Saturday, June 12, 2010

freeware

[updated 12/06/06]

Here's a list of most of the freeware apps I find myself using nowadays. I'll add more as I get more, or update as I find better ones...


Codecs
http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm - you can find pretty much everything you need here. The site includes the K-Lite Codec Pacs including an ultimate pack that has Real Alternative and QuickTime Alternative.

GSpot labels itself as a "Codec Information Appliance". Basically you can drag the file in question into GSpot and it will analyze and tell you what codec is needed for the audio\video playback of that file.Here’s a bit about GSpot (from the GSpot homepage):
● Full support for OGG media files as well as AVI stream formats
● Identification (only) of non-AVI files (.mpg, .mov, .qt, .rm, .swf, .wmv, .asf, etc.)
● Supports VFW, ACM, DirectShow and DMO codec types (audio and video)
● Win95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP
● No Install (optional), No spyware, No advertising, No registration
● Free

Get it here:http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

DivX (free):
DivX can be downloaded for free (no adware or spyware) which will offer only the ability to watch movies encoded in DivX. If you want to compress movies with DivX you will need to pay or download a trial with adware.

Here's the link to the free version: http://www.divx.com/divx/download/

Xvid:
Xvid is an open source codec. The source code can be downloaded from http://www.xvid.org/, the Xvid homepage.

You can get a compiled version of the codec here:http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/

You can download the AC3 Filter here: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ac3filter/ac3filter_0_70b.exe?download (needed to get files encoded with AC3 audio to play).

CD-Ripping
CDex (props to Mat for telling me about this one...)

CDex can encode using the following Codecs:
Lame MP3 Encoder
External Encoder
Windows MP3 Codec
Internal MP2 Encoder (version 1.13, engine 1.13)
Yamaha VQF encoder
Astrid/Quatex AAC encoder
Microsoft WMA Encoder
Psytel AAC encoder
External Xing Encoder
WAV output encoder
Ogg Vorbis DLL Encoder (Xiph Org libVorbis 20020717)
External Musepack Encoder
Monkeys Audio Encoder DLL (version 3.970)

It will allow for VBR encoding (so you can set it to use the Lame encoders extreme preset...)

the only thing i didn't like about this software is that i had to enter e-mail addy (i used fdjaslk@jfklsd.com) in the remote CDDB tab to get the CDDB lookup to work... not really a big deal but anoying...

Overal though, it works like a charm... - Download.

MP3 Player
Winamp 5.0
If you don't have this, you should... if you have an older system version 2.8 might be better than 5... avoid 3 though... - Download.

Winamp in short is a music jukebox all-in-one sort of a thing. It can burn audio cds, play mp3s, and in verion 5 you can browse songs by artist - album - name - search for tracks, right click on an album and play only that album, queue the songs to be played after whats playing... i could go on for hours... hands down the best MP3 player... (although the original Winamp team quite so its future is still unclear...)

Web
Web server
Abyss Web Server - Download.
Simple, free web server... ver easy to use...

Browser (IE Alternative)
Maxthon - Download.
Firefox - Download.

P2P
Torrent Client
Azureus - Download (windows/all)

eDonkey2000 Client
eMule - resource intensive... you have been warned... - Download.

IRC App
mIRC - Download.

Download Manager
StarDownloader - Download.

Office Replacement
OpenOffice.org (OOo) - The best alternative to MS Office i've found thus far.. (no e-mail client though...) - Download.

Photo Utilities
Viewer
Picasa 2.0 - Free and by far, the best image viewing software i have ever used. Its now owned by Google, 2.0 being the first release since Google bought the sofware. Good job Google. Please keep this free. In conjuction with irfanview have completely removed my need for ACDSee. - Download.

Related: Hello - if you plan on posting images to a blospot blog, picasa and hello work hand in hand to make the process completely automated and simple...

***NEW***
FastStone ImageViewer has quickly become my favorite image viewing app. I find myself installing this lightweight image viewer as soon as I format.

Editor
irfanView - Although Picasa has some basic image editing software, it doesn't have what you will want if you plan on getting a little artistic. Irfan, however, does.

(if you need to uninstall irfan view you have to go to start - programs - irfan - uninstall (there is no entry in the add\remove)

NOTE: remeber to uncheck the eBay links...

Wallpaper Manager
Wallpaper Mania - Download.

Zip\Compression Utility
Winrar – this program has a nag screen after 30 days but its worth it. Best compression\decompression utility ever. supports .rar, .zip and everything in between. - Download.

Security
Anti Virus
AVG - best free AV available. - Download.

Firewall
Zone Alarm (free edition) - Download.

Peer Guardian - Like a firewall but designed to guard against the RIAA, MPAA and others. I recomend getting the version 2 even though its currently beta.

Download:
Peer Guardian 9x
Peer Guardian NT

Spyware
Microsoft AntiSpyware - make sure your windows is legite before tyring to get this one though - Download.

AdAware SE - Personal Edition - Download.

Spyware Blaster - Download.

Spyware Guard - Download.

SpybotS&D - Download.

FTP
***NEW***
FileZilla - Just try it. One of the best freeware apps. It's almost hard to believe this is free.

CD Burning
CDBurner XP Pro - this is perfect if you need to burn some straight out data cd\dvd's but if you need to burn UDF (with xbox compatibility mode) Nero still can't be beat - Download.

Backup Utilities
Files
Karens Replicator - awsome software, i have it set to back up my important data (like my digipics) every night at 1 am... runs in the background... will backup whatever you tell it to... - Download.

Drivers
Winret - backup system registry, third party drivers etc. Has some windows tweaks as well... - Download.

Virtual Drive
Daemon Tools - rip a cd-rom iso to your hd and use this to trick your computer into thinking its in the cd-rom drive - creates virtual cd-rom drives, supports .iso, .cue, .nrg (Nero) and much more... - Download.

IM (Instant Messaging)
All-In-One Clients
GAIM
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ - Homepage
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gaim/gaim-1.1.2.exe?download - Download Link

Miranda - i like this one a little better. - Download.

Messenger Plus! - Add-On for MSN Messenger. It adds extra functionality and allows you to block the ads. (WARNING: when installing, disagree to the licensce agreement. If you agree you get adware.) - Download.


DVD Backup
DVD Shrink - compress a standard DVD to fit on a 4.7GB blank. (For set top playback...) - Download.

Remote Control Software
Ultr@VNC - http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/ - Download.
RemoteDesktop – Built into windows XP (view my how to article on using it here.)

Windows Explorer Replacement
ExplorerXP - This adds a tabbed interface to M$s built in Explorer. It also ads the ability to save open folders as a group. It has a few draw backs though. It doesn't see networks (a big negative for what i would have needed it for) and its pretty slow. - Download.

Misc
iPod All-In-One
iPod Agent - Download.

Toolbar Repair - reset IE Toolbar

Gspot – Movie analizer (let's you know what codec you need for video and audio playback...)

Post-It-Notes - 3m Post-It Notes Software. The standard one is free...

ATNotes - The best desktop sticky note software. And all FREE. - Download.

CCleaner - Short for CapCleaner. This app will scan your pc and list files that you don't need and allow you to delete them. I found 256MB of crap i didn't need. A friend of mine found over 14GB of crap. I think that says it all. - Download.

ePrompter - Do you have up to 16 e-mail accounts you check on a daily or regular basis? If so check out ePrompter. You can configure it to check several e-mail accounts all at the same time. It works with most web based e-mail providers like Gmail and Hotmail, and works with pop3 accounts as well. Go ahead and give it a try... you'll wonder how you ever did without. - Download.

Notepad++ - A tabbed based replacement for Notepad. Feature rich and all FREE. - Download.

TinySpell - Spell check anything from any window. It will beep when a word is mispelled. Runs in the systray. - Download.

SmartFTP - Another nice free FTP program. - Download.

EssentialPIM - Free personal manager. Basically its a digital agenda. - Download.

GIMPShop - GIMP but layed out like photoshop. Its hard to belive such a great program could be FREE. - Download.

EverNote - EverNote allows you to easily create and catogorize notes. It makes it easy to find notes and keep track of them. I've been using it for a while now and consider it indispensable. - Download.

TangoDropBox - This basically creates an icon on your desktop you can drop files into and they will be upload to whatever FTP server you setup it to upload to. Very handy when your doing a lot of FTP'ing. - Download.

NEW
TheGodFather - ( mp3/ogg/mpc/ape/flac/aac/apl/wv/mp4/ofr/spx file manager ). This application will let you manage pretty much every audio filetype and includes a handy ID3v1 and ID3v2 tag editor. The application is 100% free but the other would like a postcard if you really like the application. - Download.

Brine - Create a list of a directory and export it to a file. Very specific in its functino but very useful non the less. - Download.

BlueScreen Screen Saver - This is the old blue screen of death screen saver thats been kicking around for a real long time. No praticul use, its just kind of funny. - Download.

BulkFileRenamer - Rename mutliple files at once. - Download.

PhotoFiltre - I find myself using this application more and more. Very small yet powerfull image manipulation application. I use the smart crop feature often. Great for when you need to resize or convert an image file quickly. - Download.

Paint.Net - This is what Paint would look like if it were on Pimp My Ride. Its almost a shame to even use the name Paint in this program. One of the big additions is layers. - Download. (you need to have the .net framework installed.) - Download.

JHymn - Removed the DRM protection from songs downloaded from iTunes and other such sites. - Download. (scroll down - avail. for Windows, OS X).

VideoLAN (VLC) - Sick of having to find a codec, tired of using QuickTime and MediaPlayer? VLC is my perosnal favorite open source media player. No need to isntall extra Codecs, just install VLC and watch any filetype you want (including file encoded with the h264 Codec). - Download.

TaskArrange - Are you one of us anal retentives that needs to have your windows opened in a specific order on the task bar? If so, you know how anoying it is when a program near the front of the list gets closed. TaskArrange will allow you to re-order the appilcations that are on the start menu any way you like. My only beef is the fact that this isn't built into Windows already! - Download.

DeskPins - This will allow you to pin an application (any application) so that its always on top of over Windows. This is handy whenver you want to have something full sized and have notepad on top of it, for example. - Download.

Unlocker - If you've ever tried to move or delete a file that Windows has deemed in use you know how frustrating it can be. This program will let you unlock the file so that you can delete or move it as you wish. - Download.

ERUNT - Back up the entire Windows Registry. - Download.

Foxit PDF Reader - This is a small, fast, and clean PDF reader. Fast is actually an undersatement, its blazing fast. It opens in no time at all and displays PDF files quickly. A great alternative to Acrobat Reader. - Download.

nLite - This application allows you to remove certain Windows applications that you never use (like Windows Messenger) easily. You can also then repackage your Windows XP isntall to not include that porgram every time you install the OS. - Download.

XnView - This is a nice, but buggy free graphics viewing application. Its much like ACDSee (my favorite pay graphic viewing application). I like Picasa 2.0 but my main complaint was its like of a Windows Explorer type pain. XnView has this and its all bundled in a very nice and user friendly interface. - Download.

DiscLib - DiscLib allows you to catalogue your CD\DVDs so you can search there contents without having them in your system. Its extermely handy and can save tons of time after the initial data entry. Also allows tagging for quick searching. - Download.

***NEW***
mliPod - for anyone who has an iPod and preferes using Winamp to iTunes, this is essential. It will let you manage your iPod from Winamp.