New boot disk - What freeware to reinstall (here is my list, for starters)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erica Eshoo
  • Start date Start date
I thought DVDFab Decrypter shrank things to the right size. I guess I'll
add DVDShrink to keep it on a single-layer dvd disc.
Click to expand...

The Free version of Fab Decrypter only does 1:1 backups, most of the
advanced features are disabled.
 
I'm enjoying these valuable comments and taking notes --- this is a
great thread!

As a TBird and Firefox user, I back up the Profile folder for each. That
eliminates the need for re-installing various gadgets and plugins.

By the way, what is the best freeware uninstaller (for Vista)? I've been
using Your Uninstaller ($) but welcome other ideas.

Thanks, Gurus
Click to expand...

RevoUninstaller for general purpose (it's great)
http://www.revouninstaller.com/

For snapshot before and after (occassionally)
http://www.zsoft.dk/index/software_details/4
 
This IS a great thread.
I recently had the same experience of reinstalling Windows and re-
loading my system with all the essential freeware afterwards.
It was an opportunity to write a posting about the expereince my blog,
entitled: "Reinstall Windows and outfit your system with all freeware
programs"

Of course many of my selections are the same as the ones already
mentioned in the thread.

check it out here:
http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/...utfit-your-system-with-all-freeware-programs/
 
If you don't mind a line across the bottom of the page, PDF FactoryPro is
by far the most useable for this - I used it a lot over several years (Mine
doesn't print the line :-> ) and it's quick, makes small PDFs and
interfaces well with Eudora.
GREAT CATCH! I was wondering what to use to read the PDFs I created.
Click to expand...

I used to use Foxit (and still do for reading PDFs down;oaded via Opera,
where I want justa quick view), but recently started using PDF-XChange
Viewer as it can do a lot more and has tabs rathet than the new instances.
It's a bit slower to open, but only abou 2 - 3s.
 
-Lost said:
Since when is this freeware? Or is the online scan part actually free?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's free. CSI is different from the fullblown Prevx. It doesn't
scan all files, just checks for active spyware or malware, and is
consequently very fast. There is an EXE that can be run online or saved
to disk, but to run it requires a non-proxied internet connection.

I think it's a useful companion to realtime protections.

Cheers.
 
Erica said:
http://www.wilsonc.demon.co.uk/xananews.htm

I appreciate the Xanews suggestion as I'm not as happy with my
freeware nntp newsreader as I am with other programs such as
IrfanView, DVDFlick, Firefox, etc.

Based on this thread, I created a new directory:
c:\My Installers\My NNTP Clients\
and downloaded Xananews into it along with a copy of the HTML page
(for reference) where I obtained it (I used wget freeware to archive
the web page along with the executable).

Thanks!
Click to expand...

it`s very good, the only news reader that hasn`t pissed me off.

I can tap M and it gets the next message that somebody else has written
in response to me, but which I have not replied to.
This is the key feature i always wanted in a newsreader.

It also colour codes my posts.

To speed up download I just tell it to "get headers" and if I am
interested in a thread, I download the thread or just individual
messages.

I think after downloading from a newsgroup, it colour codes the
newsgroup if it has new posts in reply to mine. I just tap M and it
hones in on them.

--
 
it`s very good, the only news reader that hasn`t pissed me off.

I can tap M and it gets the next message that somebody else has
written in response to me, but which I have not replied to.
This is the key feature i always wanted in a newsreader.

It also colour codes my posts.

To speed up download I just tell it to "get headers" and if I am
interested in a thread, I download the thread or just individual
messages.

I think after downloading from a newsgroup, it colour codes the
newsgroup if it has new posts in reply to mine. I just tap M and it
hones in on them.
Click to expand...

You know you can change all those keyboard shortcuts to whatever you
want, right? I have made mine the Function keys which makes more sense
to me.
 
I thought WinRar wasn't freeware? IZArc is freeware and is almost as good
as WinRar in my humble opinion.
Click to expand...
It isn't free. However, if you have a license for WinZip, I think the
same license will get you WinRar. Which makes me wonder why anybody
gets WinZip at all, or why WinZip doesn't have the same functionality as
WinRar?
IMHO, in the olden days, PGP was fine; but nowadays - PGP tries to make you
buy it so most of the stuff doesn't even work except the critical stuff.
I'm tired of having an entire PGP Desktop program that has most of the
buttons shut off. TrueCrypt has none of that and is truly freeware.
Click to expand...
You can't get the older version?
Agent is a classic - but I thought it wasn't free any more. Is Agent free?
And FreeAgent, I thought was advertiseware; so that's why I didn't install
it myself. I must admit this list was from memory as I haven't tested the
best freeware in a long time.
Click to expand...
Agent and FreeAgent are now folded into one.
FreeAgent isn't just advertiseware, it's a complete and usable package.
It just doesn't have some of the *nicer* function of Agent.
Things like filters and less common encode/decode methods for binaries.

They distribute Agent; but when installing you can select FreeAgent; and
some of the more esoteric and less-used (but nice) functions don't work.

However, the main advantage of Agent or FreeAgent isn't those functions,
but the overall way the program runs. After using either for a while,
you begin to realize how CLUMSY all the others are in comparison.
That's why they distribute FreeAgent. After a while of using the thing,
a large portion of people decide they'd like the extras as well; but the
other free newsreaders just aren't as good as FreeAgent WITHOUT the
extras.

I'd rather run FreeAgent than about any of the other "completely free"
newsreaders, just for the way it handles multitasking. I don't have to
WAIT while the program get posts, downloads files, or does about 90% of
the other tasks in the background while I read and respond to other
stuff. I don't even have to *think* about such things if I set up my
default preferences right.
I love DVDFlick. And, it's freeware. I do not know about AVS but all I do
is slide an AVI file onto DVDFlick and it converts that AVI file to a
properly sized DVD image and then burns that image to a DVD single-layer
disk. IMHO, DVDFlick is a great piece of freeware!
Click to expand...
With AVS video-converter I can read just about *any* supported video
file type, DivX, MPEG 1-4, AVI, Quicktime, or other format, and CONVERT
it to any of the others; either specifying the desired image-size, or
*keeping* the original size; and the same thing with the frame-rate! I
can cut-and-paste any part of the original picture to put in the new
one.

With their AVS video-editor or video-remaker (two separate programs that
do similar things with various changes in their user interfaces) I can
take not just one movie, but many, and combine them seamlessly into a
new whole; cutting and pasting and having the program automatically scan
for scene-changes ... the place where original cuts and splices cause
the most problems. This is *especially* helpful when you get something
like a movie from TV with commercials, or one already patched together
from several other pictures.

But it's the complete ability to read and convert *any* video format to
*any* other, not just AVI files, that makes it invaluable. Many
programs, including the "free" shit you get from Microsoft will handle
AVI files and write them to DVD ... But what if the stuff you get is in
DIVX or MPEG-4 format ... Or something even stranger like Iv5?

I have yet to find a format that I can get my system to read that AVS
converter won't fix so other programs will read and handle it.

My only complaint is that it's a bit pricey.
OTOH, being the *ONLY* software I've found so far that does the job ....

Well, I finally broke down, screamed fit to shake the house down, and
bought a copy. They also include the *whole* package, including gobs
and piles of useful stuff I never use (but you might) at the same price.

(One price fits all: You get *everything* for the same basic price.
However, they have *two* prices: One you get what you get. Two [higher]
you get free upgrades and stuff from then on. I got the slightly more
expensive one; though my first works *just fine*.)
I never heard of Bazooka. I'll check it out. I use TrendMicro HouseCall
most of the time as it catches at least one or two infections a week that
the other guys don't.
Click to expand...
As does Bazooka, I've found.
They don't upgrade as often and don't catch as many; but they *do* get
some others miss.
I love the idea of a separate install directory with a CDROM
backup every once in a while. That would have saved LOTS of time
for me.

I'm not sure what some of your suggested programs are, so I'm going to
have to study them ... especially "rgh", "synctoy", "realtek", "VIA",
and "Aptiva".
Click to expand...

Rgh additions, are useful extensions to the Windows Explorer. Missing
things like jumping to a directory or printing directory contents.

Synctoy is great for keeping directories synchronized.
I use it for backup. With that, a backup directory not only gets new
files, but old ones deleted or renamed as appropriate so the directories
match. You can do it one-way, both ways, or various controls placed on
who does what to whom. VERY useful.

The Via and Realtek drivers are if you have a VIA-chip based
motherboard. A large percentage of motherboards these days are.

The Aptiva Toolbox is a set of various programs.
I like Enditall; a *much* more convenient way of killing running
programs than Task Manager. You want Enditall-2.
I also like Startman.exe
It allows *much* more complete and useful control of what programs
automatically run on startup. The Aptiva Toolbox has several of those
programs; but as I said, I prefer startman. It provides the most
control at the expense of not having quite so slick an interface as some
of the others. With startman, you can disable a program on startup
temporarily or completely remove it. It automatically handles programs
started by the startup group, the various windows .INI files, and also
any in the registry startup keys; letting you know where they are
located, what they *say* they do, and where the actual program being run
is. You can then disable them temporarily; and if that seems OK after
several reboots, then remove them completely with all the editing being
done properly for you.
 
PeterC said:
I used to use Foxit (and still do for reading PDFs down;oaded via Opera,
where I want justa quick view), but recently started using PDF-XChange
Viewer as it can do a lot more and has tabs rathet than the new instances.
It's a bit slower to open, but only abou 2 - 3s.
Click to expand...


A lot's been said already, but a few more that have gotten little
mention so far:
* A decent txt editor: win32pad. It has colour schemes, making for
much more comfortable eyes.
* File manager: xplorer squared.
* Also MTexplorer: its horribly buggy, but 6 simultaneous panes can
be useful occasionally. But only occasionally, its a mess otherwise.
* 2 media players, one heavy, one light.
* LS to create a text file listing every file on the machine. Makes
for
ultrafast simple searches.
* Easymessage is simple lean no nonsense multiprotocol IM client.
BUT there is only one version that should be used, 2.3.663, others
are bad bad news.
* Spacemonger
* Crackup fragmentation reporter (dont remember if this does winnt
as well)
* Autoruns (sysinternals)
* "Unknown Devices" if you need drivers for pci devices
* Total Uninstall 2 is a must! Not 3 tho, thats $ware.

Theres plenty more, but those are the key ones.


NT
 
The Free version of Fab Decrypter only does 1:1 backups, most of the
advanced features are disabled.
Click to expand...

After further googling, it seems our basic freeware DVD backup toolkit is:

C:\My Installers\My DVD Rippers
- DVD Fab Decrypter (to rip those really hard ones)
- VobBlanker (to fix problems in those really hard ones)
- DVDShrink (to shrink the results to a DVD image)
- InfraRecorder (to burn the DVD image to a DVD disc)

An alternative, yet mostly equivalent toolkit could be:
- RipIt4Me (to rip using DVDDecrypter & FixVTS to fix)
- DVDShrink (to shrink the results to a DVD image)
- ImgBurn (to burn the DVD image to a DVD disc)

This is from my googling so I might have gotten the recommendations wrong.
Does this make any sense?
 
You can't get the older version?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. IIRC, you can only get the latest bloatware.
This PGP, IIRC, phones home constantly, installs services that run all the
time, has 50% of the functionality turned off unless you pay, etc.

That's why I gave up on PGP.

Maybe someone who knows more than I can set the record straight.

Is PGP nowadays bloatware, baitnswitchware, or freeware?

BTW, maybe GnuPG is a proper alternative to TrueCrypt freeware for mounting
a secure disk?
 
pcbuilder98 said:
Uninstaller for Vista? Are you saying Vista the king of bloatware has no
built in facility to remove software? YIKES!
pcbuilder98
Click to expand...

The win-all built in installer just links to the uninst file that
comes
with each app. In some cases these do what they say, but often
they dont. You need a proper before and after snapshot uninstaller
if you want to stop your registry becoming a disaster zone. Total
Uninstall 2 does the job pretty well (though the UI isnt too hot)


NT
 
Erica said:
I love DVDFlick. And, it's freeware. I do not know about AVS but all I do
is slide an AVI file onto DVDFlick and it converts that AVI file to a
properly sized DVD image and then burns that image to a DVD single-layer
disk. IMHO, DVDFlick is a great piece of freeware!
Click to expand...

Thank you for the mention of DVDFlick, a great piece of software.
 
This is FANTASTIC!


http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/...utfit-your-system-with-all-freeware-programs/
Click to expand...

some nice ones there. It brings up the question of launchers
though. IMLE with them, I find the win start menu is the best one
yet, if and only if you sort out the total mess it always starts out
as.
Create folders with category names such as words, security, dump,
system tools, graphics, net, media, search, file managers, and put
the useful shortcuts into them. Put all the other crp into 'dump.'
And there is a whole lot of it.

Having said that, winxp start menu is a real mess compared to the
win-dos one.


NT
 
some nice ones there. It brings up the question of launchers
though. IMLE with them, I find the win start menu is the best one
yet, if and only if you sort out the total mess it always starts out
as.
Create folders with category names such as words, security, dump,
system tools, graphics, net, media, search, file managers, and put
the useful shortcuts into them. Put all the other crp into 'dump.'
And there is a whole lot of it.

Having said that, winxp start menu is a real mess compared to the
win-dos one.

NT
Click to expand...

By Win-dos do you mean 9x? How is the Winxp menu any worse?

The Vista one is actually an improvement, and The Win3.1 program
manager was just a disaster.
 
Having said that, winxp start menu is a real mess
Click to expand...

The problem, IMHO, with Windows defaults are they are set by Microsoft and
idiots (including almost all, if not all, the manufacturers of software)
organize by the idiocy of company names.

Worse yet, everyone wants to be at the top level, whether it be your
desktop or your start menu.

Idiocy, sheer idiocy.

My solution is elegant, works well, and doesn't fight with the
company-name-at-the-top-level mess already set up by Microsoft by default.
 
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