Yep... with this guide (and hopefully some contributions from other users) you too can completely outfit your computer using only free programs!
The purpose of this thread? List the (actually) free programs you have/use/know of. Don't say "mininova adobe photoshop cs heh heh" because that ain't free. :p
A) get firefox. If you don't use it look yourself in the mirror. Smack the back your head. apologize. and download it.
b) Extend its functionality:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefoxI suggest:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1269&application=firefoxfasterfox
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=743&application=firefoxcustomize google
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=446&application=firefoxmedia player connectivity
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=433&application=firefoxflashblock
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&os=Windows&id=10adblock plus
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/Filezilla: Great free FTP program. Also has a filezilla server link on their page for a free FTP server program as well.
http://www.openoffice.org/Open office is like a free microsoft office, with slightly less features, but none of the MS cost.
http://www.gimp.org/Gimp is a free image editing program. Once again, not as robust as photoshop... but yo, its free.
http://www.ccleaner.com/crap cleaner: cleans out all internet cache, cookies, recycle bin, program cache... excellent means to clean out your system fast. ALSO contains a registry cleaner which is a thing of beauty
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ad aware is an excellent free program for cleaning spyware off your computer. Get it, use it, love it.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htmlSpyware blaster: the only thing better than cleaning spyware off your computer, is never letting it on in the first place
http://www.izarc.org/the ultimate in zip and other archival file format handling
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.htmlbest freeware firewall ever.
kicks zonealarm in the butts
http://www.free-av.com/Antivir free personal antivirus. I'd rate it around the save as AVG (
http://free.grisoft.com/ ), though it seems to have a better rate of scanning (as far as what it detects) however it requires manual updates. Because of its pro/con relationship i rate it equal to AVG
http://www.objectdock.com/object dock: will allow you to "Mac" out your windows desktop, and install an applications dock, just like Mac OS. Handy for clearing out desk space
http://www.konfabulator.com/Konfabulator: The program that does everything. It will allow you to run widgets all over your desktop to do just about anything. My desktop currently has this weeks weather, a toolbar to see todays comics )from after eden, the boondocks, salvain and hobbes, PvP, Penny Arcade, Dilbert and more), 2 seperate hourly quote generators (Famous people, & biblical), A ball moving game, and a tiny button that will open up a sudoku puzzle.
(combining object dock & konfabulator can really "pimp" your desktop... this is my work computer:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/kmaasmd/desktop.jpg)
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Codec-Packs-Video-Codecs/KLite-Codec-Pack.shtmlK lite codec pack: Play just about any file you can download
speaking of downloading...
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/azureus: Excellent bittorrent program.
Don't know about bittorrent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BittorrentQuestions on how it works?
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/faq.phpCan't stop yellow faces? What is port forwarding?
http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/index.php/Port_forwardingneed to know where to download stuff?
http://thepiratebay.org/ (everything)
http://isohunt.com/ (everything)
http://www.mininova.org/ (everything)
http://www.boxtorrents.com/ (anime, manga, japanese TV)
Napster & Kaza WISHED they worked like this.
(Emule is good too, but kind of tough to find what I want on it)
http://www.winpatrol.com/win patrol: dude, this program is a godsend... it monitors any new installations on your computer, your startup programs, when a program changes default settings or other things. Helps you monitor your actively running and startup services... just straight up goodness if you like to keep a close watch on your computer's security.
What are these services of which you speak, :@? and how does changing or monitoring them increase my computer's preformance?
http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12check out black viper's guide. he explains it better.
tune up before gaming:
http://www.theorica.net/gamexp.htmgame xp will tune up your system for optimal preformance during gaming. it will require a restart. allow it to backup / save a snapshop of your current settings when you run it, so you can revert back to those settings when you are done gaming.
speaking of preformance...
http://www.omegadrivers.net/omega drivers for ATI Cards... these drivers SMOKE. they are excellent, and are a reccomended download for PC users, and a MUST HAVE for Laptoppers like myself. Just excellent. They are pre-tweaked graphics card drivers. They have NVidia on their site, but don't use em, use the ones below, they are updated....
http://www.tweaksrus.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=127&Itemid=41Xtreme G: dumb name. AWESOME NVidia graphics driver. Pre-tweaked just like the omega's... ony, these guys update their NVidia drivers, whereas Omega updates his ATI ones much more frequently.
FINALLY:
For generally useful free or tweaky programs and articles:
http://www.tweaksrus.com/Goodnight... and good luck.
