Best Free Software for Windows

+1

InfraRecorder does it all so well, even ISO burns.

 

Thanks scooberdoober and Oodle-Bear......will try InfraRecorder

 

Cheers, i find that it works really well, even burns blu-ray but we;ve not been able to test that theory yet lol

I find that free software generally works as good if not better then the usual paid-for stuff, and takes less resources.

OB

 

This one isnt FREE... but damn near after the initial 30 day trial you pay forty ducks and get the first year included. After that its only 20$ a year! I have one and it Works!! Check it out MagicJack. Just plug it into a usb...install...plug a regular old land phone in and talk. Also anyone know of a good dependable download accelerator ?? thanks

 

Then please don't suggest it. It's in the guidelines for contribution:

Guidelines for Contribution:

* Only FREE software
* No Warez
* No web applications
* Check if it's already listed
* No promotional software
* Provide a description
* Provide a safe download

 

The guidelines are there for a reason, so please respect them, and Calvin.

 

lol i understand its a "good deal" but read the title of the thread. keyword=free. if you want to start a thread titled "Best Cheap Software for Windows" go ahead.

 

Skype is totally free. If you want to set up a phone service with them then you have to pay, but it's entirely free. Although i understand and thank you for the suggestion, it won't be added or looked into as it isn't free.

About your questions about download accelerators though, i have to say, there aren't any real download accelerators out there. Regular downloading will use up your bandwidth as much as it can so download accelerators don't give what they promise as you can't get any faster than what your ISP gives you.

 

Thanks for the info. Its reliable info like this that keeps me coming back. And as far as guidelines go I will be reading them with both eyes open. I was overcome with enthusiasm and just had to tell someone. It wont happen again. Regards,

 

I don't know if anyone's already mentioned this but, we use DisplayFusion, which is free to use (you can upgrade but there's no need you only get a timer).

It allows you to scale backdrops across multiple screens, or have different ones on each screen. I have one large image displayed across my 19" monitor and my notebook screen... It even allows you to move the image up and down if one screen is bigger than the other, so you can choose which part is not shown.



It's very good, just thought i'd share it with you guys.

DisplayFusion

OB

 

Now Calvin thats true but not the truth of it. As I'm sure you know, the programs work by opening multiple connections which 'trick' the server into allocating more than one connection to the user. I find them useful when outside of my home network, like offices or slow hotel connections

This one is good and free. Download accelerator plus

http://www.speedbit.com/

At home, my internet is fast enough that I don't bother, and I think thats your point. They have there use though eg satellite internet

 

Thanks for the suggestions and the info guys, i have a question for anyone reading this. Do you think i should add a spell check section? All browsers can have spell check and office applications have spell check, and your IM has spell check so it it necessary for me to add that section to the list?

Also as a heads up, I'm adding quite a bit of software to the list soon when i get done testing them, look out for them.

 

I think a spell check section would be extraneous.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep that section out then. Also, a lot of the software I've been testing all of today was far from best so i only added a few of about 10-20.

 

Wow, just checked the list. You've been busy.

 

Yes, i have. I'm doing a major remodel of the list to clean up out of place software and retesting all of the links. It would be a great help if you could suggest anything you want to be changed about it.

 

Hello,

For audio file metadata (tag) editor, I recommend Mp3tag. It's a very powerful tagger with support for several popular audio formats. It also has full unicode support for tag and filename.

List of supported audio formats:
* Advanced Audio Coding (aac)
* Free Lossless Audio Codec (flac)
* Monkey's Audio (ape)
* Mpeg Layer 3 (mp3)
* MPEG-4 (mp4 / m4a / m4b / iTunes compatible)
* Musepack (mpc)
* Ogg Vorbis (ogg)
* OptimFROG (ofr)
* OptimFROG DualStream (ofs)
* Speex (spx)
* Tom's Audio Kompressor (tak)
* True Audio (tta)
* Windows Media Audio (wma)
* WavPack (wv)

 

The new list is great, i also have a suggestion for a feed reader.

I use Netvibes which is a f ree online based rss feed site. You create your own look and feel and then choose what feeds you want to view, how many time it's refreshed etc. Since it's totally web based you can view your rss feeds, anywhere that has a web browser.

Netvibes

OB

 

Thanks for the suggestions, although OB i don't want web based software on the list, since there has been such a big demand for it i think i might allow it soon. What do you guys think? Should i allow web based software?

 

Calvin, the Prompt drivers backup link is dead.

 

Just made some minor revisions now which fixed it a little before you posted, just wasn't published yet. Thanks.

 

Well, as long as it's truly free, and you put it in it's own section then I see no problem with it.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I'll get started on that soon then.

 

This is a pretty neat thread. I didn`t notice there were so many free apps out there, although I`ve been using CCleaner for longer than I can remember...

 

Thank you, there are many more free apps out there than this, i just collected the best of the best.

 

add "miniMIZE"
http://aquaria.za.net/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

 

What is that? Add a description, usually if the website has a description I'll allow no description in the post, but in this case you need to add one.

 

Cool, all i did was input some personal info, you have to pick a username etc. and give a name to your rss page but apart from that it's very Free lol

It's also good as you can customise the whole display, put feeds into there own tabs etc.

OB

 

miniMIZE is a small desktop enhancing application that catches windows that you minimize and puts a thumbnail of the main application window on your desktop.

 

Thanks for adding the details McGrady.

I'd like to ask if you guys want to see me add some sort of notification next to some software to note it's recommended/essential? Like TeraCopy and 7-zip. Or should i just make a new thread?

 

Add it to here.

 

Well. it's really a bit of a judgment call on a per app basis. If you feel qualified and up to the task, then go for it.

 

It's a good idea. How about creating a system guide, with the recommended programs listed in there relevant sections. It could be organised for low, medium and high spec computers? That way people with machines of all stages of specification can see an example of the usefullness of free programs?

Just my 2p...

OB

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, i guess I'll have my hands full for quite a while with that software guide and my Linux exploits and many other things.

 

How about adding Taksi under recording/screen capturing. It's freeware and can screen capture as well as record video. Audio is not recorded and Dx 10 isn't supported. It looks like it has been discontinued as the latest version was released back in 2006. I've only used it a bit but it seems okay.

http://taksi.sourceforge.net/

 

I've tried Taski when i first heard it was like FRAPS but it isn't anywhere near like FRAPS as far as my testing goes.

 

Hey Calvin, this may be iffy here at NBR, but what about a "Torrent" or "File Sharing" section. They're not inherently bad, but, obviously, are used abusively. Asking permission from a mod/admin is probably a good idea.

Again, just a though. It's not necessary.

 

Yes, i wanted to put up such a section when i was first making this list but it was decided by the mods/admins that i couldn't include a P2P section at all or else no list. It was an acceptable loss.

 

Read the first page, no torrents.
Could be a good idea though

 

Figured as much. Oh well, definitely would rather have this list sans torrent programs than no list at all.

 

Wise Disk defrag and disk cleaner defrag and clean your hard drive of files you don't want. http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html

 

The question is, are these products the "Best" out there?

 

Idk. The best free ones.

 

For the creation and editing of documents which involve a lot of mathematical symbols and equations, a common tool for publication-quality work is LaTeX: http://www.latex-project.org/ . It's very powerful, but also quite difficult to learn so it might not be for everyone. It is the best of its kind though and it's free.

Here's a more direct link to a download of one particular TeX distribution (there are several, see the site linked above): http://www.tug.org/protext/ .

 

I thought I'd throw in my favorite web browser - Maxthon.

http://www.maxthon.com/

I tried Firefox, & as much as I love all things "open-source", I just didn't like it. My co-worker uses FF heavily, but I just didn't like it for some reason.

I found Maxthon a long time ago, back then it was called MyIE2. Since it expands on M$IE, the footprint is quite small compared to FF & others.

But it has pretty much most of the features I've seen & heard of from FF. Quite a few plugins & themes round out the app.

 

I also have used Maxthon for a long time and in many ways prefer it to FF. I like a lot of things about IE7 as well but it seems as though Big Brother, MS, doesn't like torrents and every time I tried to use it to download a torrent using IE7 it would come back w/ "invalid torrent file".

 

I love Maxthon, but I just go right back to FF.....

 

I must admit i have never tried maxthon, i use Opera, it has everything that IE has and more and it likes torrents...

Just my 2p

OB

 

have you guys heard of AIM AD HACK?

AIM AD HACK is basically an intaller that downloads AIM, installs it, then removes all the "crap" aim comes with. Such as : viewpoint media player, AOL browser, AOL toolbar, the change of aim.com to be your browsers start page, REMOVES ADVERTISEMENTS in the main window, and a few other things that I can't list off the top of my head.

www.aimadhack.net
happy AIMing.

edit: oh and to let you guys know, i've been using this program for a little over 2 years.