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General Conversation => Anything Goes => Topic started by: Jason on August 31, 2007, 10:14:47 PM

Title: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on August 31, 2007, 10:14:47 PM
I was just thinking to myself how there's tons of great freeware / shareware out there that I love to use.

What FREE software are you running that you think everyone should use (or at least know about)?

For me, it would be:

Zonealarm firewall

Grisoft AVG

Easy Thumbnails (by Fookes) if you need to resize lots images easily

KeePass (I was just referred to this earlier this week and am LOVING it)

MediaMonkey and Winzip for audio

Winrar for archiving/extracting zip/tarred files

Azureus for torrents

What am I missing?  :)
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Knu on September 01, 2007, 08:08:06 AM
A couple of obvious ones:

Ad-aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Spybot - Search & Destroy: http://www.spybot.info/en/download/index.html

This trojan scanner (A-Squared) is probably worth having too: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

I use Avast Virus scanner. It has been infinately more reliable than McAfee, and I found it easier to use than other free virus scanners. I've been using it for a few years, and it has never let me down: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Mishenka on September 02, 2007, 10:43:23 AM
Well, don't know if this applies or not.

I use photoshop alot on my laptop, but my desktop is too slow.
I started using "The Gimp" It's not as demanding, but has most features. and best part, it's free!

http://www.gimp.org/

***Windows installer found here:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Knu on September 02, 2007, 03:15:14 PM
Thanks for that. I was about to search for freeware for manipulating images for my members. I vaguely recall Gimp, now that you posted the link. :)
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 02, 2007, 08:36:13 PM
Quote from: Mishenka on September 02, 2007, 10:43:23 AM
http://www.gimp.org/

Thanks!  I have Gimp installed on another computer and forgot to list it here.  Excellent open source software!
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: mcooper06 on September 13, 2007, 11:26:38 PM
For Windows admins.. NsHookup.  It's a graphical version of nslookup and I use it all day long.

http://www.netstrap.com/residns/nshookup.htm
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 15, 2007, 11:26:36 PM
Quote from: mcooper06 on September 13, 2007, 11:26:38 PM
For Windows admins.. NsHookup.  It's a graphical version of nslookup and I use it all day long.

Bookmarked -- thanks!
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Mishenka on September 18, 2007, 10:28:59 AM
'nother graphics one that is simpler, yet works great.

GetPaint.NET (http://getpaint.net/)
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Mark on September 19, 2007, 10:34:52 AM
A good free 3d program is Blender. It's actually very good for being free, but the UI can be intimidating.

www.blender.org
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: CountryLady on September 19, 2007, 07:20:41 PM
Full Featured "OFFICE" software from OpenOffice.org

A multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project.
Compatible with all other major office suites, free to download, use, ...
http://www.openoffice.org/

Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 19, 2007, 07:26:30 PM
Quote from: CountryLady on September 19, 2007, 07:20:41 PM
Full Featured "OFFICE" software from OpenOffice.org

Nice.  I have O.O installed on my linux box at home and have been meaning to install the "Windows" version on my other pc for testing.

I just read about how IBM is going to be adding developers to this project.  There's concern that since Sun oversees O.O that there may be a problem down the road...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9037499

Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Mark on September 20, 2007, 11:16:25 AM
I use OpenOffice on my computers that don't have MS Office, which is 2 out of the 3 and it's seems to be right up there with MS Office. The only thing I don't like is that the built in PDF converter makes files 8-10 times the size that Adobe Acrobat will do. I understand that the converter in OO is not made by Adobe, but they could at least try to get the file size smaller. :(
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: itsjustme on September 20, 2007, 05:51:06 PM
You know, IRFANVIEW is really a cool little program.  There are so many things you can do with it, mass name change, mass file type change...in addition to the regular photo stuff. 

It amazes me that this program is around, for free.

Dave
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on September 20, 2007, 09:38:10 PM
QuoteI use OpenOffice on my computers that don't have MS Office, which is 2 out of the 3 and it's seems to be right up there with MS Office. The only thing I don't like is that the built in PDF converter makes files 8-10 times the size that Adobe Acrobat will do. I understand that the converter in OO is not made by Adobe, but they could at least try to get the file size smaller. :(

Have you tried Cutepdf Writer?  It is free - I use it for PDF creation in print.

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on September 22, 2007, 03:05:28 PM
PageDefrag
Here is one that I like to use - just does what it says it does - defrag the pagefile (from Sysinternals/MS - for those of us who like to organize the locked file)

http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PageDefrag.zip (http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PageDefrag.zip)

Snadboy's Revelation
This one shows the letters under the asterisks (hidden passwords) - Great for those of us who have users who can't remember the passwords, but you need to do a reinstall. (or when you forget your own - blushing):

http://www.snadboy.com/RevelationV2.zip (http://www.snadboy.com/RevelationV2.zip)

NotePad ++
This one is a descent editor for HTML/PHP/Java etc.  If anyone knows of one better, I'm always up to try another! :)

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm)

Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 23, 2007, 11:55:08 AM
Quote from: akheir on September 22, 2007, 03:05:28 PM
NotePad ++
This one is a descent editor for HTML/PHP/Java etc.  If anyone knows of one better, I'm always up to try another! :)

I love this thread!!

I also have notepad++ installed.  Very nice though I don't use it as much as I probably should.  I bought a paid version of NoteTab Pro  (www.notetab.com) several years ago and have that set as my default editor.  I haven't ever compared the two programs to see which is better...
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on September 26, 2007, 03:07:20 PM
Does anyone know of an open-source flash creator?
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 26, 2007, 05:40:52 PM
Haven't played with this, but here's a web-based applet.  I doubt I'd personally use it but the fact they created the ability to do this in a browser is amazing:

http://antimatter15.110mb.com/Animator/html/ajaxanimator-compressed.php

(http://osflash.org/ajaxanimator)

After a reasonable search, it doesn't look like there is much in the open source creator arena unless you're looking to do it through code vs. a local gui.

Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on September 27, 2007, 07:12:23 AM
Quote from: Jason on September 26, 2007, 05:40:52 PM
After a reasonable search, it doesn't look like there is much in the open source creator arena unless you're looking to do it through code vs. a local gui.

I have been searching for a while, but even when it is listed as 'open source' almost all software packages are actually at best shareware, requiring you to purchase if you want to save!  :) (at all, without watermarks, etc.)

The problem with online systems is that they are very slow.  I waited 11mins for the link you have to load.

I must be missing something, but shouldn't there be an alternative?
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on September 27, 2007, 08:34:59 AM
The only package that comes to mind is Swish and it's still a paid alternative.  (It's cheaper but still paid).
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Mark on September 27, 2007, 10:20:54 AM
SWiSH is starting to get a lot more expensive, but it's shaping up to be a VERY nice alternative to the real Flash though. They just released SWiSH Max 2 (http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=products&product=max) and it's currently going for a release special price of $120 (normally $150), though that's still not bad at all considering how much Flash CS3 costs!
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on January 02, 2008, 08:32:25 PM
Does anyone know of a free fdisk undo utility?
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on January 02, 2008, 08:59:49 PM
Quote from: akheir on January 02, 2008, 08:32:25 PM
Does anyone know of a free fdisk undo utility?

To retrieve "deleted" files?

Any of this useful?  http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: akheir on January 02, 2008, 09:43:06 PM
Quote from: Jason on January 02, 2008, 08:59:49 PM
To retrieve "deleted" files?

Any of this useful?  http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/

Actually, to recover deleted partitions by a disgruntled employee. I was at the above link, but they only have pay products.


Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Finner on January 03, 2008, 12:35:37 AM
Some gamers might find Pakscape useful

http://files.filefront.com/PakScapeexe/;1323402;/fileinfo.html

useful for editing pk3 or pk4 files
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: Jason on January 09, 2008, 08:31:16 PM
Not sure why I didn't come across this earlier but here's SMF's version of this thread with an extensive listing by category:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=44017.0
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: dania on January 20, 2008, 01:58:52 PM
Possum and everyone else,

If you alreay have Swishmax then you can buy Swishmax2 as an upgrade - cheaper for ya.

Some free dl

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/

:D
Title: Re: Essential freeware everyone needs...
Post by: dania on January 24, 2008, 04:39:32 AM
Firefox is the bees knees at Jason's forums...

I.E..argeeeeeeeeeeeee... >:( >:(