Free Apps

Just a quick post with some apps that are currently free. I just stumbled onto Car Tunes an I'm really enjoying it's interface (or lack thereof).

Car Tunes (was $2.99) - Great minimalist gesture based music player.

Rope'n'Fly 3 (was ($0.99) - Fun building swinging game.

cinemagram (was $0.99) - Allows you to create "cines" basically a combination between video and photo. Sort of like an animated .gif.

iOS Photography (pt. 2)

As I mentioned at in pt. 1, I'm going to look at Camera Awesome and Camera+ next.

Camera Awesome

Developer: Smug Mug.
Price: Free (incremental in app purchases or $9.99 "Everything!" unlock).
View in iTunes here.

Camera Awesome came out around the beginning of March this year. The app was released by the popular image hosting site SmugMug. This kind of came out of nowhere and generated a lot of well deserved buzz upon it's release. Camera Awesome, much like King Camera, is free to try, however, CA features various in app unlocks ranging from $0.99, $3.99 and the $9.99 "Everything!" unlock. Unlike King Camera however, there is no resolution limit or water marking on images taken with the free (or base) version.

Let's take a look at Camera Awesome in more detail shall we?

iOS Photography (pt. 1)

iPhoneography (pt.1)

One of the main reasons I picked up the iPhone 4S was because of its new camera. I am a bit of a photobug and an app addict. As such, I quickly started trying and buying a slew of the apps being offered in the Photo & Video section of the iTunes App Store. This can be more daunting than it may sound as there are literally hundreds, most of which are not worth your time.


There are two main types of photography apps. There are apps that primarily center around filters and having fun with photography, the biggest examples being Instagram and Hipstamatic. Then there are apps that enhance the iOS photo taking experience, the two big examples are Camera+ and a newer entry, Camera Awesome. Those are some of the more well known ones. I've tested quite a few different apps, my personal favorites being Hipstamatic and a relative uknown called King Camera.

I'm going to look at quite a few different iOS photography apps. I won't lie, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this post. It's been sitting in a draft state (in one form or another) for a month or more now. I finally decided to make it a fairly extensive guide to iOS photography. I will note that I've only tested the following apps with the iPhone 4S. I only make that distinction because it does have a better physical lens than the previous iOS devices so keep that in mind if your running an earlier model iOS device.

Another thing I struggled with was where to start.  What App should I get into first? It was kind of daunting until the obvious smacked me in the face so hard it hurt. Camera. Yep, the built in, default camera that almost everyone took their first iOS photo with. That's where I have to start. That's the baseline. Camera is, for better or worse, what all these apps are trying to enhance or improve upon.

I'll start with a few basics then we'll start looking at some different apps.

One last thing, I'm going to add a pros/cons to the bottom of the app articles so if you want a quick idea of what a certain app is about start there.

(more after the jump)

Steam Mobile - iOS (BETA)

About a week after I posted about imo, a multi-protocol chat client that lets you sign into Steam chat (amongst a plethora of other popular IM protocols), Vavle released news that Steam Mobile is coming out for iOS and Android. It is currently in Closed Beta. All you have to do is download the application and try to sign in with your Steam account to request an invite.

My account was activated a few days ago so I figured I might as well give everyone a look at Steam Mobile (BETA).

First of all, yes, this will let you sign into Steam chat, and it works quite well. To be honest, about the only thing you can't do is launch your games. You can browse the store, buy games, modify your wishlist, chat and just about anything else you do with Steams PC client.

The application will launch on your friends list by default. You can modify the default start section, but I think most people will be happy with having it show there friends list. I know that's the main feature for me anyway.

One of the first things I noticed when signing into the app on my iPhone was that I was still signed into the chat on my PC. That is extremely convenient. I can start chatting with someone on my PC and seamlessly pick up my iPhone and continue the chat. The only real caveat is that what I type will only show on either my PC or iPhone, however the replies will show up on both PC and iPhone.

There are two ways to get to a chat from the Friends interface. You can click on your friend and then click on Chat from the profile page, or you can simply tap the chat bubble to the right of the friend you want to chat with.

Loading a friends profile takes a few moments but once its loaded you have all the options and info you would expect: Chat, Remove Friend, About, Screenshots... you get the idea. Some of these features will come up as being a work in progress, and a few will display a 90s style animated "UNDER CONSTURCTION" GIF.

The other option you have form the main Friends list is the Menu in the top left hand corner (three horizontal lines).This allows you to access Community (Friends, Groups and Friend Activity), Store (Catalog, Wishlist, Cart, Search), News Feeds (Steam News, Syndicated News) and Finally -Settings.

Everything basically works the way you would expect them too. Catalog lets you browse Valve's always impressive library of games, you can view game information, screenshots and even add them to your cart. Wishlist, Cart, Search and Steam News and Syndicated News are all self explanatory and function about the same as they would from your PCs Steam client.

Settings will display your user information, it allows you to change Chat Sounds. You can either be alerted every time you receive a message, only on the first chat message or turn sounds off all together. As I mention earlier you can also change the start screen from here so you could have the app launch to either Friends (the default), Groups, Friend Activity, Catalog, Steam News or Syndicated News.

There is a Steam Preferences section but currently it just says that the feature is not available at this time, and finally About Steam.

Here are some screenshots:

*I covered my friends usernames 'cause I'm not a total ass hat.

Linkage:

My screenshots for Steam Mobile (iOS Beta) here.
Available via iTunes here.

Valves site here.

imo

imo is free a multi protocol instant messaging application. That's basically a fancy way of saying you can connect to multiple instant messaging services (including Steam) from this one app.

This is one of those apps that can save you some clutter. It supports all the major instant messaging protocols so if you're okay with using all in one applications you can potentially delete quite a few single use IM apps by switching over to this one.

There really isn't any way to argue with free either.

imo supports the following protocols:

• imo
• MSN
• Skype
• Yahoo!
• Google Talk
• Facebook
• AIM / ICQ
• Jabber
• VKontakte
• My Space
• Hyves
• Steam

And yes, once again, that last one was not a mistake. imo allows you to connect to Steam! That alone is a reason to have it on your device, providing of course you are an avid Steam gamer.

Now, this isn't a 100% perfect application. The interface is a bit clunky but you can adjust to it easy enough. It's also a cross platform IM client so you can use it on iPhone / iPad / Android / Blackberry / Nokia (Symbian).

Hopefully they will come out with a Windows Phone client at some point.

You can set it so that when you sign into one account, they all sign in. Something I like, but if you only want to sign into one specific network at a time you will want to leave that off.

Again, the things really like about this app is that it replaced my need to have MSN and Google Talk installed on my device. It also adds the ability to connect to Skype chat (sans video) but that again saves me from running Skype for no reason. Did I mention this works with Steam chat? Also, free.

Sreenshots:


Linkage:
My imo screenshots here.
imo website here.
imo iTunes link here.


Price: Free.

Downcast

The first app I wanted to write about is Downcast. This is probably the best podcast app I've ever used. It does cost $1.99, but if you listen to podcast on a frequent basis, it is a must have.

Downcast allows you to download, manage and listen to podcast from your iDevice without having to sync with iTunes. It's very straight forward and easy to use.

I've only had two issues with Downcast personally, one of those being an iOS issue that is out of there control. The first issue, is that I've never been able to get an episode to stream successfully. I can download and play them back just fine, which is what I do 99% of the time anyway, but streaming has never worked for me. I would bet that its something I'm doing wrong, but either way, if you plan on streaming everything (which kind of defeats the purpose) this may be a bigger issue for you.

The second issue is that it won't run all night and download new episodes as they come out unless it is the active application. That's an iOS behavioral thing so I'm not knocking Downcast for this by any means, however it is annoying. For those not familiar with how iOS works, an app is only active while you are using it. Once the device is locked or the app is in the background it will only run for a maximum of 10 minutes before it is set to a suspended state. You can read a much better and more detailed post about iOS multitasking here and here.

You can also search for and sign up for podcast directly from within downcast as well.

The features that make Downcast a must buy for me are the following:

• Ability to download podcast directly to the iPhone.
• Limit downloading to WiFi only.
• Automatically delete episodes after they have been listened to / watched.
• Ability to lock episodes so they won't be deleted.
• Listen to episodes in the background.
• Gesture controls (great for fast forwarding / rewinding).
• Customize skip forward / back times.
• Create playlist from within the app.
• Sleep timer.
• Manage subscriptions.

Those aren't necessarily all the features of Downcast, but they are the reasons I like it so much.

Need a few podcast to check out? Here are a few of the ones I listen to:
/Filmcast. Great movie and television discussions. Official podcast of /Film.com.
FilmRiot. A look at how movies are made.
Totally Rad Show. Nerd is the new cool. Comics, video games, TV shows, movies, board games...
Weekend Confirmed. All things video game related.

Screenshots:


Linkage:
My screenshots for Downcast here.
Available via iTunes here.
Downcast website here.

Price: $1.99

iPhone > Blackberry?

I've been a BlackBerry user for the last few years. I started out on a Curve 8310 and then moved on to the Torch 9800. Since then I have moved away from BlackBerry to iPhone. I'm going to explore why I moved away from BlackBerry devices and went with the iPhone and maybe a bit about the transition.

Blackberry and Me

I really like BlackBerry devices, in particular the way they handle messaging and notifications. Messaging on a BB is very business oriented. This makes it quite efficient. The downside to messaging on BlackBerry's is of course, BIS. The other aspect of a BlackBerry that I've always liked is notifications. You can set it up to play a different sound for almost any type of alert. Best of all, you can use .mp3 files for those sounds. Out of the box. No hacking required. The BB OS takes some getting used to, but all smart phones do.

Using a few extra apps I even had it setup to display different colored LED notifications depending on what was going on. For example, an email to my work address would result in a green LED notification, Gmail blue, Hotmail yellow and so on. Without having to unlock the device or even pick it up, I could have a sense of what it was notifying me of. In an always connected society, this was very handy.

My issues with BlackBerry devices started around the time the 9810 came out. Everyone knows that RIM (Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry devices), are falling behind and have not been leading anyone in hardware lately. This isn't that big of an issue to me, I mainly use my phone for messaging, not gaming. However, releasing a device with almost all of the same specs as the under powered 9800, within a year of its release? That was a bit of a slap to the face. To me that says "ok, we get it, the Torch was too under powered. Our bad. Here's another model. It looks the same, feels the same, but has better hardware and runs much smoother." So basically, I'm now stuck with the under powered 9800 for another two years (you've gotta love Canadian mobile providers and the classic three year contract). This doesn't bode well considering RIM essentially just released a device that is what mine should have been to begin with.

RIM Vs. Apple

In my opinion RIM should have released the original 9800 with more competitive hardware from day one. Releasing an updated version with virtually no updates except better internal hardware within one year normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. Apple has been doing it quite successfully for some time now. The main difference is that when a new iPhone comes out, it's near top of the line in terms of hardware. There really isn't a NEED to update every year. There is definitely a WANT, Apple is good at creating the want, but they provide a solid piece of hardware year in and year out. The best way to illustrate my point is by comparing the BlackBerry Torch 9800 to the 9810 and the iPhone 4 to the 4S. For this I will turn to GSMArena.

Blackberry Torch 9800.
Released: August 2010,

Memory: 4 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: VGA, 24 FPS.
Processor: 624 MHz

Blackberry Torch 9810.
Released: August 2011.

Memory: 8 GB storage, 768 MB RAM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: Yes, 720p.
Processor: 1.2 GHz

Releasing a brand new devices in 2010 with a CPU below 1 GHz was very disappointing. So was a lack of 720p video. However, being a fan of physical keyboards and the BlackBerry OS, I let those things slide.

Less than 1 year later, the new model comes out, and the CPU has been doubled. It runs BB OS 7, something the original Torch will not be able to do due to it's inferior hardware and has 720p video recording. Which, again, should have been included on the 9800. I'm not sure, but I don't think the optics have been changed, I think the 9810 just has the horse power to handle 720p video.

Now let's have a look at the iPhone 4 Vs. 4S.

iPhone 4
Released: June, 2010.
Memory: 8/16/32 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: 720p@30fps
Processor: 1 GHz Cortex-A8

iPhone 4S:
Released: October, 2011.
Memory: 16/32/64 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Camera: 8 MP.
Video: 1080p@30fps
Processor: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9.

Looking at the iPhone 4 to 4S we can see that Apple kept the RAM (Memory) identical. The display is the same. The two big things with the iPhone 4S in terms of hardware is the dual core CPU and the new 8 MP camera. It also shipped with iOS 5. So the shiny new dual core processor is quite the upgrade, I guess that means the iPhone 4 won't be able to take advantage of iOS 5 right? No, as the iPhone 4 still has very capable hardware, it is quite easily up-gradable to iOS 5, in fact iOS 5 launched before the iPhone 4S!

This illustrates a very different mindset between Apple and RIM. Apple are constantly innovating, tweaking and advancing there devices, while still designing software that will run on older models as well as the current one.

Another smart decision Apple has made is to keep the iPhone line simple. Every year we get one new iPhone. Well, usually one new iPhone and a repackage 99 dollar version of it's predecessor.

RIM is all over the place with devices, we have Curves, Pearls, Bolds, Torches's. The devices differ in design and specs.If someone walks into a store and asks for a BlackBerry the decision can be a bit daunting. Believe it or not, but RIM is actually getting a bit better at it now then in the previous generations. Older BalckBerry devices could ship with either WiFi, GPS, or both. Now most of RIM's devices have WiFi and GPS built in, but still there is a lot to consider when buying one. Most consumers won't know the difference between a Bold or a Curve as the form factor is almost identical.

When going into a store to get an iPhone it's a much different experience. Do you want the latest top of the line model, which of course will cost a bit more, or last years model which cost a bit less?

All this to say, I was feeling a bit annoyed by the hardware that was put into the Torch only to have a new model all but make it obsolete within a year. So I decided to get an iPhone 4S.

Using iPhone

So far I'm pleased with my decision, but there is a lot to get used to going from one device to another. Some of the things that make this switch particularly hard and frustrating is how locked down the iPhone is, others, just things that the BlackBerry does better than iPhone out of the box.

A few quick examples:

Podcast. You would think that considering the "pod" in "podcast" comes from the iPod, that iPhone would be the clear winner over BB when it comes to listening to podcasts on device. Not the case. I'll discuss this further down.

Sounds.  I'll discuss sounds a bit more later as well.

Notifications. Having an LED for notifications, specifically one that can display different colors for different notifications is extremely convenient. For example, a missed call could blink blue-red, blue-red. That would rank much higher than a new Hotmail message (blinking orange LED).

Touch Screen Typing. A physical keyboard will always win to non tactile touch screen typing. Always.

Video Playback/Support. Being able to copy an .avi file encoded with DivX or XviD over to your device using Windows Explorer and without trans coding it to another file type is very nice, and something I miss. I'm still jealous of all the iPhone users that scored a copy of VLC that time it was available.

iTunes. There isn't anything I can single out. All of it is terrible. Why I can't use Explorer or Finder to transfer files to the device is beyond me.

Those are a few of the big ones. Sound being the biggest. Sound is actually a very annoying thing with an iPhone. 

Here is a small issue between how BlackBerry and iPhone differ with sounds. Being able to use .mp3 files as sounds for alarms and notifications. This is something I took for granted. Yes, you can use iTunes to convert .mp3 files to the appropriate format for the iPhone, but that is such a pain in the butt compared to just selecting an .mp3 file whenever you feel like it. For example, deciding to change the song your morning alarm will play just before going to bed. On a BlackBerry that's a few taps of the screen. With iPhone that would involve converting the song I want to use into a ringtone, connecting the iPhone to the PC and transferring that ringtone over using iTunes, and then changing it on the iPhone.

Here's a bigger issue. The iPhone doesn't have sound profiles. You have physical ring / vibrate toggle on the side. That's it. Here's why that's lame. I use my phone a lot. I would say my usage is probably split up as follows, messaging (IM / SMS / Email) 80%, Other (Games, Camera, Apps) 18%, Phone 2%. I hardly ever use the iPhone as a phone. However, that being said, when a call comes through on the iPhone its probably important. that's why when I go to sleep I would set my BlackBerry to the "Phone Calls Only" sound profile. It does what the name implies, only makes a sound for incoming phone calls and alarms, nothing else. With the iPhone I can either leave all sounds off, or set it to vibrate (which can be just as annoying).

This is probably the biggest sound issue I have with the iPhone and this one is an actual design flaw on Apples end. It plays sounds when I'm on the phone. This is incredibly annoying and doesn't make any actual sense. If I'm using it as a phone, the odd's are pretty good I want to listen to the person talking on the other end, not hear beeps and songs to notify me of this or that. One recent example of this is I had an appointment to have a plumber come over to look at a leaky sink. The plumber called at 8 AM and I was sleeping. I missed the call but called him back immediately. As I was talking to him and letting him know I was home, the voicemail that he had left came through and my phone began to play my new voicemail tone so loud I couldn't hear the plumber over the sound of the ringtone.

"Wow, that's really annoying, I'll just go and turn that off so I won't receive sound alerts while I'm on a call", I thought to myself. After inspecting the Sounds and Phone screens from Settings, I can confirm, there is no way to change that.

Podcast. Here's another area BlackBerry excelled in comparison. Getting podcast via iTunes is very easy and straight forward. But I really do not have the time to Sync with iTunes every morning and every evening to get all my new podcasts through the day. I want them to download directly to my iPhone via WiFi. No problem, I'm sure you can do that via iTunes on the device right? No.The first App I will talk about (in a separate post as this one is already miles long) will be Downcast, a great alternative that works much better than the client built into the BalckBerry, but it is a paid application.

As far as notifications go, it is what it is. The iPhone will turn on the screen and show you a brief notification pop up, but that's a far cry from having a persistent LED let you know whats going on. You can easily identify the LED notification from across a room, not so with the screen turning on and briefly displaying a mini notification. There is no real work around here as the iPhone doesn't have a colored LED. I am aware that you can have the LED flash in the accessibility options but that again is largely useless as the LED is far too bright, monochromatic and on the back of the device which is normally pointed directly at the table or desk or whatever surface my device happens to be laying on.

I don't want to come off as hating the iPhone. It's a terrific device in a lot of ways. For one thing, the camera on the 4S is amazing. This was one of the main reasons I bought the iPhone 4S and it hasn't disappointed. 

General performance and ease of use are big things with the iPhone. Apple is known for making devices with easy to understand and use interfaces that just work and the iPhone may be the greatest example of that.

Twitter integration is another nice feature of iOS 5. Gaming, something that the first Torch will never be able to be competitive at due to it's lack of hardware alone. Apps. As any iPhone user quickly learns, an integral part of the iPhone experience is Apps. The iPhone ships with all the standard ones, but you will quickly find yourself in the App Store searching for more of them to enhance the experience. I have quickly become an app junkie and download new ones daily. I've also become fairly addicted to gaming on the iPhone. I like quick bite sized games that I can play for a few minutes at a time. I've decided to write about some of the apps and games that I use quite often so expect more posts to come in the next few days.

Summary

I feel both devices have a lot going for them. I still like the feel and use of a BlackBerry, but I feel RIM is in trouble. I think consolidating there device line up and focusing on better hardware would go a long way to getting them back in the game. BlackBerry's are extremely efficient at messaging and still have the best physical keyboards around in my opinion. Getting QNX integraged with BlackBerry 10 and support for Android Market Place could very well make RIM a big player again. As it stands right now, with so many different models and the lack of app support, I think I'm going to stick with my keyboardless iPhone for now anyway.

*I would also like to point out that I am aware that iPhone and BlackBerry aren't the only types of devices out on the market. I've spent time with all of them. I've used an X10 for a while, a Samsung Focus and I've tested countless other devices including ones running Windows Mobile, Symbian, Bada and WebOS. Out of the big ones (Anroid, BlackBerry OS, iOS and Windows Phone 7 (Mango)) I like BlackBerry and iOS the best, I'm also comparing the devices I've spent the most time with. This isn't meant to be a piece about market analysis or mobile phones in general, just my own personal experience.

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.