List of Useful & Free Software Programs

Status
Not open for further replies.
Does anybody know a free program similiar to Copernic Agent Basic (it's a thingy that searches several engines at the same time and shows you) that has more search engines? Unless you upgrade, Copernic only lets you have like 15.

p.s. for information, heres link:
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/agent/
 
Thank you very much. :)
 
Yes, I've used Dogpile before.
 
Some useful freeware:
(I apologize for the format of the post, if its a problem, and for any repeats. I read through the thread to keep repeats to a minimum, a lot of good ones posted already. The spoiler descriptions are mostly copy+pasted from the respective sites.)

AutoHotKey
(recommend)

Spoiler :
AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can:

* Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.
* Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.
* Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw" can automatically produce "by the way".
* Create custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details.
* Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
* Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.
* Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.
* Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed.

Getting started might be easier than you think. Check out the quick-start tutorial.


Launchy
(recommend)

Spoiler :
Launchy is a free windows and linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.

Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!


Samurize

Spoiler :
Samurize is an advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. IT professionals, overclockers, gamers and desktop modders alike use Samurize for system information, weather reports, news headlines and much much more. And best of all, Samurize is 100% free!

Samurize's rich feature set includes:

• an unrivalled set of built-in meters (Disk utilization, CPU usage, network traffic, system temperatures...)
• ultimate customizing and skinning possibilities with no programming knowledge required
• monitoring your own computer or others over a network
• tiny memory footprint and CPU usage
• the first system monitoring tool with a true WYSIWYG editor
• full extensibility via scripts and plugins with a powerful plugin SDK/API
• minimal software requirements (no .NET or Service Packs necessary)
• multimonitor support
• many usage options (desktop, taskbar and clock clients, server outputting to XML or image formats, screensaver)

Samurize: The Only Limit Is Your Imagination.


Restoration

Spoiler :
Restoration is an easy to use and straight forward tool to undelete files that were removed from the recycle bin or directly deleted from within Windows, and we were also able to recover photos from a Flash card that had been formatted. Upon start, you can scan for all files that may be recovered and also limit the results by entering a search term or extension. In addition, it also provides the option to wipe the found files beyond simple recovery. The program is small and standalone, it does not require installation and can also run from a Floppy disk. Restoration works with FAT and NTFS as well as digital cameras cards.

Pros: Standalone, no install needed

Cons: Limited recovery capabilities works with many but not all deleted files; simple interface lack user friendly features


Advanced-SystemCare-Free
(I recommend this, I use it all the time)

Spoiler :
Slow down, freeze, crash, and security threats are over. Advanced SystemCare Free is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes a one-click approach to help protect, repair, and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. All work will be done with 1 click and 1 minute. Compared with its nearest competitor, Advanced SystemCare Free provides the more essential and practical formula for Windows: Removing Spyware and Adware, Preventing Security Threats, Privacy Protection, Fixing Registry Errors, Temporary Files Cleanup, Startup Cleanup, Repairing Windows, Speeding up System and 1-click Mechanism.


ImgBurn

Spoiler :
ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!

It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:

* Read - Read a disc to an image file
* Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc
* Write - Write an image file to a disc
* Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
* Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.

You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.

It supports Unicode folder/file names, so you shouldn't run in to any problems if you're using an international character set.

ImgBurn supports all the Windows OS's - Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 2008 (including all the 64-bit versions). If you use Wine, it should also run on Linux and other x86-based Unixes.

It's a very flexible application with several advanced features that are often lacking in other tools, especially when it comes to burning DVD Video discs. It supports all the latest drives without the need for updates (including booktype / bitsetting / advanced settings on many of the major ones - i.e. BenQ, LiteOn, LG, NEC, Plextor, Samsung, Sony).

There is an image queue system for when you're burning several images (which you can automatically share between multiple drives if you have more than one) and an easy-to-use layer break selection screen for double layer DVD Video jobs. The Automatic Write Speed feature allows you store your favourite burn speed settings on a per 'Media ID' basis, right down to a drive by drive level. Data captured during the burn (write speed, buffer levels etc) can be displayed / analysed using DVDInfoPro.

Whilst ImgBurn is designed to work perfectly straight out of the box, advanced users will appreciate just how configurable it is.

Oh and let's not forget the best thing about it.... it's 100% FREE ;-)


Weird Metronome

Spoiler :
Weird Metronome is a metronome program that uses the computer's MIDI hardware (sound card) to play its sound. This program is very configurable. You can define any length measure up to 1,000 beats with any beat emphasis you choose. More than fifty percussion instruments are available, and up to nine can be used at a time in a given measure definition. You can save and load your settings under as many presets as you like. All this and more in a tiny little download of only 18K.


DVDShrink

Spoiler :
DVDShrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc.

DVDShrink will also burn your backup DVD, if you have installed the latest version of Nero. You can also download a demo version of Nero here. If you already possess alternative burning software and prefer to stick with it, then you can still use DVD Shrink. The output from DVDShrink can be saved as files on your hard drive, which you can then burn with software of your choice.

DVDShrink is free software. You should never pay for DVDShrink.


Handbrake

Spoiler :
The free, cross-platform HandBrake makes ripping DVDs to a bevy of useful, playable file formats a cinch, with support for iPods, PSPs, Apple TVs, PS3s, and pretty much any other format your device requires. It's fast, free, and takes the difficulty out of both ripping and transcoding. (original post)


Songbird
(some people think this will be the itunes killer, but its still to early to tell, needs to be developed some more)

Spoiler :
Songbird is an open-source customizable music player that's under active development.

We're working on creating a non-proprietary, cross platform, extensible tool that will help enable new ways to playback, manage, and discover music. There are lots of ways to contribute your time to the project. We'd love your help!

There are several features we're proud of, but we'll be the first to admit that others need ironing out, are experimental, or are just plain missing. There's still a lot to do.


Revo Uninstaller

Spoiler :
Revo Uninstaller helps you to uninstall and remove unwanted programs installed on your computer even if you have problems uninstalling and cannot uninstall them from "Windows Add or Remove Programs" control panel applet.


CDBurnerXP

Spoiler :
CDBurnerXP is a free authoring software for Windows. Despite its name, CDBurnerXP works with Windows Vista, 2000, 2003 Server, and XP; it also burns to CD and DVD, including HD and Blu-ray. It's got a small footprint, and like most of the other options, burns data discs, audio CDs, and ISOs without a hitch. CDBurnerXP is light, fast, and free, requires .NET 3.5.


Mozilla Sunbird
(recommend)

Spoiler :
Mozilla Sunbird® is a cross-platform calendar application, built upon Mozilla Toolkit. Our goal is to provide you with full-featured and easy to use calendar application that you can use around the world.


InfraRecorder

Spoiler :
InfraRecorder is a free, open-source CD and DVD burning application for Windows. InfraRecorder covers almost any of your optical needs, including support for burning disc images, copying discs, creating quick audio CDs, writing video DVDs, erasing discs, and more. InfraRecorder is lightweight and decidedly bloat-free, and it's even available as a portable app you can carry on your thumb drive to satisfy your burning needs no matter where you are.


Glary Utilities
(not personally tried, but heard good things)

Spoiler :
Glary Utilities offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. It allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Furthermore, Glary Utilities includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder.


FileMenu Tools

Spoiler :
FileMenu Tools allows you to customise the context menu of Windows Explorer. And it lets you:

* Add some built-in utilities that perform operations on files and folders.
* Add customised commands which run external applications, copy/move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.
* Configure the "Send to..." submenu.
* Enable/disable commands which are added by other applications to the context menu.


ISO Recorder

Spoiler :
ISO Recorder is a tool (power toy) for Windows XP, 2003 and now Windows Vista, that allows (depending on the Windows version) to burn CD and DVD images (DVD support is only available on Windows Vista), copy disks, make images of the existing data CDs and DVDs and create ISO images from a content of a disk folder.

ISO Recorder has been conceived during Windows XP beta program, when Microsoft for the first time started distributing new OS builds as ISO images. Even though the new OS had CD-burning support (by Roxio), it did not have an ability to record an image. ISO Recorder has filled this need and has been one of the popular Windows downloads ever since.

With an advent of Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 the version 2 of ISO Recorder has been released, which introduced some new features including ISO image creation and support for non-admin user.

Finally, in Windows Vista it became possible to address another long-standing request and provide DVD burning capability.

Since the very beginning ISO Recorder has been a free tool (for personal use). It is recommended by MSDN download site along with Easy CD and Nero and is used by a number of companies around the world.


RK Launcher

Spoiler :
RK Launcher is a free application that will allow the user to have a visually pleasing bar at the side of the screen that is used to quickly launch shortcuts. With support for themes, PNG's and ICO's and with smooth amazing animations, RK Launcher is a versatile and great taskbar replacement.
 
Does anyone know of a freeware alternative to something like eBoostr?

Apparently you can add more RAM to you system with a flash drive.
 
For doing simple editing (cropping) I found Avidemux works well, good quality and speed. No problems either, as if with a few others. (Windows Movie Maker would crash a lot and doesn't have the best quality. I only use it for videos I'm gonna upload, cause YouTube has low quality anyways.)
 
Saw this one on Lifehacker yesterday:
http://www.inkscape.org/ -- a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator, it can do most things that AI can. Plus there's a free FLOSS manual for it.
 
This is pretty neat -- you can sometimes get the files out of an installer. It's cool for testing for portability. I've tried it -- it works!
http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=641

Does anybody know a freeware which lets you create autorun CD menus like the ones you see on Open Source CDs? Thanks.
 
RogueRemover -- it's good for removing rogueware (fake antiviruses and spyware removers) which pop up every 15 seconds to buy the full version:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/rogueremover.php

The PRO version has realtime protection, but I doubt you'd need that unless you're a risky surfer.
 
winLAME -- to transcode media files to MP3 and a few other formats i forgot.

Although it's in alpha (and apparently not gonna be updated -- 3 years?) I've had no problems with it.

http://winlame.sourceforge.net/
 
MagicISO

It's a CD/DVD emulation software, and you can make ISO image (bootable ones too) with it.

The differences between it and Daemon Tools is that MagicISO's installer doesn't try to sneak crapwares onto your computer, and that it is absolutely free - so it's fine to use in office too (Daemon Tools is not free for commercial use).
 
HWINFO32 -- tells you what hardware you have. The Windows version is free, the DOS version costs. http://www.hwinfo.com/
 
Not sure if it's been added here before.

DriverMax

Spoiler :
Note: DriverMax only works on Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2003 (all service packs). Driver downloads are *only* available for Windows Vista and Windows XP users.

DriverMax is a new tool that allows you to download the latest driver updates for your computer. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Just create a free account, log in, and start downloading the updates that you need.

You can also export all your current drivers (or just the ones that work ok) to a folder or a compressed file. After reinstalling Windows you will have everything in one place!

Most of the situations when Windows is running slower are caused by faulty driver installations. Windows stores all versions of older drivers just in case you want to go back; sometimes it messes up older versions with more recent ones. The Export Wizard will only export the drivers you select by copying the needed files to a folder or a compressed ZIP file.



After reinstalling Windows all drivers will be back in place in less than 5 minutes - sparing you of searching, inserting disc after disk and losing precious time. The Import Drivers wizard allows you to install all the drivers that you exported earlier. The entire operation might take up to 5-10 minutes.



Just one single computer restart will be required after all drivers are reinstalled!



DriverMax is able to display a complete report of all drivers (versions, release dates) installed on your system. This feature can also be very useful when you want to analyze the differences between the drivers installed on different machines.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom