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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → Really neat/useful little freeware programs
12
Really neat/useful little freeware programs
2008-05-11, 12:52 PM #1
Post ones you know here for all purposes. This would be little utilities that make your computer more enjoyable/useful etc. (e.g. some of Microsoft's Powertoys) or are good for a specific task (e.g. Crimson for a text editor). Even bigger things like OpenOffice or GIMP count.
一个大西瓜
2008-05-11, 1:03 PM #2
A few things that are pretty difficult to function without:

Notepad++ text editor
foobar2k music player
XMing
WC3 Banlist
2008-05-11, 1:08 PM #3
PSPad text editor (ftw)
Jing (for taking screenshots/video)
Launchy (don't ever have to use my desktop or start menu again)
Hamachi (vpn made easy)
Synergy (share mouse/keyboard across different computers, even different OS)
LogMeIn (remote desktop access)

That's about all the free utilities I use regularly to help me be more productive. :D

Edit: Meh, while we are at it, Xfire (makes chatting and joining friends ingame easier)
A computer's worst nightmare:
0010111010011110210011010001

HazTeam Website-=HT=
2008-05-11, 1:10 PM #4
Spacemonger
Vlite (Cut my vista boot time to 1/3rd)
2008-05-11, 1:41 PM #5
Originally posted by gammasts:
PSPad text editor (ftw)
Jing (for taking screenshots/video)
Launchy (don't ever have to use my desktop or start menu again)
Hamachi (vpn made easy)
Synergy (share mouse/keyboard across different computers, even different OS)
LogMeIn (remote desktop access)

That's about all the free utilities I use regularly to help me be more productive. :D

Edit: Meh, while we are at it, Xfire (makes chatting and joining friends ingame easier)


Thank you for launchy -- it is awesome.
一个大西瓜
2008-05-11, 1:58 PM #6
Launchy
TaskbarShuffle - rearrange windows in the taskbar
Foobar2000
Cobian Backup (easy to use, stable backup to zip)
Dreams of a dreamer from afar to a fardreamer.
2008-05-11, 2:05 PM #7
Irfanview--still the best picture viewer/renamer tool I've used period.
D E A T H
2008-05-11, 2:10 PM #8
Shutdown Machine 1.1 - download.com
2008-05-11, 2:12 PM #9
Xpadder - lets you assign controller functions to keyboard/mouse functions. You can use it to play games that aren't set up to use the controller, or do what I did and set it up to function like a remote when watching winamp ;)
You can't judge a book by it's file size
2008-05-11, 2:14 PM #10
logmein
quicksilver
massassi's quick reply function
Your mum
2008-05-11, 2:20 PM #11
Only (obviously) useful one I can think of for win32 that hasn't been listed is 7zip.
And when the moment is right, I'm gonna fly a kite.
2008-05-11, 2:36 PM #12
Alarm Clock of Justice

DVD Shrink

Your Mom.
Epstein didn't kill himself.
2008-05-11, 3:51 PM #13
Originally posted by gbk:
Only (obviously) useful one I can think of for win32 that hasn't been listed is 7zip.


this... and if you can get past the interface gimp... i only don't use gimp because i have photoshop
eat right, exercise, die anyway
2008-05-11, 3:55 PM #14
Winamp
Adium
2008-05-11, 4:02 PM #15
The best free program I've head of is called "A Life"

You should check it out, it's pretty ****ing crazy.
2008-05-11, 4:03 PM #16
:eng101:
2008-05-11, 4:12 PM #17
PowerMenu
RocketDock
2008-05-11, 4:30 PM #18
Daemon Tools is one that comes to mind
ORJ / My Level: ORJ Temple Tournament I
2008-05-11, 4:39 PM #19
Blackbox.
$do || ! $do ; try
try: command not found
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor (X-wing, TIE, XvT/BoP, XWA)
2008-05-11, 5:16 PM #20
Originally posted by Fardreamer:
TaskbarShuffle - rearrange windows in the taskbar


I downloaded it and am using it, even though I probably don't really have a need for it. But it is great for if I need to shuffle my taskbar items lol.

Pommy: Most people say the same thing when they use it.
A computer's worst nightmare:
0010111010011110210011010001

HazTeam Website-=HT=
2008-05-11, 5:59 PM #21
QTTabBar, add tabs to Windows Explorer. :awesome: Takes some configuring to remove unneeded features, though.

Skylight is like Launchy but better in some ways.

Start++ is just full of awesome. You can do neat things like web searches inside the start menu.
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.
2008-05-11, 6:31 PM #22
desktop sidebar: adds a nifty toolbar, lots of stuff you can add to it
irfanview: obvious win
free(jin);
tofu sucks
2008-05-11, 8:15 PM #23
Surprised this hasn't been listed yet:

Ultramon. Lets you extend your taskbar to your second monitor. Gives you some other added functionality that you would think would come standard for two monitors, but doesn't.

MaxMem: neat little utility that just goes through and periodically cleans up memory leaks. I've gone from 80% memory usage to 40% after running it (that was an extreme example, but usually it cleans up 10-15%)

Also: Launchy > *.
My Parkour blog
My Twitter. Follow me!
2008-05-11, 8:26 PM #24
Originally posted by happydud:
MaxMem: neat little utility that just goes through and periodically cleans up memory leaks. I've gone from 80% memory usage to 40% after running it (that was an extreme example, but usually it cleans up 10-15%)

Cue Jon`C to tell you that these programs are a terrible idea.
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.
2008-05-11, 8:31 PM #25
Samurize
Rainlendar
"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams
Are you finding Ling-Ling's head?
Last Stand
2008-05-11, 10:28 PM #26
Originally posted by Dj Yoshi:
Irfanview--still the best picture viewer/renamer tool I've used period.


This.
woot!
2008-05-12, 4:46 AM #27
this is going to be a thread to bookmark for future use.
People of our generation should not be subjected to mornings.

Rbots
2008-05-12, 4:55 AM #28
EndItAll 2 (Quick little program to kill the extra fluff wasting ram and ressources)
Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless
2008-05-12, 4:55 AM #29
When I was on win32 I loved 2xExplorer. Just an exporer window with two tree views. Most useful.
2008-05-12, 7:52 AM #30
Originally posted by Dj Yoshi:
Irfanview--still the best picture viewer/renamer tool I've used period.

Yes! Brian introduced me to this way back in the day (I think for resizing/renaming screenshots for the level submissions I was posting), and I've used it ever since. Introduced a lot of people to it and they all love it. It knows its purpose and it just does exactly that, very well.

I don't really have a use for it at home, but at work I use Stickies all the time. It quickly caught on there and tons of people use it. My boss has a monitor surrounded with real post-it notes, as well as a desk full, so this really helps him cut down. A lot of people also use it as a sort of instant-message system, because not all employees with computers have email accounts or internet access.
2008-05-12, 8:06 AM #31
Originally posted by happydud:
Surprised this hasn't been listed yet:

Ultramon. Lets you extend your taskbar to your second monitor. Gives you some other added functionality that you would think would come standard for two monitors, but doesn't.


This isn't free >.>

Quote:
MaxMem: neat little utility that just goes through and periodically cleans up memory leaks. I've gone from 80% memory usage to 40% after running it (that was an extreme example, but usually it cleans up 10-15%)

Also: Launchy > *.


MaxMem reminds me of memmaker, back in the DOS days.
2008-05-12, 8:18 AM #32
I make my own damnit!

Actually I've made them for other people for my fellow goons.
Code to the left of him, code to the right of him, code in front of him compil'd and thundered. Programm'd at with shot and $SHELL. Boldly he typed and well. Into the jaws of C. Into the mouth of PERL. Debug'd the 0x258.
2008-05-12, 3:23 PM #33
Er. What does infranview actually do that windows explorer and windows picture viewer don't?

Also it changed all my icons into some hideous roadkill dog thing, instead of thumbnail previews. And it opened the images at 'real size' instead of fit to the screen. No thanks.

notepad++ is nice, but don't expect it to replace Visual Studio. It's as good as any other syntax hilting editor for languages without good IDEs.

And I've been using stickies for years, it's awesome.
2008-05-12, 3:47 PM #34
Originally posted by JM:
Er. What does infranview actually do that windows explorer and windows picture viewer don't?

Also it changed all my icons into some hideous roadkill dog thing, instead of thumbnail previews. And it opened the images at 'real size' instead of fit to the screen. No thanks.

notepad++ is nice, but don't expect it to replace Visual Studio. It's as good as any other syntax hilting editor for languages without good IDEs.

And I've been using stickies for years, it's awesome.

Irfanview is faster, renders faster, you can switch through your images with ease on the fly, and batch resizing/resampling/renaming is so ****ing easy.
D E A T H
2008-05-12, 4:18 PM #35
Yeah, IrfanView is great for batch processing. Unfortunately the UI isn't very good so it's not as nice for just viewing.
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.
2008-05-12, 4:21 PM #36
Originally posted by Emon:
Yeah, IrfanView is great for batch processing. Unfortunately the UI isn't very good so it's not as nice for just viewing.

I don't mind it--but the way it sorts the photos seems foreign. I can never get it to cycle through from the beginning :<
D E A T H
2008-05-12, 4:40 PM #37
I use a program called Transcribe for lifting songs that are too fast to hear. It's got a really good half-speed feature, and you can export the half-tempo stuff for later burning/mp3ing.

It's not so great now that they've started charging $50 for the full version though.
COUCHMAN IS BACK BABY
2008-05-12, 5:08 PM #38
While on the music subject; Audacity.
$do || ! $do ; try
try: command not found
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor (X-wing, TIE, XvT/BoP, XWA)
2008-05-12, 5:29 PM #39
Originally posted by JM:
notepad++ is nice, but don't expect it to replace Visual Studio. It's as good as any other syntax hilting editor for languages without good IDEs.

Users of Visual Studio (or any IDE, for that matter) are not the target audience of notepad++.

Personally, Im a huge fan of Kate/KWrite. I've been using it for everything for years.
And when the moment is right, I'm gonna fly a kite.
2008-05-12, 5:48 PM #40
Anything found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_KDE_applications

Most used is Amarok
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