15 Great Free Utilities You've Never Heard Of

By Preston Gralla, PC World

You don't need to spend a bundle, or even a penny, for great software. These little-known tools do everything from protecting your PC to managing your media.

Looking at the price of software today is enough to send you into sticker shock. Sometimes it feels as if you need to mortgage your house if you want to get a full suite of tools.

Luckily, that's not the case. There are plenty of very good free programs that do everything from protecting you against spyware, to giving you a comprehensive look inside your PC, and cleaning your Registry, to managing your media, and plenty more.

We've scoured the Web and come up with 15 of our favorite free utilities that most people have never heard of. We've focused on three popular categories: security software, system tools, and graphics and multimedia. But we've also thrown in some personal favorites that defy categorization.

101 Fantastic Freebies

Includes -

Windows XP Tweaks

Windows Vista Tweaks

Security Software

Registry Cleaner

Hardware Utility

E-Mail for Free

File Sharing

Instant Messaging, Voice, and Video

Personal Web

Etc.

This looks like a helpful site to go back to time and again!

Microsoft confirms Vista OEM hack

In response to widespread chatter on blogs and forums, Microsoft has acknowledged the presence of hacks that may allow pirates to bypass the product activation security feature in its Windows Vista operating system.

According to a post by Microsoft Senior Product Manager Alex Kochis on the Windows Genuine Advantage developers' blog, Microsoft has identified two ways in which hackers have broken the product activation security feature on original equipment manufacturer PCs that come bundled with Vista. But the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant does not yet have plans to snuff out this threat.