Description: Deleket’s icon gallery on deviantART features multiple, freely downloadable icon packs provided for free download under the Creative Commons license.

I am always looking for high quality free icons, mostly for use on my hard drive as custom folder or file icons, and when I stumbled upon this guy’s profile on deviantART I was blown away.

Its not just that the quality of icons is outstanding, but this designer’s prolific output is quite an achievement: I counted thirty icon packs displayed across two gallery pages (with more surely to come soon). More notes on these:

• License: these icons are released under the Creative Commons license, which is to say that they are freely downloadable, and you are able to “copy, distribute and transmit” them, but have to attribute them to the author. You are able to use the icons for non-commercial projects but are not allowed to alter them.
• Formats: most of these packs contain icons are made available in PNG and ICO formats, and some also contain Mac ICNS format. There are exceptions such as the Mobile wallpaper pack that is simply JPGs.
• Sizes: run the whole gamut: 16×16, 24×24, 32,x32, 48×48, 64×64, 72×72, 96×96, 128×128, and even 256×256.

Ok here’s my top five six favorite Deleket icon packs:
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Rating: 5 pick

Version tested: 1.7.0.7502

Description: Returnil creates a virtual system on your machine that completely mirrors your actual setup. It is designed to take the risk out of exposing your machine to all manner of software, websites, downloads, or anything else that might have adverse effects on your machine or infect it with malware. Once restarted, your system will revert back to its original state and all changes to your primary partition will disappear. It’s free for home users.

Don’t let this whole “virtualization” business put you off; aside from having a name that sounds like a pharmaceutical, Returnil is a very simple software to use that works really well. You can think of it as a system-wide “undo” function; once you turn it on, you can do whatever you want with your system; all changes to your primary partition will be temporary and will disappear when you restart the computer.

Here’s how to use this software:

1. Install Returnil: a very simple process. The only decision that is out of the ordinary is the option to create a virtual partition (the program will not need this partition, but you might; see point #4 below). During installation you can also set a master password to restrict access to the program.
2. Turn Returnil’s protection on, when you need to; no actual changes will occur on your primary partition once this happens; from this point onward everything occurs on a “virtual” copy of your system.
3. Do what you need to do: e.g. surf those dodgy internet sites, or install that piece of software that you want to test, or open the files you need to open, etc.
4. Save your data: you will have to save any files you are working with someplace other than the primary partition (e.g. a secondary partition, a thumbdrive, or upload your files on the internet, etc.) Or let Returnil create a virtual partition for you; its purpose is precisely to provide a place for you to save your data when protection mode is turned on, and you can set any size you want for it that you have space for on your hard drive. Any files/data saved on the primary partition will eventually be lost.
5. Restart the system: this is the only way ro turn Returnil’s protection off. Once this happens, any changes that happened when system protection was on will be gone; your system will look exactly the way it looked before you started.
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Description: Easily terminate visible applications and processes using RevoUninstaller.

Imagine that an application you are working with (let’s say its called “XYZ PDF Creator”) froze or stopped responding, leaving an open window on your desktop that refuses to be closed. Imagine further that you next pressed CTRL-ALT-DELETE and found that the task manager for some reason took a long time to open. When it finally did open you discover that the program you want to close is a process and not an application. After a few minutes of searching you are able to identify the offending process, but it took a bit of time because for some reason it is named “pdfcr” with no mention of XYZ in the name. Finally, you are able to end the process.

Sounds familiar? I experienced something similar to this recently where it was very difficult for me to locate the correct process to end from the list of processes. That’s when I remembered Revo Uninstaller’s hunter mode, which makes killing visible windows easy. Here’s how it works:
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Rating: 5 pick

Version tested: 1.30

Description: Revo Uninstaller is a combination Windows add/remove replacement, startup manager and hard drive cleaner. It provides the ability to scan uninstalled programs and delete residual files and registry keys, as well as a number of other functions such as unrecoverable deletion for individual files or even entire hard drives.

Although I very seldom am accused of under-rating a program, my review of version 1.10 does not do justice to subsequent releases of this program. The most important difference in this newer version 1.30 is the impressive post-uninstall scans and removal of leftover files, folders and registry entries.

This program is not just an uninstaller but a collection of the utilities/functions outlined in the description packaged a nice glitzy interface. Here are some notes on the different parts of this program:

The Uninstaller:

• Uninstallation: Revo runs the uninstall executables provided with the programs but performs pre and post-uninstallation scans to identify residual files/folders and registry entries. It presents a list of these and prompts the user to manually check elements that the user wants to delete. In more than 90% of cases you will want to delete everything that it finds, however I would recommend that you always look at these just in case and err on the side of caution. For example, when uninstalling the DivX player, Revo identified a handful of files and registry entries that were not related to the player but to the DivX codec itself. What’s really cool is that Revo provides a lot of info on the elements it finds that makes deciding on whether to delete them or not a fairly simple undertaking. Read more »

Rating: 5

Version tested: 2.4

Description: Drivermax is a program that can backup and re-install your system’s drivers. It can also generate a report that lists all installed drivers and includes information such as version numbers and dates.

Whenever you need to re-install your operating system, getting all of your device drivers re-installed is potentially one of the most difficult and problematic steps. With Drivermax you can easily backup all or your system’s driver then simply use it to collectively reinstall these whenever you need to do so.

Programs in this category, in my experience, tend to either be (a) small, 1-click programs that will backup all of your drivers and place them in a default directory, or (b) programs that are larger but offer more options, including backing up specific categories of drivers, restoring drivers, and providing an information resource on installed drivers. Drivermax belongs to the latter category; here are some notes on this program:
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Rating: 5 pick

Version tested: 2.85.4

Description: Sandboxie is a program that can create a ’Sandboxed’ environment on your PC within-which you can install and/or run programs or browse the net. Any data writing operations that the Sandboxed applications perform can then be rolled back and/or eliminated. The net effect of this is to create a kind of undo mechanism that can be used to test out programs without damaging the system or surf the web without risk of infecting the system with any kind of malware.

The Sandbox defined: a Sandbox is a virtual environment that captures all disk-writing operations. For example, if you run your browser through Sandboxie and surf the net, all of the cookies, cached files, and downloaded files (including any malware that may sneak in), or even any entries written to the registry will actually be made within the Sandbox. Note that these files will also appear in your file system as well (for example, if you download a zip file to the desktop during a Sandboxed browser session it will appear on the desktop where you normally would expect it). However, in fact this zip file is only there virtually, and once you shut Sandboxie down (or empty the contents of the Sandbox) the file will no longer show on the desktop.

Note that Sandboxie allows for multiple sandboxes with different names for each. It also allows you to decide to make any contents of a sandbox ’permanent’ (e.g. in the case that you install a program while in the Sandbox and then decide you would like to make it permanent).

The Sandboxie User Interface: after installing Sandboxie, it creates a “run sandboxed” entry in the Windows context menu and an icon in the system tray from-which it can be accessed. You can then right-click on any application shortcut and choose to run it within the Sandbox environment straight from the context menu, or use the system tray icon which provides a menu with multitude of different options, and which can be used to launch the main program dialog.
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Rating: 5 pick

Version tested: 2.0.1407

Description: Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) allows you to install and run programs virtually so that they do not reside on your system but in a virtual ’layer’ which you can switch on or off at will. It enables you to test an application and completely ’turn it off’ if you choose without altering the Windows installation. It also enables you to avoid conflicts/.dll conflicts between applications. Alitiris SVS is free for home, non-commercial use.

Have you ever suspected that an application might have an adverse effect on your system or that it might conflict with other installed applications? Or perhaps you would like to have both an older version (or versions) of an application as well as the most recent release. With Altiris SVS you can do this easily and elegantly. Here’s how Altiris SVS works:

• Before installing the application in question, run Altiris SVS and create a new virtual layer (a layer is the program’s terminology for the virtual ’space’ that the program will exist in). All other virtual layers have to be turned off.
• Browse to the new application installer from within SVS. Note that you have the option of capturing all the change made to the system by the application or capturing all the changes made to the system even if these were not made by the application you installing.
• That’s it. The program will now be listed in Altiris SVS’s interface, and can be turned on and off.
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Rating: 5

Version tested: 1.6

Description: PC Decrapifier is a program that will automatically remove a specific list of unwanted software that comes preinstalled on new computers. It was designed for programs that come preinstalled on DELL computers but will remove these from any PC. A list of the software that the version tested removes is provided here.

Most computers today come pre-loaded with all sorts of programs and services that the manufacturer installed for you. These include anything from AOL to the ubiquitous “Get high speed internet” icons to MS Photo Story and trial versions of Quickbooks. In my experience, many of these are (a) bloated programs that (b) take a lot of space, and (c) will most likely never be used. Many are lite or trial versions designed for a captive audience of users that are not computer savvy, with the hope that they will get used to the software foisted on them and end up paying for it. Read more »

Rating: 5 

Version tested:  2.3.3

Description: Zsoft Uninstaller is an uninstall utility that provides additional functionality that is not available in the Windows’ Add/Remove control panel, including much faster uninstalls, the ability to find and remove uninstalled programs that somehow remained in the registry, and the ability to monitor an installation and revert back to the pre-installation state afterwards.

What you need to know about this program:

• Zsoft Uninstaller removes programs completely, including the install folder and registry entries.
• It will allow you to delete obsolete entries that are not actually there but are still on the add/remove list.
• Zsoft Uninstaller provides the option to ‘analyze’ an installion, i.e. take a snapshot of the system/registry before and after an installion and compare the two. This allows you to choose to ‘revert’ the changes completely, which might be a good option if you are installing a program that you feel may be dubious and suspect that it might be installing undesirable software on your machine. Read more »