List of Useful & Free Software Programs

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If you're running Windows and maintain backups, you will likely find this useful: Synctoy, a free sync utility. I've found it helpful.

[end public service announcement]
 
Although it's not a program, here's a couple file management tips from Microsoft. Some good ideas here, although most of them are obvious (e.g. keep backups):
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/productivity/files.aspx

EDIT: If you have Vista, here's some registry things that will let you change the settings of some of them. I tried the Bubbles one, pretty neat:
http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/ind...windows-vista-screensavers-by-registry-hacks/

Another edit: Vista screensavers for XP! (Also, even if you don't have XP, it also has the registry entries to edit to configure it.)
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/10/download-windows-vista-screensavers.html
 
Some computer fun (as I wasn't sure where to put this):

1) If you have XP, open up the narrator options. If you have Vista, download Speakonia and the Microsoft Sam voice (scroll down). Now try some of these phrases:
a) My roflcopter goes soi soi soi soi soi soi soi soi soi soi soi at 1337 miles per hour.
b) My roflsprinkler goeststststststststststststststststststststststststs.
c) Enjoy the soy sauce.
Apparently, "crotch" is supposed to sound like "crow's nest" but it doesn't work on mine.

2) Create a batch file with this:
Code: 
:home
start notepad.exe
goto :home

DO NOT RUN IT FOR MORE THAN A FEW SECONDS. It even slowed down my computer!

3) Or this, which shuts down Windows:
Code: 
shutdown -s
Put it on a non-geeky friend/family's PC and create a shortcut on the desktop. Change the shortcut's name/icon to look like a familiar program.

4) In VLC Player, you can make videos do really cool things. Tools > Effects and Filters > Video Effects. Theres a bunch of tabs there, just enable anything you want and mess around. Then when you're done turn it off. I like to mess with the colors, turn the video upside down, and use the "Puzzle Game" thing. But for some reason the effects don't show up if you take a screenie :(

Now, to make this post not completely off-topic, here's some useful software sites:
http://alternativeto.net/desktop -- You can type in program name and get alternatives (both free and not)
http://www.osalt.com/ -- Same thing except open-source.
http://www.linuxalt.com/ -- Linux alternatives to Windows programs.
http://linuxappfinder.com/ -- More Linux progrraeems.
http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html -- Apparently this can break through tough internet filters. I haven't tested it yet, so use at own risk.
http://www.eolsoft.com/freeware/flash_movie_player/ -- I couldn't get Media Player Classic or VLC to play a SWF file (from school), so I tried this. It's less than a megabyte and works well.
 
A trick for Vista that I found often works:
If with your games you often have UAC problems, instead of installing the games in Program Files put in C:/Games. It helps quite a bit, plus its more organized.
 
aimeeandbeatles said:
A trick for Vista that I found often works:
If with your games you often have UAC problems, instead of installing the games in Program Files put in C:/Games. It helps quite a bit, plus its more organized.
Click to expand...

You can also simply right-click the installation file and then click "Run as Administrator".
 
aimeeandbeatles said:
A trick for Vista that I found often works:
If with your games you often have UAC problems, instead of installing the games in Program Files put in C:/Games. It helps quite a bit, plus its more organized.
Click to expand...

If a game has issues with being in Program Files, its generally not a well designed game. UAC has problems with software modifying contents of Program Files. If your games trigger that, it means they're doing something they shouldnt be. Instead, any modifications ( settings, saves, etc) should be going to App Data.
 
It looks like this tool would be useful for resizing images or avatars to fulfill certain filesize requirements.

RIOT

Spoiler :

RIOT key features:

* open multiple graphic file formats by looking first at the magic number (it does not need file extension to recognize format)including support for uncommon images types (up to 128 BPP, integer and floating point. EX: hdr images, 16 bit grayscale, etc). Adaptive logarithmic tone mapping algorithm (Drago) used for HDR images
* save and optimize JPEG, GIF and PNG with a simple, clean user interface
* works in dual view: (original – optimized image) or single view (optimized image). Automatic preview of resulting image
* in-place compare function (alternativelly display the original image over the optimized image to notice small pixel changes)
* compress files to desired filesize threshold
* fast processing (all is done in memory); see instant results including resulting filesize
* decide if you want to keep metadata (comments, IPTC, Adobe XMP, EXIF profiles, ICC profiles). Unsupported metadata is removed
* transfer metadata between image formats (destination format must support them)
* common tools: pan and zoom, rotate, flip
* resize image by using well known resample filters (ex: Lanczos3, Catmull Rom, Bicubic, and others)
* the compression and the results are comparable to those of commercial products.
 
Actually, irfanview can already make avatar-sized images. It has a plugin that allows you to force a max size. The only problem is that irfanview seems to have issues with saving transparency.
 
I can't believe Chrome isn't on the list. I refused to switch to Chrome before because it lacked an Adblock but now I have found Adsweep. I'm finding that Chrome + Adsweep > Firefox + Adblock.
 
I think Chrome is in this thread somewhere. It just isn't in the OP, because it hasn't been updated in a LOONG time :)
 
Instantbird just came out with another release. It's a multi-protocol IM client, comparable to Pidgin, and it is affiliated with Mozilla.
 
So its essentially another lightweight, browser-app oriented linux distro? No thanks.
 
Ninite

Ninite is a cool new service created by two programmers in San Francisco who believe that installing software shouldn’t require work. It’s simple to use and has a large selection of popular freeware and open source applications. Just pick the apps you want to install, download the Ninite installer, then walk away and do something fun while it does all the work for you. The service installs the software with default settings and says “no” to any extra crapware (like browser toolbars) the installers might try to sneak in. Ninite isn’t even installed on your system, you just use a stand alone executable to begin the install process.
Click to expand...

Looks like a good software pack, kinda like Google Pack.
 
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