Free Windows Programs That I Use

I started my computing life with Windows, so I know a thing or two about software on Windows. There is a lot of pure crap out there for people to download, and there is alot of crap that gets shipped with good programs. This page helps you avoid crap and get good software, for free. Some of these will still require you to watch out for spamware in the program installers. There are a few areas where free software isn't as usable as the costly software, and this is where you want to go out and buy software. Usually at this point, the software you buy will be professional software and will cost you a fortune.

Free software, like all software, needs to be divided into sections. My first section will be dedicated to software everyone should have on their Windows-distribution, whether they like it or not. There are large debates around some of these, including people who prefer other programs. I don't respect their opinions, and I don't really care that they think they're so much smarter than me. I sculpt my choices around TONS of information, including user privacy, user freedom, computing politics, as well as the classic tests for features, compatibility, and reliability. In my opinion, my opinion is best, because it's based on more knowledge than 95% of computer users have.

• Essential software - this list is comprised of software that I generally can't live without. Some of these are programs I use all the time when I'm on my computer, others are security-related.

How to completely and utterly remove Babylon Search from Firefox in Windows 7

I read MANY other guides for how to uninstall this piece of bleep software, and none of them had the full procedure for how to remove it. I still had a problem after following all instructions I could find. My last problem was this: I could not remove ("resetting") all the Babylon entries in Firefox's about:config. After countless times of trying to reset them, and looking all over my filesystem and registry for their name to remove, and even after running Spybot S&D, a program I never thought I would ever need to use again in my life, I finally figured out the way to permanently remove those last few entries in the about:config. Here is the full procedure for removing Babylon Search from A to Z in 10 "easy" steps:

Prerequisites: Make sure you have Administrator rights in Windows.

1. Uninstall Babylon's bleepware using your favorite uninstaller. I used IOBit's "Uninstaller" program. It checks the file system and registry for leftover garbage that Babylon intentionally leaves on your computer. It, however, missed some things.
2. Open up Microsoft's built-in registry editor, regedit.exe, by going to Start > Run > type "regedit" without the quotes > Hit Enter, or, if the Run link doesn't show up in the Start Menu, use the key-combination WindowsButton + R. Inside Regedit, on the left, where you see all the folders (the folder tree), scroll all the way up to the top and click the Computer node once. Then hit Ctrl + F to open up the Find feature. Type in "Babylon" and tick/check the boxes, Keys, Values, and Data. Now, hit the Find Next button. It will search until it finds something, and the item it finds should show up in the big area at the right. Every time it comes up with an item, look at the folder on the left that it found the item in, and think about whether you should delete the whole folder. Often, the entire folder of items is related solely to Babylon, in which case it should be deleted completely. Do this process over and over until the Find box says it has reached the end of the registry.
3. Install Spybot S&D. It is old, it is unnecessary for most things, but it is the first working solution I could find that would discover the registry entries that could not be found with Regedit's Find feature. Install it, update it, and run the Search & Destroy feature. This is all you need from the program.
4. Open up Firefox. In the Search bar you see the Babylon Search icon. Click the icon to see the drop down menu. Click Manage Search Engines.... In the new window, click the list item that says Babylon Search, or something similar. Click the Remove button. Hit OK.
5. In Firefox click the "Firefox" main menu button. Click Options. Click on the "General" tab, if it isn't already selected. Look for the "Home page" text box, and click Restore to Default underneath it, or, if you prefer a different homepage, like Google.com,  type it into the text box. Then click the Manage Addons button. It will open a new window. Proceed to step 6.
6. In the window that just popped up, the Add-ons Manager, look for anything related to Babylon. Click Remove for each of the offending addons. Close the Add-ons Manager, and you will be back at the Options. Click the OK button to save your changes. When you restart Firefox later, the addons will seem to be uninstalled, but they are still not completely wiped.
7. Next we need to modify or delete some files from the hard drive. There are two places we will look for files to delete: Mozilla Firefox's Program Files folder, and Mozilla Firefox's folder in the User Program Data folder. Proceed to step 9 for the first part.
8. Hit WindowsButton + E to open up Windows Explorer. On the left there should be several locations where files can be found. On the right, in the main area, it should show your Hard Disk Drives and Devices with Removable Storage. At the top of the window is the location bar. You have to click in an empty area inside the location bar, in order to change it to Text mode. While in Text mode you can type locations into the bar to go to the locations. Type in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins" and then hit Enter, or, if that doesn't work, type in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins". Delete any Babylon-related files.
9. In the location bar, type "C:\Users". Look for your Windows username. This is sometimes "Default" or "User", but, if you chose your own username, you should recognize it immediately. Open the folder. Open the folder, "AppData". If you don't see it, your hidden files and folders are hidden in Windows Explorer. You can access the folder by typing the name into your location bar. It should look like this: "C:\Users\MyUsername\AppData". Inside AppData, open the "Roaming" folder, then the "Mozilla" folder, then the "Firefox" folder, then the "Profiles" folder. Inside "Profiles" you may find more than one folder. I only have one folder here. If you have more than one, repeat the following actions for each folder. Open the folder. Scroll down until you find a file named "user.js". Edit this file with a text editor, such as Notepad.exe, which comes with Windows. To do this, Right-click on the file, click Open with > Choose default program.... Expand the "Other programs" list, and look for Notepad. If it is not there, then press Cancel and do the following: Click the Start button and search for "Notepad", then select Notepad. Then, drag and drop the user.js file from Windows Explorer onto the empty Notepad window. You are now viewing the contents of the user.js file. In the file, wherever you see any line containing "Babylon", delete the line. After you have deleted all the offending lines, click File > Save, then close Notepad.
10. Back in Firefox, open a new tab or a new window. in the URL bar, type "about:config" and hit Enter. Click I'll be careful, I promise!. On the page you'll see a big list of properties and settings about Firefox. You'll also see a filter (search bar) at the top. Inside this search bar, type "Babylon". For each item that shows up, right click on it and select "Reset". If you want to make this repetitive process much faster, after you right click, hit the R button instead of clicking "Reset". You are finished.

Solution for: AMD VISION Engine Control Center for ATI graphics cards Flashing Blinking Button glitch

tl;dr -- Exit F.lux and permanently disable it, then then manually re-enable AMD Vision's Desktop Color settings; but, if F.lux was not your problem, then uninstall and reinstall Vision Control Center (not the graphics driver, just the control center).

Youtube Screencast: http://youtu.be/jXIA4KoGjHs

Earlier I made a post complaining about how AMD's Vision Engine Control Center was refusing to let me change the Desktop Color settings. After a little researching I found the answer.

I found a hidden-away comment on Yahoo answers about this problem, and the commenter discovered that F.lux (Flux) was causing the glitch. F.lux and AMD Vision Engine Control Center fight for control over the desktop colors; however, only one of the two can control it at a given time. Whenever F.lux gains control over the setting, it locks down the setting, preventing other applications from changing it. The Vision Control Center, on the other hand, does not lock down this setting, when you use it. F.lux can take control from Vision Control Center, if you run F.lux after Vision Control Center.

In order to change from F.lux to Vision Control Center, you need to exit F.lux*. Now that F.lux is gone, another program can manage the colors, but Vision Control Center will not automatically do this. Open up Vision Control Center, go to the Desktop Color settings, and click the Reactivate AMD Color controls button.

*If you want F.lux to stay off when you restart your computer, then you need to disable the F.lux Startup process:

1. Click Start. Type in "System Configuration". Look for the grey-and-blue icon, then click it.
   Or, if you prefer keyboard shortcuts, hit Windows + R, then type in "msconfig" then hit Enter.
2. Click the Startup tab. Scroll down the list of startup processes and uncheck the F.lux process. Hit the OK or the Apply button.

Now, you can start F.lux whenever you want by finding it in the Start menu, like any other application. But remember, when you do, F.lux disables AMD Color controls.

Please Fix: AMD VISION Engine Control Center for ATI graphics cards Flashing Blinking Button glitch

UPDATE: I discovered a solution! See it here.

Youtube Screencast of the glitch and the solution: http://youtu.be/jXIA4KoGjHs

I found a hidden-away comment on Yahoo answers about this problem, and the commenter figured out that the problem was caused by having F.lux (Flux) running. The reason for this is that F.lux and AMD Vision Engine Control Center both try to manage a video setting that is part of Windows. This setting is locked to the application that modifies it, and the only way to change it is to release control over the setting by the application that is controlling it. Once it is released, another application can assume control over the setting.

I made a video screen recording of a glitch in AMD ATI VISION Engine Control Center software. The program becomes useless when this happens. The GUI controls in the software fail to change anything about the graphics. The buttons also flash alternatingly.

I've been looking for a place to report this bug to AMD ATI but I have found nothing helpful on AMD's Customer Care Email submission form. They require you to categorize your email, but it doesn't have the necessary categories for my bug report. ( http://emailcustomercare.amd.com/ )

I remember a few years ago I reported some bugs with the Catalyst driver to AMD ATI, but I don't remember where I did that.