Recommended applications and tools for the PC

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Novil
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Recommended applications and tools for the PC

Post by Novil »

In this thread I want to present a few good and free applications and tools for the PC, which have proven their value in years of use. Among them are some very popular applications like the office package OpenOffice, but also some rather unknown ones like the tool Joe for renaming files.
  • CDBurnerXP (CD and DVD burner) is an easy to use application for burning CDs and DVDs. (Download)
  • IfranView (Image viewer) is a very fast application for viewing images which also offers some basic operations for image editing. You can scroll through all images in one folder with the mouse wheel. (Download)
  • OpenOffice.org (Office package) is a free alternative to the office package of Microsoft. The brand new version 3.0 was released only a few weeks ago. However, I had not yet the chance to check if the poor spreadsheet processing application Calc has been improved considerably in the new version. (Download)
  • Videolan VLC Media Player (Audio and video player) is able to play almost all existing media types, sometimes even the beginning of corrupt files in which Windows Media Player and Quicktime are only showing a black background. (Download)
  • Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic (Anti-virus) is an anti-virus application which I have used for years now without encountering any problems (or virus). (Download)
  • Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 Free (Anti-spyware) is one of the best tools for removing spyware and other malicious software. (Download)
  • Spybot Search & Destroy (Anti-spyware) is a good addition to Ad-Aware since it offers an additional real-time protection of the OS settings and various other tools. (Download)
  • Adblock Plus (Advertising blocker) is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser and removes almost all ads on every website if you have installed an appropriate filter. However, be fair and disable Adblock on websites you particularly like and which do not have annoying layer ads.
  • uTorrent (Torrent client) is a very easy to use application to download torrents. (Download)
  • XP-Antispy (Windows configuration) ist a tool which lets you disable many annoying or questionable operations concerning your privacy in Windows XP. (Download)
  • 7-zip (File compression) ist an application for file compression and supports many different compression file types. The compression ratio of its own .7z file type is usually superior to .zip. (Download)
  • Audacity (Audio editing) is a reasonably easy to use application for editing audio files. (Download)
  • Fookes Easy Thumbnail (Thumbnail creator) is a tool for automatically creating small thumbnails of images. A thumbnail can be created in the main application or by right-clicking on the image file in the Windows Explorer.
  • Foxit Reader (PDF viewer) is a considerably faster and more stable alternative to the Acrobat Reader for viewing PDF documents. It does, however, not run as a plugin in web browsers. (Download)
  • Tools & More Joe (File renaming) is a tool for automatically renaming many files at once. It is very easy to use, but currently only available in German. (Download)
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powree
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Re: Recommended applications and tools for the PC

Post by powree »

wooo!! Free stuff, yay! Had some of them , but the rest is very appreciated :D
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Ninja Skunk
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Recommended AND Free!

Post by Ninja Skunk »

Sweet. Mind if I throw out some things I've found?

The first programs I have to mention are the free, open-source equivalents of popular-but-expensive proprietary production software. You can do almost everything the same for the mere cost of whatever you pay for internet access!

GIMP: The G.N.U. Image Manipulation Program. A great alternative to Adobe's Photoshop Elements. Sure, the packaged-in brush types are a bit lacking, and the UI is a bit switched-up from Photoshop, but it's all trivial. (The clipboard brush works well, and there are even plug-ins that emulate Photoshop's UI.)

Blender: I think it was a proprietary software for some company at one point, but the company went down, someone coughed up a bunch of cash, and now we have Blender! 3D modeling, animation, and even game code!

There's also Inkscape, to Adobe's Illustrator, but I don't think it has quite the track record that GIMP and Blender have.


Next up are two more free anti-virus programs that I use. Both work extremely well, but I kinda prefer...

avast!: Easily the most full-featured free anti-virus I've used (although, admittedly, I haven't tried Avira, as Novil recommends), with on-access scanners and virus recovery database generators. It even lets you know what's going on when it blocks intrusions, instead of just blocking it!

But there's also AVG Free: Works great for on demand and scheduled system scans. Perfect for people not interested in all the extra clutter.


And lastly, who doesn't like free entertainment?

Winamp: My media player of choice. It does a surprisingly great deal, and just even more when you look at all the plug-ins you can get. Everyone has their own favorites, though.

Little Fighter 2: A fun, amusing little beat-'em-up game. It's Streets of Rage-ish, with a bit of Street Fighter in there for the special moves. No cars, though, despite all the street.

OpenTyrian: Remember Tyrian? Actually, you may not. It was released over a decade ago. BUT! Tyrian's creators have released the source code and some good people have faithfully recreated the game for anyone to enjoy. It can be a bit messy to assemble, but if you can, it's actually one of the best vertically-scrolling space shooters out there. Plenty of secrets and tons of customization for your ship!

Um...Yeah, that's it. For now, anyway. Ninja Skunk...Vanish!
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