(free) Essential sortware for the PC user

-oRnein9-

Right ladies and gents I'm looking to get a list of the free software all you's boarders use for the essential tasks that you's need to perform on your PC's. Anything for cd/dvd burning software, audio , video, web browsers, gaming software, hardware monitors, cleaning ware, office tools, generally the first things that you would install on to your comp if you had to format your hard-drive and maybe if all goes well this could be made into a sticky

Stephen

If I was installing after just reformatting and installing windows, first thing I'd install is the latest service pack and device drivers for whatever flavour of windows you're using. Then (in no particular order):

Winamp 5.05
OpenOffice.org
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Thunderbird
WinBar (clicky)
AVG antivirus (clicky)

Khannie

I've just wiped my machine....here's what (free stuff) I installed:

Mozilla Firefox 0.9.2
Dvdshrink 3.1
OpenOffice.Org 1.2
Yahoo Messenger
Teamspeak
VLC media player (for dvd playing etc. www.videolan.org)
Winzip (shareware)
Winrar (shareware)
MIrc (shareware)
Acrobat reader
Latest JRE (www.java.com)
Macromedia Flash player and shockwave player
last, and by no means least, tweakui (from microsoft.com)

<edit> just saw bedlam's post...I also use filezilla (for FTP) and putty (for telnet). They're both quality stuff. </edit>

HTH. A lot of the usual suspects in there.

bus77

Sygate Personal Firewall
Foxmail (Most popular mail client in...........CHINA!)
Mame32 (Runs thousands of old arcade games)
Deamon Tools
Damn Nfo Viewer (No more dragging .nfo files to notepad )
Treesize (Dead handy for working out whats taking up space on your system)
Smartclock

-oRnein9-

Great feedback lads keep it coming

JackKelly

i like the list.

of course

Winzip
Winrar

Samurize - Customizable program like WinBar
Object Docker - Customizable Taskbar like in AppleOS
A visit to Deviantart.com - Best place to get free wallpapers

SiSoft Sandra - Information Tool for Checking your CPU,BIOS etc.
Prime95 - Stress Tester to check stablility
DU Meter - Upload/Download speed for Internet

DC++ - Filesharing
BitTorrent - Filesharing (sortof)

CDex - For Ripping CD's

em...

3dMark01SE - Benchmarking
3dMark03 - Benchmarking
PCMark04 - Benchmarking

Than i'd get all the patches for my games etc.

Hobbes

Absolute musts that should be on the machine. All free I might add.

Spybot Search and Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Adaware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
AVG Anti-Virus http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php
Firefox http://www.mozilla.org/
ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com/
Java 1.4 JRE http://java.sun.com/


... I wouldn't put VNC on the machine, unless you absolutly need it. vncviewer.exe only. If you have XP, remote desktop is way better.

Gyck

Don't forget NeoTrace...

I'm still using a very old version, don't know what the latest has to offer.

Capt'n Midnight

As above

General
RealVNC
spacemonger to see what wasting space
autoruns to stop them autorunnng
spywareblaster
spybot
www.isobuster.com
pdfcreator
powerarchiver 6.1 instead of winzip ( 7-zip compresses better )
winhttrack grabbing websites
netstumbler you can't diag a wifi connection problem without it
procexp
stinger
xpantispy
regclean
adobe acrobat but have to turn lots of auto update options
googlebar


PowerUser
Apache use instead of IIS
voloview express views autocad drawings
isorecorder for XP
most of the sysinternals apps
windump

command line apps
unzip
blat smtp emailer - handy for batch files
choice not in all versions of windows

[Windows CD]
eru / cfgback to take system snapshot of win9x
ntbackup for xp/2k Home
wintop

For Win9x
98lite to remove IE / use win95 desktop
ntfsdos
putinenv
mirror/undelete/unformat from Dos5/6


602pro pc suite haven't really used it smaller than openoffice (only 3 copies per business)


Also a Knoppix CD is dead handy for lots of little tasks like cloniing / resizing partitions / recovery

jozi

Most of the above

Dont think i spotted Motherboard Monitor, if its there above i'll delete.

Jozi

fragile

I dont think Cygwin has been mentioned yet

El_MUERkO

I've found Avast Antivirus to be far better than AVG and its totally free for non comercial users.

I also use Total Commander instead of Windows Explorer.

davej

Nice thread actually. Should be tidied up and stickified imo.

Would add gordian knot - for making backups of you dvds

davej

cregser

Definitely a sticky.

Switch Off - put your PC on switch off timer.(clicky)
I use it when downloading large files before I go out/bed/whatever.

--- These are more for the enthusiast ---
Ogg Vorbis Codec - The new mp3 but free & apparently better (winamp plays ogg files) (clicky)
Xvid Codec - Free video compressor codec (the mp3 for videos ) (clicky)
Of course there's also DivX and 3ivx.
VirtualDub - Free video editing tool. (clicky)
Bloodshed Dev-C++ - Free programming editor (clicky)
JCreator LE - Free Java editor (clicky)

Just to second some things:
GIMP - Free Image Editing (for windows)
AVG Anti-Virus
Sygate Personal Firewall
WinCustomize.com - For ObjectDock toolbar and other cool stuff (like bootskin).

I myself will be looking into 7-zip, VideoLAN, ClamWin, and DeviantART.
Cheers guys!

ShiverinEskimo

AnyDVD helps if you watch movies via your pc.

-oRnein9-

#bump#

tman

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

AnyDVD helps if you watch movies via your pc.

great proggy. its not free though.

just had a scan through my "Stuff" shortcuts folder, heres all the free stuff i have installed.

AutoGK - foolproof dvd to avi software
AVG 6.0 - free antivirus software... would be great if i could figure out how to delete threats with it
BitTornado - superb BT client
DVD Decrypter - needed for AutoGK, also handy for copying single layer dvds.
DVD Shrink - great for copying dual layer dvds
Fraps - handy for taking screenshots of games and monitoring their performance
K-Lite codec pack - every video and audio codec you could need (and media player classic)
Lavasoft Adaware - essential
Mozilla Firefox - the foxes cajones
Tweak UI for xp - saves a lot of trawling through the registry to get windows set up the way i like it.
Soulseek - the best p2p for dance music
Spybot S&D - essential
Winamp 5.05 - best media player out there, works great with most video types now.
Winbond hardware doctor - came free with my mobo. great for monitoring cpu temps and all that bollox
Zonealarm - great free firewall
Maxlister - handy for catalogueing (sp!) your cd/dvd collection. shame that it hasn't been updated in years

jozi

Bsplayer, alternative to media player dont think its mentioned yet.

Jozi

GreyAlien

I'd have to say virtualdubmod is better then virtualdub
link: http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/

weemcd

winrar
vlc
trillian may be usefull to some
hijakthis
winbond hardware doctor
latest gfx drivers of course

the rest has already been mentioned

Creamy Goodness

motherboard monitor 5 for monitoring temps of CPU, System, Case etc and rails of your psu

CivilServant

Daemon Tools or Alcohol for Mounting images. Alcolhol also burns the images.
Flashget for downloading. Latest version can download a lot of streaming media formats which is handy.
Outlook Express. Nice for managing multiple hotmail accounts.
Feedreader. RSS and XML reader.
O&O Defrag. Better than diskeeper, you don't need a certain amount of free space to defrag.
CDex. Great CD ripping tool.
Kazaa Lite Resurrecton.

Zaphod

RBTray - allows you to minimise any program to the tray area.
http://rbtray.narod.ru/

Dun

cregser wrote:

Switch Off - put your PC on switch off timer.(clicky)
I use it when downloading large files before I go out/bed/whatever.

An alternative is to use Task Scheduler to run:
%systemroot%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

No third party tool needed

First thing that goes on for me (already mentioned though) is WinAmp so I can listen to my tunes while doing the rest.

I also highly recommend:
Mozilla Thunderbird - e-mail client, nightlies has a global inbox, great stuff! Great spam filter.
Mozilla Firefox - No description needed! Like the site re-design.
Belarc Advisor a snapshot of your system details[/url].
Kerio Personal Firewall
AVG Antivirus - Free and ..
AVG E-mail Scanner plug-in for use with Mozilla Thunderbird. Setup instructions here
ID3-TagIT
Real and Quicktime Alternative - so you don't have to install those two particular crappy programs
And for guitar players:
Powertab Editor Best prog out there for tab editing/playback
AP Guitar Tuner

M@lice

EAC Fot those who demand the highest quality ripping their own music collection.

jessy

in no order at all.

Winamp 5
BitDefender 8
Opera
IncrediMail
Ad-aware SE
humm not to sure about CD/DVD burning Software. maybe Sonic RecordNow!

Orion

Shouldn't this thread be stickified?

-oRnein9-

I have pm'd a mod this morn about stickifying or possibly merging with the net-time monitoring software sticky.
Richy

Khannie

Instead of stickying this thread, I'll get a complete list of unique apps together from what people have posted (I'll do this during lunch). That way, there can be just one post, and people wont have to go digging through the entire thread. Mods, I'll post the list here that way you can create a new thread, sticky it, (close it?) and edit the list at the top to stop it sprawling to infinity (like the cheap components thread).

Khannie

Have to split this post in two. Got an error about it being too long. Post 1:

Eraser - securely wipe files or free space
DBan - securely wipe hard drives
CDBurner XP Pro - great replacement for Nero
The Gimp - graphics software
ClamWin - AV software to use in conjunction with AVG
Restoration - recover deleted files (better known as rest2514)
IrFanView - more graphics software
Filezilla - FTP client and server software
WinSCP - GUI based SCP client
PuTTY - SSH client
Ad-Aware - Anti-spyware
SpyBot Seach and Destroy - Anti Spyware
VLC - Video Player with lots of codec support
G4u - Hard Disk cloning
Real Alternative - alternative to real player
7-Zip - compression software
FilZip - compression software
Firefox - web browser
Thunderbird - email client
OpenOffice.org - Microsoft office replacement
CdEx - cd ripping software
ID3-TagIT - manage your mp3 id3 tags
Trillian - multi IM chat client
NetTime - NTP client
Ethereal - Packet sniffer
TightVNC - VNC client
WorkRave - RSI recovery software (break reminder with exercise suggestions)
EphPhod - manage your iPod
AVG antivirus - Free antivirus prog
Winbar
DVD Shrink - DVD Ripping program. Can also burn if you have nero installed.
Teamspeak - Talk program. Useful for talking to mates, or gaming.
VLC Media Player - Plays DVD's, etc.
Winzip - Compression software
WinRar - Compression software
mIrc - IRC (chat) client
Acrobat Reader - For reading PDF files
Java JRE - For running applets, or anything else java based.
Flash and shockwave players - For running flash and shockwave stuff inside your browser
TweakUI - Allows you to change your windows UI in lots of ways. Link is for XP version. Google for others, or search microsoft.com
Sygate Personal Firewall - Firewall
Foxmail - Mail reader
Mame32 - Arcade machine emulator <edit> Updated link </edit>
Damn NFO Viewer - .nfo file viewer
Treesize - For working out whats taking up space on your system
Daemon Tools - For mounting ISO (and other) images
SmartClock - Clock tool
Object Dock - Customizable Taskbar like in AppleOS
DeviantArt - Free wallpapers
SiSoft Sandra - Information Tool for Checking your CPU,BIOS etc.
Prime95 - Stress Tester to check stablility (also a distributed attempt at finding mersenne prime numbers)
DU Meter - Upload/Download speed for Internet
DC++ - Filesharing
BitTorrent - Filesharing (There are other clients, this is the "original")
CDex - For Ripping CD's
3dMark - Benchmarking tools
ZoneAlarm - Security suite
NeoTrace Express - visual traceroute
Real VNC - An implementation of VNC. VNC allows you to control a computers desktop (or "x-windows" session) remotely.
SpaceMonger - to see what's wasting space
Autoruns - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots
iso buster - Rescue lost files from a bad or trashed CD or DVD
PDF Creator
Power Archiver - Compression utility
winhttrack - View websites offline
NetStumbler - WiFi diagnostic software
proexp - Process Explorer -> Alternative to task manager
XP Anti Spy - lets you disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP
Stinger - McAfee anti virus prog
Microsoft regclean - Cleans your registry. COuldn't find a microsoft.com link. This one is for download.com.
GoogleBar - Google toolbar for Mozilla / Firefox
Apache - Worlds most popular http web server.
Volo View Express - views autocad drawings
isorecorder - Tool for burning iso files in XP
Sysinternals apps - Various freeware apps available here
Motherboard Monitor - Shows you lots of information from your motherboard...temperatures, voltage rails, etc.
Windump - network sniffer
eru / cfgback - Available on your windows 95 cd
cygwin - a Linux-like environment for Windows
Avast! Antivirus - Antivirus software
Total Commander - Windows Explorer replacement
Gordion Knot - DVD backup software
Switch Off - Put your PC on switch off timer.
Ogg Vorbis Codec - The new mp3 but free & apparently better (winamp plays ogg files)
Xvid Codec - Free video compressor codec
VirtualDub - Free video editing tool
Bloodshed Dev-C++ - Free programming editor
JCreator LE - Free Java editor
Various windows cusomisations
AnyDVD - Helps with DVD ripping (21 day trial period)
WinAmp - Excellent music player
Auto GK (Gordion Knot) - foolproof dvd to avi software
DVD Decrypter - needed for AutoGK, also handy for copying single layer dvds
BitTornado - Alternative BitTorrent client
Fraps - handy for taking screenshots of games and monitoring their performance
K-Lite codec pack - every video and audio codec you could need (and media player classic)
SoulSeek - the best p2p for dance music
Winbond hardware doctor

Khannie

Post 2:

MaxLister - allows you to create virtual images of harddrives, floppy disks, CD-ROMs or other removable media
Winbond hardware doctor - a basic server hardware monitoring tool which alerts a system administrator if a hardware problem occurs on their SAI2 based server system
virtualdubmod - Virtual Dub alternative. Video editing software.
Hijackthis - lists all installed browser add-ons, other features
FlashGet - Download manager
Outlook Express - Email tool. Nice for managing multiple hotmail accounts.
FreeReader - RSS and XML reader
RBTray - allows you to minimise any program to the tray area.
O&O Defrag - Disk defrag tool
Belarc advisor - a snapshot of your system details
Kerio Personal Firewall
AVG Email scanner plugin for use with Mozilla Thunderbird. Setup instructions here.
Powertab Editor - Best prog out there for tab editing/playback
AP Guitar Tuner
Realplayer alternative and Quicktime alternative <edit>Updated to direct links</edit>
TrueCrypt - encryption software
GPGShell - Front endd to GPG
EAC Fot those who demand the highest quality ripping their own music collection
BitDefender - Antivirus software
Opera - Web Browser
Incredimail - Email prog add-on (emoticons, etc.)
pwsafe - a password safe
Skype - VOIP application
nmap - Network security tool




Phew! Glad that's over.

Well, I've done my best with the links. Some were inconclusive (i.e. there were mulitple pieces of software with the same name). Where that is the case, if there was a sourceforge project, I assumed it was that, otherwise, I took what I considered the most likely / free.

I may have gotten a little bleary eyed and left something out / gotten something wrong. If so, pm me and I'll edit this post.

Enjoy!

Khannie.

Orion

Khannie wrote:

Post 2:
Phew! Glad that's over.

Khannie.

Can you now sort them alphabetically?

Khannie

Macros42 wrote:

Can you now sort them alphabetically?

Yours for a mere two bazillion euro

-oRnein9-

Good work Khannie.

eljono

Brilliant idea for a thread. I just got my new computer last week and there's loads of stuff that I want for it. Cheers lads

Eljono

bus77

Good work Khannie but your works not done yet

That Mame32 link is old (I dont know why they left that site up)

Here's the one with the newer versions on it,
Mame32

Dr. Loon

Good work fella!

Bri

Great thread - question: Is there a personal edition of O&O or am I missing it?

liamo

A couple more :

Skype - VOIP application
nmap - Network security tool

Khannie

bus77 wrote:

That Mame32 link is old (I dont know why they left that site up)

Nice catch

All: I'm updating with all the requests, I just wont reply to them individually. Will prolly only do updates once a day now 'til it's stickified in its own thread (then I'll leave it to the mods).

Here's a link to the full list.

fragile

The OpenCD project might be of interest to anybody reading this thread.

Quote:

"TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience."

Khannie

Looks like good stuff allright. Gonna grab me a copy. A lot of the stuff mentioned here is on it.

Clinical Waste

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

AnyDVD helps if you watch movies via your pc.

free?

Dr. Loon

Why hasn't this thread been stickied? This is the third or fourth time in as many weeks I've had to go hunting the damn thing down. It's quite handy. Although maybe it's partly the cause of the 4 rebuilds I've had to do lately! Hmm... anyway, can we sticky this?

MazdaMan

Here's a good 'un http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/download.html Audiograbber MP3' creator to turn your music on CD to MP3's

Just follow instructions to download and setup encoders into the program. Lame encoder I find is the best.

Fionn

Great List!!! well done

"Sam Spade" nice little prog i've used in the past, bit old now.

it's a network query tool and it's free has online tools as well.

http://www.samspade.org/

Obscure

http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/

"TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience."

anthonymcg

Top Thread

frost

GreyAlien wrote:

I'd have to say virtualdubmod is better then virtualdub
link: http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/

I'm just looking for some video software -- what's better about virtualdubmod?
Thanks

Deadwing

Couple of handy programs, i thin full versions cost money but shareware is available.
Diskkeeper
(excellent defragging utitlity, defrags in half the time ms defrag does, and also lets you defrag your swap file which ms defrag WONT do)

Hmm..i was gonna mention partition magic as its incredibly handy but theres no trial version :rolleyes:

pickarooney

frost wrote:

I'm just looking for some video software -- what's better about virtualdubmod?
Thanks

You can edit MPEGs with it IIRC. It's not a replacement for VirtualDub as some of the features are missing, more of a complement.