What "little" program could you simply not do without?

[liam858]

Ghost

I'd go for a similar app over Ghost, for the simple fact that it is a Symanwreck product....Acronis True Image does a much better job, and has much better support, should you need it, just my £0.02.


Liam

[HAN]

Been a while since this thread was revived. I felt that a new (to me ) little freebie I stumbled across deserved mention here.

Marxio Timer http://www.marxio-tools.net/en/marxio-timer.php

It offers several methods to act as a timer or scheduler to perform various tasks. It fairly intuitive and it works (which some of these things I've tried do not.) Check it out...

[Rex A. Butcher]

This has always been one of the best threads. I have downloaded a number of useful, recommended programs.

As one cannot do without a PDF viewer, my current favourite freebie is PDF-XChange Viewer. worth checking out.

Rex

[Webshark2000]

It's cool to see that people are still posting to this thread more than six years after it was started. I never thought it would go on this long, but I too have found several good programs because of it. VirtualDr rocks!

[JPnyc]

I've been using Gimp for graphics manipulation. Infra-recorder to burn dvds and CDs, and Picasa 3 for photo editing. I didn't check to see if any of these were mentioned already

[TheTechWizards]

Spacemonger - A little tool that gives you are graphical picture of files and folders on your hard drive. This allows you to clean up your drive super-quick. Brilliant!

[Train]

CDBurnerXP and Faststone image Viewer are my latest additions.

[wild willy]

The average user without the Secunia PSI has 12 insecure programs installed on their PC!

An easy way to keep informed of security updates Secunia PSI

[Rodney M]

An easy way to keep informed of security updates Secunia PSI

Your Secunia System Score of 100% is 4% HIGHER than the average user


Thanks for the link!

[Crimson Blonde]

This is a list of Open Source Alternatives to the "Big Name" Proggies.

I snatched this from my graphics forum. I know some have been mentioned but I wanted to keep them all together. Thanks to Surfpark for all his hard work in arranging this list



Replace Photoshop/Photoshop Elements with...
GIMP (Windows, Mac, Unix)
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manuipulation Program. The program has the ability to edit bitmap images and photos. It saves files in formats that will work with other bitmap editors, including Photoshop (jpeg, tiff, gif...). There is also a modified version of the client for Windows called GIMPshop, which "skins" the interface to emulate Photoshop.

Replace Illustrator with...
Inkscape (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This program creates scalable vector artwork. It can import and export SVG, Illustrator (.ai), PDF files, and also handle many common raster format files (jpeg, png, gif..).

Replace InDesign or Quark Xpress with...
Scribus (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This open source program is designed for desktop publishing. This program supports PDF/X-3 standards and comes with a limited amount of vector tools. It supports SVG importing and Open Type fonts.

Designer Note: If you plan on using software on a semi-professional or professional manner, it is best to ask your printer first. Unlike the other programs on this list, your printer will want to be able to access your native Scribus file. Ask your printer in advance to install the software before sending out a print job.

Replace Flash with...
Synfig (Windows, Mac, Linux)
When looking to replace Flash I had to consider the usage. Flash serves a dual purpose for designers, as a means to animate/present content or to use as an interface. Synfig is a little more confusing than Flash, espcially if you're a novice user. It can export to a variety of video formats, including Flash (.swf), mpeg, and SVG. This program also supports ActionScript.

Designer Note: While you may be creating with an open source tool, you might want to save your work in a widely-used format (SVG or SWF). Most of the audience will view your work with Adobe's Flash Player, which is free to download. If you goal is to avoid all proprietary software, then check out Gnash, a free open source Flash player.

Replace Director with...
libavg (Mac, Ubuntu)
While this may not be the ultimate solution, its one of the few products that allow users to develop rich-media interfaces. Perfect for a kiosks and presentations. The interface is nothing like Director, so be prepared to learn a little bit.

Replace Dreamweaver with...
Nvu (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This HTML editor allows code view and WYSIWYG design view, similar to the way Dreamweaver does it. It also allows users to handle their files neatly, integrate forms, and more. This is a great program for those learning web design. It also offers a clean source code view for the people that like to create their HTML from scratch.

Replace Soundbooth with...
Audacity (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Imagine a stripped down version of Soundbooth with the same amount of power. Don't worry though, because you'll be able to download all the sound filters you want through the web site. Handles all the major audio file formats (wav, mp3, aiff, ogg vorbis).

Replace Premiere with...
Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux)
While this doesn't have all the features of Premiere, its great for simple linear editing and encoding. This allows you to input MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, ASF, images, H.263 format, and more. Output your work into AVI, MPEG, MP4, or OMG. While an advanced user might need more control, this will do the trick for the majority of users.

Replace Encore with...
DVDStyler (Windows, Linux)
If you've created and edited your film, and want to share it, you'll need to burn it to disc. Encore no longer exists as a stand-alone program, since it was rolled into Premiere in CS3. Open source solutions have yet combine editing suites and DVD authoring into one. Adobe has jumped into the format war and have given Encore the ability to burn Bluray discs. Until the format war is over (and Bluray drives become standard) most people, including the open source community, are sticking with DVDs.

DVDStyler is a great tool that allows the user create simple and beautiful menus for DVDs. Although this program doesn't give advanced control over video playback, it is great to learn the DVD menu structure.

Replace After Effects with...
Jahshaja (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This is very similar to After Effects. The one thing missing is the After Effects library. Not to gret though, since Jahshaka comes with a slew of their own effects. It even lets you import projects from Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, Lightwave, Maya, 3DS Max, and more. It lets you export your projects into many formats too.

[foxy]

Crimson--how about these. Although they're not open-source, they're less invasive, and also free:

Replace RealPlayer with Real Alternative
Replace WMP with Media Player Home Cinema or MediaPlayer Classic
Replace almost any other media player and image viewer with Irfanview (reads 200 formats, including Quicktime files)

Will Synfig play Flash files in your web browser? Gnash is compatible only up through Firefox 2, and we're on 3.6 now.

[Rex A. Butcher]

I've just found a little prog. that is proving to be useful for bookmarking web sites that I want to use, probably one time in the future, but not actually add to my Bookmarks folder.

Called VisitURL. Just copy and paste the address into it, add some notes and away you go.

Rex

[buf]

If you are one to those who have several windows minimized and would like to close them with one click, go here: http://blog.jonschneider.com/2008/02...oseallexe.html
I have it installed and it is a nice piece of free software; one that I have just discovered this week.

[foxy]

I found this little File Recovery prog today which is related to Crap Cleaner so I'm assuming it's a decent tool (coz I think CCleaner is) but I haven't got time to test it today.

Recuva

Recuva is great, better and faster than Restoration. Pirifoirm makes good freeware.

[foxy]

REGSEEKER -- Best registry cleaner i ever found -- 850 keys were removed on first pass!

Any of them correctly?