Useful (freeware) apps - post them here

[Globulator]

Two free audio programs here, which I use constantly myself.

CD Loudness Wars peacemaker - CD slipping distortion removal
The first is a program that reads in WAV files ripped from CDs, and removes the digital clipping distortion from them.

This makes CDs actually sound better than MP3s (like they should), much smoother and if you check out the waveform in a music editor (audacity etc) you can see why. Free, open source, and runs in MS Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux.

http://www.cutestudio.net/data/products/audio/decl...

iTunes server with built in clipping digital distortion repair
This server runs on a Linux server only, which you can boot off of a CD if you do not want to install linux.

When I ripped my CD collection to hard disk as a series of WAV files, I discovered that most were distorted (why I use the program above), but I did not want to convert them all, and I wanted to use iTunes.

This then is a free, open source program that presents a network jukebox to an iTunes client (running on a Mac or Windows) and whenever you play a song that is stored as a .WAV file, the server quickly declips it, then serves it to you. So with minimal effort you can play your whole precious WAV collection without any CD clipping distortion, combining the benefits of iTunes with the benefit of a CD sounding smooth and listenable.

http://www.cutestudio.net/data/products/audio/iTun...

[spants]

useful program: http://serviceex.com/ Allows you to start a program as a service without a user logged in. Especially useful for starting Hamachi (www.hamachi.cc)

[LordGrover]

PORTABLEAPPS.
Most apps you'll ever need squeezed onto a USB flash drive you can take anywhere.

[igiveup]

LordGrover said:

PORTABLEAPPS.
Most apps you'll ever need squeezed onto a USB flash drive you can take anywhere.

Now thats impressive

[GregE240]

aldi said:

Just been playing with this,

www.autopatcher.com

You install it to a network folder, and it runs on new boxes without installation. Patches them up to date hands-off, optionaly installs things like sun java, flash player, .net.

Seems quite good.

Bloody good.

Sadly, it also told you how to bypass MS' Genuine Windows program. And MS have shut them down

[Shadytree]

MUNTU kindly directed me to this supurb link

http://vixy.net/

RIPs and downloads any online video (utube)

Edited by Shadytree on Friday 21st September 08:13

[valve bounce66]

just downloaded gomplayer,plays everything including flv files,now using instead of wmp11 for most things.

[Blue Meanie]

I use V-Lan to play things that won't play. Hasn't let me down yet.

[JonRB]

Blue Meanie said:

I use V-Lan to play things that won't play. Hasn't let me down yet.

Are you referring to VLC?

It is very good.

Edited by JonRB on Sunday 23 September 22:45

[GhostyDog]

Looking for a uPNP Media Server that can fire audio and transcode video to xbox 360, psp, Wii, etc? Then look no further than TVersity.

I Just installed it tonight on my PC upstairs and using it with a Phillips Streamium for Music and my XBOX 360 for video and it works far better than any other Media Server that I've used.

Be warned you need a fairly beefy PC for transcoding video but audio feeds are fine with a relatively average machine (512 MB Ram, P4).

http://www.TVersity.com

Enjoy

GD

[branflakes]

GhostyDog said:

Everybody gets so hung up on GIMP as a free alternative to photoshop, but GIMP has never been that user friendly.

Gimpshop will sort that out

[JonRB]

branflakes said:

GhostyDog said:

Everybody gets so hung up on GIMP as a free alternative to photoshop, but GIMP has never been that user friendly.

Gimpshop will sort that out

Excellent. Thanks for that.

[Morningside]

Comodo firewall. http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

They also do antivirus etc etc ALL for free! But I have only tried this one and so far it seems very good.

[ih8thisname]

Anybody know where I could find some kind of freeware equivelent to AutoDest Inventor?

[sstein]

Notepad ++ is a great text editor if you are doing any sort of development, it has syntax highlighting for languages such as html, C++, VB.NET, Assembly, ASP, LISP, Perl, PHP etc

A superb replacement for notepad as your default text editor.

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm 

Edited to add link.
-

Stuart

Edited by sstein on Tuesday 27th November 08:58

[Morningside]

^^^ Link please..

[JonRB]

sstein said:

Notepad ++ is a great text editor if you are doing any sort of development, it has syntax highlighting for languages such as html, C++, VB.NET, Assembly, ASP, LISP, Perl, PHP etc

A superb replacement for notepad as your default text editor.

Textpad is also very good - I use it all the time.

[CommanderJameson]

I use SciTE on Windows for my text editing doin's. Doesn't need any installification or registry nonsense, and runs as well off a memory stick as it does off your hard disk. Mega search and replace, folding, a zillion languages supported, fast as even with huge files.

Specifically, I use this version.

Edited by CommanderJameson on Tuesday 27th November 07:34

[fluffnik]

The retrieval of lost files is a perennial problem.

The TestDisk suite which includes PhotoRec as well as TestDisk is an excellent free solution - I've used it to retrieve data from both broken and inadvertently formatted disks and cards with considerable success.