Free Ware

Freeware is software that is free... duh. This is some of the stuff I use, or have used. If I didn't have the specific link, clicking on the item will send you to a Google search for that item. I've marked my favorites.

Graphics

IrfanView (Fav): a stable, reliable, versatile image viewer that views many file types and has some great batch processing features. Also seems to support photoshop plugins. \[dg 2005\]

FastStone Image Viewer: found this one in Aug 2005 and like it. It has more of an explorer interface than IrfanView, and has a lot of the same features. It has a drop shadow feature, which IrfanView lacks (which is initially why I got it). \[dg 2005\]

Paint.net: a free image editor with some decent features. Kinda like Microsoft Paint (that comes on all Windows computers) on steroids. \[dg 2004\]

HardCopy (Fav): A screen capture program I've used for years. Lots of configuration options. Not super user-friendly, but fine for power users.

Clipboard Utilities

Kana Clip (fav): Recently discovered this little gem. I use it many times a day. It performs the same functions as Clipomatic, which I used for a long time), but it also has actions that can be performed to the text in the clipboard, and also it can paste in text formatted with a timestamp (almost any format you want, since it's custom). Permanent clips are easier to manage than with Clipomatic and you can have sub-menus, too.

Clipomatic: This is a champ. I've been using it for years. Quick to use, it keeps the last 20 or so items you've copied to the clipboard just a keystroke away. It sometimes decides not to work (very rarely, though), but I get around that because I have two other clipboard utilities running that act as backups. \[dg 8/2005\]

Copy/Paste Clipboard Extender: This one supports Unicode, but what I use about it is the Append feature that appends what is copied to the clipboard together, so that you can paste it all at once later. \[dg 8/2005\]

Clipboard Diary Utility: This one's strength is keeping what you've copied for a long time. Its default is keeping your last 500! \[dg 8/2005\]

Text Editors

Arachnophilia (Fav): my chosen development tool for all my HTML, Java, PHP, Perl, and ColdFusion work. It's written in Java, and if you can too, you can add all sorts of extensions! It is highly configurable: you can make your own menus, toolbars, keyboard shortcuts. Also available is the Legacy version (v4 I think), which makes a good text editor. It is not Java-based, but Windows. \[dg 8/2005\]

Crimson Editor: a source code editor for Windows. This program is not only fast in loading time, but also small in size (so small that it can be copied in one floppy disk). While it can serve as a good replacement for Notepad, it also offers many powerful features for programming languages such as HTML, C/C++, Perl and Java. Good syntax highlighting. One thing I especially use it for is its "column mode", where text is altered in blocks of text rather than line by line. This allows me to paste in a bunch of paths, and remove the front x number of characters from each one (e.g. if I want to remove the directory name from each line). You can also use it to put the same text in front of each line. Occasionally, I find this handy. \[dg 8/2005\]

jEdit: A fine text/web editor written in Java. It has a large user base and good support from that. It has a bunch of neat features. One of which is tag folding. \[dg 8/2005\]

Audio

WinAmp (Fav): One of the most popular music players around. Used it for years. Much more customizable than Windows Media Player. You can also choose different skins to change your look. \[dg 8/2005\]

foobar2000: This is a configurable, simple audio player that specializes in practicality. It doesn't take up a lot of memory. \[dg 8/2005\]

HammerHead Rhythm Station: Currently, I'm using version 1.0 by Bram Bos (1997). It may be old, but it works on Windows 2000 and XP just fine. It's a fun little program that lets you program your own drum beat rhythms.

Click MusicalKeys: A neat program that lets you play and record your own music. Features over 100 different instruments. \[dg 10/2005\]

Other

Mozilla Firefox (Fav): Mozilla is the "company", and Firefox is the program. I use it for all my internet browsing instead of Internet Explorer. It's safer, and has more very practical features that simply make it the best [IMHO|MyGlossary*#IMHO]. But I do keep Internet Explorer around in case I need to view some pages \[dg 8/2005\]

Trillian (Fav): A great Instant Message client that works with several different protocols: AOL IM, IRC, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, Hotmail, etc. Been using it for a couple of years. \[dg 8/2005\]

2xExplorer (Fav): "Lightweight and powerful, fully shell integrated and extremely usable for increased everyday productivity, 2xExplorer is an ideal dual-pane replacement for explorer, compatible with all 32-bit windows platforms." I use it for file browsing on my computer instead of Windows Explorer. It's great for comparing directories and copying files over. The author says it's dead, but he just means that he's not releasing any new versions. I've used the old one for years and enjoy it. His new one is called xplorer2 and is not free. \[dg 8/2005\]

WinMerge: This app compares text-based files and directories to see what is different. \[dg 8/2005\]

PasswordSafe: Keep all your computer passwords secret and in one place. I've used it for about a year now. \[dg 8/2005\]

Pixie: Pixie is a small program that shows a window that tells you about the screen pixel your mouse is above: color (in Hex, HTML, RGB, CMYK, HSV) and location. It also has a built-in magnifier. \[dg 8/2005\]

SlickRun: This is a little single-line box that stays on your screen. You type keywords into it and it will run programs, or open web sites, etc. based on the keyword. I first learned about it on TechTV* a couple of years ago. \[dg 8/2005\]

Easy Cleaner Windows Registry Cleaner: Don't know anything about this one first-hand. A friend said it worked well.