr
disturbia , uk cin 14.9.07 cert15 good paranoid thriller boy suspects neighbour is a killer
Death sentence, cin 23.8.07 kevin bacon,kelly preston action/drama/thriller, imdb 6.9 violent, very good a mans son is murdered by a gand so his father turns vigilante..good film
diehard 4.0, ok about hackers this time a few exposions, more of the same.
cin 4.7.07 dvd 2.11.07 bruce willis
dil dosti etc how young think today, cin 2.11.07
daywatch , cin 5.10.07 forces of light and dark medievil
dark crystal anniversary edition, dvd 16.10.07
daft punk's elecroma , dvd 22.10.07
death at a funeral , cin 2.11.07 british comedy dvd 25.2.08 rupert graves,
dejavu, dvd 14.5.07 good densel washington futuristic , good film .
dan in real life , cin 11.1.08 juliette binoche , cert pg, family comedy good
dus kahaniyaan , 10 storys on love cin 7.12.07
deck the halls , dvd 4.12.07 family comedy
definately maybe, uk cin 8.2.08, rachel weize , romantic
death proof, dvd 17.1.08 tarantino, kurt russell, crazy car driving great film
donkey xote, animation/adventure, imdb 6.3
diamond dogs, dolph lungdren, imdb 4.8, a gun for hire looks for treasure
divine intervention, imdb 3.0, paster takes over helm of fundamentalist churchj, comedy/drama/romance,
diary of the dead, imdb 6.6, rel 7.3.08uk, film students making a zombie film run into real zombies , fantasy/horror/thriller, ukcert18, antfire films..good
doomsday, rel 28.8.08germany, action/drama/scifi, imdb 6.5, try to prevent a virus disaster threatening the human race, crystal sky pictures, very good but blatantly copys madmax2 scenes..good chases and stunts. 1h52long with bob hoskins and malcolm mcdowell
drillbit taylor, cin28.3.08, comedy, luke wilson
deception, cin25.4.08, ewan mcgregor / natasha hendstridch/hugh jackman secret sex club thriller about an accountant set up for fraud is say 7/10 pretty good music from the band unkle in it
deadwater, rel 20.5.08usa,lance henriksen,katherine randolph ww2 era ship used for blackops goes silent so a taskforce is sent to investigate, hooror/thriller, wiseacre films
dangerous parking, 23.5.08 drama cert 18, trying to quit addictions, saffron burrows/tom conti
Death note, cert12a, based on a manga supernatural story, big hit in japan rel 25.4.08cin
Dragon wars, cert12. north korean legend of ancient evil dvd 19.5.08
Down in the valley, 2005 set in la, ed norton as a cowboy who meets a girl half his age who causes big trouble, drama/romance imdb 6.6 ok
Donkey punch, british horror
Dante 01, futuristic scifi horror, dvd 15.9.08 set on a space prison
Daylight robbery. dvd 4.10.08

election2 , triads dvd 22.10.07
exiled, dvd 22.10.07 action hitmen hongkong
elizabeth the golden age, cate blanchett period drama about queen elizabeth v the spanish in early 16th century very good, cin 2.11.07, dvd26.2.08
eastern promises cin 26.10.07, dvd 29.2.08
extraordinary rendition, 2007, imdb 6.0, released august 2008uk, drama/thriller, man abducted off street in london taken to an unknown country ( war on terrorism)
evan almighty , cin 3.8.07 dvd 4.12.07
enchanted , cin 14.12.07 disney action romantic comedy, dvd 7.4.08
Earth , cin 7.12.07 best bbc wildlife shots of our planet ..well worth a look
edmond, 2005,writer david mamet, rel 24.11.06, drama/thriller, william h macy, denise richards, imdb 6.2, rel 6.7.07uk, fortune teller sends man towards newyorks hellish underworld, sounds interesting.
Eagle eye, thriller, shia labeouf( transformers) , 2 strangers are pawns of women theyve never met, cin 17.10.08, billy bob thornton cert 12a
Elite squad, action/crime
Eden lake, british thriller, a romantic break is ruined by violent youths, cin 12.9.08

feast of love, morgan freeman love cin 5.10.07
flashdance, special dvd 5.10.07
fracture, cin 20.4.07 anthony hopkins kills wife and tries to get away with it, good
flyboys , cin 1.6.07
fantastic4 the rise of the silver surfer, cin 15.6.07 good comic adaptation, jessica alba
fred clause, cin 7.12.07 vince vaughn
fools gold, mathew mcconaughley kate hudson, comedy/romance, donald sutherland, treasure hunting, cin 18.4.08 nice film
flashbacks of a fool, daniel craig, ukcin 18.4.08, drug user is directionless in life in malibu
funnygames, imdb 6.8 rel 4.4.08uk, horror/thriller, 2 psychotics take a family hostage in a cabin, tim roth, naomi watts
frontiers, french film, rel 9.5.08 very brutal film, thieves hide out but nazis torture them
For your consideration, imdb 6.2, rel22.11.06usa, 3 actors hear there drams generating award season buzz, comedy pg13.
forgetting sarah marshall, ukcin 23.4.08, comedy, a guy tries to get over being dumped, russell brand ( uk tv idiot i hate stars in it) one ill avoid
For one more day, crime/drama/thriller, imdb 5.5, a depressed man kills himself but in this fantasy he gets to spend one ladt day with his mum...sounds really silly.
flakes, imdb 6.9, comedy, capitalists rip off the idea for a new cereal.
first sunday, cert 12a, ukcin 28.3.08, crime/comedy imdb 2.7 rob a church, ice cube..one to avoid
futurama benders game, imdb 9.7, rel 2008usa, animation/comedy/scifi, 20th century fox tv
fingerprints, imdb 4.8, mystery parayzes people, lou diamond philips, horror/mystery.thriller
For sale by owner, rel 2008 usa, dra/horror/thrill, skeet ulrich/tom skerritt made by fort pictures
Flashpoint imdb 6.8, action. cop take son drug dealing vietnamese gang ( english dubbed voices)
Freebird, british comedy, cert 15, rel 2.6.08 dvd, going from london to wales on motorbikes
Five across the eyes, dvd 10.5.08 horror

grow your own, dvd 15.10.07
goodluckchuck, cin 8.11.07 jessica alba comedy, dvd 17.3.08
goldendor, scorsese journey to the new world dvd 29.10.07
goodbye bafaro, about nelson mandela's 20yr prison time guarded by a white racist, dvd 22.10.07 joseph fiennes, imdb 7.0, rel 11.4.07 belgium,
the golden compass , cin 7.12.07 imdb 6.4, fantasy adventure, nicole kidman, daniel craig, for kids,
George a romeros diary of death, cin 17.3.08 zombies
ghetto, imdb 7.0, lithuanian film, ww2 singer saves jews from nazis, 2006, rel 8.6.06, english/german/language
Graduation, rel 2.5.08usa, action/adventure/comedy/crime/drama. 4 friends paln to roba bank, imdb 5.8
Gone baby gone, casey affleck, uk cin 6.6.08 about a missing 4yr old, boston cops hamper the investigation dvd 22.9.08
Garbage warriors, cert15, cin 23.5.08, documentary on new mexico homes made of junk
Gabriel, rel 15.11.07, arc angel who fights to bring people to purgatory
George carlin life is worth losing.

halloween , unnessesary remake, cin 28.9.07 nasty foul mouthed film, malcolm mcdowell dvd 28.4.08..stick to the original film.
hannibal rising, dvd 18.6.07 ok film
hotrod , ( poor comedy..moped evil knievel copycat) cin 28.9.07
half nelson , (teacher is druggie and friends with a pupil ) dvd 28.9.07
hatchet ( horror) cin 5.10.07
heima , cin 2.11.07
the heartbreak kid, cin 5.10.07 ben stiller comedy its good he marries quickly then on honeymoon meets another lady.
the hitcher, cin 3.6.07
he was a quiet man , elisha cuthbert ( potential killer becomes hero) cin 7.12.07
hotel harabati, cin 7.12.07
hitman , (based on video game) cin 7.12.07 dvd 5.4.08
happily n ever, after comedy animation dvd 7.12.07
Hostel pt 2 ..nasty horror sony dvd by 22.10.08?
Highlander the source, dvd 7.1.08
Horton hears a who, 2008 kids film, ukcin 21.3.08 animation
Happy go lucky, cin 18.4.08, director mike leigh, school teacher meets a guy she likes,
hunger, premier on 15.5.08 cannes, about an IRA terrorist killer who died in prison after a 66day hunger stike, channel4 uk film
How to loose friends and alienate people, paramount, about an english looser, kirten dunst/gillian anderson, looks poor, cin 3.10.08
hancock, will smith comedy..drunk unhappy superhero, charlize theron, cin july2008 sony.
Hero wanted, man tracks down and kills the man that left him and a bank teller for dead but the thief then comes after him, cuba gooding jr/ray liotta
How to rob a bank, crime/thriller, a slacker bank employee arbitrates a tense situation, nick stahl
Hulk, 2003 nick nolte/jennifer connolly, universal marvel comic adaptation that is so boring i couldnt watch it to the end.
High school musical 3 , disney, cin 22.10.08, all music and dancing.
hell ride, 2008, action/adventure/thriller imdb 6.4, dennis hopper/michael madsen/vinnie jones
harold and kumar escape from guantanamo bay, comedy cin 30.5.08 looks rubbish

invincible, mark wahlberg usa football) dvd 24.9.07
i do , cin 2.11.07 man wants to be stood up at alter !
into the wild, sean penn cin 9.11.07 very good, young man drops out of society to live in the wild on his own, very anti materialism movie, great story, go see it.
Iron man, comic adaptation, uk cin 2.5.08, robert downey jr, worth a look
In the shadow of the moon, ( real nasa footage) cin 2.11.07 exellent highly recommended
interview, sienna miller , about celebrity, cin 2.11.07
the invasion, cin 12.10.07 nicole kidman, daniel craig ( remake of invasion of body satchers) ok
i am legend, cin 26.12.07 will smith post apocalypse in newyork, very good kind of scifi..cancer cure goes badly wrong in the future. dvd 21.4.08 also a stupid alternative ending version of this film
Im not there , cin 21.12.07 about bob dylan richard gere cate blanchett
Indian jones 4 the kingdom of the crystal skull , uk cin 22.5.2008
Identity, pam grier 2008
In bruges, dark comedy thriller, rel 18.4.08cin, universal, colin farrell/ralph fiennes director martin mcdonagh about hitmen
In the name of the king a dungeon seige tale, act/adv/fantasy , imdb 3.7, jason stratham/burt reynolds, based on a video game
Impulse, mystery/thrill, imdb 4.9 woman hooks up witha stranger in a deadly game of seduction
ira and abby, 2006, imdb 6.3, comedy, hastily married couple have affairs, meddling parents and therapy.
I know who killed me dvd 28.1.08
In the valley of elah, tommy lee jones thriller cert15, dvd 6.5.08
i really hate my job, 2007, 5 women 1 restaurant, imdb 5.8, comedy neve campbell, made by 3dd productions
i- see- you.com imdb 6.0, cin 29.12.07, 17 yr old uses mini cameras and puts the footage online, rosanna arquette
Impact point, 2008 1h25, womens beach vollyball, stalker/murderer, kelley reyes, ok film nothing special
it aint easy ,2008 about a pimp ( scum who should be shot)
Igor, animation, cin 17.10.08
Ive loved you so long, cin 26.10.08

john waters this filthy ward, documentary cin 28.9.07
jackass 2.5 ( really should justy be a bonus dvd for jackass2) but some funny stuff dvd 10.3.08
jumper ( teleportation) cin 14.2.08 bourne v matrix type film 20th century fox
juno , comedy ellen page cin 15.2.08 about teen pregnancy, made by fox, imdb 8.2 jennifer garner,
Joy division, cin2.5.08 cert15, british documentary on the band that became new order
Just like heaven, 2005 imdb6.8, reese witherspon, com/fantasy/romance
Just add water, rom/com, man persues his childhood love, danny devito

knocked up, dvd 25.9.07 comedy about pregnancy
kenny , australian mocumentary about portaloos
khuda ke liya, going from pakistan to usa for higer education, cin 2.11.07
the kingdom, cin 3.10.07 terrorism in saudi arabia jamie fox, good bit predictable action movie.
the kite runner, cert 12a cin 26.12.07
kung fu panda, dreamworks animation, cin 4.7.08 jack black imdb 8.1
km31, cin 7.12.07 old evil loose in mexico city
the killing of john lennon, mark david chapman.chilling loony cin 7.12.07
kill kill faster faster 1h39long

la vie en rose, 12a cin 22.6.07 gerad depadieu ( singer edith piafs life) dvd 4.12.07
labyrinth , anniversary edition dvd 16.10.07 kids puppetry fantasy.
the lookout , life turnd upside down by accident cin 2.11.07
lay our ghost, cin may .07
lions for lambs, cin 9.11.07 war on terrorism, tom cruise badly miscast, poor film seems like its written by the pentagon as a recruiting video..one to avoid.
The last legion, cin 19.10.07
lust caution, cin 4.1.08 ww2 espionage thriller director ang lee in china
les chansons d'amour , ( love songs) musical about relationships cin 21.12.07
Leatherheads, george clooney/renee zellwegger, ukcin 8.4 rom/com in american football
Lake of fire, imdb 8.5, documentary about abortion 2006
lars and the real girl, com/drama, imdb 7.9 delusionary guy has a mrelationship with a doll
Lagerfeld confidential, rel 24.10.07usa, documentary about the fashion designer imdb 7.3
love in the time of cholera, ukcin 21.3.08 cert15
live, rel 23.1.08, com/dra, mockumentary on a tc executive producing a reality show where contestants play russian roulette, imdb 5.6, eva mendez
living hell ( organism), 2008, a top secret cold war project is dug up and a fast growing oranism escapes, imdb 4.9 horror/mys/thrill not very good
lakeview terrace, samuel l jackson, lapd officer doesnt like his new neighbours intyerracial relationship, drama/thriller

mr woodcock , comedy billy bob thornton cin 21.9.07 sports teacher
michael clayton, cert 15 cin 28.9.07 george cloony thriller about the legal world , very good. dvd 18.2.08
mrs ratcliffes revolution , cin 28.9.07 true story going to communist east germany
my best friend , dvd 28.9.07 search for a best friend
Manufacturing dissent, ( investigating michael moore) very good documentary exposes a few of moores tricks but ultimately fails to make moore out as a bad person, cin 5.10.07
Margo at the wedding , (family relationships) nicole kidman jack black, rel 21.2.08 imdb6.4 com/dra
miss potter , renee zellweger, ewan mcgregor dvd 23.4.07
mr beans holiday, english childish , rowan atkinson, comedy cin 30.3.07
mr brookes, cin 13.10.07 kevin costner / demi moore silly serial killer film. dvd 10.3.08
the messengers, cin 13.4.07
my blueberry night , cin 22.2.07? norah jones jude law rachel weisz pursuit of true love
mr magoriums wonder emporium, about a toy store 21.12.07
My kid could paint that , true story documentary of a 4yr old compared to artist picasso cin 21.12.07 exellent documentary shows tv show 60minutes to be incredible crap journalism..this kids painting are brilliant..highly recommend this film
the magic flute young lovers , cin 7.12.07
Montana sky, imdb 5.4 rel 5.2.07usa dra/rom/western, 3 sisters given a montana farm must live together for 1 yr
Mother of tears the third mother, dra/fant/horror/thrill, imdb 5.9 ancient urn unleashes a witch
music within, true story, public speaker returns from vietnam with bad hearing and helps others with dissabilitys
made of honour, ukcin 2.5.08 patrick dempsey, man tries to stop a wedding of a lady he likes dvd 29.9.08
My boy jack, rel 20.4.08 usa, rudyard kiplings search for a 17yr old somn missing in ww1, daniel radcliff/kim cattrall, made by ecosse films imdb 7.8
martian child imdb 6.9 john cusack, child claims to be from mars, drama/scifi
meet the spartans, cin 21.3.08 spoof of the film 300 and some others cert12a, dvd 18.8.08 sean maguirre ok
My winnipeg, rel 18.7.08 docu/fantasy, local canadian myth/childhood trauma
My moms new boyfriend, imdb 6.3, rel 30.4.08spain, act/com/rom/thrill, antonio banderas/meg ryan, spying on his mum and new lover, made by millenium films
Michael moore hates america, imdb 5.0, documentary..michael wilson trys to interview moore 2004
mama mia, universal, rel 10.7.08cin, about a mother and daughter plus 3 possible fathers, pierce brosnan/colin firth/meryl streep..music by abba dvd 1.11.08
mongol the rise to power of ghengus khan, cin 6.6.08 cert15, might be interesting
monsters vs aliens, paramount/dreamworks, cin 2009
man of the year, late night talk show host runs for president, dvd 28.4.07 universal, robin williams
Meet the browns, single mom takes her familt to georgia for funeral of her dad a man she never met, there her family meet the crass fun loving brown family, comedy/drama angela bassett
madagascar 2 escape from africa, cin 5.12.08 animation for kids
meet dave . eddie murphy comedy
Miss pettigrew lives for a day, set in 1930s london, frances mcdormand, screwball romantic comedy, cin 15.8.08, momentum pictures
make it happen, dancing?
Mirrors, kiefer sutherland, psychological horror, 20th century fox, cin 10.10.08 doesnt interest me.
next , dvd 26.9.07 nicolas cage sees future cin 27.4.07 good film
nanny diaries c, in 12.10.07 scarlette johnsson manhattens upper east side cert 12a
no country for old men , coen brothers cert15 thriller cin 18.1.08 looks good
nancy drew la , unsolved crime cin 26.10.07
nightmare before christmas , 3d director tim burton more for kids, cin 26.10.07
night at the museum, dvd 2.4.07 i didnt like it in fact i hated it, kids adventure
the nines , cin 30.11.07 family
national treasure book of secrets, nicolas cage cin 8.2.08 sequel
once , ( irish musical) struggling busker cin 26.10.07 barely a story but nice music ok
outlaw , dvd 9.7.07
oceans13, cin 8.6.07 better than the dire ocans12 not bad, casino robbing
the orphanage, cin 28.3.07 gothic frightner
perfect stranger , dvd 18.9.07 bruce willis halle berry thriller cin 13.4.07
paprika, dvd 24.9.07 female detective entyers dreams animation
pathfinder, extended dvd 28.9.07
princess, ( priest returns home after pornstar sister dies from drugs) cin 26.10.07
poltergeist , 25th anniversary dvd 22.10.07
the passion of christ , dvd 31.3.07 brutal nasty film about the person called jesus aleged to have lived 2000 yrs ago, mel gibson directs 2 hours of extreme brutallity.. i hated it, the soham schoolgirls murdered by ian huntly went to watch this film.
the painted veil, cin 27.4.07 niami watts + ed norton 1920s china good
premonition , cin 16.3.07 sandra bullock , very silly film one to avoid
paradice lost , extreme edition dvd 12.10.07
ps i love you, cin 4.1.08 hilary swank romantic comedy
penelope , reece witherspoon christina ricci about a nose is a snout!
the queen , dvd 17.3.07 helen mirren fiction on uk queen after dianas death
resident evil extinction, cert15 cin 12.10.07 i hated the first film based on pc game
rocket science , high school debates/love cin 28.9.07
resident evil apocalypse , dvd 16.10.07
razzle dazzle , comedy childrens competitive dancing cin 20.10.07
rendition , jake gyllenhaal reese witherspoon cin 19.10.07 good about usa torturing terror suspects, worth watching
rush hour 3 , cin 31.8.07 jackie chan comedy
the reeping, cin 20.4.07
rise of the foot soldier, dvd 26.12.07
redacted, cin 21.3.07 , true story of rape and murder of an iraqi girl, director brian de plama

Useful Software to use ( article71)

This article is not up to date !!



Hi i run www.Beingahuman.blogspot.com please bookmark this in your browsers ( Internet explorer or Firefox or Safari or Google chrome etc) , Ive listed all the software i recommend people to use. Any computer using the internet must have Antivirus software to protect from the few hundred thousand viruses in existence and Trojan horses, shops will happily sell you a product for about £40 and it'll last a year..but my site tells you of free exellent products..so ive saved you money already. Then another category of problems Antivirus doesnt detect is called Malware again Pcworld etc want to sell you products but you dont need to pay..get the free ones i recommend , Malware ( malicious software) sometimes called Spyware or Adware ( advertising programmes put on your pc without consent) again hundreds of thousands of nasty Spyware software exists..my article tells you which Antispyware to get for free and use. Dont fall for a common trick which is to click an advert saying you need our Antispyware and it is the Spyware!!!. Dialers are another problem (if you use a dial up connection they cause your pc to phone expensive numbers) Antivirus protects against this. Keystroke loggers record every thing you type..credit card numbers etc and send them to the hackers computer so they go on a free shopping spree at your expense..so Antivirus detects some and Antispyware detect some..its essential to update Antivirus daily and Antispyware weekly should be enough...then run Antivirus every day or so, windows built in Antispyware called windows defender can be set to run daily..do this but also use other makes of Antispyware as windows defender isnt as good as the other free products i recommend you use. Dont forget to check the results of the scans..some problems wont be removed by Antivirus easily..they detect problems but sometimes youll need to do a few things to remove the bad stuff. If you get phishing emails eg fake bank emails asking you to update your details or fake Ebay or Paypal emails go to www.phishfighting.com and use that site to fight back against the scammers..itll send 500 fake details to the scammer..thats 500 fake bank account details to slow the scammers down ! . ( bad news this site no longer available as of 2010 but it is for sale so buy the website and run this brilliant service someone please).

Rootkits are a new danger..some Antivirus detects them..see my article on www.beingahuman.blogspot.com , but many dont so youll need a seperate product that scans your pc for rootkits..which are viruses Antivirus finds very hard to detect. I also recommend you stop using Microsofts Internet explorer browser and use Firefox as its a lot more secure and stops pop up windows annoying you when you visit websites. Update your operating system with all the patches available eg Microsoft release patches for their products like windows every 2nd tuesday of the month or if its an emergency they release out of cycle eg any day as fast as they can. Anything you dont patch leaves a hole for viruses etc to exploit and get in your pc. and of course you must have a good firewall..Windows has a firewall but its not very good so again get the firewall i recommend..without a firewall your pc is wide open to attack.



The correct order to put software on a new computer or after a new install is 1st you put the operating system on eg Windows Xp, 2nd you put a firewall on eg Zonealarm, ( if your going to download software from the internet youll need internet access so put your internet service providers software on for your broadband or mobile internet access), 3rd put on Antivirus eg Avira, 4th put on 1 or 2 Antispyware products eg Spybot and Spyware blaster, 5th put on a good browser eg Firefox, 6th put on something to find what drivers your hardware needs eg Driver max..this will then get things like your computers sound working if youve lost your sound card software after you reinstall windows. 7th get Ccleaner or something like it to clear crap files out of your pc and edit your computers registry, 8th get Freeramxp to free up your pc's memory, 9th put Mcafee siteadvisor on, 10th put Noscript on, then you can add the other software i say is useful as and when you need them.

Here's a list of software i recommend you install, update and use... if i use it i mark it with the * symbol before its name so you can see i actually use the product and if i put ** its to indicate its essential you also use this or a similar product for your security otherwise your using a computer with poor protection and are likely to experience theft of your data/creditcard info/personal data or have virus problems that can destroy all your files and be expensive to fix or recover.

First off when you get a new computer you install an operating system ( os) such as..
*Microsoft Windows Vista ( either the home or ultimate editions, Vista service pack 2 i got on 24.6.09 as an available update form Microsoft, it was 343.9mb in size see this link for info on what the differneses are in the different vista versions available http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx or *Windows XP (sp3) is still useable in 2010 though Microsofts support of this OS is ending so there wont be any more service packs for it ,ill let you know when Microsoft will no longer write patches for Windows XP.

In June 2010 Microsoft announced they will not support service pack 2 after 13 july 2010 which means you wont be able to get patches for flaws in windows ! this is Microsofts way of forcing lazy people to update to service pack 3 ( which you should have installed ages ago ) heres a link to info on Microsofts support lifecycle http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173 Windows Vista ultimate is the best computer operating system to have forget other makes like Apple who's newest OS is called Mac OS X 10.6 snow leopard or the various linux os's. ( service packs eg sp1 fix hundreds of flaws in a product so you must install them via the windows update button or windows update website which you have to view in Microsofts Internet Explorer browser) in Internet explorer go to tools ( near the top right) then select windows update youll end up on http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us from there select express to update your operating system. or Windows XP (sp3) , Vista ultimate is the best computer operating system to have forget other makes like Apple or linux.

Windows Xp costs £96 from Microsoft in march 2009 Vista costs even more around £225 in march 2009, if you don't have a genuine copy Microsoft will stop you getting updates so your pc will be left with holes viruses can exploit !
ps Windows 7 the next version after Vista is due out in October 2009 its very similar to Vista ( most experts call it Vista sp3 as its not a great deal different to Vista) . As i paid For a brand new copy of Vista when i bought a brand new pc with it installed in October 2007 im skipping getting Windows 7 as its almost the same as Vista and ill wait until Windows 8 comes it in about 2012


Here's my list of software i recommend in rough alphabetical order..


**Avira personal Antivirus for vista or Xp is what i recommend people use, this does find Rootkits or another make of Antivirus i used is Avg 8 free which works on xp but Avg doesnt look for Rootkits. There are many makes of Antivirus to choose from if you decide to ignore my advice go see www.av-comparatives.org who test many makers products to see which products detect a random sample of viruses..from these results you can judge which makes of Antivirus are better than others. Other makes i know of to buy include Computer Associates, Norman, Norton by Symantec, Mcafee, Panda, Kaspersky, Avast ( is free ), Sophos, Trend micro, Bitdefender, Pctools, F-secure, Bluesquad cyberdefender, Zonealarm, Eset nod32, Microsoft Onecare and a few others. Surprisingly the free Antivirus products i recommend do as well as the makes you have to pay for !

The latest version of Avira Antivirus Antivir free personal edition is version 10 released on 22 march 2010 it now has some Antispyware with it , get it from Download.com . Ive noticed that Download.com is now called http://download.cnet.com/windows/ by March 2009 so bookmark that website in your browser. No Antivirus is perfect and should be used with a combination of other products..read all the rest of this article to understand what else you need. Some Antispyware detects items Avira doesnt find so you need to keep scanning your pc with numerous products to remove all the dangerous viruses and trojans you can get infected with just by viewing websites. if you have version 9 you wont need to unistall this or install all of version 10 simply select repair/update to update a programme version its much quicker than installing version 10 from scratch.

The latest version i use is version 10.0.0.561 which i got on 8 apr2010 it has a few annoying bugs in it that dont affect its performance such as a popup appears saying guard autorun blocked .. access to H\autorun.inf has been blocked for your security, another annoyance/error is when you turn on a Windows xp machine it says your using admin rights and you shouldnt...shut up avira and fix these errors !

Older versions to upgrade from include version 9.0.0.386 released on 17 march 2009

To help you get started i will list step by step what you do to install a software programme..my example of this will be how to install Avira antivirus version 9 but the same steps and principles apply to all other software programmes you install  got to this link to see the detailed steps you do to install Avira antivirus

http://newhomeplanet.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-install-avira-antivirus-detailed.html

Now back to the other software products ive used or use and recommend people use

Avg Antivirus that you buy will hunt for Rootkits but the free version does not so dont use it. To compare Avg products to see which you might want to try if you ignore my advice to use Avira Antivirus . If you choose to use avg instead of avira look here www.avg.com/home-and-office-security-comparison my advice is to get the free Avira Antivirus product. The latest version of Avg free is version 8.5.278 released on 2 march 2009 . If you do decide to use Avg free you will need to find a seperate Anti Rootkit software product.



*Adobe Acrobat Reader is used for opening pdf files a very popular file format people use to create pages of text and pictures eg manuals for products or help booklets. The latest version fixes critical vulnerabilities in older versions so get version 9.3.3 released by 1 july 2010
Get it from adobe.com once you have a new version you may need to go into add/remove programmes and remove older versions..this helps as viruses exploit holes in old versions of software.

if u open #adobe #reader and cant close it #rightclick the #taskbar at bottom of your pc #screen #click #taskmanager & right click #acrord32.exe & click end process..this is a silly flaw Adobe has had for ages.

Old versions info...
version 9.3.0 released in Febuary 2010., v 9.3.2 i got on 28.4.10
Version 9.1.3 released on 4th August 2009 from www.adobe.com . See this info from july 30 2009 re flaws that need fixing by getting the latest versions of Adobe products http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.html Older versions to upgrade from include v 9.1.2 i got on 10 June 09, v 9.1 i got on 19.3.09

*Adobe Air is used to help install bbc iplayer for example. See this info from 30.7.09 re upgrade to fix flaws http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.html so get version 1.5.2 now . Older versions include version 1.5.1 which i got on 8.5.09

*Adobe Flash Player which attaches to your browser to play flash videos eg Youtube videos. Click this link to get the latest version as it fixes critical flaws found in older products.. http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ the latest version is version 10.1.53.64 aka 10.1 r53 which came out by 22 June 2010 which fixes serious security flaws in older versions. In April 2010 i tried to install this on another pc and it would not work..what i needed to do was when a yellow bar appeared at the top of the flashplayer page saying additional plugins needed to view all media on this page you click this and it downloads gp.xpi then you need to install this which adobe doesnt bother to explain how to do ! what i did was google to find out about that file and you need to select to open this type of file using firefox so you have to find the location in your computer where Firefox is installed and select that to open the file. After that adobe flashplayer will install. Yahoo answers didnt help me either fortunately i worked it out myself.
to find what version your using in Firefox go to tools-addons-plugins

old version info...
version 10.0.45.2 which came out in Febuary 2010
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.html this info was released on 30.7.09 so get version 10.0.32.18 now. http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-01.html is to get version 10.0.22.87 which came out on febuary 24 2009, you will need to get it for each different browser you use eg if you use Firefox as your main browser you attach Adobe Flash player to that, but if you occasionally use IE8 browser you'll also need to attach a copy of Adobe Flash player to that browser too.



*Adobe Shockwave Player is free its a browser plugin
that allows you to play 3d games or see product demos or training on websites. To test if you need it go to www.miniclip.com which has free games to play this will tell you if you need the plugin..but your browser plugin finder service may say macromedia Shockwave Player 10.1 is available to download..this is an old version so dont get it from a 3rd party site go to the site that made the software which is here http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/ the latest version is called 11.5.7.609 which was released on 12 may 2010 its 4.18mb in size.

*Audio Recorder For Free is a great radio recording programme it works on Xp and now vista,( version 8.8 had bad errors in December 2007 so i stopped using it on Vista ) get it from www.audio-tool.net , it records the sounds coming through your computers sound card so if your listening to online radio you can record it ! You can record stuff as mp3 files ready to put on your Ipod /Iphone .Its free for 90days, Alternative sound recording software includes magix webradio recorder costing £29.99, Audio e2workshop, freecorder toolbar which i had trouble with but its free and many others.

*Alcohol 120% is useful to make backups of some cds , dvds games & software disks, it makes images of cds or dvds, it wont remove css copy restriction on bought disks though. Most software allows for 1 install and 1 backup copy but check it says your allowed to do this or risk being fines. Get it from www.alcohol-soft.com the latest version is version 1.9.8.7507 still available in march 2009 a similar product is Daemon tools.

**Backup software to back up your data ( copy it to another location for safe keeping incase you get a bad virus etc) has many products to choose from including.. Jam software smartbackup, Backup4all professional, kls backup 2008 profesional, Second copy version 7, 00 diskimage professional edition, nti shadow, Avanquest perfect image and many others.
or buy a big external hard drive that includes backup software eg a 1tb seagate drive is about £80 and can hold 1000 gb of data. Remember to set it to back up data daily ! if your hard drive fails you can loose all data on it..this is why you backup your data to another hard drive.
My Dell computer suffered a hard drive failure after 2.5 years of use from new in april 2010 so the 320gb drive has to be replaced. All my data on it would have been lost forever if it wasnt for backing it up to a usb external drive...so people make no excuses you must have a backup plan and do it daily.



*Baygenie Ebay Auction Sniper is very useful if you want to win Ebay auctions as it automatically puts your bid in in the last few seconds of an auction, leaving your competitors no time to out bid you ! Youll have to buy this but its well worth the money as you will save lots of time using Ebay as you wont keep getting outbid on items and itll save you lots of money as you will win more auctions at the prices you say your willing to pay. get it from www.baygenie.com the latest version is version3.3.5.0 released on 25 apr 2010
It costs $9.95 a year to use, alternative products include Auction auto bidder, Biet-o-matic ( bid-o-matic) from sourceforge.net, & Auctionsleuth


older versions of baygenie include v version3.3.3, 3.3.1 released on 8th jan 2009,

*BBC iplayer is great if you missed a BBC tv show or radio show but you cant keep the drm ( digital rights managment) protected downloads.. phone uk 07963 348582 to book me to help you. Go to bbc.co.uk to get the iplayer. Old versions used p2p to transfer the files to you the new versions dont anymore. the latest version is called BBC iplayer desktop which i got on 8.5.09

*Belarc Advisor is a great bit of software to use, it will find if you have all the windows patches you should have, if your Antivirus is up to date and also tell you what physical components are in you pc such as what type of ram memory you have. A great thing it does is list all the software you have installed..if like me you have many dozens of programme's on your pc its nice to see a list of what you have. Remember if i use any of the software listed in this article i put a * before it so you know what i use and therefore recommend. Get it from download.com





*Bitmeter is used to count the data you get from your isp to see how much you use a month eg 40gb which is enough to download say 60 hours of bbc tv shows on iplayer. Its very useful as ISP's fail to tell you how much data you have downloaded and uploaded so you can exceed the fair use policy most have and even end up paying lots more money a month than you intended to as most ISP's charge you if you download/upload more than you agreed to use. eg you may be paying £25 for 8mb internet connection allowing up to 40gb of data a month but if you actually downloaded 50gb of data you may be charged £3 extra per gb !!!
so get Bitmeter from download.com , the latest version is 2.3.5.9.32260 released on 23 jan 2010

*Bitsum process lasso pro improves a pc's responsiveness and stability by stopping programmes monopolising the cpu.. eg if you use Bitcomet and download lots of torrents at the same time your mouse will appear to stick on the screen and seem slow.sluggish, ive used this since 23 july 09 but i must say it hasnt solved the sluggishness completely..it needs improvement. The latest version is ..check their website ! version 3.82.4 i got on 2 april 2010 . Get it from http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php
Older versions include 3.62.4 out on 13.8.09. V 3.62.3 is out by 30.7.09. v 3.60.7 i got on 23.7.09.



*Bonjour comes free from Apple its used to find services on a local network, its used by Itunes to find your shared music etc. version 1.0.6 i got on 24.6.09 youll need it if you use an Iphone which plugs into your pc to get your music from Itunes or if you use Itunes if you dont use these you dont need this. it doesnt say where its being installed too which is very annoying.

Calendar making software to put a calendar onto a website includes web calendar pad from
http://www.calendarpad.com/ its $49 for personal users or $79 for business use.

**Ccleaner ( crap cleaner ) removes junk files your pc stores eg cookies ( tiny files every website you visit put on your pc to watch how you use their site eg what you click on ) it removes cache which is a copy of all the websites you visit so that if you go back in your browser your pc can re show you the site without having to download that page again..but as websites are updated so often you need to remove browsers cache so that you see the newest info on a website. Ccleaner also removes lots of other crap your pc creates as you use it but dont need to keep. This is a must have type of product , you can get it free via www.ccleaner.com , the latest version is version 2.33.1184 released on 24 June 2010. the link from ccleaner takes you to filehippo to download it this is fine to do.

Old version info..
version 2.30.11.30 released on 29 march 2010.

2.28 released in January 2010. version 2.22.968 came out on 28.7.09 it updates quite often as you can see from these older versions .. v 2.21.940 was released 25.6.09,v 2.20.920 was released 28.5.09, v 2.19.901 came out 7.5.09. v 2.19.900 came out 1.5.09,, v 2.18.878 was released 26.3.09 2.17.853 came out on 2 march 2009 , always use the newest version and when installing deselect the yahoo toolbar they try to get you to install you dont need it.



**Cole2k codec pack from www.cole2k.net is needed to play lots of different video files , version 7.9.0 was released on 18 september 2009 . save the file, follow the instructions, uninstall any old versions of this codec pack and uninstall any other codec packs you know you have..look in add/remove programmes. choose easy install to install cole2k codecpack, untick the media toolbar they try and get you to install..you dont need it ( this is just before you click the i agree button to install cole2k. once installed most videos from the internet will now play in windows media player. Any video that still wont play try playing it with vlc player which i list lower down in this alphabetically organised list. Enjoy your videos people !

older versions you should update include version 7.6.0 which came out in late march 2009 version 7.5.0 of the standard codec pack came out on 28 feb 2009, alternatives include pixie pack codec pack from pixiepack-codec-pack.software.informer.com , k-lite and a few others.

Convert image files using something like xnview

*coretemp 32bit version 0.99.6.1 i got free via download.com its released on 8 may 2010 and helps you check the temperatures your computers processors are running at it found my core 0 was 41 degrees c, core 1 was 37 degrees , core 2 was 39degrees and core 3 was at 37 degrees which is within the limits of my Intel quadcore processor.

Cut video/edit video using something like Naturpic video cutter or magix video pro.

*Cyberlink Powerdvd ultra deluxe is a dvd player i only use it occassionally, as i prefer vlc player
i got this with my Camcorder to play the .mod files my JVC camcorder makes. Get it from http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html its $95 for the latest version of it called version 10 3d
you may also need it to play blu-ray .m2ts files see this for more info on that file type http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_m2ts_files.cfm

Cyberlink Powerdirector ultra version 7.00.2305 $120 is for editing videos to make your own dvd, i had errors with the pip objects in this hopefully newer versions work better.


*Creative software autoupdate was an optional Windows update i got on 15.7.09
i get this as my Dell pc has Creative sound hardware...whatever hardware you have you can use Driver max to get updates for your sound controllers. i have to say 2 or 3 things said they had'nt downloaded properly...not very good effort by creative !

*Deliveryagent , immanens delivery v 3.4.3.19 i use to get digital magazines from magazinesondemand.co.uk



*Divx 7 free is a media player competing against Windows media player & Vlc player etc version 7 came out on 6th january 2009 and plays some very popular video types such as .mkv , .avi and of course divx files. the Divx codec once on your pc will also allow you to play Divx files through Windows media player if you want to stick to using that video player. Get the latest version via this link http://www.divx.com/en/downloads then click the divx 7 free download button to install it. install all the components to somewhere you want eg your c drive then in the programme files folder. Tick to associate .mkv files with divx player when asked to.( hd.h264 is .mkv file type to play high def video. Then enjoy watching your videos !

*Driver max version 5.5 was released on 5 march 2010 get it from http://www.innovative-sol.com/ or via download.com Driver max searches for the drivers ( tiny bits of software that make each bit of your hardware in your pc work) its free which is great as there are lots of other companies offering trials of their similar products but they only scan your pc and tell you which drivers are out of date. If you want to update them they want you to buy their programme for £30 or so..so get driver max its free and will let you download the drivers you need eg to get your pc playing sounds. you can only update 2 drivers a day for free but seeing as most people have a maximum of say 20 drivers its not a problem as drivers dont update very often.
When you buy a pc you should be given a cdrom with all the drivers your pc needs for how its been built so that if you ever need to reinstall Windows due to a virus or harddrive crash you will have all the drivers you need to get started.

Old version info..
5.4 is available in 2010 ,version 5 i got on 11.6.09. if you run Driver max with admin rights you can roll back a driver if you find it gives you trouble. I got a broadcom netxtreme 57xx driver from driver max but it gave my pc trouble so its great you can remove bad drivers and get back the older version you used to use to fix a problem.
Alternative products include Driver magician, Driver detective, Driver scanner from liutilities.com and many others but these cost money. Old versions include 5.2 released on 12.8.09. and v 4.91 i got on 8.3.09

Dvd authoring can be done with something like Dvdflick.net



*Dvdfab platinum can be used to copy your bought dvds as backups in case you scratch them,as i said in my info on Alcohol 120% check your allowed to make a copy of whatever it is you want to backup incase your original copy gets damaged as you dont want to be fined for copying anything your not allowed to. Dvdfab removes the copy restriction put on dvds my their maker. Youll have to buy this from www.dvdfab.com the latest version is version 7.0.3.0 released on 26 march 2010 This product is updated often.
There are many alternative products but so far i find this the best. Alternatives include Dvd x copy , Dvd x studios clone dvd , dvd next copy, Realplayer even has something to buy to do this now..which got the film industrys very annoyed and many others.

Old versions include 5.2.3.2 which was released on 22 jan 2009.

Du meter is used to count the data you get from your isp to see how much you use a month eg 40gb which is enough to download say 60 hours of bbc tv shows on iplayer. Its very useful as ISP's fail to tell you how much data you have downloaded and uploaded so you can exceed the fair use policy most have and even end up paying lots more money a month than you intended to as most ISP's charge you if you download/upload more than you agreed to use. eg you may be paying £25 for 8mb internet connection allowing up to 40gb of data a month but if you actually downloaded 50gb of data you may be charged £3 extra per gb !!!
so get du meter from download.com or from its makers at http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/ its $25 ps i now use a rival product called Bitmeter...go up this article to the letter b section to find it.

Encrypt your info for privacy using something like data guardian which uses 448bits of blowfish encryption, or Arzoosoft magicd file encrypt.

*Epson is the printer brand i use, youll need to install the software that came with your printer onto your pc to control your printer. i use a DX4450 its a printer/scanner/copier
i got an sql error when i tried to submit my registration for it so couldnt register it on 26 may 2010

Fairuse4wm from freewarefiles.com removes drm from files you have legally bought ( drm is digital rights management.. drm is put on muisc and films to stop you copying them to other devices, this bit of software removes the drm software so you can say put music on an ipod or whatever.



Film collectors may want to keep lists of all the dvds/films they own so they can easily find what they own to watch. Here are a few programmes to consider using.. Collectorz.com movie collector pro, Wincatalog.com, Mcataloguer, Fnprg.com £25.75, Codeaero.com movie label 2010 pro $69.95, Librarian pro, Movie label 2010 and a few others.


**Firefox browser version 3.6.6 came out on 28 June 2010 so update your Firefox browser by clicking help ( in the top left of Firefox) and then click check for updates .Its made by Mozilla. I found some Firefox addons would no longer work in the latest version of Firefox..but fortunatly Firefox warns you before you install it of what addons will no longer work. You will then need to get an update to the addon that wouldnt work if you still want to use it eg Roboform form filler. Firefox it is better than IE ( Microsofts Internet explorer ) Firefox updates reguarly to fix any flaws found in it and to give newer features. i love the fact you can easily click to open new tabs to have many websites open at the same time.
A browser is a must have product type if your going to view websites ! ( a browser is the software your pc uses to display websites to you ) Firefox also has many useful addons ( other software that attaches to it letting you do more things via your browser) get Firefox from here http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ version 3.5 was a big step forward from version 3 its a lot faster at handling java, it has a so called porn mode..meaning you can surf but the browser records no info of your surfing so theres no clue what naughty sityes youve been visiting ! for some reason Mozilla is still updating version 3 eg version 3.0.13 is the newest version of that browser. You may find some Firefox addons wont work with v 3.5 eg old versions of roboform so if you use that youll have to get a new version of it for it to work again.
When you get it ( since mid 2010 ) you may be asked if you want to use getpersonas.com to personalise your browser...if you do make sure you pick light colours so the url bar and Firefox addons you have attached to your browser still show up easily. To remove a persona go to tools-addons-themes-default-use


Older versions you need to update from include v 3.6.4 released by 24june10, version 3.6.3 came out on 1 April 2010 version 3.6 was released on 21 jan 2010 , 3.5.2 came out by 5.8.09, 3.5.1 released on 16.7.09, v 3.5 rel 30.6.09, v 3.0.12 rel by 22.7.09, v 3.0.10 i got by 28.4.09, v 3.09 rel 22.4.09,v 3.0.8 rel 28.3.09, v 3.0.7 which came out on 5 march 2009



*Flickr Desktop Uploader from flickr.com/tools is used to let you drag and drop digital photos on your pc into this tool and then they are uploaded to your own free webpage on the flickr website, this software is free, i think flickr is the best website for hosting your photos online so your friends can see your photos. version 3.2.1 is the latest version released on 11 june 2009, Flickr only displays your most recent 100 photos, but if you pay the $20 or so for 2 years all your photos can be seen.
Alternative photo hosting sites include picassa and many many others..choose wisely as many sites close down as they dont make enough money to keep going.



Old versions include 3.1.4 i got on 1.4.09.

Free HIQ Recorder is very good on Windows xp but not Vista to record internet radio i used to use this its free.

**Freeram xp pro 1.52 via download.com automatically frees your pc's ram memory how ever often you want..this prevents system crashes when your pc would have run out of memory to perform a task..id say its essential to use. its free but you can make a donation to the maker of it. You will need to configure it to get it to work in a way that wont annoy you..you dont want it to free memory every 5 minutes as when it free's memory your mouse seems unusable for a little while eg 30-40 seconds. If you need help using this call ( uk 44) ( cambridgeshire 01223 ) Mobile 07963 348582 to book me.
An alternative product is memory improve master.

Get audio from a video ( eg if you recorded a radio show on freeview to a dvd and only want the audio part of the recording) using Aoa audio extractor 2.1 from download.com for free or something similar. The platinum version costs $30 see http://www.aoamedia.com/

*Google Earth is a brilliant tool to view our planet all over and zoom in on any area its brilliant. its free, the latest version is Google Earth 5.1.3535.3218 released on 14 april 2010, you need a good graphics card in your pc to fully use this. You can add pins to the map to easily find places you look at often. Get it free from http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/options/ or download.com

Older versions include5.1.3533.1731 which was released on 19 November 2009, version 5.0.11337.1968 which came out on feb 2 2009



Google toolbar attaches to a browser and can fill in some web forms but robofrom is way better so i stopped using this...also each toolbar you attach to a browser results in less viewable screen space..as i found out when on 1 site i found it impossible to enter a competition because i couldnt move the broswer page down to see the submit button ! after uninstalling google toolbar i could move the page another centimeter of so and see the button i needed..so dont add too many toolbars.

*Goto meeting published by citrix online is used to see webinars ( online seminars) i first used it on 16.7.09

*Gspot is used to tell what codec an avi file has. Eg if you try to play a dvd in your dvd player and it says it cant play it so you may need to convert it to another file type using something like xilisoft ( see below in letter x area ) get Gpot from http://www.headbands.com/gspot/index.htm

*Hjsplit version 2.3 via freebyte.com is used to piece together large software files downloaded from the internet eg a trial of a pc game.






* Internet Explorer 8 is Microsofts web browser used by some 60% of web users because Microsoft give it away on all new computers that run windows, other than that there is no reason to think its better than other broswers. I recommend Firefox still but some websites ( 1 in 100 ) dont show up properly in Firefox because the websites creator hasnt built their website to display in any other broswer other than Internet explorer. So you will probably need to use Internet explorer at some point but id only use it when a site doesnt work in Firefox. The latest version of Internet explorer is version 8 which came out on 19 march 2009 ( its now out of beta testing which is a pre release of a software product to check it for bugs/flaws ). get it from www.microsoft.com/ie8 If you have Windows xp sp3 you will now have ie7 so you need to update and get ie8. In early 2010 a serious flaw was found in Ie8 so microsoft rushed out a patch for it which you got via Windows updates. More detailed info on it can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_8 By April 2010 Microsoft has been forced by the Eu to give computer users the option of choosing which browser to use, a Windows update to show pc users a screen to select their default browser was released in April 2010. Since this date Microsoft has been advertising its browser on UK tv desperatly trying to retain its users...dont go get Firefox its way better and safer.



Intervideo windvd platinum 8 is another media player to play dvds, i have it but dont use it.

Ipod/Iphone users may want to use Imtoo ipod computer transfer from here http://www.imtoo.com/ipod-computer-transfer.html it can backup and copy ipod music/video/photos to a pc and its a pc to ipod transfer tool for $25.95

I screen recorder version 8 records/captures what you can see on your pc screen. i got it to try recording a webinar/webcast. its $24.99 from http://www.iscreenrecorder.com/ eg if you want to record the sequence of steps you do to do something ona pc such as installing some software which you then put onto youtube to help everyone else see how to do something.
There are many alternative screen recorders. I wanted to record a webinar..an online seminar on 25aug10 i tested using iscreenrecorder and the colour came out totally wrong & there was no sound when vlcplayer tried to play it it said avi broken do u want to repair so i did but then nothing apears ! if i said dont fix the video did play but with bad colour and no sound . i recorded the webinar being run by a company via adobe acrobat connect pro meeting but the 45min webinar seemed to cause my quadcore pc to go funny. after stopping the recording it takes iscreenrecorder 11minutes to compile the recording, it ends up as a 1.91gb file but its got just 21minutes recorded and when i played it a horrific screeching sound is all i get and the screenshot jumps around the screen all over the place making it unwatchable ! i will not be buying this software !

*Isobuster from isobuster.com is for opening iso files eg an image of a dvd video , get it from smart-projects.net version 2.7 is the newest version released on 22 december 2009


*Itunes version 9 is mostly used by ipod or iphone users, its an online music store and you use this software to put the music you buy onto your Ipod. you can also put other music you own from cd's into Itunes and then onto your Ipod. When you get this often apple who make itunes try to get you to download quicktime player and mobileme at the same time. Itunes is free from www.apple.com/downloads more detailed info on it can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes the latest version is version 9.2.0.61 i got it on 17 june 2010 its 80.62mb

Im having a problem getting it to properly sync all the bookmarks i save on my iphone because i find it often doesnt sync these into Internet explorer as it says it can..anyone know why ?

Older versions includeversion 9.1.0.79 released on 30 March 2010, version 8.2.1.6 i got on 22.7.09, it updates reguarly.

Joost lets you see some internet tv shows for free. Get it from joost.com its made by the people behind kazaa and skype. Would be much better if you could record these tv shows.

**Java runtime environment, the latest version is Java 6 update 20 released on 16 April 2010 get it from http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp , java is needed to display parts of websites written in the java computer language..you will need it. get it from www.java.com/en its free, you must update this software to fix flaws in it . Annoyingly java doesnt remove the old versions of it from your computer so you need to go into your control panel to add/remove programmes and remove all older versions of java otherwise you can still get trojans that exploit holes in older versions. ( by 2010 finally java can autoupdate now so it pops up to tell you when a newer version is available to download ) Be warned they try to get you to also install the yahoo toolbar so decide if its of any use to you to get this toolbar the only use id have for it is it can fill in some info in web forms like your name..but roboform is way better so get that instead.

Older versions include Java 6 update 19 . java 6 update 18 i got on 27jan10, java 6 update 15 is out by 5.8.09, java 6 update 12 which came out in march 2009



*JVC camcorder i use loads the drivers for it when i plug it in via a usb port

*Kmplayer version 2.9.4.1437 is free via download.com its released on 15 June 2010 info about it is on kmplayer.com i got this because when i tried to play a bluray disk of a film in Cyberlink power dvd ultra which i use to play m2ts files it played the wrong language ! ( vlc doesnt play m2ts files either)
in Cyberlink i clicked the video button to see the audio options but nothing is showed so i couldnt change the audio language..kmplayer did manage to change the audio language to english so ill keep this video player.


*Magic iso from magiciso.com to play uif music files and decompress iso's. version 5.5 build 274 was released on 17.3.09 and its £19.46 i just use an older version.

Make PDF files using something like Fineprint pdffactory pro from here http://www.fineprint.com/products/pdffactory/index.html its $99.95

**Malwarebytes Antimalware is a good Antispyware programme verion 1.46 came out in May 2010 get it from http://www.malwarebytes.org read my info on the Spybot programme now to see why you may need this. You need to update this before you run it each time so it can find the latest problems. A quickscan with it may take about 6minutes to do

Older versions you need to upgrade from include version 1.44 which came out in january 2010



Maps.live.com for Microsofts virtual earth 3d programme..its similar to google earth but a lot worse..my advice use Google earth.



**Mcafee Siteadvisor is an essential free addon for Firefox to show which web sites are risky..90% of the time do not stay on any site it flags as red this is a must have product. Its free from www.siteadvisor.com i recommend you join Site Advisor so you can report bad websites you find eg if your Antivirus detects a virus while your viewing a website report it to Siteadvisor to help everyone else. the latest version is version 3.0.1.163 which i got on 8 April 2010.
When you install it enable secure search if you want, thisll put a search bar on the bottom right of your browser..i dont use it, tick show all site ratings and block links to risky sites, i dont tick set browsers default search provider to mcafee secure search, youll need to restart the browser for it to show up.

errors ive had with it include When i got Firefox 3.0.8 Mcafee siteadvisor disapeared from Firefox so i had to reinstall it.

Older versions include version 2.9.258 which i got in march 2009, v 2.9.242 which was released 15 dec 2008

Metacafe pro via metacafe.com is to download videos off this site thats like Youtube but i got errors so didnt use this.

*Microsoft silverlight is used on some websites eg itv.com its used to display moving graphics and videos so its a bit like Adobe flash player. install it if you have to to view a part of a website using this software get it from http://www.microsoft.com/SILVERLIGHT/ its 6.0mb in size, the current version is version 4.0.50524.0 released i got on 1 July 2010 you can find it in firefox-tools-addons-plugins, more detailed info about it can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Silverlight Silverlight updates automatically.

Older versions include version 3.0.50106.0 released on 20 January 2010 , v 3.0.40723.0 which Windows update downloaded on 31.7.09 , the March 2009 version 2.0.40115.0



Mobile phone users may find Mobile master corporate usefull as it will back up your mobile phone..very useful in case you loose your phone or damage it. get it via http://www.mobile-master.com/index.html its 30 euros roughly £25.81 using xe.com.

*Mobileme from apple.com is to sync email, contacts and calendar info between pc's and ipod/iphones etc its free. on 17 June 201 i got version 1.6 its 3.75mb and works with version 9.2 of itunes i got it via Apple software update but as i said in my Itunes info above my iphone bookmarks arnt all being synced to internet explorer browser on my PC so there is an error with it. Also on apple.com/mobileme it says it costs $99 a year to get mobileme...eh ?



Mozilla Thunderbird is a free alternative to Microsofts Outlook push email programme, i got v 2.0.0.14 on 20.5.08 youll need to find your incoming and outgoing email server addresses to use it eg if you use yahoo email the incoming server is pop.mail.yahoo.co.uk ssl port 995 and the outgoing is smtp.mail.yahoo.co.uk ssl port 465 i stopped using it as i like web based email where you view your emails online unlike this where the emails are downloaded to your pc.

MP3 player users may like software called Advanced music recovery, this can recover music from an MP3 player thats been formated or accidently deleted.
Get it from http://www.advancedmediarecovery.com/ for $20

MP3 splitting software to cut an MP3 file has a few options i use Slice audio file splitter which is free ( see my info on this under the letter S software i recommend further down ) Other similar products include Absolute MP3 splitter converter $25, Focus MP3 recorder pro $24.95 which also records audio, Aiseesoft audio converter $21, Ez softmagic Mp3 splitter joiner, Naturpic audio file cutter and 3 delite Mp3 stream editor.



**Noscript via noscript.net essential for security of browsers and your pc its a Firefox addon this is a must have product, Its free and is updated a lot so the version number changes very reguarly. the latest version is version 1.9.9.77 released on 19 May 2010. Read the info on their website on how to use it, if you bounce from website to website as we all do you may be sent to some dodgy corners of the internet which have virus infested sites that infect you the second you land on the site..Noscript can block many dodgy ways they infect you. You simply unblock the scripts it blocks 1 at a time so that the content you want to see shows up. ( unfortunately allowing scripts is blind faith as youve no idea if theyre unsafe other than if you have Mcafee siteadvisor and it shows the site your on as red thats a clue not to trust the website your on so dont allow scripts ).

on 27.5.2010 i got noscript version 1.9.9.80
on 1 june 2010 i got version 1.9.9.81
on 14 june 2010 i got version 1.9.9.87 all from firefox saying updates are available, but today 1 july i looked in firefox-tools-addons but it says i have version 1.9.9.77 ( which i know i got on 19may2010) so ive emailed the delevoper asking can you explain whats going on please ? thanks and ps i link to you from http://beingahuman.blogspot.com/2008/02/useful-software-to-use-article71.html which is my guide to the best software for normal internet users to use. cheers

Older versions include version 1.9.9..61 out by 7 april 2010, version 1.9.9.47 in febuary 2010, 1.9.8.1 out on 12 aug 09,v 1.9.8 which i got on 11.8.09 , v 1.9.7.9 i got 5.8.09, v 1.9.7.7 got 2.8.09, v 1.9.7 got 26.7.09, v 1.9.6.9 got 23.7.09 etc..as you can see it updates all the time, when you restart Firefox it tells you if you have updates available and getting the updates is simple and fast.

*Nvidia geforce 8800 gtx 768mb is the kickass graphics card in my PC the driver for it was on a cd that came with the dell pc i bought, Nvidia controls Windows vista display drivers for my Pc monitor screen.



*Openoffice version 3.2 i got in April 2010 is a free word processing programme as good as Microsofts Office package or Microsoft Works but this if free so you can save £100 or so ! it has a word processor for writting letters etc, a spreadsheet programme, a presentation manager and a drawing programme. Get it from openoffice.org its 128mb in size so will take a while to download. It says it includes the Java runtime environment when you get it but it didnt download this to me..odd ! , allow it to check for updates automatically

The place to get support for openoffice is http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
this a a user forum to ask for help with using the product, for example on 9 December 2010 i went to download Openoffice version 3.2.1 from Openoffice.org but my Avira anitivirus warned me that the installer o00-3.2.1-win-x86-install-wjre-en contained a virus ! it said it found appl/agent.8192.pk so im going to ask on the forum whats going on..i selected remove from the antivirus window so havent installed it.

Older versions you need to update from include version 3.0.1 out on feb 4 2009

Pdf making software includes Nuance pdf converter enterprise get it from http://www.nuance.com/ for $149.99, this is more of a business software but more and more people are making pdf files to share information so ive included it here.


pf config is used if you want help to forward your modem/routers ports. youll need to know the exact model of your router eg Belkin... and your routers ip address eg 192.... then you select the app your trying to improve eg ..., then select the target computer by ip address ( now i use 2 computers so youll need to find this out ) , then it asks for the custom ports rquired.. tcp ports and udp ports....this is where i am lost..i thought this programme was supposed to do all these settings for you ! get it from https://portforward.com/store/pfconfig.cgi if you think youll be able to work out how to use it, its $29.95

**Prevx is a good Antispyware programme get it from http://www.prevx.com/ read my Spybot info too. It can tell you your infected with something your Antivirus scans every day and doesnt find a problem with occasionally and you have to buy it to remove any threats it finds. I just use it for free. The latest version is version 3 i got it in May 2010, it does a learning scan first.

procdump version 1.72 released on 19 jan 2010 via technet.microsoft.com makes crash dumps
i got it to try and find a problem i had but its not for average Pc users.



*Quicktime player is an ok media player made by Apple computers its needed to play Quicktime videos shown on some websites. This is updated quite often as it has lots of flaws in its code. Its free. There is also a pro version you have to buy but i use the free version. get it from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ the latest version is version 7.6.6 released on 30 march 2010
i very rarely use it as vlc player is better. i get it via apple software update which automatically tells you when newer versions of apple software you use is available.

older versions include 7.6.2 i got on 22.7.09, v 7.6.0.92.0 released on 22 jan 2009, always get the latest version of this as like i said hackers keep finding flaws in it that allow them to mess up your computer.


*Realplayer is a media player get it from http://www.realnetworks.com/( like Windows mediaplayer or Divx or vlc player ) that includes some free cd burning software ( past versions wasted too many disks for my liking so now i use Roxio to burn cds/dvds version 14 of Realplayer will let you record flv videos eg Youtube videos so its very useful. You also use Realplayer to listen to some BBC radio stations. See this link for more detailed info on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealPlayer The latest version of it is version 14

 Problems with Realplayer..on 17 November 2010 they said their's an update in a little pop up window so i tried to get it from here http://uk.real.com/realplayer but when installing it it asks you to close all browser windows which i did , it then shows that its installing but then dissapears ! your left with a blank patch on your desktop where the realplayer shortcut icon used to be & Realplayer is not in your c\programmefiles anymore and it doesnt show up in the uninstall a programme feature..so Realplayer has a flaw yet again, i restarted my pc but that didnt solve it..ill ask for help from them on Twitter. See this re selecting user account access in windows http://real.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6867/related/1
Ive solved the problem but somethings very wrong with Realplayer these days, i had to use filehippo.com to get Realplayer version 1.1.5 build 12.0.0.879 as the file on Download.com fails to install. I can now once again download Youtube videos but if you open the Realplayer software and click tools-check for updates it says critical update get Realplayer 14, if u do this the install fails at 51% every time ! & your back to square 1 of no longer having a working copy of Realplayer, ive asked @realplayer on Twitter.com for help but they refuse to reply & this is supposed to be how you get support for them these days ! ( i wrote a critical review of realplayer on Download.com which they noticed so they must read peoples review on that site and they contacted me via Twitter offering to help ) .
If you need support for using Realplayer book me or look here http://real.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7695/tabName/tab0/support_type/Null

look here if you bought the paid for version of Realplayer http://real.custhelp.com/app/contact

Update on 26 January 2011 Realplayer 1.1.5 on my Vista PC wont record anything on Youtube again now ! not even my own videos which i know have no DRM or ways set to stop people copying them) so i uninstalled it then went to Download.com and got version 14 which is 24.6mb size but after selecting to install it to my C drive  Realplayer setup says  " you dont have administrator access to the windows registry please see your sytems administrator to install realplayer "  aaarggh what a nightmare im a home PC user i dont have a systems administrator ! ( im not in some office with IT experts on hand ! )  im logged in to my own PC, ive never had this hassle with Realplayer before in fact just a couple of days ago i installed Realplayer onto a new laptop running Windows 7 just fine and it records Youtube videos just fine so the problem seems to be with how Realplayer is written to work with Microsoft Windows VISTA ! so i googled admin rights and found 2 helpful links this is the first i looked at 

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-the-hidden-administrator-account-on-windows-vista/  

this is the 2nd link i looked at and i follwed the steps in this 2nd link

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_administrator_activate.htm 

i did the 13 detailed steps then tried to install Realplayer again 1st on my C drive then on my G drive and both times it said
" you dont have administrator access to the windows registry please see your sytems administrator to install realplayer " now id not restarted my PC after creating the Administrator account but the detailed steps didnt say you need to do this..ive contacted @realplayer and @realfrancisc on twitter asking for help as this is just crazy !

Older versions include version sp 1.14 build 12.0.0.756 which i got on 26 June 2010 but it has a flaw in that you cant download YOUTUBE videos in the Firefox or chrome browsers it does still work on Internet explorer though so for now if you must record Youtube videos youll have to use Internet explorer browser, you can get it from here http://uk.real.com/player/win/ ive reported the error to realplayer and they are working on a fix. They fixed it with version 1.1.5 , version version 11.1.3 which i got on 12 aug 09, 11.0 was released on 12 dec 2007.



Record internet radio for free using Audio recorder for free ( go to letter A area of this article to find it)
alternatives include replay av from http://www.applian.com/replay-av/index.php , or silent fear internet radio via download.com i had an error installing that so gave up on it.
Snaptune one radio recorder can be set to record a weekly show for example. ive never used it but its said to be good.

Remote control of your pc software to consider using includes Gotomypc or realvnc enterprise.

Resize images ( pictures ) using something like Image converter plus from www.imageconverterplus.com

Revo uninstaller v 1.42 i got on 26.2.08 from download.com its to unistall programmes you have trouble uninstalling. Normally you simply go to your control panel then add/remove programmes and do it from there but sometimes a poorly written app wont uninstall properly which is why you may want to try something like Revo, version 1.83 out 7.5.09 is the newest version.



Rizones winsock repair i got to try fixing disconnections from the internet but ive no idea if this software worked so i dont use it any more ! get it from technixupdate.com

*Roboform is used to fill in forms on websites its brilliant if your a competition addict, and it can save passwords and user names for all the websites you use..i love this product its really useful to have. Its free..the free version lets you fill in webforms which is why most people use it, but if you also want it to save lots of passwords for lots of different sites ( which we all need to do these days) youll need to buy the paid for version. Get it from http://www.siber.com/
the pro version is $29.95 but its well worth it if you fill in your name /address/phone details etc a lot or if you need to remember loads of passwords for different websites. The latest version is v 7 which is a Beta release which means its still being tested before its fully ready for an official release. This works on Firefox 3.6.3 in May 2010.

Older versions include v 6.6.98 which works on Firefox 3.6 in January 2010, v 6.9.96 which will work with Firefox 3.5 now



*Roxio Creator version 9 or 10 or now i use *Roxio Creator 2010 ( which can burn Blu-ray disks ) it is the best dvd burner to buy, its the software that writes your data onto cds or dvd disks. It can make you music cds or data disks full of a mix of music, video and software etc whatever you choose to back up. There are many rival products eg Nero or Avs but i find Roxio to be the best. Youll have to buy this. Be warned choosing a cd/dvd burner thats reliable is important or you will waste a lot of blank disks..eg i find Ashampoo burning software to waste too many disks, any many programmes free to try on Download.com are absolute rubbish. When i first got my new Dell pc it came with Roxio 9 its been great the only problems ive had is that it wont burn files if the file name is too long for it..this is very very annoying as you spend time dragging the files you want to burn into the roxio window then when ready to burn the data you click the burn button and at that point if Roxio detects any of the files your trying to burn are too long it tells you some files are too long but fails to tell you exactly which ones !! so you can spend ages looking through the hundreds of files you were trying to burn to spot the ones that look too long to your eye and then you have to edit them...annoying as often music tracks are longer than Roxio likes..eg i record Armin van buurens a state of trance radio show weekly. some song titles are much longer than others also roxio doesnt burn these characters..The illegal characters are / ? < > \ : * | ", as well as any character you can type using the Ctrl key. They are "illegal" in that they are used for html and other computer code. I think Roxio needs to allow more characters to be burned or point out exactly which files are too long..if they did that it give it 10 out of 10, at the moment it gets 8.5/10 from me due to this hassle.
Another dvd burner to consider is Sothink movie dvd maker which can convert many video file formats and create dvd menus see http://www.sothinkmedia.com/movie-dvd-maker/index.htm

*Roxio creator 2010 is the newest Roxio product for all your disk burning needs, it can burn blank 25gb Bluray disks in about 40 mins on my Pc. it has built in video tutorials.

Screen recording software i use is called I screen recorder.. go up in this article to the letter I area to find it. ( you may want to record what you see on your pc screen to make tutorials or to show an error you have to a friend/ pc helper) alternatives include Video capture master from videocapturemaster.com , hyperionics hypersnap from http://www.hyperionics.com/
and costs $39.95 , or try 16 software icyscreen from for $29.95



*seagate 1tb external hard drive with backup software ( read my info under backup software about this way up in this article under letter B )

Seti screensaver from setiathome.berkeley.edu is a screensaver that really hunts for alien life ! it looks at radio signals in space to detect if E.T is trying to talk to us.
i would use this as my screensaver but i find it causes errors on my pc so ive stopped using it.

*Skype voip ( voice over internet protocol) phone calls..free worldwide phone calls from your pc works fine on a newer computer but kills a slow pc eg one with a 677mhz as its very cpu intensive ( central processor unit eg your intel chip !) Skype also comes with a very useful instant messenger if you want to type a message to friends in real time. You can call people who have skype on their pc for as long as you want for free anywhere in the world ! amazing product. You will need to buy a headset to plug into your pc so you can hear the person talking to you in the headphones and a microphone near your mouth to speak into, you can get these very cheap eg search for voip headset on ebay.co.uk and some are just £3 ! nice, get the latest version of Skype which is version 4.2.0.163 released on 27 April 2010 from www.skype.com dont install google chrome if it offers it to you.

i had to remove the Skype firefox addon as it gets a lot wrong on websites eg if your on a lottery website it inncorectly thinks the numbers are a phone number and messes them around !!
Unfortuately spammers sometimes contact you with messages so all you need to do is select block this person and report spam and they womt be able to send you anymore stupid offers.

Errors with it include by 1 july 2010 i sent links to websites to a family member but they didnt show up in their Skype programme...weird

Older versions of skype to update from include version 4.2 released on 25 febuary 2010 4.0.0.216 in march 2009



*Slice audio file splitter from http://www.nch.com.au/ is great for cutting mp3 files. Eg if like me you record internet radio shows somethimes you fall asleep and forget to stop recording something so you end up with hours of nothing on the end of a rceording. This obviously makes the file size much bigger eg a 2hour radio show that is normally 200mb can be 600mb if you forgot to stop recording for a few hours..so this is why you need to edit an mp3 file/ Slice audio file splitter is free. i got it on 23.6.09


Sopcast from sopcast.com is a way to broadcast video or audio you can get it from sopcast.pxn.ca you can record the tv shows you watch with this software. You need this to see some tv shows broadcast live over the internet.

*Spacemonger is brilliant it displays whats on your hard drives as a coloured chart so you can see what files are where and whats taking up all your hard drives space. version 1.4 released on 15.6.2006 is free from download.com, newer versions y0u have to buy after a trial period

**Spybot Search and Destroy Antispyware is one of the very best free Antispyware products available, its one of my essential products to use and update often..this is an essential product. Version 1.6.2 is the latest version which came out on 26 jan 2009.get it from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html update it youself weekly and scan your pc every few days. It can find and remove 574,285 problems as of 12.8.09 ! you can also get it from download.com, its used by 110million pc users. You need to update the definitions it uses to hunt for problems yourself...i do this weekly and run a scan with it every few days.
Its very good but not perfect..1 flaw it has is that it can detect Malware and say its removed it but if you run Spybot again immediatly after it can find the problem again proving it didnt remove the Malware...if this happens get another Antispyware programme such as Prevx or Malwarebytes Anitmalware which can identify some bad things Spybot fails to detect and remove. No one product can do everything so you must use a combination of different ones to keep your pc clean.


**Spywareblaster made by Javacool software is an essential product. It blocks thousands of spyware products damaging your computer so get it and remember to update it every few weeks. Get it form www.javacoolsoftware.com version 4.3 is the newest version and it blocks 12,538 items from getting into and damaging your pc. i got v 4.3 which was released on 19 April 2010 which is free, you need to remember to update it yourself every week or 2, if you pay for it though it'll update automatically. This just sits in the background it never ever detects anything, its said to block things from getting into your pc, its free so i use it but it cant be brilliant as ive been infected even with this product on my pc so it s just a basic bit of help.
The forum for this is at wildersecurity.com to ask about using it etc

older versions of this you need to upgrade from include v 4.2 on 7.7.09



System optimizers make lots of small changes to the way a pc runs to improve it, there are endless software programmes to buy to do this, i dont use these myself as lots of the things they do i do myself using lots of other programmes but here are some i know of for people who just want something to do loads of tweaks for them they all cost around £20 for 1 year. Advanced system care pro, systweak advanced system optimizer, Glary utilities pro, Xp repair pro, Yamicsoft win xp manager or yamicsoft vista manager from http://www.yamicsoft.com/ which costs $39.95, Avanquest system suite 9, Tuneup utilities 2009.

*Tor and Torbutton is a way to surf much more privately by changing your internet ip address , people like Bloggers needing to stay anonymous due to strict political regimes use this.
get Tor from http://www.torproject.org/

The latest version is Tor 0.2.0.34, Privoxy 3.0.6, Torbutton 1.2.2 i got on 10.8.09 when you use Tor it will make loading webpages a lot slower
so you will need to decide when you want to switch tor on using the torbutton attached to Firefox.


Translation software to translate words/phrases etc includes Babylon which translates webpages etc into 31 languages for $99 get it via http://www.babylon.com/ it can translate just words to 75 languages.

Tunebite Platinum is used to remove drm from files.. My info on this and help using it is for paying customers only..its used so you can keep some files you would otherwise just watch and not be able to keep..this lets you keep them. eg BBC iplayer files. It costs $26.90 and the latest version is version 6.0


Tvants from www.tvants.com is used to watch some internet tv shows, eg live sports but i cant get this to work at all ! i have version 1.0.0.59 released on 29.12.08 i got it on 12.4.09, anyone who gets this to work let me know.

Tvu is used to play live tv shows get it from www.tvunetworks.com version 2.4.5.3 beta released on 8.5.09 is the newest version you need to create a tvu account to use the pvr functions, there is a tvuplayer addon for firefox version 2.4.7.2 i got on 12.8.09



Twitter backup is for people who use twitter.com the social networking site which is very like email really, version 3.0.2 of twitter backup via johannburkard.de doesnt work ! When i find a way to fully backup all your tweets ill let you know as this would be a really useful programme.
when i used this on a Vista pc after 3 hours of using it it said error couldnt write to c:\twitterbackup.xml access is denied i wrote to the man who made this asking how to find the programmes and the save path of the backup, i found the programme in c\users\myusername\appdata\local\temp this isnt very good we should be able to install software to any location we want. i found a way to save the programme by right clicking the download link on johannburkard.de a chose save as then you can put it where you want.
There are very few details on how to use this on the makers website and he failed to say which OS the instructions were for ! i asked for more help but didnt get much so i cant use this.

Anyone who knows a way to backup your twitter account let me know

*Unlocker version 1.8.9 released on 8 March 2010 from http://ccollomb.free.fr/ is useful if your trying to delete a file but Windows wont let you as it says its "in use", this software gets you around that problem. ive used it since 22.7.09 On 15 august 2009 i installed this to my 2nd pc but spotted ebay shortcut as something thats ticked for us to install so i investigated and found this info .. http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/paytonbyrd/beware-unlocker-187-26919 so when my firewall asked do i want to allow ebay shortcuts access i chose to deny it access ! Ive written to the softwares maker on 15.8.09 for an explination.
also dont install the Bing toolbar it offers you...Bing is a crap search engine..just use the google search bar via my blog when ever you need to search the internet.

Older versions include version 1.8.7 released on 1.5.08





uusee is a web tv viewer i got via myp2p.eu but i detected a trojan in it so unistalled it !

Veetle from http://www.veetle.com/ lets you watch live tv in its web tv player i use version 0.9.15 since 2.8.09



*Vlc media player a very good media player i use it more than windows media player 11 (wmp11) if a video wont play in windows media player right click the video ( before its playing) and from the menu select open with and choose Vlc player ( obviously you need to have installed Vlc player first to select it ! ) the latest version is version 1.0.5 in 2010.
get it from www.videolan.org
itll remove your older version before installing the newer version.

Older versions to update include version 1.0.1 was released on 28.7.09

*Windows media player 11 ( wmp11) is a media player like vlc player/quicktime/divx etc has exellent graphics to play your dvds or music cds. You get this as part of microsoft windows if you have Vista or Xp. there is also a Firefox plugin to play some videos online get it from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7



Windows live messenger ( formerly called msn messenger ) is an instant messenger competing with yahoo messenger and skype etc. If you choose to use this deselect set live search as the default as the Google search engine is way better so you dont want to waste time using an inferior search engine to find stuff online ! . Also deselect set msn as your homepage..your homepage is the first page you see when your browser opens..i hate Microsoft for trying to force everyone to use its products. I first got this on 16 march 2009 as some friends use it. By 20 march 2009 its already had one crash which left me needing to reboot my pc as it refused to be ended using task manager..when will Microsoft release a stable product? i put this on some friends computers and then wanted to let them add people they knew as contacts yet microsoft failed to find the accounts we had just made ! So i recommend people finding this a hassle to use Skype instead or Yahoo messenger as they work a lot better. The latest version of Windows live messenger is version 14.0.8064.0206 released on 21 jan 2009. Get it from download.com which is now called http://download.cnet.com/windows/




Whats on your hard drives ? find out using spacemonger which i use..see letter S in this article or alternatives are Jam software spaceobserver, 00 diskstat professional edition from
http://www.oo-software.com/en/

*Winrar is used to unrar files . rar is a type of compression to shrink the size of say a video so it can be sent over the internet quicker in small pieces which are unpacked and put together using winrar software. similar products incluse winzip. Get it from download.com . Its now a 40 day free trial then $29 or get it directly from http://www.rarlabs.com/ im still using an older version thats free. If zip files ( similar to rar files) get damaged try using Getdata zip repair from http://www.ziprepair.com/ its $29.95

* Widgets to use on your Vista desktop..well i only usa a few..a clock, a calandar and a cpu use meter you get them by clicking the add button in the widgets panel on your desktop.



*Xmarks is the new name for foxmarks, Foxmarks is used to syncronize Firefox bookmarks eg if you use 2 computers in the same house and want the bookmarks on 1 pc to be on your 2nd pc as well. Its free You need to get Xmarks for Internet explorer also if you want to sync your Firefox bookmarks with Internetexplorer. Get Xmarks for Internet explorer from here.. http://download.xmarks.com/download/ie If you use an Iphone you can sync your Iphone bookmarks using Itunes and then drag and drop the recently added bookmarks into Firefox folders you make to keep your bookmarks in easy to find catagories. Then you can have all your bookmarks on your Iphone and in both your Firefox and Internetexplorer browsers on all your computers. This is a great product if you bookmark lots of websites.
The latest version is version 3.5.11 released on 2 march 2010. This product has some flaws though i find it makes duplicate folders with nothing in them at the bottom of my correct folders in my Bookmarks..this is really annoying flaw, ive written to them for support but they are extremely slow to reply

Older versions to update include 3.3.2 which i got on 14.8.09 its 757kb size, older versions include v 3.11, v 3.10 i got on 4.5.09

*Xilisoft is a great software programme to convert 1 video file format into another eg if a video you have wont play on a friends dvd player you may want to convert the video into a format your friends dvd player can play. Youll have to buy this for $46 see http://www.xilisoft.com/ There are a huge number of alternative products now to convert videos from 1 type to another.

Alternatives include super fever link from http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=56095



*Yahoo messenger is a good instant messenger that lets you type a conversation and send it to friends .it can save your past conversations also. It can also be used for voip phone calls like Skype. version 10 is the latest version, get it from http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/ its free. Its also very useful to have this if you use Yahoo for your email as itll pop up a small window in the bottom right of your screen when you get a new email..this is useful as you can see what emails are coming to you as soon as they are in your inbox. i find this much better than Windows Live messenger to use.
Version 10.0.0.1258 was released on 6 april 2010

Youtube.com users may want to record the videos they watch so they can burn them onto dvds to keep...the best programme to use to do this is realplayer.. go up this article to the letter R area to get it. There are endless other programmes to try and record the videos on youtube and similar websites but most arnt as good. heres a few ive heard of ..
Youtube downloader is another way to record the flv videos on youtube type websites. version 2.1.7 was released on 25.11.08 get it from download.com. you add the url of the video into it to record a clip. it will not record remote files though. The main alternative to this is Realplayer which i use mostly.
Downloadhelper via downloadhelper.net is a firefox extension.
Flash video recording of video clips on many websites eg Youtube can be done with Realplayer ( see my review of this further down), alternatives include youtube get, sun river systems heat seek gold, tomato youtube video downloader, Youtube downloader, Xservicethief by sourceforge, Wmrecorder from wmrecorder.com, flvware flv downloader, http://www.clone2go.com/products.php which i first heard of on 7 april 2010, replay media catcher which i couldnt get to work, Video download helper is a Firefox extension from www.vidohe.com or Firefox-tools-addons-get addons it lets you record youtube flv videos, you paste the url to a video you want to record into it, it looks like its not doing anything as it doesnt show a progress bar but in 1min itll download a 3-4 min video. The quick download setting took 4 mins to download a 5 minute file so it doesnt seem quicker to me ! alternatives to this are Realplayer and countless others.


*Zonealarm free firewall .. a firewall is essential to have on every pc it blocks hackers getting into your pc and doing damage..a pc without a firewall can be crippled within minutes if you go online without a firewall ! so this is an essential product type. Its free The latest version is called version 8.0.298.004 released on 23 feb 2009 get it from http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/home.htm?lid=en-us ( in April 2010 i discovered that Zonealarm causes a lot of trouble with Utorrent so ive had to stop using Zonealarm on the pc i use Utorrent on..now i have to trust the Dlink router firewall to protect that pc but i still use zonealarm on my other pc.
when you use Zonealarm little windows pop up from the task bar ( bottom right of your screen) to inform you what software processes are trying to send or recieve info from the internet. To help you decide whats safe to tick allow and tick remember so Zonealarm doesnt keep asking you everytime the same process wants internet access ill list the processes i allow, then when your firewall asks you if you want to allow something you can come here and read my list which is in rough alphabetical order and allow what i allow. If you are unsure about a process your firewalls asking you to decide about try www.processlibrary.com to search for the process to see if its safe to allow. Remember half the processes i list pop up as you first install some software and half pop after at some time after youve installed a software product. Also remember that if you dont have any of the software i use and list above you wont have your firewall asking you about processes it uses..eg if you havent installed Avira antivirus or your not in the process of installing it your firewall shouldnt for example say do you want to allow avwsc.exe because thats part ov Avira..if you havent got Avira be very careful as .exe files can be viruses. So check my list and use processlibrary.com to check what your allowing.

Here are my notes on how to install the Zonealarm firewall.. go to www.zonealarm.com then look in products and services then select basic firewall. choose download now on the right side top of screen. Then click the grey zonealarm firewll button ( basic firewall only) on the right. Click save zasetup-en.exe , remember to write this down on 1 sheet of paper..1 sheet per software programme. Choose to save this file to your desktop, click save, when this is complete click run. It says do you want to run this software click run. Select zonealarm firewall free-next-select download and install-next, on the installation windows install to c\programmefiles\zonelabs\zonealarm ( this id the folder where the firewall gets installed to)..again write this down. deselect ( untick) the include spyblocker toolbar..toolbars attach to your browser taking up space on your screen and this toolbar isnt needed if you use other software i tell you to use . After unticking this click next, give your name and email to register zonealarm, untick inform me of important product info, click next, accept the licence and click install. Please do participate in defence net when it asks you to then click next, tick setup my programmes-next, the pc will be restarted so that zonealarm is installed. After your pc restarts and its ready to use a window will say you are now protected, click firewall on the left, move the internet zone security slider to medium ( zonealarm stupidly sets this to high which stops you doing anything online at first !) then you can close this window. Now you have a firewall installed..read the stuff below about what you can allow your firewall to do.

This is my Zonealarm allow list... (for windows vista and xp computers its up to date as of August2009 ) These are the programmes i allow to have internet access, but if i mark ** before a name that means you should now block it ( usually because there's now a newer version of the software or for me because ive stopped using the software) Use common sense you dont allow something if you dont have it for example you wouldnt allow logitechdesktopmanager.exe if you dont use any logitech products ! sometimes virus writers label their viruses the same as a legitimate programme to fool people into allowing them access. Remember you can see what a process is at www.processlibrary.com
If i say its for XP i mean its something my zonealarm saw on my Windows xp pc ( because i use more than 1 pc so i also have a pc running Vista) I will also from now put a date of when i saw this Zonealarm message so you can tell how long a process has been spotted for.

adobeairapplicationinstaller.exe i saw after i got adobe reader 9.1 on 6.5.09
adobeairupdater.exe
adobe_updater.exe
acrod32.exe is adobe reader
ar.exe audio-tool.net is audio recorder for free
avnotify.exe notification tool is Avira
audiodg.exe windows audio device graph solution i saw on 24.6.09
avscan.exe workstation on demand scanner is Avira
agent.exe macrovision flexnet connect agent is roxio i think
agent.exe install shield update service agent is avira
applemobilebackup.exe iphone 24.6.09
applemobiledevicehelper.exe iphone 24.6.09
applemobiledeviceservice.exe iphone 24.6.09
applemobilesync.exe iphone 24.6.09
applesyncuihandler.exe is my iphone on 24.6.09
appsetup.exe self installation is creative sound driver on 21.5.09
au-.exe was yahoo toolbar setup as i uninstalled it on 11.6.09
avgnt.exe antivirus system tray tool is avira
avscan.exe workstation on demand scanner is avira
avnotify.exe notification tool is avira
avcenter.exe antivirus control center is avira
avwsc.exe wsc helper tool is avira
avguard.exe antivirus on acess service is avira

bubbles.scr windows vista bubbles screensaver

ccleaner.exe is cleaner
cguard.exe microsoft choice guard command line interface

comsurrogate
csrss.exe clientserver runtime process is microsoft

crashreporter.exe is firefox browsers error reporting
devices.exe is drivermax on 11.6.09
deliverymanager.exe is the delivery manager for emagazines
dffgntfs.exe disk defragmenter ntfs module ?
divxversionchecker.exe is divx
divxplayer.exe
divxsm.exe is divx
divxconnectiontester.exe i saw as i instaled divx 7
divxcomponent.exe
divxcomponentinstaller.exe
divxcodecversionchecker.exe
divxbundle.exe
divxsm.exe
dllhost.exe comsurrogate is microsoft
dsc.exe support soft container is dell support
dsagent.exe is dell support
dsbrws.exe is dell support browser
dwm.exe desktop windows manager
driverdetective.exe
drivershq. driverdetective .client.exe
driverscanner-setup.exe is this uniblue product
driverscanner.exe uniblue
drivermagician.exe
drvinst.exe driverinstallationmodule i saw on 24.6.09
dw20.exe microsoft net error reporting
*ebay_shortcuts_1016_unlocker.exe came with Unlocker version 1.8.7 you should deny this process internet access in your firewall.
ehrec.exe windows media center host module i saw when trying to play a dvd
ehshell.exe is microsoft media center
explorer.exe is windows explorer
fact.exe product activation tool is avira antivirus when installing it to windows
ffmpeg.exe
firefox.exe is the firefox browser
glbbcbb.tmp yahoo suite installer
glbco73.tmp is yahoo
glbde5f.tmp is yahoo
glb4a.tag yahoo messenger updater ( 4.7.09)
glb52.tmp is yahoo messenger updater (4.7.09)
googleupdater.exe is google
googledesktop.exe
helppane.exe microsoft help
hh.exe microsoft html help executable i saw as i installed superfeverlink
iexplore.exe internet explorer browser
ielowutil.exe internet explorer
iesetup.exe is ie8 setup internet explorer 8 on 28.5.09
ieuser.exe is internet explorer browser
is-9btfb.tmp is spybot
isdm.exe macrovision softwaremanager is roxio10 when updating it
isoburner.exe the ultimate cd/dvd recovery tool
itunes.exe
ituneshelper.exe 24.6.09
java.exe is java ( 9.7.09)
javaw.exe
jqsnitify.exe java quickstarter binary is java
**jre-6u7-windows-i586-p.exe is open java ( once you get a newer version of java you need to dissalow your firewall from allowing the older java software from having access..click the Zonealarm logo in the desktop tray icons area then restore zonealarm control center-programmes-programme control-programmes , then find the old versions of java then click in the columns and cross off with an X to block access. You should also remove the old java versions from your pc control panel then go to add/remove programmes and remove the old versions.
**jre-6u12-windows-i586-p-ftw.exe is java
**jre-6u13-windows-i586-p-iftw.exe is java 6 update 13
**jre-6u14-windows-i586-iftw-rv.exe is java 6 update 14 on 10.6.09
jre-6u15-windows-i586-iftw.exe is java 6 update 15 i got on 5.8.09
jusched.exe java platform se binary is java update
jucheck.exe is java update checker
logagent.exe windows media player logagent
logitech desktop manager.exe is my logitech mouse
logonul.exe windows logon user interfacehost is windows to show the logon screen
mcsacore.exe mcafee siteadvisor
mdcrashreporttool.exe 24.6.09
mdnsresponder.exe is bonjour service 24.6.09
mfpmp.exe media foundation protected pipeline exe is windows drm digital rights management
mpcmdrun.exe windows defender command line utility
msascui.exe windows defender user interface
msiexec.exe windows installer i saw when installing a game
msfeedssync.exe microsofts feeds synchronisation
msnmsgr.exe windows live messenger
mscorsvw.exe .net runtime optimization service is microsoft
nvvsvc.exe is nvidia driver helper service v185.85 if you use nvidia graphics on your pc
performancecountyerinstaller.exe i saw when installing microsoft.net in a winows xp update on 8.8.09
pmxmiced.exe mouse suite 98 from daemon
promotionagent.exe promotion agent is windvd i think ?
prism.exe is prism video converter
quicktimeplayer.exe
ribbons.scr is windows vista ribbons screensaver
realplayer11beta.exe
realplayer11.exe ( 24.4.09) on xp pc
realplayergold.exe real networks installer ( 24.4.09)
realplayer-11-0-0-614.exe
realplay.exe
realsched.exe real networks scheduler ..realplayer
recordingmanager.exe is realplayer when your going to record a video eg youtube
roxwatchtray9.exe roxmmtrayapp module is roxio
roxwatch9.exe roxsniffer9 module is roxio
roxio_central33.exe is roxio
roxmediadb9.exe roxmedia db9 module is roxio
sbsd162upd.tmp is spybot updating to version 1.6.2
sched.exe antivirus schedule is avira
sdwinsec.exe spybot search and destroy security center
sdupdate.exe is spybot
seaport.exe microsoft seaport search enhancement broker..see this when you get windows live messenger
searchprotocolhost.exe microsoft windows search protocol host
searchindexer.exe microsoft windows search indexer
servicemodelreg.exe is .net framework 8.8.09
setup.exe avira antivir desktop
setup.exe avg setup can see this when you uninstall avg antivirus
setupmsiexe is logitech mouse
setup-spybotsd162.tmp
setup.exe setup launcher is intervideo
setup.exe suite integration toolkit executable 8.8.09 when getting .net frameowrk as an xp update
setup.exe saw as i installed tubetilla on 25.5.09
searchfilterhost.exe microsoft windows search filter host i saw when opening a video to play in wmp
sidebar.exe is windows sidebar 24.6.09
skypepm.exe is skype extras manager
skype.exe
skypesetup.exe
slsvc.exe is microsoft software licencing service
snippingtool.exe is vistas snipping tool
soffice.exe is openoffice
softwareupdate.exe is apple software update 6 .5.09
sopcast.exe
spoolsv.exe spooler sub system app is windows printer service ( can be a trojan processlibray says)
sprtcmd.exe is dell support soft agent service
sprtsvc.exe is dell support soft agent service
spybotsd.exe is spybot search and destroy
spywareblaster.exe when updating spywareblasters protection database
supadver.exe is sopcast this allows it to keep popping up adverts so you may want to dissallow this.
taskeng.exe task schedule engine is microsoft i saw this when playing microsofts flight simulator game.
taskmgr.exe is windows task manager
teatimer.exe is spybot system settings protection
temp0.exe is real networks installer
tor.exe is tor
tubetillafree.exe is the youtube video recorder
trustedinstaller.exe windows modules installer
tvants.exe is tvants to play internet tv
update.exe product updater is avira
upnp.exe upnp configtool for bitcomet i first saw on 27.6.09
unlocker.exe is unlocker from http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/ i saw this on 15.8.09
unsecapp.exe sink to recieve asychronous call back for wmi client applicat i saw on 24.6.09 after getting Vista service pack 2 ( its for windows servers) email wsddocfb@microsoft.com for more info
vc5.exe is xilisoft
**vfcc.exe is kates video converter
vidali.exe is part of the tor package if you use it
vssvc.exe microsoft volume shadow copy service ( first seen by me 3.7.09)
wercon.exe problem reporting solution is windows
werfault.exe windows problem reporting
wermgr.exe is windowsproblem reporting
wgaer-m.exe is windows software licensing
wgasetup.exe
wgatray.exe is windows genuine advantage notification..how microsft tells if your using a genuine copy of windows.
windvd.exe windad mfc application form intervideo
wlsetup-web.exe is live messenger setup
wloobe.exe is windows live instaler
wlcomm.exe is windows live communications platform.. live messenger
wltuser.exe is windows live toolbar elevation helper
wmipruse.exe 5.5.09
wmplayer.exe windows media player
wmpnetwk.exe windows media player network sharing service
wmiprvse.exe wmp provider host is microsoft windows managment
wmpnscfg.exe is windows media player network sharing service configuration app to share your library of files
wuauclt.exe is windows update automatic updater
yahoomessenger.exe saw this after i got verion 9 of yahoo messenger
yahoosync.exe 24.6.09
yupdater.exe is yahoo autoupdater

Remember if i dont list it as ok to allow you should then go check on processlibrary.com to see what the file is wanting internet access through your firewall..be very careful what you allow or you may allow viruses or spyware to control your pc. Ok thats a very long comprehensive list of all the software i recommend people use, i hope it helps you keep your pc free of viruses and as many problems as possible. I will also save you loads of money as ive found loads of programmes that arelegally free for you to use.


Most of these software products can be found on http://download.cnet.com/windows/ and most are free i have also included direct links to the manufacturers websites as they should always list the newest versions.Very occasionally download.com has a slightly older version of a product listed so always check your getting the latest version by checking my website www.beingahuman.blogspot.com


P.S if you download any programmes i use or recommend and you get stuck at any stage of installing it or using it feel free to post a comment to me. Please tell me the full name of the software your having trouble with and the version of it eg Firefox version 3.5.2 and describe in full what you dont understand, its no good saying " im having trouble with it" i can hardly diagnose the problem from as little info as that !!!, you can also log into download.com
and write a review of the software your not understanding properly and then copy and paste the link to your review in a comment to me, that way more people will try to help you.
lastly of course if the problems due to your mistakes ( ill tell you based on your question to me)


dont forgetlots of  this info is now out of date