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ERPMan's Essential Downloads Page [created by Noel Piring]
Updated: Friday May 17, 2013

The downloads posted here are listed in alphabetical order.

Note to WinXP SP3 users: If you are still using Windows XP, install Service Pack 3 and Windows Installer 4.5
and their latest updates.

Note to Win2000 SP4 users: If you are still using Windows 2000, install Service Pack 4 with the KB891861
post-SP4 Update Rollup 1, Windows Installer 3.1 and Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 & their latest security updates.


Essential Shareware: (these are NOT free; please register/pay to get full benefits)
Note: A little star * indicates a must have program. Notes: Some of these shareware programs can act like trialware, meaning it's free to try for a certain amount
of time.  When that time has run out, they may stop working & you will have to register the software(s) for
continued use.  Others will have some features disabled until you register them to acces these features.
Winzip 9.0 may require Win98 or better to use; however Winzip 9.0 does seem to run under Win95 as long
as the appropriate Win95 updates are installed.  Winzip version 11 & higher require Win2000, XP or Vista
and are not compatible with Win9x/ME & NT4.  Win98 & ME users should obtain Winzip 10 here while
Win95/NT4 users should get Winzip 9.0 at this Oldversion.com site.  Winzip 14.x & higher are compatible
with Win7.
{} - Lavasoft Ad-aware Pro version 10.5 has been recently released, which has some crucial bug fixes and
is fully Windows 8 compatible.

Essential Freeware: (more coming soon)
A little ~ symbol denotes a program is freeware but also adware.  A little star * indicates a must have tool. Notes:  MetaProducts's Download Express tool now has a plugin for those using Mozilla & Firefox browsers
(this is an updated version of the Download Express plugin but install the Download Express program first).
AOL Instant Messenger [AIM] versions 6.x/7.x needs at least Win2000 to use while v5.2 requires Win98 or
better to use.  Win95 users should get either version 4.8 or version 5.1 instead.  Win95 users must answer
'No' when the AOL Instant Messenger v5.1 setup program prompts whether to cancel the installation so
that setup can continue on there.  AOL IM ver. 5.1 seems to work okay for most Win95 users.
<> ! RED ALERT: Please download Shareaza at the Official Shareaza site and NOT at the
shareaza.com site.  The shareaza.com site is a "phishing" scam site that contains ShareazaV4
which bundles spyware.  If you have already downloaded and/or installed ShareazaV4, please
remove it immediately and download the correct version of Shareaza from the official web site.
{} - Lavasoft Ad-aware Free version 10.5 has been recently released, which has some crucial bug fixes and
is fully Windows 8 compatible.
~ - The newly released Spybot S&D 2.0 software requires WinXP SP2 or higher to install and use as it will
not work under pre-XP editions of Windows.  Those using Win2000 or older should obtain Spybot S&D 1.6.2
from this Spybot download page.

Web Browser Software [Common Internet Browsers] all are free:   Note: Internet Explorer 10 requires at least Windows 7 SP1 and is already included in Windows 8.
            Internet Explorer 9.0 for either Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 and can be obtained from
            this web page.  Internet Explorer 8.0 for Windows XP and Server 2003 is found here.  For those
            Windows 98, 2000, ME or NT4 SP6a, get Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 here.  Opera web browser
            versions 8.50 and higher no longer contain any advertisement banners.  The SeaMonkey browser
            suite replaces the old & defunct Mozilla browser suite and contains the most recent Gecko runtime
            engine featured in the most recent Mozilla Firefox browsers.  No more new versions of the Netscape
            Web Browser are being produced but existing versions of it can be downloaded here.
            The latest Seamonkey and Firefox web browsers require a minimum of an Intel Pentium 500 Mhz
            CPU system with at least 256 megabytes of RAM.  Latest nightly build of Firefox 2.0.0.22pre
            for Win98/ME/NT4 can be downloaded here.  Note that Seamonkey 2.x & Firefox 3.x-12.x  require
            a minimum of Win2000 to use (unless Win98/ME users have latest version of KernelEx installed).
            Firefox 13 & higher and Seamonkey 2.10.0 & higher will require minimum of WinXP SP2 to
            install & use.  Firefox 12 and Seamonkey 2.9.1 are the last versions to support Win2000.  The
            Apple Safari web browser for Windows has been discontinued but Apple will still provide updates
            for Safari for recent Macintosh OS X operating systems.
BREAKING NEWS: A Computing.net forum user has found a way to install Firefox 2.0 under a Win95 OS.
Read this computing.net forum topic on how to install and run Firefox 2 under Win95.  Also, Opera Browser
versions 10.60 and greater no longer work under Win9x/ME/NT4 as those versions fail to load on startup.
Last version of Opera to reliably support Win9xME is v10.54 and for NT4 it's v9.64.  Although Win98/ME
users can try installing Opera versions 10.60 to 10.63 on their machines with KernelEx installed.  Opera
versions 11.x/12.x will not install under Win9x/ME/NT4 OSes, so they have officially dropped 9x/NT4 support
there.  Chrome's Print Preview feature was fully completed and became an official feature in
Chrome 13 & higher.  Chrome 14 & higher include Print Preview for recent Apple Macintosh OSes.
NOTE on Installing Google Chrome: The Google Chrome setup program will normally install the brower
files into the Application Data or AppData folder and not in the Program Files folder.  To force the setup
program to install the Google Chrome browser files into the \Program Files\ folder (AND assuming you are
performing a clean and new installation of Google Chrome), just run the chrome_installer.exe file with
the --system-level switch from the Run dialog box.  I no longer link directly to the recent full installers for
Google Chrome browsers as they are now stored on random links.

Web Browser Plug-Ins & Media Players: Note: RealNetworks RealPlayer 16 requires at least WinXP SP3 to run.  The previous version of Realplayer
(which is RealPlayer 15), can be downloaded here.  To download Realplayer 14 or older, just download
it from this Oldversion.com page, if you are using a slower machine, Windows 2000 or older OS.  Adobe
Acrobat Reader versions from 7.x to 9.x require at least Windows 2000 to use while Adobe Reader X (ver. 10)
& higher require a minimum of Windows XP SP2/SP3 to use.  Version 6.02 of Adobe Reader is the
last version supported under Win98se, WinME & WinNT4 SP6.  The newly released versions of Flash Player
(version 11.7) can be obtained from the following links > (Flash 11.7 for IE browsers and for non-IE browsers)
[for Flash Player 11.7 Windows Installer versions, go to these sites > (for IE browsers) & (for non-IE browsers)]
For users getting Flash Player 10.3, go to these sites > (Flash 10.3 for IE browsers and for non-IE browsers)
[for Flash Player 10.3 Windows Installer versions, go to these sites > (for IE browsers) & (for non-IE browsers)]
Flash Player 11.x requires WinXP SP2 or higher to use and can't install under Win2000 & earlier.  Last
version of Flash Player officially supported under Win2000 is 10.1.102.64, however, version 10.2.159.1 can
install and work under Win2000, even though Adobe doesn't officially support that version on Win2k.  If you
want to install a recent version of Flash Player 10.3 under Win2k, install Unofficial KernelEx for Win2000.
Adobe Shockwave Player versions 11.x/12.x only support WinXP & higher (and Win2000 w/ GDI+ installed).
Win98/ME users should get Shockwave Player v10.3.0.24 while Win95/NT4 users should obtain v8.51 here.
Older versions of Flash Player earlier than v10.3 can be obtained here.
<> Caution: Quicktime 7.2 & higher require a minimum of WinXP and will not install under Win2000.  Last
version of Quicktime officially supported under Win2000 is version 7.16 but is vulnerable to recent security
problems.  Win2000 users who want to install Quicktime 7.2 should go to this page on how to install QT 7.2.
Quicktime 7.3 and higher will only work correctly under Windows XP and higher OSes.

Antivirus/Antimalware Software & Updates: [free to try; register/pay to keep; updates are free] Note: You can download a demo version of these popular antivirus programs.  If you want to continue using
antivirus software, buy any one of them.  Some of them are sold in computer stores. Use the most recent
version of any antivirus software whenever possible.  Antivirus detection updates & patches are free but
upgrades are not free.  Most of these antivirus products require WinXP SP2 or higher to use.  NOD32
versions 3.0 and higher require Win2000 or greater to use but it could be used under WinNT4 SP6a
with Windows Installer 2.0 installed, however, some features of NOD32 v3.x, 4.x may not work under NT4.
NOD32 is a very good "lightweight" antivirus program that uses much less system resources than
commercial & more popular antivirus software but it's biggest weaknesses is that users are unable to
manually download and apply virus detection updates to NOD32 with NO internet connection available
and sometimes the ESET servers do not work when attempting to obtain NOD32 virus signature updates.
To download NOD32 virus detection updates offline, read here. To download the latest Clamwin setup
setup file for NT4 users, read this Clamwin forum topic.
~ - It is recommended that Win8 users upgrade to at least Avast 8.0.1483 (the final release of Avast 8)
since the networking problems have been fixed in this new version.  Version 0.97.7 of the ClamWin
Antivirus program has been released and contains recent security fixes for the program and seems to
be compatible with Windows 8 & Server 2012.
^ - Only the free version of Avira Antivirus 2013 has been certified as Windows 8 compatible since
early April 2013 as noted here.  The newly released Avira Antivir Personal program ver. 13.0.0.3640
should be fully Win8 compatible.

Other sites to get Demo, Freeware & Shareware Programs [and Device Drivers]: Note: The Oldversion.com site is a nice place to download older versions of certain software when using an older version
         of Windows like Windows 95, 98 or Windows NT4.

Some Microsoft Addons for Windows:

Microsoft .NET Framework Full Downloads: (32-bit versions only)

Note: The .NET Framework 1.1 & 2.0 addons include version 5.1.3101 of the gdiplus.dll file but will not be
installed under WinXP SP1 & Win2003 systems as that file is already included.  MS .NET Framework v2.0
can not be installed nor will run under WinNT4 so use version 1.1 instead.  MS .NET Framework v3.5 SP1
has been released but requires WinXP, Server 2003 or higher to use and includes MS .NET Framework
versions 3.0 SP2 and 2.0 SP2.  I only link to the full redist. packages of .NET Framework which are large
downloads.  Windows 7 includes .NET Framework 3.5.1 while Windows 8 includes .NET Framework 4.5.
<> Caution: There may be problems after installing .NET Framework 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2 & 3.5 SP1 on
Windows XP, 2003, Vista & 2008.  See MS KB article 959209 and install the updates listed there.  The
.NET patches there do not apply to Win7, Win8 & higher.
 

Microsoft Windows Installer Engine Downloads:

Note: Windows Installer 2.0 is included in Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or higher installed, Windows XP,
and Windows Server 2003.  Windows Installer 3.1 is now available as a redistributable download for
Win2000 SP4 users, XP SP1/SP2 & Server 2003 systems and is included in Windows Server 2003
Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.  Windows Installer 3.x is not available for Windows 95, 98,
ME & NT4 systems. The Windows Installer 3.1 addon has been revised to fix the problem mentioned
in MS support KB article 898628.  Those using Windows Server 2003 should install SP2 which includes the
latest fixes for Windows Installer under Windows Server 2003 systems.  Windows Installer 4.5 is now
available for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003 SP1/SP2, Vista orig./SP1 & Server 2008.  Ver. 4.5 of MSI
is included in Windows Vista SP2.  Windows 7 includes Windows Installer 5.0.
 

Microsoft XML (extended markup language) Downloads & Security Updates:

Note: MS XML 3.0 & higher require at least Win98, WinNT4 with SP6, Win2000/ME or better to use.  Win95
users should install XML 2.6 SP3 instead from MS article 823490.  Microsoft XML 6.0 & beyond cannot
be used under Win9x, ME & NT4 and requires Win2000 SP4, XP SP1 or higher to use.  XML 6.0 is included
in Windows Vista.  There is no standalone MS XML 5.0 download as XML 5.0 is part of MS Office 2003 &
Office 2007 and updates for MSXML 5.0 will be posted on my Office & Works Updates page - part 1.
Versions of XML installed can be determined by reading MS article 269238. XML 4.0 Service Pack 3 no
longer supports Win98/ME/NT4 and requires Win2000 SP4 or better to use.  Win98/ME/NT4 users can
install the latest unofficial XML 4.0 SP2 update available.
 

Other MS Addons/Downloads:


Motherboard Chipset Driver Downloads: (essential if using brand new motherboards)

AMD Utilities, Drivers & Updates site:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871,00.html

Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility page:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_results.aspx?strOSs=All&strTypes=DRV%2CARC&ProductID=816&OSFullName=All+Operating+Systems&submit=Go%21

NVIDIA Driver Page:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
(select "nForce" as the Product Type to obtain motherboard drivers)

SiS Support & Downloads site:
http://www.sis.com/download/
(accept License Agreement first before obtaining driver downloads)

VIA Drivers site:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2
(select 'Chipset or Platform' driver after selecting your Operating System)

Notes: These motherboard chipset drivers are needed when using new kinds of motherboards under
Win98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista or Seven or to fix bugs in older kinds of motherboards and using any
version of Windows.


Software Wavetable Synthesizer Downloads: (make those sound cards play MIDI files better) You will need at least a Pentium MMX 233Mhz CPU with 64Mb of memory to use these synthesizers
(except for Wingroove which can also be used on some machines less than a 233 Mhz Pentium CPU
but you will need to make some changes in order for Wingroove to work right on those slow PCs).  The
Yamaha SYG20/SYXG50/SYXG70/SYXG100 softsynths seem to work well on "single core" processors
only and may not work well or not correctly on "multi core" (aka. dual-core, quad-core, etc.) processors.
If the Roland VSC-88H3 software doesn't work well on your computer, then you may want to install the
Roland VSC-88 v2.x software instead since it puts a less of a load on your computer.
See this page on a list of MIDI software synthesizers available.  You can also check the following sites
on other software synths out there online:
http://www.synthzone.com/softsyn.htm
http://www.midisite.com/info/synth/Soft.htm
Update: I've recently installed and tested the Edirol/Roland Virtual Sound Canvas VSC-88H3 v3.23 and
Wingroove v0.A4 beta 2 / v0.A5 software synthesizers under Windows Vista and have confirmed them
to work.  However, you MUST run their setup programs in WinXP SP2 compatibility mode in order for
them to install and run successfully under Vista/Win7.  Almost NONE of the following Yamaha S-YXG soft
synths work under Vista & Win7.  The only Yamaha softsynths to work under WinVista & Win7 are the
embedded S-YXG2006LE synth included in version 7.x of Yamaha MidRadio Player and S-YXG50 VSTi
Softsynth Plugin, which can be found out there on the web.  Read the vscvista.txt file on how to setup Roland
Virtual Sound Canvas v3.23 under Vista/Win7 and the wg_vista.txt file on how to install WinGroove under
Vista/Win7.
! - Warning: Wingroove versions 0.A4 Beta 2 and earlier do NOT install correctly as a "MIDI Device Driver"
under Win2000 SP3/SP4 when performing a "clean" installation of Wingroove.  To resolve this problem,
un-install Wingroove 0.A4 or earlier including your Wingroove registration info, reboot & install the Japanese
edition of Wingroove 0.A5, then reboot & un-install that but without removing your Wingroove registration info,
reboot and then re-install Wingroove 0.A4 English under Win2k SP3/SP4.  OR you can just simply remove
all traces of your previous version of Wingroove (including its reg info) and just install the Japanese version
of Wingroove 0.A5. Be sure to write down your registration info before performing a complete removal of
Wingroove so that you can re-enter it when installing the latest available version.

If you own a Hercules Gamesurround MUSE XL, Gamesurround Fortissimo II, GameTheater XP, or any
Labway XWAVE sound card that bundled S-YXG50 software AND running either Win2000 or WinXP, you
need to install version 4.21.07R WDM of S-YXG50.  Tips on choosing between the 2Mb & 4Mb wavetable
soundset files for S-YXG50/S-YXG100 [and a link to the rare SYXG50 v4.01.25 Legacy/WDM JP (2002)
release] and breaking the 128 max polyphony limit are posted on my sxgtips.txt file.  If you are using an
ASUS CUSL2 motherboard, get the following SYXG50 v3.12.n/v3.13.n softsynths for Win9x and NT4.

Caution: The Yamaha S-YXG100 softsynth program is NOT compatible with NT-based editions of Windows
(ex. WinNT, Win2k/XP & later).  The Yamaha S-YXG100+ softsynth can only be used under Win95/98/ME
systems.  There was another edition of S-YXG100 called "S-YXG100 PVL" [aka. the PolyVL edition] but
was only available in Japanese language AND Yamaha never produced an NT-compatible version of
S-YXG100.  However, to get the full benefits of the S-YXG100 PVL softsynth, you must be using Win98 or
WinME on at least an Intel Pentium 3 (600Mhz), AMD Athlon/K7 (700Mhz) processor.

If you have less than an Intel Pentium 166Mhz machine, you can try out the following synthesizer softwares:

You will need at least a Pentium 90Mhz processor with 32Mb of RAM to use these old synthesizers.
Caution: The following softsynth programs mentioned above are NOT compatible with NT-based
editions of Windows starting with Windows NT3.x, NT4, 2000/XP and upward.
^ these software wavetable synthesizers have been discontinued and are no longer being updated and no
   longer supported by their manufacturers.
~ full edition but discontinued product
# unofficial Yamaha XGPlayer v4 update packs now include MidToAudio converter DLL file, however, the
   MidToAudio (aka. MIDI to Wave) converter loads in XGPlayer v4 only if the Yamaha WDM softsynth driver
   is installed; for some odd reason, the MidToAudio converter will not show up in XGPlayer v4.x when
   SYXG50 v3.x or SYXG100 v1.x is installed
* since these Yamaha soft synth versions are demo versions, ask me on how to "unlock" these trial
   versions and convert them to fully functional versions as I have the registered files for these Yamaha
   soft synths.  For the Roland VSC-55 soft synth, ask me for the full, non-demo version of this software
   before applying the v1.20 update as the v1.20 update will not work on trial versions of VSC-55.
   Important note on S-YXG100 PVL: Please use either MS System Information Tool (msinfo32.exe) or
   DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag.exe) or even CPU-Z on your Win9x/ME computer to determine the CPU
   type and speed your computer is using, so I can send you the correct registered files for S-YXG100 PVL.
$ only version 0.A5 of Wingroove has "partial" XG support for XG-based MIDI files

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Copyright © 1999 - 2013 Noel Piring [aka. the ERPMan]
Warning: Do NOT copy part or the entire page without my permission.