Best Freeware Programs...

[hedge]

What do you think are the best freeware programs out there?
We all know that QCD is the best, but what else do you think is irreplaceable?

Heres my little list:
Shareaza
foobar2000 (Yeh alright, its not qcd, but damn that don't mean it ain't good.)
Mozilla Firebird and thunderbird
AVG Virus scanner
7-zip
CDEx... depends what sort of mood im in.
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D
Evillyrics
Fresh Download
Media Player Classic
OpenOffice.org
And i suppose MSN could be called freeware... except for the ads anyway :cross-eye

I know theres a heap i'm forgetting... but that'll do for a start.

[jawpr]

SpyBlaster - blocks adware and spyware etc. from being installed
NoAds
ZipCentral

[Tokelil]

Miranda IM
MyIE2
mIRC (Hopefully HydraIRC will take over soon)
SmartFTP
Stones WebWriter

And some of those mentioned in the first post.

[drewkeller]

Firebird
Thunderbird
Miranda
Windows PowerPro
SmartFTP
TightVNC
Notetab
Housebot

[Matt]

I used to use SmartFTP by default.. but I found it had problems. Found Filezilla and I have been happy ever since.

[DeltaGuy]

Kazaa lite (the last version before it got killed :mad: )
Nope, it's still alive and kicking. Version 2.4.4 has been released, it's been renamed to CleanKMD. You can get it Here (http://www.atlastelecom.ro/~mslv/)...
That site also has links to version 2.4.6, and 2.4.8, do not download them, they're only beta programs and release canditates, that don't work well...
Now, my list:
Firebird
Thunderbird
Sunbird
Composer SE
Mozilla
Beonex
GAIM
XChat
WinCVS
w.bloggar
Filezilla
win.GIMP (even though I have Photoshop 7 too)
ABC - Another BitTorrent Client

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

is the experimental xchat for windows good?

Here is my list:
-Mozilla
-Thunderbird
-corkboard
-msn messenger 6.1 plus
-trillian
-adobe acrobat reader
-Miktex (LaTeX) + TeXnicCenter
-SmartFTP
-Adaware
-Spybot
-Shareaza
-Modplug player+tracker
-....and the list, she goes on :)

[plover]

I agree with Matt about Filezilla vs SmartFTP.

General stuff:



Firebird/ThunderBird (or Mozilla)
Agnitum Outpost (firewall)
AVG Virus Scanner
Ad-aware
7-zip
EAC + LAME
Filezilla
eMule
EditPad Lite
Programming stuff:


jEdit
Cygwin/MinGW/GCC/GNU toolset
python
upx (executable compressor)

[drewkeller]

hmm.. never had a problem with SmartFTP

[DeltaGuy]

is the experimental xchat for windows good?
Quite: http://www.xchat.org

I almost forgot, Kerio Personal Firewall, Adware, and Spybot...

[Tokelil]

I wish I could join the freeware thing when it comes to development tools.. But I can't! VC++, Delphi, Borland C++ are still way better than any freeware program I have used!

[I-mage]

My list:

7-Zip (Compression)
Ad-Aware + SpybotSD (anti-spyware & Co)
AntRenamer (without install) or THE Rename (with install but more powerful)
Azureus (P2P -Java Bitorrent client)
EasyPHP (installation of Apache/MySQL...)
Exact Audio Copy / LAME (encoding)
Filezilla (ftp client)
Firefox (browser; extensions installed: AdBlock; Stedsidebar; Tabbrowsers Extensions; Nuke Anything; Statut Bar Clock; Cutmenus; Mozcalc)
GIMP
Magic Library (sofware for Magic the gathering)
Super Gravity (NG reader)
MikTeX (LaTeX)
MyIE2 (browser)
NSIS2 (installer)
OpenOffice (office suite)
Process Explorer / Startup Control Panel (System tools)
Thunderbird (Mail; extensions installed: MessageID-Finder; Quote Colors; External application buttons )
WinMX (P2P)
XnView (Viewer)
YahooPops (POP3 with a free Yahoo! account)

Additional list:
LeechGet (Download Manager)
Litestep (Shell)
Rainlendar (Calendar)
Miranda IM (Instant messagerie)
Kerio Personal Firewall
Note Tab Light
Matroska Codecs
Morgan Jpeg2000 plugin

[Assmongrel]

Just a few ones that no one has mentioned so far:

TClock2
Resource Hacker
Kazaa Lite Resurrection (previously known as K++)
Overnet
Quicktime Alternative
Real Alternative (sure, this and the previous aren't technically programs, but nevertheless)
Zoom Player
3d Color Changer

[Dulce]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Avant browser. It blows IE out of the water in terms of features and dominates Mozilla and Opera in terms of compatibility (since it's based on the IE platform). A close second on my list is Audacity, a flawless sound recording and editing program that has absolutely no equal among the freeware set.

[brian]

In alphabetical order:

Equalizer
Godfather
K-Meleon
MacroMaker
Motherboard Monitor
MP3Gain
MyComputerTray
Pegasus Mail
PopTray
Rainlendar
Sandra
Sysmetrix
Weather Watcher
XMPlay
Zoom Player

In addition to QCD, of course.

[Jencatd]

AVG Anti-Virus
Ad-Aware (anti-spyware)
Spybot: Search & Destroy (anti-spyware)
Shad0w's Bit Torrent Client (p2p)
Audacity (music program)

I would add CDex to the list, but I can't get it to work in XP.

[Todd The Kiwi]

http://beta.quinnware.com/forum/images/emots/apple.gifQCD,messenger plus,mo' bird and shhhhhraza

cool,we have apples (we care for our virtual health) http://beta.quinnware.com/forum/images/emots/apple.gif

[DeltaGuy]

dominates Mozilla and Opera in terms of compatibility (since it's based on the IE platform).
Must........Resist..................AHHHH...
I will use willpower...

[Young Twig]

7zip
AVG
Bayden Popup Popper
GIMP (Though I rarely use it.)
QCD
SysMetrix (Though I rarely use it.)
Terragen (Though I haven't used it in about a year.)
Trillian

I use IE for FTP... :)

[Todd The Kiwi]

:nervous:ha ha ha so who's not getting a mo' bird t-shirt then ha ha ha :nervous:

[Dulce]

When I say that Avant browser is more compatible than Mozilla or Opera, what I really mean is that it displays webpages in the manner to which I have become accustomed as a result of spending my early days with Internet Explorer. Amazon.com, for example, looks infinitely better in my opinion on Avant than it does on Mozilla or Opera because the site is developed to be visually pleasing to the overwhelming majority that utilizes IE. The layout of the page is tastefully arranged when viewed through Avant, and degenerates into a legible albeit unartistic collection of frames when one switches to Mozilla. Go ahead; try it and prove me wrong. Of course it all comes down to personal taste and those who have used Mozilla or Opera for a while will undoubtedly become accustomed to their chosen browser's style of output. I do not hold it against them, but I do urge people coming straight from Internet Explorer to try Avant before moving on to anything else.

Oh and here's new rendition of the the Beatles' Yesterday:

DeltaGuy
I'm so sorry that I made you cry...
:cry: :cheeky:

[Todd The Kiwi]

:nervous:ha ha ha i'm just going to wait for the flying fur now
*rubs hands* :nervous:

[DeltaGuy]

When I say that Avant browser is more compatible than Mozilla or Opera, what I really mean is that it displays webpages in the manner to which I have become accustomed as a result of spending my early days with Internet Explorer.
There isn't a difference in the way that pages are displayed in IE or Mozilla, if webmasters aren't too lazy to check their webpages to make sure they work in both browsers. There is a VERY SMALL list of pages that do not display correctly in Mozilla, and these are mostly pages made by people who have no clue what they are doing with web design. Most corporate webpages know that they Must check their pages in Both Mozilla and IE, or they may lose 10% or more of their customers that use Mozilla and Opera, who tend on average to be more likely than IE users to shop and do a large amount of activities online.

Amazon.com, for example, looks infinitely better in my opinion on Avant than it does on Mozilla or Opera because the site is developed to be visually pleasing to the overwhelming majority that utilizes IE. The layout of the page is tastefully arranged when viewed through Avant, and degenerates into a legible albeit unartistic collection of frames when one switches to Mozilla. Go ahead; try it and prove me wrong.
I have tried it, and I'm sorry to tell you that Amazon.com is identical when displayed in IE 6.0 and Mozilla Firebird 0.7. I guess I did prove you wrong... ;)
And please, just because a majority of users, that is steadily decreasting might I add because people are switching to Mozilla, Opera, and Safari, uses IE, doesn't mean that web designers should only make their pages viewable in IE, and make them look like garbage in Mozilla, because if so, they shouldn't even be allowed to design webpages...

Of course it all comes down to personal taste and those who have used Mozilla or Opera for a while will undoubtedly become accustomed to their chosen browser's style of output. I do not hold it against them, but I do urge people coming straight from Internet Explorer to try Avant before moving on to anything else.
I think you're misunderstanding things here. Web Pages are supposed to look the exact same way in both IE and Mozilla (and everything else, except for Lynx). The problem is that webmasters are too lazy to check their webpages in more than one browser, and adopt a "who cares about Mozilla" attitude. The Overwhelming majority of webpages, however, do view the exact same way in Mozilla as they do in IE, thankfully. Webmasters who adopt the anti-Standards attitude are quickly becoming a minority as companies are realizing that they want everyone to do business at their sites, not just IE users.

Oh and here's new rendition of the the Beatles' Yesterday:
DeltaGuy
I'm so sorry that I made you cry...
:cry: :cheeky:
I didn't cry, I'm not that much of a zealot... ;)
I'd challenge you to spend a day surfing with Mozilla so that you would realize that these "problem" pages that you talk about are very few and very far between. In my years of using Mozilla, and yes, I've been with them for quite a long time, I have never came across a page that would not display in Mozilla...
But hey, at least you're not using IE... ;)
And just on a side note, Microsoft recently redisigned their website to a style that displays perfectly the same in both Mozilla and IE...
And they say that we aren't making a difference... ;)

[Dulce]

DeltaGuy, you're a good man. Thank God for people who have a sense of humor rather than a weak ego. I haven't use Mozilla in a month and things may have changed by then judging from the rapidity of innovation in the Internet industry. If Mozilla truly does display pages in the same manner as IE, my entire argument has gone kaput. Now, however, I see little difference between the two browsers. I guess it's time for people entrenched in the Microsoft Matrix to choose a red pill or a blue pill. Either will lead to truth.

[DeltaGuy]

One day we'll all use Open Source and be happy... ;)
Personally, when it comes to IE shells, which I do use to test my websites, I prefer MyIE2, but only because it has a bit more advanced skinning support...

[tupperduck]

Awww... what happened to the good ol' days when their were browser "wars"?

One of my favorite "battles" was when it was discovered that msn.com was intentionally detecting Opera and shifting all the page elements some number of pixels off (10, I think) so the page looked like it was rendering incorrectly.

In response, Opera released the "Bork" edition, which displayed the msn home page in "Swedish Chef"-speak (of Muppets fame). It was hilarious.

I still laugh about that one, even today.

[Dulce]

Yo Delta. I've just downloaded Mozilla 1.6 and it doesn't even display the Quinnware plug-ins page properly. Check this out:
http://www.quinnware.com/plugins.php

Tell me if it's universal or just my comp. Thanks.

[Dulce]

Also just downoaded IE 6.0 and the newest Avant shell, and the combination is working quickly and flawlessly. If you look at the new MSN page (apart from being ugly to begin with), it displays slightly differently on Mozilla than it does on Avant. Focus on the headers-- glossy and contoured on Avant vs. plain and rectangular on Mozilla. Both quite untasteful in my opinion, but you make the call. The overwhelming advantage in rendering QCD's plug-in page, the customizable integrated google search bar, the mere availability of toolbars other than the default, the fact that you can access history without resorting to a menu (can you believe that Mozilla doesn't offer this feature?), the faster startup, and the variety of included skins all make me lean very strongly towards the Avant browser powered by IE 6.0. I have yet to try the newest update of Firebird, but I doubt it can best my current setup. It's rockin'. :cool: :D

[Dulce]

Wait, I made a mistake. Avant 9.01 and Mozilla 1.6 start up at about the same speed. The latter spends more time on the Mozilla preloader screen and less time on the actual load for the first page. Avant, meanwhile, spends less time on the preloader and more time on loading the first page. The two balance out and run neck-and-neck. When loading subsequent pages the two browsers have no visible speed differences. I keep my opinion, however, that Avant is much easier to work with as it offers everything at your fingertips while Mozilla forces you to dig through menus.

[hedge]

Also just downoaded IE 6.0 and the newest Avant shell, and the combination is working quickly and flawlessly. If you look at the new MSN page (apart from being ugly to begin with), it displays slightly differently on Mozilla than it does on Avant. Focus on the headers-- glossy and contoured on Avant vs. plain and rectangular on Mozilla. Both quite untasteful in my opinion, but you make the call. The overwhelming advantage in rendering QCD's plug-in page, the customizable integrated google search bar, the mere availability of toolbars other than the default, the fact that you can access history without resorting to a menu (can you believe that Mozilla doesn't offer this feature?), the faster startup, and the variety of included skins all make me lean very strongly towards the Avant browser powered by IE 6.0. I have yet to try the newest update of Firebird, but I doubt it can best my current setup. It's rockin'. :cool: :D
You HAVE to try mozilla firebird .7, includes the integrated search bar and the history thingo you were talking about. Very customizable, and very slick and clean. :cheerful: :cool:
And when you say the 'overwhelming advantage' i think you might be exaggerating just a little bit. How is seeing a few more recently submitted plugins such a big advantage?? :rolleyes:

[Matt]

hey guys, if you are going to have another browser discussion, best start a new thread.

[collector]

(Part of) my list:

QCD ;)

Tagscanner tag, rename, list and sort to folders
mp3 tagtools tag. rename and sort to folders
nfo sighting
1by1 directory player

EAC
FreshUI
K9 spamkiller
Razorlame
Firebird
Screengrab
Spybot S&D
Speedfan
AdAware
Rainlendar
Mozilla

[brian]

hey guys, if you are going to have another browser discussion, best start a new thread.
Well spoken. In any case, surely everything has already been said on the subject a thousand times in a thousand forums.

[hedge]

Rainlendar

i just found this app, and damm its good!!! Loving my little calender sitting in the corner of my screen just waiting to remind me of stuff to do. :cool:

[brian]

i just found this app, and damm its good!!! Loving my little calender sitting in the corner of my screen just waiting to remind me of stuff to do. :cool:
Rainlendar is also on my list, but I'm not too keen on the very small skins - I use the Kneb skin.

[greatfujimori]

I use...

Avant Browser (I'm off to the browser thread)
QCD
Trillian
Ad-aware
Spybot S&D
Shareaza
Kazaa Lite
ZoneAlarm
EvilLyrics
GIMP

[aryda]

My list:
QCD
dBpowerAmp music converter
flash get
media player classic
winara
zonealarm pro
msn messenger6.1
......

[traveller]

A few that no one else has mentioned:
Mailwasher
Ares (P2P - very fast and lightweight)
Ranish Partion Manager

As well as:
QCD (of course)
Firefox/Thunderbird
Spybot: S&D
AdAware (when I can get it to work - doesn't like something in my Registry)
jv16 Power Tools (not true freeware, but close)
2xExplorer ( dual pane file manager)

I will also be trying some of the programs listed elsewhere in this thread.
Thanks for the ideas! :devil:

[countryjoe]

i use e-trust ez antivirus, qcd player, enhancer 017, and for mp3 downloading, kaZaA lite and shareaza. i've found that kazaa seems to have a better selection of the music files that i look for. old 60's and 70's rock & roll. :cool:

[Young Twig]

New one:

Core FTP Lite.

[max77]

Me I used:
QCD :biggrin:
MSN Messenger 6.1
Mozilla firefox 0.8
Regcleaner
Audacity
eMule
Shareaza
Winmx
DC++
Soulseek
Trustyfiles
CDex
Spydot S-D
Ad-aware
Foobar2000
Zinf
Miranda Instant Messenger

And more........

[Roj]

What do you think are the best freeware programs out there?
We all know that QCD is the best, but what else do you think is irreplaceable?

Heres my little list:Here are mine:

Desktop Sidebar (my utterly indispensible application toolbar)
Agent Ransack (file search tool)
IZArc (PowerArchiver clone - except this one actually works)
Panorama (wallpaper manager)
AnyImage screensaver (uses wallpaper as a screen saver - I likes my 300+ image wallpaper collection, I does... :) )
GrabIt! (multithreaded Usenet binary downloader)
Binary News Reaper 2 (multithreaded **and multiserver** Usenet binary downloader)
40tude Dialog! (Usenet newsreader)
HTTrack Website Copier (Teleport Pro clone - web spider)
QuickPAR (software file RAID tool to recover missing file segments of a give split file set)
hkSFV (SFV and MD5 creator / verifier)
FileZilla (multithreaded FTP client)
yEnc Power Post (Usenet posting software)
MSN Messenger (IM - what can I say... )
Messenger Plus! (MSN Messenger add-in)
BLJoin (file splitter / joiner)
XnView (ACDSee clone - but no bloat or bugs)
Pixia (whomps the silly Gimpy interface all to hell :) )
DVD Shrink (copy DVDs - goes through copy protection like a knife through butter))
DVD Decrypter (rip DVDs and also goes through copy protection)
DVD Identifier (wanna know what the firmware in your DVD burner REALLY can do - not what the vendor said it could - and what media brands it supports? wanna know who made that no-name media you just bought on sale?)
Monkey's Audio (lossless encoder / decoder)
FLAC Front End (The Other lossless encoder / decoder)
Shirten (The Lost lossless encoder / decoder)
ID3Kill (ID3 tag remover)
MP3Gain (adjusts the gain on MP3s without altering the encoding of the file - renders ReplayGain moot and isespecially valuable since no hardware players support ReplayGain)
EncSpot Basic 2.0 (spots what encoder created a MP3 file and reports on the general health of it)
Media Tagger (tags APEs, FLACs, OGGs, what have you)
MP3Tag (see above)
Audacity (audio editor)
CDex (CD ripper)
EAC (same as above but I use it much more sparingly)
Media Player Classic (This - Is - Unspeakably - Awesome!!!! Forget playing multimedia in QCD - this is the ral Deal. It even has MPEG2 decoding built in to play DVDs and supports 24/96 via analog or SP/DIF output with full speaker configuration)
DivX video codec
XviD video codec
OnVP3 video codec
TMPGEnc (video file editing / conversion)
VirtualDub (video file editing / conversion)
Real Alternative (Real Media files without the bloat and BS)
Quicktime Alternative (same as above but for Quicktime)
OpenOffice (MS Office Lite)

Now, if only I could find a decent freeware text editor with column blocking support as well as unlimited file size, adjustable fonts and colors and no bloody line numbers...

...in short, an UltraEdit clone.

Finally, I was going to stick a rant in at this point as to why I don't use Mozilla or FireFox but...

...nah! :)

Instead I'll say "maybe when FireFox hits 1.0 status in the summer... ". The mail client is hopeless as far as I'm concerned because it doesn't and never will support Hotmail so I'm stuck with Outlook Express.

[Toe]

Shareaza seems to be disproportionally popular with QCD users...

A couple contribs:

IZArc (http://www.izsoft.dir.bg/izarc.htm) - Zip, Rar, 7z, whatever.
SciTE (http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html) - Good, simple text editor.
Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) - Great general-purpose code editor for when you don't need a full IDE.
Sygate Personal Firewall (http://soho.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm) - self explanitory, I LOVE this thing's simplicity (a touch heavy on cpu, tho)
eTrust Antivirus (http://etrustantivirus-central.ca.com/v7/) - this is the full corporate ver, not the lite 'EZ' version.

[hedge]

Instead I'll say "maybe when FireFox hits 1.0 status in the summer... ". The mail client is hopeless as far as I'm concerned because it doesn't and never will support Hotmail so I'm stuck with Outlook Express.
You could try using hotmail popper (google search required... im lazy), thatll allow you to use thunderbird with hotmail...
Course it is kinda a workaround, but it does the job.

[Tokelil]

Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) - Great general-purpose code editor for when you don't need a full IDE.
Crimson Editor seems quite nice. Right now I use Ultra Edit32, but I think that might change.

[Roj]

You could try using hotmail popper (google search required... im lazy), thatll allow you to use thunderbird with hotmail...
Course it is kinda a workaround, but it does the job.
Tried that - essentially it's a proxy. Unfortunately it's no longer freeware and besides that, it also needs a SMTP server to send mail. :(

[Roj]

[QUOTE=Toe]
Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) - Great general-purpose code editor for when you don't need a full IDE.
Crimson Editor seems quite nice. Right now I use Ultra Edit32, but I think that might change.I can't use anything other than UltraEdit - for me it's the standard against which all others are measured and those others always come up wanting. I've searched high and low (I've used Crimson and a bunch of others) and I always come away with the word "wannabe" echoing in my mind... :) (Ian really writes one helluva hot editor) There was a little gem called rsEdit but it didn't support customizable colors, fonts and unlimited file size. Also, you couldn't disable the splash screen although that's a minor nit.

I'm very picky about my tools as you could probably tell from my list... :)

[Tokelil]

Well, Im not really that big a fan of UE32 though it is the best small editor I have used. I dont program in it anyway so I just use it because it is fast, has tabs and syntax highlight. Crimson editor seems to do those things just as well and has a better interface IMO. (Though I hate that gray border on the left)

[Qaz]

I guess I oughta put mine too...

Opera - http://my.opera.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47230 - does it all: browser, mail, irc
Miranda Im - http://www.miranda-im.org/
TSW WebCoder - http://www.tsware.net/ - definetly the best HTML-editor there is
Smart FTP - http://www.smartftp.com/ - I really could use one with 'edit on server' feature so if you know one, let me know
WinMX - http://www.winmx.com/ - P2P
Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ - havem't tried Spybot though (that has same purpose, right?)
AV Personal - http://www.free-av.com/
Zone Alarm - http://www.zonelabs.com/ - again, haven't tried Sygate
Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/
Rainlendar - http://vapaa.dc.inet.fi/~rainy/Rainlendar.html - Go Finland Go :D
Real Alternative
Skype - http://www.skype.com/ - internetphone thingy, haven't tested it yet, but I've heard it's good
QCD - need I say more
EAC (with Lame) - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
Easy Cleaner - http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm - Go Finland Go :D cleans registry from useless stuff among other things
Comic Reaper - developement has ended, but you can probaply find some old version of it

That's about it

[Roj]

Well, Im not really that big a fan of UE32 though it is the best small editor I have used. I dont program in it anyway so I just use it because it is fast, has tabs and syntax highlight. Crimson editor seems to do those things just as well and has a better interface IMO. (Though I hate that gray border on the left)I am no programmer - I use UE for various text editing and script chores, the occasional macro and massaging data before reading it into Access at work. For me Crimson just wasn't customizable enough and if I remember correctly (it's been about a month since I last tried it) it left turds behind in the Registry when I uninstalled it (a definite no-no for me)...

Programmer's File Editor would have been almost perfect (I used it A LOT back in the day) but it didn't support column editing. Tabs would also have been nice. Unfortunately, all dev work on that editor has long since ceased.

[Roj]

I guess I oughta put mine too...

Miranda Im - http://www.miranda-im.org/
I see a couple of folks using this. Talk to me about it, please. My daughter wants access to folks on AIM and Trillian is an unsecure and buggy, um, Thing that is barely supported these days since the author concentrates on Trillian 2. As to AIM or ICQ... yer kidding, right? How is Miranda? Does it pollute the Registry? Is is really stable? Can you do file transfers reliably? Details, please...

[Tokelil]

I have been using Miranda IM the last year I think and has been following the project for a few years. The idea behind it is to make a small and fast messenger where features are supported through plug-ins instead of one big kernel. The standard installation is still able to be on a floppy disk (I think), it doesn't use the registry so it is easy to transfer between computers. Not all features of all protocols are supported though, since thats up to those who write that plug-in what to support. (Avatars on MSN for one isn't supported yet, though I believe they are working on that. Things like typing notification has just been added, but need special plug-ins)

The biggest drawback is the interface IMO. I hope someone will make a skin engine for Miranda 1 when that gets done. (New project they have started on from scratch)
Plug-ins like SmileyAdd, SRAMM, Toptoolbar helps a lot though IMO.

The version 0.3.3 is quite stable. Hasn't crashed on me with the plug-ins I use at the moment. I dont know about stability on filetrasfer etc.

[Roj]

I have been using Miranda IM the last year I think and has been following the project for a few years.Thanks very much for the head's up. Have you tried it with AIM? The last thing I need is a rabid 17 year old descending on me with bared fangs... (weilding the nerf bat gets tiring) :)

[Tokelil]

:) No I haven't used it with AIM. I belive it works fine though. Haven't seen many complains about it in the forums.

[Assmongrel]

Seeing as no one seems to use these, I thought I'd add them:

Bersirc - open-source irc client, great support, great customizability, and since so few people use it, I doubt anyone is out there writing hacks for it.

Daemon tools - allows you to use backed up copies of cds and dvds directly from your hard drive... I suppose its a little ironic to list this on a list of freeware programs, but whatever

Fresh UI - used to change many "hidden" settings in windows without having to go into code and manually change it

Resource Hacker - same as above, except this is used to manually change settings... it can be used to change many things, if you know where to look, and you know what you're doing (I would suggest checking at http://wint.virtualplastic.net for guides to hacking various settings and programs)

Finally, I'd just like to add that I use firefox, thunderbird, and OpenOffice.Org, because open source is the way to go!

[Roj]

:) No I haven't used it with AIM. I belive it works fine though. Haven't seen many complains about it in the forums.
Thanks! Miranda she gets. :)

[Toe]

If you're checking out IM clients, you need to also give Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net) a look. Does AIM, ICQ, YIM (though I think it's broken in the current release), MSN, IRC, and a couple others. It's an open-source, cross-platform client.

[Roj]

That sounds excellent oo - thanks for the suggestion. I'll go have a look. :)

[Roj]

I have been using Miranda IM the last year I think and has been following the project for a few years.
Miranda IM installed along with a bunch of plugins (she's "plugin happy") and all working well.

10-Q!!

[GildedSplinter]

I've been feeling pretty good since I installed All-in-one SecretMaker. You see an OVERabundance of half-assed anti-virus, pop-up blocking, cancer curing, do-it-all wonder-poop all over the web. Especially at places like download.com . SecretMaker has proven itself to ME, though. It does alot, without overtaxing your resources. I still haven't really tapped into it's full potential, but at this point, my only complaint is that the pop-up blocking and cookie removal, sometimes seem to work TOO well. The use of white lists and a relatively simple UI, help you overcome this. I plan to keep it around for a while.
NOW... on to other things. I'm kinda glad to hear that I'm not the only person suffering from the need for a decent e-mail client that'll work with Hotmail. Honestly... I wasn't aware that Outlook would work with Hotmail. I'll hafta toy with that. I HAVE tried HotmailPopper and a host of clients, but the best I've done so far, has still had issues with SMTP requirements. I'm listening, if anyone has some freeware links that they want to send my way. Has anyone tried paying for the $19.95 annual Hotmail membership that's supposed to enable POP & SMTP access abilities? Howzat work?

[Young Twig]

Another: Source Edit.

[MrZebra]

For E-Mail I use Pegasus Mail. Unlike Outlook Express, it's not a "Virus Run-Time Engine".

As for the Hotmail support, I'm pretty sure that using it with Outlook Express is a proprietary thing from Micro$oft to encourage usage of Outlook Express (Read: The spread of viruses), anyone else implementing that in his e-mail client will get sued to death...

[Qaz]

Has anyone tried paying for the $19.95 annual Hotmail membership that's supposed to enable POP & SMTP access abilities? Howzat work?
The last thing I would do. I'm using Fusemail (http://www.fusemail.com) as my email-account and it costs about the same. Fusemail's speciality is that it gets all your email-account to one, fuses them. AS MrZebra said, you might have hard time looking for a program another than Outlook that will work out. And in the end Outlook ain't that great of a program.

[lukeprog]

Audio Players: Winamp & QCD

Video Players: Media Player Classic, Zoom Player & VLC

Browser: Avant Browser (sorry, kicks the assess of MyIE2 and SlimBrowser)

Chat: Trillian (free version. Sorry, GAIM and others just don't cut it yet)

Filesharing: Souseek, BitTorrent, eMule, DC++, K++ 2.43 (or Kazaa Lite Resurrection)

Misc: AVG Antivirus, Protowall, SlickRun, & Google Deskbar/toolbar

Mail: Thunderbird

Games: Liero Xtreme, Deluxe Snake & various ROM hacks (if you own the original cartridge, of course :biggrin: )

Office/Desktop Publishing: OpenOffice.Org, AbiWord, The Gimp

Desktop Customization: Stardock Object Desktop (okay, you can call the free versions "nagware" if you like, but they're fully functional, don't expire, and KICK ASS!)

[#The fREaK!]

Audio player - QCD
Browser - Firefox
Filesharing - eMule
Text editor: XEmacs

XEmacs is the best editor I have found so far. Used UltraEdit before but switched to the completely free (and open source) XEmacs (http://www.xemacs.org). Great for programming!

[Quad341]

QCD, Firefox, Thunderbird, jEdit (text editor), Smart FTP (ftp client)

with my pathetic life, this is all i use on a normal basis

[Young Twig]

Smart FTP - http://www.smartftp.com/ - I really could use one with 'edit on server' feature so if you know one, let me know

"Edit on server" as in edit your HTML (or PHP, etc.) files without having to download them?

Try Core FTP Lite. ( www.coreftp.com I believe. )