The following list contains FREE  tools that the ICS team highly recommends. The tools are sorted by category based on their purpose. Click on the links to visit the respective developer's web site. (Please note that the following links lead to third party web sites. ICS is not responsible for the content of these sites nor the functionality of the tools being offered. Please review the terms of service and privacy policy for the respective site. If you find any of these tools useful, please consider a donation to the respective developers.)

AUDIO/VIDEO:

CDBurnerXP - This is a free CD/DVD burning solution. With this software you can burn CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs.

GOM Player - A feature rich media player that will play most audio and video files out of the box. If a special codec is needed, the system will help you easily locate the missing codec.

Media Monkey - A music manager with nearly every feature. Play your music, organize your music, rip a CD, burn a CD, convert to another file type, update your tags via Amazon...and the list goes on and on.

Microsoft Movie Maker - Movie editing made easy.

VLC Media Player - Great media player that will play just about anything without the need to download additional plugins or codecs.

PRODUCTIVITY:

Foxit Reader - Alternative reader for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents. Try this and you will never go back to the Adobe Reader...this one loads instantly!

Microsoft Power Toys for Windows XP - Simplify certain tasks or add new functionality. Check out the dozen or so free tools from Microsoft.

OpenOffice - Want to view documents, browse spreadsheets, and view presentations without spending $350 or more on Microsoft Office? Download the fully functional and free office suite!

Paint.net - If you want to do some graphic work or touch-up and or enhance some photos, no need for the expensive graphics programs, Paint.net will do the trick.

PDF Tools- Need to combine a number of PDF files into one, or need to split a large PDF into separate pages?  PDF Tools can handle both these tasks as well as a number of others

Picasa - An excellent photo managing tool from Google.

PrimoPDF - Need to create your own PDF's instead of just viewing them? Use PrimoPDF like a printer and easily create them from any Windows program.

PrintKey 2000 - Sometimes you just want to be able to take a picture of what you see on your screen. With PrintKey 2000, you can. You can also edit or print your screen-shot.

Quickbooks Simple Start 2008 - A free yet still excellent version of Intuit's famous Quickbooks accounting software.

StickIt - Post-It notes for your desktop.

Ta-da Lists - Keep track of your to-do lists and, if you wish, share them with your family and friends.

Thunderbird - An excellent alternative Email client.

SECURITY/TROUBLESHOOTING:

(If these tools do not help you resolve your issue or you would like assistance with these tools, please contact us.)

A-Squared - Spyware removal taken to the next level--malware removal. Besides removing spyware it removes trojans, backdoors, worms, dialers, keyloggers and a lot of other destructive pests.

AVG Anti-Virus - Real time protection from viruses. No computer should be without an anti-virus program. No more excuses...this one is free.

Ad-Aware SE Personal - Another excellent spyware/adware removal tool.

Belarc Advisor - An auditing tool that will generate detailed specifications about your system.

Blink - An all inclusive security suite. Prevents viruses, spyware, worms, and trojans all while acting as a firewall. This software also performs many other security functions. Please see the the Blink web site for details.

Comodo Firewall - Keep your computer secure by monitoring all outgoing and incoming Internet traffic.

Crawler Parental Control- Protect your kids online by controlling the content they view.  Use the reporting tool to monitor their every move.

KeePass Password Safe - No more writing down your passwords or storing them in a spreadsheet. This tool is a must have for managing all of your logins and passwords.

McAfee Site Advisor - This tool runs in your web browser and informs you when you are on an unsafe web site. It even rates sites that show up in your web searches before you click on them!

Norton Online Scanning Tool - This tool will allow you to scan for viruses and/or security holes on your system. (Please note that Internet Explorer is required to run this utility.)

Spybot Search & Destroy - The best tool for removing spyware and adware.

Spycatcher - Removes spyware and actively prevents new installations.

Trend Micro House Call - Another online virus scanner. This one is slower but it will actually clean and delete files.

TrueCrypt- One of the most amazing freeware tools around! This tool can be used to encrypt specific files, an entire partition or storage device, or an entire partition or drive where Windows is installed.

UTILITIES:

7-Zip - A tool for opening and extracting archive files such as .zip files. FilZip (below) has a nicer interface, but 7-Zip seems to be a more active project.

Auslogics Disk Defrag- Defragmentation done right.  Simple to use, quick and efficient.

CCleaner - A system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system and cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history.

FilZip - A tool for opening and extracting archive files such as .zip files

Microsoft Sync Toy - Use Sync Toy to automatically copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers and keep your data synchronized.

NetStumbler - Use NetStumbler to check for wireless networks or to test your own.

SIW - Find out nearly anything you want to know about your hardware or software with System Information for Windows.

Stuffit Expander- Stuffit is an archiving/compression software often used in the Mac world.  Stuffit Expander is a utility Windows users can run to view Stuffit archives.  Stuffit files usually have a .sit or .sitx extension instead of the typical .zip extension in the Windows world.

WiPeer - Will allow you to setup a wireless peer-to-peer network between PCs, no router, access point or internet required.

WEB ENHANCEMENTS:

Firefox - Browse the Web with confidence! Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups.

Java Runtime Environment - Enables your computer to run applications and applets that use Java technology which is embedded in many web sites.

Macromedia Flash Player - This is a plugin for your web browser that will allow you to experience flash multimedia which is embedded in many web sites.

QuickTime Player - An audio/video multimedia player required for certain media.