My Favorite Free Programs

[Douglas Schuch]

My computer has begun crashing regularly. Will try to get it fixed (although it seems to be hardware, not software related as typing or moving the screen angle seems to set it off). So, I bought a new computer today and compiled a list of the programs I need to transfer or download. Many of my faves are free, so I thought I would start a thread of my favorite free programs and others can give theirs. I am sure there is a similar thread from the past, but software changes fast, and a quick search did not turn it up as recently added to, so here we go. Two categories: music-related and not music-related.

MUSIC-RELATED:

Media Monkey - a media player that handles really large libraries easily. I only use it for music. It is not as pretty as Itunes, but I find Itunes is very laggy with my large library. Great edit features - finds duplicates by either title or sound signature!

Best Practice - speeds up or slows down any track, changes key, or pitch-adjusts. Can export as a WAV after you adjust. Dead simple to operate.

TempoPerfect - simple little metronome

YTD Downloader - downloads Youtube videos, then can covert to mp3 or other formats if you want. Great for saving the classic Big E videos to study his style.

Audacity - excellent basic sound recording and/or mixing software. In addition to editing my amateur recording projects, I also use it when I have an MP3 of a whole concert or album to break it into individual tracks. You need a plug-in to export to MP3, but that's free also.

Format Factory - easily and quickly converts almost any format file to another format.

Free Rip - fast, simple, easy ripping of CD's to MP3's.

NON-MUSIC-RELATED:

Sketchup - 3D design/modeling software. As a tinkerer I'm always in the middle of several projects, some of which I need to draw out to check aesthetic or funtional aspects of. Sketchup is as easy as a 3D modeling program can be.

Libre Office - Open source alternative to MS Office

Open CPN - ok, not many here will appreciate this, but it is a navigational program. The map files have to be sourced seperately, but after using a number of bootleg copies of very complicated programs aimed at commercial vessels, this one, aimed at typical sailors, is wonderful for either trip planning or interfaced with a GPS for active chart-plotting. Maybe Mickey will tell us if it works for a plane....

7-Zip - good free file zip and unzip utility.

Convert for Windows - converts between different measurments - Metric, SAE, Farenheit, whatever: volume, distance, etc.

So, maybe you will find something you can use.... AND ALL FREE!

[Gary Shepherd]

I use Open Office in place of MS Office. Same people I think.

I find MagicISO to be useful for mounting my CDs and DVDs backups.

CutePDF for printing to PDF files if you don't own the expensive Adobe stuff.

FireFox broswer and Thunderbird email are nice alternatives to the MS stuff and are easy to backup with the also free MozBackup.

For recording, Reaper is not exactly free but it's almost free. I have Sonar so I don't really use it.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Libre Office is not the same as OpenOffice. It is newer and better, having abandoned the requirement to have Java installed and being under ongoing open source development. In contrast, OO is stagnating.

What many users don't realize is that if you install OpenOffice it also installs a bundled version of Java that was current at the time that version of OO was compiled. The Java installer doesn't check for a newer version that might be installed, or at least it didn't do so last time I tried it out. Rather, it overwrites any current installation and installs a possibly older version of Java.

This is such a security risk it boggles the cackles of my mind. Java vulnerability exploits are the number 1 attack vector for all known exploit kits. Oracle is hard pressed to keep this software patched against the determined cybercriminals targeting it on a daily basis.

Don't be fooled in to thinking that because the Blackhole/Cool EK is gone that no other Java exploit threats are in the wild. You would be dead wrong.

[Gary Shepherd]

OpenOffice is still being developed but I'll take a look at the other one just because I can.

[Wiz Feinberg]

OpenOffice is still being developed but I'll take a look at the other one just because I can.

Since OO uses/installs Java, please check to ensure you have the very latest version installed, at www.java.com. If not, upgrade, then scan for malware with everything you've got.

Did you know that you can have Java installed on your computer, for desktop software applications like OO, but not running in browsers as a plug-in? Newer versions of Java (7+) have an option under Security to enable or disable Java running in all browsers. Simply uncheck the option to allow Java in your browsers, save the change, then close and re=open you browser and Java support will be disabled.

This of course will break any online apps that run on Java and are accessed via a browser. For those requiring Java support for a particular website, choose one browser to access that website, or only websites requiring Java plug-ins enabled. Leave your other browsers with Java disabled and browse the web with them.

[John Gilman]

Music Related:

XMPlay - mp3 player. Tiny footprint, no install
MusicBee - player. Fancier, but nice
MuseScore - notation program
MP3 Tagscan - Tag editor
MP3 Tag - Another tag editor
Monkey's Audio - MP3 ripper
Cdex - MP3 ripper

Non Music Related:

Nitro PDF - reader/creator
IrfanView - image viewer
XNView - image viewer
VLC - media player
WinSCP - FTP client
Putty - telnet client
IMGBurn - CD/DVD burner
Firefox (obviously)
Notepad++ - text editor
PhotoFiltre - image processing
Renamer - file renaming utility (Denis Kozlov's)
Stellarium - star map
WinMerge - file comparison utility
Partition Wizard - partition manager

To add to the list a bit...