List of useful, free software

[entanglement]

Here's a list of software that I've found really helpful. They need a PC + WinXP. All the software listed here is free and available for download. And free from malware / spyware / popups to the best of my knowledge.

1) AdAware - An excellent spyware / malware / dialware cleaner. The basic version is free.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

2) CCleaner - Crap cleaner. Do you know how much space 'temporary' and cache files occupy? This is a great, free general purpose cleaner that removes stuff like internet explorer temporary files, the pesky index.dat files, and MRUs/ caches of a whole raft of applications.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

3) Firefox - Safe, fast, secure and totally cool web-browser. You don't have to be stuck using Internet Explorer (buggy and exploit ridden), plus enjoy tabbed browsing.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

4) Everest - Tells you everything you need to know about your PC. Period. The home version is free.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1〈=en

5) tcpview - monitor all network connections on your PC, and close unwanted ones. Great tool.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/TcpView.html

6) Process Explorer - Another great utility from Sysinternals. Shows processes task manager won't show, view which processes have which files opened, and just about every kind of process info
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

More later

[KitchenWitch]

1. cool, thanks

I use several of those listed already! :bounce:

[AntiCoup2K4]

2. Some great utilities at this link

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

[Wabbajack]

3. What's Dialware

never heard of that.

[entanglement]

5. Dialware, also known as dialers

from the lavasoft website:
"The application is designed to change the user's DUN (Dial Up Networking) settings to dial numbers that the user does not know about, to connect to a number in stealth, and/or to avoid being detected by the user such as dialing expensive connections where the user has not authorized the connection"

More on various types of threats at
www.lavasoftresearch.com/tac_main.php

[norml]

4. Thanks!

I've already got AdAware.

I'll have to check out the other stuff.

[merwin]

6. As for browsers, Internet Explorer 7 is going to help A LOT to prevent

security issues.

I'm doing a beta test on it right now and there's a nifty option called "Phishing Filter", which is an opt-in registry of malicious websites. Basically, if you happen to stumble across a known malicious website it will stop it from loading unless you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to load it.

I haven't dealt with it much, but that and the other optional security settings in IE can lock it down pretty much completely.

[Nomad559]

8. I am beta testing Internet Explorer 7 also

I am also beta testing Windows Vista (Beta 1) which also has Internet Explorer 7.

I am very Impressed with how fast and stable Internet Explorer 7 Is for a beta.

Of all the browsers I have used, I think that Opera Is one of the best, and by far, Firefox Is the worst browser I have used.

Screen Capture of Internet Explorer 7
?click

:)

[Clintmax]

9. Wow...you think Firefox is the WORST?

I think its EXCELLENT!

[Nomad559]

10. Have you used any other browsers

other than Firefox and I.E.?

I have used most of the browsers that are available for my Windows and Linux systems, and Firefox Is by far the worst browser I have used on them. Opera Is one of the best browsers I have used on my systems.

:)

[Clintmax]

11. Yes, I've used several of them...

tried Opera a long time ago, been using IE for a LONG time, then found Firefox. I much prefer IT to Internet Explorer. What don't you like about it? Just curious.

[rman]

22. what's so bad about firefox?

-

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Yes. Safari, Konqueror, Opera.

Firefox beats them all by a mile.

I can't believe you find IE better than Firefox. No, wait... I can.

[merwin]

20. Heh, you're being adventurous and testing out Vista with it?

I have only had the guts to install it on a virtual computer :-)

[DS1]

23. Is that close window button animated?

The red one. It looks like it.

[centristo]

24. IE 7 is a ripoff of Firefox....

microsoft ripping off the innovators per usual...but hey, if it makes a better product i'm all for it..

[Deja Q]

21. Sounds nice in theory. But if MS's 'Genuine Advantage' could be hacked

so shortly after MS put the "anti-piracy" measure into effect, what makes you so sure that ANYTHING MS does will be secure?

http://www.theregister.com/2005/07/29/wga_cracked/
(one of MANY)

[entanglement]

7. More useful software

1) GIMP 2.0 - Free, Photoshop alternative, good enough for lots of image manipulation (unless you're a professional or have special reqs). For linux and windows.
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/

2) 7Zip - Excellent free file compression / decompression software
Supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Its 7z format gives excellent compression; plus it beats widely available software in compression ratios
http://www.7-zip.org/

3) IrfanView - Amazing image viewing software. Try it once and you won;t go back to whatever you were using before. Supports just about every format you can think of.
http://www.irfanview.com/

[lildreamer316]

12. Thanks so much! n/t

[Mike Niendorff]

13. A couple of graphics-related links

http://www.gimp.org
http://www.inkscape.org


MDN

[alfredo]

33. I was going to post those two great open source programs.

I am running both on my Mac.

[peacefreak]

14. Thank you!

Your timing is great. My daughter just gave me her old computer with no blockers & I was trying to figure out what to load.

[Mike Niendorff]

15. office-related links :

http://www.openoffice.org
http://www.abisource.com


MDN

[barackmyworld]

16. For Macs, check out versiontracker.com

My favorite applications are a gmail counter in my top bar, and Windowshade, which makes windows collapse in place from double-clicking the title bar (like OS9).

[alfredo]

35. Version tracker also has Windows software.

I love http://www.macupdate.com/index.php and http://osx.hyperjeff.net/

Jeff of HyperJeff is a good guy.

[Mike Niendorff]

17. bigger-picture link :

Listing of GNOME software, by catagory:

http://www.gnomefiles.org

[stlsaxman]

18. The ULTIMATE USEFULL FREE Software-

is Skype.

Free Internet Telephony. No cost foruse between Skype users anywhere on the PLANET. Tell a freind and talk for FREE...

Also- Buy SkypeOut minutes, like a pre-paid phonecard and call any landline phone for about 2 pennies a minute.

And- Buy a SkypeIn telephone number for $30 A YEAR and anyone can call you from any land line phone and if you aren't on line- they can leave a message on your voicemail.

All Skype calls are fully encrypted. and you can transfer huge files on Skype. and you can IM chat on Skype as well.

Two guys in Luxemburg invented Skype, wanted to free telephony for the world and get people talking...

www.skype.com

check it out

[Chichiri]

25. Anyone else familiar with Skype?

It looks quite cool.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. I use Skype and it works quite well

But I'm not too fond of publishing my Skype name willy nilly. I only disclose it to selected individuals.

Just like a phone number.

[Robbie Michaels]

32. Skype Is Good

I downloaded it about a week ago and I'm very pleased with it. The only complaint I can think of is that when you call one of those annoying tech support phone numbers and they request you to press a number on the keypad in their menu, Skype does not recognize it.

Otherwise, I think it's great!

[charlie]

19. A few I like

Color Scheme Designer - The web is awash in free color pickers. This one is different in that it helps you harmonize the colors you choose.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/csdesigner.html

IrfanView - The Swiss army knife of graphics viewers:

http://www.irfanview.com

Photofiltre - full-featured image manipulation program. Biggest drawback: no layers.

http://www.photofiltre.com

GraphicsGale - powerful animation software, includes onionskinning, a rare feature in free packages. The free version won't save gifs, use something like IrfanView to convert if you don't want pngs.

http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us

ToolbarPaint - If you're a pixeller (click here - http://www.armyoftrolls.co.uk - or here - http://www.pixelmuseum.com - if you don't know what a pixeller is), this is for you, in a package under 100K.

http://donkey.visualassembler.com

...

Photoshop "substitutes" - Gimp and Photoshop are great, but not everyone wants to deal with a feature set as complex as the Shuttle cockpit. These worthies have a feature subset that's "good enough" for non-professionals:

Pixia - http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia

Photoplus 6 - http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PhotoPlus (Registerware - send them a throwaway email address)

PictBear SE - http://sleipnir.pos.to/software/pbse (Don't worry about the page being in Japanese. The installer will let you choose an English installation)

...

URL2BMP - Browser screen capture, includes the stuff that scrolls beyond the screen (requires IE).

http://www.pixel-technology.com/freeware/url2bmp/english

Notetab Light - My favorite text editor, my most oft-used app (actually I use the paid Standard version, but the freeware has 99% of its features).

http://www.notetab.com/ntl.php

Metapad - If you like Notepad, you'll be comfortable with Metapad, no bigger than Notepad with 20X the features and without that stupid 32K limit.

http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad

Treepad Lite - Simple but powerful outliner/database program, for storing those bits of info in one place instead of splattering notes all over your PC.

http://www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware

[hunter]

39. I just downloaded pixia and so far I like it.

Compared to Photoshop or Gimp, Pixia is very lean and fast. But it takes quite a bit of time to learn any graphics manipulation program, and the advantage of Photoshop (or even Photoshop Elements) is that the information is out there and easily available... usually for a price.

My son has been begging me for Photoshop ever since he started using it at school, but I'm not going to spend $650 for it, or let him steal it.

The rest of your list is interesting -- there's some stuff on it I haven't tried.

Everyone should have irfanview. I've been using it for many years.

A text editor that's not on your list is Notepad2, which I use as the source code viewer with Opera. (I use Opera, but I like Firefox too. I do not use IE.)

http://flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

[prairierose]

27. Thanks...

I'm always looking for useful utilities like these.

[Oreo]

29. I prefer Spybot over Adaware

It seems to clean more and can immunize your system to prevent further spyware.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

and it's free too

[hwmnbn]

30. One-Stop Shopping right here......

If it ain't here, you don't need it!

http://lists.gpick.com/

[Robbie Michaels]

31. Here's Three More For The List

For those of you who use Firefox, try Thunderbird. It's Mozilla's email program.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

I'd also recommend Sun Microsystem's OpenOffice to replace most of the function of Microsoft Office.
http://www.openoffice.org/

If you have a microphone and speakers, and want to talk on the Internet, you and your friends need to download Skype.
http://www.skype.com/products/skype/windows/?autoload=true

[donheld]

34. I can use some of these

Thanks :yourock:

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

36. great list! I gotta check out the CCleaner one, thanks!

I love Firefox & AdAware. Once you go Firefox, why bother with IE?
IE just blows, for so many reasons. Yay Firefox! So many useful extensions for it.

[alfredo]

37. Konfabulator!!

It's free now.

http://www.konfabulator.com/

[Napoleon Dynamite]

38. here is a screen cleaner .. works great!

http://www.legrady.hu/sc.html

I noticed that my monitor was not quite as clear as when I first got

it. Apparently the electrons build up on the inside of the screen with

time, and the picture deteriorates.



I found a free program that I used to 'clean' the inside of the

screen and the improvement was quite noticeable.



I highly recommend it. If you'd like to try it, simply click on

the following link.



The program is free, works automatically, and takes only about 45

seconds to do its job:

Screen Clean <http://www.legrady.hu/sc.html>