Threeboy
12-23-2007, 02:01 PM
Free software! It's all over the internet however it seems that the majority of free programs are crappy, crippled shareware, there's secret spywware or some other lame gimmick. These programs that I use on a daily/weekly/monthly basis have none of that crap. They're genuinely free software that is actually useful and can help you on your daily quests.
This isn't comprehensive list and I may have left a program or two out but here goes:
Daily
I use these on a daily basis as part of my daily work routine.
7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/)
File Archiver
I know WinZip & WinRar are "free to use" but they have massive nag screens and to me that counts as crippled shareware. 7Zip has no such things - it's free for reals. It's a solid, free zip/archive program that supports rar/zip/gzip and more. You can also set it up to zip/unzip all from the windows right click menu so you'll never have to run the program itself.
Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/)
Web Browser
I didn't hop onto the Firefox bandwagon too quickly but now that I'm on I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. It renders faster and more accurately than IE which has become more important to me as (I attempt to) design with web standards in mind. It has built in spell checking and it also supports helpful plugins/addons like these:
Search Status (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321)
Displays the Google/Alexa/Complete pageranks for the site you're browsing.
FireSizer (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5792)
This handy Add-On lets me change the window size to 800x600, 1024x768, or any resolution I want which is very handy when testing how websites fit on various monitors.
IETab (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419)
When a site needs IE to function (Windows Update) I just click a button and FireFox switches to IE inside the FireFox window. Easy!Firefox 4 life! or until something better comes along ;)
Pidgin (http://www.pidgin.im/)
Instant Messenger
The bulk of my friends moved to MSN messenger during the great ICQ migration of '04 but I still wanted to run other IM programs (ICQ/AIM/Yahoo!/GoogleTalk) for work related reasons and Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM) let's me do that. If they would add support for MSN status lines I would use only Pidgin, but for now I run MSN and Pidgin together to cover all bases.
Winamp (http://www.winamp.com/)
Media Player
There's a problem with Windows Media Player & Apple Quicktime - as pretty as they are they're fat sons of bitches. Sure they have 'compact modes' but those seem to hide functionality so it's kind of useless. Winamp manages to remain small/tight (with the latest release you have to revert to the Winamp Modern theme) and does every goddamn thing you need - what more can you ask for in a media player?
Avast! (http://www.avast.com/)
Antivirus
I was a Norton subscriber until I upgraded to Windows XP Professional x64 edition and Norton didn't support x64 processors. I needed a virus scanner and Avast! just happened to be free as well. It has all the good stuff virus scanners should, such as background scanning and automatic updating, and it's free.
Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/)
Email & Newsgroups
The FireFox equivalent for email. I use this currently for email however it's not my first choice. Thunderbird is free and works well enough so I'm stuck with it until I can switch email clients.Weekly
These programs are of my weekly e-hygiene routine.
CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com)
Disk Cleaning Utility
When programs install themselves on your computer, they usually scatter temp files all over. When they're done installing (or even after you're done uninstalling) those temp files can be left behind and take up precious disk space. This program finds them and cleans them up.
SpyBot (http://www.spybot.info)
Spyware Scanner & Remover
A decade ago there wasn't much spyware kickin' around, and now it's on every block (metaphorically speaking). This program can scan your disks and make sure nones lurking around collecting your information (among other things). If you use this program be sure to update it's definitions like you would a virus scanner to keep it up to date.Monthly
Handy programs I use when needed.
CamStudio (http://camstudio.org/)
Screen Capture/Recording Utility
I've been using this to capture footage of my desktop viewing websites for the monthly TrueNuff TV! Video Updates. It's free, does what it's supposed to and has no frills.
CDEXOS (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/)
CD Audio Ripping Utility
When I buy CD's (yes, I buy CD's) I usually rip the audio for listening at my PC, and then leave the CD in my car for listening on the road. Other audio programs cripple their ripping until you pay for a premium version but CDEx is free, fast and can usually rip CD's even if they have funky copy protection.Use When Needed / Deserves Mention
I either use these once every few months, or I used to use it and then stopped for some reason.
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Audio Editing
J.Rai from TrueNuff usually handles the audio for the TrueNuff TV! sketches but in the rare occasion I have to do some sound editing I fire up this solid freeware audio editing program.
MameUI (http://mameui.classicgaming.gamespy.com/)
Arcade Emulator
The native version of the Mame (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is used using a command line interface. MameUI gives Mame an easy to use interface so you can play your (legal) arcade roms easily and comfortably. MameUI used to be known as Mame32 but they updated their branding to lessen confusion since computers are now available in both 32bit and 64bit flavors.
Font Xplorer (http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp)
Font Browsing & Management Utility
This program lets you browse your font styles easily. Photoshop has that functionality built in now, however I still load up Font Xplorer when working with illustrator or if I need a bigger sample than Photoshop provides.
FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/)
File Transfer Utility
I used to use FileZilla as my primary FTP program, however it had a strange bug that would swap filenames around when I'd upload a batch of files (a website for instance) and that's just not cool. Given the open source nature of the project that bug was most likely fixed by now (I hope) and other than that it's a solid file transfer program.There you have it, the order is somewhat arbitrary but that's the rundown of free software I use. If you have programs that are free and better for any reason, post them or tell me about them (http://www.threeboy.net/contact.php)!
Free, fast and lean.
This isn't comprehensive list and I may have left a program or two out but here goes:
Daily
I use these on a daily basis as part of my daily work routine.
7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/)
File Archiver
I know WinZip & WinRar are "free to use" but they have massive nag screens and to me that counts as crippled shareware. 7Zip has no such things - it's free for reals. It's a solid, free zip/archive program that supports rar/zip/gzip and more. You can also set it up to zip/unzip all from the windows right click menu so you'll never have to run the program itself.
Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/)
Web Browser
I didn't hop onto the Firefox bandwagon too quickly but now that I'm on I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. It renders faster and more accurately than IE which has become more important to me as (I attempt to) design with web standards in mind. It has built in spell checking and it also supports helpful plugins/addons like these:
Search Status (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321)
Displays the Google/Alexa/Complete pageranks for the site you're browsing.
FireSizer (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5792)
This handy Add-On lets me change the window size to 800x600, 1024x768, or any resolution I want which is very handy when testing how websites fit on various monitors.
IETab (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419)
When a site needs IE to function (Windows Update) I just click a button and FireFox switches to IE inside the FireFox window. Easy!Firefox 4 life! or until something better comes along ;)
Pidgin (http://www.pidgin.im/)
Instant Messenger
The bulk of my friends moved to MSN messenger during the great ICQ migration of '04 but I still wanted to run other IM programs (ICQ/AIM/Yahoo!/GoogleTalk) for work related reasons and Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM) let's me do that. If they would add support for MSN status lines I would use only Pidgin, but for now I run MSN and Pidgin together to cover all bases.
Winamp (http://www.winamp.com/)
Media Player
There's a problem with Windows Media Player & Apple Quicktime - as pretty as they are they're fat sons of bitches. Sure they have 'compact modes' but those seem to hide functionality so it's kind of useless. Winamp manages to remain small/tight (with the latest release you have to revert to the Winamp Modern theme) and does every goddamn thing you need - what more can you ask for in a media player?
Avast! (http://www.avast.com/)
Antivirus
I was a Norton subscriber until I upgraded to Windows XP Professional x64 edition and Norton didn't support x64 processors. I needed a virus scanner and Avast! just happened to be free as well. It has all the good stuff virus scanners should, such as background scanning and automatic updating, and it's free.
Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/)
Email & Newsgroups
The FireFox equivalent for email. I use this currently for email however it's not my first choice. Thunderbird is free and works well enough so I'm stuck with it until I can switch email clients.Weekly
These programs are of my weekly e-hygiene routine.
CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com)
Disk Cleaning Utility
When programs install themselves on your computer, they usually scatter temp files all over. When they're done installing (or even after you're done uninstalling) those temp files can be left behind and take up precious disk space. This program finds them and cleans them up.
SpyBot (http://www.spybot.info)
Spyware Scanner & Remover
A decade ago there wasn't much spyware kickin' around, and now it's on every block (metaphorically speaking). This program can scan your disks and make sure nones lurking around collecting your information (among other things). If you use this program be sure to update it's definitions like you would a virus scanner to keep it up to date.Monthly
Handy programs I use when needed.
CamStudio (http://camstudio.org/)
Screen Capture/Recording Utility
I've been using this to capture footage of my desktop viewing websites for the monthly TrueNuff TV! Video Updates. It's free, does what it's supposed to and has no frills.
CDEXOS (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/)
CD Audio Ripping Utility
When I buy CD's (yes, I buy CD's) I usually rip the audio for listening at my PC, and then leave the CD in my car for listening on the road. Other audio programs cripple their ripping until you pay for a premium version but CDEx is free, fast and can usually rip CD's even if they have funky copy protection.Use When Needed / Deserves Mention
I either use these once every few months, or I used to use it and then stopped for some reason.
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Audio Editing
J.Rai from TrueNuff usually handles the audio for the TrueNuff TV! sketches but in the rare occasion I have to do some sound editing I fire up this solid freeware audio editing program.
MameUI (http://mameui.classicgaming.gamespy.com/)
Arcade Emulator
The native version of the Mame (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is used using a command line interface. MameUI gives Mame an easy to use interface so you can play your (legal) arcade roms easily and comfortably. MameUI used to be known as Mame32 but they updated their branding to lessen confusion since computers are now available in both 32bit and 64bit flavors.
Font Xplorer (http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp)
Font Browsing & Management Utility
This program lets you browse your font styles easily. Photoshop has that functionality built in now, however I still load up Font Xplorer when working with illustrator or if I need a bigger sample than Photoshop provides.
FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/)
File Transfer Utility
I used to use FileZilla as my primary FTP program, however it had a strange bug that would swap filenames around when I'd upload a batch of files (a website for instance) and that's just not cool. Given the open source nature of the project that bug was most likely fixed by now (I hope) and other than that it's a solid file transfer program.There you have it, the order is somewhat arbitrary but that's the rundown of free software I use. If you have programs that are free and better for any reason, post them or tell me about them (http://www.threeboy.net/contact.php)!
Free, fast and lean.