essential freeware

hi, yogishree. i know diddly about graphics programs, sorry. they'll be able to help you if you ask in the Paint Shop Pro & PhotoFiltre Talk thread though, i'm sure.

i really have no clue if freeware writers make alot of money, normally they say the money they make keeps the site up and that's it. afew places show how much has been given and it's not much. i have given once and that's it.

 

Hi Handsoff,

Wow! Now you can cut with the precision of a surgeon! And you get to do it in my favorite place on earth S.F. & the bay area. Lucky stiff!

Take care
rico

 

Okay, here's something I came across that I like. Adobe's website has a 20 page "primer" on fonts. However boring that may sound, for me it fills in quite a few gaps in knowledge. And the termanology! Ascenders, x-heights, false small caps, opticals, lower case digits just to name a few. Well, you can down load the 20 page primer as a pdf. That's right, you have a genuine reference to add to your body of knowledge. Drink up!

http://www.adobe.com/education/pdf/type_primer.pdf

Rico, you may not live in the bay area, but you do have a cool sounding name. Beats the hell out of "Mac". I must re-install my atlas to figure out where azusa is. It sounds hot.

Anyway, I was born here, which means I probably don't deserve to be here, but still gives me the right to reminisce and irritate all the newcomers. I am still waiting to hear about my application to become a living historical landmark.


- HandsOff

 

CamStudio.
CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files. i have it installed and it works perfectly and is very easy to understand.

so if you want to explain something, instead of taking lots of screenshots and editting arrows etc. or writting a long explainations (like this!) you can just record it then upload to a site like Rapidshare.de

http://camstudio.org/
http://www.majorgeeks.com/CamStudio_d4646.html

here's a site you can upload to that's free to use.
http://rapidshare.de/

 

Hi Handsoff,

When you become a landmark, it will be the "Handsoff Landmark" landmark. For the geographically challenged Azusa or (A to Z in the USA, as Azusans spell it) is near the City of Angels aka LA, also Pasadena.

I'm waiting for the sale on the USB, two MB hammer. Which will tell the user, velocity of swing, strike impact force, & deluxe model calculates blow angle, & corrective angle, to get that crooked nail in straight.

Almost forgot this thread is about freebies: Some of my all time favorites are:

ccleaner, regseeker, spyblaster, iespyad, spybot, adaware, mwsnap, google desktop search.

Take care
rico

 

Rico-

Have you ordered the digital baseball (real item) that displays the mph of your throws.

Hey went to that rapidshare.de site. (de is for dutch?). That is an awesome concept, and how can they do it for free? One thing though. I was on the site that the link pointed to and was reading, and my little downloading gauge, you know that row of boxes in the lower right of the browser the shows the progress of downloads kept quickly cycling. as if to say that I was downloading something. But I wasn't downloading anything. Why did it do that?

HandsOff

 

.de is German - deutland (is that how you spell it?). i don't know why it keeps killing and refreshing the page, i think it's so it can keep track of you.

 

Ice,

sp. Deutschland. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?



HandsOff - So that's how they know how fast the baseball is moving, in the big leagues.

- Why go there? Kind of scary that download thingie! Hope your next post is not about an infection.

rico

 

i don't speak German

i have used Rapidshare afew times and never had any problems with it. i found a site that links mostly to it that has 100s of great books about networking, programming, hacks - everything about computers; i'd give the link but afew of the books on the list are copyrighted and shouldn't be offered as free downloads.

here's a link to similar sites if you don't like the look of Rapidshare.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=99021

 

A very wonderful freebie, not sure if it was mentioned previously is: ERUNT super way to backup & restore "all" of the registry & remove or compact same. Check-it-out at:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

rico

 

Here are a couple of pages of good recommendations:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/extended.htm

 

yeah, I have been influenced a bit by that list. I'm not as gung-ho as he is, but I'm working on it. One program sounds pretty cool, but I've not fired it up yet. it is the 34th best program:

34 Best Free Web Site Ripper

The time is right for this. with everyone trying to force you to scurry all over the net to find documentation that should be on your computer.

It can record a whole site (it says) recursively, so you can just sit back and read at your leisure. of course, some sights would be too large...i would think. If anyone's tried it, tell me how it works. (actually, i already have a target in mind, but just have other programs ahead on my must install list. there is about a 3 month waiting list at this point!


-HandsOff

 

hi, i have it and it's great. it's easy to use to.

 

Yeah, but you say everything's easy to use. To gain credibility you need to tell me something that is noteasy to use.

Anyways, thanks for the encouragement. I'm annoyed because I have not been learning the features on my new software because i do not want to join a club (sign up for a user group) just to learn the basic operation. It's more than stubborness and laziness (though they factor in). I want reference material when I need it, not some nebulous website that I may not even have access to in the future. Sheesh, why do we put up with this?


-HandsOff

 

i've never read the instructions for anything. i find it easier and quicker to just play around with the software. i'm sure alot of other people do that too.

i haven't used it but, i'm sure it would take awhile to understand this.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...3d-50d1-41b2-a107-fa75ae960856&displaylang=en

 

Hi All,

Not real sure if this was previously posted in this long thread, but worth mentioning again regarding "essential freeware" is:

MVP's host file*

Hoosters (new version available 2.0) see: http://www.funkytoad.com/hoster.htm


*I feel strongly about this, so if you have not check out: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=87769 esp. posts 7 - 12

PS - Ice what do those characters mean in your sig? I understand if thats private.

Thanks
rico

 

here's some of those I use

Iconoid
http://www.sillysot.com

Erunt & NTRegopt
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Directory Lister
http://www.krksoft.com/

Exact Audio Copy
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de

Blocklist Manager
http://www.bluetack.co.uk

AMP Calender
AMP FontViewer
http://www.ampsoft.net

CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Hoster
ZonedOut
http://www.funkytoad.com/zonedout.htm

Monitor Asset Manager
MultiRes
http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/multires.shtm

RivaTuner
http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/

Peer Guardian
http://phoenixlabs.org/

FastStone Image Viewer
http://www.faststone.org/

FindAndRun Robot
ProcessTamer
Mircryption
Screenshot Captor
Clipboard Help+Spell
UrlSnooper
http://www.donationcoder.com

nVHard Page
http://www.guru3d.com/nvhardpage/

System Information
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/

 

I have been pondering your response...Actually, my Acrobat version takes up 245 MB of my hdd. Part of me says there must be something i need in all that. Another part says not likely. I think I will try your recommendations. I can't stand waiting, but I'm not keen on reconfiguring my options either. If it is supercool I might return for a unsolicited testamonial.


- HandsOff

 

Since I have used the full Acrobat version and now have thoroughly tried out the free option, there is nothing that I see missing in them as regards features, however maybe some other power Acrobat user would find it out better.

 

HandsOff you could try this one to see if you like it. if it's the version it says it is (1.2 build 0201) it's a none install, standalone version. the versions now are installs.
http://www.download.com/Foxit-PDF-Reader/3000-2079_4-10365812.html


HFNetChk - Shavlik Technologies Network Security Hotfix Checker
here's a program i just found on my HDD - HFNetChk. i think it's the engine behind Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer. it checks your MS hotfixes

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hotfixchecker.html
http://www.snapfiles.com/screenshots/hotfixchecker.htm

if you run the -vv switch you get the link to the missing download and a description too.

 

Disktective
i like this program because it's a none install. i needed to see hard disk usage for my C drive. i tried Treesize but for me i need something that shows a pie chart. Disktective was the best none install i could find. it's by the same person who wrote TreePad Lite which i use for note taking.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/disktective.html

 

Well here is my unsolicited review of foxit acrobat reader refered to previously.

It so far seems like a great pdf reader. I have set it for default. Now, because I like their program, I am going to attempt some damage control on their behalf. Apparently at Foxit, they think it is a mighty good idea to antagonize their potential clients by putting a irritating red advertizement on the toolbar. This can be deactivated by going to view and unchecking advertizement. That is bad enough, considering that since you just downloaded their product you have already seen what the have to offer already...But no, it is necessary to go through this scenario 4 or 5 times. Thankfully the offense stops here. unless you relocate the program folder which will make you "Go back, Jack, do it again.." Then, finally, it seems to be satified.

Since I like the program, like I said, I thought I would let people know that the insulting behavior is only temporary!
--------------------------------------------
Late addition - So far as I can tell there is no ability to create bookmarks, only to use existing ones. This will not make it an optimal reader to read novels with.

- HandsOff

 

Some more of my favorite Freeware
I run these on Win2K


Unziplify v1.3

http://www.silverbandsoftware.com/tabdown/unziplify/index.html

Unziplify provides an easy one-click method of extracting an entire
folder full of ZIP, RAR, and ACE files. Simply right-click on a folder
or drive in Windows Explorer, and select "Unziplify". Every archive
found in that folder will be extracted at once. Its the most painless
way to extract archives yet!

===========

Zipalot v3.22

http://www.ractive.ch/gpl/zipalot.html

Most of the unpack programs only can handle one archive at once. With
ZipALot you can extract (unace, unrar and unzip) multiple files at once!

===============

WinPack v3.00

http://snoopy81.ifrance.com/snoopy81/en/winpack.htm

an alternative to ZipScan
This program acts as GUI shell for command line’s unpackers, used for
InstallShield v3.0, v5.X, v5.5 & v6.X archives:

==================

Windows Enabler

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/speedload/index.html

Windows Enabler allows the user to enable disabled windows and
controls such as buttons and tick boxes and choose menu options
that would normally be disabled.

=================

LS - File List Generator v1.53

http://home.a03.itscom.net/tsuzu/programing/en/

This software collects the information about all files and subfolders
located under your specified path and generates the list in various
file formats. Despite its small program size, it processes high-volume
contents at a high speed with the easy-to-use user interface.

=========================

Bunch of nice Freeware here

I use dsMD5, dsSHA and sometimes Edxor

dsSHA produces SHA-1 digital file signature. Like CRC or MD5 it can be
used for detection of file tampering by viruses, hackers, etc. and integrity
verification of copied or downloaded files. dsSHA is so small that it could
be simply included in distribution packages. dsSHA is fast,
dependency-free and does not need things like MFC or VB.

dsMD5 produces MD5 digital file signature (use like dsSHA)

EDXOR is a versatile, convenient and optimal text editor and file processor
that far surpasses the capabilities of other Notepad-like applications. It
offers innovative clipboard handling, cryptographic options and logic text
conversions, great for education, fun, or privacy. EDXOR is small,
self-contained, dependency-free and very fast. It provides over 90 menu
items, including many unique functions and options, for diverse
applications

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/index.html

=============================

Cathy v2.22

An extremely small, very fast and easy to use media cataloging tool. You can
use it to index files stored on removable media (CD-ROMs, LS120, Iomega
Zip and Jaz disks, or even diskettes), hard disks or net drives, and create
searchable catalogs that can be used without having access to original
media.

http://rvas.webzdarma.cz/

===================================

FileNote
CopyURL
Clip Clear

http://www.moonsoftware.com/

FileNote is a little shell extension that allows you to add textual descriptions
to your files. It adds one command to the shell context menu of a file object.
This command lets you easily edit or create a text file that has the same
name as the initial file, but with the extension TXT.

ClipClear is a tiny proggie that just clears your clipboard contents. It
installs itself into the tray area (near the clock) and allows you to clear
the clipboard by just clicking on its icon

CopyURL is a shell extension that helps you to copy different information
from your Internet Shortcut files (entries in the Favorites folder or *.url files)
to the clipboard. Then you can simply paste it from clipboard to your
e-mails, HTML editor or other documents. It adds commands Copy URL,
Copy Link and Copy Name to the shell context menu of Internet Shortcut
files.

==============================

RdocEx
RegSvrEx

http://www.mlin.net

RdocEx is a nifty shell add-on that adds the programs you run as well as
the documents you open to your Recent Documents menu.

RegSvrEx is a shell extension that provides convenient and quick registration
for ActiveX DLLs and OCXs. A great tool for ActiveX developers - much more
convenient than regsvr32!

=============================

IP To Country Converter v2.0

http://gleb.zerobrains.com/apps.html

Type in an IP and it tells you the country it comes from
Website seems to be down

Includes database for the above - updated 13th October 2005
Uploaded here

http://rapidshare.de/files/6896738/zzyy7eer5.zip.html

=========================

FolderMaker v2.1E

http://www.kisnet.or.jp/nappa/software/winsoft.htm

Nice configurable folder maker which can create multi-level
folders plus multi-level sub-folders. There's a Japanese only
program called Folder Creator on site too which looks even
better.

==========================

Ninotech Path Copy v4.0

http://home.worldonline.dk/ninotech/index.htm

Ninotech Path Copy is a shell extension that enables you to copy the
path of a file or directory to the Clipboard. You can then paste the
path to your document, e-mail, etc. You copy the path of a file or
directory by right-clicking it in the Windows Explorer and choosing
Copy Path from the context menu. The context menu then offers nine
standard ways of copying the path, in addition to the user defined
copying methods that you create yourself:

===========================

MD Folder v1.1

http://come.to/nttools

Do you still get angry about the way you have to create a new folder
with Windows Explorer? MDFolder is the solution. By clicking the
right mouse button at the desired folder and choosing New Folder
you getting a new folder with a name of your choice!
This works with Win2K and possibly with XP as well.

==============================

InfoTip Extension v2.0.4.106

http://www.na.rim.or.jp/~norio/

InfoTip is a new shell feature that was introduced by MSIE4.0. The small
window that appears when you point the Mouse Cursor at My
Computer or Recycle Bin etc. InfoTip Extension adds this InfoTip feature
to files that are not supported by MSIE. You just need to point at a file if
you want to view it's information.

=========================

CROA v1.5

http://davidcrowell.com

CROA - Clear Read-Only Attributes
CROA adds an entry to the context menu for folders that allows you to
clear the read-only flag of that folder, all subfolders, and files. This is
particularly useful after copying files from a CD-ROM to the hard drive.

==========================

ContextEdit v1.2

http://www.pcmag.com/utilities/

ContextEdit lets you control which items appear on your context menu--the
menu that appears when you right-click on an item in Windows Explorer.
The context menu often contains numerous rarely-used commands. These
commands come from one of two places: shell commands stored within
the system Registry, and context menu handlers. The source of the menu
item is transparent to the end-user, but still has an impact. Windows
Explorer lets you add or remove simple shell commands, but gives you no
control over context menu handlers. ContextEdit lets you control both
types of context menu items. It also allows you to disable context menu
items without removing them entirely. Another unique feature is the
ability to add shell commands to all files regardless of type, or to all files
without an associated program.


Startup Cop v1.1

When Windows starts up, it automatically launches a number of
programs for you. Some of these come from the Startup folder.
Windows also looks in six other locations for files that should be
launched at startup. Startup Cop helps you handle problems with
programs that are automatically launched at startup by listing them
and letting you disable, enable, or delete them. You can save the list
of programs that are currently enabled or disabled as a profile that
can be restored at a later time.

Does anyone have Startup Cop Pro 2?

These programs are now only available to subscribers at PCMag

Both programs uploaded here

http://rapidshare.de/files/6896855/zzyy7ggy6.zip.html

===========================

Faber Toys v2.6 Build 52

http://www.faberbox.com/fabertoys.asp

Excellent process viewer and much more

============================

musikCube v1.0 RC2

http://www.musikcube.com/

I like this program a lot. Straight forward interface though sadly
lacking support from DSP pluggies - coming soon they say.
musikCube is more than an "mp3 player," it is a music "library."
musikCube currently supports mp3, ogg, ape, flac, and cd audio file
formats.

===========================

Linos Dependency Check v1.0

http://linos-software.com

This program will help identify all the OCX or DLL support files required
to operate any Windows 32 bit executable (EXE) file. Very handy for
beginner programmers who wish to confirm they are supplying all the
necessary files within their install program.

======================

Some neat proggies here

http://www.contactplus.com

I especially like Stats2000

=========

 

Nice list Rip Van Tinkle.

Hands Off,

Have you tried the PDF creator by now?

 

Hi, I agree, very nice list by Rip. All the better because so many are both useful and unfamiliar to me. I will be trying many of them out. I will say this, Rip, judging from the number of files that have to do with file operations, I think you would be a prime candidate to appreciate XPlorer2. The free version, while it nothing compared to the full version is still lightyears ahead of windows explorer. I believe you will find it supports Windows 2000 quite well. Too many features to list, I will only say if you manipulate large quantities of files every day this program will save you hours every week, compared to windows explorer.

Arup, sort of got confused by the website, but my impression was that the PDF Creator was

- Still in Beta, but
- The still want to charge $39 to use it once your trial time is up

or maybe they meant that it will be $39 once it is a gold version.

Maybe the Beta version has an expiration, maybe not.

Maybe I need to go back and check if you meant a product from a completely separate company from the Acrobate Reader.

Just to many things that I have to find out, so I guess I will wait until they can make themselves a bit clearer on the website.

As to my experiment with Acrobat Reader Speedup, my timing may have been, as usual, very bad. Immediately after rendering alot of adobes plugins useless, I then proceded to install a new browser which was then unable to handle Acrobat on websites.

This is all too complicated. For all that Acrobat Professional is very slow, at least it can handle everything I have become used to being able to do.

My new strategy is to leave Acrobat Pro fully functional, but keep the free Foxit reader installed as well. If I feel like I don't need to create bookmarks (like a quick lookup in a user manual) I will open with Foxit Reader. I believe it will get plenty of use to justify its roughly 1 MB of size (compared to Acrobat Pro's 245 MB). So all in all, your suggestion ended up being better for me than the Acrobat Speed up route that I took!


-HandsOff