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Minus

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There is a thread listing security programs. What about other software that is useful, and free.

OpenOffice


OpenOffice.org (Oo_O or OOo), commonly known simply as OpenOffice, is a free cross-platform office application suite available for a number of different computer operating systems.

OpenOffice.org is a collection of applications that work together closely to provide the features expected from a modern office suite. Many of the components are designed to mirror those available in Microsoft Office.

The components available include:

Writer A word processor similar in functionality to Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. It can export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can function as a basic WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages.

Calc A spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3 with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data. Calc can write spreadsheets in PDF format.

Impress A presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files, allowing them to be played on any computer with a Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files, and the ability to read Microsoft PowerPoint's .ppt format. Impress lacks ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.

Base A database management program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base may be used as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base became part of the suite starting with version 2.0. Native to the OpenOffice.org suite is an adaptation of HSQL. While Base can be a front-end for any of the databases listed, there is no need for any of them to be installed.

Draw A vector graphics editor and diagramming tool, similar to Microsoft Visio and comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It features versatile "connectors" between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It has similar features to Desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher.

Math A tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can export to PDF.
 
Gimp - Gnu Image Maniupulating program.
I used that for just simple picture editing, it might not be as powerful as photoshop but it was good enough for me and free, could download photoshop's shortcuts to replace the default too.
 
Free Download Manager
One of the best download software here.

Vista LogonStudio
Gives you personalised logon screen.

PsPad editor
One of the friendly programming notebook

GoogleDesktop
Nice sidebar and help you search your files in a better way.Useful widgets included.
 
Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.

* Operating Systems: Runs on Windows Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT 4, Me, 98, and 95.
* Browsers: Requires IE 3 or Netscape 3, and higher versions. Also runs on Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox.
* File size: 1784 KB.
* License: The license associated with this product allows for free personal use only.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

belarc2.jpg


In addition to a system security and Windows updates check, Belarc produces a nicely-formatted HTML report of every single piece of software you've got installed on your machine, version numbers, serial numbers, and hardware component details as well. Belarc is a great PC checkup tool that comes in mighty handy when you're doing upgrades or operating system installations.
 
Other internet browsers
Opera*
Mozilla Firefox*
Netscape
Safari

*Recommended
One of the best ways to get less trojans or adwares is to use other browsers.
 
Audacity


Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

About Audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

* Record live audio.
* Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
* Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
* Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
* Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
* And more!

audacity-windows.png


Features


Recording

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

* Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
* Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
* Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
* Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

Import and Export

Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats.

* Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.
* Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.
* Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library.
* Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD.
* Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile.
* Open raw (headerless) audio files using the “Import Raw” command.
* Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats.

Editing

* Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
* Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
* Very fast editing of large files.
* Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.
* Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.
* Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

Effects

* Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.
* Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.
* Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.
* Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.
* Other built-in effects include:
o Echo
o Phaser
o Wahwah
o Reverse

Sound Quality

* Record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples.
* Record at up to 96 kHz.
* Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and dithering.
* Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, and Audacity will convert them automatically in realtime.

Plug-Ins

* Add new effects with LADSPA plug-ins.
* Audacity includes some sample plug-ins by Steve Harris.
* Load VST plug-ins for Windows and Mac, with the optional VST Enabler.
* Write new effects with the built-in Nyquist programming language.

Analysis

* Spectrogram mode for visualizing frequencies.
* “Plot Spectrum” command for detailed frequency analysis.

Free and Cross-Platform

* Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
* Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and GNU/Linux.
 
Cool.I downloaded all that you recommended.

One of the best downloading sites are:
Sourceforge.com
Brothersoft.com
Download.com
 
Roboform

Help you to logon to your website which needs to be registered just by a click

For the free version,you can store up to 10 passwords and usernames.It also helps to generate a password for you.
 
YPOPs!

Downloads messages from Yahoo Free Mail accounts. While YPOPs! is running, popular e-mail client such as Outlook Express can connect to Yahoo Free account and transfer messages on your computer thus cleaning up your mailbox, you can archive old messages that reside on server. A little difficult to configure, both YPOPs and Outlook.

Can anyone tell me how to install and configure Linux version of this program?
 
Pasha Selim said:

That can work quite well if a person wants to stay with the free Yahoo. Their premium service has pop3 or a free gmail account will allow pop3 without a utility.

Yes, YPOPs! is a pretty good program.
 
pdfsam (PDF Split And Merge)

Suppose you have scanned a lot of papers into one huge PDF file, and then realize that you miss a page or have a page duplicated. Instead of restarting the whole scan process, you can use this program to cut the document into parts and then join the parts you need. You can do any "split/merge" operation with PDF files and pages within documents.
 
Minus said:
Audacity

Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

I've been meaning to comment that this a pretty nice thing to have installed. It does just about everything that recording software that costs hundreds does and it's not difficult to use at all.

With some spare time and patience you can edit and record music that sounds like it came from a fully stocked, professional studio.
 
Planeshift - free MMORPG
it's a beta, so there are a billion and one glitches
but it's still fun
 
Minus said:
Audacity


Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems...

Haha, awesome. If you had not posted that program I would have.

One thing I would like to add is AVG Anti Virus. I have used that program for about 2 years with absolutely no problems. Plus, it does not seem quite as resource intensive as other anti-virus software I have used in the past.
 
SilentThinker said:
Roboform

Help you to logon to your website which needs to be registered just by a click

For the free version,you can store up to 10 passwords and usernames.It also helps to generate a password for you.

I use something like this too. The one I use is Billeo. It's a toolbar that saves sign in info, but also can save online sales confirmations.

http://www.billeo.com/page/homepage.jsp
 
LonelyDragon said:
I use something like this too. The one I use is Billeo. It's a toolbar that saves sign in info, but also can save online sales confirmations.

Cool.I looked into it.Does it have any limits?
My diskspace is going to die soon.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/cookiemonster.html

Cookie monster helps you to delete browser cookies.

There is also youtube downloader,which downloads the video you are watching in youtube.It can converts those videos into mp3,wmv and so on.
 
SilentThinker said:
LonelyDragon said:
I use something like this too. The one I use is Billeo. It's a toolbar that saves sign in info, but also can save online sales confirmations.

Cool.I looked into it.Does it have any limits?
My diskspace is going to die soon.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/cookiemonster.html

Cookie monster helps you to delete browser cookies.

There is also youtube downloader,which downloads the video you are watching in youtube.It can converts those videos into mp3,wmv and so on.

Not for passwords. I've got over 100 stored myself.

Do you have a link for the Youtube Downloader?
 
CCleaner and NTregoptimizer

For cleaning up temporary, unnecessary files, Windows Registry optimization and so on
Using these programs you get a remarkable better Windows performance. Ccleaner first to be run, then NTregoptimizer.

@SilentThinker: YouTube Downloader - very handy,useful program
@LonelyDragon: I got it today from http://youtubedownload.altervista.org
 

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