Author Topic: Favorite freeware (Read 6949 times)

aoi tsuki · « **on:** June 23, 2003, 08:03:38 PM »

i posted this thread on another site and i think it would be useful here as well.

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.

TOY · « **Reply #1 on:** June 23, 2003, 08:23:55 PM »

Heres a page of freeware, most have been posted by aoi tsuki, but there is a cool one that can convert just about anything. Feet to inches, standard to metric and a LOT of other stuff. FREEWARE

TOY

ThePerm · « **Reply #2 on:** June 23, 2003, 08:45:28 PM »

my favorite freeware is microsoft gif animator and aim

manunited4eva22 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 24, 2003, 10:58:13 AM »

Which linux are you into? Lately I have been messing with slackware linux and it is pretty damn good.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #4 on:** June 24, 2003, 05:00:26 PM »

Heh. I was talking with the Aussie population on MSN the other day, and it seriously SHOCKED me when they claimed that Trillian was g4y next to MSN. I was pretty much speechless after that. I couldn't figure out what could possibly be better about MSN... The larger memory footprint... the impossible to turn off MS bullcrap... the complicated uninstall process... I just couldn't believe that otherwise rational people would turn away Trillian!

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.

Uncle Rich AiAi · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2003, 03:11:36 AM »

Yeah, I know, these crazy Aussies (well, except me). I use Trillian. Never have used MSN (my aim is to be as MS-free as I can be!). I love Virtualdub. Great for editing movies, however, when I attempt to capture, I don't get the audio.

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!

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2003, 07:17:29 PM »

Firebird is still in beta, and there ARE bugs. However, I don't consider any of the bugs to be a serious problem, as my browser rarely crashes, and when it does, the bug is usually fixed in a nightly build within the week.

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.

Termin8Anakin · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2003, 01:37:26 AM »

I have ICQ, MSN, Winamp 2 (best one ever), WinZip, WinMX and Windows Media PLayer.
I tried Trillian, Kazza, and Mirc, but I just can't get into them.

Does that mean I'm pro-M$?
Hell no.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2003, 01:24:47 PM »

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.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #9 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.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2003, 02:50:12 PM »

Ummm... for #2 I can say that SoundForge XP does a good job of that. There's a trial version that lets you play with all kinds of stuff, and it does show the waveform graphs of the 2 channels side by side. You can't save in the program, but I know that you can save by playing the converted sound, and saving it with Windows Sound Recorder. I was playing with some of my audio the other day, and I was saving using that method. It's a bit of a pain, but it works fine.

For #1, I have no clue. I always do that manually.

Uglydot · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2003, 11:14:01 AM »

I have been using slackware for some time now. It is the only OS on my own computer presently. Use abiword for word stuff, xmms for music as well as xine/mplayer for movies. I have been enjoying the OS quite a bit. Windows is still useful, however, and I may put it back on soon for the ease of compatability. Winex3.1 helps with compatabillity, but it doesn't run that much(hl at above 60 fps though(-: )

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2003, 11:17:53 AM »

I never get much use out of my Mandrake partition to be perfectly honest. I can get by on it just fine though... until I want to play a PC game. Emulators and crap work just fine in Linux, but there's some things that I miss when I am using it, such as my game collection. I want to be able to throw Silent Hill or Shadow of Destiny in the drive, and go to town.

Uglydot · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2003, 11:47:43 AM »

Yeah, a lot of newer games are having support, but you just can't beat the support for windows. I have maybe 8 FPS games installed on my slack paritition that I play with friends. Luckily, I don't really play pc games all that much. I personally hated Mandrake and found that I really didn't learn much with it, but to each his own.(-:

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #14 on:** June 27, 2003, 03:09:49 PM »

hey, don't want to sound dumb or anything, but i am. i'd like to know what linux is (operating server, right)and its pros and cons.

Uglydot · « **Reply #15 on:** June 27, 2003, 04:35:30 PM »

Linux is an OS based on unix. It is quite secure and really meant to be a server OS. It is slower than windows as a desktop os, but if you get a couple people all accessing the same thing on one machine and see who is faster(-: It is extremly cutomizable. If you want it to do something, there is likly a way to do it. If you want it to look a certain way, you can do it. There is definatly less support for linux, but much of it is open-source and free. Games are slowly comming along. I have found linux to be much better at managing ram and such, games close and open faster(sometimes run better too) although is you use something like KDE, you will see that it is slower than windows in the general operation of things. I use fluxbox for the speed and love it(gotta have some experience with the command line though). I love how the OS works, but windows is definatly useful. You can always try it, free downloads at www.linux-iso.org. Popular distros are Mandrake, Red Hat, slackware, gentoo and debian. Mandrake is decidely easier than many others. www.linuxquesions.org has a lot of information on the boards as well.

Uncle Rich AiAi · « **Reply #16 on:** June 28, 2003, 04:15:26 AM »

I installed Linux Red Hat 7.1 on my old computer over a year ago to try it out. I gave up after I couldn't get the internet connection to work.

Uglydot · « **Reply #17 on:** June 28, 2003, 10:52:01 AM »

Took me some time to find modem drives for my winmodem but eventually got them from linuxant.com. Broadband connections are easy, since NICs are well supported.

NintendoKiD · « **Reply #18 on:** June 29, 2003, 09:14:28 AM »

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?

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #19 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++.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #20 on:** July 13, 2003, 07:28:20 AM »

Man, this is certainly my day to be bringing back old topics.

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.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #21 on:** July 15, 2003, 09:34:19 PM »

OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) has a business card template. i used it last Sunday to print some cards out for my mom. Overkill just for cards, but it's the only thing i know of off-hand that does cards.

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.

vudu · « **Reply #22 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.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #23 on:** July 16, 2003, 06:53:35 AM »

Meh. It doesn't hurt me in the slightest if you feel the need to use an inferior browser.

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.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #24 on:** July 16, 2003, 01:35:05 PM »

Last time i used Opera, it was free and not ad-supported, so i'm sure it's improved a lot since then. The only thing i can think of that Firebird definitely does better is in speed. It renders pages *very* quickly, and it even loads a hair faster than IE. But it's not like you have to switch, just try it and see. It doesn't even need to be installed.

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.

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Author Topic: Favorite freeware (Read 6949 times)