yet more freeware....

Paint.net 3.10: http://www.getpaint.net/
http://www.brandonz.net/projects/zscreen/index.html
http://www.apophysis.org/ - Fractal
http://keepass.info/index.html

just some links to interesting or handy items... nothing mind blowing... more just a reminder for myself when my system crashes and i must rebuild.

expanded freeware list....

additional freeware i've picked up since my last post when i rebuilt my computer. (can be found under the 'freeware' label.)

audio player:

• XMPlay - they claim "Balls-on accurate. Plays the way nature intended." Nice player. Provides link to equivalent non-windows player. http://www.un4seen.com/
  

screen capture:

• FastStone screen capture - screen capture utility that allows editing, addition of text, boxes, labels, etc. http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm

image viewing:

• FastStone image viewer - supports all major image formats, and good range of basic editing features. http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

video conversion (between MPEG-MOV-PS3-MP4-iPOD-3gp/3g2-mobile phone-etc)

• MPEG Streamclip by Squared 5. Also available for Mac. http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html
• SUPER. i had to do a bit of work to get through all of their website to find the download section, but it was well worth the time (they do have a short list of what web settings need to be if you find yourself endlessly looping). http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html

3d /2d cadd & drawing software

• SketchUp6. courtesy of Google. http://sketchup.google.com/download.html
  an interesting concept in 3d modelling software. easy to learn, easy to use. i was able to actually produce a finished drawing in about and hour and a half - less time than it took me to get through the first chapter of the last cadd package i tried to use. pretty feature rich, although the pro version has a few extra bells and whistles that most hobby users would never need. edit: i noticed later that i had listed this in my first freeware post, but think it's worth a re-mention, as i have gained a new appreciation for it having actually had some time to use it. it's now a highly useful tool to me, instead of just a cool free utility.

notepad replacement:

• notepad++ - a free notepad replacement tool. http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm. i switched to notepadd++ from pspad as i find it has most of the same features, but seems to load much faster. for the basic editing i use it for, it was a gain in speed with no loss in features. your mileage may vary, and both are good programs.
  

mind mapping:

• freemind. this gets another mention because version 0.90 is available in beta. but they do warn it's not stable enough for full production. (like that ever stopped any geek i know...)

organimized....

warning... geek oriented post. proceed at your own risk.

my biggest challenge with everything going on (especially at work) is being able to remember and organize it.

i had a friend suggest a wiki. but most of those require a server backend of some type. although there are now several free online wikis available that have recently become available - and google bought out jot, which was supposed to be a really great pay service that should now become free when they finish merging the technology. eventually. a couple i ran across that are free (because they advertise inside your wiki) can be found here. i haven't tried these, but if you're interested....

• http://www.xwiki.com
• http://www.schtuff.com

for a while i was using wikidpad - a windows based program that was self contained, and generated a wiki that was easy to access. the problem then of course became accessing the files from more than one spot.

the same friend also recommended a book he had heard about called 'getting things done' (hereafter referred to as "gtd") by david allen. i bought it, and it seems interesting - i've been meaning to get into it in my spare time at work. it uses a couple of basic organization concepts to help streamline the mess. wikidpad had a 'to do' style plugin to assist in the gtd style which was nice.

imagine the thrill i felt when i was hunting through personal wikis a couple days ago, when i discovered tiddlywiki. a single page application based wiki. and cool too. go look. play. check out the javascript in the source code. it'll make your head spin. to be honest i think i skipped it when i was first looking because it uses 'tiddlers' - which made me sort of shake my head. i'm glad i went back and took a second look.

then i found a version based on tiddlywiki called monkeygtd. monkeygtd is a version that uses a set of gtd plugins, and has been designed for projects. bliss. nirvana. and if you don't like monkeygtd, try d3 - a kinkless based gtd (kinkless being a set of applescripts for creating a gtd framwork in omni outlinerpro on mac)

and then to top it off.... i discovered tiddlyspot. so what you ask.... tiddlyspot is a free hosting service that creates a tiddlywiki based wiki. no installation. update it online and offline. so as long as you have a net connection, you're good to go. and they have 6 basic templates - 2 of which are gtd oriented - monkeygtd & d3.

i think i just died and went to heaven.

i hope you'll join me

freeware (missed)....

sorry - as i rebuild a system this weekend, i will continue to add additional utilities i use i forgot to list....

missed two of the most important ones..... free (and very very good) antivirus

avast! - http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
avg - http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

filezilla - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ ftp client
stickies - http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/index.html post it notes

lavasoft adaware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/ spyware removal
spybot s&d - http://www.safer-networking.org/ spyware removal and protection
spyware blaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html spyware protection
(Note: i use all 3 of the spyware utilities. just one doesn't seem to cut it these days.)

scanner2 - http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/ "this tool uses a unique concentric pie chart to display the usage of your hard disk or other media. the chart shows all major files and folders from all directory levels at once. "

---

grant mentioned something in his comment on the previous post, that it's good to keep in mind.
these aren't the be all, end all..... they are free options and alternatives. there are stability issues with some of them, and in the case of firefox - it can't do it all. (specifically because many sites use activeX controls, which firefox won't touch. However, ms made the decision with ie not to support the css standards). firefox really is a better browser grant - especially for speed and safety, but we do run firefox and ie as browsers because it is still necessary.

no software is perfect. you get what you pay for (most times. the above free anti-virus software really is excellent stuff.) free opensource software requires additional work on your part for support or issues.

but..... it's good to keep in mind there are alternatives. and people out there working on innovative ideas they want others involved with. and we all do things differently - so it's good to have a choice.

it's a good thing :)

freeware...

i respect software i pay for, as it often comes with support, upgrades, warranty, and the money you shell out is supposed to indicate usefulness and stability.

however, i am starting to become a fan of what is referred to as opensource software (for those of you unfamiliar with this - it is software whose sourcecode is publicly available, and is developed by teams or groups of people working on it. the code is protected by copyright and licenses. the same licenses also protect the users by keeping it public and free. use of the code, or parts of the code require the end product to be distrubuted under the same licenses the original code was developed under).

let's just say, there's a lot of brilliant people out there, creating free versions of software that cost big bucks. because they think the development model works better. fixes bugs faster. and because they think it should benefit everyone.

anyway.... here are some utilities that i've been using, or have switched to. not all are opensource (most are though), although all of the ones listed here are freeware - at time of listing. (sorry, a although many of these utilities are cross-platform, i am primarily a windows user.)

• firefox - www.getfirefox.com web-broswer, part of the mozilla project
• freemind - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page mind mapping utility, comparable to mindmanager, etc. having trouble getting organized, working on a project or outline? this thing is fabulous
• task switch xp - http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html? alt-tab manager (what windows should have, and isn't)
• nvu - http://www.nvu.com/index.php cross platform web authoring.
• pspad - http://www.pspad.com/ universal editor for plain text/coding.
  
• zinf - http://www.zinf.org/ audio player
• google sketchup - http://sketchup.google.com/ easy 3-d modelling (very cool)
• cdburnerxp pro - http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ cd burning software (audio/video in development, but a good general burning program)
• deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/ another free (for personal use) cd burner package. this one has a usb key/portable edition!
  
• imgburn - http://www.imgburn.com/ cd image burning software (iso, bin, etc)
• open office - http://www.openoffice.org/ office productivity suite (like, well.... office!)
  
• irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/ fast, small windows graphics viewer
  
• audiograbber - http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ windows cd ripper/audio encoder (check out the lame encoder)
  
• colorpic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/ windows color picking utility - supports custom color palettes, uses a screen magnifier for precision
  
• dia - http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ a program for drawing structured diagrams (think visio style)
  
• the font thing - http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html windows font manager.
• ultravnc - http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/ remote computer desktop control.
• axcrypt - http://axcrypt.axantum.com/ file encryption for windows
• gimp - http://www.gimp.org/ gnu image manipulation program (think free photoshop. sure, it's not quite as user friendly - but it is almost as powerful)
  
• inkscape - http://www.inkscape.org/ vector graphics editor (think illustrator, or corel)
  
• porta - http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/porta/ web photo album generator (uses simpleviewer)
• airtight interactive - puts out a couple extremely cool flash based image viewers gratis. check out simpleviewer, and postcard viewer. porta (see above) is one tool available to help easily create albums, but you can also use picasa, iphoto, or go manual.)