Useful Windows XP/Vista/other freeware list

Last update: 1/08/08

General:

• Openoffice - a Full-bodied total replacement for all of the Microsoft Office apps. Reads and writes all Microsoft file formats including Excel's .xls and Word's .docs. Now at version 2.0, if you aren't already using it, it's time to give microsoft the kick in the pants it needs.
• Context - Notepad replacement and/or programmer text editor - as good as anything else out there, includes features such as syntax highlighting and many other things - very nice, simple.
• xplorer2 - Excellent freeware (lite version) dual-pane Windows Explorer replacement - highly recommended. Simpler than anything else out there- that I've tried.

Internet:

• Firefox - The little browser that could - a more secure replacement for Internet Explorer. Tabbed browsing kicks ass - and you avoid the security and bug problems IE exhibits over and over and over again. Switch!
  Recommended Firefox Addons are Flashblock, adblock plus & imagepref.
• Thunderbird - Total replacement for Outlook Express or Netscape Mail. Smaller memory footprint, nicer looking than netscape, more secure than OE. Great heuristic junkmail filtering.
• Free download manager - if you do heavy downloading, this free app is for you - supports multi-source downloads and resuming, scheduling, a whole bunch of other crap.
• Filezilla - Open-source ftp client - does a better job than anything else I've tried as yet-

Audio:

• Lame MP3 encoder - better quality than -anything else- out there. For something with an excellent GUI, use Razorlame (I work from the command line mostly).
• Wavosaur - Best freeware straight audio editor around. Not quite as good as something like Goldwave, but close.
• Audacity - Full-bodied open-source audio editor/multitracker. I don't use it personally (I use Tracktion) but on a budget it's a good choice.
• Infrarecorder - Awesome freeware cd burning program - replacement for nero or CDWRiterXP.
• Apollo - The best quality MP3 player in existence (as of this listening). Decodes to 24-bit where available and audibly better quality than Winamp or MAD-based players (with or without 24-bit). Makes a significant difference to aural experience. A tad buggy sometimes.
• Wavpack - Lossless free open source audio compression standard. Better than flac, faster, and free. Winamp plugins exist, support is widespread. Good for backing up audio project materials (typically a 50% decrease in filesize without losing any quality).
• Winamp Classic - Ahh, Winamp. Brilliant back in v2 - crap once v3 hit. I hear v5 is quite good, but v2 is fine by me. This is an excellent, and light, replacement for Windows Media player (for playing music anyway). Use Milkdrop!

Video:

• Quicktime Alternative - Want to play quicktime movies? Hate the hell outta Quicktime? Download this - it's a build of media player classic which allows you to play all the latest quicktime movies/files. Recommended. (also see Realplayer Alternative)
• VirtualDub - Linear video decompressor/recompressor/editor. Faster, slicker and of greater visual quality and control than Premiere when it comes to raw processing of digital video footage (note: does not replace something like premiere in terms of non-linear editing).
• RAD video tools - you can convert Quicktime files (.mov etc) to .AVI or other formats for free using this. You need to have Quicktime or Quicktime alternative installed first.
  

  DVD-Authoring:

  • DVD-audio Tools - Tools for making DVD-a discs - they work. No meridian lossless packing, straight PCM - works with flac, not with Wav. Made my own disc with these (not that there's any freeware players to play them on - but you can download a few demos of software which'll play them).
  • Mpeg2Schnitt - Lossless MPEG2/AC3/MP2/WAV video cutter - useful for reauthoring DVD's you've made, without having to re-edit the original footage.
  • ImagoMPEG-Muxer - Multiplex .m2v + .m2a/.ac3 to .mpg/.vob. Took me ages to find a decent tool to do this.
  • Muxman free - Perfect DVD muxing tool - does everything. Cheers mpucoder!

  System:

  • PC Inspector File Recovery - Free file/data recovery software for windows.
  • CCleaner Slim - The famous crapcleaner, but without the added toolbar bollocks.

  For more freeware system tools, see the windows speedup guide.

  Games:

  See my top ten list over here.

  
  
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