Software Guide

[Andrew]

Open Source Alternative website has many open source programs that can replace proprietary software.

Also Best of the Best Free and Open Source Software Collection

Ninite - A custom installer for multiple software packages

Internet

Firefox - Web browser

Opera - Web browser and built in email client

Google Chrome - Google web browser

Thunderbird - Email software

Pegasus Mail - Email software

uTorrent - Lightweight bittorrent client

Free Download Manager - A full-featured download accelerator and manager

FireFTP - FTP extension for Firefox

FileZilla - FTP program

PeerGuardian 2 - Blocks IP addresses of known ads, spyware, P2P, etc

Notepad2 - Like creating/editing html pages with notepad? This program does that and more while being small.

Sygate Firewall - Good Firewall

Zone Alarm - Firewall

TeamViewer - Free desktop and remote sharing

Wireshark - network protocol analyzer

Hamachi - VPN service

Multimedia

VLC media player - Video playback of most formats. Simple to use, easy on resources. Works on most operating systems.

K-Lite Codec Pack - Plays most video files and comes with many codecs. Windows only.

Audacity - Open source audio recorder/editor

Exact Audio Copy - Great program for ripping audio cds into high quality files

foobar2000 - Customizable audio player

HandBrake - Opensource DVD -> MPEG-4 video converter

Paint.net - Free Image editing software

GIMP - Open source Image editing software

IrfanView - freeware image viewer for Windows.

Inkscape - Open source vector graphics editor

Blender - open source 3D content creation suite. YafRay - raytracing render engine works with blender.

Scribus - open source professional page layout with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout.

Picaso - View, organize, edit, and share images on your computer

hugin - Panorama photo stitcher

Terragen - a scenery/landscape generator

LuxRender - open-source rendering system for physically correct, unbiased image synthesis

Indigo Renderer - free physically-based unbiased render engine.

VirtualDub - Open source video editor for Windows.

Structure Synth - an application for creating 3D structures from a set of user specified rules

Context Free Art -  a program that generates images from written instructions called a grammar

K3DSurf - a program to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models

Antivirus

AVG - virus protection software

Clamwin - Open source virus protection software

Moon Secure Antivirus - GPL antivirus for windows

Avast - virus protection software

AntiVir - virus protection software

Microsoft Security Essentials - free MSFT all in one package.

Adware / Spyware

Hosts file - Prevent your computer from connecting to any advertisements.

Ad-Aware SE Personal -

Spyware Blaster - Program that blocks spyware while not needing to run in the background

Spybot - Search & Destroy -

SUPERAntiSpyware -

Malwarebytes - Malware remover

Word Processing

LibreOffice.org - Open source office suite

AbiWord - Open source word processor

Notepad++ - Source code editor which supports several programming languages

PSPad - freeware programmer's editor for Microsoft Windows operating systems

LyX - document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM)

Wordweb - Quick dictionary

tinySpell - Correct spelling on the go

Zotero - a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.

Foxit - A fast PDF reader

Sumatra PDF - A lightweight open source PDF reader

PDF Creator - Create PDFs from other filetypes (.doc, .txt, etc)

Calendar

Rainlendar - Good calendar program

Mozilla Calendar (sunbird, lightning) - Good calendar program. blog

Wedcalendar - PHP-based calendar application

Chandler -

Zimbra - Open Source email/calendar collaboration software

Accounting/Finance/Business

OpenERP - Open Source enterprise management software

Sugar CRM - Open Source customer relationship management software

Compiere - Open Source enterprise resource planning software

webERP - open-source web-based ERP system

Joomla - Open Source Content Management Systems

Redmine - an open source flexible project management web application

SQL-Ledger - ERP - LedgerSMB - fork of SLQ-Ledger

GNUCash - Open Source personal and small-business financial-accounting software

KMyMoney - Open Source personal finance manager (linux only)

EclipseTrader - Open source online stock trading system

Desktop

Yahoo! Widget Engine - Thousands of widgets to choose from to put on desktop

Desktop sidebar - Customizable sidebar

Google Desktop - Customizable sidebar for all your google needs

Samurize - Advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows

System Information

System Information for Windows - Gives system information about your computer

Process Explorer - Shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

Autoruns - Shows what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login

PC Wizard - Shows detailed system information

CPU-Z - freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

GPU-Z - lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

MemTest - A RAM reliability tester that runs under Windows

N-Bench - AMD Benchmark program

Power Supply Calculator -

SpeedFan - Ability to control fan speed

Other

CDBurnerXP Pro - Burn CDs

ImgBurn - burn images

InfraRecorder - Open source CD/DVD burning software

DaemonTools - Backup CDs and play without the need for original CD in CD-ROM

ISO Burner - Freeware app to burn ISO files.

7-zip - File archiver with high compression ratio

Howie's Quick Screen Capture Tool - Program to take screenshots of programs, desktop, etc.

CCleaner - Freeware system optimization and privacy tool

nLite - A tool for permanent Windows component removal and pre-installation Windows setup. For advanced users.

Unlocker - A tool to delete files that give you the "Cannot delete file" error etc

CSVed - easy and powerful CSV file editor

VirtualBox - virtualization software. Good for testing operating systems.

Dual Monitor Tools - open source tools

Instant Messengers

Miranda IM - Multiprotocol IM

aMSN - MSN clone

Pidgin - Multiprotocol IM (formerly GAIM)

Trillian - Multiprotocol IM

[erjin999]

Nice list andrew.

Ill start from the top, which anyone who knows their stuff will tell you is the best place ;):

K-Lite: I myself have not installed Quicktime and realplayer for their crap. Glad to hear of the alternative. I have actually seen K-Lite before (I first thought it was KAzaa-lite when someone mentioned it). Will now install it and be able to view all those naughty vids scar sends me ;).

VLC: Used that before, but got rid of it. It is good cutting edge stuff (or was when I last used it. I used to view partially downloaded films, to make shure I wasnt getting another porn film instead of the freely/legally available films I wanted.

Desktop Sidebar: Need to check this out, shame you didnt expand on it, so now I have to go alllll the way over to their webshite to check it out :P

Antivirus: I dont like most antiviruses.  I only like/use Nod32 by eset. I read about the differences in virus bullentin. A site that does regular indepth reviewss of virus killers. Apparently, Nod32 outscores all the others regularly. It does cost though.  :(

Foxit: I used to same adobe speedup utility, and got the same ( similar) plugin error. I also uninstalled ut. But kept adobe as I needed it. I do use adobe 5 though, as its smaller then the others, and still opens pdfs. Time to change, me thinks !

PFD Creator: Never yet needed to create pdfs. Cant really add to that. Dont most software that  might need to actually let you create pdfs ?

Privoxy: I use Adaware, spybutt search and destroy and spyware blaster. Firefox helps.

uTorrent: You are not the only person I have seen who has said he changed from azeurues to utorrent for its size benefit. I dont use torrent clients so it doesnt matter to me, but I fint that freaky. Must be some truth to it ;). Apparently there was something az could do, some roaming somethings that utorrent couldnt. Bah.

Miranda IM: I have tried trillian and miranda, but am so used to msn, I dont think I can change just yet. Now I found A-Patch which allows many instances of msn, I can log in with all my accounts, which was the main reason I wanted trillian or others.

Wordweb: I use google to look up individual words when needed, but only becuase I couldnt be bothered to add a search to FFox. That would be the way to solve it for me. Right click, choose search dictionary.com for "xyz". Sorted.

Konfabulator: Yahoo have a knack for that kind of crap (buying good stuff, screwing it up). In fact, winamp was doing ok until it was brought out. Seems to be a trend. Maybe its got something to do with trying to make money ?

Free CD/DVD burning software:  CDBurnerXP. Used it. Simple interface, like clone CD, but it does what it says on the tin.

Winrar:  I use 7Zip, but I know it doesnt do either ACE or RAR files. Which is a shame, as it could completely replace winrar otherwise.

Zonealarm  has more or less stayed the same to use. They added bits, like expert rules and stuff, but the basic firewall hasnt changed in its usage.

-=-=-= ADDED -=-=-=

Tiny Spell Checker: Not as good as some spell checkers I have seen, which will underline words for you a la word style. does work and work well, if you have your speakers on ! It beeps when it detects a spelling mistake. Nice and small, very useful. Free !

XFire: For finding your friends online in games. Basically IM with extras for gaming. Recommended.

DaemonTools: For mounting backup images of your games...or other imgaes, but I use it for games. Means my BF2 disk is safe, and I dont need to keep changing DVDs ! Also, a solution for people who dont want to burn something to disc before being shure it will work. Am currently thinking of looking for a program that will allow mounting of more then 4 images.

Notepad++: Good fast nice tabbed notepad replacement. Use it all the time, got rid of notepad. Works much better.

[Acriku]

Google Picasa is a free photo editor/filer that has a lot of capabilities that are easy to find and use. Much more user-friendly than Photoshop, and cheaper.

I was going to put in Daemon Tools but you got to it before me erjin :-P I love the program, since I can boot up different games at any time without having to search for the actual CD in my desk.

[erjin999]

Do you use it for bf2 yet ? I does.

[Andrew]

In fact, winamp was doing ok until it was brought out. Seems to be a trend. Maybe its got something to do with trying to make money ?

AOL usually ruins everything they touch. They ruined ICQ by making it bloatware and adding advertisements.

Winrar:  I use 7Zip, but I know it doesnt do either ACE or RAR files. Which is a shame, as it could completely replace winrar otherwise.

It is able to unzip rar and ace. I use winrar, but I usually zip the files in case someone else doesn't have the capability to unzip rar files. 7zip does look good.

Just noticed that xingtech (audio catalyst) was bought out by realplayer probably a long time ago. I remember using that program back in the late nineties to rip cds.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention that Rainlendar has a plugin that allows it to show Outlook appointments. Also supports many languages. Also a new version was released 4 days ago that fixes some bugs. I didn't notice.

[Andrew]

Anyone have any recommendations for free registry cleaners etc?

I heard about CCleaner, looks nice.

Trying it now. Wow, it says I got 255mb of stuff to remove.

Also heard of RegSeeker, but the webpage kinda turns me off.

[Davidu]

Always used WinACE.

PeerwebDC++.

[erjin999]

Link to foxit broken, replace with this one

[Andrew]

Thanks! Fixed the link.

Might work on the first post to make it look better sometime.

Oddly, going to the winace site doesn't say whether its free or not, gives a link to the download, yet if I go to order online page, it has prices for it. Is it trailbased? ads?

I just installed winace, see some ordering info, but no info about whether it will expire or not. Seems to unzip stuff. Odd. Maybe it is freeware and ordering it is just to support the company, but not necessary?

[erjin999]

I am shure its proprietary paid for product. ;)

[Andrew]

Ok, I just checked the help->about and it says it is demo version (shareware).

[Andrew]

@ Spectral Paladin

I'm not sure of a good Peer to Peer application.

You may want to check out You Send It and My Temp Directory

I've tried PDF Creator, it seems to work good. Only problem I have is when it creates a pdf file, the pages are opposite they were in the original document. This isn't a big deal for printing, but definitely when viewing the pdf files.

Anyone know how to fix this? I've been looking on the website and forum at sourceforge.

EDIT:

This seems to be because I have microsoft word to reverse order when printing (not the printer but word program). Answer found in two posts here

When disabling the ad in Foxit, it came back after I restart Foxit. To fix it I

Try disabling it in View menu and then close it not with the X button but with File > Close.

If that doesn't work, look here

[erjin999]

Disabling the Ad ?  :O

I installed Foxit.

[Andrew]

There is a small ad at the top right corner, similar to Adobe reader. It appears harmless, and you can easily remove it (the ad only links to other Foxit products I believe).

LOL, I tried uploading an image to imageshack with the filename advertisement, then tried to show the preview in here, but it wasnt showing up. Good job adblock!

renamed the image and now it shows up.

[Andrew]

Updated first post to look lots better and added most suggested software. Also added AbiWord.

Let me know if anything is wrong/missing.

Suggest more software! :)

EDIT:

OMG, a konfabulator widget has been created that allows Canadian radar stations to be shown!!!! I've been looking for this for 10 months!

Canadian Weather Radar widget

Guess I will be using konfabulator after all.

[erjin999]

Hehe, good stuff, good for you.

As for Foxit, I didnt think of that as an advert, but yes, it is. So I have to remove that now ? cool. Will do.

[Andrew]

You don't have to. :P

But if you don't want it there, there is an option, but the option itself isn't enough to get rid of it permanently (after restart) at least for me. Read one of my previous posts on how to get rid of it. Leave a post if it doesn't work and you don't want to try the regedit.

EDIT:

Anyone know good Stock Technical Analysis software that's free?

I tried MAS, but it is outdated and hard to use. Gonna try Stock Analyzer next. Best charts looks ok, but trial version. Too much work looking at it all.

[Andrew]

Added Notepad2 to the list. Looks like a good html editing program that is similar to notepad, but much better as it highlights Syntaxes and other stuff. Hasn't been updated recently, but still works good.

I'm sure there are lots of free html editing tools out there. Any you know of?

EDIT:

Added Audacity as well.

How did we forgot Howie's Quick Screen Capture Tool? :P

It's at 1.0.9 now, I had 1.0.8 since spring 2005 April 15, 2005 (install log said so!).

EDIT:

Wiki says that Daemon tools comes with spyware. Is this still true?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware#Notable_programs_distributed_with_spyware

Added spyware section. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

[Acriku]

I haven't gotten any spyware from installing Daemon tools, or if I had they were easily ridden of. I checked out Wiki's entry on Daemon Tools, and it says that version 4 is bundled with WhenU software but is asked upon installation of daemon tools if it should be installed, so it's not malware that's for sure. Just opt out ;-)

[erjin999]

Right, this is a funky issue, as it affects more then DTools. same applies to Messenger plus (is that on our list ? Cool program !

Both apps ask you to install a sponser program, and the only reason its a sponser program is becuase they are basically spying on your surfing habbits so they can feed you ads, presumably.

Like the man Acriku says, opt out. Also, when autoupdating, opt out again, otherwise it might still install it self.

I am sure these are not easy decions made by the makers of these free programs, and the way I see it, those people who dont underrstand what those sponser programs are will install it. Feel sorry for them (I know a few) but nothing can be done.

Microsoft detects messenger plus as spyware, and wiki calls DTools spyware, which isnt totally correct.  :-

Audacity is an Audio recorder/editor.

[Acriku]

Wanted to add another to the list: System Info for Windows (I have v 1.56).

It's a system information utility (and free!), but it has cool tools such as Eureka! which when run uses a "magnifying glass" to read in the password that the asteriks hide (works especially in IE, haven't seen it work in Firefox as of yet). It also has  a MAC address changer, CPU and memory usage graph, Windows 9x password cracker (takes in .pwl files), and even more.

[gryphon]

not to be a bore but can't you already do those things by default with Windows ?

[Acriku]

I'm not aware of anything like Eureka or Windows 9x password cracker on Windows by default, but in any case it centralizes the tools into one easy access. That and it's a system information utility.  :P

[erjin999]

Not by defualt, but I have used many various tools to do the same.

[Acriku]

And what's better than combining those various tools into one program? Anyway, if you must not add it, so be it. People will just miss out  :P