Free Software for ALL!

[Goku]

I understand wanting to customize a desktop and do it myself. But a log in page?

There are some "advanced" users out there who want to customize Windows XP in every way as possible. By "tweaking" the settings, they modify every possible aspect of it to flaunt it as a cool machine and a performance monster. There is even a book that explicits provides the instructions to do so and I might mention that it has been moderately successful.

 

Why install an entire program in order to change the appearance of something that you see for a few seconds. This one may be safe, I don't know, but are you aware of the many screensaver downloads that come packed with malware?

Most of these programs are safe as they replace the default Windows boot screen logo with a custom one. By safe, I mean that they are not loaded with Malware, Foistware or any other unwanted applications. Needless to say, there have been cases when such softwares have corrupted the kernel files and rendered computers unbootable.

 

Not pointing anything at you King; just explaining the general reasons behind such customizations. :)

 

-- Goku

[iwillbekingin2030]

very funny link. i'm definitely not in that .01%. :p

[sycho1981]

A few free programs I would recommend would be VLC player which will play pretty much anything without codecs.

 

VLC media player - Overview

 

And Spotify which is a relatively new program which is like a much, much better version of last fm, which for the unaware is a music streaming site.

 

This site is working in co-operation with many of the major labels (i.e. legal) and is totally free as long as you dont mind an advert every 8-10 songs or so in which case you can subscribe to the paid service.

 

The catalogue is massive and diverse and there's almost no loading times,It's in it's beta stage at the minute and (apparently) invite only but if you go to the link you should be ok.

 

If you like it, spread the word as this could help mean the end of music piracy eventually

 

https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/

[dtmcriss]

DVD

 

What's the best software for converting movie formats? Any good freeware for that? And does anyone have an opinion on the free software Graboid? And I agree with everyone free software is great. I can remember when computers used to come with free software whenever you bought them. Now it seems the best the can muster is free trials. can't even get microsoft word for free on your pc anymore. what a scam.

Edited April 22, 2009 by dtmcriss

[robert453]

Need something that can open Rar files but don't wanna buy WinRar?

 

Consider 7Zip

 

7-Zip

 

try bitzipper

[Plastic Nev]

One thing not mentioned here is the good free security software available which can be found in our recommended security software section here-

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/malware-removal-av-firewalls-etc/3597-free-pc-help-recommended-security-products.html

Next--

Here is a good one for folk still on Windows XP and hate all the messing about with "Print screen" "Paint" and then the subsequent trimming of the shot just to show a certain element of the screen for a screen shot.

It is called MWSnap, and if you use the "Any rectangular area" facility, you can lassoo any small area of the screen for that screen shot of a warning message, or just a small area of a photo.

Mirek's Free Windows Software

[DSTM]

I have been looking for a resizing free program for a long time,that resizes Animated GIF Images,and doesn't lose the Animation,like a lot of Programs do.

 

Found an online Program called GIFWorks.com! Free Online GIF Tools

 

Works a treat,and you don't have to install the program.

 

Great for resizing Animated Images, for your Avatar,or Signature.:)

[RandyL]

I agree. I've used it many times myself.

[DSTM]

Another Program I can recommend is called "Everything"

Find anything on your operating system,instantly.

You will be amazed how fast, this small program is.

Runs in the background.

Personally,I wouldn't be without it.

Tell us what you think of it.:)

 

Everything Search Engine

[Plastic Nev]

A trawl through the list shows no one has posted a link to Revo uninstaller yet, so to correct that here it is-

Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download

A great utility that first uses the applications own uninstaller, then searches for and presents all the left behind bits for removal as well.

With Revo, you know that the program has definitely gone, and also that the space is definitely free on your hard drive.

Nev.

[cliff60]

EASEUS partition manager is free. Not sure if its safe to use though lol. Only used it once to get rid of a 500GB partion that Acer put on my PC just for back ups lol. Whats the point of having a 1TB HDD if u can only use half of it PMPL

[joddle]

Having trawled the net for a few days I am at the point of giving up on finding a decent Programme which Will encode my videos to avi divx format which will then play on my Samsung DVD/HDD player - most of the ones I try are either of terrible quality or simply don't work on the Samsung for some reason. Other Divx files I have downloaded or have already seem to play fine - am I really going to have to fork out £££££ for a bit of software for this? Some of you must know of something somewhere !!!!

 

Also if CCleaner is not safe - is there a good alternative - I have been using Ccleaner for a while with no problems (so far!) but don't like the sound of the warnings here - what else can I use to clean-up the PC in a similar way which is safer?

[Plastic Nev]

A bit old now but for others benefit C.Cleaner is safe as long as the registry side of the cleaner is not used. No registry cleaner is safe, not only that, they are not necessary. Registry files are all important, even so called orphaned files, as they may contain some part of the code for something else to work.

 

For video conversion to a DVD playable format, the best free one I found is AVC, "Any Video Converter" from here=

 

http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/

 

Nev.

[Plastic Nev]

Free music software for music notation.

 

For those of us who play an instrument, can read music, and like to write your own, I have recently found a notation program that very nearly is as good as the top end and expensive Sibelius or Finale.

It is called simply "MuseScore" and can be downloaded from here=

 

http://musescore.org/

 

It can also handle MIDI files and present them in notational form, this is handy for learning or just playing, any well known piece that has been written and published as a midi file, of which there are hundreds of sites on the net.

In most cases for musical experimenting, these files can be added to or otherwise altered to customise or jazz up a piece too.

[Neil Cooper]

Hi guys - Most, probably already know this - But I didnt till last night, so doing my bit for this place, and the excellent freeware I have recently come across.

 

A few weeks ago - I downloaded Inkscape - a design package, which is quite brilliant and best of all - FREE Inkscape. Draw Freely.

 

And then yesterday stumbled across OpenOffice.org ( while downloading Java ) - An office program with Word processing ( that opens and creates MS office files ) Math - basically excell - a version of powerpoint and MORE! www: OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

 

Great for students Id imagine!

 

Any more free software going around? Spread the word!

" theres also Gimp a free and useful program thats just like Photoshop http://www.gimp.org/"

[llanfallteg16]

Pdf assembler for publications

 

Hi All,

An excellent free application that I use is Pdf Split and merge. I use this for constructing and assembling small publications. I start with Open Office Writer and make up the pages of text, images and graphics. Each page or chapter is then exported and held as a pdf file. When I'm ready to assemble the publication I use PDFSAM. This application allows you to put together many seperate pdf files in any order. You can re-order as much as you want before finally exporting the lot as a new pdf file.

PDFSAM also allows you to split up a pdf file (Providing its not password protected) into single pages. This allows you to create new pdf files with extra or less pages, images or text, also edit the single pages.

 

Website is www.pdfsam.org.

 

All good stuff.

 

J

[Plastic Nev]

A handy fault diagnosis tool

 

Having problems with audio or video drop outs during playback? Other applications sometimes stopping and starting? this could be due to a system driver problem which is causing too high a DPC latency.

DPC stands for Deferred Procedure Calls.

A quote from the website is

"If any kernel-mode device driver in your Windows system is implemented improperly and causes excessive latencies of Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs) then probably drop-outs will occur when you use real-time audio or video streaming applications."

 

The DPC Latency checker can be used in conjunction with the device manager to isolate which device is giving problems, possibly task manager could help too.

For more information on what it is, how to use it, and where to download this useful small and free application have a look here=

http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml

 

Be sure to read everything on the page before downloading, so that you know if it is a tool you need.

Take heed of the warnings regarding devices that should not ever be stopped or disabled. Disable the wrong one, and you may never get the computer to run again without a major repair or re-install.

 

Nev

[llanfallteg16]

Favourite Download in 2011

 

Hi All,

I've always beeen interested in animation and the possibilty of making my own video animation. Not having the artistic skils to create characters and then animate them, I've not got very far. Last year I followed a link, as you do, ending up in Glasgow. Really! The site was MUVIZU and this is an animation programme for those of us that can't draw characters, but have the ideas and interest in producing a professional animation. The download is large, being over 600Mb, not for dial-up fans though. The software is fairly demanding requiring at least 1Gb RAM, more if possible. A reasonable video adapter is also required around 500Mb on board RAM and Shader 3. Computer processor must be at least 2.4Ghz. The latest update is available on 9th January 2012 and is free! Download at muvizu.com

The software allows you to choose from a number of set but customisable characters, male female, alien blob and a dog! Every character can be made to move around several default sets and these motions can be recorded on 4 cameras. Each camera can be moved and zoomed to follow action. Adding lipsync dialogue to each character is an interesting and rewarding exercise. Finally you can output to video using a number of codecs, even HD.

With this software you could produce a short video in around an hour, after you have mastered the controls. I'm not a video game player so the keyboard controls were a complete and very steep learning curve for me.

 

Below is a screen-shot of a group of actors including myself and my daughter both in red tops! All the females are variations of one set character in different outfits. This is where my Avatar came from.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]643.vB5-legacyid=1353[/ATTACH]

 

Great fun if you have hours of free time but be carefull it soon takes over your life. Have a look at the gallery examples, some excellent and really professional videos, also very funny. Full set of instructional videos are also on the website.

 

Happy animating in this New Year.

 

J

Edited January 1, 2012 by Plastic Nev

[llanfallteg16]

Hi All,

I've tried to edit the requirement for the RAM on the post above, (#68) but can't see how!

The icon for edit post has vanished into cyberspace.

It should have said 1Gb not 1Mb minimum requirement for the operating system RAM memory.

 

J

 

 

 

Done that for you,

Nev.

[llanfallteg16]

Editing Posts

 

Thanks Nev,

 

This and my last post can be deleted now.

 

j

[Guest markcarr]

He's my list

 

Open Office - Microsoft Office

Open Workbench - Microsoft Project

Zimba - Outlook / Exchange

Gimp - Adobe Photoshop

 

 

I still think Microsoft products are good, just too expensive unless you can get a the student addition.

 

Also people over 60 if you register at U3A university you can get the student addition, and also AutoCAD products for free.

[Plastic Nev]

Ever had one of those “oh $*#@” moments when you've finally finished filling out a long form, and hit submit only to see an error message? And when you hit the back button, the form was blank?

Or written a very long reply on here and then hit the wrong key and found it has vanished?

This little bit of software is an autosave for Firefox, I have needed it on more than one occasion, and has been a real time saver, no need to try to remember everything and write it again.

 

http://lazarus.interclue.com/

 

I am not sure how far advanced it is, but they have a beta in development for other browsers, so eventually Internet Explorer or others may be covered.

 

Nev.