List of Useful and Free Software v2

[Mise]

If VirusTotal says it's clean, it's clean, to any meaningful degree. Stop being pedantic...

 

[GVBN]

B-b-b-but it's CLOSED SOURCE, WINDOWS software!! It must be malware, well they can't fool me! Lunix4lyfe

 

[Takhisis]

Pah, Lunatix.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Anybody know a small program that can make graphs and charts? (Preferably where you can pick the colors and stuff.) Installing OpenOffice just for that feature seems like overkill.

 

[GVBN]

http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/chart_playground.html

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I found this. Subtitle Editor.

There is also another program with the same name but it's GNU/Linux/*BSD.

Both are free/open source.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I found this. It looks interesting.

 

[PeteAtoms]

Does anybody know of a free single-pane outliner other than Tkoutline? I looked at Ume Outliner (found via Google) but it's a preview edition and when I looked at the download page it heavily implied that it would be shareware.The other results in Google weren't so great (shareware, Macintosh, or not single-pane. Also lots of blog entries about Ume.).

I found a program called WikiPad a few days ago, and it looks pretty good. Basically, you can make an offline wiki. So the uses are pretty broad. You can organize your ideas, projects, journals, etc.

 

[PeteAtoms]

I tried out Clonezilla recently, and have had success with it. I've successfully restored my computer's hard drive twice now with backup images. I recommend it.

Some other disk imaging software that look good:
DriveImage XML
Macrium Reflect FREE Edition

I haven't tried those two, but if Clonezilla hadn't worked, they would have been my next options.

 

[wabatt]

I like handbrake useful for making video ipod compatiable

and Malwarebytes awesome anti viruis scans. No annoying pop-ups... im looking at u MacAfee. CNET recommened so u can be sure its not harmful.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Handbrake is pretty good, but I use Xvid (AVI files), so I prefer AutoGK.

You can't prove that.

You can't prove it isnt clean.

Just because you havent had problems...

B-b-b-but it's CLOSED SOURCE, WINDOWS software!! It must be malware, well they can't fool me! Lunix4lyfe

The site had been compromised (I emailed the webmaster). Now it's clean so I will link to it:
http://www.tolon.co.uk/software/notekeeper/

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Another DVD authoring program -- AVStoDVD. Trying it out now.

 

[GravityWave]

Another DVD authoring program -- AVStoDVD. Trying it out now.

Technically a GUI for lots of programs by the looks of things?

I've personally stopped using video DVDs, and if I stick anything on a DVD its an MKV. Guess it all depends upon how you watch your content, but I've replaced enough video DVDs that I'll be glad when the format is dead and buried with everything being digital downloads.

For my video needs, I use the AVS (Avisynth) part of the above, plus x264, and MKVToolNix.

 

[GravityWave]

Another DVD authoring program -- AVStoDVD. Trying it out now.

Technically a GUI for lots of programs by the looks of things?

I've personally stopped using video DVDs, and if I stick anything on a DVD its an MKV. Guess it all depends upon how you watch your content, but I've replaced enough video DVDs that I'll be glad when the format is dead and buried with everything being digital downloads.

For my video needs, I use the AVS (Avisynth) part of the above, plus x264, and MKVToolNix.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Technically a GUI for lots of programs by the looks of things?

Yeah, it is. The first time I tried it I got a blank video stream, it was all black. Then I tried a different encoder and it worked.

I like DVDs because I have a small portable DVD player which can play both NTSC and PAL. It has a battery so when the power goes out (which is a bit common where I live) I can watch it. At least until the battery runs out.

 

[GoodGame]

This is a really neat painting simulator. You can import an image, and trace it as if you were painting, or just use it as a general guide.

Art Rage v.2.5 http://www.artrage.com/

Edit: Check the demos. There's a "starter edition" for v.2.5 without a time limit license. Basically you don't get all the bells and whistles, but it's still fun enough to use to create some art projects.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

This is a really neat painting simulator. You can import an image, and trace it as if you were painting, or just use it as a general guide.

Art Rage v.2.5 http://www.artrage.com/

Looks like it costs money

 

[PeteAtoms]

Only free for today, Paragon Drive Backup Professional, found out about this offer via Lifehacker.

Also, Mechwarrior4: Mercenaries was released as a free version today.

Since both of these things are recently released, I haven't been able to get the pages to load properly. I think it's because of a huge amount of traffic Hopefully sometime today I can get em

 

[f35acepilot]

There's a file syncing/backup service I use called Dropbox. It's definitely the easiest one I've tried. What it does is it creates a folder in your documents folder (or anywhere else you want it). When you drag files into it, it uploads them to the dropbox server so you can access it online, and if you install the program on other computers it will automatically sync the files through the internet. It's very useful. A free account gets you 2 GB of space.

 

[GoodGame]

Looks like it costs money

Check the demos. There's a "starter edition" for v.2.5 without a time limit license. Basically you don't get all the bells and whistles, but it's still fun enough to use to create some art projects.