Windows Starter Kit

Smart Defrag

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

There's much to be said for Auslogics Disk Defrag, our defragger in last year's Starter Kit. However, IOBit's Smart Defrag is as least as good at defragging, and surpasses the competition in two major areas: Smart Defrag is faster, and it utilizes a perpetual defragger that runs as a background process but doesn't slow down your system.

When running in the background, the program only eats up 14MB of RAM, so it's possible to run it smoothly even on older machines. Along with quick analysis and scans, Smart Defrag boasts a scheduler and some customization features, like running at boot-up or shut-down. Overall, if you would like a handy defragger with options for scheduling and more, this is a great one for both novices and more experienced users.

Process Explorer

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

A lack of visual polish doesn't hurt this utility that replaces the cumbersome Windows Task Manager by showing running processes in an intuitive tree format. Process Explorer makes the job a lot easier by including program icons and other data, such as description, image, and processor time.

It also can identify the process for a given application window or look up a process name in Google--a handy way to spot spyware. Additional features offer detailed information on performance, DLLs, threads, handles, TCP/IP connections, security settings, and environments. Process Explorer is one of the best we've seen.

WinDirStat

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

WinDirStat identifies how much disk space you're using. Based on Linux's KDirStat, it shows you an informative, visual, HD, usage display. It can also analyze external devices. The initial WinDirStat scan may take quite a while, so be prepared to grab a cup of coffee.

When you return, you'll see your files displayed by colors according to file type. By default, the order is blue, red, then green, but the Options menu can change these settings. It's also loaded with features for managing files. It's one of those apps that you didn't know you needed until you started using it, but once installed it's hard to imagine life without it.

NoteTab Light

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

A hectic interface can't stop the power of NoteTab Light. This replacement for Windows' built-in Notepad jumps in with Web browser-style tabs for managing different projects simultaneously, and it can automatically replace the tool it's based on.

However, there's much more to it. Commands on the left, called Clips, do anything from insert bits of text to generate code. Libraries of clips appear as tabs at the bottom of the screen. The FTP library, for example, lets you create server profiles, connect, upload and download files, and issue various commands. The publisher's site offers many user-created libraries, or you can make your own.

Launchy

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

Launchy lets you open nearly any program, file, folder, or Web site on your system with just a few keystrokes. It lives in the background, and a quick hot-key combo calls up the small, skinnable Launchy box.

Enter the first few letters of a file or program, and Launchy automatically displays the rest of the name. Simply press Enter to open or launch it. If the name displayed isn't what you want, wait a few seconds and the tool displays a drop-down list of other likely candidates. The tool is easily configurable, and it also looks at your default browser's Favorites file.

If Launchy fizzles for you, two other lesser-known but high-quality launchers are Executor and Find and Run Robot (FARR). All three are 5-star programs.

CCleaner

CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars

Although it lacks a few of the bells and whistles found in other cleaning applications, CCleaner offers more than enough to make it worthy. The logically designed interface makes it easy to wipe away your tracks from browsing, various Windows system areas, and some third-party applications.

CCleaner doesn't support a large number of extraneous programs, but it can erase traces from such popular programs as Spybot and WinZip. Also missing is a secure file shredder, but it does supply a Registry-cleaning utility that quickly scans for invalid entries before removing them. The app can back up your Registry before altering it, and also uninstall any program on your machine.

Belarc Advisor

CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars

Hiring a professional computer-security consultant is out of reach for most home PC users, but Belarc Advisor can fill part of that gap. It analyzes a machine's weak points, looking at elements such as whether antivirus software is up to date, or whether all the security flaws in Windows have been patched. It uses the Center for Internet Security benchmark test to give the computer a score showing its overall security level, and produces a report that can be viewed in a Web browser.

Not only does it analyze software and operating-system components, and show you where problems are, but in its comprehensive report it tells you what your computer's physical components are: not just how much RAM you have, for example, but what kind of RAM and which slots are occupied.

This program doesn't fix the problems itself, but gives clear advice on how to address each issue. This download is free for personal use; we recommend it to home users as a first step in securing their home systems, or for those considering a hardware upgrade who want to see what's in their current system.