Free Software List for Vista

[Brink]

LOL John.

Yep, I suppose increasing would have been better, but not as much fun. LOL

Shawn

 

[Mettle Man]

There are some good utilities here

Sysinternals Suite

 

[bad_the_ba]

Nice list, and a good mix of Open Source software in there too I see. If I could add a few for you to check out, you may want to add if they prove useful to someone.

EasyBCD- For anyone dual booting a linux system with Vista, this program and it's tutorials make automated boot loader modification a breeze... Much simpler than any other method I have tried, and it doesn't really matter what OS is installed first, as long as you follow simple rules laid out in the tutorials and don't install your linux boot loader to the MBR.
Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

PDFCreator- Installs as a printer/service, and anything you are able to print you are also able to save as a .pdf. Very customizeable for details, compression, and file size. I have had resulting file sizes come out at 1/4 the size of using OpenOffice.org's export to pdf, with the same document and DPI. I use it daily as an alternative to QuickBooks PDF converter, to email invoices to customers.
http://pdfcreator.sourceforge.net I believe redirects to:
PDFCreator Homepage

GIMP- for me, this list is incomplete without the GIMP. Photoshop quality tools, filters, effects, etc. A very nice Open Source title and once you get used to the interface, you will find it is as advanced a photo editor as almost any commercially available software title.
GIMP - Downloads

OpenOffice.org- Alternative to MS Office, it has the near equivalent to Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and more. It can open pretty much all the MS formats (aside from Office 2007 specific), and can save as MS Office 97/2000/XP/2003 file types. In my experience or estimation, the latest versions are at well above 95% compatibility or interchangeability with MS file types.
http://www.openoffice.org

thanks for the great work, very nice list

 

[fasty64bit]

great

 

[swarfega]

cd burner xp: CDBurnerXP: Introduction and News

 

[MilesAhead]

Burrrn is a nice little CD Burner app. I think the last version was coded in
2005 but it works great in Vista Home Premium 32 bit.

Drag & drop .flac files and it fills in the track names, album title and artist.
The only thing weird in Vista that doesn't happen in XP is the log output
duplicates the log entry for each track. IOW, it will say
processing track 2
processing track 2
etc... but who cares? The CD burns fine.

burrrn.net - The home of Burrrn and Mr QuestionMan » Downloads

 

[Porkshanks]

Awesome List!!! I was looking for an MP3 tagger for Vista. Found mp3tag & Unlocker. Kudos my friend!

 

[johngalt]

A few more:

Pismo File Mount - Pismo Technic Inc. - Pismo File Mount
Allows users to mount both ISOs *AND* ZIPs

Jing Project - Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.
Instantly capture and share images and video - for free.

Sleipnir - Sleipnir - Web Browser specializes in customization (For Advanced Users)
This browser lets users choose between the rendering engines used by market leaders Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Home Inventory - Know Your Stuff Home Inventory Software
This software makes creating a home inventory fun and easy.

Twhirl - twhirl | the social software client
twhirl is a social software desktop client, based on the Adobe AIR platform.

Orca Browser - http://www.orcabrowser.com/
By the makers of Avant comes the new browser based upon the Firefox (3.0) source code using the Gecko Engine.

Desk Drive™ - Blue Onion Software - Desk Drive
Desk Drive™ solves a really annoying problem. You pop a USB thumb drive or DVD into your computer and then you have to open Window's Explorer and find the mapped drive or folder. Desk Drive adds a desktop icon pointing to the drive automatically. Remove the media and the shortcut goes away. Brilliantly simple and effective.

USB Image Tool - alex’s coding playground » USB Image Tool
USB Image Tool can create images of USB memory sticks and MP3 players, that are mounted as USB drives.

HWINFO (DOS) & HWINFO32 - HWiNFO(32) - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools
HWiNFO™ and HWiNFO32™ are professional hardware information and diagnostic tools supporting latest components, industry technologies and standards.

DriverMax - DriverMax - FREE driver download program for Windows XP & Vista
DriverMax is a new tool that allows you to download the latest driver updates for your computer. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Just create a free account, log in, and start downloading the updates that you need.
*Note* - most driver downloads do not work correctly yet, but they are getting there....

Ultimate Boot CD 5 - Ultimate Boot CD - Overview
Ultmiate Boot CD 4 Win - UBCD for Windows

 

[chessian]

Thanks for the list.

 

[Brink]

Your welcome Chessian.

Shawn

 

[johngalt]

Got another one - this one is cool:

Grabtxt 1.0 - misbah: Grabtxt 1.0
As most developers, while testing a program I get runtime errors displayed as windows error message boxes and I have to type these error messages in a search engine to find more about these errors and how to fix them. This tool will make this task very easy.

Subtitle Workshop - URUWorks - 100% Software Uruguayo
Subtitle Workshop is the most complete, efficient and convenient freeware subtitle editing tool. It supports all the subtitle formats you need and has all the features you would want from a subtitle editing program.

 

[Brink]

Nice programs John. They have been added.

Thank you.

 

[johngalt]

I was tickled pink when I saw GrabTxt - been wondering how to make something like a VB Script do the same and here comes this thing....

I have another one, called RegPad- but it is old and not supported.

However, it works like a charm....

 

[rajinisback]

Hi all,
I went through this entire thread twice but did not see a couple of items.
GOM player which i use for .flv/.mp4 files I get from you tube. (VLC Player competitor)
GOM software - Free, Simple, Light, It just plays! - GOM Media Player, GOM encoder

DVDSanta 4.5 FULL works perfect on 64 bit Vista Ultimate but I do not have a download link for it. Got it from a friend.

These above work on Vista 64 bit fine for me.

Brink, as always you are da man! Awesome list! +1
Raj

 

[Brink]

Hi Raj,

I found DVDSanta, but it is not a free app.

I do not use Media Center or Media Player much, but do they not play these file types to?

Thank you,
Shawn

 

[ZeratuelX]

Good list, I'm not sure if Skype would fall under this category but I use it a lot. It has both Instant Messaging and Computer-to-Computer calling. I like it better than xfire and other apps like it.

www.skype.com

Note, computer calling and IM is free, landline/mobile calling costs $.

 

[BeachNut]

Exact Audio Copy - the mother of all CD-rippers works great in Vista x64 (you'll have to download the LAME encoder to plug into it, also, if it's not already on your drive somewhere).

Does anyone have a link to the LAME codec for Vista 64 ? I'm assuming the LAME codec I've got for XP 32 bit won't work ? Thanks.

 

[swarfega]

DriverMax isnt a free program, its trial ware Worse, you have to create some kind of account!

 

[MilesAhead]

TagScanner A nice freeware tag utility that supports FLAC and online DB search

Works in both XP and Vista.

 

[Sound_Asleep]

BRINK OMG I LOVE YOU!
lol but yeah
this list is a lifesaver
I managed to be an idiot and got a trojan
I also had adaware tracking cookies *oh the joys*
and with some of the programs on your list
not only has it FOUND them it's also QUARANTINED AND REMOVED
just takes a reboot but I don't care
my norton antivirus and windows defender found squat and SUPERAntiSpyware program on your list
has found loads
most are tracking cookies but it's found 39 things
I only seemed to have ONE problem but seems I don't
i've always been careful of what I click
but that just isn't good enough
and it seems on the site there's alot of users who don't even have any system protection atall
i'd die if I had none lol
just wanted to say
thanks Brink :D

well I guess you can't count this as freeware
but it's free
when you're on youtube and you find a song you like
copy the link and go to

Zamzar - Free online file conversion

paste the url in there
and then choose the file format you need
type your email adress in and click convert
it sends a copy of that youtube file to you
so if you need the video click .flv
if you need the song click .mp3
then go to your inbox after a while
*depends on how many people are converting*
and download it
takes about 20seconds
but you have the song you need in the quality of that youtube video
:D
sometimes it's even better
hope this helps
as sometime's i've done it when i needed a song and it's not buyable
E.g Evanescences's EP songs
:P

omg I finished the scans with the stuff from this list
18 adaware cookies *harmless*
and a few trojans
it completly removed EVERYTHING!
brink I really cannot say thankyou good enough
:D you basically saved my laptop :D
plus my mum a bunch of money
i'm going to download some of this to her laptop
its ALOT BETTER THAN NORTON!
:D