Free software solutions?

[masterspud777]

OK, so we've got the PC lovers and the laptop lovers, the Microsoft lovers and the Apple lovers, the Windows lovers and the Linux lovers, the Mac lovers and the smart people (ooo, low blow :wink: ).

There's one thing, however, that I'm sure we can agree on. And that is saving $$$! How are we gonna do that you ask? By using free software instead of the outrageously highly priced software... when both do the same thing. I'm asking all of you out there if you know of any good software (free, of course) that make good substitutes for software that most of us are used to paying big bucks for.

For instance, OfficeXP Pro I've seen selling for anywhere between $100 and $200. Why not just go to OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org) and download OpenOffice for free?? I've been using OpenOffice for a few years now. It's great! It can read pretty much any document file type (including .doc) and save into any of those formats as well. Granted, you occasionally lose some formatting when saving to anything besides OpenOffice document format, but if you're not doing anything crazy with the document and just typing in there, it saves perfectly in .doc format. OpenOffice also includes the equivalent to MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS FrontPage, and I believe even MS Project.

Anyway, what other free applications have you guys come across (office applications or others) that make good substitues for products that cost a bundle?

(Pls don't post links to pirated, cracked, or hacked software or anything like that... strictly legitimately free software only)

[Alfonse]

AVG Antivirus
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

Daemon Tools (image mounting software)
http://www.daemon-tools.cc

7-Zip (winrar and winzip alternative)
http://www.7-zip.org/

Mozilla Thunderbird (email client)
http://www.mozilla.org

Filezilla (FTP client)
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Cdex (CD ripping)
http://www.cdex.n3.net/

[fstroupe]

Abiword is a word processing program pretty much identical to Word, complete with dictionary.

http://www.abisource.com/

Serif Photoplus 5.5 is a pretty decent substitute for PhotoShop (full version). You get a 30 day trial, then register (for free) by phone. Since I have other editors, I've never registered it, but I'm sure they will try to sell you something.

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

Eraser is an overwriting program that supposedly does a better job than DoD specs for overwriting media that has contained Top Secret material. So, I assume that it'll do just fine for that porn.

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

n-Tracks is a digital multitrack recording program, uses both VST and DX plug-ins. The free version has a few limitations, but there is no limit on # or length of tracks. (limitations are at bottom of following page)

http://www.fasoft.com/download.shtm

For us noobs that just have to have a software firewall :) there's Zone Alarm.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp

I was going to also say RegCleaner, but I think they have changed the name of it, and it may no longer be free.

That's all I can think of right now.

Anyone know of a "REAL" WYSIWYG HTML editor, similar to Front Page Express, for idiots like me that HATE HTML editors. I've tried a few and haven't found one I like yet. It don't have to be fancy, I prefer simple.

[jurtje]

The best word editor for scientists and any other people that like professionaly laid out documents.
MikteX (www.miktex.org/)
It's not WYSIWYG, but with a little practice you get really nice things. You do need notepad or something however.

The easiest and fastest program for simple video editing etc.
VirtualDub (www.virtualdub.org)

Recording from your TV card without sync problems?
Virtual VCR (http://virtualvcr.sourceforge.net/)

DVD ripping?
DVD Shrink (www.dvdshrink.org/)

My favourite browser:
Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/)

Kill spyware!!!!
Ad Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/)

[striker777]

Pretty nice list we got going here.

[siq]

yeah i agree. open office is one of my favorite programs.

[masterspud777]

wow, that's an awesome start to a list! Thanx for the info guys. I will definitely be checking a few of those out

[Kattikawn]

http://www.smartftp.com/

Another FTP client. The interface is a bit different than the usual client, but it works quite nicely.

[silenze]

Dos FTP fowevah!

[Kattikawn]

Sorry, sir, don't know anything about it.

[fstroupe]

WS_FTP was another cool free FTP client, but it's not free any more.

[playafly187]

here are a few that I can think of:

PowerStrip - used to overclock your video card

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download.asp?fid=6241&fileidx=1

Motherboard Monitor - measures various temps inside the pc

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

WCPUID - gives valueable info about your processor speed, fsb, voltages, etc

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002374/src/download.html

FRAPS - displayes frames per second counter in games, as well as takes screenshots and videos in-game

http://www.fraps.com/download.htm

[undergroundtech]

Don't forget the free P2P software, my favorite is WinMX (no adds).
An invaluable tool for D/L'ing music & porn.

On a side note, over the last couple years I've managed to get 3 free copies of Windows XP Pro & 1 copy of Office XP, all of them free. If you don't mind taking a few on-line retail training courses & lying to M$ (What? Like they would never lie to you) I could refer a couple of you every few days.
Send me a PM if your interested, just don't everyone blow-up my PM box all at once.

[fstroupe]

Sorry for bumping this old topic, but I had to come back here to find a couple of things that I lost from clean install...anyway, I did find a halfway decent HTML editor. Amaya.

http://www.w3.org/Amaya/

[Caj Darkmoon]

Since he already bumped it... I've gone through quite a few FTP programs, and my favorite thus far is LeechFTP, even though development on it has stopped.