Post by: aoi tsuki on June 23, 2003, 08:03:38 PM
Freeware is usually devoid of the glutton brought on by commerical apps, and is often written by an individual who saw a need for a program and wrote it themselves. Several times i've tossed a few dollars to the programmer if i liked the program. Below is my list of favorite freeware. Linux aside, everything should run on Windows 98 or later.
Linux -- The most popular alternative OS, with worldwide support and a massive library of free software. Learning curve is a bit steep for many.
OpenOffice -- Microsoft Office replacement; works very similarly. Saves to an XML-format by default, but is directly compatible with most versions of Office apps.
Winamp 2.9x -- The most widely-supported MP3 player ever -- it plays just about every format known to man. Does it even need an introduction?
Zonealarm -- a free, easy-to-use, software firewall. Essential for anyone connected to the internet.
Firebird -- Lightning-fast browser; still in beta (try Mozilla for a more stable alternative.)
Irfanview -- The Winamp of image viewers; has some limited image editing features as well.
Spybot-S&D/Ad-Aware -- both remove spyware/adware, SSB does a bit more and removes more than AA.
UltimateZip -- Winzip replacement; works almost exactly the same. Built-in RAR support.
Burnatonce -- Simple but effective program used to burn CDR/RWs. Works very well with BIN/CUE/ISOs and supports overburning.
Wallpaper Changer -- Supports BMP/JPG/GIF/PNG, smart resizing, and a few other nifty features. The best wallpaper changer i've ever used.
Zoom Player Standard -- Plays more formats than Windows Media Player, loads faster. BS Player is another good alternative.
Y'z Dock/Mobydock/Objectdock -- PC clones of the Mac OSX dock. Mobydock and Objectdock do more, but Y'z Dock runs better on more machines. All are XP only.
X-Fonter -- Quickly preview fonts, compare them, print out sample sheets, etc. An indispensible tool for designers.
Trillian -- AIM/MSN/ICQ/Yahoo/IRC all in one client.
SharpE -- Replaces the Windows shell; good for when you want a new look for Windows. Make sure to read the docs before installing if you've never installed a shell before.
These are programs i either use frequently, or have used frequently in the past. There's a few others programs i've started using that i may add to the list if they're up to par. Please feel free to add you own, with a short synopsis of the program. If it requires anything outside of Windows 98/XP, please note it in your synopsis.
Post by: TOY on June 23, 2003, 08:23:55 PM
TOY
Post by: ThePerm on June 23, 2003, 08:45:28 PM
Post by: manunited4eva22 on June 24, 2003, 10:58:13 AM
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 24, 2003, 05:00:26 PM
Anyways, on that list, I would like to say that I am using, and I HIGHLY recommend the following:
Winamp 2.9x (DO NOT get Winamp 3)
Zonealarm (effective... if firewalls are your thing)
Firebird (BEST browser ever made)
Trillian (better than all the programs it replaces combined)
AdAware (personally, I tend to live with the spyware, but it's a good program.)
Linux Mandrake (I lost my root password though...)
Irfranview (it has it's uses.)
Adding to that list:
virtualdub (great video editing software)
leechFTP (good FTP software)
dev c++ (good C++ compiler and IDE)
But yeah... that's all I can think of right now.
Post by: Uncle Rich AiAi on June 25, 2003, 03:11:36 AM
I don't know why.Question - about the web browser Firebird. Does it put a burden on the system like IE and Netscape do? Because I want a browser that won't crash Eudora (the lastest IE version is causing the problem) and would like to get rid of IE. Yeah, I know it's built in, but litePC software will do the trick!
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 25, 2003, 07:17:29 PM
Firebird makes up for any shortcomings with its speed. IE cheats, by loading up some of its required files when you boot your computer. When you load IE, it really just has to open a window, and do a bit of initialization. Firebird loads completely from scratch, and clobbers IE when opening a new window. It doesn't stop there. Firebird is faster when browsing, and has a MUCH smaller executable than IE, leaving a very much smaller memory footprint.
In appearance and function, Firebird is remarkably similar to IE, but includes extra features, such as tabbed browsing, and a simpler interface.
In short: Firebird is both fast and small. It is my preferred browser. The ONLY thing I use IE for when I have internet access at home, is for FTP access when I am too lazy to install a real client.
Post by: Termin8Anakin on June 26, 2003, 01:37:26 AM
I tried Trillian, Kazza, and Mirc, but I just can't get into them.
Does that mean I'm pro-M$?
Hell no.
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 26, 2003, 01:24:47 PM
Post by: aoi tsuki on June 26, 2003, 02:26:57 PM
Quote
Which linux are you into? Lately I have been messing with slackware linux and it is pretty damn good.
Actually, i'm not using Linux at the moment. i haven't used Linux consistantly for a couple of years. i've had a need to run Adobe and Macromedia programs and it just didn't make sense to have it on my box when i knew it would only use it to tinker with. But now that i've got the time (and a second machine), i'll use it alongside my XP machine. Eventually, the Linux box will be a firewall/file server. i still haven't decided which distro to use, but i'm leaning towards Mandrake or SuSE. i'll give Slackware a try though.
i'm looking for two pieces of freeware. If anyone knows of anything that might fit the bill, please name it (and link if you can) and i'll Google it up. i'll even take a Linux release; there's always a chance that a Windows port is in the works.
First is a CD cataloging program. It needs to catalog contents of CDs (file listings at least), read contents of ZIP files as well as ID3 tags, and save/export database to HTML or XML
Second is a video or audio editiing program that can display stereo waveforms. i have some old videos that are in stereo, but the stereo separation's not too great, and i'd like to glance and see which ones i could convert to mono without much loss. AFAIK, Virtual/Nandub doesn't have any plugins to do this by default.
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 26, 2003, 02:50:12 PM
For #1, I have no clue. I always do that manually.
Post by: Uglydot on June 27, 2003, 11:14:01 AM
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 27, 2003, 11:17:53 AM
Post by: Uglydot on June 27, 2003, 11:47:43 AM
Post by: KnowsNothing on June 27, 2003, 03:09:49 PM
Post by: Uglydot on June 27, 2003, 04:35:30 PM
Post by: Uncle Rich AiAi on June 28, 2003, 04:15:26 AM
Post by: Uglydot on June 28, 2003, 10:52:01 AM
Post by: NintendoKiD on June 29, 2003, 09:14:28 AM
Kazaa 2.1 (2.5 is so horrible, Kazaa 2.1 is the only good p2p around IMO)
What do you program Linux with? Is it hard to learn? I'm starting to learn programming (Starting with Visual Basic) I'd love to get rid of my crappy WindowsME and put Linux on here...does it work with no programming and just leavining it the way it is?
Post by: Grey Ninja on June 29, 2003, 11:02:21 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: NintendoKiD
Mozilla
Kazaa 2.1 (2.5 is so horrible, Kazaa 2.1 is the only good p2p around IMO)
What do you program Linux with? Is it hard to learn? I'm starting to learn programming (Starting with Visual Basic) I'd love to get rid of my crappy WindowsME and put Linux on here...does it work with no programming and just leavining it the way it is?
That's like asking what you program Windows with. It's an operating system. Nothing more. If you know how to program, fine. If you don't, then you can still install it in the exact same way you would without that knowledge.
I am sure that this is completely unrelated to what you wanted to know, but I am pretty sure that Linux was coded in C. Windows was coded in C++.
Post by: Grey Ninja on July 13, 2003, 07:28:20 AM
Anyways, now that I have internet access, I need to ask a few questions.
Business Card Maker Personally, I could care less about business cards. I don't have a business, and if I did, I wouldn't create spam to hand out to people.
However, my Dad is sold on the idea, and I promised my Mom I would find her a good business card making program. My first thought was Photoshop of course, but she doesn't like that as the interface is too difficult to use, and it doesn't have the option of printing to a sheet of business cards in the menu. I am sure that something could be done about that, but it seems that Photoshop is out of the question as my Mom doesn't have much computer skill. So I am looking for a program that is both easy to use, and has print templates for various different business card sheets that are bought in stores.software NIC crossover Not even sure if something like this exists, and I don't have the know-how to program it myself. If someone knows of a program that can cross an ethernet cable in software, I would be most appreciative. Basically, what I intend to do is eventually channel my GameCube's planned broadband adaptor through my NIC using a standard Cat 5 RJ-45 cable, and use my computer as a gateway to access the internet. I don't really have much desire to buy a crossover cable, as I have plenty of cables already. Just a matter of convenience really.
Post by: aoi tsuki on July 15, 2003, 09:34:19 PM
If you already have MS Word installed, try Avery's free templates: http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=software.BlankTPLHierarchy&catalogcode=WEB01&node=0. Come to think of it though, every version of Word i've used in the past five or so years has Avery card templates built in.
Post by: vudu on July 16, 2003, 06:43:41 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Grey Ninja Firebird (BEST browser ever made)
what's so great about firebird? i currently use opera, and am perfectly happy with it.
you need to convince me to switch.
Post by: Grey Ninja on July 16, 2003, 06:53:35 AM
My philosophy on that is that you can't help those who won't help themselves. Aoi, thanks for the tip. I will definately check that out.
Post by: aoi tsuki on July 16, 2003, 01:35:05 PM
Grey Ninja, also try sites like www.nonags.com and www.freewarehome.com. Nonags > Freewarehome - bigger library (or so it seems) and they rate software.
Post by: KnowsNothing on February 16, 2004, 07:15:52 AM
Anagram Artist
This program is pretty old (long before this thread), so I bet a bunch of people already know about it. But for those who don't, and anagram is a word or phrase that is made out of the letters of another word or phrase. For example, my name (Eric O'Brien) can be mixed up to spell "ironic beer." That one isn't so good, but two I love are CardBoardBox's name (Alex Hoy) can be mixed up to spell "Holy Axe" and "Infernal Monkey" can spell "Freaky Melon Inn."
It took me a while to figure out how to use this program. First, you choose your word/phrase you want to start off with and type it into the top box. AA will then show you every word it can make using those letters, and yuou can choose what part of speech to show (ie: only nouns, only verbs, etc. very useful). Then, you choose a word from the list and enter it into the bottom box, and AA will then form another list using only the remaining letters. If a word on the list appears in ALL CAPS, then you know that if you use that word you will have a complete match, letter-for-letter, of the original word/phrase.
It's just a nifty little program I happen to enjoy.
Post by: Bill Aurion on February 16, 2004, 10:30:15 AM
That sounds about right...
The one I could come up for mine is "alibis will mask"
Post by: vudu on February 16, 2004, 11:18:41 AM
wait...what's that you say? winzip isn't freeware?
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on February 16, 2004, 03:20:39 PM
Post by: aoi tsuki on February 16, 2004, 07:52:43 PM
Post by: Ocarina Blue on February 16, 2004, 09:12:41 PM
Nobody has mentioned The GIMP yet, and it is arguably the best image editing program available. Once again, it's Widows port is less than perfect.
FreeBSD is a decent OS as well. It's generally not as widely used as Linux - which essentially just changes the kernel. It's decent, but it's userbase certainly suffers from the overshadowing Linux.
Lastly, Wings 3D and Blender are both excellent modeling programs.
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on February 16, 2004, 11:38:03 PM
Quote
mine is winzip.
needs more winrar!
Also, I second ad-aware to the extreme.
DC++ is a great app, too, if you know a cool group that runs a hub.
Post by: manunited4eva22 on February 17, 2004, 03:11:12 PM
Post by: Uglydot on February 17, 2004, 04:48:37 PM
Post by: Ness_the_Mess on February 18, 2004, 04:18:20 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Grey Ninja
I didn't say that you were pro-MS. I just said it shocked me. It's like someone saying that they prefer country to metal, or prefer Zelda II to Zelda: Wind Waker. It's just a complete defiance of conventional logic.
It's like someone saying that they prefer country to metal, eh? Well, if music that takes a day to write, is loud, crude, obnoxious, generally swears too much for its own good, and destroys the 'musician's' vocal cords is attractive, then I suppose you have a point. Not to say I like country, either, though.
Post by: KnowsNothing on February 18, 2004, 04:46:13 PM
Anyway, please not the winky-dink face at the end of his post. And please respond with something relevant, since Grey's post was made on June 26, 2003.
Post by: Bill Aurion on February 18, 2004, 05:21:35 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ness_the_Mess
Well, if music that takes a day to write, is loud, crude, obnoxious, generally swears too much for its own good, and destroys the 'musician's' vocal cords is attractive, then I suppose you have a point. Not to say I like country, either, though.
No, that's "Grundge" or whatever...Stuff like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath is the REAL metal...
Post by: ib2kool4u912 on February 20, 2004, 08:41:03 AM
Post by: Shift Key on February 21, 2004, 04:01:43 PM
