if you are like me with thousands of fonts and need a really great manager to handle your fonts, here you have a great tool and the best of all it is FREE!.

This program is an easy to use but powerful font manager, which allows getting a quick overview of both installed and non installed fonts. It can install and uninstall fonts, and organize them in categories. Some of its features are:

• Supports TrueType and OpenType fonts.
• Supports Type1 fonts.
• Installation of fonts from a folder (one by one or from a list).
• Installation of fonts temporally (until the program is closed).
• Deletion of installed fonts.
• List of all installed fonts with several display options.
• List of the fonts from a folder with several display options.
• Several options for organizing fonts in categories and managing them.
• It can print a list of all or some of the installed fonts with an example of each font.
• Scratchpad area for testing the look of any font (installed or from a folder).
• Dual English/Spanish version.

You can download this great tool here.

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This power-packed application tweaks your Registry to optimize computer performance, but novices shouldn’t expect much hand-holding. RegToy has a pretty nested-button-and-tab interface, which may put off some because it doesn’t follow windows standards. Options are primarily of the enable/disable variety, and most changes take effect immediately.

Though the tweak options are carefully labeled, users must know the consequences of altering them, as the few onscreen notes don’t provide adequate assistance. You can restore the Registry settings to the Windows default, but that’s an emergency final resort, as it will undo many changes made by you and some other programs. RegToy also includes a poorly explained feature for saving and loading settings. Other features include nifty utilities such as a file renamer, a file shredder, a start-up manager, an uninstall manager, and a disk cleaner for removing unnecessary files.

You also get a Registry cleaner for removing invalid Registry entries (I prefer CCleaner). It’s very rare to find such a powerful and free tweaking application. Intermediate to advanced users will quickly make RegToy an integral part of their toolboxes.

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This is a list of the top free antivirus software you can use for your computer protection.

 

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

From AVG Technologies:

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements. Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

 

Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus

From Avira:

Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus is a comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users only. Avira offers: Extensive Malware Recognition of viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, worms, etc. Automatic incremental updates of antivirus signatures, engine and entire software. Permanent virus protection, with Virus Guard real time monitoring. Install and configuration in just a couple of steps. Virus protection against known and unknown threats, using an advanced heuristic system. Scheduler where you can set the scanner to make automatic virus scans or updates on your system. Forum and phone support, Knowledge Base with virus descriptions available on Web site. Rootkit Detection and Removal. Version 8 adds an enhanced interface, a modularized AV-search engine for improved scan performance, an integrated failsafe security system, SMTP support for AntiVir MailGuard and a new Fast Activation Tool (FACT).

 

Avast Home Edition

From ALWIL Software:

Avast Home Edition is a complete ICSA & Checkmark certified antivirus, Checkmark certified anti-spyware & anti-rootkit package. Avast includes the following components: On demand scanner with sinkable simple interface, just select what do you want to scan in which way and press the Play button; On access scanner, special providers to protect the most of available e-mail clients; Instant messaging–ICQ, Miranda; Network traffic–intrusion detection, lightweight firewall; P2P protection for Kazaa, BitTorrent; Web shield–monitors and filters all HTTP traffic; NNTP scanner–scans all Usenet Newsgroup traffic and all operations with files on PC; Boot time scanner–scans disks in the same way and in the same time as Windows CHKDSK does.

 

PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition

From PC Tools:

PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition protects you against the most nefarious cyber-threats attempting to gain access to your PC and personal details. Going online without protection against the latest fast-spreading viruses, worms and Trojans can result in infections within minutes. Once infected, the virus will usually attempt to spread itself to your friends, family and associates by accessing your e-mail contacts and networked PCs. The infection may also allow hackers to access files on your PC, use it to launch attacks against other computers and Websites or to send mass spam email. That’s why PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition provides protection, with rapid database updates, IntelliGuard real-time file, Internet & e-mail protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your system remains safe and virus free. Version 5 features new improved scan engine, smaller memory footprint, and much improved system performance.

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The best free and open source software in platforms.

Server Operating System
CentOS
FreeBSD and OpenSolaris always enter the discussion, but our number one open source operating system has to be Linux… and our server has to be CentOS. In a nutshell, CentOS is the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux provided under a different label, without the maintenance and support of Red Hat, and consequently, without the cost of a Red Hat support contract. For Linux admins who don’t need that support, and there are more than a few, CentOS amounts to a free and unadulterated version of RHEL, and users can count on updates that follow quickly in the wake of Red Hat’s changes.

Enterprise Service Bus
JBossESB
Part of the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform that combines process orchestration supporting BPEL and jBPM, security and registry services, and the Drools rules engine, JBossESB bolsters integration and service mediation with transformation and content-based routing, business rules and policy management, and both service- and human-based workflow. There’s room for improvement in areas like adapters and change management, and some of the SOA suite’s functionality currently requires third-party add-ons. But JBoss plans to fill out the package with its own efforts, and the group is already busy working on its messaging underpinnings with JBM 2.0 performance enhancements in development.

Database
MySQL
While SQLite3 is extremely convenient for development and testing databases, and PostgreSQL has powerful Generalized Search Tree indexes and is very close to being enterprise-ready, MySQL is the choice for many Web sites thanks to its excellent read performance, transparent support for large text and binary objects, and incredibly easy administration. Stored procedures, functions, triggers, and updateable views were added to MySQL in version 5, overcoming the largest technical objections to its deployment at many sites. MySQL also has a large, helpful user base, and some poster-child deployments including eBay, Yahoo!, and Craigslist.

MySQL Administration
phpMyAdmin
If you want to manage MySQL over the Internet, then phpMyAdmin is your tool. Designed for the creation and administration of MySQL databases, it covers the gamut from mundane MySQL administration tasks and managing users and permissions to executing SQL statements and more advanced SQL management. It can also gather server and database statistics. For PostgreSQL, phpPgAdmin is a Web-based administration tool that does similar wonders for the administrator.

Small-Footprint OS
Puppy Linux
Puppy Linux packs a remarkable amount of capability into a small area. The current release, 4.0, is available in a bootable ISO image that’s less than 90 megabytes. It easily fits on — and can boot from — a USB pendrive. It can also boot from CD-ROM or of course a hard drive. It’s a fine candidate if you want to run Linux within a VM (like VirtualBox) on your Windows system. Puppy loads entirely into RAM, so applications execute with surprising speed.

Data Migration
Jitterbit
For data migration headaches, we used to keep a bottle of our favorite over-the-counter painkiller handy. And then we found Jitterbit, which makes short work of moving data from one format to another, even where very large datasets are concerned. The UI is simple, portable “Jitterpaks” encourage sharing mechanisms among users, and a testing tool lets you know immediately whether the current settings for a source, an operation, or a target are valid or invalid. Add it all together, and Jitterbit easily moves ahead of other open source products in the space.

Desktop Operating System
Ubuntu
With Ubuntu 8.04, aka Hardy Heron, the best Linux desktop gets even better. Between a new kernel, a new version of the Gnome desktop, improved windowing and graphics layers, and a number of default configuration tweaks, nearly everything about Hardy Heron feels snappier and more responsive than the previous version. Windows and menus feel less sluggish, disk access is improved, and programs launch more quickly. The OS even boots faster. Throw in the new, Windows-friendly installer, and Ubuntu becomes especially attractive to novice Linux users.

Desktop Virtualization
VirtualBox
A modular VM solution that lends itself to integration and customization, VirtualBox supports Windows, Mac OS X, and various Linux distributions as hosts while providing a VMware-like laundry list of supported guest OSes. With version 1.5.0, VirtualBox introduced seamless windows, a knock-off of the Coherence and Unity features of Parallels and VMware Fusion, respectively. The VirtualBox implementation, however, represents the first time the capability has been available under both Windows and Linux.

Server Virtualization
Xen
The pundits like to say that virtual machine monitors, or hypervisors, are becoming a commodity, and Xen is the reason why. Now a mature Version 3.2, the server virtualization platform for Linux supports a wide range of hardware and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, Linux, Solaris, and BSD guests, providing a wealth of options for server consolidation. Xen is even pushing into advanced VMware territory with live VM migration, a feat unavailable to users of Microsoft’s Hyper-V.

 

This is the list of the best free and open source software of 2008.

Sound Editing
Audacity
Audacity can handle up to 16 channels at once (with the right hardware) and dubs over specific tracks to create multi-track recordings. Basic editing is straightforward, and the usability extends to advanced features, which range from a drawing tool to alter individual sample points to the envelope tool for smoothly fading volume up or down. If you want to do more, Audacity’s effects let you change pitch, remove background noises, and alter frequencies with an equalizer – which is aided by a spectrogram mode for visualizing frequencies.

3D Modeling
Blender
Blender is a consummate example of the influence and opportunity for open source. Backed by a truly global developer and user community, the 3D modeling and rendering suite runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Irix, and FreeBSD – a breadth of platform support unmatched by commercial offerings. It lacks some of the features and polish of commercial counterparts, but its pluggable raytracing engine offers zippy rendering. Microsoft’s Caligari trueSpace – just made freely available (though not open sourced) – is the only worthy rival.

Web Browser
Mozilla Firefox
Easy and extensible, Firefox has set new standards for the Web browser with the recent 3.0 release. The new look is more streamlined, less clunky, and the active elements such as the newly retooled location bar offer a new way to work with the Web. Security is not only far better than any other browser, but also less intrusive than you might expect. And the ease-of-use additions, such as the ability to save a session on exit and the wonderfully implemented full-page zoom, are instant winners.

Image Editing
GIMP
Just as Adobe Photoshop owns the commercial space for graphics creation, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the top choice for photo retouching and image composition on X Windows systems. GIMP gives you a wealth of functions that nearly match high-cost applications. Complex tasks such as correcting perspective and color are effortless. Other advanced functions include clone (to get rid of unneeded details) and touchup using the healing feature. The software supports both common file formats and unusual ones (including multi-resolution Windows icons).

Productivity Suite
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is the granddaddy of Microsoft Office alternatives. Its open-source roots show in a set of features and functionality that is perfectly at home in the multi-platform, equation-heavy atmosphere of research and academe. For businesses, the only features that seem significantly lacking are those for collaborating with multiple authors. If you’re looking for a single set of productivity apps that can work on a wide variety of operating systems, then OpenOffice.org is a well-supported, mature solution.

PDF Creation
PDFCreator
At last count, we discovered more than 50 open source or free options to create PDF portable documents. Some are available within other products including OpenOffice.org. If you want a Windows standalone application, PDFCreator should handle the job; it creates PDFs from any program that’s able to print. Plus, you can merge multiple files into one PDF, encrypt the resulting file, and adjust other settings, such as disallowing printing. The software also generates images of documents along with native PostScript files. And for large organizations, PDFCreator plays nice on Terminal Servers.