Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Galemp on October 22, 2003, 10:22:39 pm
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Which are your favorite applications? They have to be (legally) free, relatively small, install and uninstall cleanly, and be useful enough that you use it almost every day.
My nominations:
iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/) jukebox, music store, CD rip/burn, music share, all around wonderful music app
Trillian (http://www.trillian.cc) full-featured IM client with support for AIM, ICQ, IRC, Y!M, and MSN
Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com) image viewer/converter
Share the love...
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http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/
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http://www.windowblinds.net/
WB4 runs even faster than the standard XP desktop API. :cool:
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FileZilla & Filezilla Server, Miranda IM, Mozilla, Zoomplayer, Irfanview, Winamp, avast! Antivirus 4 home edition & Sygate Personal Firewall (standard).
And then codecs (http://koti.mbnet.fi/~fury/misc/Codecs.rar) I am using. I don't use codec-packs made by others which are full of **** or outdated codecs, instead I periodically run through the homepages of codecs I use. And of course checking excellent Inmatrix's mediasetup article (http://www.inmatrix.com/articles/mediasetup.shtml) to see of it is updated.
OK well, I have to admit that perhaps not all of those codecs I am using are completely legal. But who cares...
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Winamp (http://www.winamp.com) - One of the best multimedia players ever.
Crimson Editor (www.crimsoneditor.com) - For all your text editing needs (can properly color most config and source files)
SmartFTP (http://www.smartftp.com) - a great FTP program.
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), a good soundfile-editor.
Continuum (http://www.subspacehq.com), a good (free) game. :D
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Where would I be without em?
Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org) (web and mail)
Context (http://fixedsys.com/context/) (source code editor in the DOS 'edit' style)
Python (http://www.python.org) (my favorite scripting/programming language)
DevC++/GCC (http://www.bloodshed.net/) (hey, sometimes you just gotta use C/C++)
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On Windows? Let's see. Off the top of my head:
Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/). Like Trillian, only free and with a more complete feature set (ICQ v8 springs to mind).
BersIRC (http://www.bersirc.com). A multi-server (which is what initially attracted me to it) IRC client with a much cleaner interface than that relic of the Windows 3.1 era, mIRC.
The rest of what I use most commonly on Windows (Opera, GetRight, WinZip, WinRAR, Windows Media Player, Ad-Aware etc) doesn't really qualify as free (in either the "freedom" or "free beer" sense) so probably won't count.
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My nomination:
AVG anti-virus
ZoneAlarm
Adaware
Divx 5.0.5
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Daemon Tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php) A virtual CD/DVD emulator that lets you place images of disks on your hard drive and use them as if they were real CDs/DVDs
AceFTP (http://freeware.aceftp.com/) A free FTP client. Best one I've found so far. Definately better than smartFTP.
AceHTML (http://freeware.acehtml.com/) A free HTML editor. You still need to know HTML of course but this makes things easier to do since you don't have to type in every single tag by hand. Will also parse your code and look for errors.
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AVG Anti-Virus: Don't be stupid and you'll be fine.
ZoneAlarm: Pro edition let me ride out the Blaster worm untouched.
RegCleaner: Best regestry editing app out there.
TweakAll: For when TweakUI woun't work on your system.
SpyBot Search & Destroy: When used in conjunction with Ad-Aware, nothing escapes.
If you're interested, Google the above products and enjoy.
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Smart Popup Killer : quite a neat little proggie that helps rid oneself of the greater majority of pop-up windows..
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Google Toolbar. Also has one of the more effective popup killers built right in.
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[color=66ff00]Pegasus mail (www.pmail.com)
Like Tweak UI? Try X setup. (www.xteq.com/downloads/)
I'd also like to give kudos to Trillian, SmartFTP and Winamp. :nod:
[/color]
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AIM, ICQ, MSN, Trillian, Winamp, Winzip, WinRAR, ZoneAlarm,
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winamp, opera, and windows commander (now renamed to total commander because of some stupid reason).
opera and the commander aren't exactly free, tho, as they are shareware or something. maybe I should get a license for windows commander, as I've used it since 1993 or so. anyways, it's a really great file managing tool, and it's what I use instead of the desktop and explorer and notepad and sometimes instead of leechftp. did I mention you can manage a lot of different file compression formats in it too (liek zip, rar, arj, uc2, ace, tar, and more)?
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Originally posted by ZylonBane
Google Toolbar. Also has one of the more effective popup killers built right in.
Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Like Tweak UI? Try X setup. (www.xteq.com/downloads/)[/color]
I can't believe I forgot those two...
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Another little obscure utility that I've come to depend on: Button Boogie. It's one of PC Magazine's utils. Lets you rearrange buttons on the task bar by clicking and dragging them. Perfect for at work when I'll usually have about at least a half-dozen programs open.
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A media player, I've been using a lot...
Foobar2000 (www.foobar2000.org) - for win and *nix (I think)
The MAD plugin for WinAmp (http://www.mars.org/home/rob/proj/mpeg/mad-plugin/). Better MP3 decoder than winamps own.
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Mozilla
Foobar2000 (also for *nix? :eek2: how, when, where?!)
IrfanView
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Originally posted by Maeglamor
[Like Tweak UI? Try X setup. (www.xteq.com/downloads/)[/color]
Cute program... look what I can do.
(http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/fsport/misc/tdpc.gif)
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Originally posted by ZylonBane
Another little obscure utility that I've come to depend on: Button Boogie. It's one of PC Magazine's utils. Lets you rearrange buttons on the task bar by clicking and dragging them. Perfect for at work when I'll usually have about at least a half-dozen programs open.
it'd been great if it had worked for xp.
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Originally posted by Galemp
Cute program... look what I can do.
*snip*
Hm. Now if only I had a Graphic for RNI Systems. My PC is already registered to them :p
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Originally posted by Galemp
Cute program... look what I can do.
(http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/fsport/misc/tdpc.gif)
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Originally posted by kode
it'd been great if it had worked for xp.
Considering that XP is basically 2K, and it works fine under 2K, I don't know why it wouldn't work under XP.
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iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/) jukebox, music store, CD rip/burn, music share, all around wonderful music app
ICQ (must test Trillian some time
Smartftp
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Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/)
For people like me who can't stand any version of Windows Media Player after 6.4. Looks almost exactly like it, but plays the newer codecs that WMP6.4 can't, plus Quicktime and Real files (if you have the codecs installed).
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[size=823746]WORDPAD![/size]
:D
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Possibly useful factoid: If you save a document with the .WRI extension, Windows will open it with WordPad instead of Word. This is handier than remapping .RTF from Word to WordPad.
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Originally posted by ZylonBane
Considering that XP is basically 2K, and it works fine under 2K, I don't know why it wouldn't work under XP.
because XP handlas the bar thing differently from the earlier windows'
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[size=15]NotePad!!!!![/size]
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Well said!
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Notepad sucks, wordpad is better IMO...
Notepad: Bare minimum functionality. I at least like some options.
Wordpad: At least a few usefull options but no memory hog at all.
Word: Memory hog and just too many useless functions.
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Bolding, Italics and fancy fonts are nothing but useless fluff designed to detract from the text contained therein.
And WordPad sucks for anything other than text-writting as if you copy-paste from some other app, it keeps the font for the text you've pasted. So you end up with 40 different fonts throughout the document.
It also has all kinds of useless junk like line-break characters and crappy character formatting that needs to be removed if you're using it for coding.
NotePad does what it's meant to, it writes in all fonts, sizes and languages without any extra frills. It's like a nice, strudy AK-47 compared to some fancy laser-guided American piece of **** that explodes if you fire it in wet weather.
NotePad > WordPad.
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Originally posted by an0n
Bolding, Italics and fancy fonts are nothing but useless fluff designed to detract from the text contained therein.
Or to accentuate (sp?) certain parts of the text.
And WordPad sucks for anything other than text-writting as if you copy-paste from some other app, it keeps the font for the text you've pasted. So you end up with 40 different fonts throughout the document.
Is it so hard to press Ctrl+a and change fonts? No.
It also has all kinds of useless junk like line-break characters and crappy character formatting that needs to be removed if you're using it for coding.
:wtf: Never had a problem with that. Did Java, even some minor C++ stuff in it.
NotePad does what it's meant to, it writes in all fonts, sizes and languages without any extra frills. It's like a nice, strudy AK-47 compared to some fancy laser-guided American piece of **** that explodes if you fire it in wet weather.
Well, thats your opinion but I still think Notepad is too bare to actually write a text thats comprehensible.
NotePad > WordPad.
Your choice...
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Metapad (http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/) > Notepad
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Opera Web browser: Just for when I want to surf the net.
Winamp 2.91: Best media player I've ever used.
AceHTML: One of the best HTML/php/lotsa-other-stuff text editor I've used
Blender 2.23 and 2.28c: The two best versions of Blender I've ever used.
Trillian: I like it because it can IM with all (?) major IM's. That way I don't have 4 open wasting resources.
FS_OPEN: Do I have to say it?
Irfanview: The best batch conversion software I've used.
Descent manager tools/FS tools: Again, Do I have to say it?
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Glad to see I'm not the only person who uses AceHTML :D I was beginning to wonder :)
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Long live Microsoft Paint!. Better than Photoshop for primitive paintings .... :)
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Originally posted by TheCelestialOne
Notepad sucks, wordpad is better IMO...
Notepad: Bare minimum functionality. I at least like some options.
Wordpad: At least a few usefull options but no memory hog at all.
Word: Memory hog and just too many useless functions.
it depends on what you are going to do. for taking notes/writing flat textfiles, I'd go with notepad or some other similar program. for word processing, I'd use word or frame maker or some other word processor. for comparing two completely different things, I'd use you.
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[color=66ff00]Any of you guys used openoffice?[/color]
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Openoffice is nice for people who need an office replacement, it's somewhere on my knoppix cds. I don't like it myself, lots of un-necessary features.
Mozilla Firebird for browsing, virc or xchat for IRC, nethack, mplayer for video, gaim for im.
vim > notepad/wordpad
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Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Any of you guys used openoffice?[/color]
Yes, my only office software now-a-days.
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Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Any of you guys used openoffice?[/color]
:nod:
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Originally posted by Kamikaze
vim > notepad/wordpad
You are my hero. :D
Perhaps I should add a free OS to the list. ;) FreeBSD. You can blame it on the Daemon. (http://www.freebsd.org) ;7
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602 Suite (http://www.software602.com) > OpenOffice.
I tried O.O. and I didn't like it so much. Like most open source stuff, it is free and offers most if not all the functionality of the high-priced alternatives. It's downfall is that it is open source and among other things, defaults to a decimal based ruler system and a lot of the more common features are unnecessarily deep into the menu structure.
602 on the other hand is easy, if you can use Word, 602 is a picture book to OpenOffice's 200 page paperback.
Blender is good, I picked it up pretty easily and can crank out a decent model, applying UV maps has as yet eluded my comprehension however.
3D Exploration is pretty good, while not technically free, the older versions have an unlimited trial so it is good for modders and hobbists who don't have 200+ bones to drop for the newer versions.
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[color=66ff00]Decimal is ok.
It's only really the US that deals with the outdated and clumsy imperial system.
[/color]
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Notepad is made for text editing. Not word processing.
Word and Wordpad are made for word processing. Not text editing.
If you find that Notepad 'doesn't have enough functions' you're an idiot, because you're using it for something it wasn't meant to do. That's why Windoze has both Wordpad and Notepad built in.
Try writing C++ in Wordpad, saving it in default format but with a .cpp extension, and then running it through a compiler. The compiler chokes because the saved file isn't plain text. It's FORMATTED text, meant for printing via the correct program (ie. Wordpad).
Notepad is WYSIWYG as relates to file contents. Wordpad is WYSI(N)WYG as relates to printer output. Trying to write a document: use Wordpad. Trying to write code that needs to be in PLAIN TEXT format: use Notepad. So no, Notepad doesn't suck. It does what it was made to do.
And it's never crashed in my computer. Unlike Wordpad, Word, Excel, Publisher... In fact, just about every other program I know of.
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Well, the notepad on W98 is a bit aggravating; can't open 'big' files and doesn't obey the Ctrl+F for 'find' :ick
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Obviously you haven't used the upgraded version of Notepad in windows 200. :D
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Can we get back on topic? More good links, less discussion about bloody text editors! ;)
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
windows 200 :D
Whats that? Windows 2k divided by 10? :p:D:p
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Yeah. Windows 2k divided amongst the ten people who actually BOUGHT it, as opposed to DOWNLOADED it...
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careful...
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Winamp
ICQ
Infranview
Goldwave (its not technically freeware, but it'll do)
as for text editing i prefer 'edit' or '6'
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Originally posted by TheCelestialOne
Whats that? Windows 2k divided by 10? :p:D:p
It's the special Roman Empire edition. :p
I'd also like to mention I've switched to Winamp 5. Very nice; has the plugin capability and simplicity of 2.x, and the skin capability of 3.x :nod::yes:
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I am using 2.97 and stopped upgrading after that since 3 took much longer to load and used up a lot more system resources. Did they ever fix that stuff?
Anyway, most of the things I use have already been stated, but here are a few others:
HTML Help Workshop (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/hwMicrosoftHTMLHelpDownloads.asp)
This allows one to create chm files; these are essentially HTML websites combined into a single file with some compression and are used to make most helpfiles these days. I find it handy when I need to send math stuff through email, since I don't have Acrobat and sending fifty html and gif files is rather clumsy.
ModPlug Player (http://www.modplug.com)
There are some mod-based audio files that Winamp cannot load correctly/at all (it, s3m, umx, etc.), which I use this program to open. Has all the usual extras such as the playlist, equalizer, custom UI skins, and so on.
Turbo Navigator
Although it has some quirks, this is the best free file manager utility I have come across. I really liked the old File Manager's basic interface, which but it is buggy and lacks key features, while Windows Explorer's interface is piece of junk but it has extras; this combines the best of both. The main website has been down for some time, but if you do a search on google several links come up.
I think I saw Continuum in here somewhere, so I guess games are also allowed.
LaserTank (http://pages.globetrotter.net/lasertank/)
An excellent freeware puzzle game. Although the basic premise is hardly original, this is the best game of its type I have seen. Includes over 2000 levels and a level editor.
MegaPlex (http://www.matemaster.de/mpx/)
This is a Windows version of the old 1990 arcade/puzzle hybrid Supaplex (which also spawned a Mac port called Infotron a few years later). I spent many hundreds of hours back then with the mac version. It runs on the same tileset as Supaplex so it is rather lacking in terms of graphics, but is very addictive nonetheless.
Outbound
The developer's website went down a long time ago, but this still remains a nice overhead arcade shooter. Has interesting missions and solid terrain graphics. This can probably be found through Google.
Soldat (http://www.soldat.prv.pl/)
This is a fairly popular one; sort of like a standard FPS played out in a 2D world. Has a fun offline mode with lots of options and good bots, but the multiplayer mode is the best part of this.
Beneath a Steel Sky
This was a retail SCUMM-based adventure game released around 1995 but is now legally freeware. It is available on the ScummVM (http://www.scummvm.com) website and the ScummVM program allows it to work with full sound even if you don't have working SB16 emulation. The ending is rather rushed, but this is a great game nonetheless.
And it's never crashed in my computer. Unlike Wordpad, Word, Excel, Publisher... In fact, just about every other program I know of.
That's one of the best things about Notepad; its simplicity and lack of frills also make it very fast and stable. :yes:
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RM-X (http://darkain.skin-zone.net/) - a plugin for Winamp and a standalone program that allows you to use virtually any input device to control music.