Popular Freeware Apps... New Releases / Updates

Popular Freeware Apps... New Releases / Updates

Post popular freeware apps information about new release / updates with url and version number here.



Currently this thread is 4^th, 2^nd , 1^st in most spotlighted topics..

Thanks to Shokuji for suggestion & akh for editing this post.

Anti Spyware

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Download

Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. Download

WinPatrol uses a heuristic approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. Traditional security programs scan your hard drive searching for previously identified threats. WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge. You'll be removing dangerous new programs while others download new reference files. Download

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the "good side" of the web. Download


Image Viewers

XnView is an efficient multimedia viewer, browser and converter. Download

IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative graphic viewer for Windows. Download

FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments. Its innovative but intuitive full-screen mode provides quick access to EXIF information, thumbnail browser and major functionalities via hidden toolbars that pop up when your mouse touch the four edges of the screen. Other features include a high quality magnifier and a musical slideshow with 150+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and much more. Download

cPicture Download


Audio/Video Players

VLC media player is a free cross-platform media player.

RealPlayer

Winamp Download

Zoom Player Standard Download

Foobar2000is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats.


Programmer's Text Editor

PSPad Editor Download

Notepad++ is a source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment. Download

SciTE is a SCIntilla based Text Editor. Download

NoteMaster is a highly flexible code and text editor for Windows.

SuperEdi is a text editor with syntax coloring and build-in FTP client. The build-in directory tree helps you locate files quickly without opening the Windows Explorer.

jEdit Download

Crimson Editor Download


Privacy Tool

IE Privacy Keeper will clean your traces of online and offline (system) activity. Download

Simple File Shredder is a utility that securely deletes your files so they can't be restored using recovery software. SFS ensures your privacy by scrambling file names, over-writing files with random bytes, changing the file date/time to a random date/time value,and verify files have been completely shredded before deleting them.

Simple File Shredder also supports shredding the Windows Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, and Temp files. Also supported is Firefox, Opera, and Netscape browser "junk files" (cache, cookies, etc.).

Eraser is a secure data removal tool for Windows. It completely removes sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Download

CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Download


Other Apps

WinMerge is an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determing what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions. Download

Lupas Rename 2000 is a program to rename a big number of files. Download

Autoruns shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. Direct Download

Starter allows one to view and manage all the programs that are starting automatically whenever operating system is loading. It enumerates all the hidden registry entries, startup folders' items and some of the initialization files, so that the user could choose to temporarily disable selected entries, edit them, create new, or delete them permanently.

Starter can be used to list all the running processes with possibility to view extended process' information (such as used DLLs, memory usage, thread count, priorities etc.), and to terminate selected process (even a Windows NT service, having enough access rights).

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

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. Downloads

AutoHotkey 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.
• Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
• Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed.

Download

xplorer² lite is a file and information manager that adheres to the philosophy "efficiency through simplicity". Without reinventing the wheel, it integrates the best features of Windows' shell architecture in a small, resource efficient package that's instantly familiar to work with. But look a little closer and you'll discover a whole new world under the surface that offers power, precision and flexibility, and will boost your everyday productivity no end!

MyUninstaller - Alternative utility to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system. It displays the list of all installed application, and allows you to uninstall an application, delete an uninstall entry, and save the list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML file.

MyUninstaller also provides additional information for most installed applications that the standard Add/Remove applet doesn't display: product name, company, version, uninstall string, installation folder and more. Direct Download

Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist users when dealing with an infected system.

SIW - System Information for Windows is an utility that displays detailed specs for motherboard, BIOS, CPU, devices, memory, video, disk drivers, ports, printers, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic. It displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. Direct Download

SyncBack Freeware helps you easily backup and synchronise your files to: the same drive; a different drive or medium (CDRW, CompactFlash, etc); an FTP server; a Network; or a Zip archive.

Filemon monitors and displays file system activity on a system in real-time. Its advanced capabilities make it a powerful tool for exploring the way Windows works, seeing how applications use the files and DLLs, or tracking down problems in system or application file configurations. Filemon's timestamping feature will show you precisely when every open, read, write or delete, happens, and its status column tells you the outcome.

Foxit Reader is a free reader/viewer/printer for PDF documents. Direct Download

AM-DeadLink can detect dead links and duplicates in Internet Explorer, Opera , Mozilla and Netscape. Additionally it can download/update the FavIcons (Internet Explorer and Opera only). Direct Download

StrokeIt - Mouse Gestures for Windows. Download

Total Uninstall monitors any changes made to your system during the installation of a new application. It allows you to perform a complete uninstall without having to rely on the supplied Add/Remove program which can leave files or changes behind. Download

WordWeb is a comprehensive English thesaurus and dictionary, and can be used to look up words from within most programs.



Open Office is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite. Compatible with all other major office suites.

Unlocker lets you unlock and delete files that Windows tells you is in use.

freeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. Download

7-Zip is a file archiver with high compression ratio. Download



FTP Commander is simple and easy to use ftp client. Download

TaskSwitchXP is an advanced task management utility that picks up where the standard Windows Alt+Tab switcher leaves off. It provides the same functionality, and adds visual styles to the dialog and also enhances it by displaying thumbnail preview of the application that will be switched to. TaskSwitchXP also has a powerful process and window management capability that allows you quickly to close/minimize applications and their groups. The unique capabilities of TaskSwitchXP make it useful for tracking down multitudinous windows, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.

Dimension 4 will monitor your Internet connection and automatically adjust your PC's clock when you're online at an interval you specify. Download

Computer Inspector will analyze and warn you about third-party software installed on your computer. It shows what's running with full details, and highlights any suspicious process.

APO USB Autorun enables you to add autorun functionality to your USB drive. It automatically searches for the standard autorun.inf (as used with CDs) and executes it. This simple, but very handy functionality allows you to create an autorun menus in the same way you would for a CD and use it with your USB drive, or launch playlists, html pages and any other type of file as soon as the USB drive is inserted. In addition to the autorun functionality, the program also allows you to quickly access the files on the USB drive(s) from the tray icon menu.

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats. Download

McAfee AVERT Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed DAT files, and scan performance optimizations.

NoteMaster - highly flexible code and text editor for Windows, with a clean and easy-to-use interface. I can highly recommend it, it just hit Beta 1.3...

And no, I don't know who its developer is

7-Zip beta 29/3/2005 Best compression utility

FTP Commander 7.33 Simple FTP file manager.

Page Plus SE, PhotoPlus 6.0, WebPlus 6.0, Draw Plus 4.0, 3D Plus 2.0

Originally posted by Tamil
WinRAR 3.50 Beta 2 (Shareware)

ANy yet the subject line clearly states this thread is about freeware.

Open Office 2.0 Beta

Worth the big download. 84 Mbytes

One of the first apps I immediately install on a fresh machine is SuperEdi, a very handy, ultralight text/html/css/asp/... editor

www.wolosoft.com/en/superedi/

Task switching on XP systems, a clever "alt+tab" tool:TaskSwitchXP Pro 2.0.5

Originally posted by Tamil
MyUninstaller 1.32 - Alternative utility to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system. It displays the list of all installed application, and allows you to uninstall an application, delete an uninstall entry, and save the list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML file.

MyUninstaller also provides additional information for most installed applications that the standard Add/Remove applet doesn't display: product name, company, version, uninstall string, installation folder and more.

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded and installed the program and it works great.

H-Menu 6.0, Hurry! Website Closes 22 April 2005

H-Menu is an excellent, full-featured application launcher.

Homepage: http://www.h-menu.com/homeEN.htm

Here are the direct download links:

http://home.planet.nl/~vrloohdv/H_menu-EN-Setup.exe
for Version 5.0

http://home.planet.nl/~vrloohdv/H-Menu60.zip
Updates to Version 6.0

Re: H-Menu 6.0, Hurry! Website Closes 22 April 2005

Originally posted by Higgy
H-Menu is an excellent, full-featured application launcher.

Homepage: http://www.h-menu.com/homeEN.htm

excellent program, i've been using for months.
thanks.

Re: Re: H-Menu 6.0, Hurry! Website Closes 22 April 2005

Originally posted by lakeview
excellent program, i've been using for months.
thanks.

Development on H-Menu is ending and the web site is shutting down April 22. Get it while you can.

There is a huge, continually updated list of freeware over at the Neowin forums:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t119821.html

Originally posted by Tamil
IrfanView 3.97

Ooo, 3.97! I guess I need to update!

Similar to a souped-up version of the Task Manager.

Computer Inspector

two excellent free editors:

PSPad editor 4.3.2
jEdit 4.2

For those who don't like ad/spyware, here is an alternative:

Real Player Alternative v1.37

About Real Alternative

Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer.

All RealMedia formats (.ra .rm .rmvb .ram .rpm .rv .rp .rt .smi .smil etc.) are supported, including streaming content and RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages.



Limitations:

* .smi and .smil files only play the first part of a clip.
* RealMedia DirectShow splitter does not work with streaming content. You must use Media Player Classic to play streaming content.

Features

Version 1.37:

- Media Player Classic [version 6.4.8.4]
- RealMedia Codecs [version 6.0.12.1069]
- RealMedia DirectShow splitter [version 1.0.1.0]
- RealMedia plugin for Internet Explorer
- RealMedia plugin for Opera/Mozilla/Netscape

QuickTime Alternative v1.47

About QuickTime Alternative:
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages.

Features

Version 1.46:

- Media Player Classic [version 6.4.8.4]
- QuickTime Codecs [version 6.5.2.10]
- QuickTime DirectShow filter
- QuickTime plugin for Internet Explorer
- QuickTime plugin for Opera/Mozilla/Netscape
- QuickTime Control Panel
- Extra plugins for QuickTime

there is also availible K-Lite Codec Pack - quite good - the "full" version (plus those two above programs) should be enough to play any video file.

About K-Lite codec pack
K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:

* It it always very up-to-date with the latest versions of the codecs.
* It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable, meaning that you can install only those components that you really want.
* It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting codecs.
* It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies.
* Different packages.

There are three versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack: Basic, Standard and Full.

Basic contains only the most essential things. It contains everything you need to be able to play the most popular and widespread formats. It is small enough to fit on a single floppy. Also great for including on your movie cds.

Standard contains everything you need to play all the commonly used formats. This package should be enough for the average user.

Full contains even more codecs. It also has encoding support for various formats. This package is for power users and people who do their own encodings.

There also is a Mega version. It includes everything that the Full version has, but also includes support for QuickTime and RealMedia files.

>>> homepage of these tools: http://www.codecguide.com/

I would also recommend, simply time synchronizer:

Dimension 4 - version 5.0

screenshots: http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/screenshots.htm

About
Why should I care?

How many clocks do you have in your home or office? 5? 10? 15? 20? Undoubtedly, if you're like most people, you have a bunch. But, the real question is ... How accurate are they?

Everyone should have at least one clock that they can rely on. Why not have that clock be the clock on the PC you're using right now? If you have 5 minutes to spare, download Dimension 4 (right now) and make your PC's clock the most accurate clock in your possession.
Why Dimension 4?

Simply put, Dimension 4 v5.0 is the fastest and easiest way to synchronize your PC's clock for Windows-based operating systems. Once Dimension 4 is installed, you'll most likely forget that it's even running. It's that automatic.

Dimension 4 will monitor your Internet connection and automatically adjust your PC's clock when you're online at an interval you specify.

>>> homepage: http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

Tamil, how many programs have you got on your computer?

Check out this site

You want free programs?
I have started a site:
my.Free Programs

This is a hobbie project. The freeware list isn't big (Yet). But it is just a start. Please go and have a look and give me som views on the site!

Thanks!

Tamil,

I don't wish to offend you in any way, so please forgive me for saying that this thread seems to consist of little more than your own posts. I know that you want to be helpful to the other forum members, and you may well have been. But, speaking only for myself, I find it difficult to give credibility to any person who continues to post links for "every" program that they have installed. Isn't it a bit strange that you have so many "Best" freeware apps? Perhaps they are good, but I won't install a program simply because someone mentions it. I don't know about you, but there are many reasons why a person might endorse a particular program, and I only listen to someone who has established reputation, in my mind, and I have faith in.

Again, I do not post this as a reprimand, but as just a friendly thought. If I have angered you, please count to ten before posting a rebuttal.

Thanks for understanding my intent. I try to be careful these days, because I have found some of the forum members to be touchy. The only question that I have remaining is how well you really know the programs? Sometimes our first impressions of a program change with time. Also, I have found that my preferences do not always match those of others, and I try to take this into consideration when endorsing anything...do you?

I am a regular visitor of this thread, I like it. Of course I didnt installed or tried every program recommended here, but it's a source of information. Keep going on!

I don't mind one bit.
Keep posting the great software Tamil
Im definetely benefiting