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Annoyance Busters

24 great utilities and tools that smack down hassles with data, security, Windows, and your hardware.

Michael Desmond

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Online Bugaboo Busters

Illustration: Mark Matcho
Sometimes sending files across the Internet, or dealing with issues with your home network, can be a big pain. These utilities keep the process smooth.

Frustrating FTP Interfaces

Click here to view full-size image.If you frequently publish files to Web sites or upload files to remote servers, you probably use file transfer protocol tools a lot. But even the best FTP programs rely on laborious log-ons and clunky interfaces that make connecting and transferring files from a local hard drive harder than necessary. WebDrive changes all that, displaying remote directories as just another folder in Windows Explorer. Simply enter the FTP server information in the WebDrive interface, and Explorer updates with a new, mapped network drive showing the contents of the remote server. The remote drives and folders you want to access are where you need them, all the time. $40

Faulty FTP Transfers

Speaking of FTP transfers, how many times have you needed to get someone a file--absolutely, positively right now--but found yourself stymied by downed mail servers or arbitrary file-size limitations on e-mail attachments? Unless you or your cohort runs an FTP site, you might be out of luck. Pumpkin TFTP lets you send files to another person, without requiring e-mail servers or FTP sites. You just find the local file, enter the target IP address, and then set up the connection with the required ID and password information. You can also enter the file location and name, along with a source IP address, to grab files from remote systems. Free

Network Nonsense

More Windows PCs are networked than ever before, and yet Microsoft has barely lifted a finger to help users sleuth problems and mysteries with their home networks. If you want to check whether a computer at a particular IP address is working, you still have to open a DOS box to run the aged ping command. It's all so...so...1986. Angry IP Scanner lets you ping a range of IP addresses, and it returns ping rates, host names, and active IP addresses--all wrapped up in an attractive, easy-to-read Windows interface. It's the perfect utility to use when you need to figure out what PCs are actually connected to your home wireless network. Free

Annoyances by the Numbers

40% Percentage of Web users who say pop-ups are the most annoying ads --Jupiter Research

29% Percentage of Web users who say spam is the most annoying ad type--Jupiter Research

233 Number of adware applications that were in existence in June 2004 --PestPatrol

50% Percentage of rebate seekers who had problems or got no rebate--Aberdeen Group

25% Percentage of pop-up and pop-under ads blocked by software--Jupiter Research

PC World contributor Michael Desmond is a freelance writer based in Vermont.

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