List of Free Apps and Utilities

[octopus]

A bit surprised that digsby is not listed here

http://www.digsby.com/

I used to be a trillian fan, but not after I tried digsby!

[EagleCeres]

AlZip - Another alternative to WinZip, free with good functionality (access to 36 different compression formats), if you decide to pay for a licence you get more options available (no time limit to register, never gives 'register now' popups)

[Isiolia]

Eh, just some I didn't see on the list...

Inkscape - Free vector drawing package a la Freehand or Illustrator.

CD Burner XP - Free CD burning software a la Nero or EZ CD Creator.


Few virtual machines are also free

Virtual PC (Windows only)

Virtual Box (multiplatform)

VMWare has a "free" version as well, but it can't create disk images.

[Katlan]

Thank you very much for the links, I'll need to browse these further when I get home and have more time.

[Cephius]

Updated the list and added some new things. Thank you for all the contributions, this is turning into a pretty comprehensive library of free software. Don't hold back from adding more!

[Pun]

Killbox - A very handy tool for deletion of files that are in-use. If the file is running, KillBox will attempt to end the process (close the running file) and delete it. For more difficult files that have loaded .dll's or are services, Delete on Reboot will use the native Windows function of deleting or replacing in-use files.

I've used this in the past for deletion of trojans and other malicious processes running on my PC.

[zeal5050]

Here are a few essential applications for OSX

IM - Instant Messaging & IRC

Adium - http://adiumx.com/
Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber. Beautiful, themable interface.

Colloquy - http://colloquy.info/downloads.html
Great IRC client.

3D Graphics and Modeling

Blender - http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
Powerful. Free. 3D Modeling software.


Also, if your a web developr or designer and looking for an alternative to Dreamweaver/Notepad/Textmate you owe it to yourself to check out Coda by Panic. One window web development, awesome GUI and great support. It's not free, but it's well worth the price.

http://www.panic.com/coda/

[Korietsu]

Couple others for Mac OSX

Eclipse - Coding platform for just about anything http://www.eclipse.org/
SMC Fan Control - Great for making sure your macbook stays cool. Works with most Intel based macs. http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eid...ge5/page5.html

[Isiolia]

One for Mac and PC is Artrage which is a natural media drawing/painting application similar to Painter. The "Starter" version is free, and I've seen this renamed/bundled with tablet PCs. A $25 "full" edition is available too.

For OS X, Textwrangler would be a similar thing to, say, Notepad++ on Windows (used to be BBEdit Lite). A nice all-around text editor, more robust than OS X's included one.

[zoobernut]

I did not see a link above for one does anyone know a good HD utility to create partitions and format a HD and such?

Thanks.

[Kohan]

Partition Logic

[Azkarin2]

Just curious as to what yall suggest for setting up a new computer (compnoob here). This laptop came installed with Norton but as I've always heard Norton is shit and a system hog. So would yall suggest getting rid of it and picking an anti-virus/spyware/firewall to install? Is there anything else I should put in place? Thanks!

[Kohan]

The anti-virus, spyware, and firewall software at the top of the lists in the first post are very good. You should also use Firefox and download the NoScript, Flashblock, WOT, AdBlock Plus, and Popup Master add-ons. Also, use Windows Update and ensure that all of the latest updates are on your PC.

[Azkarin2]

Thanks for the advice!

[Pun]

AviScreen - AviScreen is an application for capturing screen activity (ScreenCast) in the form of AVI video or images. Beside the usual options defining the capture area, AviScreen has a unique feature called “follow the cursor”. Using this mode you can produce a video or image of relatively small dimensions while covering all mouse activity over the whole screen area.

http://www.bobyte.com/AviScreen/Capture.png

The classic version is free, while the newest version is not.

Download the free, classic, version here

[Aro]

Something I've been using for a long time, that I think is very useful is:

Download Helper Addon for Firefox

Helps you download videos directly from many different streaming sites.

[Zoner]

Stardock Fences

Have icons and shortcuts covering up your desktop wallpaper? Fences might come in handy to keep the clutter at bay while maintaining icons organized in a consistent fashion.
http://www.techspot.com/fileshost/ne...009/fences.jpg

This free application from Stardock – known for their GUI customization tools and computer games – essentially lets you create semitransparent containers that float on the desktop and labels to organize icons within them. It also offers the option to hide all or some of your desktop icons by double clicking on an empty area. The aesthetics of Fences are nice out of the box and can be highly customized to suit your preferences.

It’s a simple concept yet a useful one that will help clean up messy desktops. This handy tool is currently free until August as a preview, and runs on both 32 and 64-bit versions XP, Vista and Windows 7. You can grab your copy here or see more screenshots and videos of Fences in action at the company’s website.

[Zoner]

T r u e C r y p t

Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux

Main Features:

* Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.

* Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.

* Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).

* Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.

* Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:

1) Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.

2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).

* Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.

Further information regarding features of the software may be found in the documentation.

http://www.truecrypt.org/images/screenshots/xp_main.png
http://www.truecrypt.org/images/scre...ardciphers.png

[Mend]

Thanks so much for the post to SMC Fan Control, because the fan on my macbook drives me nuts.

[Wrathbone]

found a few more *cough*
Samurize lets you build individual desktop widgets and monitoring boxes, has tons of user-made layouts available
ATITool monitoring/benchmark/overclocking software for GPUs (yup, even for nvidia ones ^^)
Hamachi LAN parties across the net ^^ uses encrypted VPN tunnels
CSpace decentralized instant messenger, uses TLS encryption and offers file transfers as well as remote desktop functionality over the VNC protocol
FLV Player easy player for viewing those .flv files ripped from video streaming sites
Notepad++ not just a notepad clone, but a full-fledged editor for pretty much any web/programming language (and of course a nice replacement for good old notepad ^^)
Eclipse free development platform, entirely written in java

ATITools ftw. Tho the latest I downloaded locked up my DX10 cards. Prolly user error.