Here you have the list of the best applications for PCs in this ending 2008.

Mozilla Firefox

Made tabbed browsing mainstream and redefined the browser wars. The easiest browser on the market to customize, the huge user-developed plug-in database makes it supremely powerful, but that’s not the only reason to use it. Specialized versions like Flock and Songbird emphasize social networking and music obsessions, but that’s not why you need it, either. A JavaScript debugger is standard, and Firefox displays the page-source code in a new window, using indents and color-coded tags like an HTML editor. Again, not enough–on its own.

Even the built-in pop-up blocker, antiphishing protections, and enhanced extension security aren’t enough of a reason for using Firefox. Being one of the fastest browsers on the market? Aren’t they all? But add together all those things under one roof, and you’ve got a full-featured, safe browsing experience with a nearly infinite level of customization.

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• Winamp Media Player
  Winamp is old, as old as the mp3 music format. This legendary music player has pack so much muscles into its tiny body, it shows us that Winamp is not to be forgottent yet amidst newer music players.
  http://www.winamp.com/

• iTunes
  iTunes is the most popular way to organize, share and listen to music on your computer.
  http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

• Media Player Classic
  Media Player Classic looks just like Windows Media Player 6.4, but has many additional features. It has a built in DVD player with real-time zoom, support for AVI subtitles, QuickTime and RealVideo support (requires QuickTime and/or Real Player); built-in MPEG2/SVCD/DVD codec.
  http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm

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If the worst happens to your computer and it is stolen then usually there’s no way to track where it is or who has your computer. That’s where LocatePC comes in.
LocatePC sends you a secret email message from your computer containing vital information that can help you and law enforcement agencies track a stolen computer, and eventually return it to you.

LocatePC is free software, and runs unobtrusively on your computer, with no icons, popups or saved emails. If your computer is stolen then the thief will not even know that LocatePC is running, and as soon as they connect to the internet a secret email is sent to you containing the details that you need to track your hardware.

LocatePC Secret Email Example

Message sent: 7/19/06 11:43:06 (universal time: 7/19/06 19:43:06)
Computer's host name: John_Desktop
Logged in Windows account name: John
Found 2 network connection(s) on this computer (this list may be incomplete):
1 Name: MyISP Type: Dialup modem Phone number: (555) 555-4321 User name: JSmith
2 Name: BigCo Type: PPPoE Service name: MySvc User name: (empty)
Computer's web IP address reported by ip.locatepc.com: 216.239.142.3
To learn more about this IP address, use the IP tests at www.dnsstuff.com.
Computer's local IP address(es):
Adapter 1: 101.151.8.92
Computer's MAC address(es):
Adapter 1 (ZX-11 Ethernet): 00-21-54-17-64-26
Trace route to www.locatepc.com:
Hop Name/IP Addr
1 Router [101.151.2.1]
2 101.151.8.92
3 cust-quik.pdx.or.uspops.net [216.239.161.82]
4 fe1-1-300.gw0.pdx.or.uspops.net [216.239.161.81]
5 206-169-234-45.gen.twtelecom.net [206.169.234.45]
6 core-02-ge-3-1-0-508.ptld.twtelecom.net [66.192.248.108]
Identifying information (owner name/address, computer model/serial number):
This computer is the property of:
John Smith
123 Elm Street
Anyville, NY 12345
Computer brand: ABC
Computer model: Megazoom 10000
————————————
IF YOU RECEIVED THIS MESSAGE AFTER YOUR COMPUTER WAS STOLEN:
Show this message to law enforcement authorities. They may be able to use it to identify the ISP, and the ISP can probably find out which account was using the computer when the email was sent. This may lead to the identification of the perpetrator(s) and the recovery of your computer.
————————————
This message was automatically created and sent by LocatePC v1.4.5
LocatePC web site: http://www.iconico.com/locatePC

Download LocatePC

Vista’s search system also gets singled out for being slow, or for slowing down the rest of the system, but you don’t have to live with that. First of all, ask yourself if you really need it. If you don’t use the search service a lot, then by all means turn it off. But if you do want to use the search service, start by checking that the directories being indexed for search (or “crawled”) are the ones you actually want to index.

To change the scope of the index, type “Index” in the Start menu search bar and select Indexing Options. Take note of the list of folders in Included Locations; if there’s anything being indexed there that you want to change, click Modify — Show All Locations to bring up a selectable directory tree.

On my system, I have the following folders indexed: my Users directory, my music directory (mostly so I can search music metadata without having Windows Media Player running), my photos folder. That covers everything of importance that I need to search, and so the amount of work on the machine’s part to keep the index up to date is minimal.

Some general advice for how to set up indexing:

• Don’t select an entire drive when you can simply select relevant folders. Unless you’re devoting a whole drive to material which is specifically being crawled for indexing, index specific directories. This narrows the scope of the changes that can trigger a crawl.
• Do not index program directories. There generally isn’t data in there worth indexing in the first place.
• Be mindful of third-party programs that might repeatedly write data into a crawled directory without you knowing about it, and in turn repeatedly trigger indexing crawls.

This morning while I was surfing the web I found this post that I want to share with you.

No, Windows is not a virus. Here’s what viruses do:

• They replicate quickly - okay, Windows does that.
• Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system as they do so - okay, Windows does that.
• Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk - okay, Windows does that too.
• Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable programs and systems. Sigh… Windows does that, too.
• Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware. Yup, that’s with Windows, too.

Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are fundamental differences: Viruses are well supported by their authors, are running on most systems, their program code is fast, compact and efficient and they tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.

So Windows is not a virus.

It’s a bug.

What do you think?…

Original post you can find it here.