Due to my background as an I.T. Professional, I come across a lot of software.  I have found a couple of pieces that are excellent, and today I will share them below:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of the best software tools in my vast library.  To date, it has found and removed every bit of malware that I have put against it.  It is small, only 2 mb in size.  The program has numerous configurable features, including auto-updating.  The free version is spectacular, and the registered version can actively protect the computer against malicious software.  The program is small, auto-updateable, and extremely thorough.  Download, install, run, and clean.  Reboot if prompted.  It’s that simple.

The second program is not free, but well worth the investment.  YamicSoft Vista Manager (or for those running Windows XP, XP Manager) is a program that allows you to fine tune Windows to the max.  Essentially, it is Crap Cleaner on steroids.  As with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, it is extremely small, weighing in at a little over 3 megabytes.  Vista Manager has more options than Scrooge McDuck has money.  Truly, I’m not sure where to begin.  Being the gopher, I ran the program on my system.  It took approximately 38 minutes to scan through the registry, and found over 1700 problems (by comparison, cCleaner found 120).  I backed up the registry (which at 400+ mb, is larger than an entire Windows XP installation), and let Vista Manager do its thing.  My machine is noticeably faster after it was finished.  All the options that are available are explained, so that you do not click on something ambiguous by mistake.

One problem I found with Vista Manager is the Duplicate File Finder.  It is clearly designed for systems that do not have a lot of files.  I have over 1.2 million separate files, and this part of the program seemed to run extremely slow.  Oh well, regardless of that minor issue the program is very robust and I am thrilled with it.