More freeware stuff

[Antmeister]

Here are two freeware viewing applications for the web:
Simple Viewer Postcard Viewer

If you are into these applications (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash) and/or into Web Development, then go here for free tutorials:
Digital Illusions

Looking for royalty free images that will cost you nothing, then check out these links:
Image After
Stock Xchng
PD Photo.org
This last one is free if used for private non-commercial use only:
Freefoto.com

Maybe you can't afford Microsoft Office or you just don't want to upgrade again. That's okay, try this alternative to Microsoft Office. It works for Windows, Linux and Macintosh:
OpenOffice

And here is a really nifty site. If you own any games that require that you have the CD in the drive while playing, here is a place to eliminate that need so that you can play the game without the CD-ROM.
GameCopyWorld

[Antmeister]

I forgot about these as well....

Wish you had some cool landscape backgrounds, but don't have a digital camera, then check out this terrain generator:
Terragen

Looking for some freeware games, check this site out. Notrium is probably the best of the group and has won a number of awards:
monkkonen.net

Speaking of games, here is a whole arcade that you can play online. They have a selection of flash and director games here:
Clevermedia

[Antmeister]

There's more...

How about some free 3d software:
Blender

Maybe you like to try out some new fonts. Why not get them for free:
Coffeecup Fonts
Essential Fonts for Designers
1001 Free Fonts

If you wanted to build a menu on your website but wasn't quite sure how then this might be the answer:
DHTML Menu Builder

Speaking of websites, are you looking for an alternative to Dreamweaver that's free:
HTML Gate and/or PHP Designer

[Suicane75]

Some excellent stuff here, thanks for posting these. Im gonna try out the HTML editor later tonight.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Some excellent stuff here, thanks for posting these. Im gonna try out the HTML editor later tonight.

No problem. I usally find some of these because people have shared them with me, so I might as well share it with others since it doesn't cost a dime. However if you find the software useful, donate to the creator.

[daedalus]

Thanks a bunch, Antmeister. I appreciate you sharing these.

[Emiliano]

Hey thanks a lot man! Great stuff.

[Antmeister]

No problem daedalus and Emiliano. By the way, I see you post as frequently as I do Emiliano (well actually maybe somewhat less), but since I didn't get the chance, welcome to the board (even though I am a year late).

But wait....there's more...

Well this may not be free software, but it is free code. I used this expanding menu on a project I worked on 8 months ago. However I altered it so it can be a database driven menu which can be seen here (Arizona Production Association). So check it out if you want to add one to your website:
Expanding CSS Menu

Speaking of free code, check out these two sites that I use when I am in a bind:
Hotscripts.com
Actionscript.org
Dynamic Drive

Now if you want to get into web design and you have a Firefox browser, these extensions are invaluable:
Aardvark (This will identify elements on the web page.)
Web Developer (This is my favorite. You can edit css while it is showing in your browser so that you can test with what works. You can also view the dimensions, paths, broken links etc.)
HTML Validator (What is nice about this is that an icon shows up on the bottom right corner of the browser indicating if the web page has errors, warnings, or no problems at all. If you click on the icon, the window opens to show you where the errors and warnings and can even clean it up for you.)
Colorzilla (If you find a color that you would like to use for your own web site, you can use this color picker to get the hex code. This rests in the lower left corner of the browser once installed.)
IE View (This simply opens the web page you are viewing in Internet Explorer. Makes it real easy when you are testing a web site and comparing, rather than typing up the URL over again. You simply right click on the right page and select 'View this page in IE'.)

As you can see I am a huge fan of free stuff. I am adding more when I can find more time to write up the descriptions. Hope this is useful to people in the future.

[Antmeister]

What! Are you saying there's more?

Yes I am....

Are you looking for something that is better than WinZip and costs you nothing, then try this out:
Zip Genius

Okay, well there are plenty of times when I want to send something a picture or text, but we just don't have the same software. The only thing we have in common is that we have a PDF viewer. Well guess what, you can use this nifty utility to create PDF files and it it so free, it's ridiculous.
PDFCreator

Well I know there are a lot of programs that convert your files to mp3, but I happen to like this one because it gives you a lot more control:
Audiograbber

I don't know how many web developers are out there, but it can darn frustrating when you are trying to configure your home computer to act like a server so that you can test out your server side scripts. It is always so darn time consuming to try to configure. Well I have the answer for you. This self installing executable saves you a lot of time in trying to figure all that out and it allows you to turn the services on and off through a nifty icon. It install PHP5, Apache, MySQL, PHPmyadmin and SQLitemanager. There is even an add-on for PHP4:
WAMP(for Windows)
MAMP(for Mac)

I have only messed with this software a few times, but it seems to work somewhat well. If you are looking for some morphing software, try this free stuff out:
WinMorph

Another piece of software, made by the same company above, is a special effects software package to be used for video. I forgot to mention that the above software can be used with video software, but it doesn't have to. Anyways there is about 200 presets and yes it is free:
Wax

[mhass]

Thanks for sharing!

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

By the way, I see you post as frequently as I do Emiliano (well actually maybe somewhat less), but since I didn't get the chance, welcome to the board (even though I am a year late).[/b]

Hey thanks man!!! BTW, you're perfectly in time. I introduced myself to the board a couple of weeks ago, so I'm still a newcomer.

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Are you looking for something that is better than WinZip and costs you nothing, then try this out:
Zip Genius

This is great. I have it too!!! And it's developed by an Italian guy!

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Well I know there are a lot of programs that convert your files to mp3, but I happen to like this one because it gives you a lot more control:
Audiograbber

Same here. I tried a lot of ripping programs, Audiograbber is clearly the best.

Thanks again Ant.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Emiliano

This is great. I have it too!!! And it's developed by an Italian guy!

I'll third it. I really like ZipGenius, too.

SI

[Antmeister]

Are you telling me that you still have more freeware?

Well yes I do....

Looking to burn CD and DVD for free, then try this out if you are on a Windows machine. It has a lot more features than some of the commercial burners:
CDBurnerXP

Looking for a good strategy game that is similar to Civilization, then try this one. The developer even updated it a couple of weeks ago. Amazingly deep for a freeware game.
C-evo

While we are on the topic of games, there are a number of you who look for cheats when you are stuck and can't get past a level in a game. Well here is a free cheat database that covers a number of platforms ( PC, Playstation, Playstation 2, Sega, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, N-Gage, Nintendo DS, Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast, and Super Nintendo). Check it out:
Cheatbook

Is your website loading way to slow? Well it maybe because you did not optimize your images and sometimes even code. This freeware application optimizes your HTML pages:
Absolute HTML Compressor

Do you have a lot of crap on your drive and want your computer to run smoother? This application, which is short for Crap Cleaner, clears out the temp files and also cleans out the registry. One warning, it will clean out all of your cookies if you don't uncheck the box. In other words, you may be automatically logging into certain sites and don't remember your password since you created it a year ago. If you don't want to go through the hassle, uncheck this:
CCleaner

[FrogMan]

ohh, the Crap Cleaner sounds like a winner to me, will download and try tonight.

You gotta have IrfanView somewhere in those list, but I'm sure it's coming up soon

And I'm a ZipGenius user too, been one for a while now, sweet program!

FM

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

ohh, the Crap Cleaner sounds like a winner to me, will download and try tonight.

You gotta have IrfanView somewhere in those list, but I'm sure it's coming up soon

And I'm a ZipGenius user too, been one for a while now, sweet program!

FM

I used the "crap cleaner" and it did a nice job for me ... no problems on the first try.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

ohh, the Crap Cleaner sounds like a winner to me, will download and try tonight.

You gotta have IrfanView somewhere in those list, but I'm sure it's coming up soon

And I'm a ZipGenius user too, been one for a while now, sweet program!

FM

Thanks Frogman, I decided to not mention Infranview because I remember it being in a number of freeware threads. I wasn't sure if I should bring up what others have, but I guess it doesn't hurt. I would also include GIMP as one that is often mentioned as well. For those that may not know, these are two great freeware image editors. Infranview is best known for its batch processing and optimization and can use a number of Photoshop filters. The only downside is that it says it is restricted to non-commercial use. GIMP can be used on the Mac, Unix, and Windows and seems more of a image editor. I must adimit I haven't used either one in a long time since I have gotten Photoshop, but they are really good alternatives.

[FrogMan]

yeah, you're right about IrfanView having been mentioned a few times already, simply thought it could not be mentioned enough

Great listings though, you're seeing it the same way I am. If I know of something that I use, it's often been recommended to me by others, so might as well recommend it to others, if it does the trick...

FM

[Antmeister]

Whew! I didn't realize that I have/had a lot of software. I decided to go through my link and I believe I am coming towards the end, so please bear with me.

In the world of games, these are a few that I play once in a while as time wasters. Treasurefall is actually a shareware product., but believe me when I tell you that they don't limit it that much at all in the demo version and you can play this demo forever. It is a puzzle matching game with a twist. Highway Pursuit is a game that is similar to Spy Hunter. I just found out that they updated the game at the beginning of this year to include joystick controls. Cool. Little Fighter 2 has been around for years and I like to challenge or join the wife in fighting some baddies. So enjoy the links:

Treasurefall
Highway Pursuit
Little Fighter 2

Okay well maybe you are looking to record some audio, but you have a hankering to edit it. Not to worry. I have some free audio editing software here:
Audacity

Now the last two I am about to post I considered not posting for some obvious reasons, but I have found uses for them for past projects. The first piece of software is SmartRipper. This allows you to copy files off a DVD and stores the vob files on the computer. I used this when my brother had created an indy movie onto DVD since I didn't have a way to covert his Hi-8 tapes to a digital format. In combination with SmartRipper, I used FlaskMPEG to convert the .vob files to .avi's in which I could edit with my software and create a trailer. People have found other uses for them:
Smartripper
FlaskMPEG

The last piece of software is one I never used but I heard good things about. I just can't vouch for it personally. I saved the link, but I hadn't downloaded it. This is another DVD backup software and may be actually easier than the process that I listed above. Check it out:
DVD Shrink

[Karim]

I've used Crap Cleaner for a while now. Never had problems but it allows you backup the registry before making changes...

[Zippo]

great links!

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Whew! I didn't realize that I have/had a lot of software. I decided to go through my link and I believe I am coming towards the end, so please bear with me.

This line makes me sad. I wish you had much more to offer us. Thanks very much for all of the links.

[Antmeister]

Thanks to all who gave compliments. Now if you guys find any cool freeware, add them to the list.

[Antmeister]

I have finally come to the end of the list....

Okay, let's say you have always wanted to create a game, but didn't know if you were quite sure that you wanted to spend hours trying to learn a language in order to find out. Well here is a nifty freeware program that allows you to create games. If you find the tool worth it, you can upgrade it for $20 to get even more advanced options. This is one I always wanted to try, but didn't have the time to sit down and learn since I didn't have time to flesh out a game idea first. Ho-hum. Get it here:
Game Maker 6.0

Well maybe you don't want to create a whole game. Maybe all you need is a good map for your dungeons or castles. Well this piece of software is a great mapping utility that you may find usefu. Please be aware that they are soon coming out with version 2.0:
Dungeon Crafter

While we are on the subject of games, the roleplaying games have been my favorite genre in the gaming industry. I am sometimes pleasantly surprised by the depth of these freeware games:
Dark Disciples
Ivan (Iter Vehemens ad Necem)

Here is yet another HTML editor. If you find the other one a little difficult, you may find this one a little easier to figure out. I used it about 2 years ago and it was great for its time:
Max's HTML Beauty 2004

That is all I have. Of course there are plenty of great links to find freeware and here is a list I often refer to whenever I need something:
Freeware Files
NONAGS
SnapFiles
Softpedia
Sofotex
Freeware Home

[Antmeister]

Okay, well these are actually the last two.

Need a program to rename a bunch a files. Use this application to do so easily:
Renamer Fairy

And lastly this is a freeware tool that allows you to screen capture whatever you choose to select on the screen:
MWSnap

That should be it....I think.

[Pyser]

dvdshrink is great. if you are, ahem, "backing up" some of your dvds, it allows you to set the compression rate you want for each item of the dvd. meaning, you can compress the extras on the dvd as much as you want, so that the actual movie will have the least compression possible. very nice control to have. you can also just choose certain extras that you dont want at all, to save even more space...i think.

[JSB]

http://www.dvddecrypter.com/
Can be used hand in hand with DVD Shrink to backup any movie and fit it onto one DVD.
Weird thing is that the engine for Shrink is used without permission for some other burning programs that are being sold for profit (DVD Clone being one)

[Draft Dodger]

all music related:
MP3 Gain
will normalize all your MP3s to the same volume, but without affecting the quality. All 80something gigs of music I have has been run through this program.

MP3 Tag Studio
one of a plethora of MP3 tagging software out there, but it's the one that I like the most.

Powertab Editor
for those guitarists out there, this is an awesome free program to write/read guitar (or bass) tablature. You can transcribe your own stuff in a format that looks very similar to something you'd see in a guitar magazine, or you can download a plethora of files of popular guitar-based songs that have already been transcribed.

[Antmeister]

Thanks JSB and Draft Dodger! Mp3 Gain looks really appealing and I will definitely check out the DVDdecrypter.

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

all music related:
MP3 Gain
will normalize all your MP3s to the same volume, but without affecting the quality. All 80something gigs of music I have has been run through this program.

Wow! This is great. I didn't have a program like this. Thanks a lot!
One question: what method do you use to normalize, the "album" one or the "track" one? I didn't understand exactly the difference.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Emiliano

Wow! This is great. I didn't have a program like this. Thanks a lot!
One question: what method do you use to normalize, the "album" one or the "track" one? I didn't understand exactly the difference.

I use the track one - that's the one that makes all the individual mp3s the same level. I also use the default level (89, I think).

[Antmeister]

Two more programs

A cool picture editor:
Paint.net

A cool picture organizer:
Picasa

[Antmeister]

I left out this one. For all those who are looking for a download manager, check this one out:
Free Download Manager (FDM)

[Antmeister]

Nice little Firefox optimizer/tweaker:
FireTune

Two online freeware games:
Gunbound and Rakion

Free video editor:
ABC VideoRoll

[Antmeister]

Erase sensitive data from your hard drive. Good for people with sensitive records for the workplace or (cough...) collectors of porn:
Eraser

A cool aquarium screensaver that's free:
Aquatica Screensavers

Now this is a nifty desktop calendar that you can set appointments in:
Desktop Calendar

Now if you have no experience in coding and want to build a website, this is good for the newbies:
WYSIWYG Web Builder

This is simply an image downloader/viewer for those that own digital cameras and are sick of the software that comes with the camera. What I like about it is the ability to view images in RAW:
cam2pc

[Emiliano]

Antmeister71=the God of freeware.

[Antmeister]

This is pretty nice. It's a portable version of Firefox that can be taken with you on a USB key drive, CDRW and even an external hard drive:
Portable Firefox

Here a cool utility to keep track of themes if you are into that sort of thing:
Theme Manager

Finally I found my a cool FTP program without having to go through another application:
DeluxeFTP

[kingfc22]

This needs to go in the ultimate sticky thread.

[Antmeister]

Another free HTML editor:
CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor

A DHTML Menu Builder:
DHTML Menu Builder

Photo management software:
Webshots Desktop

Two very good space combat games:
Starfight VI
No Gravity (This works on multiple platforms, like Windows, Linux, BeOS and Mac. It can be confusing, in terms of installation instructions, but all you have to do is download "No gravity (game data only)". This is regardless of the platform you are on. Then the other downlaod will depend of your system. Read the site for these details.)

For all those Windows XP users, here are those popular power toys:
PowerToys for Windows XP

[Pumpy Tudors]

AntMeister, you are the greatest. Please PM me your address so that I may go to your house and blow you.

Twice.

[Zippo]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Another free HTML editor:
CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor

A DHTML Menu Builder:
DHTML Menu Builder

Photo management software:
Webshots Desktop

Two very good space combat games:
Starfight VI
No Gravity (This works on multiple platforms, like Windows, Linux, BeOS and Mac. It can be confusing, in terms of installation instructions, but all you have to do is download "No gravity (game data only)". This is regardless of the platform you are on. Then the other downlaod will depend of your system. Read the site for these details.)

For all those Windows XP users, here are those popular power toys:
PowerToys for Windows XP

the last link doesn't work. Thanks

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Zippo

the last link doesn't work. Thanks

It is working now.

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

AntMeister, you are the greatest. Please PM me your address so that I may go to your house and blow you.

Twice.

What?!?!

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just like to show my appreciation.

[Eaglesfan27]

Remind me to never do you any favors.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I just like to show my appreciation.

I know it was a joke. Just tried to place the spotlight on you and pretended I was shocked by what you said. Heh heh.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

I know it was a joke. Just tried to place the spotlight on you and pretended I was shocked by what you said. Heh heh.

You want a spotlight on me while I'm blowing you? Oh, you naughty boy.

[Antmeister]

Here is a slew of freeware applications. There is desktop publishing, photo and imagae editing, website design and publishing, 3d and vector art. Really neat site. Be aware that it requires registration, just in case you are wary of this:
FreeSerifSoftware

[Antmeister]

How about some software that performs hardware diagnostics and memory benchmarking:
Everest Home Edition

Yes, this is another HTML editor, yet this one has a lot of nice features and this is really good for beginners as well:
Alleycode

Another FTP client. Just check it out if you need one:
FileZilla

How about a good time waster:
3D Ultrapong

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

You want a spotlight on me while I'm blowing you? Oh, you naughty boy.

Sassy!

[Karim]

Internet Download Manager

After trying many of the more popular download managers such as Download Accelerator Plus, my search ended with IDM. The ultimate compliment is that I ended up paying for it which I rarely do with shareware or freeware. I've used it for about two years without one single crash.

If you do try it, you may want to try it for a while without Advanced Browser Integration.

Here is the feature list:

All popular browsers and applications are supported! Internet Download Manager has been tested with the following browsers: Internet Explorer, MSN Explorer, AOL, Netscape Communicator, Netscape 6, Netscape 7, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Firebird, Opera, NetCaptor, UltraBrowser, Slim Browser, Avant Browser, MyIE2, Optimal Desktop, Ace Explorer, Advanced Browser, 27 Tools-in-1 Wichio Browser, WindowSurfer, 550 Access Browser, FineBrowser Freeware, Kopassa Browser, Fast Browser Pro, Enigma Browser, GoSuRF, K-Meleon, Smart Explorer, The Off By One Web Browser, Smartalec Voyager, CrystalPort AppCapture, The Family Browser, XANA Web Browser, Bluto, AutoSurf, 32bit Web Browser, BrowseMan, WrestlingBrowser, Eminem Browser, UltraBrowser, Cygsoft LDAP Browser, and Net M@nager. Internet Download Manager supports all versions of popular browsers, and can be integrated into any 3rd party Internet applications.

Download with one click. When you click on a download link in a browser, IDM will take over the download and accelerate it. IDM supports HTTP, FTP and HTTPS protocols.

Download Speed. Internet Download Manager can accelerate downloads by up to 5 times due to its intelligent dynamic file segmentation technology.

Download Resume. Internet Download Manager will resume unfinished download from the place where they left off.

Simple installation wizard. Quick and easy installation program will make necessary settings for you, and check your connection at the end to ensure trouble free installation of Internet Download Manager.

Automatic Antivirus checking. Antivirus checking makes your downloads free from viruses and trojans.

Advanced Browser Integration. When enabled, the feature can be used to catch any download from any application. None of download managers have this feature.

Built-in Scheduler. Internet Download Manager can connect to the Internet at a set time, download the files you want, disconnect, or shut down your computer when it's done.

IDM supports many types of proxy servers. For example, IDM works with Microsoft ISA, and FTP proxy servers.

IDM supports main authentication protocols: Basic, Negotiate, NTLM, and Keberos. Thus IDM can access many Internet and proxy servers using login name and password.

Download All feature. IDM can add all downloads linked to the current page. It's easy to download multiple files with this feature.

Customizable Interface. You may choose the order, and what buttons and columns appear on the main IDM window.

Download Categories. Internet Download Manager can be used to organize downloads automatically using defined download categories.

Quick Update Feature. Quick update may check for new versions of IDM and update IDM once per week.

Download limits. Progressive downloading with quotas feature. The feature is useful for connections that use some kind of fair access policy (or FAP) like Direcway, Direct PC, Hughes, etc.

Drag and Drop. You may simply drag and drop links to IDM, and drag and drop complete files out of Internet Download Manager.

IDM is multilingual. IDM is translated to Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai languages.