Free Internet Stuff - The stuff I like and recommend and is truly free
Not all "Free" software on the internet is actually free. Most come with some type of ad-ware and worse that installs with it. Or the software is time limited, or even just a lie that forces you to end up paying in order to fix or make work correctly. This list is a set of software I've found to be as close to 100% free as you can get. At worst it might need consideration during install in order for it to not load your computer with something you don't want. (i.e. UNCHECK those toolbar boxes, etc etc...)
Quick Install
http://ninite.com/ - pick what you want on a new system and one click install them all.
http://freenew.net/ - Similar to ninite. Doesn't seem to have any limitations yet.
Sites for Freeware: - Good starting points but be carefull, they tend to go quantity over quality.
http://maximillianx.blogspot.com/ Confessions of a freeware junkie (Good lists for freeware)
http://www.freewaregenius.com/ <- first stop (for all below and more)
http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/ <- another list
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html Free Software Foundation
http://aumha.org/free.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/
http://itsamples.com/index.html - Good for techies, lotsa utilities.
http://kishan-bagaria.deviantart.com/art/7-Taskbar-Thumbnail-Customizer-156609502 - Windows 7 Tool bar customizer.
http://www.fantasticfreeware.com/ - Looks good, but haven't tried it much yet...
Apps for a USB stick
http://portableapps.com/download
Various Tools
http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/ - Ultimate Boot CD
http://download.live.com/ - Live Essentials Microsoft freebies for Vista. Good stuff, including parental control stuff, movie editing, blogging, etc etc.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista Super Tweak program for Windows.
http://www.free-ocr.com/ - If you know what OCR is, this is a great service.
http://defaultprogramseditor.com/ - Use to edit file associations with ease.
http://www.lookinmypc.com/ - PC inventory
http://www.stardock.com/products/Fences// - Keep Windows desktop organized.
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ - Turn an .iso file into a bootable USB stick.
http://tinychat.com/ - Free video conferencing.
http://www.piriform.com/speccy - System Information Tool. Speccy!
LABS -
These are web pages for testing concepts of software. Really cool stuff on some pages.
http://www.officelabs.com/ - Microsoft Office Labs
http://www.googlelabs.com/ - Google guys. Lots of good stuff.
https://mozillalabs.com/ - Mozilla (Firefox browser) test software
http://www.hulu.com/labs - Hulu's experiments
http://labs.reuters.com/ - Fun stuff for news gathering
AV -
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/ - Microsoft's Free AV for home use. GOOD STUFF!
http://free.grisoft.com/ - Watch the install for an I.E. toolbar you don't want.
http://avast.com/ - large foot print, but easy to use.
http://www.cloudantivirus.com/ - Rated to be the best, I've not tried it yet.
http://www.superantispyware.com/download - Rated best for spyware removal.
http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html - portable version of above.
http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/security/security-lab/tools-and-services/blacklight/ - Rootkit finder.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx - Find all auto starting processes.
Online AV - use these to scan a single file with multiple AV programs.
http://www.virustotal.com/
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
Firewall - Not really needed if Windows is setup correctly, but if you must have one...
http://www.threatfire.com/
http://www.pctools.com/
Office
http://openoffice.org/ - OpenOffice is da bomb!
http://fonts500.com/ - free fonts without spyware threats.
http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages/ - Add old menus to Office 2007 and 2010!!!
http://www.officelabs.com/ - Cool demos and experimental software for Office/Windows
http://freshmeat.net/projects/dia/ - Microsoft Visio replacement.
E-Mail server
http://www.hmailserver.com/
http://www.kerio.com/ OK, this one is not free. But if you are a small business, you can't do much better. It's almost 100% like Exchange, even cell phone sync OTA to it as if it were Exchange. 1/2 the cost of Exchange too.
Online file type conversion
http://www.zamzar.com/
Defrag -
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler - This one seems to be the best, but it's slower.
http://www.emro.nl/freeware/ - Gui over an older command line defrag. Does some things different.
http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/ - nother good 1
http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html - as good as diskeeper?
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/ - Newer and seems to do a better job than all the above. I'm currently using this one.
Hard Drive Cleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/ -Good, but be careful what you clean, it does too much sometimes.
http://www.dban.org/ - Completely erases old hard drives by writing zeros, etc to drive surface.
Hard Drive Recovery
http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/download.php - Free sector by sector drive scraping.
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1
Zip Tool -
http://www.7-zip.org/ - the best IMHO, has 64-bit flavors.
http://www.zipgenius.it/eng/index.php - a bit easier to use, but sometimes buggy.
Free PDF Printer - All have pluses and minuses. Not sure which one to recommend.
http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?groupname=pdfcreator&filename=zPDFCreator-0_9_3-AD_DeploymentPackage-WithoutToolbar.msi&use_mirror=superb-west
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator/
http://www.primopdf.com/ - new, might be very nice.
http://www.nitropdf.com/free/index.htm same as above...
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp - new and has a good paid version too. I usually install this one on every machine I build. (through ninite.com)
http://freemypdf.com/ - unlocks protected PDF files. Use with discression.
http://www.a-pdf.com/number/ - little utility to put a page number on all pages of a PDF file.
http://www.pdftoword.com/ - convert most PDF files so you can edit them in word.
PDF Reader Lite
http://majorgeeks.com/Adobe_Reader_Lite_d5915.html - Adobe without the trash! :)
http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/ - Blows Adobe PDF Reader outa the water! 64-bit too! I'd use this one over Adobe Reader any day.
http://www.pretentiousname.com/adobe_pdf_x64_fix/index.html - Fix the 64-bit OS preview problem for PDF files.
Folder admin -
http://windirstat.info/
http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php - Much better copying than basic Explorer can do. Kinda buggy in Vista and W7 though.
http://zornsoftware.talsit.info/?p=3 - Windows 7 Library tool, adds network locations to Win7 libraries.
Video players -
http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html - Easiest, Fastest. There are others, but they are too geeky for most. This one is the best IMHO.
http://boxee.tv/ - a new concept in media center software. Works fantastic with a remote.
http://xbmc.org/ - Similar to Boxee.
Video DVD Ripping - Anyone have anything better than these? If so, comment to let us know.
http://www.squared5.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvdx/ or
http://www.labdv.com/dvdx/index.php +
http://www.xvid.org/Downloads.15.0.html
http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Converter.aspx +
http://www.dvd43.com/
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/DVD-Shrink-Download-4128.html
one recommended way: http://www.anders.com/guides/convert/video/iPod/windows.html
using: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVD-Decrypter/1011845169/1
+ http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/download.phpor
or http://www.autogk.me.uk/or
or http://sourceforge.net/projects/mkvmagic/
http://handbrake.fr/ - New, very popular right now (slow development though...)
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/DVDFab_Decrypter - not free :( some new formats need this.
http://makemkv.com/ - new beta does DVD and Blu-Ray
Audio players/converters -
http://winamp.com/ - of course :) My favorite.
http://www.quinnware.com/
http://www.screamer-radio.com/
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/ - converter
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www.getsongbird.com/ - iTunes replacement - Still need iTunes unfortunately. My recommendation? Don't buy an iPod. Sansa or Creative are much better, AND much cheaper!
Security Video Motion Capture -
http://www.multicamserver.com/en/download - many settings, but difficult to use.
http://www.yawcam.com/index.php - Super simple, but not many settings.
CD/DVD ISO Image burning - Since XP, Windows had a lot of burning ability built in. These add to that. W7 also has ISO burning as a feature, so these may not be needed any more.
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm - dirt simple ISO burner. W7 has built in.
http://cdburnerxp.se/
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html
http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero9-free.php - Nero free version. Use fake e-mail to download. Watch and turn off tool bar install.
http://www.imgburn.com/ - Rated very high, very simple image to disc to image to whatever tool.
FTP -
http://winscp.net/
Telnet -
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ - Putty, does it all.
Tweak! - (watch out for piggy back installs during use of these)
http://www.tweak-uac.com/ - For Vista (Windows 7 doesn't need this, but could be useful)
Text/HTML/vbs Editing -
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/ - The one I currently use. http://www.ultraedit.com/products/ultraedit.html
http://www.vbsedit.com/default.asp
http://www.alleycode.com/
I.E. stuff -
http://www.iespell.com/
http://www.muvextoe.com/
http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/
http://backsettings.com/internet-explorer-backup.html - BackRex I.E. settings backup
TV Tuner Software - A little more featured than most that come with TV tuners.
http://watchhdtv.net/program.aspx
http://boxee.tv/ - Doesn't tune a TV tuner (yet), but streams a LOT of TV content over the net. Makes for an excellent Media Center PC.
Graphics/Drawing -
http://www.paint.net/ - I install on all machines I build
http://www.inkscape.org/ - Vector drawing.
http://www.synfig.org/
http://www.gimp.org/ - Good 2nd place one.
http://www.photosynth.com/ - really neat idea
http://home.hccnet.nl/s.vd.palen/index.html - Photolapse, for turning multiple photos into animation.
Photo Editing -
http://faststone.org/ - My fav pic viewing and simple editing program.
http://picasa.com/ - Google's attempt, Extremely good for beginners, and those who want to post on web sites for families or businesses. I recommend highly!
http://download.live.com/photogallery - Even MS is getting into freebies... Includes more stuff too, like family safety stuff. Worth a check!
http://tiltshiftmaker.com/ - Really cool picture effect for making a picture look toyish.
Dual Monitors?
http://www.binaryfortress.com/displayfusion/ - Some swear by this, I don't use but does give a LOT of control over multiple monitors. What? You don't use multiple monitors? Why not? Windows has been able to control multiple monitors since Windows '95. Use this software only if needed, which 99% of you probably won't need.
PC Diag Tools
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
http://www.soluto.com/ - Helps solve problems with Windows. Speeds up boot too.
Online Money Manager
http://www.mint.com/ - Very nice and easy. Access anywhere! (now owned by Quicken, go figure!)
http://quicken.intuit.com/ - You know these guys had to get into it. So if you're used to the Quicken style, this is where to start. Free for now...
Remote Desktop Support
http://www.crossloop.com/ - help friends a family, no login required for them
http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx - some say better than crossloop.
http://logmein.com/ - requires account setup, best for personal use
http://mremote.org/ - Manage remote desktops (RDP, VNC) on your LAN in one app.
http://www.mikogo.com/ - Free for personal AND business.
http://www.showmypc.com/ - Haven't tried this one.
Backups
http://backup.novosoft-us.com/ - My favorite for simple PC to whatever type of backups.
http://www.runtime.org/
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
http://mozy.com/ - online up to 2 gig free
https://spideroak.com/ - online up to 2 gig free
http://www.clonezilla.org/ - disk partition ISO file.
http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp - Said as good as Apple's Time Machine
http://www.miray.de/download/sat.hdclone.html - H.D. Close Simple Windows Imaging Tool.
File/Drive Encryption
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Laptop Stuff
http://code.google.com/p/two-finger-scroll/ - Two finger Apple like scrolling on Synaptics pads.
http://www.uscrybe.com/ - multi finger drivers from Synaptics.
Password recovery for Windows
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ - Get the ISO, burn it to a CD and boot from it.
Database Tools
http://www.dbf2002.com/ - DBF Viewer for viewing a lot of older database files.
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How To articles and other info...
http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-7 - Windows 7 stuff
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/ntp.html - Time Servers to keep your computer clock correct.
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Setting up a flash drive for an OS install
Run CMD.EXE and type the following. Note: This set of commands assumes that the USB flash drive is addressed as "disk 1". you should double check that by doing a list of the disks (type "list disk") before cleaning it. If you have multiple hard drives, like an SDFlash drive or a Multibay drive, you could end up wiping your second drive using this command.
1. diskpart
2. select disk 9 (or whatever the number is)
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32 quick
8. assign
9. exit
Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash DriveSimply issue the following command to start copying all the content from the Windows Vista DVD to your newly formatted high speed flash drive.
xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\ (drag and drop seems to work too)
OR use this :)
http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool much easier to transfer and ISO to USB.
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Most of all, HAVE FUN WITH COMPUTERS!
(after thinking about the above statement, here's some free games I've found that are worth your time.)
http://www.lotro.com/ - One of my FAVORITE games is now free to play!!!
https://www.digipen.edu/gallery/games/ - From game maker students. Interesting stuff (the above came form here)
http://www.battlefieldheroes.com/frontpage/landingPage - Fun stuff for FPS fans.
http://www.americasarmy.com/ - an FPS made by the US Army. Actually extremely good.
http://www.runesofmagic.com/ - A good free MMORPG
http://www.wizard101.com/ - Another good free MMORPG
http://www.pogo.com/ - Paid games, but free if played online. Board style and older types, but good.
http://www.agame.com/ - filled with all types of flash based games.
http://www.evony.com/ - Build an empire online.
http://www.mektek.net/projects/mw4/download.html - Mechwarrior 4. Now free. Good old 3d combat game.
In the name of Science!
http://folding.stanford.edu/ - Folding@Home, help cure stuff!
http://fold.it/portal/info/science - A protein folding game? Yep.
http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/ - Rosetta@Home, more protein folding.
Everyone needs this web site, at times...
http://nooooooooooooooo.com/
