Useful utilities ...

Sounds pretty good Zardon! By the way, are those your own words? If so you'd make an excellent salesman.

 

I'll give it a try!

The wife actually used our homebox when looking on line about refinancing our house...I've been getting 15-40 e-mails a day since! (5 years! I made it 5 years without any spam on that box until then...) I'll think on my contribution to this thread, there's just SO many good ones!

 

Re:

Enough! I'll download it immediately!

 

Zardon, are you using the beta version?

 

Internet Download Manager

For those of us that are not yet on a fat broadband pipe a download manager is a must. Sadly most are bloated pieces of crap which introduce gain software and other spyware when you use them. I recently found this gem, the Internet Download Manager to be IMHO one of the very best avaliable. Here is a blurb from it's homepage at http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/ :


"Internet Download Manager (IDM) is a tool to download files faster, resume and schedule downloads. Internet Download Manager can increase download speeds by up to 500 percent and will give you all power to handle your downloads. Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network problems, computer shutdown, or even an unexpected power shutoff. Simple graphic user interface makes IDM application user friendly and easy to use.


Internet Download Manager has a smart download logic accelerator that features intelligent dynamic file segmentation and safe multipart downloading technology to accelerate your downloads. Unlike other download accelerators and managers that segment files before downloading starts, Internet Download Manager segments downloaded files dynamically during download process. Internet Download Manager reuses available connections without additional connect and login stages to achieve better acceleration performance.

Internet Download Manager supports proxy servers, ftp and http protocols, firewalls, file redirects, cookies, directories with authorization and a large number of directory listing formats.

IDM can take over downloads from Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape for any file types of your choice, making the whole process easier. It shows its own download dialog where you gain additional control over your downloads.

The latest version includes advanced scheduler, download queue, full drag and drop support, mp3 audio, mpeg, mpg, dvd and avi movies content inspection, virus checking, dial-up enhancements, import/export of download lists, extraction and accelerated downloading of audio data streams and a wealth of other improvements and bug fixes."



It does everything I need it to do and is stable. Unlike most download mangers this is shareware and it costs $24.95 to register, but in the long run I would rather pay then put up with the spyware.

 

Tweaking XP

I do not know if this qualifies as an app, but it is a site that I use to help tweak my system.

http://www.tweakhound.com/supertweaks1.htm

It provides a wealth of information, and it is free, just a word of warning from experience, do not attempt to adjust any register settings unless you are sure of what the outcome will be. Some of these tweaks are easy to muck up, and the result will be a hosed system, be warned.

Having said that most people will find something of use, and be able to apply it.

It will also provide links to other great sites, and tweaks which can be invaluable, helpful and a real performance boost.

Go and read, assimilate and put into practice.

They are all free, please do not link to a particular item but to the main page.


Bill

 

My two cents.

Star Downloader:



I have used this download accelerator/manager for over a year, and I love it. The simple fact of the matter is that it is free, works as well as any other manager I have ever used, and has absolutly no bloat at all. Gots to love that.


Star Downloader is a download accelerator that can increase download speeds by up to 400 percent. Unlike similar applications, it is completely free. It does not contain any banner ads or spy-ware.

The acceleration is achieved by splitting the file being downloaded into several parts and downloading these parts at the same time. Download speeds are further increased by downloading the file from the fastest mirror sites.

You may automatically resume broken downloads if your connection is lost or if your computer accidently shuts down. With the scheduler, you may download files at certain times of the day. Star Downloader may also automatically connect to your ISP and hangup upon completion of downloads.

An integrated unzipping utility can automatically unzip and install downloaded files. Star Downloader also integrates with your antivirus program to automatically scan files upon completion of the download.

Star Downloader supports FTP and HTTP. Proxy is also supported.

 

WhereIsIt

This is a great cd catalogue program for those of you that collect stuff online:

Snippage:

WhereIsIt can be used to handle any kind of data, including downloaded programs, magazine CD-ROMs, music collections like MP3s or audio CDs, graphics collections, document backups, etc. WhereIsIt can handle lots of them, too, a couple hundreds or thousands disks in a catalog is nothing unusual, yet catalogs remain reasonably small, single-filed and easy to transfer or send to other users. You can also create more than one catalog, and at any time open and work with as many catalogs at once as needed.

WhereIsIt Website

 

- DVD Genie

- StyleXP

- ACDSee

- AutoPlay Media Studio (Util or not...)

- Microangelo

- HTTP Tunnel


Note - missing links; going to bed, too tired...

 

The google search toolbar add-in!!! Can't live without it.

 

Get the Google Toolbar Here!!!

 

Free Basic Drive imaging tools anyone?

I've used these very basic drive imaging tools avaliable here:
http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/DriveImagingUtilities/DriveImagingUtilities.htm

DrvImagerXP not near as pretty as Drive image 2002 or Norton Ghost but it *does* get the job done for free.

 

Now that I've regained my copy and paste ability, here's a list of utilities (freeware and shareware) that I posted at Rage3D a while back, with a few more added.

MP3Gain - Freeware
MP3 utility
http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/

(taken from the website)
MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume. It does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear. Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding.
(note: MP3Gain can only alter files in MP3 format.. WMA files aren't recognized)


VirtuaWin - Freeware
Virtual Desktop Software
http://w1.457.telia.com/~u45706979/

Allows up to 9 virtual deskops in either a linear or 2D fashion. Very small, uses very little system resources, and is extremely customizable. Once you try virtual desktops, there's no going back.


POW! - Freeware
Popup killer
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/pow.htm

Small program that runs in your system tray. Unlike most popup killers, you have to configure this one yourself. When a popup appears that you don't like, open the program (2 clicks on the systray icon), and select the title of the window you want gone. The next time that window appears, it will be automatically closed. Simple, yet effective. Over time, you'll see less and less popups, and since you decide which ones to kill, you don't run the risk of accidentally killing a legitamite popup window.

AnalogX has a ton of other really great freeware, but POW! is the only program I personally use. Check it out, and you might find something else you really like. http://www.analogx.com/contents/download.htm


SneakyAmp - Freeware
Winamp plugin
http://www.execpc.com/~zor/SneakyAmp/

This is a Winamp plugin that allows you to control Winamp from within any program by using the keyboard. Great for when you're playing full screen videogame while listening to your MP3s.


Startup Control Panel - Freeware
Startup Editor
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Ever use Microsoft's "MSCONFIG" program to edit your system's startup? Well, this is similar, but with an incredibly clean and simple interface. Works on all versions of Windows. It is available as both a standalone program and as a control panel addon.


StyleXP - Shareware ($19.95)
WindowsXP "theme" software
http://www.tgtsoft.com/

I'm not really sure what to call it. Basically, it allows you far more options for themes than XP currently has. There's "blue", and "olive", and "silver", but that's about it. This program opens up Windows to vastly different styles, many of which can be found at places like http://www.themexp.org. This is similar to skins, but, different. Hard to explain.


DetachXP - Freeware
"Patch" for Outlook XP
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,19240,00.asp

Anybody who's used Microsoft Outlook 2002 (aka Outlook XP) has probably noticed that if somebody sends you an EXE (or any of several other different file types), you had no way of accessing it. Microsoft considers this a security feature, but they included no way of disabling it. DetachXP makes a registry change that allows you to access these files, with different levels of security.


Download Accelerator Plus - Shareware/Adware ($29.95)
Download accelerator and manager
http://www.speedbit.com/

A must have for people on broadband connections. It can increase download speeds by as much as 3 times what you normally get (I've seen it happen). It's also a download manager, and it keeps track of everything you've downloaded with it, so you can go back and find something you downloaded and then deleted and forgot about. Downloads have a small banner ad at the top of the window, but you can easily minimize that.


SmartFTP - Freeware
FTP client
http://www.smartftp.com

Out of all the FTP clients I've ever used, this is easily the best one. And it's FREE! Nice, clean interface, packed full of features, and did I mention it's free?


IrfanView - Freeware
Graphic Viewer
http://www.irfanview.com/

IrfanView is one of the best programs utilities I have. Not only can it open a wide variety of image (and video) files, but it can also easily convert image formats (BMP to JPG, for example). I use IrfanView to resize (and sometimes rotate) all of my digital camera photos, as well as to compress screenshots I take.


AIM+ - Freeware
Add-on for AOL Instant Messenger
http://www.big-o-software.com/

AIM+ is so cool. It gets rid of all the advertisements, keeps a log of your conversations (if you want it to), allows you to run multiple instances of AIM at one time, has transparency effects, and even more features are planned for the next version. AIM+ is what AIM should have been to begin with. Note: As of this post, AIM+ does not currently work with AIM 5 or greater. An update is in the works.


Folding@Home - Freeware
Distributed Computing project
http://folding.stanford.edu/

F@H is difficult to describe. It is a distributed computing project that gives researches valuable information regarding how proteins "fold". This can lead to a better understanding of proteins, and potential medical breakthroughs. Unlike SETI@Home, this project has been proven to be effective. The client runs in the background (or on a screensaver if you so prefer) and is configured such that it ONLY uses idle CPU cycles. If you're playing a game, the client effectively shuts down until you're done.


That's all I've got for now. Is that enough?

- Me

 

i have been getting over 100 emails a day from hotmail all unsolicited,so i have downloaded the beta version thanks for the link.
i find web ferret very useful program from ferret soft. freeware

 

wdrtw

XMPlay

un4seen.com

The BEST all media player (except midi, but! it is the best choice for mod and it...which are way better than midi anyway), small memory footprint (doesn't even register in rambooster), and only a few hundred KB. Based on a revised, un-buggy version of Winamp 2.8, so you can use most plugins from Winamp, yet none of the crap associated with wincrap!

Sonic Foundry Soundforge

no link, sorry

The BEST media editor, edits mp3s, wmas, oggs, and wav without decoding the files...so cool.

JASC Paintshop Pro

can't remember the link

The cheaper photoshop...only thing it lacks is...I don't even know! it's awesome!

Panda Antivirus

again, dunno the link

Small antivirus proggy that's free and can stop IE exploits and viruses not in it's database without any performance hit.

Motherboard Monitor 5

Need I say anything about this one?

 

http://www.driverheaven.net/thread.php?id=5961 anyone heard of or know where i can this one

 

Re: wdrtw

you have an Audigy and you still think mod is better than midi???

have you even used the soundfont features of your card?? if not, use them! midi quality when paired up with proper soundfonts clobbers mod files!