Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 104 • 2003-12-17 • Circulation: over 400,000

Being the last for 2003, this issue is different.

First, it includes my annual awards for the "Product of the Year" and the "Best Free Utility"

Second, this issue features my pick of the best tech sites and utilities that have appeared in the newsletter throughout the year.

I’m not making any claims about any of these being the absolute best. I haven’t reviewed all the products available and besides, there is always an element of the subjective in such matters.  What I can say is that the sites and products listed are superb by any standards. Congratulations to all involved.

I’d like to give particular thanks to the Web’s freeware authors. They, in the true spirit of the Internet, do what they do simply for the pleasure of their craft and the pleasure of sharing.  We are the beneficiaries.

And thanks to you gentle readers. Your letters, suggestions and occasional rebukes during the year have been a source of enjoyment and stimulation.

Well, folks, that’s it for 2003. The next issue will be around the middle of January.

Support Alert currently has subscribers in 46 different countries. To all of you, I wish peace and prosperity for 2004.

Winner: AVG Anti Virus V7 Free Edition. http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Don’t let the fact that this product is free lead you to believe that it is a lesser product.

AVG ranks right up there with the best anti-virus products available. It has first rate detection capabilities, on demand scanning, a resident scanning monitor, email scanning, automatic updates and excellent handling of detected viruses.

On top of these features, AVG AV consumes relatively few of your valuable system resources. For example, it runs with less than half the CPU processing requirement of Norton AV 2004 and takes up less memory space as well.

The "free version" is free for home use by a single user. It is full-featured apart from a more basic interface and the disabling of some advanced technical features.

AVG is to be congratulated for providing a product of this quality for free. The cumulative benefit they have bestowed on the Internet community is immeasurable.