Cool Free Software

[dar512]

I don't think we have a thread going for this. This thread is for cool open-source or otherwise free software.

I'll start. One of the first things I do when setting up a new machine is to download better screen savers.

Really Slick Screensavers have some really impressive ones that show off the better graphic processors in newer machines.

[glatt]

Firefox
web browser

Thunderbird
e-mail

Audacity
turn vinyl (or anything) into cds or MP3s.

irfanview
basic picture viewer that does easy resizing

the GIMP
basically identical to photoshop. Very advanced.

Google Earth
detailed maping of the whole world

sketchup
free CAD style designer

[Pie]

PSPad (programming editor)
Bluefish (programming editor)
FileZilla (ftp tool)
Foxit (free pdf reader, without the adobe bloat and vulnerabilities)
CutePDF (allows 'print to pdf' capability)
VLC Player (media player)
Cygwin (Linux-like environment for Windows)

Second Irfanview
Second FF/TB
Second Audacity

[Flint]

I use Irfanview, like, every day.

[Crimson Ghost]

Firefox
Irfanview
Audacity
Xmplay - music player
Deep Burner - CD burner
FileSieve
PDFCreator
Bulk Rename Utility
ePrompter - email checker*
PopTray - email checker*
PostAssistant - Usenet posting (Usenet? What's that?)
Xnews
Defraggler
Belarc Advisor


* Some accounts won't work on ePrompter

[Undertoad]

Linux

[mbpark]

PuTTY - Free SSH/Telnet/Serial Client
WinSCP - Free SFTP client
FileZilla - Free FTP/SFTP client
TrueCrypt - Open Source drive encryption, including boot drives!
VLC - best video player out there
Cygwin - Free unix-like shell and X server
Firefox - my favorite web browser

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by mbpark

PuTTY - Free SSH/Telnet/Serial Client
WinSCP - Free SFTP client
FileZilla - Free FTP/SFTP client
TrueCrypt - Open Source drive encryption, including boot drives!
VLC - best video player out there
Cygwin - Free unix-like shell and X server
Firefox - my favorite web browser

Questions/Comments/My List:

Can you provide some examples of what PuTTy is used for? Or is it one of those 'if you have to ask, you don't need it' kind of things?

True Crypt is a little scary. Is there a guide to make using it a little more straightforward. I worry that I'll encrypt my stick and then never be able to access it again.

I like VLC. A lot. But the sound quality is average at best. Foobar's DSP add-ons are far better but Quintessential Player's iZoTope Ozone DSP add on is the best sound quality I've ever heard - even better than my registered version of Nero.

Here are some less widely known apps I think are worth checking out:

Samurize desktop configuratorizorthingamajig. Not for everybody but allows unlimited potential for desktop customization. It even takes text files and displays them as part of the desktop which is a lifesaver for me - I use it to make my toDo list part of my desktop. Check out the user configs - some are amazing.

Portable Apps for your USB stick: Many apps already mentioned are available as USB apps that run off your USB drive. I'll highlight one in particular: Toucan file synchronizer. May not be the best in class but for me, its elegance is its simplicity.


Fiddler: Web debugger - a Swiss Army knife of intarweb utils including a URL snooper. Unfortunately, it only runs on IE.

Duplicate Finder: I dunno about you but I have duplicates of duplicates. This program will find them even if they have different names! And, if you want, it'll delete the dups. A lifesave for us packrats.

Q10: When you just want to focus on writing something and want the rest of your computer to leave you alone, Q10 to the rescue.

FolderICO: Some days, I couldn't find a fly in a bowl of milk. For me, there's folderICO - make folders different colors.

Scaleable fabric: Your desktop will never be the same.

Sysinternals Suite: Be the master of your domain.

Unlocker: For when you absolutely, positively cannot delete a file.

Rainlender: Desktop calendar.

And, saving the best for last...

RoboForm: The grandaddy of password managers. On a USB stick. It automatically logs you in to any site and has its own bookmarks for login sites. I have run out of superlatives for this one.

[Sperlock]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Questions/Comments/My List:

Can you provide some examples of what PuTTy is used for? Or is it one of those 'if you have to ask, you don't need it' kind of things?

Yes, pretty much. If you don't need to login to the command line/shell of another computer or server, you probably don't need it.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by Beestie

True Crypt is a little scary. Is there a guide to make using it a little more straightforward. I worry that I'll encrypt my stick and then never be able to access it again.

I'm not sure about a guide.. I expect there's one around here somewhere. But, for each encrypted device or container file, there's a header . You can extract that container information and save it to a file. If you ever need to reset the password (to whatever it was when you made the header backup) you can restore the header info and use the old password.

Of course, this assumes you'll know the old password . . . .

Originally Posted by Beestie

I like VLC. A lot. But the sound quality is average at best. Foobar's DSP add-ons are far better but Quintessential Player's iZoTope Ozone DSP add on is the best sound quality I've ever heard - even better than my registered version of Nero.

I'm going to check it out just to see if I hear a difference! I'm not much of an audiophile.


I'd second many of the recommendations made so far. One I'd add that's not software... but you can get an email certificate for free from Thawte. It doesn't certify your identity (just that you're in control of the email address you register), but it's good enough for many personal uses.

[Pie]

Originally Posted by Sperlock

Yes, pretty much. If you don't need to login to the command line/shell of another computer or server, you probably don't need it.

Though you can use it for vpn tunneling -- useful behind firewalls.


Don't ask me how, I never got it to work.

[Meursault]

[except for nlite, everything mentioned here is freeware, portable, and written to the win32 api]

nlite http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html
nlite's purpose is to customise windows before you install it. you copy your source files from disc to hard drive, use nlite to modify those files, and then you have a set of files that will install windows your way, every time. if you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing. this is the single best enhancement to your windows 'experience' i can think of.

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explorer.exe is a dual-purpose binary that supplies the file manager your are familar with as "My Computer", AND provides the user interface you see as your desktop, taskbar, etc. when it is first run it checks to see if there is another instance running, and if not, it creates a desktop etc for you. if Yes, it open as a file manager. if you replace each of these functions with different software, you don't even need to have explorer on your drive.
there are a number of shell replacements out there, some portable some not, some popular some not. many are smaller and more efficient than the one explorer provides. if you'd like to look into this, you can start at a place like http://shellcity.net/ or you can just google something like "windows shell replacement".
there are also a number of file manager replacements.

http://www.primitus.us/a43/
A43 file manager. it's not the one i use daily, but it's the one to have around for the low-resource environments as it'll run anywhere and do a lot.

http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm
xplorer2 lite. dual-pane file manager. this is the one i actually use.
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx
autoruns. this is a program to manage windows startup. "msconfig" is for noobs. this is much better. one of many tools by mark russinovich, who could fairly be considered the Guru of Gurus in the windows world. His 'Process Explorer' http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx is another must-have. its purpose is to replace windows' TaskManager with something that gives you a little more control.
Russinovich wrote a lot of interesting and useful things, so i'd definitely suggest checking them all out. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s...s/default.aspx .
These used to be hosted at his site Sysinternals.com but were bought out by microsoft a few years at ago. a condition of the sale was that ms swear not to change his code, so the tools should still work fine. but they _did change the license agreement (still freeware tho), and if that bugs you (i never even read it), you can download the last versions available from before the sale at http://court.shrock.org/sysinternals/.
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ShutDown Pro http://www.nonags.com/software.asp?id=2955
one-click instant shut down killing all processes etc...
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Killbox http://killbox.net/ kinda fits in here. it's purpose is to delete files that are giving you the "cannot delete file in use" error. between this, process explorer, and autoruns, you can get rid of most trojans if you know what you're looking for.

and speaking of trojans: Clamwin http://www.clamwin.com/ is a portable av that'll run from a flash drive or even a bart cd. and although it's not as reliable as the best avs out there, it's damned good, and the only portable one i'v seen
antivir http://www.free-av.com/en/trialpay_d...antivirus.html is a good resident av, tho not portable. it keeps up with most of the commercial offerings tho.

and speaking of bart: once you have gathered together all the little portables you want, it's good to keep a copy on a bart cd so you can use them in recovery scenarios. bart pe http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ uses your windows source files to build a cd that will boot into a bare-bones copy of windows, allowing access to downed machines. and if you have some nice portable recovery progs included on your bart cd, well, cool....
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comodo http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/d..._firewall.html
software firewall +. noobs hate the popups, but this thing will lock down your computer. besides basic firewall, this thing has modules to monitor access to resources, spawned processes, etc. for those who dont know about secpol templates and adm files, it's a solid fix
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there are a lot of notepad replacements. if you'd like something with a lot of features, it's out there. this is just a very small and simple one i use: http://liquidninja.com/metapad/
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agent ransack. http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/
searches drives for files according to criteria simple or sophisticated. gives contextual results and allows immediate access to found files.
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windirstat http://windirstat.info/
the purpose of this one is to figure out what's taling up the most space on your drives. i use it when i'm looking for virus footprints or just doing cleanup. after scanning drives it spits out both list and graphical representations that let you jump right to the most clogged locations.
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Clone Spy http://www.clonespy.com/
add any location or series of location and check for duplicate files by name, crc, size, whatever. can also use it to build a crc list of files from a given drive and check other drives against the list, thus not needing to have all drives present or plugged in.
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DirLister http://dukelupus.pri.ee/dirlister.php
spits out a list of the contents of a location in either text or html, including only the informaton you choose.
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flexible renamer http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014...lish/FlexRena/
point it to a folder and it will allow you to add, remove or replace any given string from filenames, change dates or attributes, and recurses subfolders. best of its kind if you need such a thing
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7zip http://www.7-zip.org/
although winrar is the only non-freeware thing i use, and i cannot bear to switch, 7zip is a flexible and comprehansive piece of freeware and many swear by it
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InstallSpy http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html (waaay at the bottom of the page)
this one tracks changes made during an install. i use it to make installer programs portable (though ironically i had to make this one portable first). often, if you're installing something and it copies some ddls to the win32 dir, maybe makes a config file in Profiles, u can copy these thing to the program directory, make a copy, uninstall the program, and then run the copy as a portable. always useful.
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aklog http://www.myplanetsoft.com/free/antikeylog.php (requires a stupid email addy -_- didnt used to)
this is an anti-keylogger, useful for when you're on a public windows kiosk or something, and dont want want your passwords stolen. intercepts clipboard too i believe
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i'm not including a clipboard replacement on this list because the one i use is an oldie called ClipTrak from PCMagazine, and you can't get it now without registering
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regprot http://diamondcs.com.au/freeutilities/regprot.php
tiny program that monitors for changes in only those registry keys that decide what loads with windows startup. minimalist protection against persistent trojans
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neutron. http://keir.net/neutron.html
very simple prog to sync your computer's time with online time servers.
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DependencyWalker http://www.dependencywalker.com/
"Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more."

[Meursault]

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regeditpe http://regeditpe.sourceforge.net/
this is a small program meant to load a remote registry you point it to. it's rather limited, but perfect for having on a bart cd if you need to remove some startup entries from the registry of a hosed machine.
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ADSSpy http://www.merijn.nu/programs.php#adsspy
find and remove unwanted alternate data streams from an actual gui. this is the same guy who made 'hijack this', so he might have something else useful too....
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Restoration http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
scans for deleted files and restores them to another drive. also removes file records afterward, so is good for cleaning (if you have the time)
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Recuva http://www.recuva.com/
another good one for recovering deleted files
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Banshee screamer http://www.hanovsolutions.com/?prod=alarm
alarm clock. lets you set multiple alarms, each able to trigger a wav/mp3 of your choice. one of many, but i liked it better than the others. needs its own volume control tho
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Unknown Devices http://www.halfdone.com/Devedlopment/UnknownDevices/
queries firmware in various devices to find out chipset identification. useful for working on those old machines you cant find drivers for. there are other similar progs, but this one is small and clean and updated frequently.
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Dirms http://www.dirms.com/home/download/dirms_cl.asp
command line defragger. it's all i use regularly
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uTorrent http://www.utorrent.com/
tiny and efficient bt client. becomes portable once you copy files from Profiles dir to program dir.
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Firefox
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kMeleon http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/
another web browser. smaller footprint than ff, and very customisable.
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OffByOne http://offbyone.com/offbyone/
TINY browser. won't render fancy pages, but it worth having around for really low-resource environments or to quickly test basic connectivity
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FileZilla http://filezilla-project.org/
decent ftp client
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Pidgin http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/pidgin_portable
multi-protocol chatter. handles yahoo, msn, etc.
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httrack http://www.httrack.com/
steals webpages for offline viewing
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hfs http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/
direct puter-to-puter file sharing via http.
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xNews http://xnews.newsguy.com/
free newsreader that handles binaries
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Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
powerful (tho not completely 'intuitive') audio editor.
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dvd shrink http://www.dvdshrink.org/
backup and re-author dvd files. removes most copy-protection
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GordianKnot http://www.autogk.me.uk/
for ripping dvd to avi
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cd-ex http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
clean free portable cd ripper
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deepburner http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download
cd burner almost as good as nero. but free (i still need nero to work with custom boot sectors tho)
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GimpPortable http://portableapps.com/apps/graphic.../gimp_portable
yes, THAT gimp. windows version. portable. may not seem handy if you're used to photoshop, but it'll do the same stuff, for free, once you get used to it.
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DiskInvestigator http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/dskinv.html
"Disk Investigator helps you to discover all that is hidden on your computer hard disk. It can also help you to recover lost data. Display the true drive contents by bypassing the operating system and directly reading the raw drive sectors. View and search raw directories, files, clusters, and system sectors. Verify the effectiveness of file and disk wiping programs. Undelete previously deleted files."
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media player classic http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
simple. patterned after windows media player, circa 1997. vlc's much more flexible, but some people like having this around just because of the interface.
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g-spot http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
if you can't play a particular video, this will tell you what codecs it needs
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vlc http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
having this removes the need for codecs. if vlc won't play it, i just delete it.
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irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/
small viewer and light editor for graphics files
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xnview http://www.xnview.com/
another lightweight viewer/editor. some ppl prefer this to irfanview (not me tho)
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mwsnap http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
screen capture prog with good options. i used to use it to make windows tutorials. it'll snap whatever window or part of window you want, then let you place a cursor in the resulting image...
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nvu http://www.net2.com/nvu/
full-featured wysiwyg html editor
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foxit reader http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
small portable pdf reader
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jj mp3 renamer http://software.jensjj.dk/uk/mp3renamer.html
mass-change mp3 tags
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unstoppable copier http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29
one of many roadkil programs great for recovery discs. browse the site, collect em all.
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vdub http://www.virtualdub.org/
captures video, writes to avi
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winamp http://www.winamp.com/
there are lots of audio players out there. this is still the king
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crapcleaner http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=885
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ds http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulif...ezip/freeware/
like the sysinternals and roadkil links, this is one that might have several things for you. this guy's all about encryption. browse away....
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HD Hacker http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/
backs up and restores mbr
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megairc http://ironfist.at.tut.by/megairc.htm
tiny irc client with enough features to get by
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mp3dc http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html
cut mp3s quickly without resampling
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mp3gain http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
"Tired of reaching for your volume knob every time your mp3 player changes to a new song?
MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.
MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear.
Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding."
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music file merger http://www.sofotex.com/Music-File-Me...ad_L60174.html
batch-merge mp3s quickly without resampling or (usually) fucking up the tags
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command prompt portable http://portableapps.com/apps/utiliti...rompt_portable
cmd prompt with portable comspec, runs on any windows you put it on, runs any prog cmd.exe will
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uniextract http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
"Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it's a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package...."
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viewchmPE http://www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugin_D.../View-CHM.html
if you remove internet explorer with nlite, you'l need this to view chms
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SUPER http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
"Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer --SUPER © does for FREE what other encoders CAN'T do for money."
do-everything video converter
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HiNetRecorder http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Hi-Net_Recorder
grabs streaming video off the web. there may be better progs for this. let me know....
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MediaCoder http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/
another ok video converter
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annnnd, this oughtta be enough to keep you guys busy for a while....

[Meursault]

annnd i may now be the first person besides possibly tiki to exceed the 10k word limit on a post. AND i'm a post whore for making THIS post. i rock

[Crimson Ghost]

Hey, Meursault, do you know of any cool free software?