Freeware programs and applications (continuation)

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Frodolives

Platinum Member
Nov 28, 2001
2,190
0
0
Originally posted by: mulletgut
I am suprised Fastone Image viewer isn't mentioned on this list.
I like it more than Irfanview and have been using it for quite a while. It has an excellent interface, great pop-out menus (from top,leftand right sides and the bottom of screen) while view images full screen. Image processing, red-removal, batch processing, comparison, etc etc.
They have a couple of other additional apps which integrate with it.
All free for personal, non-commercial use.
Try it.
Click to expand...

Faststone is the best utility I've used when it comes to sorting and reviewing images.

And since this "isn't another cool freeware thread" I won't mention Addressido in passing. If I did mention it, I would say that it's a nice rolladex type contact manager that can also be operated from a memory stick, etc :)



 
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papaschtroumpf

Senior member
Mar 5, 2003
869
2
81
another vote for infrarecorder, light work, does everything I need, who needs Nero bloatware?

FYI, Crimson Editor has been picked up as an open source project and renamed Emerald Editor http://www.emeraldeditor.com/
so far the two are virtually identical, we'll see what the Emerald team will do with this awesome free editor. (I compare it to a free version of SlickEdit or CodeWright)
 
Iron Woode

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
30,876
12,383
136
not sure if its been posted before but, PCTools offers a free firewall app:

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

it seems to have a rudimentary anti-virus app included, called threatfire.

I am using it now and it works great. seems nicer than Zone Alarm.
 
will889

will889

Golden Member
Sep 15, 2003
1,463
5
81
Originally posted by: Iron Woode
not sure if its been posted before but, PCTools offers a free firewall app:

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

it seems to have a rudimentary anti-virus app included, called threatfire.

I am using it now and it works great. seems nicer than Zone Alarm.
Click to expand...



I DL'ed and running it now seems nice, but the activity block (UI) looks identical to ZA's -- makes me wonder if it's ZA rebagged? No slowdowns with threatfire enabled so far a keeper. It's always nice to have a good free firewall with outgoing to augment NAT.
 
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acr

Junior Member
Mar 28, 2008
7
0
0
I believe PC Tools firewall is based on Look 'n' Stop code. Threatfire used to be known as Cyberhawk. PC Tools took it over and has continually developed it since.
 
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SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
I would like to suggest a bunch of great freeware video software:

HandBrake is awesome for backing up DVDs to h.264. I can generally back up my films to a file that is ~1gb and the quality is identical to the source (even with AC3 audio now!).

FairUse is a great HandBrake alternative. It's newer and arguably simpler.

Media Player Classic is a cool media player for all sorts of media files.

DVDFab is pretty much the new "DVD Decrypter". It supports the new protection formats, and can rip only the main movie if you choose (which I prefer...I hate the menus).

I'd also like to suggest a partitioning program. Gparted is a great program that's been created by the Linux community. Just make sure you have a PS2 keyboard/mouse handy as it doesn't seem to work over USB in many cases.
 
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cpemma

Member
Dec 9, 2000
25
0
0
SFTP/SCP client: WinSCP. WinSCP is an open source SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows using SSH (Secure SHell). *Found in a thread started by everman
Click to expand...
Also does plain FTP. I have a link to it in the 'SendTo' folder, so right-click on a file and 'Upload'. Just the job for uploading images you want to use in forum posts. Excellent program.

The Fastone image capture program is now shareware but the older freeware version is still around. Main advantage over some is that it can capture images bigger than a screen-full.
 
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pcgamer321

Member
Jan 22, 2008
179
0
0
For some reason the security link doesn't work anymore. Is the thread basically gone now? I would have liked to have seen the info in that thread.
 
Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
Originally posted by: pcgamer321
For some reason the security link doesn't work anymore. Is the thread basically gone now? I would have liked to have seen the info in that thread.
Click to expand...

I have discontinued The Consolidated Security Thread, the AntiVirus Deals Thread, the Freeware Security Applications Thread, and I did not renew my ownership of the website of schadentech.com (no longer my website).

However, The Security Resource Thread has a few helpful links, especially to John and mechBgon's websites.

Some might also be interested in my automatic virus removal script.
 
Iron Woode

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
30,876
12,383
136
PCTools, the makers of Spyware Doctor, have just released a free version of their Anti-Virus software:

http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/

I haven't tried it yet, but I figure some of us here might want to give it a whirl and report back.

They have also updated their free Firewall app as well: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/.

The gui was slightly altered and some new features added. Still works great.

 
Iron Woode

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
30,876
12,383
136
I'd like to thank my exGF for this one:

You can get a free but crippled, no time limit version of Spyware Doctor from Google Pack.

I tried this out on my HTPC and it seems to work just fine. Scans and removes spyware just like the retail version, just has limits on other features.

 
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acr

Junior Member
Mar 28, 2008
7
0
0
Originally posted by: Iron Woode
I'd like to thank my exGF for this one:

You can get a free but crippled, no time limit version of Spyware Doctor from Google Pack.

I tried this out on my HTPC and it seems to work just fine. Scans and removes spyware just like the retail version, just has limits on other features.
Click to expand...

The Starter Edition looks good at first glance. But I have asked PC Tools about the signatures used in the product as there are significantly fewer than the paid version. I was told the signatures in the Starter Edition are about 1/3 as many and older, not as up to date as in the paid version.
 
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Nomadic

Junior Member
Dec 15, 2007
5
0
0
I was just checking out this thread.. it had some pdf creators namely cute pdf and all.. but why not use Google Docs for that thing. not only its stores your documents but you can select export> save as pdf and you are done. What say? no need to install any App. It won't act as a proper office replacement as its quite weak compared to MS office and the nlikes of Open Office but to save as a pdf its just as good. Upload your document and save as pdf . Thats it :D
 
alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,967
19
81
Originally posted by: Nomadic
I was just checking out this thread.. it had some pdf creators namely cute pdf and all.. but why not use Google Docs for that thing. not only its stores your documents but you can select export> save as pdf and you are done. What say? no need to install any App. It won't act as a proper office replacement as its quite weak compared to MS office and the nlikes of Open Office but to save as a pdf its just as good. Upload your document and save as pdf . Thats it :D
Click to expand...

A lot of times the need to make a pdf is when traveling, sometimes you don't always have a connection to the net.
 
Imyourzero

Imyourzero

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2002
3,701
0
76
I was going to PM igowerf with this info but it looks like he hasn't been online since the end of January... I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if these free programs have already been mentioned:

AntiVirus: I used and liked AOL Active Virus Shield (Kaspersky) but as many of you know, it's been discontinued. I now recommend Anti-Vir for its better detection rates (compared to the other free AV solutions), but AVG has email scanning (albeit lower detection rates). YMMV.

Firewall: I've been using Comodo (V2 and currently V3) and really like it. It does throw up a lot of allow/deny windows which can be annoying, but it rates among the best in the leak tests and I'm very comfortable using it. Another option is Online Armor which also appears to be excellent, but I've continued to run Comodo without problems. Either of these (as well as Jetico and numerous others) are obviously far superior to XP's built-in firewall.

File compression: I use WinRAR on my home PC and IZArc on my work system, but I can also recommend 7-Zip and ExtractNow. All of these should do what you need and, IMO, are a lot better than having to deal with WinZip's annoying nag screens.

FTP: FileZilla, SmartFTP, or CoreFTP should get the job done. There are other free FTP utilities available but these are typically praised and should get the job done; it really depends on your preference of GUI as I've discovered after trying various free file renaming utilities.

Graphics / Image editing utilities: I currently use Paint.net or PhotoFiltre simply because they are powerful enough to do everything that I need to do, but there's no denying that GIMP is an awesomely powerful image editor. Since I've never really used PhotoShop, I tend to think that the GIMP interface is a bit overwhelming for n00bs and it is slower to load on all of my systems, but rest assured the power is there if you want the advanced features of PhotoShop for free.

ID3 Tag Editor: I've used The Godfather and ID3TagIt, as well as numerous other tagging utilities. I've gotta say that TagScanner has been my mainstay for MP3 taggers. The Godfather is extremely powerful but its interface can be a bit overwhelming for some people. For the record, I tried the latest version of TagScanner but in the end felt more comfortable with version 4.8 which has worked like a charm since day one.

Burning software: My mainstay is Nero, but I use version 6.x since I think v7 and v8 are unnecessarily bloated. And since Nero isn't free, I've used several programs at work with great results:
In addition to CD Burner XP, you might try ImgBurn, BurnAware, or DeepBurner

There are many more great free utilities that I use on a day to day basis. These have all worked for me and there are more that I've probably forgotten. I just wanted to inject this thread with new life (again, I haven't read all of the posts). :)
 
konakona

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
0
Originally posted by: pcslookout
KMPlayer is awesome but at first very intimidating for a new user with all the different options it has! I don't like the video playable slider either because its difficult to see where it is to move it. Sometimes it goes to far back and other times to far ahead. VLC player has really impressed me though I haven't had to install any codecs, not even ffdshow, to get any kind of video to play yet. I am shocked and surprised. Usually I had to install ffdshow. So far not this time.

Does anyone know if there is a easier way to get KMplayer video slider to become more like VLC player video slider so its easier to see and know where you are moving it? What I really wish VLC player and KMplayer had was a video slider thats as smooth and accurate as media center classic video slider is. It doesn't skip back or forward when going through a video at all.
Click to expand...

sorry it took so long to respond, I stopped coming to anandtech as often as I once used to. Not sure if this is what you want, but try this first:
options>preferences>general>playback
uncheck "Jump to keyframe with mouse seeking on trackbar"
check "Show video frame insantly when seeking with mouse"

If that doesnt address your concerns, try hitting the Kmplayer forums which seems to be thriving with helpful contributors.
 
I

IksokChoy

Member
Jun 6, 2004
178
0
76
Just downloaded AVG Newest upgrade 8.01 and my machine froze up. Trying the uninstall program, It froze again. That's why I'm on this thresd. Ugh!!!
 
A

acr

Junior Member
Mar 28, 2008
7
0
0
Try Avast! 4.8. It is a fairly new release that has antivirus, antispyware and a rootkit scanner (from the same person that developed GMER). The spyware component was recently certified by West Coast Labs.
 
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