This post by Greg inspired me to post to my blog about some of the free software utilities and applications that I use at home. Although some of the things I list may not be the absolute best, it really is hard to beat free. Plus a lot of times the term “best” is used subjectively and this includes software.
7-Zip is a compression utility used for packing and unpacking various file formats. Think of it as an open source WinZip. Below is the main feature list from the 7-Zip website:
- High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
- Supported formats:
- Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
- Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
- For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
- Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
- Self-extracting capability for 7z format
- Integration with Windows Shell
- Powerful File Manager
- Powerful command line version
- Plugin for FAR Manager
- Localizations for 74 languages
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Every Windows user needs and anti-virus application. The one I use is Avast because it seems to be the least intrusive. I haven’t had a single problem since I began using Avast over a year ago. Here are some of the features:
- Anti-spyware built-in
- Web Shield
- Anti-rootkit built-in
- Automatic updates
- Strong self-protection
- Virus Chest
- Antivirus kernel
- System integration
- Simple User Interface
- Integrated Virus Cleaner
- Resident protection
- Support for 64-bit Windows
- P2P and IM Shields
- Internationalization
- Network Shield
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Ever have issues with your OS or feel that your registry has become a bit dirty? CCleaner may help you find the issues. I use it regularly to clean out unnecessary temporary and log files. I also use it to check for any registry issues:
“CCleaner is a freeware PC optimization tool. It combines a system cleaner that removes unused and temporary files from your system and also a fully featured registry cleaner! CCleaner allows Windows to run faster, more efficiently and gives you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's Small, Fast and Free!”
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CDBurnerXP is one of the best disc burning applications I’ve ever used, free or otherwise. It handles everything I throw at it without any issues:
- burn all kinds of discs
- audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
- burn and create ISO files
- data verification after burning process
- create bootable discs
- multi-language interface
- bin/nrg → ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
- Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/Windows 7
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Hate scratched audio CDs? I know I do. I use CDex to rip from the original disc so that I don’t have to worry about scratching up the original:
- Direct recording of multiple tracks
- Read / store album information from/to the cdplayer.ini file
- Read / store album information from/to a local and/or remote CD Database (CDDB)
- Support CD-Text (if your CD-drive supports it)
- Advanced jitter correction (based on the cd-paranoia ripping library)
- Indicates track progress and jitter control
- Normalization of audio signal
- Supports many CD-Drive from many manufacters
- Conversion of external WAV files
- Support for M3U and PLS play list files
- Best of all, it's free (GPL license, source code available)
- Serveral languages are supported
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Into news feeds? Then you should be using FeedDemon. It will sync to your Google Reader account:
- Newspaper Format: When you select a channel, FeedDemon's tabbed browser displays the channel's news items in a newspaper for easy reading. You can display a newspaper of news items for an entire folder or view one feed at a time.
- News Bins: Store news items in a central location and provide a handy way to collect items from different channels. If you find an interesting item that you might want to read again, just store it in a news bin for future reference.
- Shared Experience: See what news is popular with other NewsGator users and find out who is linking to the news you’re reading.
- Video: Watch embedded video right within the newspaper view.
- Panic Button: Ever gone on vacation and gotten a little behind on your reading? The Panic Button solves this and many other problems by quickly marking all older items read.
- Watches: Look for keywords in news items as they're downloaded. After you create a watch, it examines every incoming news item whenever any channel is updated.
- News Comes To You: Subscribe to feeds from all over the web or choose some of the dozens of default feeds.
- Search: Search outside of FeedDemon's subscriptions by selecting a feed search engine, then enter your keyword, and FeedDemon will subscribe to a dynamic channel containing the search results for that keyword.
- Podcasts: Powerful podcasting tools enable you to download audio files and automatically copy them to your iPod or other media player. The bundled FeedStation utility enables you to schedule your downloads so they happen overnight while you're asleep. When you wake up, you'll find new audio waiting on your media player of choice.
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Is Photoshop a bit too expensive for you? Try Paint.NET. I use it for editing images, creating icons, and a myriad of other minor image tasks. A true power user can do much more than I can with it:
- Simple, intuitive, and innovative user interface
Every feature and user interface element was designed to be immediately intuitive and quickly learnable without assistance. In order to handle multiple images easily, Paint.NET uses a tabbed document interface. The tabs display a live thumbnail of the image instead of a text description. This makes navigation very simple and fast. - Layers
Usually only found on expensive or complicated professional software, layers form the basis for a rich image composition experience. You may think of them as a stack of transparency slides that, when viewed together at the same time, form one image. - Active Online Community
Paint.NET has an online forum with a friendly, passionate, and ever-expanding community. Be sure to check out the constantly growing list of tutorials and plugins!
Frequently Updated
Updates usually come about every 4 to 8 weeks, and contain new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes. Upgrading to the latest version is very simple, requiring only two clicks of the mouse. - Special Effects
Many special effects are included for enhancing and perfecting your images. Everything from blurring, sharpening, red-eye removal, distortion, noise, and embossing are included. Also included is our unique 3D Rotate/Zoom effect that makes it very easy to add perspective and tilting. - Adjustments are also included which help you tweak an image's brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, curves, and levels. You can also convert an image to black and white, or sepia-toned.
- Powerful Tools
Paint.NET includes simple tools for drawing shapes, including an easy-to-use curve tool for drawing splines or Bezier curves. The Gradient tool, new for 3.0, has been cited as an innovative improvement over similar tools provided by other software. The facilities for creating and working with selections is powerful, yet still simple enough to be picked up quickly. Other powerful tools include the Magic Wand for selecting regions of similar color, and the Clone Stamp for copying or erasing portions of an image. There is also a simple text editor, a tool for zooming, and a Recolor tool. - Unlimited History
Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody changes their mind. To accommodate this, every action you perform on an image is recorded in the History window and may be undone. Once you've undone an action, you can also redo it. The length of the history is only limited by available disk space. - Free!
Paint.NET doesn't cost a dime.
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Do you chat with friends that use different IM networks? Trillian is a great application that supports various IM networks. MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, and IRC are supported.
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How am I writing this blog post? Windows Live Writer of course. Greg turned me on to this application and it makes blog posting must simpler:
“Writer makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service—Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and many more.”
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