Free Software - Recommendations

Kaitel

Bronze Level Poster
Yeah mp4 (mp4 videos at least), mpg, avi, flv, divx, wmv, f4v and Matroska all work great, havent found any that have failed, tbh I havent used it for music yet but I doubt it would struggle, even if it did its still worth having just for the excellent video controls, playlist is perhaps a bit basic although I havent really explored that and it's options.
It opens fast, always feels stable, drag resizeable, zooms in easily to any level with hotkey, can slow or speed playback speed by any 5% increment between 5% and 300% on all the above files with no problem.
If you set to allow multiple open at same time in options, and select never on top, you can have loads open at once playing different files and click on any to bring them to the front, see the video on the link if you want full video in video views. The interface is minimalist so it doesnt take up too much space yet very functional, particularly if you find the skin option and change to built in skin (which I prefer) over the default. Can set A and B points to repeat between. Um it really has everything I can think of needing.
It's so good it's hard to believe it's free! If it wasn't I'd still want to buy it over anything else.
 

XProdgerX

Member
Could someone please give me a quick run though of how to use CCleaner and what box's to click in the cleaner section. Thanks
 

Kaitel

Bronze Level Poster
Create a restore point before cleaning anything, personally I only use the registry cleaner section regularly with all options selected, and check the description of each one before "fixing" it, oh and it allows backing up the registry files first too, a good idea particularly if you're not sure about any or doing a big batch at once.
As for the main section I'd rather not run it unless you really feel the need, I think the defaults are pretty safe, so I use in the windows section: all in internet explorer (although you might lose saved passwords) all in windows explorer apart from Thumbnail Cache unless that's where you have some problem as its pointless making your system reload them all again to display, shouldn't hurt though, the first 7 in system and none in advanced.
I stay away from the advanced ones but only cause I'm clueless on what half of them are.
Anyway that's just me, and I'm no expert so wait for more replies.
 

Kaitel

Bronze Level Poster
As I've talked about this security suite in another thread, thought Id throw this in the ring here too, the others already mentioned might well be better, cant say as I havent tried them. All I know is this also meets the free criteria so is another option if theres something about the others you dont like the sound of.

Anyway it Comodo security suite, more details and a download can be found here if anyone is interested: http://download.cnet.com/Comodo-Internet-Security/3000-2239_4-10460704.html Oh but I just spotted if you did wanna download it, go to the Comodo website instead as the Cnet download may not be the correct one for your operating system.

I've been using it for a couple of months and cant really fault it so far, it has regular virus database updates, clean smart interface with easy options, takes a while to train with accepting pop up warnings but hey, has a sandbox mode where you can run new programs you're unsure about until you can check them out for full access to your PC. Oh and when you install you have the option to use their DNS servers (that sort out IP addresses) over you current ISP ones, you can always change back manually (although that is a little trickier) they proved better than my default AOL ones that often get overloaded with traffic, so have improved general internet browsing speeds and they block reported web pages as a bonus.
 
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vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Sorrry if this has been mentioned & i've missed it.
IMGBURN,it can handle CD, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray. It supports a wide range of image file formats like BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. can burn Audio CDs from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM – including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.
 

pr1s0ner

Well-known member
Not sure if its worth adding but Blender's not just 3D modelling, it also has a pretty tidy game engine. Fully extendable with python (also free)
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
I would like to recommend a few
- Auslogics Disk Defrag - My preferred choice of defrag program
- Wax - Probably the best free video editing software around
- LogMeIn Hamachi - Allows small servers to be setup on games, i have used it for minecraft with 4players max and it works fine :)
- RevoUninstaller - Clears away the crap programs leave behind when uninstalled
- Core Temp - Reads temperature sensors on CPU
- GameBooster - Turns off all unnecessary services/programs to optimize performance, also defrag's RAM, very good for those with systems that are starting to struggle

Also these programs are considered important to a gamer (these are found on a list of essential programs on GameBooster
- Steam
- Ventrilo
- TeamSpeak
- XFire
- EA Download (Steam replacement)

Hope this helps :)
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Technically TS/Vent etc aren't freeware if you are setting up the server...but of course for us non-server-setter-up types, they are of course free to DL and use :)
 

dousta

Member
One of the reasons I have just ordered a new computer--Besides it being old and lacking in memory and processor--Was that it was getting slow. I would have been getting one shortly but that slow running just pushed me into speccing and buying now.

BUT- one of the programmes recomended by Tom in his opening post was CClean

Just used it and it works. I now have a computer that runs at a usable pace and will keep running till I can transfer all my Vids and pics from it.

So thanks Tom.
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
would just like to add HWMonitor which monitors temps of most components, including HDDs, GPUs Motherboard and more

EA Download should also be updated to Origin

FinalMediaPlayer is also a good free media player and plays a majority of files

RivaTuner allows you to change fan speeds, it claims to also change graphics card fans speeds although personally can't confirm this

some new AVs would include MSE and Avira which ive both tried myself and work great

Ad-Aware is also a very good program for finding things like ad bots

thanks again for this list
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
would like to recommend VTune for nVidia cards available through the Palit website, allows you to control your fans and actually works
 

sakumatu

Bronze Level Poster
SoftMaker Office 2008

http://www.softmakeroffice.com/

For Windows and Linux users.

You can now download a fully functional and permanently usable version of the SoftMaker Office 2008 office suite.

From all the alternatives to MS Office, that's the one I love the most. All you have to do is to register and then you'll receive your personal serial number and the download address by e-mail.

While saving your files just be careful and save them in MSOffice compatible formats, they can be found in menu File -> Save As.

Little review; http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_...-microsoft-office-alternative/?tag=bnetdomain


Edit: SoftMaker Office 2012 is paid version. SoftMaker Office 2008 for free.
 
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