Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Useful free apps - post your picks

Collapse
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Quoth Blade_Raver View Post
    Use a lot of IM clients, but need one program to access them all... and for free?

    Trillian is your answer.
    Trillian is nice, I use it myself, but it's still a resource hog. (Not as bad as running multiple contact lists, of course!)

    If you need to save even more system resources, use Pidgin instead.

    Comment


    • #17
      Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
      If you need to save even more system resources, use Pidgin instead.
      Or you could repeatedly stab yourself in the face with a fork. Same aggravation levels, but the psychological trauma's a lot less. Seriously, that damned thing would crash on me multiple times. A DAY. Just... don't use it. Don't. I don't care if you know someone who's used it a lot without problems, or if "it's better now," because it's not.

      Seriously. Face stabbing. It's better.
      Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

      http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

      Comment


      • #18
        Quoth Broomjockey View Post
        Or you could repeatedly stab yourself in the face with a fork. Same aggravation levels, but the psychological trauma's a lot less. Seriously, that damned thing would crash on me multiple times. A DAY.
        When did you last try it? It's gotten better.

        Comment


        • #19
          Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
          When did you last try it? It's gotten better.
          Face. Stabbing.
          Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

          http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

          Comment


          • #20
            Quoth Blade_Raver View Post
            Trillian is your answer.

            They have 2 versions, basic (free) and pro (costs money).
            I've been running Trilly for about well, 8? 9? 10? years, and I LOVE it. It's actually the first piece of shareware I actually paid money for. And that's saying ALOT.

            Way back in the day, it had a word filtering plugin. So if was was, ah hem, not passing the night in my room................, I could send myself an IM, and change my away status to show my "I'm sleeping" away message.

            I, at least, THOUGHT I was tricking my mom...
            SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
            SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

            Comment


            • #21
              Here's the stuff I use pretty much every day (granted this "kit" may be a little over the top for the average user just dealing with their own pc but most of it is free and all of it is useful),

              Ubuntu live CD
              Useful for testing "broken" hardware, data recoveries (it'll read/write every file system a consumer tech is likely to come across and doesn't care about file permissions), partition manipulation (using "Partition editior" - ie gparted)

              Gparted live cd
              Partition management (think FOSS PartitionMagic), also included in Ubuntu but useful if it's a slow machine or it wont boot Ubuntu for some reason.

              Hiren's Disk
              Extremely comprehensive testing and repair disk. It contains everything from MemTest and hardware testing tools to hard drive regeneration and a live XP installation.

              VistaPE
              Bootable vista install - able to reset passwords on XP, Vista or W7.

              Everest
              Already mentioned, excellent for finding out what hardware you actually have to track down missing drivers. Also excellent for extracting license keys from the registry and stress testing hardware.

              MalwareBytes
              Anti-malware, perfect for getting rid of fake-AV software such as SecurityTool, just boot to safe mode and you're away.

              Symantec Ghost / Acronis True image
              Yes you have to pay for them but one or the other will usually get you out of some serious pickles when it comes to imaging windows installs from one HDD to another (faulty HDDs etc) and you can use it to keep decent image backups. On Apple Macs Carbon Copy Cloner is a good alternative.

              OS DVDs
              Windows XP Home, XP Pro, Vista (one disk does all - just click past the dialogue asking for the COA and select the version you need), Windows 7 (RTP disk does the same as vista, if you only have commercial or oem disks you'll need the correct version for the license you're using. I.E. Home Premium 64 for a HP 64 key) also OSX snow leopard and Leopard. These disks can usually repair startup problems, kick off windows system restore, fix minor hdd issues and push shoves reinstall your OS.

              CCleaner
              Cleans out windows temp files / reg entries etc. Just remember to back up the reg before cleaning (it does ask).

              AV removal tools
              Norton, Kaspersky, AVG, MacAfee - they all make removal tools which will remove stubborn AV installs (old versions of Norton are bad for not uninstalling correctly and killing a machine's network)
              Not y3k compatible

              Comment


              • #22
                The two programs that come courtesy of my boyfriend are:

                www.avast.com -a free antivirus that you only have to register once a year (IIRC). It automatically updates its database everytime you're online (and informs you it's done it) and it's very easy to use. Also, it doesn't crash your computer when it's downloading updates.

                Comodo Firewall-I can't find a link for this, but my boyfriend uses it and he's nver had a problem with it.
                The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                Now queen of USSR-Land...

                Comment


                • #23
                  AutoHotkey - http://www.autohotkey.com/
                  This is an incredible keystroke and mouse automator that works wonders on repetitive tasks, or programs that do not have native functions to build macros. I used to use VBScript for such things, but AutoHotkey is easier to use and has more/better features. You can compile your finished script into an EXE that will run on any Windows computer.

                  ID3-TagIT - http://id3-tagit.pluemper.name/
                  My OCD requires all of my MP3s to be organized just as pretty as you please, with proper spelling and capitalization on the title and artist of each track. ID3-TagIT is happy to oblige.

                  XYNTService Project - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/xyntservice.aspx
                  XYNTService Project allows you to run any program as a Windows Service. It has more features and is easier to use than srvany.exe!

                  WinSCP - http://winscp.net/eng/index.php
                  WinSCP is my favourite SCP / SFTP / FTP client.

                  Windows Grep - http://www.wingrep.com/
                  I find that Windows' search feature doesn't always work, and I have no idea why. Windows Grep is a great tool for searching for text inside files.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Like streaming audio but hate windows media player?

                    WinAmp - www.winamp.com

                    Been using it for 12+ years. Great for listening to ShoutCast streaming audio, mp3, wav, and other music formats. It'll even play .mod/.xm/.s3m files for you old school music geeks out there
                    Fixing problems... one broken customer at a time.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Quoth Blade_Raver View Post
                      Like streaming audio but hate windows media player?

                      WinAmp - www.winamp.com

                      Been using it for 12+ years. Great for listening to ShoutCast streaming audio, mp3, wav, and other music formats. It'll even play .mod/.xm/.s3m files for you old school music geeks out there
                      That is the shit! With Android you can sync your playslists on your computer!

                      AK Notepad- great for sticky notes

                      Out of Milk- grocery lists

                      Shop Savvy- find and compare products for cheaper prices nearby or online!
                      I don't get paid enough to kiss your a**! -Groezig 5/31/08
                      Another day...another million braincells lost...-Sarlon 6/16/08
                      Chivalry is not dead. It's just direly underappreciated. -Samaliel 9/15/09

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Quoth Blade_Raver View Post
                        Like streaming audio but hate windows media player?

                        WinAmp - www.winamp.com

                        Been using it for 12+ years. Great for listening to ShoutCast streaming audio, mp3, wav, and other music formats. It'll even play .mod/.xm/.s3m files for you old school music geeks out there
                        It also lets you change the skin so you can pimp it out. I used to have it on my PC and my skin was more often that not a Mario-themed one.

                        Another problem I would STRONGLY recommend: Secunia

                        The basis behind the program is that it will inform you when a program is insecure and could be exploited through other means. You also have the option to install any patches or updates for the program/software straight from Secunia rather than having to hunt around. It's also free.
                        Last edited by fireheart; 12-02-2011, 02:39 PM.
                        The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                        Now queen of USSR-Land...

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          For the PC:

                          SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php - This monitors multiple temps in your CPU and video card. I purchased an older video card and this software reported it running hotter than normal for no reason. I removed the fan & heatsink of the card, reapplied thermal paste, and the software reported the card running at normal cooler temps.

                          CPU-Z - http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html - Gives you extensive information about your processor, RAM, and other parameters.

                          Sumatra PDF- http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/...df-reader.html Free PDF reader that's fast and lean, unlike the bloated Adobe which pesters you for updates so frequently.

                          (website) Mod DB - http://www.moddb.com/ - This site has thousands of add-ons and mods for older and newer games. There are new sets of cars and tracks for older games like Carmageddon and the Unreal series of games, and even newer games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. I was able to break out my old Star Wars: Battlefront and play as new characters in new worlds.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            www.evernote.com

                            Free note-taking software that is SOOO much better than Microsoft Notebook. And it's also free.
                            The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                            Now queen of USSR-Land...

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              I like XPaint for drawing simple things, MyPaint is good for more advanced stuff, and also has a Windows version.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Everything, by VoidTools. One of the BEST Windows search tools I've found. It can only search file names, but when you have gigs and gigs of files going back YEARS, that can be more than enough. Kaspersky doesn't always like it, but I just tell that to ignore it. One of the safest programs I've found.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X