Microsoft Windows comes with a built-in tool to cleanup your hard drive. However, it only cleans up after Microsoft software. CCleaner cleans up after Windows and many more programs.

Temporary files can noticeably slow down applications, especially on older computers. CCleaner makes cleaning an easy process yet it also gives you control. In the options you can set to securely delete files by overwriting them multiple times, include browser and flash cookies that you want to keep, and folders that should be included and excluded.

CCleaner also comes with a registry cleaner. Most of the time it cleans just fine, but I suggest looking through the list before having it delete anything. A few months ago it broke my copy of Adobe Illustrator.

How-To Geek has a great tutorial on running CCleaner automatically.

CCleaner

Synergy does come with a Windows client, but it can easily be confusing. QSynergy uses the Synergy core but adds a better graphical client for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Even with the better client it can still be confusing. On the screen settings page, if you do not make screen name the same as the network name of the computer you want to control, you have to add the network name as an alias. Your computer’s network name is found by right clicking “Computer” in the start menu (My Computer in XP) and selecting “Properties”.

QSynergy

Side note, sorry for the quietness for the last month. I was on vacation.

Putty Connection Manager adds many features such as tabs, automated logins, a connection manager and more. The program can be minimized to the tray.It works by providing a containing framework for PuTTY. This gives you all the PuTTY functionality and lets you easily import your PuTTY sessions.

This program is still in beta and does have its quirks. It may occasionally crash and doesn’t play very friendly with the Windows 7 taskbar. To be able to bring the program back up you need to click on the preview image instead of the icon.

PuTTY Connection Manager

7-Zip is able to compress and extract 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR files and only extract ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z files. It is faster than the Windows extractor, especially if you are still using Windows XP. In Vista and 7 the speed became better, but for large files it is still not as fast as it can be. Different compression ratios can be used as well as the ability to password protect an archive.

7-Zip integrates into Windows Explorer, letting you compress and decompresses files from the context menu.

7-Zip

Pale Moon will run right alongside a Firefox installation. It also uses your Firefox profile so if you don’t like it switching back isn’t a problem.

The Pale Moon Project