Freeware Tools
Content
I made a list once. Could probably use more updating. 7zip[1] : In case anybody doesn't know, t e !reeware compression"decompression utlity o! c oice !or zip, rar, etc #byss $eb %er&er['] : (ost !rom ome. #uto(otkey[)] : *ery power!ul open source tool can script+customize macros, otkeys, e&eryt ing input related wit in t e $indows en&ironment rig t down to mouse clicks. ,ulk -ile C anger[.] : ,atc utility !or altering !ile attributes. Cabos: !ile s aring client !or t e /nutella network. 0ot as muc customization as t e s areware 1imewire but it does t e same 2ob. C3isplay[4] : C,5"C,6 !ormat se7uential reader, w ic are rebranded zip"rar e8tensions popular !or image arc i&es suc as comic books, guitar tablature, etc. C eat 9ngine[:] : 98tensi&e memory editor"manager. sort o! like /ame /enie"Codebreaker !or ;C. Classic% ell[7] : 5estores many o! t e $indows !eatures t at were stripped !or $in7 including disk !ree space on 98plorer's status bar, restores toolbars, t e classic !ile copy dialog, etc. Cross air[<] : 5eplaces t e mouse cursor wit an origin point along 8 and y a8is and is surprisingly more andy t an you mig t realize. C;=>6[?] : %imple utility !or monitoring system components+per!ormance 3C++[1@] : -ile s aring client !or t e 3irect Connect network t at was pro&iding a superior e8perience o&er t e o!!icial 0eo Aodus client !or years. 3ri&er%weeper[11] : I'&e been using t is !or some time to clear old dri&ers !rom systems. 9ase=%[1'] : %e&eral great products like ;artition Aanager and 3isk Copy, generously !ree !or personal use. 9asy,C3[1)] : Bou would want t is in order to manage boot loaders and restoring+repairing broken entries under $indows. eAule: Bet anot er !ile s aring client, !or t e e3onkey and Cad networks. I belie&e e3onkey is s ut down now but Cad seems !ruit!ul. -ileDypesAan[1.] : #ll t e !eatures Aicroso!t stripped !rom !ile e8tension management in *ista and 7, and all t e !eatures t ey s ould a&e implemented in t e !irst place. -ilezilla[14] : -ully !eatured !reeware -D; client. -lare[1:] : 3ecompile -las sw!. -o8it[17] : -reeware ;3- reader as t e less annoying alternati&e to #dobe. /o ;lay#long[1<] : % areware guitar tablature player !or /uitar ;ro !ormats. Eust recently got into it, but I lo&e t e mp) sync !eature !or backing tracks. (E%plit[1?] : $ o could li&e wit out a andy !ile splitter>2oinerF
(DDrack['@] : 3ownloads web site resources to generate a mirror !or o!!line browsing. =se responsibly. in%%I3er['1] : %eems to be t e wi!i scanning tool o! c oice now days. EoyDoCey[''] : E'C can map controller input to keyboard keypresses, use!ul i! a game !ails to pro&ide 2oypad support w en t ey s ould a&e. 5esults may &ary. CeyDweak: 5emap keyboard keys. 1ess AsiGrables[')] : 98tracting contents !rom a .msi !ile. Aicroso!t /I- #nimator['.] : Classic, no !rills tool !or creating gi!s. Aicroso!t ;ower Doys['4] : Aore !rom t e Hw y isn't t at built into I; by de!aultH category, includes utilities like Cmd(ere t at will add a directory conte8t to 98plorer !or opening a command prompt at t at target location. Jpera[':] : Bea , all t ose !eatures people ra&e o&er -ire!o8F Jpera was doing t em years prior. ;eer,lock['7] : Aonitors connections and blocks many o! t em based upon lists o! registered I; ranges belonging to &arious go&ernment, anti>p'p, etc. agencies. ;owerAenu['<] : #dds 'always on top' and ot er !unctions to $indows. I t ink I got t is !or some emulators lacking it. ;rogrammer's 0otepad['?] : Ay pre!erence !or a te8t editor+0otepad substitute. #ll t e best !eatures like code di!!erentiation !ormatting, tabbed organization, managing pro2ects. ;utty[)@] : 98cellent Delnet+%%( client wit great !unctionality. I'&e been using it !or my Kni8 s ell as !ar back as I can remember. % ell98*iew[)1] : I! you want to cut down on some o! t e unnecessary s ell e8tensions crowding t e rig t click menu under $indows 98plorer, t is is a andy way to do it wit out manually editing t e registry. %oulseek[)'] : =sed it !or gat ering some ard>to>!ind music way back. ,ecause it runs o!! users s ares, it doesn't a&e t e s orter li!espan o! most torrents but it's more manageable t an 1imewire and t ose types. %umatra ;3-[))] : %eems to be a popular lig tweig t reader. (as one .dat !ile !or pre!erences, doesn't re7uire an installer and supports numerous !ile !ormats. %ysinternals[).] : 9&ery one o! t ese s ould come packaged in $indows by de!ault. #ll t e utilities you may want as a $indows power user are ere including ;rocess Aonitor and #utoruns. =torrent[)4] : Ay !a&orite bittorrent client to date. D ey're not kidding about t e lig tweig t and e!!icient part. #lso customizable and !ully !eatured. $atc Cat[):] : 5eally old program !or a !ew !unctions like toggling &isibility o! windows to ide t em !rom obser&ation. It was great !or iding t e omnipresent banner ads in some so!tware t roug t e ?@s. I'm sure t ere are some potential uses !or it e&en today. %till works under $indows 7L
$in3ir%tat[)7] : *ery use!ul utility builds a grap ical table o! any dri&e or directory tree in order to 7uickly identi!y consumption. $indows 5esource (acker[)<] : Can import+e8port t e resources o! $indows !ormats including e8e, dll, oc8, etc I0 5esource 9ditor[)?] : I! 5esource (acker isn't up to t e 2ob any more, t ere is 5esource 9ditor. I*I)'[.@] : Ay pre!erred e8 editor.
Video & Audio
#*I cc c anger[.1] : In case you need to alter t e identi!ier in &ideo !iles #*I Au8[.'] : =tility !or managing multiple audio streams in &ideo !iles. -or e8ample, adding a commentary track !rom an mp) !ile to an a&i &ideo. CCC;[.)] : D e Combined Community Codec ;ack, w ic I'&e !ound immensely use!ul !or installing on ot er people's systems so I'm not plagued by re7uests to troubles oot+resol&e e&ery little codec issue t ey encounter. 3*38[..] : 5ips &ideo !iles !rom d&d source. 98act #udio Copy[.4] : Jnce upon a time C3 ripping and encoding wasn't a&ailable in e&ery ot er program. %till seems to be used by many people. /spot[.:] : Dool !or gat ering in!ormation on &ideo !iles and in!initely use!ul !or troubles ooting codec issues Aedia ;layer Classic (ome Cinema[.7] : Ay own pre!erence !or &ideo player, and immensely superior to $A;. A;)tag[.<] : ;robably t e best and !ully !eatured tag editor !or media !iles around, !ar better t an $inamp and iDunes. 5eal #lternati&e[.?] : ;lay .rm !iles wit out a&ing to install t e worst player e&er. *C3 /ear[4@] : *arious !unctions !or mpeg M &cd !ormats *ideo1#0 media player[41] : # decent player to install on ot er people's systems because I still ate getting p one calls o&er mundane issues like codecs. *irtual3ub[4'] : /reat &ideo processing utility !or encoding and editing &ideos. $inamp[4)] : %till my !a&orite audio player since t e ?@s, and as grown to continue supporting e&eryt ing I need wit plugins like mlNipod and t e new ,ento inter!ace.
Emulation
3aemon Dools[4.] : 9&en a!ter going commercial t ey're still t e optical dri&e emulation so!tware o! c oice as !ar as I know. 3e%muA9[44] : %eems to be t e only ma2or 0intendo 3% emulator in de&elopment as o! '@1'. 0ot sure w y anyone would want it w en a 03%+!las card are so c eap t oug .
3olp in[4:] : D e only solution !or /amecube and $ii, because you a&en't en2oyed 0ew %A, until you'&e played it wit a %ony controller. 3J%,o8[47] : 3J% emulator !or $indows, because Aicroso!t can't be arsed to pro&ide real backwards compatibility !or t eir own J% legacy. e;%Ie[4<] : 3e!initi&e ;%I emulator. C9/# -usion[4?] : D ere are 7uite a !ew %9/# emulators out t ere. D is one is best. (o8s:.[:@] : *ery !ait !ul Commodore :. emulator. Aame=I[:1] : -ormally Aame)', $indows port o! Aame. 000esterE: /ranted 09% emulators are as abundant today as Detris clones. ,ut t is one seems to be a little bit better t an t e ot ers. ;C%I'[:'] : D e !oremost ;laystation ' emulator as de&eloped enoug to become playable !or most games. # modern gaming system is absolutely re7uired. %ystems wit integrated grap ics adapters need not apply. ;ro2ect:.[:)] : 0:. emulator 5ed 3ragon[:.] : I! you wanted to emulate *irtual,oy O!or some reasonP %cumm*A[:4] : ;C ad&enture emulator !or 2ust about e&ery known plat!orm. %%-[::] : -ully !unctional emulator !or %9/# %aturn. It does include an englis language option wit in t e program. %tella[:7] : #tari ':@@ *isualboy #d&ance[:<] : 9mulates t e entire line o! /ameboy systems. 8):@ce[:?] : 9mulates t e Ibo8 ):@ controller Iinput. 6%09%[7@] : %09% emulator !or $indows. 7zip D eme Aanager. I like t is one in particular #udacity: multi>track audio editor. %upports a ton o! !iletypes. *ery e8cellent. Calibre: con&ert between te8t types and ebook !ormats. 0otably use!ul is con&erting epub or tml to mobi. 3J%,o8: !ully emulates dos, including sound dri&ers, mouse, etc. -o8it pd! reader: I use t is w en t e adobe one opens too slow. I don't t ink it supports as muc specialised !unctionality, but w en your !iles are plain pd!s and you don't like waiting t en you're good to go. Aetamorp ose: similar to bulk !ile c anger /rap Calc: a decent calculator, and tabbed '3")3 grap ing. (andbrake: easy 8':. encoding Imgburn: disc recording so!tware, t oug t ese aren't as use!ul as t ey used to be because o! memory sticks being smaller, ig er>capacity, and rewritable. %ometimes you need it. Inkscape: &ector grap ics editor
mediain!o: conte8t menu option to re&iew t e media. % ows &ideo trackOsP, audio trackOsP, and data like codecs, !rame rate, data rate, aspect ratio, audio sample rate, etc. #n ent usiast's wet dream, really. 1ibreJ!!ice: maybe a bit 7uirky w en compared to o!!ice '@@) Ow ic is ob&iously> ea&ily>HinspiredH>byP, but it's !ree and it does t e 2ob. 0otepad++: 2ust a nice te8t editor. ,est replacement !or ol' notepad.e8e I a&e !ound yet Odoesn't mean it's thebest, t oug P. 3oes tabs, ig lig ts brackets, ig lig ts commands, does nesting, etc. It also supports plugins i! you want e&en more t an w at is built>in. ;aint.09D: an e8cellent replacement !or mspaint. I! you can't make a solid and bulletproo! argument on w y you need p otos op, you can use it in place o! p otos op. ;3- Creator: Create watermark>!ree ;3- !iles. 3o t ey e&en sell t ose stupid programs anymoreF ;lus some programs Olike c romeP a&e built> in sa&e>to>pd! !unctions. D is creates a printer t at you can print to, and t en sa&e to ;3- !or w ate&er else doesn't support it. %uper!inder ID: get back t e ability to actually do a real !ilesearc in windows 7 O&ista, tooFP. Deracopy: !or w en you need to copy a lot o! !ilesQ like ' /, to ' D, at a time. Can replace de!ault copy andler, but I usually disable it and use it only !or large actions. ;er!orms C5C)' a!ter copy i! you tell it to Ocan make it de!ault in optionsP. Dells you t e trans!er rate as well. D underbird: not e8actly a secret, but it's !ree and it's awesome. %et accounts to imap and you're good to go. I a&e 4 accounts on my t underbird and it makes c ecking mail painless. &irtualdub: a way>more>speci!ic>crowd kind o! tool, but I'm going to list it. Bou can get plugins so it supports almost all !ile types, but it usually works in #*Is. It's great !or a !ew t ings Ostripping sound, uncompressing &ideo, c opping streams, *ideo>Rimage se7uence, and some ot er stu!!P. *irtual,o8: create &irtual mac ines and run alternate"old"sandbo8ed operating systems. /ood i! you don't trust some program. #lso good i! you want to use linu8 programs like 1aDeI in windows OI !ound it was much easier to install 1aDeI in a &irtual mac ine t an it was to get it working in windows a w ile backP. Bou mig t need a more>modern cpu Oone t at supports &irtualizationP in order !or t is to work. It also isn't great at win?4"win?< Opegs out a C;= at 1@@S and is laggy as ellP. *1C: media player. Eust get it.
(DDrack['@] : 3ownloads web site resources to generate a mirror !or o!!line browsing. =se responsibly. in%%I3er['1] : %eems to be t e wi!i scanning tool o! c oice now days. EoyDoCey[''] : E'C can map controller input to keyboard keypresses, use!ul i! a game !ails to pro&ide 2oypad support w en t ey s ould a&e. 5esults may &ary. CeyDweak: 5emap keyboard keys. 1ess AsiGrables[')] : 98tracting contents !rom a .msi !ile. Aicroso!t /I- #nimator['.] : Classic, no !rills tool !or creating gi!s. Aicroso!t ;ower Doys['4] : Aore !rom t e Hw y isn't t at built into I; by de!aultH category, includes utilities like Cmd(ere t at will add a directory conte8t to 98plorer !or opening a command prompt at t at target location. Jpera[':] : Bea , all t ose !eatures people ra&e o&er -ire!o8F Jpera was doing t em years prior. ;eer,lock['7] : Aonitors connections and blocks many o! t em based upon lists o! registered I; ranges belonging to &arious go&ernment, anti>p'p, etc. agencies. ;owerAenu['<] : #dds 'always on top' and ot er !unctions to $indows. I t ink I got t is !or some emulators lacking it. ;rogrammer's 0otepad['?] : Ay pre!erence !or a te8t editor+0otepad substitute. #ll t e best !eatures like code di!!erentiation !ormatting, tabbed organization, managing pro2ects. ;utty[)@] : 98cellent Delnet+%%( client wit great !unctionality. I'&e been using it !or my Kni8 s ell as !ar back as I can remember. % ell98*iew[)1] : I! you want to cut down on some o! t e unnecessary s ell e8tensions crowding t e rig t click menu under $indows 98plorer, t is is a andy way to do it wit out manually editing t e registry. %oulseek[)'] : =sed it !or gat ering some ard>to>!ind music way back. ,ecause it runs o!! users s ares, it doesn't a&e t e s orter li!espan o! most torrents but it's more manageable t an 1imewire and t ose types. %umatra ;3-[))] : %eems to be a popular lig tweig t reader. (as one .dat !ile !or pre!erences, doesn't re7uire an installer and supports numerous !ile !ormats. %ysinternals[).] : 9&ery one o! t ese s ould come packaged in $indows by de!ault. #ll t e utilities you may want as a $indows power user are ere including ;rocess Aonitor and #utoruns. =torrent[)4] : Ay !a&orite bittorrent client to date. D ey're not kidding about t e lig tweig t and e!!icient part. #lso customizable and !ully !eatured. $atc Cat[):] : 5eally old program !or a !ew !unctions like toggling &isibility o! windows to ide t em !rom obser&ation. It was great !or iding t e omnipresent banner ads in some so!tware t roug t e ?@s. I'm sure t ere are some potential uses !or it e&en today. %till works under $indows 7L
$in3ir%tat[)7] : *ery use!ul utility builds a grap ical table o! any dri&e or directory tree in order to 7uickly identi!y consumption. $indows 5esource (acker[)<] : Can import+e8port t e resources o! $indows !ormats including e8e, dll, oc8, etc I0 5esource 9ditor[)?] : I! 5esource (acker isn't up to t e 2ob any more, t ere is 5esource 9ditor. I*I)'[.@] : Ay pre!erred e8 editor.
Video & Audio
#*I cc c anger[.1] : In case you need to alter t e identi!ier in &ideo !iles #*I Au8[.'] : =tility !or managing multiple audio streams in &ideo !iles. -or e8ample, adding a commentary track !rom an mp) !ile to an a&i &ideo. CCC;[.)] : D e Combined Community Codec ;ack, w ic I'&e !ound immensely use!ul !or installing on ot er people's systems so I'm not plagued by re7uests to troubles oot+resol&e e&ery little codec issue t ey encounter. 3*38[..] : 5ips &ideo !iles !rom d&d source. 98act #udio Copy[.4] : Jnce upon a time C3 ripping and encoding wasn't a&ailable in e&ery ot er program. %till seems to be used by many people. /spot[.:] : Dool !or gat ering in!ormation on &ideo !iles and in!initely use!ul !or troubles ooting codec issues Aedia ;layer Classic (ome Cinema[.7] : Ay own pre!erence !or &ideo player, and immensely superior to $A;. A;)tag[.<] : ;robably t e best and !ully !eatured tag editor !or media !iles around, !ar better t an $inamp and iDunes. 5eal #lternati&e[.?] : ;lay .rm !iles wit out a&ing to install t e worst player e&er. *C3 /ear[4@] : *arious !unctions !or mpeg M &cd !ormats *ideo1#0 media player[41] : # decent player to install on ot er people's systems because I still ate getting p one calls o&er mundane issues like codecs. *irtual3ub[4'] : /reat &ideo processing utility !or encoding and editing &ideos. $inamp[4)] : %till my !a&orite audio player since t e ?@s, and as grown to continue supporting e&eryt ing I need wit plugins like mlNipod and t e new ,ento inter!ace.
Emulation
3aemon Dools[4.] : 9&en a!ter going commercial t ey're still t e optical dri&e emulation so!tware o! c oice as !ar as I know. 3e%muA9[44] : %eems to be t e only ma2or 0intendo 3% emulator in de&elopment as o! '@1'. 0ot sure w y anyone would want it w en a 03%+!las card are so c eap t oug .
3olp in[4:] : D e only solution !or /amecube and $ii, because you a&en't en2oyed 0ew %A, until you'&e played it wit a %ony controller. 3J%,o8[47] : 3J% emulator !or $indows, because Aicroso!t can't be arsed to pro&ide real backwards compatibility !or t eir own J% legacy. e;%Ie[4<] : 3e!initi&e ;%I emulator. C9/# -usion[4?] : D ere are 7uite a !ew %9/# emulators out t ere. D is one is best. (o8s:.[:@] : *ery !ait !ul Commodore :. emulator. Aame=I[:1] : -ormally Aame)', $indows port o! Aame. 000esterE: /ranted 09% emulators are as abundant today as Detris clones. ,ut t is one seems to be a little bit better t an t e ot ers. ;C%I'[:'] : D e !oremost ;laystation ' emulator as de&eloped enoug to become playable !or most games. # modern gaming system is absolutely re7uired. %ystems wit integrated grap ics adapters need not apply. ;ro2ect:.[:)] : 0:. emulator 5ed 3ragon[:.] : I! you wanted to emulate *irtual,oy O!or some reasonP %cumm*A[:4] : ;C ad&enture emulator !or 2ust about e&ery known plat!orm. %%-[::] : -ully !unctional emulator !or %9/# %aturn. It does include an englis language option wit in t e program. %tella[:7] : #tari ':@@ *isualboy #d&ance[:<] : 9mulates t e entire line o! /ameboy systems. 8):@ce[:?] : 9mulates t e Ibo8 ):@ controller Iinput. 6%09%[7@] : %09% emulator !or $indows. 7zip D eme Aanager. I like t is one in particular #udacity: multi>track audio editor. %upports a ton o! !iletypes. *ery e8cellent. Calibre: con&ert between te8t types and ebook !ormats. 0otably use!ul is con&erting epub or tml to mobi. 3J%,o8: !ully emulates dos, including sound dri&ers, mouse, etc. -o8it pd! reader: I use t is w en t e adobe one opens too slow. I don't t ink it supports as muc specialised !unctionality, but w en your !iles are plain pd!s and you don't like waiting t en you're good to go. Aetamorp ose: similar to bulk !ile c anger /rap Calc: a decent calculator, and tabbed '3")3 grap ing. (andbrake: easy 8':. encoding Imgburn: disc recording so!tware, t oug t ese aren't as use!ul as t ey used to be because o! memory sticks being smaller, ig er>capacity, and rewritable. %ometimes you need it. Inkscape: &ector grap ics editor
mediain!o: conte8t menu option to re&iew t e media. % ows &ideo trackOsP, audio trackOsP, and data like codecs, !rame rate, data rate, aspect ratio, audio sample rate, etc. #n ent usiast's wet dream, really. 1ibreJ!!ice: maybe a bit 7uirky w en compared to o!!ice '@@) Ow ic is ob&iously> ea&ily>HinspiredH>byP, but it's !ree and it does t e 2ob. 0otepad++: 2ust a nice te8t editor. ,est replacement !or ol' notepad.e8e I a&e !ound yet Odoesn't mean it's thebest, t oug P. 3oes tabs, ig lig ts brackets, ig lig ts commands, does nesting, etc. It also supports plugins i! you want e&en more t an w at is built>in. ;aint.09D: an e8cellent replacement !or mspaint. I! you can't make a solid and bulletproo! argument on w y you need p otos op, you can use it in place o! p otos op. ;3- Creator: Create watermark>!ree ;3- !iles. 3o t ey e&en sell t ose stupid programs anymoreF ;lus some programs Olike c romeP a&e built> in sa&e>to>pd! !unctions. D is creates a printer t at you can print to, and t en sa&e to ;3- !or w ate&er else doesn't support it. %uper!inder ID: get back t e ability to actually do a real !ilesearc in windows 7 O&ista, tooFP. Deracopy: !or w en you need to copy a lot o! !ilesQ like ' /, to ' D, at a time. Can replace de!ault copy andler, but I usually disable it and use it only !or large actions. ;er!orms C5C)' a!ter copy i! you tell it to Ocan make it de!ault in optionsP. Dells you t e trans!er rate as well. D underbird: not e8actly a secret, but it's !ree and it's awesome. %et accounts to imap and you're good to go. I a&e 4 accounts on my t underbird and it makes c ecking mail painless. &irtualdub: a way>more>speci!ic>crowd kind o! tool, but I'm going to list it. Bou can get plugins so it supports almost all !ile types, but it usually works in #*Is. It's great !or a !ew t ings Ostripping sound, uncompressing &ideo, c opping streams, *ideo>Rimage se7uence, and some ot er stu!!P. *irtual,o8: create &irtual mac ines and run alternate"old"sandbo8ed operating systems. /ood i! you don't trust some program. #lso good i! you want to use linu8 programs like 1aDeI in windows OI !ound it was much easier to install 1aDeI in a &irtual mac ine t an it was to get it working in windows a w ile backP. Bou mig t need a more>modern cpu Oone t at supports &irtualizationP in order !or t is to work. It also isn't great at win?4"win?< Opegs out a C;= at 1@@S and is laggy as ellP. *1C: media player. Eust get it.
