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Getting To Know You => Ask HAF => Topic started by: AlP on August 15, 2009, 05:26:15 PM

Title: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 15, 2009, 05:26:15 PM
I figured I would share some of the best free software I use regularly. Please add suggestions for excellent free software =).

Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/)
Web browser. This one is so obvious I almost forgot to list it.

Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome)
A browser that launches faster than Firefox and has better security. Less features and no extensions though.

scite (http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html)
Pronounced "shite". A simple text editor that opens really fast. Notepad replacement.

Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org)
Word processor, spreadsheet, etc. Microsoft Office replacement.

Paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net)
A simplified Adobe Photoshop that doesn't suck like the gimp (http://www.gimp.org/).

GOMPlayer (http://www.gomlab.com/eng/)
Video and audio player with a clean UI. Plays almost everything. When it can't play something it gives you a link to the codec you need to download.

VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)
Media player more powerful than GOMPlayer but with a UI that is difficult to use.

AVG Virus Scanner (http://free.avg.com/)
Excellent free virus scanner.

MozyHome (http://mozy.com/home)
Backs up your important files online for free.

VirtualDub (http://www.virtualdub.org/)
Video editing.

Maxima (http://maxima.sourceforge.net/)
Algebraic manipulation.

Visual Studio Express (http://www.microsoft.com/express/)
Free versions of Microsoft's professional programming tools
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on August 15, 2009, 05:32:13 PM
Good list - thanks...

Firefox is great.  Less crashing, more features.
I also use AVG...

Here's a free audio recorder/editor:
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Heretical Rants on August 15, 2009, 11:26:53 PM
Blender (http://www.blender.org/)
3D modeling and animation

MWSnap 3 (http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html):
Screenshots

Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/):
It's basically Photoshop
I don't care what you say, I like it better than paint.net :P

Pencil (http://www.pencil-animation.org/)
Cartooning
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on August 16, 2009, 12:07:12 AM
Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/)
A powerful tool to unlock your files and folders without interrupting the work on your computer.

IZarc (http://www.izarc.org/)
One of the best freeware ZIP utilities

Inno Setup (http://www.innosetup.com/isinfo.php)
A free installer for Windows programs. Very useful for the programmers among us.

Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.htmlInno%20Setup)
Detects and removes spyware, adware, hyjackers and other malicious software
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 16, 2009, 03:59:38 AM
Damn. There are some programs that are so obvious that I forget I use them. Tom62 recommended IZarc. I have just downloaded it and will check it out. This is what I used previously.

7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org)
Archive compression / decompression.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: curiosityandthecat on August 16, 2009, 01:11:59 PM
Wait, you mean there's software people actually pay for?  ;)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: McQ on August 16, 2009, 03:17:23 PM
I think this is going to become a very helpful thread. Thanks for sharing these. Should we make it a sticky thread?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on August 16, 2009, 03:20:25 PM
Quote from: "McQ"I think this is going to become a very helpful thread. Thanks for sharing these. Should we make it a sticky thread?

Sticky!  Sticky!
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: curiosityandthecat on August 16, 2009, 04:16:01 PM
Fine, I guess I'll actually contribute.  Google Calendar via GCALDaemon (a very powerful little program). So, I’ve got a calendar at the bottom of my screen with a horizontal list of the days of the month, with different colors for different states (nothing that day, something that day, weekend, etc). Very cool.

RocketDock (http://rocketdock.com/)
I hate Macs. I’ve said that before. But, when moving to Rainmeter and getting rid of my Vista sidebar, I was out a launcher. I found RocketDock and the Lucid icon set that matches almost perfectly with the Rainmeter Enigma skin. In otherwords, perfect integration. Oh, the I-hate-Macs thing. Right.

See, RocketDock is a lot like the Mac docking station at the bottom of the screen. It’s a line of icons that pop up when you mouseover them. You can connect them to files, directories, programs, websites, whatever. The Lucid icon set (http://leechiahan.deviantart.com/art/Lucid-Icons-104175952) makes it look less Mac-y, which I like.

CD Art Display (http://www.cdartdisplay.com/)
I listen to a lot of music. MediaMonkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) has been a real help, since my collection is rather large. However, I didn’t like the Mini- or Micro-players and I didn’t want MM to be open all the time on the desktop. But, I like seeing the CD covers. I also like having lyrics displayed. Enter CD Art Display.

I now have, on the desktop in a very unobtrusive, 3D display, the art work for whatever song is being played in MM. Just to the right is the track title, artist and album, along with the remaining time. The “case” the artwork is displayed in also has a progress bar and basic controls.

But here’s the best part. I use MiniLyrics (http://www.crintsoft.com/) to search and store song lyrics locally. CAD takes those and displays them on the desktop in such a way (that I’ve customized, obviously) that it blends in seamlessly with the Enigma skin!

It’s like a dance, it really is.

Google Calendar (http://calendar.google.com)
I like desktop applications. I can’t help it. I like the GUIs. Still, I can’t use Outlook when I’m at work. I also know that, at some point, I’ll have a data and messaging plan on my phone and I’ll be able to Sync it from anywhere. What’s the point of using software that’s only on one computer when I’m hardly ever there?

So, I switched. Gcal, here I come. I’ve had my email forwarded to Gmail, my Rainlendar syncs with Gcal, and my Remember the Milk is integrated into the Gmail page and the Gcal. Oh, and I sync my Gmail contacts with my Outlook contacts (two-way sync) so if I change something in my phone, sync it to my computer, it automatically updated in my Gmail. Incidentally, you'll want Google, Outlook and Rainlendar all sync'd. They're all pretty small and run in the background (except Google Talk, any Jabber client, and it also has plug-ins for RSS feeds, email notifiers, weather, etc., and apparently the newest version also supports MySpaceIM, and can manage your Twitter and Facebook, too. The Basic version is free, but the Pro version allows you to auto-hide it when it's docked on the edge of the screen, a wonderful little feature. It autologs all conversations, makes webcam and voice chat very easy, is great with file transfers and has customizable skins. It's nice.

uTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/)
uTorrent is the best torrent client out there, period. It's small, powerful, customizable, schedulable, and just all-around the best. It doesn't hog system resources like Azureus and looks good, unlike the official BitTorrent client put out by Brian Whatshisname (who sold out, incidentally). Of course, uTorrent should only be used for legal, fair-use torrents.

TVersity (http://tversity.com/)
Musn't forget about TVersity. It allows you to stream media and re-encode on the fly. I use this to stream from my laptop, over the wireless network to my PS3. The PS3 is a Sony product, and therefore can't read any other proprietary codecs, so sending them via TVersity eliminates the need to re-encode everything before watching it. I've only run across a couple codecs that TVersity won't convert, but those are weird ones that you hardly ever run into.

Bonus: Ubiquity (http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/ubiquity/)
Quite possibly the single greatest Web 2.0 (3.0?) plugin available. I’ll let you see for yourself. Spend time with it. Snuggle down with it. You’ll love it. Apparently Mozilla is adding it to Firefox officially in the 3.2 or 3.5 release, which means much better support. Nice.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 16, 2009, 08:34:39 PM
:hail:
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Will on August 16, 2009, 09:15:17 PM
Here are a few for Mac (yep, I'm one of those guys):
Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/?article=download): Do you own a lot of DVDs but you'd like to back them up just in case? Handbrake is a simple, intuitive, open source application that makes DVD ripping very, very easy.
Transmission (http://www.transmissionbt.com/): If you're like me, you like to share original and uncopyrighted files as torrents, which is where Transmission comes in. It's light, it's stable, and it's powerful.
Vidalia (https://www.torproject.org/vidalia/): Need a military grade controller GUI for Tor software (I can elaborate if that sounded like Martian)? Vidalia is second to none.
Colloquy (http://colloquy.info/downloads.html): By far the best IRC client for Mac.
DateLine (http://www.machinecodex.com/dateline/index.php): With DateLine, a small, transparent linear calendar appears on your desktop and has direct access to iCal.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: LoneMateria on August 16, 2009, 10:11:51 PM
eww mac.  (i'm gonna get some hate mail from that)

Trillain pfft thats why theres facebook and myspace now :-D.  I used to use a browser called Maxthon which in my opinion is much better than FireFox but now I use Google Chrome so ... yeah.

Advanced System Care Pro (http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html) its basically a privacy cleaner with great features.  It has a RAM cleaner ( I always use ) a game booster ( My gf always uses) along with some other tools I seldom use.  Smart Defrag, Registry Defrag, Internet Booster, Disk Check, Disk Cleaner and shortcut fixer.

Poker Stove (http://www.pokerstove.com) if anyone here plays poker and wants to analyze their game after they play (if you are as big a loser as I am >.<) This is a free tool to show your equity of a play against 1 or multiple opponents.  I find it useful when looking at my decisions when i'm done with a Tournament
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 17, 2009, 06:56:16 AM
Thought of some more. These are mostly for geeks.

Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/)
Gives you a bash command prompt and other unixy utilities in Windows.

Process Explorer (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx)
Better Windows Task Manager.

Autoruns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx)
Find all the annoying programs that run on startup and disable them

DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/)
Give your home PC a domain name, even if you have a dynamic IP address. Lets you, for example, run a web server on your own computer and find it from the outside world.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Heretical Rants on August 17, 2009, 09:59:57 AM
Quote from: "AlP"DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/)
Give your home PC a domain name, even if you have a dynamic IP address. Lets you, for example, run a web server on your own computer and find it from the outside world.
すã"ã,,!
I have to go check that out

EDIT:  Hahaha, that's more expensive than if I were to hire an external server  :P
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: karadan on August 17, 2009, 11:16:31 AM
Great list!! Many thanks.

I use most of what is there although i've been looking for a free video editor for a while now. Virtualdub is now installed :)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 17, 2009, 06:48:12 PM
Quote from: "Heretical Rants"
Quote from: "AlP"DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/)
Give your home PC a domain name, even if you have a dynamic IP address. Lets you, for example, run a web server on your own computer and find it from the outside world.
すã"ã,,!
I have to go check that out

EDIT:  Hahaha, that's more expensive than if I were to hire an external server  :P
I'm using their free service. You have to choose a subdomain within one one of their domain names, like rants.dyndns.org.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Whitney on August 17, 2009, 07:39:00 PM
I don't know if it is the best but I use RAR Extract Frog to extract RAR files people send me.  http://download.cnet.com/Free-RAR-Extra ... 04840.html (http://download.cnet.com/Free-RAR-Extract-Frog/3000-2250_4-10804840.html)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on August 17, 2009, 07:54:24 PM
I haven't tried RAR Extract Frog. Does it only do RAR? 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) does these.
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.

Edit: I'm also trying out IZarc (http://www.izarc.org/), which was suggested earlier. It can do these formats:
7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: VORAC on August 19, 2009, 04:00:37 AM
I might very well become the hero or this thread  ;)

There are three pieces of software, all by the same maker; Piriform.

CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner)
This software deletes old temp files, or files remaining after uninstalling other software, and unassociated registry entries from your 'puter. In other words it makes your 'puter faster.

Defraggler (http://www.piriform.com/defraggler)
Again, helps speed you computer up. Unlike Windows Defragmenter, you can schedule this. For a home pc, I would schedule this, at most, once a month. Defragging your hard drive too often can actually have detrimental effects.

Recuva (http://www.piriform.com/recuva)
Last, but certainly not least, is Recuva. This software can find old deleted files, even if the hard drive has been reformatted. This can be used for good... or for bad. Speaking of which always find software to forensically clean hard drives before throwing them away.

And one other one:

Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php) Best free spyware/adware scanning tool out there, IMO.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: skurry on September 07, 2009, 08:11:28 AM
I've been looking for a good Chroma Key (Green Screen) Piece of software... I tried wax, and it does kinda work but not anything representable... anyone know any free Chroma Key programs? I just bought $5 worth of green cloth, I'd hate it to goto waste!
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: grandiose on October 12, 2009, 03:49:04 AM
i think u better check out http://www.crystalxp.net/

it has loads of great free softwares like

Vista Inspirat  http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.130.htm


here's the Gallery:
http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.rub.2.html



They're mainly on customization though.. hope it helped the least
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: nikkmichalski on October 28, 2009, 07:51:09 PM
Firefox, VLC, and Audacity are great. Out of curiosity, what's with the beef with GIMP?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: frog818 on December 14, 2009, 07:07:48 AM
Quote from: "VORAC"I might very well become the hero or this thread  ;)

There are three pieces of software, all by the same maker; Piriform.

CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner)
This software deletes old temp files, or files remaining after uninstalling other software, and unassociated registry entries from your 'puter. In other words it makes your 'puter faster.

Defraggler (http://www.piriform.com/defraggler)
Again, helps speed you computer up. Unlike Windows Defragmenter, you can schedule this. For a home pc, I would schedule this, at most, once a month. Defragging your hard drive too often can actually have detrimental effects.

Recuva (http://www.piriform.com/recuva)
Last, but certainly not least, is Recuva. This software can find old deleted files, even if the hard drive has been reformatted. This can be used for good... or for bad. Speaking of which always find software to forensically clean hard drives before throwing them away.

And one other one:

Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php) Best free spyware/adware scanning tool out there, IMO.


Awesome, kudos to you mate, kudos.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Parabola on January 21, 2010, 06:52:32 PM
Great list, contributing:

Comodo Personal Firewall

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Been using it for awhile with nothing but good results.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Zab on February 11, 2010, 09:32:58 AM
http://www.irfanview.com (http://www.irfanview.com)
My favorite image viewing software on PC. Opens quickly, viewing consecutive images in a directory is a breeze. Great for reading manga/comics that have been scanned. It can do some simple editing. One of my favorite features is doing batch conversions. You can resize, rename, and change the file type (among other things) of thousands of images in a few minutes (give or take, depending on your PC).

http://semaja2.net/insomniaxinfo (http://semaja2.net/insomniaxinfo)
For people with a Macbook(pro). Insomnia X allows you to close the screen without putting your macbook to sleep.

http://artandmobile.com/tiltshift/ (http://artandmobile.com/tiltshift/)
For anybody with an iPhone who has used the Tiltshift Generator app. This is their website, they offer a web service and adobe AIR app (which I assume is PC and Mac) which does the same ad the iPhone app. It's not perfect, and doesn't work well on extremely high resolution photos, but it's fun non the less.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on February 11, 2010, 06:35:12 PM
^ Good idea with the iPhone app! The only thing I've installed on my nexus one is the pandora radio client. What else do I need?  :bananacolor:
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: theTwiz on February 12, 2010, 08:14:55 AM
PS3 Media Server (http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/)
Ignore the name. PS3 Media Server streams to any device TVersity does. It also handles x264.mkv much better, and doesn't have a database you have to refresh every time you add a file.  It also supports multiple means of transcoding, and doesn't fight back when you want to use your own codec in place of the default.
In short: PS3MediaServer+CCCP+AviSynth=HD Awesomeness on your PS3/360. NVidia users should look into CoreAVC as well, as it allows you to use your video card as the transcoding powerhouse.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: MariaEvri on February 12, 2010, 10:36:24 AM
Lol I read "God free software"
anyway
in case anyone is interested in astronomy and wnats to learn the constellations, stellarium si a small program, but does help a lot.
http://www.stellarium.org/ (http://www.stellarium.org/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Typist on February 15, 2010, 05:18:04 PM
I'm a programmer and have a couple of free online software systems I'd be happy to share, if anybody demands that I do.  :-)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on April 18, 2010, 09:56:44 AM
For PHP web page development:

WAMP Server (http://www.wampserver.com/en/)
Creates a local easy to use Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP server to test out and run websites on your local box.
You can install them all separately, but this makes it a little easier.

Eclipse (http://www.aptana.org/php)
This isn't the download page but the install instructions, I use Eclipse for PHP programming, it has most of the major developer features that Visual Studio has.

For 3D Stuff:

Normal Map Creator (http://developer.amd.com/gpu/Pages/default.aspx)
For 3D textures, the normal map creator makes making normal maps from image files easier, must use uncompressed TGA's though.

Documentation for Several Free Apps:

FLOSS Manuals (http://en.flossmanuals.net/)
This site has lots of documentation for open source applications.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Squid on April 19, 2010, 01:39:44 AM
For those who just love to do statistics, the free alternative to SPSS:

PSPP (http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on April 19, 2010, 02:49:08 AM
Quote from: "Squid"For those who just love to do statistics, the free alternative to SPSS:

PSPP (http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/)
Well as it happens, I do just love to do statistics. Good Lord. Thanks Squid.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Vangelis on May 09, 2010, 09:08:44 AM
Ummm... No-one's mentioned operating systems? Can't believe it! Or maybe I just missed it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that is freely available?

Anyway, I use Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu has 6 monthly releases (yes, that's half a year - you don't need to wait 5+ years between releases) and I installed it on my netbook resulting in a 10 second startup (!!!) and 3 second shutdown. Amazing!  :brick:
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on May 09, 2010, 09:22:09 AM
Quote from: "AlP"I figured I would share some of the best free software I use regularly. Please add suggestions for excellent free software =).

Paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net)
A simplified Adobe Photoshop that doesn't suck like the gimp (http://www.gimp.org/).
This gets my vote to. Can't comment about Gimp as I don't use it. But I do use Photoshop Elements and Paint.net has some more advanced features not found on Elements.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on June 04, 2010, 10:22:24 PM
Found this a little while back, seems to work very well and has a lot of useful features.
http://www.pixlr.com/editor/
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on July 02, 2010, 11:31:19 AM
WordWeb is a handy dictionary, installed on your computer, not a web ap.

Karen’s Directory Printer, I use it to list the contents of external drives.
It produces a text file which can be transferred to a spreadsheet.
Particularly useful for finding movie files.

Microsoft Virtual PC, set up an alternate operating system which runs within your existing windows.
Test software, run programs that don't work in your main windows version.

Microsoft Sync Toy, synchronise files in different locations.

Creative Media Source Organizer, for music.  You can use it like a windows explorer window, with a navigation pane, folder pane and in addition a now playing pane.  Despite the programs name, I don't use it to organize files and folders, just to navigate folders and play files.

Also Zone Alarm firewall and Thunderbird email.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: reed9 on July 06, 2010, 03:52:46 PM
Quote from: "Vangelis"Ummm... No-one's mentioned operating systems? Can't believe it! Or maybe I just missed it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that is freely available?

OS:
Arch Linux

Free software I couldn't live without:

Bash

Openbox

Screen

Elinks

Mplayer

Snownews

MPD + Ncmpcpp

Openssh
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Reasonable on August 19, 2010, 07:58:29 AM
have you guys used mydropbox? am not sure if it's a software, but it backs up your files online and keeps it online even when you're computer is off.  It's like having an always on gotomypc account :)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: epepke on August 27, 2010, 02:03:06 PM
yEd is an amazing graph editor

http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.html (http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.html)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Recusant on August 27, 2010, 04:48:33 PM
Ah.  The revival of this thread reminds me to thank you, MariaEvri, for posting about Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/).  It's a very nice planetarium program, and I've been enjoying it! :banna:
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Reasonable on August 27, 2010, 11:49:48 PM
Quote from: "Recusant"Ah.  The revival of this thread reminds me to thank you, MariaEvri, for posting about Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/).  It's a very nice planetarium program, and I've been enjoying it! :) )
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: MariaEvri on August 28, 2010, 02:50:21 PM
Quote from: "Reasonable"
Quote from: "Recusant"Ah.  The revival of this thread reminds me to thank you, MariaEvri, for posting about Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/).  It's a very nice planetarium program, and I've been enjoying it! :) )

uh? thats weird. I just downloaded directly from the website
http://www.stellarium.org/ (http://www.stellarium.org/)

you mean you installed but but wont run?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: AlP on September 01, 2010, 05:57:20 AM
My thread lives! Sorry for my recent absence. I have become obsessed with something.

I'll add VMWare Player (http://www.vmware.com/products/player/). It lets you run Windows and Linux and other OSes simultaneously (like all on screen at the same time) on one computer.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Recusant on September 01, 2010, 05:44:26 PM
Quote from: "Reasonable"I have never gotten my copy to run, what version do you have.
(note to self, avoid going to torrent sites :livelong:Good to see you back, AlP
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on September 01, 2010, 08:21:56 PM
Does anyone know a good all-round text- and hex editor for the Mac? I'm using TextWrangler now, but that freeware editor is very limited (and not intuitive) in comparison with the PSPad Editor that I have running under Windows (on the Mac with Parallels).
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Jats on September 23, 2010, 11:50:38 AM
Quote from: "Vangelis"Ummm... No-one's mentioned operating systems? Can't believe it! Or maybe I just missed it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that is freely available?

"...this was my thought too as I read through, and then finally Vangelis said it, for once you free yourself from Windows, everything becomes free, and Linux Mint is the one to start with, you can even keep Windows for a while on a separate partition if you want to, or go for a complete replacement for that virus attracting Microsoft stuff designed to make your machine obsolete, and less demanding on your hardware too, particular the processor, breathing new life into that old machine, making it seem new, and most important of all completely free, no more money to Microsoft then, that was good enough reason for me, oh, and the thought of being smug myself in the future, like now..."

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php (http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php)

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjohanndrees.de%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Flinux-piss-on-windows_klein.jpg&hash=face0a9ab7dfff6d844b208bd7b7d21c99b783a3)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on October 31, 2010, 01:20:53 AM
I had problems updating AVG free antivirus to AVG free 2011.
I've been using it for years, but it's not recommended as much as it used to be.
I'm using Avast's free version now and it seems better, so far I can say program/definition updates are smaller and quicker.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Recusant on October 31, 2010, 09:53:38 AM
Quote from: "The Magic Pudding"I had problems updating AVG free antivirus to AVG free 2011.

Yes, I had some issues with AVG 2011 as well.  Strangely, somebody else in the house updated to 2011 on the same day that I did, and it seems to be working fine for them.  What I did is remove 2011 and re-install the last version of AVG available before 2011 came out, which you can get from OldApps.com (http://www.oldapps.com/AVG_antivirus.php).  AVG is still supplying daily database updates for "AVG Free Edition 9.0.851," and I'll probably stick with this version for at least a couple of months until I'm sure that 2011 has all the bugs worked out.

(You didn't say what problems you had with "2011," The Magic Pudding, but for me, it looked like it was trying to install something that looked a lot like a keylogger.  I think it was called "ActivityMonitor."  I'm not sure if that was AVG, or some trojan I picked up somewhere that happened to coincide with my installation of 2011. However, since every time I refused to allow "ActivityMonitor" to complete installation, AGV requested that I restart my system, it seemed that they were related.  Once I went back to AVG Free Edition 9.0.851, I ran Spybot Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html) and Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/), and things seem to be fine...)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on October 31, 2010, 10:32:50 AM
AVG 2011 installed OK but wouldn't update cleanly, windows froze, unresponsive to Alt Ctrl Delete.
Startup of windows  7 became slower.
Firefox would freeze, possibly because of the AVG toolbar.
Other programs wouldn't install because of an incomplete AVG install, windows did fix this but next update it recurred.

I could have gone back to AVG 9, but the tech forums I visit were cold on it.

Avast comes highly recommended, it completed a scan of 1.8 TB of data in two hours.
This is on a desktop system which was fairly average when new 18 months ago.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on October 31, 2010, 10:35:52 AM
The only piece of free, non-bundled software I didn't code myself on my computers is 7zip.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: jduster on October 31, 2010, 04:21:29 PM
Wordweb and Steam
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on November 05, 2010, 06:46:23 AM
Good news for our Mac users. Sophos has released an extremely decent anti-virus program for the Mac this week.

http://www.sophos.com/products/free-too ... nti-virus/ (http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/free-mac-anti-virus/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: SomewhereInND on November 10, 2010, 11:04:52 PM
Free software? gnu.org has never failed me.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: trippn740 on November 15, 2010, 07:42:30 AM
http://ubuntu.com
Enough said.
:D
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on November 15, 2010, 02:57:24 PM
Quote from: "trippn740"http://ubuntu.com
Enough said.
:eek: To each his own, I guess...  :hmm:
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on November 15, 2010, 04:50:33 PM
Quote from: "trippn740"http://ubuntu.com
Enough said.
:D

Just started setting up an Ubuntu file/media server for the house.
Not too bad, but does require a fair amount of tech savvy.

... but I'm a Unix guy from way back, so not a problem.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on November 15, 2010, 05:09:59 PM
Quote from: "trippn740"http://ubuntu.com
Enough said.
:( )
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: trippn740 on November 15, 2010, 07:18:11 PM
Quote from: "Tom62"
Quote from: "trippn740"http://ubuntu.com
Enough said.
:( )

I've got a pretty old pc too so I'm running xfce as the desktop manager, rather than gnome... But it still beats windows ;)

What problems are you having with the scanner?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: trippn740 on November 15, 2010, 07:24:46 PM
Quote from: "joeactor"Just started setting up an Ubuntu file/media server for the house.
Not too bad, but does require a fair amount of tech savvy.

... but I'm a Unix guy from way back, so not a problem.

I think it's pretty much the most user friendly Linux distro I've ever used.. But I agree; for people that aren't into programming or Unix in general, the Shell might be a little confusing...  :P
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on November 30, 2010, 02:48:36 PM
Lightworks (http://www.lightworksbeta.com/)
Recently released as open source, very nice video editing software.

[youtube:2mekdn1s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCDFfXUcGk[/youtube:2mekdn1s]

MyPaint (http://mypaint.intilinux.com/)
Still pretty new and doesn't have all the features they have planned yet, but I've found that at it's current state, it's very awesome.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: ForTheLoveOfAll on February 12, 2011, 02:01:07 AM
Ah, good man! Thank you for these.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: DirtyLeo on February 24, 2011, 10:24:11 AM
PCs are so old style :D we should open a thread for smartphones:

"Good free Android and iOS (iPod, iPhone & iPad) Apps"
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on March 30, 2011, 04:52:02 AM
Firefox 4.0 is available.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/ (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: fester30 on March 30, 2011, 09:55:48 PM
7zip for rar files
Daemon Tools for iso disk image files
Bit Torrent in case I want to find more free things (of course not for pirated software, I'm not a criminal)
There's an add-on for browsers called Adblock Plus.  I like it.
I have AVG and I found out that the problems 2011 caused me were all related to the ID theft protection.  Sometimes it runs on hyperdrive in the background hogging resources.  I turned it off and it works great now.
Along with AVG for virus protection and scanning, I have Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.  It's a great program for anything that gets through your virus software.  Just open, update, and quickscan, and gets rid of anything attacking your AVG, Norton, McAfee, etc.  Then uninstall it and wait for the next problem.

I didn't like VLC UI so I use Media Player Classic.  Seems to do the job for me so long as my codecs are updated.

If you have an older, slower computer, I definitely recommend OpenOffice over Microsoft Office.  Takes some getting used to at first.  Microsoft Office 2007 slows down your computer even when you don't have any of its components open.  When I switched from Open Office to MS Office and back on my old crappy computer I noticed a definite difference.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on March 31, 2011, 01:12:31 AM
... if you're on Android, there's the new Amazon App Store - they feature a different free app daily.
Not sure how long that'll last, but it's worth a download...
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Whitney on March 31, 2011, 01:20:13 AM
Fitness phone app:  Adidas miCoach
audibly announces when to run slower/faster etc based on either heart rate or pace; can integrate with playlists.

http://www.adidas.com/us/micoach/# (http://www.adidas.com/us/micoach/#)

(their website has been having some issues lately but it doesn't affect the app)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on March 31, 2011, 06:31:20 AM
From the Mac App Store:

Caffeine - a small utility that prevents your Mac from going to sleep and displaying the screen saver (great if you are watching a long video on YouTube)
TouchFly - a very addictive and funny game
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: missedtheboat on April 11, 2011, 03:22:03 AM
Sorry if this has already been posted! There is a really awesome website http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ (http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/) that is pretty self explanatory! Free software daily, sometimes its really crappy stuff, but if you check everyday there is usually something good that pops up every now and then :)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: curiosityandthecat on April 11, 2011, 01:24:28 PM
Gizmodo.com has a monthly "Best Of" list of apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows 7 phones. They're mostly free, and the ones that aren't are easily replaceable with ones that are with a little Google-Fu.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5787471/the-new-essential-apps-march-2011-iphone-android-ipad-and-windows-phone
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Cecilie on April 11, 2011, 02:10:17 PM
^ Uh oh.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: curiosityandthecat on April 11, 2011, 02:14:28 PM
Quote from: "Cecilie"^ Uh oh.

Reported a bit ago. Just ignore. :)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on April 12, 2011, 06:39:07 AM
DirSync Pro - keeps folders/directories in sync. Written in Java, so it runs on any PC.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on April 19, 2011, 08:12:00 PM
Quote from: "Tom62"DirSync Pro - keeps folders/directories in sync. Written in Java, so it runs on any PC.

I've been using SyncToy for that - also free...
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: curiosityandthecat on April 20, 2011, 03:56:46 PM
Quote from: "joeactor"
Quote from: "Tom62"DirSync Pro - keeps folders/directories in sync. Written in Java, so it runs on any PC.

I've been using SyncToy for that - also free...

Check out Syncless (http://code.google.com/p/big5sync/). Uses tags to sync rather than just folders and has include/exclude filters. Also runs constantly in the background in "seamless" mode. I combine it with Dropbox for some really easy, powerful backup and organization.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: original_gender on May 14, 2011, 02:06:46 AM
Macromaker and Textcrawler – especially if you do any data entry work.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: original_gender on May 20, 2011, 07:23:16 PM
Taskbar Shuffle and AeroSnap are great if your office computer is running XP.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: slapdashartist on May 22, 2011, 11:26:41 PM
Don't know if anyone has mentioned it already, but Avast is a pretty good anti-virus software (it's what I use anyway). Spyware Doctor is also pretty useful. (Basically the whole Google Package is worth a look actually.) Google Earth is especially fun to play around with and also very helpful for directions.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on May 22, 2011, 11:34:16 PM
http://www.truecrypt.org/ (http://www.truecrypt.org/) is a great open source program that allows you to encrypt files.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on May 23, 2011, 01:48:42 AM
ProgDVB can be good to use if your TV card software misbehaves.

This isn't a program but it's useful if you don't like windows taskbar popup previews.

1. Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER

2. Navigate to the following location:
   
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced

3. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named ExtendedUIHoverTime

4. Double-click ExtendedUIHoverTime and click Decimal

5. To increase the hover delay to 5 seconds, type 5000 . Type 10000 for 10 seconds and so forth...

6. Exit the Registry Editor.

7. Restart your computer.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/how-do-you-disable-miniature-pop-up-windows-when/e77ada42-29e5-440e-a0be-74e737cf969d
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Poptop on May 28, 2011, 01:59:50 AM
Mozy online storage appears to have gone from free to 5.99/mo.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on June 16, 2011, 07:50:06 PM
Got a memory card that I can't copy from. Anybody recommend a good file recovery software?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on June 18, 2011, 02:51:26 PM
^ Recuva from Piriform.  There's a good free version here (http://www.piriform.com/recuva/download).  You have to search for the free version, it's not as obvious as the paid one.  Now why would that be?

It's here:
Version 1.40.525  (2,394 kb)
 - Download from FileHippo.com
 - Download from Piriform.com
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: leedan on June 20, 2011, 04:51:21 AM
Does anyone use a smart phone for internet communication? If so, I would be interested in some software or application suggestions.

Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on June 20, 2011, 06:51:33 AM
Quote from: leedan on June 20, 2011, 04:51:21 AM
Does anyone use a smart phone for internet communication? If so, I would be interested in some software or application suggestions.


I just use the native browser to read the news. Are you on an iPhone or something else?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Whitney on June 20, 2011, 03:08:37 PM
Quote from: leedan on June 20, 2011, 04:51:21 AM
Does anyone use a smart phone for internet communication? If so, I would be interested in some software or application suggestions.


For communication:
hootsuite: can manage multiple twitter and facebook pages from one app (up to 5 accts are allowed with the free version)
LinkedIn: manage your LinkedIn account from phone....good for professional networking.

For other stuff:
miCoach: Basically a computer personal trainer for running/biking.
Pandora: Free internet radio (up to 30 hours a month free...I only use it occasionally)
Yelp:  Find local restaurants
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: leedan on June 22, 2011, 03:37:18 AM

Quote from: Tank
I just use the native browser to read the news. Are you on an iPhone or something else?
I have a droid 2 with google. I think it works good but its my first smartphone. Only problem I have is managing some operations in forums like adding pics or references. Either I don't know how to do it or the phone is not able. I had to use the computer to add my avatar. Facebook and youtube have have no limitations. I am happy with it.




Quote from: Whitney
For communication:
hootsuite: can manage multiple twitter and facebook pages from one app (up to 5 accts are allowed with the free version)
LinkedIn: manage your LinkedIn account from phone....good for professional networking.

For other stuff:
miCoach: Basically a computer personal trainer for running/biking.
Pandora: Free internet radio (up to 30 hours a month free...I only use it occasionally)
Yelp:  Find local restaurants
I'm not sure if I should complicate this phone with more com apps but I do love pandora. I also have tune in radio that streams stations from anywhere in the world. One of my favorite apps is google sky which will identify celestial objects just by holding the phone to it. Still can't locate heaven.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on June 22, 2011, 08:19:21 AM
Leeden

The BBCode 'tags' use a form [function]something[/function] the [function] tag starts the operation the [/function] ends the operation the tags are identical except the end tag has a '/' in front of the function name so the quote function is [quote]'xyz'[/quote]

How the 'tags' work is explained here http://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=7473.0 in detail. Feel free to experiment on that thread :)

Regards
Chris
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: leedan on June 22, 2011, 05:28:56 PM
Thanks Chris,
I'll need some practice.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Sweetdeath on June 29, 2011, 12:04:50 AM

Quote from: Whitney on June 20, 2011, 03:08:37 PM
Quote from: leedan on June 20, 2011, 04:51:21 AM
Does anyone use a smart phone for internet communication? If so, I would be interested in some software or application suggestions.


For communication:
hootsuite: can manage multiple twitter and facebook pages from one app (up to 5 accts are allowed with the free version)
LinkedIn: manage your LinkedIn account from phone....good for professional networking.

For other stuff:
miCoach: Basically a computer personal trainer for running/biking.
Pandora: Free internet radio (up to 30 hours a month free...I only use it occasionally)
Yelp:  Find local restaurants

Thank you for this :D I am also using my first ever smart phone.  It's an android huawei.  It's basically my only means for net at the moment.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: leedan on June 29, 2011, 02:48:26 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 29, 2011, 12:04:50 AM



Thank you for this :D I am also using my first ever smart phone.  It's an android huawei.  It's basically my only means for net at the moment.

I love my smartphone. It sure beats waiting for the computer with the kids and all. Still tough to type with my fat fingers. Its almost like having the world in your pocket. Seems like an endless selection of applications to download and mess with. I found an app that actually looks as if you were drinking a beer from your phone :D. Oh, nice quote within a quote, showoff.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Sweetdeath on June 29, 2011, 01:48:06 PM
XD!@leedan.

Yes, I typo a lot cuz i'm using to typing 70words per minute on a normal computer keyoard x_x though, I enjoy the touch screen, cuz it is easier on me joints. *stretch*
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Free-Being on September 07, 2011, 06:49:07 AM
That was very helpful. Thanks
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: DaveD on September 09, 2011, 10:58:13 PM
I've just been trying out this: http://www.sumopaint.com/home/
Sumo Paint is an on-line paint program, so it doesn't need installing, and it works on any platform. You can shell out a bit of money and upgrade it if you want to, but the free version looks pretty good.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on October 17, 2011, 11:27:41 AM
AX, from vulpeculox (http://vulpeculox.net/ax/) is a piece of freeware which gives you easy access to any special characters you set it up for.
By altering a simple config file in Notepad, I've set mine up to give me

àâä éèêë îï öô üû ðÞ ß and all their upper case equivalents, also °½¾¼

It runs at startup; although the process of setting it up to do so is pretty weird, you only have to do it once.
It works via a fn key - I use f8.  Once you've typed, say, an A in any application, pressing f8 cycles through AÀÂÄA until you get the one you're looking for.  Similarly oöô°o, etc. (Those are the characters I've set mine up for, you might choose others.)
Even if you don't write foreign languages, you can use it to get any character in the windows character map.


Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Attila on October 18, 2011, 06:52:39 PM
I confess to being a long-time Gnu/Linux user. Are there any other linux-people about? Just about all the software running on linux is free as in speech and free  as in beer. You can copy it, share it, modify it, give it away and so on. People are usually comfortable with what they use now but I'm happy answer questions (if I can  ;) ) and give a helping hand if anyone wants to give it a try.
ciao,
Attila
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Earthling on October 26, 2011, 08:59:10 PM
Slimware (Cleaner / Computer / Drivers) (http://www.slimwareutilities.com/products.php)

Flaming Text (http://www.flamingtext.com)

Dynamic Drive Image Optimizer (http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/imageoptimizer/)

My Imager (http://www.myimager.com/open.php?f=72280111_89180.)

Image Magick (http://studio.imagemagick.org/MagickStudio/scripts/MagickStudio.cgi)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on November 30, 2011, 12:44:27 PM
Anybody recommend a free ftp software package?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on December 02, 2011, 04:19:43 AM
Quote from: Tank on November 30, 2011, 12:44:27 PM
Anybody recommend a free ftp software package?

I used to use Cute FTP, it's not free but there may be a 30 day trial period but probably better to go for a free one.

Filezilla seems popular. (http://filezilla-project.org/download.php)

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1162468
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1691172
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on December 02, 2011, 08:42:12 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on December 02, 2011, 04:19:43 AM
Quote from: Tank on November 30, 2011, 12:44:27 PM
Anybody recommend a free ftp software package?

I used to use Cute FTP, it's not free but there may be a 30 day trial period but probably better to go for a free one.

Filezilla seems popular. (http://filezilla-project.org/download.php)

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1162468
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1691172

Thanks TMP.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: lmbarre on December 04, 2011, 12:55:04 AM
Browers: Firefox, Opera, Netscape
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
Quote from: lmbarre on December 04, 2011, 12:55:04 AM
Browers: Firefox, Opera, Netscape
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on December 04, 2011, 03:10:54 AM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.

I mainly use Firefox,
It has an old fashioned menu bar.
It has no script which makes it more secure but sometimes not fully functional, it allows exceptions which is usually OK but not always. 
Google bugged me with it's stupid preview crap, I have a Greasemonkey script that stops it and Scroogle helps too.
Chrome is handy when a page doesn't work in Firefox, likely due to my mods, I use it for Google advanced and image searches, Imgur (http://imgur.com/?noFlash) works better on Chrome.
If you design a page you need to see it in various browsers.
IE is like a spare tyre, I did have it open for some reason recently, not sure why.

Firefox lets me arrange things in an acceptable way, IE probably would too but it has always had security issues, Chrome's minimalist layout doesn't appeal to me. 

In my view using only one browser would be an unnecessary compromise.
This is my idea of what a browser should look like (but normally expanded to 1920 wide).

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTHPto.jpg&hash=b947b64a560126333522e8185e1b08157aedc108)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 10:15:09 AM
I'm on IE. Security issues FF-fans always seem to pull out of their hats (..! Cool! See what I did there? :-P ) are something I, for one, have never experienced. I'm not sure if it is directly related to me not searching for porn and free MP3s, but there it is. Never had my identity, credit card numbers or passwords stolen.

Everything I visit that is meant to work seems to work in IE too, and I has my favourites bar and my menu bar and my command bar and my drinking bar. What more do I need..?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Crow on December 04, 2011, 08:26:00 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 10:15:09 AM
I'm on IE. Security issues FF-fans always seem to pull out of their hats

I don't know if it has been fixed but FF had a massive problem with security due to the way it saved passwords. basically if anyone had FF open whilst using a public network they could get hacked super easy no matter what operating system. I did it to a friend when he was using my network with facebook just for a laugh and I know bugger all about hacking.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 09:26:23 PM
Quote from: Crow on December 04, 2011, 08:26:00 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 10:15:09 AM
I'm on IE. Security issues FF-fans always seem to pull out of their hats

I don't know if it has been fixed but FF had a massive problem with security due to the way it saved passwords. basically if anyone had FF open whilst using a public network they could get hacked super easy no matter what operating system. I did it to a friend when he was using my network with facebook just for a laugh and I know bugger all about hacking.
Heard they fixed it, but not being an FF user meself, I can't say for sure.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Crocoduck on December 09, 2011, 02:17:16 PM
I've been using LastPass password vault to store my login info instead of the password manager thats built into my browser. It's been working out really well for me and I feel like it's safer. It seems to work with all the popular browsers, in fact it's the only one I've tried that works with my favorite Opera.
http://lastpass.com/ (http://lastpass.com/)

Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.

Asmodean I have more then one Yahoo email account and find it handy to use different browsers for different accounts so I can read one with having to log out of the others.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on December 09, 2011, 03:47:38 PM
Quote from: Crocoduck on December 09, 2011, 02:17:16 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.

Asmodean I have more then one Yahoo email account and find it handy to use different browsers for different accounts so I can read one with having to log out of the others.
The other reason is for web development, you use multiple browsers to test the site to make sure it works in all the most common browsers.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on December 09, 2011, 03:58:14 PM
Quote from: Davin on December 09, 2011, 03:47:38 PM
Quote from: Crocoduck on December 09, 2011, 02:17:16 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.

Asmodean I have more then one Yahoo email account and find it handy to use different browsers for different accounts so I can read one with having to log out of the others.
The other reason is for web development, you use multiple browsers to test the site to make sure it works in all the most common browsers.
Those are fair enough reasons. Although I normally use other people to do the second one for me  ;D
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: lmbarre on December 10, 2011, 05:02:22 AM
My current favorite browser is Safari.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on December 16, 2011, 06:32:56 PM
Currently switching from FireFox to Chrome.

So far, I'm liking it.  Chrome doesn't hang as much, and appears to suck less memory and processor.

Wish it had as many plug-ins, but I'm sure it'll catch up.
Hey, it's number 2 now, or so I read.

Other thing, after using it I'd consider getting a ChromeBook instead of a laptop next time around (maybe)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: unholy1971 on December 19, 2011, 03:13:23 AM
Nice list.  Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: znk666 on January 07, 2012, 03:25:41 PM
Not sure if these were already posted but fuck it.

Advanced system care
Efficiently clean up your system within a matter of clicks!

http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html

Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on January 07, 2012, 07:59:52 PM
Quote from: znk666 on January 07, 2012, 03:25:41 PM
Not sure if these were already posted but fuck it.

Advanced system care
Efficiently clean up your system within a matter of clicks!

http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html


I don't trust them system cleaners to deliver what was promised... For one, my registry is never more than six or seven months old, so it doesn't get massive enough to slow down even the cheapest of my computers. For two, if I happen to have 100Gb of data on my OS drive, well, that takes hardware time to sort through - nothing except the delete button will help there. For three, the vast majority of "problems" the cleaners I've tested (Only because I was paid to, mind) found on the machines I tested on, were pretty damned bogus (Or just from the eighties, when RAM was about the size of today's Registers)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: xSilverPhinx on January 13, 2012, 06:17:14 AM
I use Advanced System Care. Thing is, if you want the full repair service, you have to buy their premium product. ::)  Oh well, better than nothing.



Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on January 13, 2012, 07:55:12 AM
I don't use any system care utilities.  It pays to install things with care, not to just accept the auto option and not to install every thing that comes along.  If you run msconfig and select startup you can deselct a lot of things that don't need to run at start up.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on January 13, 2012, 08:30:49 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on January 13, 2012, 06:17:14 AM
I use Advanced System Care. Thing is, if you want the full repair service, you have to buy their premium product. ::)  Oh well, better than nothing.
Don't you just love software that will tell you that you have a problem, then not fix it!
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on January 13, 2012, 08:45:30 AM
Quote from: Tank on January 13, 2012, 08:30:49 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on January 13, 2012, 06:17:14 AM
I use Advanced System Care. Thing is, if you want the full repair service, you have to buy their premium product. ::)  Oh well, better than nothing.
Don't you just love software that will tell you that you have a problem, then not fix it!
That is the regular scam with such programs. They tell you there is a problem and that there is also a cure, presented in their patented and highly recommended premium package, which can be all yours for a modest fee of (Insert modest fee here).

The thing is, the software I tested did as advertised, but it was overall way too panicky, fixing "errors" which did not have anything to do with system stability and performance. For example, you have some rests of long-since-uninstalled programs on your drive and in your registry. They do NOT slow down your machine to a noticeable degree unless installing then uninstalling software is your main hobby.

Malware, spyware and the like? Well, yes, adware can slow your machine down, as can some forms of viruses, which can also lead to lessened stability and functionality. However, using an all-in-one bundles against such is a bit like piling a bunch of freight containers on a cruise ship.

For those less versed in computer technology, antivirus and firewall programs are usually sufficient protection. If you think you are infected with something and your 100$ antivirus fails to identify the damned thing as a threat even a few days to a week after the infection, then it's likely to be benign.

The OS can often repair itself unless severely broken, and if it gets that broken, you've probably been messing with it in the first place.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on January 13, 2012, 09:06:05 AM
Quote from: Ali on January 02, 2012, 04:30:12 PM
I just had to wipe all of the stuff off of my hard drive because my laptop had a virus, so I don't have a lot of pictures saved any more, but here is an old one that I found in my photobucket account.

That quotes from the Pets thread, it seemed such a waste, maybe if hard drive crashed you receive a lesson to back stuff up, but that sounded like nothing should have been lost at all.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on January 13, 2012, 09:15:34 AM
Why wipe the drive before salvaging benign files in the first place?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Ali on February 01, 2012, 04:09:58 PM
I just saw this.  So, the virus was infecting every program that I opened, and then I couldn't open anything any more.  Also, I'm not super computer literate other than knowing the basics like how to surf the internet and somehow get myself infected in the first place, so there's that.  My husband messed with it for about a day and a half, and then basically came to the conclusion that a system restore was probably my best bet.  He did ask me if there was anything on my computer that I couldn't stand to lose, but my laptop is basically a toy that I use to browse the internet with.  I did have a bunch of pictures on it, but all of the ones that I wanted to print were already printed.  I think I had the option to go through and try to save some stuff, but at that point I was just frustrated and wanted to be done with it, so I told him to just restore it to factory settings.  Which solved the problem, but also wiped all of my old pictures.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 01:25:47 PM
I'm gonna have to look into some of this software
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on February 04, 2012, 01:29:14 PM
Quote from: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 01:25:47 PM
I'm gonna have to look into some of this software
There's some good stuffonthis list.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 02:51:36 PM
That they do
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on February 04, 2012, 03:31:20 PM
Quote from: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 01:25:47 PM
I'm gonna have to look into some of this software

When I first saw that and an Asmoish avatar I had a WHAT! moment.
Warriors of the Asmo clan are supposed to lead a Spartan existence when it comes to software.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 04:06:39 PM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on February 04, 2012, 03:31:20 PM
Quote from: Mocha Chief on February 04, 2012, 01:25:47 PM
I'm gonna have to look into some of this software

When I first saw that and an Asmoish avatar I had a WHAT! moment.
Warriors of the Asmo clan are supposed to lead a Spartan existence when it comes to software.


I am a Spartan in training lol
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on February 25, 2012, 08:53:43 AM
VLC media play has gone from 1.xx to 2.0.
I'm not sure if the toggle for full screen controller used to there, I like it anyway.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: el_presidente on April 07, 2012, 07:30:40 AM
Quote from: reed9 on July 06, 2010, 03:52:46 PM
Quote from: VangelisUmmm... No-one's mentioned operating systems? Can't believe it! Or maybe I just missed it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that is freely available?

OS:
Arch Linux

Free software I couldn't live without:


Mplayer



Mplayer still exists?!  Unreal.  I fondly remember the days of Team Fortress (Quake II style) and US vs. Canada. 

Quote from: lmbarre on December 04, 2011, 12:55:04 AM
Browers: Firefox, Opera, Netscape

I use Opera unless I'm running Netflix, and then I go with IE since it's already installed.  I've tried going back to Firefox, but Opera is cleaner and more intuitive (I constantly facepalm when I right click + drag my mouse down and to the right to close a tab on non-Opera browsers).
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on April 07, 2012, 12:15:54 PM
This one's not specially good, nor really software, but it is a genuine free Easter Egg:

Open a fresh window of Firefox and type about:mozilla
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: MariaEvri on April 07, 2012, 01:20:30 PM
I'm looking for a good free (and easy) software to replace windows movie maker
any one knows any?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: The Magic Pudding on April 07, 2012, 02:38:42 PM
Quote from: MariaEvri on April 07, 2012, 01:20:30 PM
I'm looking for a good free (and easy) software to replace windows movie maker
any one knows any?

I downloaded Lightworks but I don't think it's easy, haven't got around to using it.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on April 07, 2012, 06:40:20 PM
Quote from: MariaI'm looking for a good free (and easy) software to replace windows movie maker
Me, too, Maria, but I'm afraid I haven't found one yet.

Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Firebird on April 08, 2012, 03:30:09 AM
I'm actually a linux systems admin in real life, so I've used a lot of the stuff mentioned here. I like Ubuntu a lot, but I'm somewhat partial to Fedora Core, as it's what I learned Linux on and is geared more towards the advanced user. I've also played with Backtrack for security/penetration testing.

Truecrypt, as ThinkAnarchy brought up before, is one of my favorites for protecting sensitive files. I also wholeheartedy endorse Audacity and Handbrake, which were also mentioned previously.
Putty is an ssh utility for Windows that I use all the time.
Filezilla is the best free FTP app that I've found for Windows.
DVD 43 is good for copying your encrypted dvds. Legally, of course.
I've only recently started using Spotify, but I like what I see thus far.

On the Android front, if you've rooted your phone, Barnacle Wifi Tether is great for wireless tethering of your devices.

And if you're willing to hack your home router, try dd-wrt. It's a homebrewed replacement firmware that let's you do some cool stuff like wireless bridging, vpn, and overclocking.

Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: texasatheist on April 24, 2012, 06:47:22 PM
Quote from: Crocoduck on December 09, 2011, 02:17:16 PM
I've been using LastPass password vault to store my login info instead of the password manager thats built into my browser. It's been working out really well for me and I feel like it's safer. It seems to work with all the popular browsers, in fact it's the only one I've tried that works with my favorite Opera.
http://lastpass.com/ (http://lastpass.com/)

Quote from: Asmodean on December 04, 2011, 02:09:12 AM
What do you need three browsers for..?  ???

In all my ventures on the Internet, I've until this day managed with just one.

Asmodean I have more then one Yahoo email account and find it handy to use different browsers for different accounts so I can read one with having to log out of the others.


THIS!  I've used it for years, there's no substitute. 

I also recommend Photoscape if you want to edit a lot of photos and give them a filter or resize them on the fly.  More intuitive than Gimp (just because it's focus is on one click edits), and a little less confusing than Picasa from Google.

http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html (http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on April 24, 2012, 07:47:32 PM
Yes, I agree about Photoscape.  It will rescue many a bum photo.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: jumbojak on May 12, 2012, 10:02:23 PM
I'm suprised no one mentioned vi. It's the finest text editor ever developed, although it will take about a week to learn to use it. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Firebird on May 17, 2012, 07:01:13 AM
vi is great if you're a programmer or systems admin of some type. I don't think I'd ever try to teach vi to anyone else in lieu of something easier, like emacs or Textpad.
Speaking of which, textpad. Technically, it's not free, but you can download it for free and use it as long as you want before deciding whether to pay for it. Great editor.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 12:33:18 AM
Get Cold Turkey (http://getcoldturkey.com/)

It's a "productivity" program that lets you block yourself from distracting websites for as short as ten minutes and as long as a week (for the free version). It works computer wide, which I like, because I'm pretty sure chrome has a similar app, but I think it only works on the chrome browser. For those that are tech-savvy enough, I know there are ways you can block yourself manually, but it'd be a good little program for a lot of people. I've found it handy, especially when I have due dates coming up and I'm feeling extra procrastinatey :P  
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on June 08, 2012, 10:05:56 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 12:33:18 AM
For those that are tech-savvy enough, I know there are ways you can block yourself manually
For those who are that tech-savvy, what good is a block? To keep me, for instance, form distracting sites, one can either bust my access or take the site in question down. DNS blocks and the like won't work either - I'll just IP-call it directly.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 01:42:54 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on June 08, 2012, 10:05:56 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 12:33:18 AM
For those that are tech-savvy enough, I know there are ways you can block yourself manually
For those who are that tech-savvy, what good is a block? To keep me, for instance, form distracting sites, one can either bust my access or take the site in question down. DNS blocks and the like won't work either - I'll just IP-call it directly.

You could slow yourself down a bit, instead of zombie-clicking on Facebook every 10 seconds like I usually do. But you're right, for the most part you are burdened with too much know-how :P
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Malakoot on July 04, 2012, 12:13:22 AM
I am new to making videos but it interests me a lot... does anyone have a good program for that? Other than movie-maker of course..
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on July 04, 2012, 12:17:42 AM
Depends on what you want.

Are you looking for an editor? Ripper? Converter? Dubber? All-in-one package? Do you want it expensive and cheerful or free and miserable?
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: xSilverPhinx on July 09, 2012, 02:30:55 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 12:33:18 AM
Get Cold Turkey (http://getcoldturkey.com/)

It's a "productivity" program that lets you block yourself from distracting websites for as short as ten minutes and as long as a week (for the free version). It works computer wide, which I like, because I'm pretty sure chrome has a similar app, but I think it only works on the chrome browser. For those that are tech-savvy enough, I know there are ways you can block yourself manually, but it'd be a good little program for a lot of people. I've found it handy, especially when I have due dates coming up and I'm feeling extra procrastinatey :P 

Thanks for that - my self discipline is in shambles. The distractions are just too luring.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: DeterminedJuliet on July 09, 2012, 02:32:03 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on July 09, 2012, 02:30:55 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on June 08, 2012, 12:33:18 AM
Get Cold Turkey (http://getcoldturkey.com/)

It's a "productivity" program that lets you block yourself from distracting websites for as short as ten minutes and as long as a week (for the free version). It works computer wide, which I like, because I'm pretty sure chrome has a similar app, but I think it only works on the chrome browser. For those that are tech-savvy enough, I know there are ways you can block yourself manually, but it'd be a good little program for a lot of people. I've found it handy, especially when I have due dates coming up and I'm feeling extra procrastinatey :P 

Thanks for that - my self discipline is in shambles. The distractions are just too luring.

Haha, I've already used the program once tonight! I'll probably have to set it again because this project doesn't seem to be finishing itself.  :P
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Non Quixote on July 18, 2012, 04:48:27 PM
I apologize in advance if someone mentioned these two and I missed it.

http://www.converterlite.com/ (http://www.converterlite.com/) is a nice piece of free conversion software that is nimble, very easy to use and works well on just about any format.

I like using http://calibre-ebook.com/ (http://calibre-ebook.com/) to manage my ebook library.  Really love that there is an app that allows me to access the library through my wireless so that I can choose a book from my library without having to get up and physically connect my Nook to my PC.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Bad Penny II on July 21, 2016, 02:38:11 PM
I'm in a relationship with FastStone Image Viewer, I used to be with ACDsee.
It works how I want an image viewer to 'cept you can't open multiple instances.

Free Video Editor 1.4.12 build 616

before that it didn't always work, after they wanted dollars, the capitalist swine.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Kekerusey on September 01, 2016, 09:46:29 PM
There's an awful lot of good free and open source software out there, the ones I mainly use are:


At work (when I was at work) I used Keynote NF to keep track of my projects.

I also use a few free games such as Chuckie Egg and some Hi-Res versions of old games like Doom and Heretic but I'm not much of a gamer (I use my xBox 360 primarily for watching videos on Amazon and Netflix).

I do pay for a few bits of software:

* MS Office
* Scrivener
* Scapple
* Tag & Rename
* Goldwave

That's about it.

Keke
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on September 02, 2016, 05:08:27 AM
Best freeware SQL client tool that I know of is sQuirrel.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: OldGit on September 02, 2016, 09:19:26 AM
My new laptop didn't have MS Office and I was going to have to pay.  I have never paid for software and never intend to, so I'm using Libre Office  This fits all my simple needs and seems excellent to me.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on September 02, 2016, 03:05:34 PM
Quote from: OldGit on September 02, 2016, 09:19:26 AM
My new laptop didn't have MS Office and I was going to have to pay.  I have never paid for software and never intend to, so I'm using Libre Office  This fits all my simple needs and seems excellent to me.

I used Open Office and Thunderbird (email) for a while. Both are pretty solid as well.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on September 02, 2016, 03:57:31 PM
Quote from: joeactor on September 02, 2016, 03:05:34 PM
Quote from: OldGit on September 02, 2016, 09:19:26 AM
My new laptop didn't have MS Office and I was going to have to pay.  I have never paid for software and never intend to, so I'm using Libre Office  This fits all my simple needs and seems excellent to me.

I used Open Office and Thunderbird (email) for a while. Both are pretty solid as well.
I like Open Office, but now I tend to use google docs a lot since I like easy access to all my things on different devices (phone, work laptop, personal laptop, drawing tablet, regular tablet, home desktop, home farming computers... etc.). Plus gdocs makes it easy to share with others for collaboration.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on September 02, 2016, 05:10:51 PM
Quote from: Davin on September 02, 2016, 03:57:31 PM
Quote from: joeactor on September 02, 2016, 03:05:34 PM
Quote from: OldGit on September 02, 2016, 09:19:26 AM
My new laptop didn't have MS Office and I was going to have to pay.  I have never paid for software and never intend to, so I'm using Libre Office  This fits all my simple needs and seems excellent to me.

I used Open Office and Thunderbird (email) for a while. Both are pretty solid as well.
I like Open Office, but now I tend to use google docs a lot since I like easy access to all my things on different devices (phone, work laptop, personal laptop, drawing tablet, regular tablet, home desktop, home farming computers... etc.). Plus gdocs makes it easy to share with others for collaboration.

Same here.

Using Google Drive to do a project now...
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on September 02, 2016, 05:18:46 PM
Oohh, speaking of project collaboration, I've been using https://slack.com/ and am finding it incredibly useful. Mostly it's useful to keep a team in communication on multiple projects, while keeping the discussion to one project, so it's like a chat program per project with a bunch of extra features and plugins. We also share files over it.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: solidsquid on September 03, 2016, 05:42:17 PM
For the sciency folks out there, some of these may come in handy:

R (https://www.r-project.org/) - A stats program that has exploded in popularity and usage over the last five years.  It's based upon the program S+ and is a command line style analysis software.  The base program as well as many add on packages and IDEs - I personally find R Studio (https://www.rstudio.com/) to be one of the best and most widely used.  I'm still very much a beginner at using R as the language itself has a bit of a learning curve.  However, just with my limited use I've already experience how powerful this program is and the wide range of things it can do.  I feel that another few years and R will definitely give SAS a run for it's money and probably leave SPSS in the dust.

Python (https://www.python.org/) - This is technically a programming language although some folks disagree and call it a scripting language but I think it's just a to-MAY-toe/to-MAH-toe kind of issue.  The language is actually fairly intuitive - as programming languages go - and it offers an immense amount of different applications you can use it for.  A lot of people in the analytics world are finding a lot of use with it especially in machine learning uses and also as an accessory to already established statistical programs like R and SPSS.  Python also has a ton of IDEs available, the one I use and I see often is PyCharm (https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/) by JetBrains.

Sublime Text Editor (https://www.sublimetext.com/) - This text editor has programmers, script writers and command line program users in mind.  It is set up with a bunch of preset language syntax environments such as SQL, R, C++, Java and lots more.  So you can write your code in the editor, debug it and change it around and write multiple languages separated by tabs just like on the internet browsers.

Oracle SQL Developer (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/overview/index.html?utm_content=buffer0b6e4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) - If you have any interaction with databases you'll most often run into Oracle's products - they are one of the big dogs on the block in that area.  I found their SQL Developer extremely useful and helpful while learning SQL and making use of databases constructed in Access.

SAS University (http://www.sas.com/en_us/software/university-edition.html#for-students-learners) - If you have an email linked to an institution of higher learning - aimed at mainly college students and instructors, SAS offers a free version of their software based upon their SAS Studio version of SAS.  SAS has been around a really long time and is the top of the food chain as far as statistics software is concerned.

Mendeley (https://www.mendeley.com/) - If you do a lot of research, you collect documents and end up with a massive amount of them.  It can be hard to organize them and that's where this software comes in.  It helps organize your references and PDF documents to make it easier to find the info you need in your own literature library.

And an extra for the musicians:

Pro Tools First (http://www.avid.com/pro-tools-first) - Pro Tools is THE name is digital music recording and engineering.  Now they offer a free version of their famous software. Gone are the days of trying to get a great engineered sound from Audacity - now you can have something that was specifically designed for recording music, for free.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Firebird on September 03, 2016, 05:52:41 PM
If you're into programming, I recently discovered  Komodo Edit (http://komodoide.com/komodo-edit/). So far I've used it for SQL, Django and Python, but it supports syntax checking for tons of languages and is available on both Windows and Linux (not sure about others). Very easy to use and chock full of features.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on September 03, 2016, 09:38:50 PM
Quote from: solidsquid on September 03, 2016, 05:42:17 PM
And an extra for the musicians:

Pro Tools First (http://www.avid.com/pro-tools-first) - Pro Tools is THE name is digital music recording and engineering.  Now they offer a free version of their famous software. Gone are the days of trying to get a great engineered sound from Audacity - now you can have something that was specifically designed for recording music, for free.
Ah, yes! Very not bad. Though me, I prefers my trusted FL Studio.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: solidsquid on September 05, 2016, 01:48:47 AM
Quote from: Firebird on September 03, 2016, 05:52:41 PM
If you're into programming, I recently discovered  Komodo Edit (http://komodoide.com/komodo-edit/). So far I've used it for SQL, Django and Python, but it supports syntax checking for tons of languages and is available on both Windows and Linux (not sure about others). Very easy to use and chock full of features.

Thanks for the tip! Programming is new to me but in my line of work that's where things are headed, more toward the "big data", complex visualization, and mixture of research and programming hybrid model.  I want to make sure I don't get left behind in the old researcher's home with my calculator and critical values tables.

I did find that SQL is not too bad, it's pretty straight forward as languages go.  R is a bit more involved and there is definitely a steeper learning curve.

Quote from: Asmodean on September 03, 2016, 09:38:50 PM
Quote from: solidsquid on September 03, 2016, 05:42:17 PM
And an extra for the musicians:

Pro Tools First (http://www.avid.com/pro-tools-first) - Pro Tools is THE name is digital music recording and engineering.  Now they offer a free version of their famous software. Gone are the days of trying to get a great engineered sound from Audacity - now you can have something that was specifically designed for recording music, for free.
Ah, yes! Very not bad. Though me, I prefers my trusted FL Studio.

Most of my older recordings were done on a cassette tape with a Tascam four track, then later I started using Adobe Audition pretty heavy around 2009 and Audacity a bit mostly for just recording some ideas when they came to me.  Just like with the stats programs, in my music recording I don't want to be left behind and hope to make use of the new tech as I can learn it.  It's all come a long way since the plain old MIDI stuff which is like showing my 10 year old step-daughter a ring tone on my old flip phone from 2005 - it's like her trying to conceive of a time before the internet.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Davin on September 07, 2016, 02:58:36 PM
Quote from: solidsquid on September 03, 2016, 05:42:17 PM
Sublime Text Editor (https://www.sublimetext.com/) - This text editor has programmers, script writers and command line program users in mind.  It is set up with a bunch of preset language syntax environments such as SQL, R, C++, Java and lots more.  So you can write your code in the editor, debug it and change it around and write multiple languages separated by tabs just like on the internet browsers.
At work, I use Visual Studio for most things, but often I will switch out to Sublime just to use the multi-edit stuff. When I'm programming PHP or JS, I almost always use Sublime.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Asmodean on September 07, 2016, 06:23:34 PM
Quote from: solidsquid on September 05, 2016, 01:48:47 AM
it's like her trying to conceive of a time before the internet.
I hear kids used to play outside back then, with barely a thought for traffic and them predators in every single bush and alley! The horror! :o

Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on February 20, 2019, 04:44:59 PM
Reborn!!!

Here's a free music/audio editing suite:
https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk (https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: joeactor on February 25, 2019, 08:35:11 PM
After constant frustration attempting to stop Windows 10 updates, I finally found this:
https://greatis.com/blog/stopupdates10 (https://greatis.com/blog/stopupdates10)

Seems to work ok so far. Stops services and processes from updating.

(why do I need this? Because the last upgrade Win10 did screwed up my system - had to roll it back to a prior version!)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: No one on February 25, 2019, 09:35:43 PM
It's all free, so long as you don't get caught. (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.stardock.net%2Fimages%2Fsmiles%2Fthemes%2Fdigicons%2FThumbs%2520Up.png&hash=e8ea77880ad2978fd09f5791a5436d85008666d2)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tom62 on February 27, 2019, 08:40:59 PM
I like eM Client (https://de.emclient.com/) as Outlook replacement. It find it much easier to use and it syncs pretty well with iCloud, GMail, etc.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Recusant on October 18, 2020, 07:18:19 AM
Lately I've been using Stellarium (http://stellarium.org/en/), the planetarium program that I learned about in this thread ten years ago. Updated it after using an old version for some time, and saw that they have an online version. It's not bad on a laptop, though I prefer the offline program. It does work on mobile devices, but I'm not impressed with it on that platform. There's an app as well, which may be better, but I haven't tried it.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: hermes2015 on October 18, 2020, 08:54:53 AM
I don't like the default Gmail browser interface. As an alternative, I find Thunderbird much more to my liking.

https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Randy on October 19, 2020, 07:03:47 PM
I like Universe Sandbox. You have to get it on Steam though but it is free and quite fun to play "what if" with the planets and stars.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Bad Penny II on April 06, 2021, 02:15:10 PM
I like Free Download Manager, I don't know how many years I've been using it, time has gotten a bit bleary of late, and by late I mean, I'm not sure what I mean, my time dimension is bleary.

Anyway it does the usual download duties, torrents if you want.
It does youtube, I used to use a program that took ages re encoding and left a big ugly watermark.
Copy the address of the youtubicle, skip over to FDM, hit the big + button and paste your link.
It could possibly fail for a while if Youtube makes a change it has to adapt to, not often, very rarely.
Why bother? because some stuff isn't permanently available, you have the urge to hoard, it is efficient and your drives are capacious.

https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/ (https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/)
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: xSilverPhinx on April 08, 2021, 03:17:07 PM
Quote from: Bad Penny II on April 06, 2021, 02:15:10 PM
I like Free Download Manager, I don't know how many years I've been using it, time has gotten a bit bleary of late, and by late I mean, I'm not sure what I mean, my time dimension is bleary.

Anyway it does the usual download duties, torrents if you want.
It does youtube, I used to use a program that took ages re encoding and left a big ugly watermark.
Copy the address of the youtubicle, skip over to FDM, hit the big + button and paste your link.
It could possibly fail for a while if Youtube makes a change it has to adapt to, not often, very rarely.
Why bother? because some stuff isn't permanently available, you have the urge to hoard, it is efficient and your drives are capacious.

https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/ (https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/)

That looks good, I'll check it out.
Title: Re: Good free software
Post by: Tank on April 09, 2021, 05:00:17 PM
If you haven't seen or heard of what3words go have a look. It's a very useful navigation app.

https://what3words.com/