- Feb 7, 2004
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Thanks for the sticky!
The list is getting quite long. If you see something broken, post it in the thread, or send me a pm and I'll fix it - thanks for your help on that one
If you know of anything that belongs here, let me know!
First before you defrag, why don't you clean out your harddrive and see what is taking up all that space.
I find sequoiaview to be the essential program to do just that - check it out. NEW!
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
Defragging information, links, and programs
The list is getting quite long. If you see something broken, post it in the thread, or send me a pm and I'll fix it - thanks for your help on that one
If you know of anything that belongs here, let me know!
First before you defrag, why don't you clean out your harddrive and see what is taking up all that space.
I find sequoiaview to be the essential program to do just that - check it out. NEW!
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
Defragging information, links, and programs
- Microsoft Knowledgebase on XP command line defrag options
Link
- Hiberfile.sys and degfrag
Link
- Langa Article on how to make winxp self maintaining
Link
- Defrag tricks from Langa
link
- A microsoft knowledge base article on files you cannot defrag
Link
- Enable Microsoft's built in boot time defrag
***ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE REGISTRY***
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our
FAQ on how to get started.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDfrgBootOptimiz
eFunction
Select Enable from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
- Up to date article on defragging
Link
- Add defrag to WinXP right click menu
Link
- Information about Windows XP defrag and automation
Link
- XP Defrag hint
Defrag in Safe Mode.
Toggle F8 or Press Ctrl ( depends on your comp ) during bootup ( just
before, verifying DMI pool, message comes on )
Select Safe Mode. This prevents other things from slowing the built in defrag.
- Comparison of some commercial defraggers and analysis
link
- How defrag works - for the newb
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
- Hint for Win98SE Users
Link
Try a google search for windows me defrag download, the me defrager is much
faster than the 98 one and is compatible, but ONLY for fat32 drives. The defrag program that shipped with WinME is purported to be much quicker and compatible with 98SE.
- More Win98 information
Link
- Excellent description of errors and problems and how to deal with them on Win98 with defrag and scandisk.
Link
- Where is defrag in Linux???
Short answer is that it is not needed. . . for an excellent detail reason why see link below.
Link
- Thread I found on OSX and defragging
Link
- Speed up your IPOD - with defragging - a how to.
Link
- Why defragging your MEMORY is a hoax
Link
- Sysinternals Contig
Link
- Sysinternal's Page File Defrag[/b]
Link
- PowerDefragger
Link
- This is a graphical frontend for contig - an excellent combo
Dirms and Buzzsaw - This site has the gui frontends for DIRMS
Link
- Actual dirms/buzzsaw site
Link 1
Download.com Link (buzzsaw reviews)
Defragment HD with several passages of DIRMS and then put BUZZSAW in the Startup, which defragments HD continuosly, on the fly!! DIRMS defragments ALL files. BUZZSAW defragments only files been modified after DIRMS..
Put buzzsaw in your startup folder after running dirms per instructions.
- SpeedDefrag
Another free defragger.
Link
- Automatic Batch File Defragger
Link
- Defrag Mentor Lite
Link
- Payware version of above (only 24.95)
Link
- O&O Defrag 2000 Freeware v3.5.562
Link 1
Link 2
Looks like the last freeware version of OO Defrag. The second link is information straight from the software maker on the defrag utility. It says it supports 2k, XP, etc.
- D-G Defragger - Yet another free defrag program
Link 1
Link 2
DG-Defragmenter, a high performance defragmenter which built on top of full DOS based defrag engine "DirMS.exe". 6 difference defrag options will suit each particular partition format . In addition, the software include a disk benchmarking utility, "HD-Tune" plus a files cleaning utility, "Find Junk Files". Thus, with an integrated environment for all 3 utility-programs, you can now easily perform disk cleaing chore then defrag up to 3 drive letters simultaneously.
- Defrag NT
Link
Presents the user with many options for disk defragmenting (including various file sorting criterias) and many informations about the opened partition. It is a visual-rich tool which will even allow you moving a specific portion of a specific file to a specific location.
- Diskkeeper Light Version 7 something
Last free version of Diskkeeper
Link
- According to the blog below sometimes diskeeper 7 will mess up the built in defrag upon uninstall, here is how to fix:
Link
- VBS Script to defrag all harddrives
Link
This pops up as a text file in Mozilla. If you don't know what to do with it you probably should not mess with it. Save it as an execuatble and then use task manager to schedule xp defrag that is built in.
- StartDefrag Pro
Uses Microsoft's built in defrag, but adds scheduling (a major complaint here) to the utility with an attractive gui.
Link
- Ultimate Boot CD
Link
Based on BartPE a bootable burnable windows environment, you can defrag an uncooperative harddrive here (much like a knoppix disk for windows). You can fix much more with this disk. Indispensible Thanks adlep for correcting my link!
- Payware solutions
PerfectDisk
Link
Review: link
- Diskeeper
Link
Review: Link
- OO Defrag
Link
Review:
Link
- Abexo Defrag
Link
- VoptXP
Link
Review:
Link
- Defrag for Windows
Link
- MST Defraq
Link
Review:
Link
Freeware Links
Lists I love
These two links below are the top 81 freeware products as recommended by a site I trust. I find most of their thoughts to be right on. Enjoy.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/more/extended.htm
How to make your Windows install faster!
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=235571
Lifehacker's top Underrated Apps of 2005
Underrated and underappreciated freeware from 2005 - a great list
Link
Free replacements for Adobe and Macromedia Apps that work in linux.
I've since got the educational versions of Adobe's apps and don't use flash myself, but these are programs that I have used at some point, and most work well. So if you are on a budget - these may be what you are looking for.
http://vinterstille.dk/free-alternatives-to-macromedia-and-adobe-software
Games and fun stuff
Top 5 games of 2005
http://www.ghacks.net/2005/12/29/5-best-freeware-games-of-2005/
Are you a linux user that yearns for a Flight Simulator program - or a Windows user that doesn't have much cash? Well open source software to the rescue - FlightGear. It is an opensourced flight sim that does not suck. I use this almost as much as I use Microsoft's Flight Sim. You have to read the directions though.
http://www.flightgear.org/
Ever wanted to pilot the space shuttle? You can now with Orbiter - an open sourced space sim. Excellent program - too realistic for me to be good at it. Good thing I'm not an astronaut, cause I'd suck. You have to read the directions - very realistic.
http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html
Planet Penguin Racer - for Linux and Windows! - race a penguin down icy slopes. A kid's (and some adults myself included) favorite!
http://projects.planetpenguin.de/index.php
Rumblebox - a fun strategy game. It is free and has to be experienced to even understand what I'm talking about.
http://phackett.com/rumblebox/
Lemmings - yep the old game you used to play! Never played it - check it out NEW!
http://www.freewarepalm.com/games/lemmings.shtml
Do you like stargazing? Here is Stellarium. It is an opensourced cross platform guide to the sky. The graphics and option are really cool. Check it out.
http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/index.html
Checkout the whole planet with Google Earth!
Google Earth
Everyone has heard of google earth. What about WorldWind? This is Nasa's world simulator - it was 1st before google earth. It has some cool features. Check it out below.
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html
Utilities
Duplicate File Finder *new*
http://www.brooksyounce.com/
RockXP - recover your winxp serial if you lost it (new)
http://www.rockxp.org/
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/download.htm
Free media encoding. Looks promising.
The latest Full Pack contains:
MPlayer / MEncoder, 3GPP AAC+ encoder, Lame MP3 encoder, Ogg/Vorbis encoder, FAAC encoder OptimFROG encoder, MusePack encoder, WavPack encoder, FLAC encoder, Monkey's Audio (APE) encoder, Matroska Toolkit, MP4Box, PMP Muxer
Startup Control Panel - an impossible to replace app. I've used this as long as it has been around. It is really cool to stop all the annoying crap that starts itself up to speed up your OS.
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html
HDClone
Creating ideantical 1:1 copies of hard disks and other media. For data rescue, backup, system restore, mass installations and many more...
http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
DriveImage XML is an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives.
The program allows you to:
* Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
* Browse these images, view and extract files
* Restore these images to the same or a different drive
* Copy directly from drive to drive
* Schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler
Ragtime Solo - professional Desktop publishing software - yep for free!
http://www.ragtime-online.com/
StarOffice for Education - for teachers or students only. Sun makes this free for teachers and students. Scroll most of the way down the page and you will see what you have to do. Not very time consuming.
http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/solutions/staroffice.html
If you are not an educator or student utilize http://www.openoffice.org
However, if you JUST need a word processor - I recommend abiword instead.
http://www.abisource.com/
Alot of people have looked for a freeware version of Netlimiter. Here is a program with that function.
http://translate.google.com/translate?h...um%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8
Cleanup 3.0 - much better than CrapCleaner in my opinion - remove temp files, browser cache, etc - this one does it with a secure delete though - free.
http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/screenshots.html
Open Source Video Conversion Software (change a dvd to an avi), etc.
StaxRip - this is new - but it seems to work great. Gotta read the directions. May be 'newb' unfriendly. I successfully converted an mpg to an XVID encoded .avi
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s...9c0b514ec6b1b648&t=102652&page=1&pp=20
Xpy - disables windows xp phoning home and renders alot of security holes moot. Small progam - beautifully done.
http://xpy.whyeye.org/
Spybot search and destroy - I prefer this to adaware anyday. For all your spyware needs
Spybot
Eraser - secure deletion for media - make yoru files really be gone.
Eraser
CdBurnerXP Pro - freeware cd/dvd authoring - free and works.
CdBurnerXP
1st Page 2006 - finally it is out - free - makes NVU look old. Excellent WYSIWYG editor - or hand code with an excellent tool!
http://www.evrsoft.com/
Daemon Tools - mount iso files .bin files, etc. Save your disks from getting scratched!
Daemon Tools
Utorrent - a very small and efficient bittorrent program!
Utorrent
Miss DVD Decryptor, so do I. . .here is the next best thing. . .
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DVDFab.htm
Free Online Virus Scans
Norton's Online AV Scan
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym
Kaspersky Online AV Scan - many people don't even know this exists (in beta form).
http://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/kws/kavwebscan.html
Trend Houscall Online AV Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Panda Active Online AV Scan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/a...B310-B1DBEC2971F2%7d&NRCACHEHINT=Guest
Mcafee Online AV Scan
http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp?affid=294
Bitdefender Online AV Scan
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
F-Secure Online AV Scan
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml
Avast Online AV Scan (one file at a time)
http://onlinescan.avast.com/
E-trust Pestpatrol Online Malware Scan
http://pestpatrol.com/pestscan/index.htm
Windows Live Safety Center (beta)
http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm
Antivirus software - and information as to what free antivirus will work in server products
a-squared - freeware antitrojan, anti-malware type deal
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/
ClamAV - on demand scanner for almost all OS's - works on server products
http://www.clamav.net/binary.html#pagestart
Antivir - what I use personally
http://www.free-av.com/
Avast
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
AVG
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
Bitdefender Free Edition - works on server products
http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html
F-Secure Blacklight Antitrojan - free under beta demo for now
http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/
Rootkit Revealer
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.html
F-Prot Antivirus for Dos (runs fine on Win98/95 machines if you have the need)
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/fprotdos.html
Antivirus software for Linux
Below is an excellent post highlighting all the various solutions for Linux systems
http://groups.google.com/group/de.comp....ware+antivirus&rnum=1#56a2c51dce96370a
Kerio Personal Firewal 2.1.4 (an older version) - this version is a favorite of many. Light on resources works well. Getting hard to find.
http://www.networkingfiles.com/Firewall...oads/keriopersonalfirewalldownload.htm
Zonealarm - a free firewall that works well.
Zonealarm
Ipod/Itunes stuff
Want to use Itunes on a windows machine with a regular ole mp3 player, here is your salvation
http://ita.sourceforge.net/index.html
Free Multimedia Stuff
Photo Recover - recover photos from flash media, harddrives, ext2/ext3 partitions, etc! Cross platform and open sourced! Just what the doctor ordered for corrupt memory cards.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
VCDEasy - last freeware version - make VCD's and SVCD's from compliant mpeg files.
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/Audio-Video/VCDEasy.html
Media Player classic - a great replacement for windows media player
Media Player Classic
Klite Mega Codec Pack - all available codecs - has always worked for me.
Codec Pack
Record streaming radio to your computer for free
RadioAgent24
VLC Media player - my number 1 choice. I use this almost exclusively - it plays everything! It plays dvd's the new .mp4 files, etc. Your #1 solution free and open sourced.
Videolan
Winamp - a music player - it kicks the llamas azz! Pair it with Winamp Ipod plugin and never need to install Itunes on your PC!
Winamp
Winamp Ipod Plugin
VirtualDub - a free video capture and processing utility! - A great program.
Virtual Dub
Pivot Stick Figure Animator *NEW*
http://www.geocities.com/peter_bone_uk/software.html
Assorted free photoshop plugins - some very technical - you may find a gem here though! *new*
http://www.richardrosenman.com/software/downloads/
Free adobe videos - some of all of adobe's products including audition. Free training!
http://www.fmstudio.com/blog/2005/08/free-adobe-tutorials.html
LAB Color Magic with Photoshop! *new* excellent thread and forum
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=23208
How to center things in various graphics programs - this tutorial taught me more than alot. Very Handy.
http://senecadesign.com/designgeek/dgarchives/designgeek19.php
Optikverv's Excellent Freeware Plugin for Photoshop (works in lots of freeware editors too)
http://www.optikvervelabs.com/download.asp
Covert to Black and White Pro
There are other nicely done photoshop plugins on this site as well - all freeware.
http://www.photo-plugins.com/Home/
Filters Unlimited - Awesome set of free photoshop filters This seems to be payware now - still cheap
http://www.icnet.de/filters_unlimited/index.html
Free Video Tutorials of photoshop for the beginner.
http://digitalphoto101.com/mambo/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
New More free Photoshop video tutorials
http://www.lombergar.com/v5/list/tutorials
Photoshop TV - not software - but a videocast of photoshop hints and tips and general grpahics information. Very informative. You can also subscribe with Itunes 6.0
http://www.photoshoptv.com
A photoshop Podcast site. Load up your mp3 player with tips from graphic design pros.
http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/
A great photoshop tutorial site. This one does not get mentioned alot, a real jewel.
http://www.artworld.si/photoshop-tutorials-1.art
I love the Out of Bounds tutorial here. Other good stuff too.
http://www.skeller.ch/ps/photoshop_tutorials.php
Illustrator
One of the only and best tutorial sites for Adobe Illustrator for newbies Excellent.
http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/tutorials/
When a vector meets a photo - combining photos and vectors - the hottest new trend!
http://www.layersmagazine.com/design/vector_photo.php
The Integration and Application Network at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has produced a series of scientific symbol libraries. The libraries contain over 1000 custom made symbols (in 28 categories) designed specifically for enhancing science communication skills for the graphically challenged. Site loads slow for me - but worth the time.
http://ian.umces.edu.nyud.net:8090/inde...u.nyud.net:8090/conceptualdiagrams.php
Golive
Sample of free golive training. May come in useful. A rare find.
http://www.vtccanada.com/can/titles/adobe_golive_cs2.html
Generic photography information (may have some crossover)
Improve your photography without worrying so much about equipment. A good read.
http://kellenheller.blogspot.com/2005/1...ve-your-photography-without-using.html
Over 3600 photography and photoshop lessons on over 60 pages! Amazing.
http://porg.4t.com/Recent.html
A great photography tutorial. This is not about photoshop - but rather the art of photography.
http://porg.4t.com/PhotoTips.html
Jealous of photocasting on the Mac? Don't wanna pay for ILife if you have a mac? Wanna photocast? Check it out here how to achieve the same effect - free!
How to photocast free!
Freeware digital imaging programs/utilities
Faststone capture - screenshot utility - capability is better than most paid software
http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
Artweaver is a simple Freeware program for creative painting. You can create sketches from photographies and experiment with a wide range of brushes.
http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version
Wink - create 'howto videos' in a variety of formats.
http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
JpegCrops - a very nice picture cropper. Do one thing and do them well
http://ekot.dk/programmer/JPEGCrops/
ilco - a very nice icon editor.
http://www.mintrasystems.com/products/mintra/product.php?p=iico
Inkscape - a vector based drawing utility - I like it better than illustrator for alot of stuff. NEW!
http://www.inkscape.org/
Avery Label Designer Limited - freeware Avery software. Create cards and labels and such free! NEW!
http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=sof...il&catalogcode=WEB01&softwarecode=3200
sodipodi - a vector based drawing utility - ala adobe illustrator
http://www.sodipodi.com/index.php3?section=home/about
tuxpaint - a nice coloring software for the kids
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
Imagenomic's Noiseware Community Edition Noise Removal Software
Much better than photoshop's own noise remover.
http://www.imagenomic.com/detailsstandalone.asp
Paint.net - a freeware alternative to Gimp or photoshop UPDATED TO VERSION 3.0
# Upgraded to use .NET Framework 2.0
# Full 64-bit support, for both x64 and Itanium systems
# New "Curves" adjustment for editing an images color curves
# Aesthetic improvements to the entire user interface
# Better performance, especially for 64-bit systems
# Help file is now available in German
# Zooming, esp. with the mouse wheel, has been enhanced
# Deployment via AD/GPO is now much easier (use /createMsi with setup package)
# Layers window list is no longer "upside down"
# Rewritten layer composition engine is now mathematically correct, and faster
# Seven new layer blend modes: Color Burn, Color Dodge, Reflect, Glow, Overlay, Negation, and Xor
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Photofiltre - I open this myself instead of photoshop for tons of simple tasks. This is an awesome program. Don't neglect the additional download packs.
http://www.photofiltre.com/
Pixia - if you are into 'painting' then this is for you. A program straight from Japan. Excellent for anime and all other things painting
http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/
Smartmorph - Ever see images that change into something else animated style? Like a girl changing into a cat? That is morphing. Here is a freeware program to have fun with that does that. Change your boss into a monkey
http://meesoft.com/
Some free photosoftware here at media chance. Check out ColorcastFX ClearSkinFX and Digital Camera Tools.
http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/index.html
Faststone Image Viewer - I gave up upgrading Thumbs+ for this awesome software. Viewing, light editing, cataloging. Check it out! Free.
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
Infanview - Similar to faststone - a little slimmer interface. Many swear by it.
Infanview
Infanview Plugins - an assortment of extensions for Infanview.
Plugins
Autostitch - an automatic panoramic image stitcher.
Autostitch
Jalbum - display your photos online, even on sites without php or active scripting. Requires you to have the java vm installed on xp and 2k. Jalbum
Gimpshop - the gimp image editor with menus arranged similar to photoshop.
Gimpshop
Opanda Photofiltre - add a variety of effects to your photo. Emulate the action of adding filters to your photography. Free!
http://www.opanda.com/en/pf/index.html
Orien's Enhancer Gold - last freeware version. An image editor and enhancer. Works great. Get it while links still work!
http://www.photo-freeware.net/download_win-eng.php?id=110
Got a Fuji camera that writes in RAW? Here is a free raw editor for those cams!
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-PaloAlto/9919/s7raw.html
Desktop Calendar that you can use your own photos with (this one does not print)
http://www.photo-freeware.net/desktop-calendar-xp.php
If you want to make printable calendars from your photos, here is the program you need! NEW!
http://www.photo-freeware.net/photo-print-calendar.php
This program says it works with Canon Printers only. I printed a calendar with it on an epson printer, seemed fine to me.
Free Windows IRC Clients
Bersirc
http://www.bersirc.com/
Bitchx
http://bitchx.org/download.php
HydraIRC
http://www.hydrairc.com/
NodeIRC
http://node.sourceforge.net/
Tiny IRC
http://www.tinyirc.net/
SilverX's XCHAT - this is what I use personally - use to be a mirc fan, have not looked back.
http://www.silverex.org/news/
Calendar Software
Rainlender is a simple but functional calendar for your Windows Desktop
http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/index.php?pn=projects&project=rainlendar
Sunbird is a project of the Mozilla team. It is a calendar and planner ala outlook. . .
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird.html
Web 2.0 - here I will begin to catalog the best of the new interactive Web. . . dedicated to cool and the obscure!
Gliffy.com - like visio online for free!
http://www.gliffy.com/gliffy/#d=&t=
http://www.thumbstacks.com/
Thumbstacks is your online Powerpoint replacement. I've been using it for a week. You can save your work locally as a specially formatted html file that runs fine on a computer with no network connection. Awesome program, easy registration. Bye powerpoint!
http://www.writely.com/BasePage.aspx
Writely is the wordprocessor on the internet that you don't have to pay for. Edit docs, share docs, upload docs, write docs - all online - all with a nice wordprocessor - free!
http://pages.google.com
Google has used the ajax craze to make homepage publishing as easy as pie. Different from blogger. 100 megs of storage. Transfer seems unlimited at the moment. Sign up now!
http://sandbox.sourcelabs.com/livemarks/
Livemarks - del.icio.us live! Gotta see it to understand.
*NEW*
http://labs.digg.com/
Digg 2.0 Labs. Some up and coming craziness here. Very cool stuff.
Perfectnews
This may not be too useful, but I find it ans extremely interesting way to get news. Check it out, at least once
http://www.jeroenwijering.com/whatsup/?qelix.com
http://www.podcasternews.com/
Podcast news - make a 'mycast' and get your podcasts your way.
http://www.pageflakes.com/
The first personalized homepage I've ever used since the interweb began. Yea, that good with all that ajax madness
http://podbop.org/
Podcasts for your town - find local indie music!
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