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Utilities & Drivers
From driver downloads to registry cleaners, CNET
Download.com features all the latest utilities and
drivers. Whether you're looking for FTP clients,
compression utilities, or software to back up your hard
drive, CNET Download.com has you covered. See all 7,028
products in this category.
Introduction to Utilities & Drivers
Have you ever added a TV tuner card to your computer,
only to have the DVD drive stop working? Maybe you've
tried to install software and gotten an error message
such as "The file foofah.dll is missing or damaged." The
only time most people will need to deal with a driver is
when something goes awry. Essentially, a driver is a
piece of software that communicates the special needs of
a hardware device or software application to an
operating system. Windows comes with most of the drivers
you need, but sometimes plugging in a new device--such
as a digital camera or printer--will trigger a search
for drivers. If the maker of your device doesn't offer
drivers on its Web site, try searching our library for
the name of the device or corrupted DLL.
This category is also the home of popular programs such
as the top-rated SmartFTP Client, which made our list of
the best free utilities. Installing and uninstalling
software, deleting files, and other daily tasks can take
a toll on your computer's performance. To test how well
your PC is running, try a benchmarking program such as
SANDRA Lite. Cleaning out the dead wood with a system
optimizer such as Ace Utilities or System Mechanic will
straighten out some Registry problems, improve system
speed, and free up disk space. Don't forget to back up
your data regularly with something like Second Copy so
you can replace any files you regret erasing, such as
the driver for your nVidia ForceWare Graphics card.
File-compression tools include the classic WinZip and
the newcomer WinRAR, which are both excellent shareware
products that provide lots of free functionality. Among
the wide variety of software within Tools & Utilities,
you'll find bookmark managers such as Bookmark Buddy,
download managers such as Download Accelerator Plus,
file-sharing tools such as LimeWire or Morpheus, and
search tools such as Google Desktop.
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