My Choices of Best Freeware
File Management Utility Related
Virtual DVD/CD Drive
What: Daemon Tools
Why: Its free and it works. Great for burning multiple CD images to a DVD then being able to run them from the DVD.
Link: Daemon Tools Homepage
Duplicate File Finder
What: Finds duplicate files based on a checksum of their contents.
Why: Allows comparison within a drive or folder.
Link: Duplicate File Finder Homepage
Cobian Backup
What: Scheduled backup.
Why: Simple and effective.
Link: Cobian Homepage
Bulk File Renaming
What: Allows the bulk renaming of files within a folder using regular expressions.
Why: It allows you to see the results as you enter the regular expression.
Note: The program crashed alot, so I now run it in Win98 emulation mode and it is much happier.
Link: Flexible Renamer Homepage
Directory Syncronization
What: Syncs files and folders between two folders.
Why: It keeps track of the folder contents so that deletes and updates are honored.
Link: SyncToy Homepage
File Diff Utility
What: ExamDiff
Why: Full featured diff tool.
Link: ExamDiff Homepage
Miscellaneous File Utilities
What: EasyCleaner
Why: Contains multiple utilities, the best being a registry cleaner and a graphical display of what folders/files are consuming your disc space.
Link: EasyCleaner Homepage
Program Installer/Uninstaller
What: Total Uninstaller
Why: Records all changes made during installation. Uninstallation then can be complete using that record.
Notes: TUN has gone shareware. The link below is to the last free version.
Link: Total Uninstall Download Site
Task Switching Toy
What: Alt-Tab Enhancement
Why: Replaces the standard icon display with one showing thumbnails of the actual screens.
Link: Power Toys Homepage
Unlocker
What: Delete Utility
Why: Allows deletion of files that are locked by other processes. This utility identifies what has the file locked and allows you to delete it anyway.
Link: Unlocker Homepage
Partition Manager
What: Partition Manager
Why: Allows repartitioning without losing data
Link: Partition Manager Homepage
CD/DVD Burner
What: Ashampoo Burner
Why: Does everything you need without a bunch of additional bloat or unnecessary features. CDBurnerXP, the former selection, has started burning coasters and having minor programming bugs.
Link: Ashampoo Homepage
Multimedia Related
Screen Capture Utility
What: FastStone Screen Capture
Why: Full feature set. Does screen capture then lets you annotate it. Also allows scrolling web page capture (although it includes the browsers menu bar on every page)
Notes: Version 5.3 is the last free version.
Link: Last Free FastStone Page
Screen Capture Utility
What: Greenshot
Why: Very simple and small, but includes annotations.
Link: Greenshot Homepage
What: Image Resizer
Why: Full range of graphic formats. Allows maintenance of aspect ratio.
What: FastStone Photo Resizer
Link: FastStone Homepage
Paint/Photoshop Replacement
What: Paint.net
Why: Provides a full set of functionality while being fairly easy to use. A worth replacement for Paint.
Links: Paint.net homepage
Video Format Change
What: Auto Gordian Knot
Why: Can convert my captured TV shows from MPGs to AVIs with no tweaking. No other program I could find did that.
Link: Auto Gordian Knot Homepage
MP3 Volume Normalization
What: MP3Gain
Why: Can convert an entire directory's worth of MP3's to the same volume in a lossless manner.
Link: MP3Gain Homepage
MP3 Ripping
What: Exact Audio Copy
Why: Has the features I'm looking for (CDDB, ability to copy an entire CD as one file, ability to compress external wav files to mp3s). Reputed to be the most accurate ripper
Link: Exact Audio Copy Homepage
What: CDex
Why: Exact Audio Copy can sometimes take a very long time to rip due to its intensive error correction. When that happens, I use CDex as a backup ripper. It has all the same features as Exact Audio Copy, though not as accurate.
Link: CDex Homepage
Multimedia Player
What: WinAmp
Why: Playlist seems least flakey of all players I've tried.
Notes: Replaces BSPlayer which has gone the spyware route.
Link: WinAmp Homepage
Codec Identification
What: AVIcodec
Why: Identifies the audio and video codec required by a selected video file
Link: AviCodec Homepage
Codec Packages
What: K-Lite
Why: Contains pretty much ALL the codecs you'll ever need for playing videos
Link: K Lite Codec Download
PVR
What: GB-PVR
Why: Full featured. Integrates well with Zap2It. Allows padding before and after scheduled shows. Allows searching a predetermined number of days worth of listings.
Link: GB-PVR homepage
Security Related
Anti Virus
What: Avast
Why: AVG missed some things, and returned false positives on others. Avast wins by default. A plus is that it can run as your screen saver, scanning when your machine is idle.
Link: Avast Homepage
Disposable Email Address (1)
What: Spam Motel
Why: Creates an email address that can be turned off should spam start flowing into this address. Also, gives the ability to create a distinctive label that gets added to the subject line. Filters can then be used to classify the email.
Link: SpamMotel Homepage
Disposable Email Address (2)
What: Sneak Email
Why: Creates an email address that can be turned off should spam start flowing into this address. Also, gives the ability to create a distinctive label that gets added to the subject line. Filters can then be used to classify the email.
Link: SneakEmail Homepage
Disposable Email Address (3)
What: Spam Gourmet
Why: Simplest of all desposible email addresses. You create addresses on the fly and can provide the maximum number of emails deliverable to allow the new address.
Link: Spam Gourmet Homepage
Firewall
What: Zone Alarm Personal Firewall
Why: Doesn't require constant attention like others do.
Link: Zone Alarm download
TrueCrypt
What: TrueCrypt Encryption
Why: Allows creation of an encrypted virtual disc, upon which files and folders can be stored
Link: TrueCrypt Homepage
Note encryption
What: LockNote
Why: Dirt simple utility for storing encrypted notes. Simply run the app, enter the password, and it opens your note. Type in some text, and save. Your text is now encrypted.
Link: LockNote
File Encryption
What: Axcrypt
Why: Allows easy encryption of files.
Link: Axcrypt Link on Sourceforge
Password Storage
What: LastPass
Why: Works like RoboForm, but free
Link: LastPass homepage
Internet Related
Browser
What: IEPro
Why: Combined with IE7 it provides everything I look for: tabbed browsing, opening all tabs on restart, mouse gestures.
Link: IEPro Homepage
Favorites
What: SiteBar
Why: Online storage of bookmarks. Especially useful when combined with a tabbed browser - can have SiteBar always open on one tab. Replaced myVmarks as it is a simpler, more attractive menu. Another useful feature is that links can migrate to the top based on number of visits.
Note: There is a potential downside: A limit of 500 links. Also, in order to have SiteBar open a new tab for selected links, set its URL to: http://my.sitebar.org/?target=_blank
The 500 link limit is not a hard limit. I have over 700. There is a vague warning about providing a grace number of links. Also, they will provide you with the source code, so can be your own host, if desired. That would eliminate the 500 link limit.
Link: SiteBar Homepage
Office Related
Database Back End
What: MySQL
Why: Seems easiest to use and setup of the various free databases. Has a fair amount of open source add ins.
Link: MySQL Homepage
Database Front End
What: SQLYog
Why: Nice front end. Gives the access to a GUI based import.
Link: SQLYog Homepage
Database Front End
What: Heidi SQL
Why: Nice front end. Gives the access to a GUI based import. Provides some functionality that SQLYog does not (and vice versa)
Link: Heidi SQL Homepage
Text Editor Related
Text Editor
What: Notepad++
Why: Has feature set that rivals UltraEdit's.
Link: Notepad++ Homepage
IT Related
Regular Expression Testing
What: RegEx Coach
Why: Shows what results from each part of the search string
Link: RegEx Coach Homepage
MIsc Utilities
Improved System Clock
What: Tclock Lite
Why: Allows showing different date/time formats
Link: Tclock Lite Homepage
Have Not Tried Yet (But Looks Appealing)
Desktop Publishing
What: Scribus/Portable Scribus
Links: Scribus Homepage Portable Scribus Homepage
File Recovery Utility
What: ADRC Data Recovery Tools
Links: ADRC Data Recovery Tools Homepage
Video Conversion Utility
What: Super
Links: Super's Homepage
Firewall
What: Jetico
Links: Jetico Homepage
Partitioning Software
What: QtParted
Links: QtParted Homepage
Partitioning Software
What: Partition Logic
Links: Partition Logic Homepage
Screen recording software
What: Camtasia Studio
Links: Download software
Links: Get software key
Screen capture
What: EasyCapture
Links: EasyCapture Homepage
Wiki Formatting Tips/Tricks/Rules WikiStyle
Backup
What: FBackup
Links: FBackup Homepage
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