K-lite Codec Pack

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of audio and video components for Microsoft Windows that enables the operating system and its software to play back various audio and video formats generally not supported by the operating system itself. K-Lite Codec Pack also includes several related tools, including Media Player Classic, GSpot Codec Information Appliance, and Codec Tweak Tool.

 

Editions : There are five editions of K-Lite Codec Pack, all being available free of charge.

1. Basic: The Basic edition is the smallest version and enables a Microsoft Windows computer to play Matroska (MKV), MP4, Ogg and Adobe Flash video (FLV) files, in addition to various types of AVIffdshow (for audio and video decoding), DirectVobSub (for subtitle decoding), Codec Tweak Tool and four other minor components. This edition does not come with Media Player Classic. files. It only consists of
2. Standard: The Standard edition includes all features of the Basic edition plus a DVD Video decoder, Media Info Lite and Media Player Classic Home Cinema. This edition enables DVD playback in Microsoft Windows. This package is recommended for normal users.
3. Full: The Full edition includes 31 additional components and four additional tools beyond those included in the Standard edition, as well as adding video encoding capabilities to Microsoft Windows PCs. However, no encoding or conversion tool is included in the package.
4. Mega: The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack is a combination of K-Lite Codec Pack Full, Real Alternative, and fourteen additional components not present in any other edition. Amongst these components, there is the original Media Player Classic as well as Media Player Classic Home Cinema, GSpot Codec Information Appliance, and FourCC Changer.
5. 64-bit: The 64-bit K-Lite Codec Pack is an independent package of codecs that can be used with 64-bit players on a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows. This edition can co-exist with one of the other editions, and in fact the developers recommend installing the 64-bit pack after installing one of the regular packs.

Download K-lite Codec Pack here

Avira

Avira GmbH is a German antivirus software company. When founded, the company was called "H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH". Its antivirus applications are based on the AntiVir scan engine also known as "Luke Filewalker" (referring to Luke Skywalker), first launched in 1988. For aesthetic reasons, the name was changed to Avira. Avira's engine has been licensed to Ashampoo, Ad-Aware, and Webroot WebWasher. Avira is one of the most widely used antivirus programs in the world, with 100 million users worldwide As of September 2009.^[1] The company supports the Auerbach Stiftung, a foundation created by the company's founder and CEO, Tjark Auerbach. It supports charitable, social, cultural, and science projects.^[update]

"Avira security software" refers to a range of antivirus and Internet security software for the Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris computing platforms by Avira. These applications are based on the AntiVir antivirus engine also known as "Luke Filewalker", first launched in 1988.

On October 17, 2008, a major update to the search engine was released, which increased scanning speed by 20%.

Avira GmbH periodically "cleans out" the virus definition files, by replacing specific signatures with generic ones, which results in a general increase in performance and scanning speed. The last database clean-out was made on October 27, 2008, which caused problems to AntiVir Personal users when updating because of its large size (15 MB) and because of AntiVir Personal's slow servers. For that reason Avira GmbH added an additional 6 GB of bandwidth to the AntiVir Personal Servers and changed the updating process: Nowadays there are 32 smaller definition files which are updated regularly to avoid peaks in the download of updates.

 

Products : Avira AntiVir Personal is for personal use only and free of charge. Like most antivirus software, it scans disks for malware and also runs as a background process, checking each opened and closed file. It can detect and possibly remove rootkits. It also performs Internet updates (daily by default) in which it opens a window, with an advertisement suggesting that the user purchase Avira AntiVir Premium or Avira Premium Security Suite. Avira updated all its products to version 10.0 in March 2010.

Avira offers a bootable rescue CD to users who have installed paid versions of Avira products, irrespective of the machine's operating system. This CD contains its own bootable Linux-based operating system and the AntiVir program with its latest virus database. If a computer cannot be booted, the CD may be used to boot the machine into the AntiVir program, then to scan for and remove detectable viruses and other malware, thereby possibly restoring normal boot and operation.

Avira AntiVir Premium has several improvements over the free version, including:

• Email scanning (POP3 and SMTP)
• WebGuard to block access to malicious sites

Avira AntiVir Premium Security Suite has some more improvements over both versions, including:

• Anti Spam for E-mail
• Firewall blocks hackers
• Backup System to protect and secure important data
• AntiBot prevents dangerous botnets from taking over your system
• Parental Controls blocks unsuitable websites for Children and Teens

Download Avira here

Avast!

Avast! is an antivirus computer program developed by AVAST Software a.s. (formerly known as ALWIL Software a.s.), a company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It was first released in 1988. Avast! is based on a central scanning engine that is certified by ICSA Labs and West Coast Lab's Checkmark process and incorporates anti-spyware technology, also certified by West Coast Lab's Checkmark process, as well as anti-rootkit and self-protection capabilities. It is a multiple recipient of the Virus Bulletin VB100 Award for its detection of 100% of "in-the-wild" viruses, and is a past winner of the Secure Computing Readers' Trust Award. The name Avast is derived from "Anti-Virus – Advanced Set". Its trademarked name is styled in all lower-case, and includes an exclamation mark.

Avast! Free Antivirus is the freeware version of the Avast! antivirus software available to Microsoft Windows and Linux users, while Avast! Pro Antivirus is offered to businesses and users who want additional features. Priority updates are delivered automatically using PUSH update technology in Avast! Pro Antivirus. Avast! Pro Antivirus also has a command line scanner and a script blocker; however, in version 6, the script blocker is available to users of the free version.

Avast! Antivirus is a widely used antivirus program, with 130 million users worldwide as of September 2010.

 

 Features :

• Antivirus kernel based on certified antivirus engine.
• Resident protection comprising individual modules or "shields", each of which can be individually configured or disabled:
  • File System Shield — Real-time protection against viruses and other malware threats. Scans files as they run on your computer to keep viruses from being able to execute.
  • Mail Shield  — Scans messages and attachments in E-mail/Microsoft Outlook/Exchange for viruses.
  • Web Shield — HTTP protection (local transparent proxy). Version 4.8 also allows the blocking of URLs. Scans URLs and incoming data for viruses, and aborts connections to the site if one is found.
  • P2P Shield — Scans P2Pfiles from file share programs.
  • IM Shield — Instant Messaging protection. (Scanning of files transferred through instant messaging applications)
  • Script Shield — Scans webpages for malicious scripts, and disables them from infecting your computer, though they can still be used. (for example, a clickable button)
  • Network Shield — Basic protection against well-known network worms. Acts as an Intrusion Detection System.
  • Behavior Shield — Reports suspicious behavior by analyzing the behavior of programs
• Anti-spyware capabilities
• Anti-rootkit capabilities
• Self-Protection — Prevents malware from terminating avast! processes and damaging avast! files.
• Automatic incremental updates — Updates of both the program and the virus database which is used to identify potential threats — Avast! updates its virus definitions on a regular basis (sometimes multiple updates daily) and this process is automated by default.
• Audible alarms — Vocal warnings and notices such as "Caution, a virus has been detected!" and "Virus database has been updated."
• Boot-time scan — Users can schedule a boot-time scan to remove infections that load during Windows startup.
• Virus Chest — Quarantine; folder where infected files can be stored. The virus chest also stores vital system files to protect them from damage by malware. Users can also add their own files to the virus chest. Once in the chest, a file cannot be executed; double-clicking the file will instead display information about the file.
• SafeZone — SafeZone is special web browser in avast! Pro Antivirus 6.x and avast! Internet Security 6.x, which allows users to browse the web in a private, secure environment, invisible to the rest of the users' system.
• WebRep browser plugin — WebRep is a community-based website reputation tool implemented in version 6.0 of Avast! Antivirus

Costomization : Version 5 and version 6 of Avast! Antivirus allows its users to customize the voiceover. Official voiceovers are available in Belarusian, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. Avast allows its users to submit voiceovers in different languages. Themed voiceovers are also available; these include "Aussie", "Californian", "Canadian", "Pirate" and "Santa Claus". played by the program whenever an event happens (such as the detection of malware, or whenever the program's database is updated)

Version 4 allowed users to customize its graphical user interface with different skins from the Avast! website.

Registration : The free version of Avast! Antivirus is only intended for personal, non-commercial use. After installation, the program can be used in trial mode for thirty days. This limit can be eliminated by registering using a form in Avast's website. The program must then be re-registered every year.

Other Version :

• Avast! 4 Windows Home Server Edition — Shareware for use on Windows Home Servers.
• Avast! 4 Professional Family Pack — Shareware for use in the home by families with multiple computers. Includes 10 licenses of Avast! Professional Edition and one license for Avast! Windows Home Server Edition. {No longer offered}
• Avast! Mac Edition — An antivirus solution for Apple Macintosh machines running Mac OS X. It is based on a central virus-scanning daemon and includes a mail scanner, an on-demand scanner and an on-access scanner all controlled through a simple user interface. Although designed as a solution for individual desktops, and priced accordingly, the level of performance is closer to that normally delivered by server antivirus software. The Mac+PC Edition is for Mac users with both the Mac operating system and MS Windows installed on the same machine. It comprises both the Mac Edition and Professional Edition.
• Avast! 4 Server Edition — Shareware for businesses running Windows Server - may be extended by additional modules for MS Exchange Server 2000/2003/2007, MS Proxy/ISA Server, SMTP Server, MS Sharepoint Server (Portal Server 2001/2003, Windows Sharepoint Services 2003 and MS Office Sharepoint Server 2007)
• Avast! Distributed Network Manager — allows network administrators to manage the Avast! antivirus product line across the whole enterprise.
• Avast! 4 Small Business Server Edition — Shareware for Windows Small Business Servers, including Exchange server or ISA server
• Avast! Linux Home Edition — Freeware for personal, non-commercial use only — for use on Linux workstations.
• Avast! for Linux/Unix Servers — Shareware designed to run on Linux and BSD servers running x86kernels only. Packages are available as RPM, Debian or in Tarball form.
• Avast! for Kerio — Shareware designed to work with Kerio products such as their secure mail servers.
• Avast! U3 Edition — Shareware for the protection of U3 smart drives from viruses and other forms of malware.
• Avast! 4 PDA Edition — Shareware for Windows PocketPC/Windows Mobile, WinCE and Palm OS.
• Avast! BART CD (Bootable Antivirus and Recovery Tool) — Shareware to detect and remove virus infections.

Download Avast! here 

Norton Anti Virus

Norton AntiVirus, developed and distributed by Symantec Corporation, provides malware prevention and removal during a subscription period. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features include e-mail spam filtering and phishing protection.

Symantec distributes the product as a download, a box copy, and as OEM software. Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, a related product, held a 61% US retail market share for security suites as of the first half of 2007. Competitors, in terms of market share in this study, include antivirus products from CA, Trend Micro, and Kaspersky Lab.

Norton AntiVirus runs on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Version 17.5.0.127 is the latest Windows build. Windows 7 support is in development for versions 2006 through 2008. Version 2009 has Windows 7 supported update already. Version 2010 natively supports Windows 7, without needing an update. Version 11.1.1 is the latest Mac build.

 

In May 1989, Symantec launched Symantec Antivirus for the Macintosh (SAM). SAM 2.0, released March 1990, incorporated technology allowing users to easily update SAM to intercept and eliminate new viruses, including many that didn't exist at the time of the program's release.

In August 1990 Symantec acquired Peter Norton Computing from Peter Norton. Norton and his company developed various DOS utilities including the Norton Utilities, which did not include antivirus features. Symantec continued the development of acquired technologies. The technologies are marketed under the name of "Norton", with the tagline "from Symantec". Norton's crossed-arm pose, a registered U.S. trademark, was traditionally featured on Norton product packaging. However, his pose was later moved to the spine of the packaging, and eventually dropped altogether.

By early 1991, U.S. computers were invaded by hundreds of foreign virus strains and corporate PC infection was becoming a serious problem. Symantec's Norton Group launched Norton AntiVirus 1.0 (NAV) for PC and compatible computers. Ads for the product, with suggested retail $129, featured Norton in his crossed-arm pose, wearing a pink shirt and surgical mask covering his nose and mouth. With the 1998 version 5.0 update, SAM was renamed Norton AntiVirus (NAV) for Macintosh.

Product activation was introduced in Norton AntiVirus 2004, addressing the estimated 3.6 million counterfeit Norton products sold. An alphanumeric code is generated to identify a computer's configuration, which ties in with the product key. Users are allowed to activate their product five times with the same product key. Spyware and adware detection and removal was introduced to the 2005 version, with the tagline "Antispyware Edition". The tagline was dropped in later releases. However, Norton AntiVirus 2009 Classic does not include spyware or adware detection. The Classic edition is marketed alongside Norton AntiVirus 2009, which does include spyware and adware detection.

Existing users of the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 versions can upgrade to the latest 2010 version without buying a new subscription. Upgrading will preserve the number of days left on a user's subscription.

Norton AntiVirus 2011 Beta was released on April 21, 2010. Changes include a new user interface and improved scanning of internet sites for malware. With the 2011 version, Symantec also released an application that "scans" the user's Facebook feed for any malware links. This application does not require a valid subscription. The final version of Norton AntiVirus 2011 was released on August 31, 2010.
 

Download Norton Anti Virus here.

GOM Player

GOM Player (Gretech Online Movie Player) is a 32-bit media player for Microsoft Windows, distributed by the Gretech Corporation of South Korea. It is alleged that Gretech distributes GOM Player in violation of copyright law.

It is the primary client player for South Korean GOM-TV, and is more popular in South Korea than any other media player. Key strengths inherited from libavcodec include wide ranging ability to play media files, including .flv - without needing to obtain an external codec, and the ability to play some broken media files. Both of those features are present in other projects using libavcodec like VLC and MPlayer, but are absent from some other media software, including Windows Media Player.

Supported File and Device :  The latest version of GOM Player will playback the following types of media file :

• Incomplete or damaged AVI files (skipping the damaged frames)
• Broken AVI files (rebuilding the file's Index in real-time)
• ASF/OGG/MP3/AVI files on an HTTP Streaming connection
• Using DirectShow it will play these file formats: AVI, WMV, Matroska, QuickTime, MP4, 3GP, Google Video, Flash Video, VOB, Ogg, OGM, RMVB, MPEG-1, MPEG-2
• RealMedia files (requires Real Alternative installed)
• QuickTime files (requires QuickTime Alternative installed)

The latest version of GOM Player will playback the following types of disc :

• Audio CD (requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP)
• DVD (requires MPEG-2 codec installed)
• Video CDs/SVCDs/XCDs

Supported Video / Audio Formats : The latest version of GOM Player natively supports the following video and audio formats, without any external codecs :

Video formats

MPEG-1, MPEG-4 Part 2, MS MPEG4 V1/2/3, MJPEG, H.263(+), H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC), FLV1, MSVIDC

Audio formats

WAV, MP3, AAC, Vorbis, AMR, QCELP, EVRC

GOM Player also supports Peer to Peer video streaming through an official add-on called GOMTV Streamer.

Subtitles : The latest version of GOM Player supports the following subtitle formats -

• Unicode Text Subtitles
• SAMI (smi)
• SubRipText (srt), MicroDVD (sub), SMIL/RealText
• SubStation Alpha (ssa), Advanced SubStation Alpha (ass)
• VOBsub (sub/idx)
• Embedded subtitles of ASF, MKV, OGM

Codec Finder : Another significant feature of GOM Player is that where it can't play the audio or video of a media file natively, it will try to find an appropriate external codec which will play that file format, using the format's GUID, a unique identifier for the required codec. On finding a match, it will direct the user to a webpage where the appropriate codec can be downloaded and installed.

GOM TV : GOM TV is a popular streaming service in South Korea, and is responsible for GOM Player's popularity in South Korea. The GOM TV service offers users various video contents ranging from National Geographic documentaries and television dramas to major motion pictures and adult videos.

The service mixes both ad-supported and pay-per-view content. Prices range from 500 won and up (approximately 50 cents U.S.), with most movies available for 2,000 won (approximately US$2).

While the functions are very similar in the English and Korean language versions of GOM Player, the option to watch GOM TV is absent in the English language version.

The GOM Player (up to v2.1.9) allowed American users to connect to the GOM TV StarLeague (a channel of South Korea's GOM TV), to watch the latest matches in South Korea's StarCraft leagues. This feature was tested during the GOM TV Star Invitational, which airs each February. Despite this, the GOM television service is still not included in the English language release (so that American viewers who wish to watch StarCraft matches must use the StarCraft website to connect to the streaming servers). GOM TV now shows e-sports games of Starcraft and Warcraft, so A.V.A. Users can watch the videos for free or choose to pay a fee to download VODs (Video On Demand).

Allegations of Copyright Infringement :  GOM Player is listed in FFmpeg's Hall of Shame, indicating that it is violating FFmpeg's software license terms. While GOM Player has now acknowledged that it uses FFmpeg source code, saying that it is licensed under the LGPL, and has provided some modified FFmpeg source code, according to FFmpeg's Hall of Shame the GOM Player EULA is still in violation of the LGPL (and possibly the GPL), and insufficient source code has been released.

 

Download GOM Player here

Winamp

Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features. Winamp was developed by American programmer Justin Frankel and Russian programmer Dmitry Boldyrev while both were students at the University of Utah in 1997, and its popularity grew quickly, along with the developing trend of MP3 file-sharing.

  

Winamp Features

 

Playback Format : Winamp supports music playback using MP3, MIDI, MOD, MPEG-1 audio layers 1 and 2, AAC, M4A, FLAC, WAV and WMA. Winamp was one of the first common music players on Windows to support playback of Ogg Vorbis by default^. It supports gapless playback for MP3 and AAC, and Replay Gain for volume leveling across tracks. CD support includes playing and import music from audio CDs, optionally with CD-Text, and burning music to CDs. The standard version limits maximum burn speed and datarate; the "Pro" version removes these limitations.
Winamp supports playback of Windows Media Video and Nullsoft Streaming Video. For MPEG Video, AVI and other unsupported video types, Winamp uses Microsoft's DirectShow API for playback, allowing playback of most of the video formats supported by Windows Media Player. 5.1 Surround sound is supported where formats and decoders allow.

Media Library : At installation, Winamp scans the user's system for media files to add to the Media Library It supports full Unicode filenames and Unicode metadata for media files. In the database.Media Library user interface pane, under Local Media, several selectors (Audio, Video, date and frequency) permit display of subsets of media files with greater detail.

Adding Album Art and Track Tags : Get Album Art permits retrieval of cover art, and confirmation before adding the image to the database. Autotagging analyzes a track's audio using the Gracenote service and retrieves the song's ID2 and ID3 metadata.

Podcatcher : Winamp can also be used as an RSS media feeds aggregator capable of displaying articles, downloading or playing that same content as streaming media. SHOUTcast Wire provides a directory and RSS subscription system for podcasts.

Media Player Device Support : Winamp has extendable support for portable media players and Mass Storage Compliant devices, Microsoft PlaysForSure and ActiveSync, and syncs unprotected music to the iPod.

Media Monitor : Winamp Media Monitor allows web-based browsing and bookmarking music blog websites and automatically offering for streaming or downloading all MP3 files there. The Media Monitor is preloaded with music blog URLs.

Winamp Remote :
Winamp Remote allows remote playback (streaming) of unprotected media files on the user's PC via the Internet. Remote adjusts bitrate based on available bandwidth, and can be controlled by web interface, Wii, PS3, Xbox and mobile phones.

Plug -ins : In February 1998, Winamp was rewritten as a "general purpose audio player" with a plug-in architecture. This feature was received well by reviewers. Development was early, diverse, and rapid: 66 plugins were published by November 1998. The Winamp software development kit (SDK) allows software developers to create seven different types of plug-ins.

• Input: decodes specific file formats.
• Output: sends data to specific devices or files.
• Visualization: provides sound activated graphics.
• DSP/Effect: manipulates audio for special effects.
• General Purpose plug-ins add convenience or UI features(Media Library, alarm clock, or pause when logged out).
• Media Library plug-ins add functions to the Media Library plug-in.
• Portables plug-ins support portable media players.

Plug-in development support increased Winamp's flexibility for, for example, a plethora of specialized plug-ins for game console music files such as NSF, USF, GBS, GSF, SID, VGM, SPC, PSF and PSF2.

Skins : Skins are bitmap files which alter the aesthetic design of the Winamp graphical user interface (GUI) and can add functionality, with scripting. Winamp published documentation on skin creation in 1998 with the release of Winamp 2, and invited Winamp users to publish skins on Winamp.com. As of 2000 there were nearly 3000 Winamp skins available. The ability to use skins contributed to Winamp's popularity early in MP3 development. With the increasing number of available skins, genres or categories of skins developed, such as 'Stereo,' 'Anime,' and 'Ugly'. Online communities of skin designers such as 1001Skins.com and Skinz.org have contributed thousands of designs. Designers see skins as an opportunity to be creative: nontraditional examples have included Klingon, iPod, and Etch-a-sketch designs.
The Winamp skin format is the most popular, the most commonly adopted by other media player software, and is usable across platforms. One example is the XMMS player for Linux and Unix systems, which can use unmodified Winamp 2 skin files.
Winamp 5 supports two types of skins — "classic" skins designed to Winamp 2 specifications (static collections of bitmap images), and more flexible, freeform "modern" skins per the Winamp 3 specification. Modern skins support true alpha channel transparency, scripting control, a docked toolbar, and other innovations to the user interface.

Download winamp here.