Windows alternatives...

Ten best free applications that you probably didn’t know about.

2010-01-01T00:48:00.000-08:00

I’m a big fan of FREE STUFF, so it should be no surprise that I gravitate towards free software. Sure much of it is junkie, but there are some realy diamonds out there that haven’t hit the mainstream yet. Here’s my favorite 10.

1. Logmein (https://secure.logmein.com)

Ever find yourself away from home and wishing you could e-mail yourself something? Or maybe you have a mother-in-law who lives 4 states away and is always having computer problems, and instead of loading up the kids in the family trickster for a marriage-trying trip, you could just log in to her computer remotely¦.without her needing to do anything? This is where Logmein comes in. There are lots of products out there that will do this, but very few will do all these things as well as Logmein ds for free.

2. Mesh (http://www.mesh.com)

Microsoft has a knack of not promoting some of the apps that they offer. Mesh is one of those apps. Another computer sharing application, but Mesh displays all the computers in a 3-D rotating ring and also offers a Web Desktop that syncs with all the computers on your Mesh. There is a promise of making Mesh work on Macs, but I haven’t yet seen it work. Mesh is super responsive and I really like how it feels while using it! The interface is clean and intuitive and I think the reason Microsoft ds not promote it is too many people would use it!

3. PhotoStory 3 (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx)

Yet another non-marketed gem from Microsoft. Photostory 3 is one of the easiest ways to create a very professional photo slideshow complete with background music (MP3 or you can create your own with the built-in music generator) and narration. The application is super easy to use and the results are far superior that some softwares that I’ve paid to use. The only downfall is that it dsn’t have a built-in burning application to burn the slideshow to CD or DVD.

4. Orb (http://www.orb.com)

Like many people, I don’t get to stay at home with my vault of audio and video goodness at my disposal. This is where Orb steps in. Orb allows a simple way to put your audio, photos and video online and accessible to your little antsy fingertips. One of my favorite features is the ability to stream webcams live on the internet, so if I miss my dog, I can log in and see and hear him. Very slick and very easy to set up!

5. Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com/)

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a storage cloud of your own to store items and further more wouldn’t it be nice if it synced with your other computers? That’s Dropbox. I use it to store keepers� or documents and small apps that I want in multiple places or to ensure I don’t lose it. Dropbox installs easily and creates a folder on your computer. Drag the files you want to sync into the Dropbox and dropbox takes care of the rest. All the other computers you log into the dropbox with can now access and upload their own files. A great solution for simple collaboration or small off site back ups.

6. MWSnap (http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html)
If you need to do lots of screenshots for websites or manuals, this is a great tool. It has a nice zoom tool to enlarging parts of the screen to draw focus to it, a ruler for measuring the size of items in the shot, and can export in BMP, JPG, TIFF, PNG and GIF.

7. Camstudio (http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/files/)
If you need to create a screencast, this a a great free tool. Comparable to Camtasia or Adobe’s Captivate, it’s not as feature-rich as those, but it will get the job done. It will record whatever you do on your screen and produce and AVI or SWF output. Plus you can narrate as you go through a microphone. This is the easiest way to convey complex techniques or just a way of communicating step by step instructions.

8. DimDim (http://www.dimdim.com)
A tool similar to WebEx, DimDim allows you to create free webinar-style sessions where you can share screens, whiteboards, presentation, web pages and even voice and video. I have been super impressed with DimDim in that it supports up to 20 people, it dsn’t require any installation and it handles the voice and video, unlike some other pay-for softwares. Sure, it isn’t as ubiquitious as WebEx (I’m certainly not going to tell someone to DimDim me�, but for free, this is a wonderful offering.

9. Ning (http://www.ning.com)

If you’ve ever wanted a web site for your church group, scouting group, or maybe even class reunion, then Ning is the place to go. It’s a DYI social networking site that allows you to roll your own blog/forum/event feed/calendar/whatever. I’ve used Ning for several side projects to collaborate with large and small groups of people. I also use Ning for a special interest web site-BisManPhoto.com, which is a site devoted to camera lovers in the Bismarck/Mandan North Dakota area. The sites scale wonderfully and gives me the freedom to worry about content rather than functionality.

10. Qik (http://qik.com)

Everyone carries their cellphones with them all the time. Ever wanted to stream live video from your phone? That’s what Qik ds and it ds it beautifully. Great for budding independent journalists wanting to stream live to the web (and post an alert on twitter simultaneously) and it’s equally great to share part of your vacation with people at home. The stream is recorded from your phone and saved for posterity so people who couldn’t see the live stream can watch it archived on the Qik site.

Ten best free applications that you probably didn’t know about.

Links for 2009-12-16 [del.icio.us]

2009-12-17T00:00:00-08:00

Matava full operational after Cyclone MICK
On Monday 14th December 2009 Fiji was hit by a Tropical Cyclone, TC Mick. The cyclone passed straight over the main island and just to the East of Kadavu Island. Although the resort experienced high winds and heavy rain, no damage was done to the resort at all, apart from the loss of some thatch from the corner of the roof of the dive centre.

Contact Deduplicator

2009-12-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

Clean Up Duplicate Contacts in Gmail

In January, Gmail's Product Manager Todd Jackson said that Gmail will include a contact deduplicator. "Jackson says a de-duper is on the way and that contacts will have more of a presence both in your inbox and in conversations."

11 months later, Gmail added a feature that detects and merges duplicate contacts. "To clean up your contact list in one fell swoop, just click the Find duplicates button in the contact manager, review the merge suggestions (and uncheck any suggestions you don't want merged), and hit the Merge button." If you have many contacts, it's a good idea to consolidate them and to have a single contact for each person.

Upcoming Gmail Features: Contact Deduplicator, Better Video Chat

How to hide Facebook Profile from Indexing on Search Engines like Google

2009-12-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

Google, Yahoo and Bing integrated the real time search results on their pages. Before that as well they were showing the facebook profile page of facebook users on their search results for certain keywords. If you want to hide your facebook profile (for some personal reasons) from indexing on search engines like google, Yahoo, Bing etc then you can use the Privacy Settings properly to control that.

Privacy Settings to avoid showing your profile on Search Engines

1. Login to your facebook account and go to the Settings tab at top – right corner of profile page

2. Select “Privacy Settings” from the dropdown

3. Select “Search” from the list of security options

4. Click on “Change Settings”, a popup will prompt asking for your facebook password

5. Enter you password and then uncheck the box “Allow Indexing” under Public Search ResultsYou should complete this settings changes just after creating your account as it is difficult to avoid showing your profile after indexing is done. Your profile indexing may take at least 5 – 6 days for completion, so remove the check under this period only.

How to hide Facebook Profile from Indexing on Search Engines like Google

Links for 2009-10-30 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-31T00:00:00-07:00

StuartinFiji Scuba Diver Webpage & Diving Photos at Scuba.com

CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;.

2009-10-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world. CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents - with just a push of a button!

FREE for commercial and non-commercial use! No watermarks! No Popup Web Ads!

Have specific and advanced needs above and beyond that of other users?
Integrate PDF creation ability into any application, solution, service or terminal server (e.g. Citrix) environment and more. Custom Redistribution now available!

Installation Requirements

Supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 (x86/x64).
Requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript (recommended).
You can get the free GPL Ghostscript 8.15 here.

GNU Ghostscript is an open-source interpreter for the PostScript language and the PDF file format. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You may obtain the source code for GPL Ghostscript 8.15 here.

What's New

Added support for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.
Added support for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista.
Added support for 64-bit Windows XP/2003.
Seamlessly integrate with CutePDF Professional.
New version works with the latest version of Ghostscript.
To use with other PS2PDF application, please refer to FAQs.
Supports foreign language Windows better.
No longer include Ghostscript. You may download and install it separately.

Creating a PDF with this free software couldn't be easier.

CNet Power Downloader's weekly pick

Users Love It!

"Cute Indeed"
This is the blessing I've been waiting for. Very simple. very good!

"Excellent SIMPLE and PROBLEM FREE"
I have used many of these kind of Programs even one supplied by Adobe and I can tell you I have had many hardships with those programs. But this little Program has Consistently Printed All that I wanted to Print WITH OUT EVEN 1 ERROR - even for the documents that the Adobe PDF printer crashed on!!! COOL BEANS... COOL COOL COOL COOL

Read More User Opinions

CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;.

Ninite Easy PC Setup and Multiple App Installer - Great For Win7 Upgrades

2009-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

The easiest way to get apps.

Pick the apps you want.
Start your customized installer.
You're done!

Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works
in the background 100% hands-free.

We install apps with default settings and
say "no" to browser toolbars and other junk.

All we do is install the latest versions of the apps
you choose. Not even Ninite is installed.

Want to see how it works? Read a step-by-step
walkthrough at How-To Geek or Simple Help.

When it was in private beta, Ninite was called Volery.

Ninite Easy PC Setup and Multiple App Installer - Great For Win7 Upgrades

Top 10 Firefox Browser Plugins

2009-10-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I fired Internet Explorer as my primary browser. Why? Because it crashed on me constantly and took forever at times to transition from one site to another. I've found the Firefox browser much more user friendly, especially given the number of plugins that have been developed for the browser. The ability to customize Firefox with these plug-in extensions is what makes this open-source browser so special.

However, there are so many available options for plugins, it's tough to know what's worth installing and what's will be a complete waste of your time. There are lists of Firefox plugins that have been created citing the best extensions for web developers or for a better YouTube experience.

However, I wanted to create an everyday list of my best choices just for the ordinary online business owner.

SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Repair Tool of the Week Presents: The Computer Repair Utility Kit | Technibble

2009-10-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

The Computer Repair Utility Kit is a combination of all of Technibbles Repair Tools of the Week up to date in one easy pack. The Computer Repair Utility Kit allows you to run all of the repair tools from your portable drive (eg. USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive, IPod etc.) and comes with an easy to use, right-click menu. A must in any technicians kit.

You can also add your own utilities to the menu and make it so it autoruns when you insert your portable media into the system.

If you are just starting out as a techie and combine this free tool with our Computer Business Kit. You’ll have everything you need to get started.

The Computer Repair Utility Kit Comes with the following applications:

Dial-a-fix – Fixes many common issues with Internet Explorer and Windows itself
Autoruns – Shows everything that is set to autorun on a system
Process Explorer – Shows current running processes in great detail
Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder – Finds the CDKey/Serial for commonly known software (XP, Office etc..)
RawCopy – Copy’s contents of one drive to another. Useful when there are corruptions
Tweak UI – Tweak Windows XPs settings
SoftPerfect Network Scanner – Network Scanner
Unlocker – Unlocks files that are locked (eg. files that cannot be moved, deleted, copied etc.)
Unstoppable Copier – Copy’s files from one location to another, if it hits a locked/corrupt file it will keep on going
Pocket Killbox – Kill and delete files which are locked. Has a “delete on reboot” option. Useful for removing viruses and malware
CalmWin Portable Antivirus – A very good, portable antivirus
Norton Removal Tool – Removes Norton products
NetStumbler – Searches for Wireless networks with some advanced options
Double Driver – Backs up your drivers. Handy to use before a format
CPU-Z – Provides information about your hardware such as CPU speed and voltages
WirelessKeyView – Shows the current wireless network passwords on the system in plain text
TreeSize Free – Shows you how much space each folder on a system is taking up
DriveImage XML – Hard drive imaging program
PC-Decrapifier – Removes the junk files that mainstream computer manufacturers install on new computers
Belarc Advisor – Creates a detailed report on a system
Restoration – Recover accidentally deleted files
Ethereal – Network packet analyzer
VistaTweaker – Tweaks Windows Vistas settings
JkDefrag GUI – An advanced defragging tool
Unknown Device Identifier – Identifies entries in Device Manager that come up as “Unknown Device”
GSpot – Provides information about a file such as what codec it was encoded in. Handy for when you cant play a video or audio file because you don’t have the right codec
Revo Uninstaller – A powerful uninstaller tool
Runscanner – Malware scanner and removal tool
PageDefrag – Allows you to defragment the Windows Pagefile (which is typically locked)
DBXtract – Extracts single emails out of Outlook Expresses .dbx databases
Hijack This – Malware scanner and removal tool
ATF Cleaner – Cleans out Windows temp files and browser temp files (IE, Firefox and Opera)
LSP Fix – Winsock repair utility. Useful for when malware damage is preventing a computer from going online
AppSnap – Downloads, installs and updates freeware software
MozBackup – Backs up Firefox and Thunderbird settings and files
System Information – Displays very details information about the system

To start the toolkit. Extract the zip file to your portable media and run “Launcher.exe”.

Repair Tool of the Week Presents: The Computer Repair Utility Kit | Technibble

Links for 2009-10-07 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-08T00:00:00-07:00

Gamefishing Fiji: Big Blue Marlin

Autoruns for Windows

2009-10-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Introduction

This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.

Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.

You'll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically!

Screenshot

Usage

See the November 2004 issue of Windows IT Pro Magazine for Mark's article that covers advanced usage of Autoruns . If you have questions or problems, visit the Sysinternals Autoruns Forum.

Simply run Autoruns and it shows you the currently configured auto-start applications as well as the full list of Registry and file system locations available for auto-start configuration. Autostart locations displayed by Autoruns include logon entries, Explorer add-ons, Internet Explorer add-ons including Browser Helper Objects (BHOs), Appinit DLLs, image hijacks, boot execute images, Winlogon notification DLLs, Windows Services and Winsock Layered Service Providers. Switch tabs to view autostarts from different categories.

To view the properties of an executable configured to run automatically, select it and use the Properties menu item or toolbar button. If Process Explorer is running and there is an active process executing the selected executable then the Process Explorer menu item in the Entry menu will open the process properties dialog box for the process executing the selected image.

Navigate to the Registry or file system location displayed or the configuration of an auto-start item by selecting the item and using the Jump menu item or toolbar button.

To disable an auto-start entry uncheck its check box. To delete an auto-start configuration entry use the Delete menu item or toolbar button.

Select entries in the User menu to view auto-starting images for different user accounts.

More information on display options and additional information is available in the on-line help.

Autorunsc Usage

Autorunsc is the command-line version of Autoruns. Its usage syntax is:

Usage: autorunsc [-a] | [-c] [-b] [-d] [-e] [-g] [-h] [-i] [-l] [-m] [-n] [-p] [-r] [-s] [-v] [-w] [-x] [user]

-a	Show all entries.
-b	Boot execute.
-c	Print output as CSV.
-d	Appinit DLLs.
-e	Explorer addons.
-g	Sidebar gadgets (Vista and higher).
-h	Image hijacks.
-i	Internet Explorer addons.
-l	Logon startups (this is the default).
-m	Hide signed Microsoft entries.
-n	Winsock protocol and network providers.
-p	Printer monitor drivers.
-r	LSA providers.
-s	Autostart services and non-disabled drivers.
-t	Scheduled tasks.
-v	Verify digital signatures.
-w	Winlogon entries.
-x	Print output as XML.
user	Specifies the name of the user account for which autorun items will be shown.

Download Autoruns and Autorunsc
(576 KB)

Run Autoruns now from Live.Sysinternals.com

Autoruns for Windows

Import Scans or Go Multilingual

2009-10-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we launched v3.0 of the Documents List Data API and promised more features were on the way. Well today, we're releasing two experimental features in the API: OCR and Document Translation.

The first, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), allows your application to create editable Google Documents from high-resolution images containing text (such as faxes or scanned letters). To perform OCR on a .png, .jpg, or .gif upload, add the ocr=true parameter onto your upload request:

POST /feeds/default/private/full?ocr=true HTTP/1.1

OCR will only work well on high-resolution images. The quality of the extracted text isn't perfect yet, but we're busy improving it!

Secondly, we have integrated Google Translate into the API. As a result, you can translate a document during upload. Simply add the targetLanguage and sourceLanguage parameters to your upload request:

POST /feeds/default/private/full/?targetLanguage=de&sourceLanguage=en HTTP/1.1

If sourceLanguage is omitted, we'll try to auto detect the document's language. All languages supported by Google Translate (full list here) are supported in the API.

As always, see the documentation for details. There's also a live demo (source will be available soon) up at googlecodesamples.com.

Official Google Data APIs Blog: Import Scans or Go Multilingual

Free Software - The best free software for Windows and Mac.

2009-09-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Stop hunting; this handpicked list has the best free software in the world.

Unless specified, programs are available for both Windows and Mac.

Free Software - The best free software for Windows and Mac.

Links for 2009-09-24 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-25T00:00:00-07:00

Gamefishing Fiji: Royal Slam Completed aboard Bite Me

The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC - Stepcase Lifehack

2009-09-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC

It’s about that time for me again: my desktop is a couple years part its prime and my laptop just died (no display, no hard drive activity, no wifi, and a recent history of turning off suddenly for no good reason – those are all bad signs, right?), which means the near future holds a new PC for me. Which means a blank slate on which to impose my computer-using will.

Setting up a new computer goes through five stages:

Denial: I’ve got a new computer. Nothing can go wrong now!
Anger: No, I don’t want to subscribe to AOL. No, I don’t want Norton updates. No, I don’t want a 60-day trial of Office 2007. There are HOW MANY security updates?!
Bargaining: I’d do anything to be able to use this thing!
Depression: I’ve been uninstalling Norton components for 17 hours now. If I have to restart the PC one more time, I swear I’ll kill myself… All I want to do is update Twitter!
Acceptance: OK, let’s install some good stuff now!

Once you’ve installed all the updates, uninstalled all the crapware, entered your wifi password, and set your screensaver, it’s time to make that shiny new PC do stuff, and for me the doing starts with installing a pretty fixed list of free applications.

The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC - Stepcase Lifehack

Links for 2009-09-22 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-23T00:00:00-07:00

2008 Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count Results presented at the Fiji Islands Conservation Science Forum 5th - 7th August 2009 - The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count

Links for 2009-09-20 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-21T00:00:00-07:00

Ultimate Eco Escapes - Sport Diver Magazine Sept 2009 - FIJI SCUBA DIVING - Dive the best of Fiji Diving with Mad Fish Dive Centre, Kadavu, Fiji Islands
Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort is pround to be named as one of the world's Ultimate eco Escapes by PADI Diving Society's SPORT DIVER Magazine in September 2009

Links for 2009-09-16 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-17T00:00:00-07:00

Matava - Fijis Premier Eco Adventure Resort

Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software - Downloads

2009-08-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

It may be the year 2008, but a whole lot of sucktacular software still rears its ugly head on PC's everywhere, even when better-behaved options are freely available. Whether it's molasses-slow bloatware, shameless adware, anemic default apps, or "Your trial period has expired!" nagware, it's time to replace stinky Windows software with its superior (but lesser-known) alternative. Last week we asked what software you should never install on your PC, and over 200 comments later, you compiled quite a list. Today we're going to take a walk down the Crapware Hall of Shame, point and laugh at the worst offenders, and highlight some better choices. Photo by chelseagirl.

Application to Avoid: Adobe Reader
Indictment: Bloatware
Superior Alternative(s): FoxIt Reader or Sumatra PDF
Notes: There are much worse offenders on this list than Adobe Reader, which has gotten more performant over the years. Keep in mind that Adobe deals with some PDF's (like ones with editable form fields) better than FoxIt. If you don't want to ditch Adobe Reader entirely, here's how to tweak Adobe 8 for speed.

Application to Avoid: AOL Instant Messenger
Indictment: One-trick pony with ads included made by a company that holds its customers hostage. (Speaking of, here's how to cancel your AOL account.)
Superior Alternative(s): Digsby or Pidgin or Miranda or Trillian or Meebo
Notes: The moral of the story is you should avoid anything that comes on six zillion free CDs that swamp your apartment building's mailroom.

Application to Avoid: Browser Toolbars (that you didn't seek out yourself)
Indictment: Notorious for hijacking your browser, phoning home with your online activity, taking up precious real estate, and not offering any features you actually want.
Superior Alternative(s): Your browser's built-in search box and a few good bookmarklets
Notes: Don't get us wrong: Not all toolbars are bad, but do beware when they get tacked onto the end of a totally unrelated software installation and you have to opt OUT of them.

Application to Avoid: Internet Explorer (6 and 7)
Indictment: Lacks features any self-respecting modern web browser had two versions ago
Superior Alternative(s): Firefox
Notes: Because IE gloms onto the innards of your operating system so inextricably, you can't truly uninstall it. Just set your system's default browser to Firefox to avoid launching IE ever.

Application to Avoid: iTunes
Indictment: Too controlling, gleefully enforces DRM, can't monitor folders for new music
Superior Alternative(s): foobar200 (more on foobar2000), Songbird, or WinAmp
Notes: We—ok, I—actually like and use iTunes, ever since that time Steve Jobs waved that iPhone over my forehead and chanted. These recommendations only for those with particularly sensitive digital music sensibilities.

Application to Avoid: Java Runtime Environment
Indictment: You ugly and yo' Mama dresses you funny
Superior Alternative(s): None.
Notes: If you want to run a Java app, without the runtime you're SOL. Java, we love the idea of you. Just not the coffee cup staring at us from the system tray.

Application to Avoid: Limewire
Indictment: Where do we start? Haven't launched Limewire since our college days, and don't plan to ever look back
Superior Alternative(s): Frostwire
Notes: Bonus: Frostwire does BitTorrent, too.

Application to Avoid: MSN Messenger
Indictment: Little ugly non-faces with a red X over them plant themselves in your system tray with no obvious way to uninstall or quit it
Superior Alternative(s): Digsby or Pidgin or Miranda or Trillian or Meebo
Notes: Uninstall MSN Messenger by going to the "Add/Remove Windows Components" area in Control Panel's "Add/Remove Programs" area.

Application to Avoid: Nero Suite
Indictment: Costly
Superior Alternative(s): CDBurnerXP
Notes: The free CDBurnerXP may not do everything Nero does, but for the price it does a whole lot.

Application to Avoid: McAfee/Norton/Symantec Anti-Virus
Indictment: Naggy subscription costs after the free trial on your new PC runs out
Superior Alternative(s): AVG or Avast
Notes: See why many readers have ditched their AV software.

Application to Avoid: QuickTime
Indictment: Plants itself in your startup and system tray
Superior Alternative(s): QuickTime Alternative
Notes: While QuickTime doesn't annoy us THAT much, it still annoys us a little—especially since it comes with Apple's Software Update. (See Safari's Honorable Mention, below.)

Application to Avoid: RealPlayer
Indictment: We're still so traumatized about RealPlayer's repeated takeover of our PC back in 2004 we're seeing a special doctor that's killing that part of our memory
Superior Alternative(s): Real Alternative

Application to Avoid: Windows Media Player
Indictment: WTF interface, chokes on clips in common formats
Superior Alternative(s): VLC

Application to Avoid: WinZip
Indictment: Cost
Superior Alternative(s): 7-Zip or ALZip

Honorable mention: While Apple's Safari web browser for Windows itself is not crappy, Apple's Software Update trying to push it on you completely sucks. Here's how to opt out of installing Safari and stop the nag.

What crappy apps or better alternatives did we miss? Did we wrongly accuse one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, still hasn't forgiven RealPlayer. Her weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Monday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Lifehacker - Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software - Downloads

DiskDigger - free data recovery made easy | DmitryBrant.com

2009-08-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

DiskDigger can recover files from any type of media that your computer can read. This includes USB flash drives, memory cards (SD, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, etc), and of course your hard drive. The types of files that it recovers include photos, videos, music, documents, and many other formats.

DiskDigger can even scan reformatted or badly formatted disks (disks to which Windows can’t assign a drive letter), and even disks with bad sectors. It bypasses the Windows file system drivers and scans your disk directly. It has its own built-in support for the following file systems: FAT12 (floppy disks), FAT16 (older memory cards), FAT32 (newer memory cards and hard disks), NTFS (newer hard disks), and exFAT (Microsoft’s new successor to FAT32).

DiskDigger is also very compact and portable. The entire program is a single executable file that you can run from anywhere. There’s nothing to “install,” and the program doesn’t leave any trace of having been run.

You may find DiskDigger useful if…

you deleted one or more photos from a memory card by accident, and want them restored.
you deleted one or more photos from a memory card on purpose, but now want them restored.
you deleted some documents from your USB flash drive, and want to recover them.
you came across an old hard drive of yours (or someone else’s) that’s been reformatted, and would like to see what its previous contents were.
you’ve “securely wiped” your media, and want to make sure that your media has actually been wiped correctly.
you’re just curious about what old deleted files are still present on your memory cards or hard drives.

DiskDigger is also a work in progress. This means that new features will be added very frequently, including support for more file formats, more configuration options, etc., so check back for updates.

DiskDigger - free data recovery made easy | DmitryBrant.com

Free Programs Every Windows User Should Have

2009-08-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

µTorrent - I’ve used a few BitTorrent programs in the past, but I love µTorrent. It’s lightweight but feature packed. If your ISP is anything like mine, just having the scheduler to download at off-peak times is a god send.

ASquared Free - Scan your PC for infections of Trojans, Viruses, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Bots, Keyloggers and Dialers. 2 cleaning Scanners in 1:Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware

CCleaner - This has got to be one of my favourite apps of all time. Just the ability to change start up with out using the MSCONFIG promt is great, but it gets better. The default Windows uninstaller is so slow, CCleaner has it’s own programs uninstaller built in, saving a lot of time. Oh, and did I mention is also has a registry cleaner?

ClamWin Free Antivirus - I haven’t been using this for too long, I tried it out because I got annoyed with AVG Free taking three hours a day to do a virus scan. This is quick, easy to use and lightweight.

Defraggler - Another good app from the guys at Piriform. The default windows defragger takes a lifetime. That’s time I just don’t have. This tool does the job in a fifth of the time. Get it.

Dup Detector - Not everyone will need this, but if you download a lot of porn pictures (I don’t, I’m just trying to use it as an example) you’ll find you have hundreds of dupes. This tool scans folders looking for pictures which are identicle then it asks you which copy you want to remove, giving you such information like file size and image size so you can keep the better copy.

DVD Shrink - DVDShrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc. You can also delete the annoying Anti Piracy shit at the beginning of the DVD, saving your sanity.

FileZilla Client - Quite possible the best FTP client I have ever used.

FireFox - The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox 3 sets the pace with dozens of new features, including the smart location bar, one-click bookmarking and blindingly fast performance.

Fotosizer - With Fotosizer, you can shrink JPEG image files, along with other supported formats, and dramatically reduce internet transfer times, enabling you to quickly and easily prepare your image collections to be published on the web. Resize quickly and easily using a preset list of sizes including iPod, iPhone, and Sony PSP screen sizes.

Foxit Reader - If you haven’t noticed by now, I hate bloatware. Adobe Acrobat Reader is one of the worse programs for it. This is a great alternative. It doesn’t take three days to open, it doesn’t ask to update when you’re opening a PDF file.

IO Bits Smart Defrag - What is the fragmentation status of your hard disk? You no longer need to guess… this freeware will give you a complete diagnosis of your current hard drives, then defragment and speed up disk performance in minutes.

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack - I’m not sure why Microsoft don’t have basic things like DVD codecs built in to Windows as standard. But hey, this will sort it out and add lots of other codecs. Also included is the Media Player Classic. Remember that? A very simple media player. I love it.

Kompozer - Finally, a top-notch WYSIWYG web page program for the rest of us! Now there’s no need to pay a little fortune for a program to create and edit great-looking web pages, including powerful and easy to use CSS capabilities.
KompoZer is a complete Web Authoring System that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing capabilities found in Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe DreamWeaver and other high end programs.
KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

Macrium Reflect Free - Create a disk image whilst running Windows using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS).
Image to Network, USB, FireWire drives and DVD.
Built in scheduler.
32 bit and native 64 bit versions.
Industry leading compression levels and speed.
Linux based Rescue CD with Network access and full GUI. Only 6.5MB in size!
Built in CD/DVD packet writing engine. Supports packet writing to DVD
DL media with Windows Vista.
HTML log files.

Notepad++ - The best text editor I’ve ever used. Simple things like Find & Replace are a breeze with this program. I use it for editing HTML, PHP, MySQL and CSS. It also supports lots of other languages.

ObjectDock - ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an attractive and fun animated Dock. By allowing users to have more control over how they organize their desktop, users can take control of their desktop icons and shortcuts to have them be available when where and how they need them. This, all with the unique style and top-rate performance that ObjectDock is known to deliver!

Opera - Speed Dial: Your favorite sites are just one click away at all times. Search Shortcuts: Faster search – type your queries directly in the address bar. Trash Can: Instantly reopen recently closed tabs.

Paint.NET - When I just want to simply edit a picture without waiting for Photoshop to open, I use Paint.Net. It’s neat and tidy and has a lot of features.

Pidgin - I hate all the IM clients out there, they’re bloated and too many useless “features”. I have something like five MSN accounts, three AIM accounts and two Yahoo accounts. This lets me keep them all in one program. Easy to use, no bells and whistles, just a basic cross platform IM client.

Recuva - Recuva (pronounced “recover”) is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

Skype - I love Skype, it is built into my mobile phone and home phone. I used to make a lot of calls to America and Mexico when I was drunk using my land line phone, now I can do it for cheap and free at times. A real money saver.

Spybot S&D - I never get spyware or any thing like that any more, but I keep this as a security blanket.

Torrent Harvester - This hasn’t been updated since 2006. So if anyone knows of a program like this, please let me know. It searches all the main torrent sites to find what you’re looking for. In the past I’d use sites like TorrentSpy.com (R.I.P), Mininova.org, Thepiratebay.org. Now I just use this tool and it searches all the sites, even ones I’ve never heard of.

XAMPP - I like to play a lot with PHP & MySql scripts. This is perfect for the task. An easy install, clean interface and everything
you need to get running a test server on your own computer.

Do you know any other good programs which are free and very useful? Leave a comment and I’ll add them to the list. Sharing is caring.

Edit: I’ve written up a follow up to this post, Free Programs Every Windows User Should Have - Anti Spyware Edition

And thanks to everyone for the torrent site links, but no more please. I’m deleting all the old comments because this page is taking too long to load.

Free Programs Every Windows User Should Have | He Wants Revenge [dot] com

Recover deleted data from hard disk even if its been deleted from recycle bin. Data Recovery Freeware, Data Recovery Hard Drive, Data Recovery Programs, Data Recovery Protection, Data Recovery Service, Data Recovery Services, Data Recovery Software, Data Recovery Tools, Data Disaster Recovery, Data Recovery, Disk Data Recovery | TechMynd, Software Downloads and Information Technology

2009-08-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

If you are a computer professional then you have to be prepared to protect your hard drive data well from unexpected data loss and take back ups. Hard drives corrupt more often now then before. Sometimes we delete data by accident. Sometimes we delete data but we may need that later on. Computer data is not fully deleted from hard drive. It remains in some form for sometime unless you write more data and fill up the space. You can recover that data easily if you have some powerful tool to recover it. Here are some free powerful data recovery tools which I have been using.

Emergency file recovery requires more than the correct tool, though. It requires knowing how file deletion occurs, and what you have to do to maximize the chances of a successful recovery. When a file is deleted from your computer, its contents aren’t immediately destroyed. Windows simply marks the hard drive space as being available for use by changing one character in the file table so that the file entry won’t be displayed in My Computer or a command line DIR command, etc. If you manage to start an undeletion process before Windows uses that part of the hard drive to write a new file, all you have to do is set that flag back to “on,” and you get the file.

Full article here:

Recover deleted data from hard disk even if its been deleted from recycle bin.

NewOrder - news: Securing Your Windows PC

2009-08-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

This guide will be on securing your Windows computer from local and remote attacks by using certain security features that come with Windows to protect your information as well as the use of software to help protect your computer from unauthorized access by intruders.

It will also deal with personal privacy and how to keep your important information from getting in the hands of others. Hopefully, when you are done reading this you will have a better idea on what should be done to keep your PC and your personal information from being exploited by curious or malicious users.

Full list here: NewOrder - news: Securing Your Windows PC

Finding drivers for unrecognized hardware in a Windows system | Nixadmins.net

2009-08-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

If Windows wouldn’t be able to find drivers for it the Details pane would still be visible and you would se the Device Instance Id. From that one line we can get everything we need. So let’s try it out.

In the beginning of the line PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10BD&SUBSYS…. VEN stands for the Vendor, this being Intel and DEV for the device in question. So now that we know this much just head over to pcidatabase.com and enter the DEV id 10BD into the device search.

Read full article here:

Finding drivers for unrecognized hardware in a Windows system | Nixadmins.net

Downloadpedia - The Software Encyclopedia

2009-08-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

Downloadpedia.com is an extended library of freeware, shareware and commercial software for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Downloadpedia.com is intended for those who are looking for tools. We attempt to carry out a simple mission: to provide you with the best software available on the Web. Downloadpedia.com offers a comprehensive gathering of applications. We bring to the focus mainly freeware and shareware.

Though, here you will be able to find the best commercial products. When making our choice of commercial software we were guided by several principles. We gave our preference to the most popular, most frequently downloaded, reliable, effective software at affordable prices.

Downloadpedia - The Software Encyclopedia

200+ Portable Apps for USB | Free Portable Softwares

2009-08-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

A portable application, or portable app for short, is a computer software program that does not need to be installed or copied onto a computer’s mass storage device to be executed, running instead from a removable storage device such as a CD-ROM drive, USB flash drive, flash card, or floppy disk.

Portable applications can be run on any computer system with which they are compatible; they usually require a certain type of operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows XP or above, any Linux, etc). Portable software in this sense should not be confused with software portability, where software is designed in a way which allows its source code to be compiled for different computing platforms.

Here are the Cool List of Free Portable Apps for USB

200+ Portable Apps for USB | Free Portable Softwares

Lifehacker Pack 2009: Essential Free Windows Downloads | Lifehacker Australia

2009-08-03T02:45:00.000-07:00

We feature downloads of all kinds every day at Lifehacker. Today, however, we’re bundling all the best free downloads for new computer owners, re-installers, would-be geeks, or anyone who wants to save time installing the best stuff out there. This is our 2009 Lifehacker Pack for Windows computers.

The idea is simple — a single, handy list that we think improves the computer lives of Windows users. We’re also providing a utility to download some or all of these applications at once—more on that after the list.

You can head directly to each application’s download page from the [Download] links following their write-ups, and see what Lifehacker originally wrote about them at the [LH Post] link. If there’s a portable version of an application that you can run off a thumb drive and/or test out without installing, we’ve linked to that at [Portable], or added a “+Portable” to the main download link.

Onto the list!

Lifehacker Pack 2009: Essential Free Windows Downloads | Lifehacker Australia

Free iTunes alternative - Manage iPod and iPhone without iTunes

2009-08-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

Everything CopyTrans Manager can do!

Sick of iTunes? Is it too complex and slow for your needs? Looking for a faster, lighter and free alternative iPod manager? CopyTrans Manager is the perfect iTunes replacement for your iPhone or iPod. Preview tracks with the integrated music player, add music & videos to your iPod, edit song tags and artworks, create and organize iPhone playlists, it has never been this simple!

Manage your iPod without iTunes, it’s a reality now!

Add music to iPod, videos & more

Add music, podcasts, audio books, videos, films and TV-shows to iPod or iPhone
Drag & Drop songs directly from any folder to your iPod, iTouch and iPhone
Add tracks from any PC to iPod, iPod Touch and iPhone

Organize iPhone or iPod and manage playlists

Create iPod Touch playlists or edit existing ones
Drag & Drop iPhone songs directly into iPhone playlists
Import all album artwork automatically to your iPod or iPhone
Edit track information (artist, album, ratings, genre, etc.)
Search iPhone tracks by album, artist or anyway you want
Synchronize iPod instantly or manually

Remove iPod tracks & playlists

Remove tracks from your iPod playlists
Remove iPod Touch playlists
Delete iPhone tracks definitively

Play iPod tracks directly on any PC

Listen to your iPod Touch music, audio books, podcasts
Install your iTunes alternative directly on your iPod
Use your iPhone manager on every PC without installation

Standalone, light and fast

No installation required
Takes only 3MB of hard drive space
Loads in less than a second

Free iTunes alternative - Manage iPod and iPhone without iTunes

The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

2009-08-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

The Internet has brought us many joys. It’s rewritten the rules of business and pleasure.

And pain. For it allows what may have seemed like bright ideas at the time (”Let’s use it to make sure our customers have the latest software,” for example) to turn into a stinking pit of misery — usually, but by no means always, after marketing gets its fangs in.

Here are just 10 of the guilty parties that try to do the impossible: to make us hate the Internet and wish it had never been invented — and which very nearly succeed.

Note: This list originally appeared as a photo gallery created by Rupert Goodwins, which published on ZDNet.co.uk, ZDNet, and TechRepublic. It’s also available as a PDF download.

Full list here:

The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

2009-08-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

29 Web Apps For Students and White Collar Workers

2009-08-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

Take a moment and imagine a world without computers, a world without applications. Its hard isn’t it? In today’s day and age it has become impossible to get certain things done without the help of a computer. And of course computer alone can’t do much if there aren’t proper application to assist you in what you are doing.

Web applications have come and gone. Some have stayed on top for years and have provided utmost value to the users and some have been dumped after their first use.

Today we bring you 29 Web Applications that are intended for students, businesses and webmasters. In this post you will find 29 web apps altogether divided in 3 groups – Students, Businesses and Webmasters. Under each link you will find a brief excerpt from their about us page which will give you a better idea as to how they might help you achieve what you are trying to do.

note : the description under each application is extracted from the application developers about page. No one else can describe a product like the makers do, so we decided we would use their own words to describe each applications.

Let’s get started (FROM Palaestra Training » Blog Archive » )

29 Web Apps For Students and White Collar Workers

How To Make Any Firefox Add-on Compatible with All Versions | MakeUseOf.com

2009-07-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes trying out newer versions of Firefox, especially ones that are still in beta, comes at a cost. Since the version you’re running is so new, add-on developers haven’t had the chance to update their add-ons to work with the newer versions.

So this is when you stumble upon an add-on that conveys the following message to you: “This add-on is for older versions of Firefox”.

How To Make Any Firefox Add-on Compatible with All Versions | MakeUseOf.com