Helpful Free Software

Use AVG Free have done for several years and find it very effective even against paid for competitors:

http://www.grisoft.com

Software firewalls, if you have broadband some sort of protection is essential, Zonealarm Free edition:

http://www.zonelabs.com

Spam sorting:

http://www.mailwasher.net

Thats just the things that spring to mind immediately, more suggestions?

Adam

Put the power of google into your browser :
http://www.toolbar.google.com/

Good thread idea. Here, I'll add a few things to it - hopefully this can become a 'reference' thread.

http://www.pentalogix.com/Download/download.html for a free Gerber file viewer - great product!

http://www.linear-tech.com/software/ for a free Spice simulator

And for hardware tinkerers - you can get free samples relatively easily (usually just by creating a 'profile') from:

http://www.national.com/ National Semiconductors
http://www.maxim-ic.com/ Maxim
http://www.onsemi.com/ Onsemi (diodes, transistors etc)
http://www.coilcraft.com/ Coilcraft (inductors)
http://www.ti.com/ Texas Instruments

george.

Very good thread. I like the GIMP for free image editing.

Main GIMP page
GIMP for Windows

Time clock sync:

http://www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/

Top line PCB design with autorouter free for small board sizes and personal use:

http://www.cadsoft.de/

Free PDF creator that dosen`t stamp it`s name on every sheet you print:

http://www.pdf995.com/

Adam

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com

and

http://www.webattack.com

Joe

Absolutely the best browser I've ever tried: Slimbrowser
http://www.flashpeak.com/

It is basically a different shell for the IE innards. It blocks pop ups, uses a tabbed style (much like netscape, but better somehow), and has a plethora of other features -- all for free. I love it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

http://www.smoothwall.org
If you have a crappy computer sitting around collecting dust, then you might consider using Smoothwall. I just finished setting it up on my dad's old PII 300Mhz machine. (For the record though, it can even run off of a 486 with no problems) Basically it is a stripped down Linux kernel which turns an old unused computer into a hardware firewall. Very useful and free!

This guy Has a bunch of cool free stuff. I particularly like WebTime which synchronizes your clock with NIST time.

Larry

The regular users of the newsgroup alt.comp.freeware vote each year on what they consider the best freeware in several catagories. They call the list Pricelessware. The regulars of alt.comp.freeware are to freeware as we are to flashlights. They know what they want, like, and aren't afraid to demand it.

i like most the stuff here. he doesnt write bloated code, its small downloads and he has usefull stuff
http://www.analogx.com/welcome.htm

WOW!!!
This is a GREAT thread /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I like and use Cacheman
a memory manager
It's gonna take me days to wade thru this thread /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Tom

Wow, Rorschach, Thanks, I didn't know there was a GIMP for Windows.

Ditto on Zone Alarm,, I converted to the Pro version a few years ago, but the free version is great, and even more important now that the website delivered worms are proliferating.

Infranview is a pretty neat little program; Very compact and quick, a lot of people use it for a lot of things, but I find that I mostly use it for making custom icons from other graphics files. The newer versions are a LOT more powerful than what I have on my computer though.... Time to upgrade!

FTP Explorer is a pretty good FTP program. Mostly I use WS_FTP but sometimes I find FTPX more powerful.

Let's not forget LavaSoft's Ad-Aware (free) and Ad-Aware Plus. I loved the free version so much I went and registered. With registration not only do you get tech support, but lifetime upgrades as they become available. When first downloaded and run on my PC, I had over 77 hiding spyware and data mining programs lurking in the shadows of my hard drive. My sister-in-law's PC had over 200 of these spyware proggies just snooping around her PC. After cleaning things up, the performance of both our machines is "like new". In fact, like some old commercial used to say "Much, much better than new".

Ed.

I found Eprompter in Pricelessware that Empath posted.
It is an email manager.
If you have a single or multiple email addresses it pulls them all in without opening a browser. Allows you to read and reply or delete. I have 2 hotmail, netscape, operamail, ISP email that this beauty fetches at 15 minute intervals.
It is VERY nice!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Tom

Howdy,

Here is a link to a bunch of useful, free software I have put together....
http://www.mikeshelp.com/personal_faves.html

mike
ps If you find any broken links let me know so I can fix them.

Nice site Yam
"I yam what I yam" someone famous once said /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
There's got to be more free stuff out there.
Opera is free for the taking.
I'm trying that out right now.

That Eprompter is a killer app. I'm migrating back to netscape mail because it can fetch that and hotmail.
Saves me from pulling up browser pages. You can read, reply, delete, mark read, and use the links in the message.
THAT IS SO COOL!
Tom

I've found Trogladite great for uploading files to the internet. Just right click on any file and select where you want it to go.

Mozilla! Totally free, open source Web browser suite. (Includes email client and graphical HTML editor.)

Tree,,,
Trogladite is great. Nice Find! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Anyone else tried Incredimail ? It's similar to Outlook, and you can actually import your existing emails from Outlook into it too, but the only gripe I have is that its not able to import some of the Rules that I have set for incoming mails on my current Outlook. Other than that, its got customised new mail notification, backgrounds, etc.. Pretty fun to use, and a refreshing look compared to boring old Outlook! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif