------------ more ------------
REPOST: We have a very nice list going here. I found some excellent programs which I’ve been trying out. We’ll have to do something a little more permanent with this thread. Keep em coming!
If anyone is using any awesome FREE software programs, please submit them with a link to the info/download page if possible. If there are a lot of them, i’ll make a good list for everyone. I’m sure there is some really cool stuff out there that we would all like to check out.
One free one that I use a lot is called MWsnap which is a little screen capture utility. The one thing I like about it is that it automatically names and saves anything I capture. It’s a simple little program which works terrific! It would be better if it would automatically make the captured image a specified size - but other than that i love it. There are a couple nice free programs submitted earlier today that are definitely worth checking out.
Check out our homepage for all the Hot Deals.
HOME | ABOUT
US | BOOKMARK US | TELL
A FRIEND
LOGIN | REGISTER
| SUBMIT A DEAL | DONATE
Copyright © 2004-2007 - DailyTool.com
[powered by WordPress.]
GraveYardMall.com
DEAL OF THE DAY
LinensNThings.com
DOD (LINK AT TOP)
MusiciansFriend.com
DEAL OF THE DAY
PacificGeek.com
DEAL OF THE DAY
PartsExpress.com
DEAL OF THE DAY
40 queries. 4.556 seconds
October 16th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I think it’s MWsnap, not MWswap.
I just downloaded it…awesome!
Thank you!
October 16th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
oops - thanks Paul
October 16th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
no prob.
btw, i like the screenshot of the front page, showing a screenshot.
How about updating it to show screenshot w/in screenshot w/in screenshot w/in screenshot…etc…?
Paul
October 16th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Belarc Advisor will tell you lots of things about your computer. It lists all the installed hardware and software and lets you know the current status of your Windows updates.
www.belarc.com/free_download.html
October 16th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
For those geeks that have way too much time on their hands, ethereal is a network protocol analysis tool. It captures all of the traffic to and from your computer.
www.ethereal.com/
October 16th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I know this has been mentioned before but I think it’s worth bringing up again. Picasa, from Google, is a great little picture manager. Easy to use, efficient and better yet, free!
picasa.google.com
October 16th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Paul, isn’t that impossible? lol
October 16th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Trouble beyond the Modem: How to tell if it’s your modem, ISP or beyond causing Internet connectivity troubles.
www.pingplotter.com/
October 16th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
I have found a nice little website that will speed up your surfing speed.
Using OpenDNS.com as your Dunamic Name Server (DNS) Server is much faster than using your ISP’s, and it also blocks Phishing sites, as well. Just go there to learn how to use their DNS Servers.
October 16th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
I use a great little image viewer that I prefer over the standard windows viewers. It handles tons of formats, and it allows you to do batch processing (like renaming, conversions, etc.). It is called Irfanview!
www.irfanview.com
October 16th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
I found this to be a handy program to shut down your computer automatically at a later time if you can’t afford to wait around. It’s called DShutdown.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/DShutdown.shtml
I hope you all find it as useful as I do.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
For all of you who want to create PDF files but don’t want to buy that lame Adobe Reader Professional, try this simple program, PDFCreator:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Also, here’s an excellent alternative to Adobe Reader, which is extremely bulky in my opinion. It’s called Foxit Reader:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
October 17th, 2006 at 2:03 am
Compilation of all the best freeware as selected by true geeks:
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/
October 17th, 2006 at 11:47 am
Ever get annoyed at Internet Explorer because it doesn’t open to a maximized window? is a must have, and it’s free. Or, use Maxthon does that without any add ons, plus much more.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Hmm. That didn’t work well. jiisoft’s IE New Window Maximizer. And, Maxthon.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
The smart thing to do with Internet Explorer is just use it one more time, to download Firefox, then forget about it.
Firefox is free and provides usability features and addons that IE doesn’t even come close to. Even the new IE7 is still a pig. Firefox rocks.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Another great little free program, one I use a lot, is WordWeb. I use it daily.
“WordWeb is a quick and powerful international English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows. It can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples, and has helpful spelling and sounds-like links.”
There is a free version and a paid version. In my view the paid version is worth the money. But, some may be happy with the free version.
http://wordweb.info/
October 17th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
7-Zip is a free, open-source alternative to WinZip, WinRAR, etc.
Creates archives of the following types: Zip, Tar, and its own 7z format (squishes better than ZIP or RAR, in my experience; downside is that it must be opened with 7-Zip, unless you create a self-extractor)
Opens: just about everything. Zip, Rar, tar, gz, arj, iso, even cab and rpm files.
Also includes a command-line interface so you can write scripted backup routines (WinZip and WinRAR do this too, of course; with WinZip it’s extra, or at least it used to be.)
Creates self-extracting files (.EXEs), so the person you send the archive to doesn’t need to have 7-zip installed. This is an extra-cost feature in WinZip. (Be aware that many email clients - GMail for example - won’t let you send executable files as attachments, so you have to rename them to .EX_ or something. But that’s very easy to do.)
It also seems to be faster than WinZip and WinRAR, although since I haven’t updated either program since I started using 7-Zip, the comparison might not be fair.
http://www.7-zip.org/
October 17th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
“Bring out the GIMP.”
“The GIMP’s asleep.”
“Well, you’ll just have to wake him up then, won’tcha?”
All kidding and silly names aside, the GNU Image Manipulation Program is a truly awesome program. It’s overkill if you’re just a casual dabbler - and it’s a big download! - but if you’ve ever needed more power than MS Paint or the pathetic software that came with your scanner or digital camera, then the GIMP might just be the thing.
Its only real competition is Adobe Photoshop, which costs hundreds of dollars - of course, there are lots of pirated copies floating around, but we’re talking “free”, not “hot”. (And Photoshop Elements isn’t even in the same league.)
If you can think of something to do to a picture, chances are somebody’s written a GIMP plugin or filter to make it easier. The interface is a little overwhelming at first if you’ve only used Paint or its equivalents, but it’s about equivalent to Photoshop: if you want lots of power, you also get lots of complication. There are versions for Windows, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X.
Since it’s cross-platform, it relies on a compatibility library - “GTk+” - to run in Windows, and you must download and install that before installing the GIMP. Despite that, GIMP loads and runs faster on my machine than the most recent version of Photoshop, and it’s stable.
There are undoubtedly some things you can do in Photoshop (or with third-party Photoshop plugins) that you can’t with the GIMP. But I haven’t run up against any of them yet. Also - this may be just my imagination - the online community of GIMP users seems to be a lot more friendly and helpful than the Photoshop community, which is a huge help when you’re trying to figure out how to do something you’ve never done before.
http://www.gimp.org/
October 17th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
For desktop publishing needs, I’ve been using Scribus for a few months now.
The gold standard in DTP used to be Adobe PageMaker; that’s dead now, replaced by Adobe InDesign. Which costs a hell of a lot of money, so unless DTP is your main business and you can write it off, something cheaper is definitely worth looking into.
The only other real alternative used to be Microsoft Publisher, which is certainly a lot more user-friendly than PageMaker… but that user-friendliness came at the price of power and usefulness. In fact, much earlier in my career I laid up a trifold brochure for a client, using Publisher (my consultancy covers a LOT of ground, believe me!) and took it to the print shop to be run on a three-color offset press… and the printer laughed me out of the shop. Thus began my love/hate relationship with PageMaker…
Scribus is a free, open-source project that provides PageMaker-like power and control. It’s still young, and there are some holes, but I’m very excited about it.
http://www.scribus.net/
October 17th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
EasyCleaner is a very nifty little program for Windows. I’ve gotten so hooked on it that I install it on every machine I work on. It doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do otherwise, but it puts a bunch of essential features in one place.
It combines a registry cleaner, unnecessary file cleanup, startup manager, duplicate file finder, uninstaller, and more.
The uninstaller is worth the price of admission by itself. On many Windows XP machines, the “Add or Remove Programs” applet in the Control Panel takes freakin’ forever to load up. (First you have to open Control Panel, which can take a moment. Then it sits there saying “Please wait while the list is being populated…”) By contrast, the “Add/Remove” tool in EasyCleaner loads almost instantly. I’m an impatient guy, so that’s important to me. Also, the Add/Remove tool lets you delete entries as well as uninstall them - which you might want to do for one of three reasons: one, to avoid (later) accidentally uninstalling some vital software (or hide it from prying eyes); two, to clean up the list - are you really going to uninstall all of those security patches?; three, to clean up the list after an uninstall fails. We’ve all been there - you uninstall the MySearch crapware, but the entry remains in the Add/Remove list, taunting you. Well, no more!
(By the way, EasyCleaner also has Undo protection in case you screw up.)
Then there’s the startup manager. There are other ways to do it, but this is the most convenient I’ve found - it lists, in one place, all the entries from both Startup folders on your Start Menu (your own, and All Users) and from the various Registry keys where auto-start programs can be listed (all those keys that end with “\Current Version\Run”, for instance.) Again, there’s Undo protection.
Then there’s the registry cleaner and the “Unnecessary Files” cleaner, and the one-button IE cache, history, and cookie cleaners, and the graphical “Space Used” doohickey, and the invalid-shortcut finder…
The only thing I don’t really recommend, unless you know your s**t, is the Duplicates finder. There are often very good reasons for duplicate files, and this is a place where you can get yourself into trouble. Still, it’s there if you want it.
One thing to watch for: ToniArts used to use a different free web host. EasyCleaner got popular, traffic shot through the roof, and ToniArts had to move to another hosting company. But the old company kept his old content, and started charging membership to access it!
So: go to the right site (shown below) and get the current version for FREE! or go to the old site and get charged $14.95 for the privilege of accessing an old version. Up to you.
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
October 17th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Free clipboard program: (Saves past 200 text and RTF, 20 BMP and Metafile, and 200 URL clipboard entries.)
I configure shortcuts using CRTL + Y (or) X to bring up the screens. Couldn’t compute without this program!
————————–
October 17th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
Oops entry got truncated
October 17th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
once again… Yankee Clipper
http://www.intelexual.com/products/YC3/
October 17th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
http://www.v-com.com/product/PowerDesk_free.html
Powerdesk (replace File Explorer) Create folders with one click. Drop down favorites directory, and more
October 17th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities. Excellent annotations!
October 18th, 2006 at 9:25 am
David. You have to sort these out somehow and make these a “category”.
What a great thread!
(my Wife says you are costing me too much money, everyday another package)
October 18th, 2006 at 9:41 am
You should be sending the stuff to the office Mr3Putt!!! haha - Yeah I’m thinking about a way to do that. Maybe just add them at the top in the post, then just let the thread run. A category link is a great idea!
October 18th, 2006 at 10:48 am
I like using MWsnap, it saves me quite a bit of time.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:58 am
A very useful program for deleting and bouncing spam.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:59 am
http://www.mailwasher.net/
Sorry - the link didn’t show up
October 18th, 2006 at 11:07 am
HELP. The kids trashed their home PC with some vicous pop up program. Adaware does nothing. Does anyone have a good pop up scrubber or blocker? Thanks in advance..
October 18th, 2006 at 11:13 am
http://www.panicware.com/
The free version of the popup blocker works pretty good.
October 18th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
http://tk.ms11.net/
Toddler Keys
tool for parents that allows you to lock your computer keyboard, CD drive doors and power-off button. When the keyboard is used it will display images and play sounds every time a key is pressed, thereby preventing access to the desktop and applications, while adding some entertainment value for the kid. You can select the images and sounds to be used by copying them to the Toddler Keys folder. To exit the locked screen, just type the word QUIT.
October 18th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Cool!
October 19th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
David, maybe sum up all the free tools posted and create a permanent page with the links…which could be reached via the menu. Just a thought…
October 19th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
That sounds like a good plan. I’ll try to do that this weekend. Tomorrow is 1 deal per hour so i’ll be quite busy until then. If anyone knows any other free programs that are really superb in some way, let us know.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Forget about popup blockers, scumware and the likes. There is a very simple and easy way to block servers that serve you unwanted ads and other internet nasties. It VERY effective and makes your internet browsing experience much, much better..
You need two things. The fisrt, and most important, is the HOSTS file from MVPS.org. You already have a HOSTS file, but it has no entries. This page will explain everything and provide a link to HOSTS file that is well maintained and updated regularly:
http://mvps.org
That page also provides a little utility for managing your HOSTS file, and you will need it to unblock the partner sites that DailyTool.com works with to give us the great deals on this site. It is easy to use.
The other program you want is eDexter:
http://www.pyrenean.com
You will need this tiny little program, because just using the HOSTS file alone can cause some webpages to stall or take a long time to load. eDexter supplements the HOSTS file by substituting local images for filtered images in order to prevent browser stalls and other annoyances. It is tiny and requires very little memory.
I have been using this combination for years. I never need anti-spyware software, nor do I have to use a popup blocker. Anytime I setup or work on someone’s computer, I install this combination and people are amazed at how well it works.
If you take the time to read about these to items and how to use them, you will practically eliminate all issues with popups and spyware.
But, remember, anytime one of the links on DailyTool.com doesn’t work properly, you have go into the HOSTS file and put a ‘#’ in front of the name of the partner website. For example:
# click. linksynergy.com
# www. shareasale.com
# www. myaffiliateprogram.com
# www. jdoqocy.com
# www. anrdoezrs.net
(there must be a space between the # and the site name)
That’s all there is too it! Once you’re setup, you just update the HOSTS file every 6 months or so. You’ll just think the internet suddenly got very friendly!
Feel free to direct any questions to me at “beach.boy -at- yahoo -dot- com.”
[java removed]
October 19th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Well, i should know the java code e-mail link wouldn’t work.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
HOSTS file
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
eDexter
http://www.pyrenean.com/?page_value=-2
October 19th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Email that java link code to me NoPayne: submit (at) dailytool.com
I’ll try to get it to work.
October 20th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Browster
Allows you to pre-download web pages (prefetch) Program put a little icon at the begining of a link. Rollover and the linked page opens in a new window. Works with eBay, Craigslist, yahoo start page. You need to right-click and turn in on for each site the first time it’s used on a site.
October 20th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
http://www.browster.com
October 20th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Shortkeys http://www.snapfiles.com/get/shortkeys.html
ShortKeys is a utility that allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user defined keystrokes. ShortKeys monitors the keyboard activity on a global nature and anytime a user defined keystroke combination is typed in, it will be replaced with the replacement text.
Configue as suffix. type the shortkey, (pause just a tiny bit) and hit the space bar. One of my core programs.
October 20th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Reid, that’s an awesome program. I’ve been playing with it and it’s terrific. What a time saver for me. Thanks so much!
October 20th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
My Favorite TOTALLY FREE site BY FAR! www.ORB.com
You’ll LOVE it!
What is Orb?
Orb takes the home out of home entertainment! Orb gives you secure access to your digital media from your home computer through a simple Web interface. Stream your live TV, photos, music and videos to any Web-enabled device