[LINK] Best 50 Free PC Downloads

[andrew clarke]

On Sat 2009-03-14 02:38:42 UTC+1100, andrew clarke (mail at ozzmosis.com) wrote:

> On Thu 2009-03-12 18:20:25 UTC+0000, stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen at melbpc.org.au) wrote:
> 
> > Web's Best 50 Free Downloads
> > 
> > March 13, 2009 5:02 AM AEST by Tim Danton etc © 2009 Dennis Publishing 
> > www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/110139,webs-best-50-free-downloads.aspx
> > (Note: clickable-links for all software mentioned at the above website)

I just had another look and noticed the list was published in July
2008 (although that wouldn't really explain the omissions).  Not sure
where March 2009 comes from.

Anyway, here's a bunch more, many of which I use on a regular basis:

> Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer")
> source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several
> languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed
> by GPL Licence.

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

> Mp3tag is a powerful and yet easy-to-use tool to edit metadata (ID3,
> Vorbis Comments and APE) of common audio formats. It can rename files
> based on the tag information, replace characters or words from tags
> and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists and
> more. The program supports online freedb database lookups for selected
> files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information for
> select files or CDs.

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

> KRISTAL Audio Engine is a powerful multi-track recorder, audio
> sequencer and mixer - ideal for anyone wanting to get started with
> recording, mixing and mastering digital audio.
> 
> It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a
> mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on
> are loaded as separate Plug-Ins.

http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

> PhotoFiltre is a complete image retouching program. It allows you to
> do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range
> of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy
> learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters
> with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look. 

http://photofiltre.free.fr/

> Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to
> restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer.
> This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and
> other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera
> memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have
> been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

http://www.recuva.com/

> Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough. TreeSize
> Free tells you where precious space has gone to. TreeSize Free can be
> started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the
> size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can expand this
> folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every
> subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see
> results while TreeSize Free is working. The space, which is wasted by
> the file system, can be displayed and the results can be printed in a
> report.

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

> WinCatalog Light is a friendly and easy-to-use program for
> cataloging disks, folders and files.
>
> Have you ever had to look through dozens of CDs, trying to find some
> file or song?
>
> With WinCatalog Light you will never have to waste your time again.
> Process your CDs with WinCatalog Light just once and from this moment
> on finding you will be able to find any file in a few seconds without
> the need to insert the disk in the drive!

http://www.wincatalog.com/light.html

> WordWeb is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows
> that can look up words in almost any program. It works off-line, but
> can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia
> encyclopedia.

http://wordweb.info/free/

> µTorrent (or uTorrent and commonly abbreviated as "µT" or "uT") is a
> freeware closed source BitTorrent client by BitTorrent, Inc.. It is
> available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Both versions are
> written in C++.

http://www.utorrent.com/

> Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link
> verification is done on "normal" links, images, frames, plug-ins,
> backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets.
> It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by
> different criteria. A report can be produced at any time.

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

> foobar2000 is an advanced freeware audio player for the Windows
> platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support,
> ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio
> formats.

http://www.foobar2000.org/

> AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you
> can:
>
> * Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks.
>   You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro
>   recorder.
> * Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually
>   any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.
> * Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw"
>   can automatically produce "by the way".
> * Create custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars.
>   See GUI for details.
> * Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
> * Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC
>   client script.
> * Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.
> * Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that
>   don't have AutoHotkey installed.

http://www.autohotkey.com/

> ERUNT - The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
>
> Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
>
> - Backup the Windows NT/2000/2003/XP registry to a folder of your
>   choice
>
> - System and current user registries selectable
>
> - Command line switches for automated registry backup and restoration
>
> - Restore the registry in Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/2003/XP and MS-DOS
>   (all-in-one restore program) or the Windows Recovery Console

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

> System Scheduler is an excellent tool to schedule unattended running
> of applications, batch files, scripts and much more.
>
> For anyone used to using MS Windows own Task Scheduler, or the older
> AT or WinAT commands, System Scheduler is an ideal and easy to use
> replacement, with more flexibility and features. System Scheduler runs
> totally independently of the MS Windows Task Scheduler and has no
> dependencies on it.
>
> Also, you can schedule popup reminders so you'll never forget those
> important appointments and things to do. Reminders, tasks and other
> events can be set to run once or every minute, hour, day, week, month
> or year and several variations on these. Popup Reminders can be
> snoozed as required.

http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm

> TreePad Lite (freeware) and TreePad Asia (freeware) are small and
> powerful personal database programs, only 465 Kb in size. They allow
> you to store all your notes, emails, texts, hyperlinks, etc. into one
> or multiple databases. With the look and feel of the familiar Windows
> explorer, editing, storing, browsing, searching and retrieving your
> data can not be easier!
>
> TreePad can be run directly from a floppy, if necessary, including
> data. To find any article you previously created or imported, you can
> browse the tree, in the same way as you browse directories/folders in
> the Windows explorer. You can also use the internal search engine to
> find any piece of information swiftly.

http://www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware/

> WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for
> Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting
> differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and
> handle.

http://winmerge.org/

Regards
Andrew