Best Free Software for Windows

Mpeg Stream Clip Video converter:

I had been looking for a program that could convert .MOV files to Mpeg4 and finally I found a free one that converted a whole 10 minute movie, and not just the first 3 or 4 minutes! I made a 10 minute 770mb .MOV movie only 137mb MPEG4!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it.

 

Y'z Dock

No longer continued but, still has a good supply of themes.

K Meleon Browser

A small, lightweight & fast browser.

Flock Browser

The ultimate browser for people who like to stay connected. I give it 5/5

Safari Web Browser

OS X's browser now for Windows. This an extremely fast browser that is ideal for those with multiple OSes.

Sea Monkey Browser

Part of a full internet suite, Seamonkey is a lightweight, fast browser for Pros.

Google Web Accelerator

Accelerates the internet experience(well it did for me)


PhotoFiltre(image editing)

A decent image editing program I used a few times.

Yahoo! Widgets Engine

Basicaly sidebar/dashboard for XP I like it actually better then sidebar/dashboard because of the number of widgets available.

FlyaKite OS X

Transforms your Windows XP experience to OS X. I really like this program.

Dexpot(virtual desktop manager)

Ideal for multitaskers, it helps me organize my work better.

Windows XP Powertoys

Enhances XPs features. A must have if you ask me.

I would like to note I have used all of these programs.

 

Things wrong with that list:
Y'z Dock no longer continued
RK launcher is rocketdock
K-melon isn't a good browser
No posting anything related to torrents
You didn't include any details

 

K-meleon is a good basic browser.
It is very fast.
I will edit the post.

 

It's a good basic browser. I'm searching for the best software. You should use Opera, or Firefox instead of that.

 

There fixed.
I like K meleon because it is extremely fast, so I listed it.

 

We asked the OP of this thread to browse through the old thread and pull out all the programs that still worked well. The old thread was deleted afterwards.

I never did get to say "thanks, Calvin" for putting this together for us.

 

No problem Greg. Just giving back to the community.

 

So, does anyone else have anything to contribute?

 

Could use some help. Anyone suggest a software (Vista) that can convert my DVDs to Mpeg format? Option like quality and file size would be a plus. thx

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Here's one.

Scribus is an open source, cross platform DTP application. I've used it, it has a user community, there are many templates available, it works well, and is continuing to advance. I have not used it in Vista, but others have without any problems.

Here's the link.

http://www.scribus.net/

 

Well I just looked through the OP list and didn't see 2 utilities that I use quite often.

Under Windows XP I loved the Image Resizer powertoy. But of course there still aren't a set of programs like that out there for Vista yet so I went searching some time ago and found a free program called VSO Image Resizer. After install it sits in your right click menu, so when you right click an image and select the image resizer it pops up and allows you to set size and directory. Very useful if you do a fair amount of photo manipulation.

I also saw that there were a fair number of free PDF apps but the one I use isn't on the list - it's called PrimoPDF. Not much to say about it other than it's nonintrusive and works with any program; it creates a printer that you select when you print files, allows you to choose directory, filename, and some options. Not sure how extensive they are compared to other programs but it definitely comes in handy.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Any more?

 

I use aMSN as my main instant messanger program. Great alternative to MSN Live
http://www.amsn-project.net/

I also use a program called PeerGuardian to help keep my privacy when I'm browsing turrent sites
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

 

Thanks for the suggestions Jaydizz. But peerguardian is said to cause more trouble than it's worth without much help, and what are some advantages aMSN has over MSN?

 

What about Xerobank?
Formerly known as Torpark, it's a portable browser(USB stick)based on Firefox, it connects to the Tor network,
it's open source and perfect for anonymous browsing and it's free.
Works with Xp/Vista

 

What are the advantages is has over the regular portable Firefox?

 

It's not from Microsoft.

 

It automatically connects to the Tor network, meaning you browse completely anonymous.
I have it on my USB stick and whenever I have to use a public computer(internet cafe/holidays) I use Xerobank. No traces whatsoever.
Here are a few links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_network
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176514(lots of reading, but very interesting )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerobank

Edit: Forgot to mention that the connection to the tor router is encrypted.

 

Alright. Since i'm not completely sure about this one, what category do you think i should put it under? Misc., Browsers, or Safety?

 

I'd say Safety, maybe with a new subsection like secure/encrypted/anonymous/portable browser

To be honest, I had to do a lot of background search on Tor onion routers/network, secure browsing etc. until I decided to use it.
But whenever I'm on the road I use it and I'm completely happy with it.
Still, it needs some kind of understanding of how this whole thing works and I'm sure not many people will use it.
I guess it's up to you, but if you're not completely sure about it don't put it in your list.

 

Don't get the wrong idea. It's a good program. Just wondering if it's all that different from portable Firefox. I really don't get this Tor network thing. I'll think it over with a couple of other people. Thanks for the suggestion. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

Suggestions?

Mmmm... let's see.

1) What about mp3 Tag renaming, creation?
I use TagScanner
http://www.xdlab.ru/en/
is a multifunction program to organize large music collections. It can edit tags of mostly state-of-the-art audio formats, rename files based on the tag information, generate tag information from filenames, and perform any transformations of the text from tags and filenames. Also you may get album info via internet music database freedb.org. Supports ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis comments, APEv2, WindowsMedia and MP4(iTunes) tags. Powerful TAG editor with batch functions and special features. Playlist maker with ability to export playlists to HTML or Excel.

2) Talking about renaming: I use a nice freeware program, made in Japan to rename my files. It's called flexible renamer
http://www.buzzys.net/flexible.html

3) I would like to see a separate section for what I call 'small code'. Small single-purpose utilities that do one thing (even by CLI) and do it fast.
Have a look at this site to se what I mean:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html
(this is just an example: but the small program to view and disabling context menus is worth a try)

4) I think you need to reorganize a bit the programs. For example, the hexadecimal editor is listed under utilities. I would look for it under "Editors".
Maybe you should also create a Tune or Tweak section, a Diagnostic section and a Filesystem section (renaming, defragging, copy).

5) a very long list is like no list at all.
Quality should prevail over quantity.
Personal thought, though.

6) What are the seas you did not sail? The undiscovered countries...
Mmmm... programming, maybe.
How about a section on programming
I like Code::Blocks for C, C++ and Java.
It works under Win9x, WinXP. It takes some effort to make it work under Vista, though.

Anyone care to suggest an assembly environment?

7) Oh, code::block made me think to another nifty couple of nice additions: MingW and MSys, that is to say: Un*x like tools under Windows.
http://www.mingw.org/msys.shtml

Oh, well. Time to rest.

Hey, YOU did ask for suggestions.

 

Oh, SequoiaView.
It's amazing. In Linux it's integrated in Konqueror.
http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/sequoiaview//

It gives you a graphical view of your disk occupation.
"Ever wondered why your hard disk is full? Or what directory is taking up most of the space? When using conventional disk browsing tools, such as Windows Explorer, these questions may be hard to answer. With SequoiaView however, they can be answered almost immediately. SequoiaView uses a visualization technique called cushion treemaps to provide you with a single picture of the entire contents of your hard drive. You can use it to locate those large files that you haven't accessed in one year, or to quickly locate the largest picture files on your drive."

I just used it to find out that Acrobat reader took some 140 MB under my Win98 disk. Disintalled it right away. Foxit will make it to the desktop, after having conquered the laptop.

 

its not free tho ? soundes usefull until is aw the site and its a free trial and you have to paya subscription ?

 

AVG Anti-Spyware is the best anti-spyware for Windows.

 

iTunes I think this is pretty obvious. I like the iTunes store best of all .

CCleaner Cleans out the registry & all the ''crap''. Makes your PC much faster.

Recuva Restores deleted files. Very useful if you delete an important document ''permanently''.

 

The xerobank browser is free.
What you can do is open an account called xerobank plus/pro/premium. You get much faster download rates and other special services.

 

I second CCleaner.

 

CCleaner is already under the name Crap Cleaner in Misc. utility section

 

Congrats Calvin !! Your thread made it to my signature

You are doing a good job in maintaining the thread nicely. Thanks !!

 

Hmm I see, I looked under the wrong spot.

 

Thank you very much.

Not following my guidelines.

Make sure you check better next time. iTunes isn't on there because it's not the best. Same reason why windows media player isn't on there. I've heard people say they have problems with Recuva, and it's in beta.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, also, i agree. Quality over quantity, i keep only the best stuff on my list.

 

Didn't see it either

 

I noticed that people were having trouble finding it. If you find something named incorrectly, or have a more widely used name for it, tell me. Then again, i'm told people never look through my list all.

 

I believe the program officially uses the name CCleaner now, instead of Crap Cleaner. Needless to say, I searched your list for CCleaner and it didn't come up, although I didn't think of searching Crap Cleaner. It actually doesn't mention the name Crap Cleaner anywhere on their site anymore, and filehippo indicates that it was formerly named Crap Cleaner, but is now CCleaner.

Long story short, I think you should change the name to CCleaner

Great list, BTW.

 

I already changed it a few hours ago. Have any more suggestions?

 

Always one step ahead of the pack...

 

I sure am.

 

Mods make those threads stickies which first earn a place in my signature

 

I was actually thinking of asking to make it sticky long before you put it in your sig. It just took me a while to ask.

So does anyone have any software suggestions?

 

Photo-Toolkit
Photo Toolkit is a user-friendly program offering a complete set of tools for digital image editing.

What makes it especially attractive and easy-to-use is that it integrates directly into Windows Explorer and can function as an add-on program with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer providing quick access to several powerful editing options. This unique integration technology is patent pending.

Photo Toolkit does not embarrass you with a complicated interface: it enriches the software you're accustomed to with new additional features and lets you enhance your photos in the usual environment!

With Photo Toolkit everything you may need for image editing and enhancement is right there at your fingertips!

Photo Toolkit offers the following benefits:

* No need to get used to an array of complicated programs to edit your images. Enhance your photos while viewing them in your Windows Explorer or in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
* No need to open slow confusing image-processing programs and load your images into them. Get a quick access to powerful image-editing options right from your Windows Explorer!
* Fix red eye, correct colors, remove artifacts, create caricatures, add lighting effects to your photos etc. with a couple of clicks!
For complete list of options see the Features page.
* If desired, Photo Toolkit can be used as a stand-alone application.
* Batch processing lets you quickly edit multiple photos with minimal effort! You can process batches of images easily using Windows Explorer context menu or the stand-alone program.

NEW!

We've released Vista ready Photo Toolkit 1.8 Beta! Version 1.8 features a cool new interface and offers enhanced reliability.
Note: The Vista compatible 1.8 version can be used as a stand-alone application only. Alongside with the new Beta version, version 1.7 is still available for download.

http://www.photo-toolkit.com/

http://www.photo-toolkit.com/features.html

Beta works wonderful so far Vista 32bit

 

Thanks for the suggestion BlackRussian. I'll check it out even though i usually don't add betas to my list.

 

It worth adding Tested it works wonderful on Vista and I paid for retail Ulead photo Express v6

 

I'll do some testing myself, with some others too.

 

Not sure if this counts, but I find it AMAZINGLY good is

www.meebo.com

It's an IM website, does at least 5 of the leading IM clients, on a website without installing any software at all.

 

I frequently use that site but it can't be added. It isn't software. If you want the best websites on the web, you'll have to make your own thread.