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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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 Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject: The Best of Freeware |
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This thread is for recommending great Freeware alternatives to commercial programs.
I'll start with a few that I have used.
OpenOffice (alternative to Word for Windows)
http://www.openoffice.org/
This is an amazing piece of software. I was really hesitant to use this as I have been using Word all my life. Damn, I wish I'd tried this years ago!
| Quote: |
| OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. |
The GIMP (alternative to Photoshop)
http://www.gimp.org/
Use this program to edit your photos, put in special effects or create your own images. It has everything that I need and more. Still discovering more and more features all the time.
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| GIMP is an Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. |
Foobar2000 (alternative to Winamp, etc)
http://www.foobar2000.org/
Just started using this recently. Very light and has the ability to convert between formats if you put the desired encoder in the app folder.
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Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.
Audio formats supported: MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA, WMA. |
IrFanview (alternative to other picture/photo viewers)
http://www.irfanview.com/
The feature I love the most is batch conversion which means you can convert (reduce file size or convert to different format) dozens of images in just a couple of clicks. Pays to use the hot keys to get the best results.
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Some features:
# Many supported file formats
# Multi language support
# Thumbnail/preview option
# Slideshow (save slideshow as EXE/SCR or burn it to CD)
# Show EXIF/IPTC/Comment text in Slideshow/Fullscreen etc.
# Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters
# Fast directory view (moving through directory)
# Batch conversion (with image processing) |
VLC(alternative to media players such as Windows Media Player)
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Probably the best all around Media player. Ever had trouble playing a movie? VLC plays almost anything.
| Quote: |
| VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. |
Well, that's me for now. Feel free to contribute with your gems!
Last edited by wormholes101 on Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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mnhnhyouh
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: The Middle Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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Cartes Du Ciel
Opensource free astronomy program. Highly detailed, huge star databases available....
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/
Audacity
Free opensource .wav editing studio....
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Exact Audio Copy
Free opensource ripping program. This is the only one that will read and reread the CD until it gets a good rip. This can make it slower on dodgy CD's but makes for good rips. The option can also be turned off.
The following is a link to a tutorial on how to set it up. The tutorial has links to EAC and the necessary codecs 
http://www.misticriver.net/showthread.php?t=14081
mp3directcut
A free mp3 editing program. This one is very simple, allowing only deletion of sections of the track, but it is very light and does its job perfectly....
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/
Adaware
Vital for removing that troublesome spyware that also slows your computer down....
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
h |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:39 am Post subject: |
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Startup Inspector
http://www.windowsstartup.com/
Helps you figure out exactly what your computer loads when it starts up and what you can disable to speed up your boot up and keep a lot of junk from running in the background.
Media Player Classic
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
Plays Real Audio files without having to install Real Audio. I used to like Real Audio but newer versions became increasingly big pains in the ass to install and turn off all the nagware.
Bulk Rename Utility
http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php
Handy way to rename files. All kinds of pattern matching options. |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:01 am Post subject: |
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| Wrench wrote: |
http://www.7-zip.org/
Alt to winrar and winzip |
Thanks for this one Wrench. I've been playing around with it today.
Mostly, I used to use WINRar for r00, r01 etc files that are so common on Private trackers. In WINRar, extracting the files was so easy. Merely right click the entire folder and extract to the designation. With 7zip, I found I have to open the folder and then find the .RAR file (there's only one of those and it's usually right down the bottom next to the sfv file) and extract that.
Am I missing something here or is this the only way to do it?
Also, from an aesthetic point of view, all the numbered rar files e.g. r01, r02, r03 aren't associated with a program so don't have a pretty icon. Apart from manually associating every bloody rar number, is there a better way? |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:36 am Post subject: |
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| You need to go into options there you can associate the files. (Program Options) |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Hey...
...that's done already, they are all associated barring .iso...
Doesn't seem to change any of the .Rxx icons though. Windows thinks that every different R numbered file is a different type of file.
It's just a minor thing... |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:48 am Post subject: |
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Who else can forget VLC, one of the most complete video player out there. It even plays broken or incomplete videos.
EDITED : ah didn't see this already mentioned in the first post (but read it wrong VCL). |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| That was my typo. It's corrected now. |
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T-dot
Joined: 16 May 2004
Location: bundang
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Is there a freeware available that will play DVD's? Something similar to PowerDVD. VLC doesnt play DVD's; it only recognizes the audio and video ts files. |
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munji
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| T-dot wrote: |
| Is there a freeware available that will play DVD's? Something similar to PowerDVD. VLC doesnt play DVD's; it only recognizes the audio and video ts files. |
VLC player plays DVDs. Thats what I use to play DVD's on my comp.
File >> Open Disc >> select Disc type as DVD (menus) or DVD to play direct |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Not only does VLC play dvds but it also circumvents region codes thus saving one from worrying about running out of region code changes. |
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munji
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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| wormholes101 wrote: |
| ... it also circumvents region codes thus saving one from worrying about running out of region code changes. |
only on the older drives and some newer drives...
http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id239618
Already been through this discussion earlier in the tech forums. |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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A few more recommendations from me:
Mozilla Firefox (alternative to Internet Explorer)
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
This web browser is safer, faster and more customizable than Internet explorer. It's easy to install and once you change, you won't look back. The thing I love the most are the thousands of add-ons that allow you to customise the Browser to do things like block annoying flash ads.
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| The award-winning Web browser from Mozilla is now faster, even more secure, and totally customizable to your online life. |
AutoGK (what are the commercial alternatives?)
http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads
Perhaps you have a digital camera that takes video but the size of the MPEG files are huge? Can't email them to friends? This handy program will take your videos and compact them to a fifth or less of the size and still retain excellent quality. The end result can be watched on a media player like VLC (recommended in the opening post). The tutorial might initially be daunting for computer-phobes but after one try you'll say it's as easy as pie.
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| AutoGK accepts input files with the following extensions: MPG, MPEG, VOB, VRO, M2V, DAT, IFO, TS, TP, TRP, M2T, AVI. In terms of formats it suppors mpeg1, mpeg2, transport streams, vobs from DVDs and practically any codec in AVI file. |
AVG (Free anti virus protection)
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
Easy to use and doesn't slow up your computer. Is this the best free AV protection available? Feel free to comment.
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| AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a free anti-virus protection tool developed by GRISOFT for home use. We invite you to join the millions of satisfied customers worldwide who have downloaded the software and now enjoy the benefits of AVG Anti-Virus Free. |
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T-dot
Joined: 16 May 2004
Location: bundang
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| Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:41 am Post subject: |
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| nevermind, I think I got it. |
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