ZeD
03-26-2005, 06:48 AM
I'd like to get a good list of useful freeware software going that others might not be aware of. I will update this list frequently. Please post anything you feel would be of use to our other members with a short description and a link.
AudaCity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) For all you audio editors/recorders and rippers. This is a great free tool yet very powerful.
Bootvis (http://www.weethet.nl/downloads/bootvis.rar)analyzes and greatly improves your bootup time. It is a Microsoft created tool designed to analyze your sytem and provide you with the means to improve boottime, resume from standy and hibernation.
*note Microsoft did publish an article concerning issues (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;821581)with bootvis but its not a real threat the only problem is that Bootvis can not optimize since it's missing the log file it created.
Coolmon (http://http<img%20src=/) Allows full customizable system stats and monitoring with ALOT of different extensions. Weather, RSS feeds, system stats, e.t.c.
CPU Idle (http://www.cpuidle.de/): Puts your CPU in idle when not in used, lowering your temps significantly without any performace loss. Windows has this feature built in it, but it doesnt really do anything.
Desktop Sidebar (http://www.desktopsidebar.com/): A very useful tool with weather forecast, news feed, comman and search boxes, msn tools, winamp panel, outlook console and many many more.
Everest (http://www.lavalys.com/): The ultimate program revealing everything about your computer, software and hardware.
GAIM (http://http<img%20src=/)is an instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOSX and yes Windows and is compatible with AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Groupwise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.
Incredimail (http://http<img%20src=/)is a great e-mail program, which gives you many nifty little features like fully customizable pop ups and gif images to let you know of new mail, the free version gives you many of the features of the full version. Give it a try you might like it.
IncrediConvert (http://http<img%20src=/)converts incredimail e-mail back to EML incase you don't like it. Supports attachments.
Motherboard Monitor (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Motherboard-Monitor.shtml): As the name says, it monitors the motherboard. Everything, including temperatures, fan rpm's, voltages, all with graphs and alarms. Unfortunately the developer discontinued it, the companies making the boards don't give him the needed information about the newer models.
MV2Player (http://http<img%20src=/)is a freeware multimedia player for Windows with a TON of great useful features like inteligent subtitle detection and loading, lots of great skins, most of them by users, Advanced users can control anything and any action can be assigned a key command to suit your tastes. I use it daily for Divx. Quickly engage or disengage certain codecs for those rare times you can't get a movie to play.
Trillian (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/) Absolutely NECCESSARY for all forms of online chat, be it AIM, IRC, ICQ, MSN, or Yahoo, Trillian does it all. Tons of extra features, and it looks awesome.
VideoLAN (http://http<img%20src=/)is a free open source multimedia streaming of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on a high-bandwidth IPv4 or IPv6 network in unicast or multicast under many OSes. VideoLAN also features a cross-platform multimedia player, VLC (http://http<img%20src=/), which can be used to read the stream from the network or display video read locally on the computer under all GNU/Linux flavours, all BSD flavours, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, Solaris, QNX, Familiar Linux...
and since it uses its own internal codecs, you will NEVER find a file you can't play. This has saved me from having to delete files I assumed were fake or corrupt many a time.
Web2POP (http://http<img%20src=/) allows otherwise web only e-mails to be accessed via an e-mail program, gives any web only email address POP access including aol, netscape, yahoo and many others.
YahooPOPs (http://http<img%20src=/) is a good alternative if you only use Yahoo.
For more great freeware check out SourceForge (http://http<img%20src=/)the worlds largest Open Source software development site.
Please note The Best Case Scenario does not endorse any product or company listed here.
AudaCity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) For all you audio editors/recorders and rippers. This is a great free tool yet very powerful.
Bootvis (http://www.weethet.nl/downloads/bootvis.rar)analyzes and greatly improves your bootup time. It is a Microsoft created tool designed to analyze your sytem and provide you with the means to improve boottime, resume from standy and hibernation.
*note Microsoft did publish an article concerning issues (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;821581)with bootvis but its not a real threat the only problem is that Bootvis can not optimize since it's missing the log file it created.
Coolmon (http://http<img%20src=/) Allows full customizable system stats and monitoring with ALOT of different extensions. Weather, RSS feeds, system stats, e.t.c.
CPU Idle (http://www.cpuidle.de/): Puts your CPU in idle when not in used, lowering your temps significantly without any performace loss. Windows has this feature built in it, but it doesnt really do anything.
Desktop Sidebar (http://www.desktopsidebar.com/): A very useful tool with weather forecast, news feed, comman and search boxes, msn tools, winamp panel, outlook console and many many more.
Everest (http://www.lavalys.com/): The ultimate program revealing everything about your computer, software and hardware.
GAIM (http://http<img%20src=/)is an instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOSX and yes Windows and is compatible with AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Groupwise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.
Incredimail (http://http<img%20src=/)is a great e-mail program, which gives you many nifty little features like fully customizable pop ups and gif images to let you know of new mail, the free version gives you many of the features of the full version. Give it a try you might like it.
IncrediConvert (http://http<img%20src=/)converts incredimail e-mail back to EML incase you don't like it. Supports attachments.
Motherboard Monitor (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Motherboard-Monitor.shtml): As the name says, it monitors the motherboard. Everything, including temperatures, fan rpm's, voltages, all with graphs and alarms. Unfortunately the developer discontinued it, the companies making the boards don't give him the needed information about the newer models.
MV2Player (http://http<img%20src=/)is a freeware multimedia player for Windows with a TON of great useful features like inteligent subtitle detection and loading, lots of great skins, most of them by users, Advanced users can control anything and any action can be assigned a key command to suit your tastes. I use it daily for Divx. Quickly engage or disengage certain codecs for those rare times you can't get a movie to play.
Trillian (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/) Absolutely NECCESSARY for all forms of online chat, be it AIM, IRC, ICQ, MSN, or Yahoo, Trillian does it all. Tons of extra features, and it looks awesome.
VideoLAN (http://http<img%20src=/)is a free open source multimedia streaming of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on a high-bandwidth IPv4 or IPv6 network in unicast or multicast under many OSes. VideoLAN also features a cross-platform multimedia player, VLC (http://http<img%20src=/), which can be used to read the stream from the network or display video read locally on the computer under all GNU/Linux flavours, all BSD flavours, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, Solaris, QNX, Familiar Linux...
and since it uses its own internal codecs, you will NEVER find a file you can't play. This has saved me from having to delete files I assumed were fake or corrupt many a time.
Web2POP (http://http<img%20src=/) allows otherwise web only e-mails to be accessed via an e-mail program, gives any web only email address POP access including aol, netscape, yahoo and many others.
YahooPOPs (http://http<img%20src=/) is a good alternative if you only use Yahoo.
For more great freeware check out SourceForge (http://http<img%20src=/)the worlds largest Open Source software development site.
Please note The Best Case Scenario does not endorse any product or company listed here.