Microsoft "Fix It" Tools

Microsoft offer a selection of automated tools under the "fix it" label to scan your system for common problems (no Windows XP support). Not that useful to be honest for techies but for the novice user they might provide some insight and solutions particularly the system maintenance tasks and overall system performance tools.

Your CD/DVD drive cannot read or write media
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with your CD or DVD drive when trying to read or burn media in Windows.

Printing problems and printing errors
Automatically diagnose and repair when you cannot print, or for problems installing a printer, connecting to a network printer and related errors.

Diagnose and fix problems with sound and audio
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with sound and audio on your computer or when your computer does not play sound.

Common system maintenance tasks
Automatically detect and fix common maintenance problems such as broken desktop shortcuts, unused icons, disk volume errors, and incorrect system time display.

Problems with overall system speed and performance
Automatically diagnose and fix causes of poor system performance, such as the power saver setting, multiple anti-virus programs running, multiple startup programs running, and too many users logged on to the computer.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection

If you need a free antivirus then Microsoft Security Essentials is well worth a look particually if you are looking for a lightweight solution thats not going to act like a paperweight on the system. Works for Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32bit and 64bit).

Also do not get any nag screens to buy a professional version that most commerical software companies seem to be keen on throwing at the user with their "free" editions of their antivirus software.

It is free although you will need to sucessfully complete a Windows Geninue Validation before you can install it so microsoft can check you are not running a pirated copy of windows.

Download HERE

Nero BurnLite Free

Nero is a well known cd burning and application suite but if you want basic cd / dvd burning it can be a bit overkill. Luckily Nero offer a cut down version "Nero BurnLite" that will allow you to create data discs and copy discs all for free.

The download page is HERE