List of Useful & Free Software Programs

[Zelig]

Start Menu Organizer
This lets you organize the start menu into categories (they provide some for you, but you can add and delete as you wish.) Good if you have 500 programs. Hasn't been updated in a while, but it does work decently. A keeper!

Why would anyone need 500 programs?

I have around 40 installed, maybe 20 more that I'd use given the right circumstance, and I do far more with my computer than the average user.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, 500 programs was a very huge exaggeration for humor. More like 50, maybe.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I have all my most used ones on the quick launch bar, which is another perk of a high-res monitor. You can have the taskbar be 2x tall and it would still leave lots of screen space.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have most of my frequently used programs either on desktop or in folders on desktops (e.g. a folder called "Media Players.")

 

[Zelig]

I have all my most used ones on the quick launch bar, which is another perk of a high-res monitor. You can have the taskbar be 2x tall and it would still leave lots of screen space.

Fun tip for Vista:

Windows key + numbers 1-9 opens the respective program/app from the quick launch.

Now I just need some sort of window management where I can scroll through Windows with 1 key, like I scroll through tabs in Opera...

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Good tip, but that requires more effort than clicking on the icon does. Plus apps 1-9 are the ones I use most and majority of them are already set to start on boot.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I tried that and a bunch of programs popped up on me.

 

[Zelig]

Good tip, but that requires more effort than clicking on the icon does. Plus apps 1-9 are the ones I use most and majority of them are already set to start on boot.

Doesn't really require more effort if you've already got a hand on the keyboard...


Why put apps on the quicklaunch if they're all opening on boot anyway?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Sometimes I close out IM programs so people don't IM me in the middle of a gaming session. (Invisible doesn't work.)

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Sometimes I close them, sometimes I want to open a new window. Sometimes they dont actually start on boot or have some problems like Folding at Home. if you will look, you'll notice my quick launch bar has two F@H icons which are the 2nd and 3rd CPU clients I run. Sometimes they have problems with Machine ID's and I need to manually start them. Same goes for Firefox, Thunderbird and etc.

Sometimes I close out IM programs so people don't IM me in the middle of a gaming session. (Invisible doesn't work.)

have an annoying auto-reply set that spams like 500 lines of smilies. People learn fast that Busy means Busy

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Vista Games Explorer Editor
Link 1 Link 2
Lets you edit games in the Vista Games Explorer. Useful for adding boxshots to more obscure games, or editing stuff.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Does anybody know a decent free screen capture program with good audio (captured from sound card) and the ability to select a single window? CamStudio gave me this awful "farting" noise and I haven't found anything else.

Just quoting this in case it was missed. I looked at Fraps, but that's a shareware with a watermark, and can only record for 30 seconds (if I understood it right)

Googling fails to find anything.

EDIT: Checked the MajorGeeks site (which is pretty good, if you ask me). Found the last freeware version of FRAPS!!!!

 

[Zelig]

Vista Games Explorer Editor
Link 1 Link 2
Lets you edit games in the Vista Games Explorer. Useful for adding boxshots to more obscure games, or editing stuff.

I tried this program, not worth using.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I tried this program, not worth using.

Maybe not to you, but there's several features I like, so it's a keeper.

Another one: DiskInternals Zip Repair (scroll down). I remember using this when ZIP files got corrupted. Works well.

 

[Zelig]

Maybe not to you, but there's several features I like, so it's a keeper.

Except the features don't work properly with a reasonable amount of effort.

 

[El Koeno]

Considering it was last edited over two years ago, I think it's safe to say it is not being maintained....

I see that. But why is it still stickied then? The unknowing visitor to this corner of the interweb might mistake this list for an up-to-date state-of-the-art uber list. Which it definitely could be (almost), by the way. There's a lot of info in this thread, but having to search the entire thread kind of defeats the purpose of having such a thread in the first place; you're better of just searching the entire web.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I tried this program, not worth using.

I don't think everyone is smart enough to know how to edit the registry.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I can edit the registry, but prefer to avoid it.

 

[[KC]Bantams]

is strange that www.civ4fans.com isnt mentioned once

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

is strange that www.civ4fans.com isnt mentioned once

Looks interesting

IrfanView, nice free image viewer which can also load partially corrupted images

BadPeggy, which can find partially corrupted images and tell you exactly what's wrong with them. I used this when my backup DVD got scratched and I used a program to pull them all off but I didn't know which ones were corrupted or not.

If you use a lot of photos, there's some stuff here. I'm not sure how much is *actually* freeware but there is some there. Enjoy!

Also good software here and here.