Slashdot Mirror
Free Windows Software Without Spyware/Adware
Jem Berkes writes "This week I launched CleanSoftware.org, a resource site with a unique goal: listing free, daily-use software that is free from spyware, adware, and other malicious/intrusive components. With Windows users increasingly believing that free software invariably means adware or spyware, I set out to promote good, clean, free software. Perhaps geeks helping family and friends set up their new computers this holiday can make use of this resource; sticking to clean software is much easier than struggling with never-ending cleanups. To expand my listing, I am also looking for input from the Slashdot readership: what other free, clean desktop software do you regularly use that Windows users should know about?"
I am also looking for input from the Slashdot readership: what other free, clean desktop software do you regularly use that Windows users should know about?
Firefox (and Linux!).
Donkey Dicks
Set to view at 0, and no posts. Dosen't bod well for your effort.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
GNU/Linux
bash: rtfm: command not found
You've got to be kidding.
All you're going to get is "All you need to do is list Linux and you're done." comments.
www.pricelessware.org ?
--
"Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple."
the programs that are every bit of other programs except they take the crapware out. A good example is Kazaa vs. Kazaa Lite. Everyone loves Kazaa and hears about it from friends, but it's full of crap.
for the mac page, see http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/
A clean design? Valid HTML? Valid CSS? Useful info? No ads?
What's the catch?
Mozilla Thunderbird and the Opera web browser aren't listed.
Foobar2000 (audio player) :P
Miranda (instant messenger)
PuTTY (telnet/ssh client. but if you didn't know _that_, then you really have no business being here.)
I use IrfanView. The lighest and quickest image viewer for Windows that I've ever used.
Nice.
From the benevolent computer geek in me: thank you.
From the computer repair business owner in me: ouch.
Electrons are free; it is moving them that becomes expensive.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm
Although less annoying, there's a Quicktime alternative too:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
You missed winzip and winrar.
I've recently been impressed with Solarwinds network utilities...
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Nice idea. I suggest you put a special icon next to open source software. I'm not saying you should be an open source evangelical, but I do think that *some* people who browse your site might prefer open source (and especially GNU) to propietary software, if they are given a clear choice. [For the record, I often choose propietery "clean" software myself. And sometimes I even (gasp!) pay for it. I'm very, very happy with Trillian 3 Pro, and am unsatisfied with the open source offerings.]
This one's straight from microsoft's site, but heck the software there are free and I use 'em daily:
o ls /default.mspx
:-)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/to
I also use The Core Media player, a free media player that I use to replace windows media player with. It has all the known codecs already built-in, and has many other unique and helpful features.
http://www.tucows.com/preview/299014.html
Hope you'll find those two useful.
Anthony
http://www.palmzone.net
Check the site.
Firefox is there, under internet, second link.
Trillian basic is a great IM client.
firefox
...Actually, just check out the openCD
putty
gimp
gvim
That sums it up pretty well.
... i tried lately includes:
W32.Envid@mm
Trojan.Vundo
W32.Bofra@mm
Backdoor.Agent.B
W32.Evaman.C
W32.Erkez.B@mm
Just for some comparison:
List every package from openssh to samba. You might want to leave out those tainted binarys, that the developer hasn't noticed it has been tainted.
Maybe it will turn some heads.
gaim of course... gaim.sf.net... Great for all IM accounts.
- CD Burner XP Pro
- Ultra VNC
- POV Ray
- Sygate Personal Firewall
- IconShop
Good luck!By the way, how do you plan to take submissions in the future and filter out bunk submissions? It'd be nice to have a moderated system that could evolve some.
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
I use VirtualDubMod (http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net) and AVISynth (http://www.avisynth.org) extensively for video processing. They're the two big reasons why I keep a Windows XP partition on my computer.
You can find a large collection of AVISynth filters at http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/. I don't do much filtering in VirtualDubMod (I use it mostly for viewing AVISynth output, writing AVISynth scripts, performing compression, and muxing), but you can find a good starting list of VirtualDub filters at http://neuron2.net.
The doom9 forums for AVISynth development are also a good place to look for software and hints.
"In Control 5" lists as InCtrl5, the problem is finding a place that offers it still. Watches programs as they install and gives you a complete list of everything they install/touch/change.
Very very useful.
Also, Ethereal- www.ethereal.com
Try also http://www.pricelessware.org/ which is run by folk from alt.comp.freeware where they list their best rated several programs in various categories.
I use it a lot.
Have a look at http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/
Below is the correct link. The first link in the parent post had an extra space after the word "tools".
o ls /default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/to
You gotta have Cygwin! Best thing since sliced bread.
Underholdning.info
Note that there is a huge difference between "freeware" (gratis pieces of proprietary software, often spyware-laden) and "free software" (no need to explain this here, I hope).
Of course, this distinction won't help the ordinary user, but for you, it's a good rule of thumb: basically everything that comes with source is safe (except some "open source" scams -- if you're paranoid, just check if they use some weird fancy license instead of known-good ones). Of course, it's possible to conceal malicious code, but with the freedom to review and modify, it just doesn't make any sense.
On the other hand, gratis pieces of software that don't include the source usually tend to have some strings attached. It may be spyware, may be ads, or perhaps just annoying nag screens -- you shouldn't install anything like this unless you have a reason to think it's ok.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Sokoban
WinHTTrack
Battle for Wesnoth
Lbreakout
Filezilla
TightVNC
SciTE
All free - all free from adware/spy ware
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
You really can't go wrong running Gnu/Windows. Hah! I wonder what RMS would think of the idea of Gnu/Windows?
Seriously though, Cygwin is awesome. My CompSci professors usually recommend that students install Cygwin for working on their assignments (since our assignments have to compile on the school's unix machines).
Okay for some reason /. displays an extra space in the link. darn it.
- Firefox
- Thunderbird
- Outpost Firewall
- Cygwin
- The GIMP
- Spybot
- adAware
- Trillian
- Google Desktop Search
- SETI@home
- iTunes
I'm sure there are many other specialty apps that could be useful, but searching SourceForge for something in the appropriate category seems like a better approach than trying to audit a bunch of closed source stuff for malware."I would give my right hand to be ambidextrous."
This is a wonderfull Java application that reports what stuff take hard drive space :
d ex .html
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/in
I use:
l oads.html (no longer under development, but I like it)
UltimateZip http://www.ultimatezip.com/ for file compression
Crimson Editor http://www.crimsoneditor.com/ for editing code
BadBlue http://www.badblue.com/ for local webserving
LeechFTP http://stud.fh-heilbronn.de/~jdebis/leechftp/down
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/o rge.net/
;)
http://cdexos.sourcef
http://www.virtualdub.org/
THE FIRST PLACE where I look for clean software is sourceforge. You'd be surprised at the number of projects that are for both windows and linux so both sides get the benefits.
For the geekier MS Windows user, how about emacs and yudit?
For power users, mostly (because they'll confuse your grandma)
I'm sure there are many others, but those are the ones that immediately came to mind.
listing free, daily-use software that is free from spyware, adware, and other malicious/intrusive components.
You can only be sure of that by having the source of the program. I see that you have many pieces of non-free software there in the same list as free. What makes you so sure that a non-free program which you use doesn't have a secret mode in which it obeys its coder, not you.
Someone got home from the relatives and was annoyed by the free computer services there were expected to provide.
I didnt have to do much to my parents computer this christmas since i had already installed Firefox and open office to take care of most of thier needs.
In America we are imprisoned by our fear of them.
BSPlayera t
Media Player Classic
ABC (http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/)
mIRC
XCh
...software that is free from spyware, adware, and other malicious/intrusive components
Funny how you can't put Windows itself on the list, ain't it?
His site lists the obvious software to consider such as Firefox or Spybot.
Repeating over these don't make you any smarter f00!
Such as Sharpreader and RSSBandit. See Wikipedia's News aggregator entry for a lot of good ones.
Never, ever forget these programs for Windows. They prevent anyone from snooping on your drive, even after you erase something. I run "Eraser" at 7 wipes every 2 weeks and have all my important files in PGP disks. Even the CIA can't crack PGP, they had to install a keylogger just to get his PGP key. Thats REAL security. http://www.pgpi.org/products/pgpdisk/ http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/
Hah! Hilarously scathing.
FileZilla is a nice FTP/SFTP client and apparently a server too, but I've never tried using it for that.
What the heck is WinMX doing there? Admititly it's been years since I installed it, but I remember uninstalling it specifically because it was infested with spyware. Also, what collection of spyware free software is complete without a weatherbug replacement. Not that I have one (KWeather doesn't count :) ). And, yes, I know it's technically 'adware', but making that distinction is like drawing the line between a 'virus' and a 'trojan', i.e. who really cares? Anyway, anyone know a truely free alternative that doesn't involved KDE under cygwin?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Media player classic is part of the "guliverkli" suite of multimedia opensource tools and applications.
It is much better than any other free player that I have tried, such as WMP, BSPlayer, and others.
I found out that most problems related to subtitles, audio, and codec-specific sync issues, which occur in many other players, never happened in Media Player Classic.
This could be a nice addition to CleanSoftware.org
I know many people say it's crap, but hey it's a install&forget firewall, it's free and it has no ads http://www.zonelabs.com/
See pictures of tits
http://www.pgpi.org/products/pgpdisk/
http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/
Thankyou. I often go to extra effort to use a Linux box for simple tasks, just because it's too hard to find useful Windows software that isn't encumbered with adware/spyware. I think this is great.
video lan client is the best video player out there. it plays everything i've ever thrown at it.
;)
http://www.videolan.org/
a clean, free, open source gem
-mr silver
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
I have installed a personal firewall on my system which notifies me about every incoming and outgoing connection. You will be amazed to see how many of those programs try do connect to their home site often. I block their incoming and outgoing internet connection for once and all.
Now I can choose any program that I want. I'm quite happy with this solution for a time being. Though it's not possible for those programs which meant for internet only.
virtualdub
xvid
ogg vorbis
is a free download with no ads or reporting home that I've heard of.
Just be wary of where the links come from. Some freeware aggregators will wrap the regular installers in one that will include spyware.
Easiest way to avoid this is to code in a way for people to flag entries as questionable, to be verified manually by you or a trusted compatriot.
Think about it some.
-transiit
It's part of the book entitled "Karma-whoring for Dummies".
The first chapter lists the vast choices of jokes that you can pull off on Microsoft.
*smells a second chapter description below this*
Perhaps geeks helping family and friends set up their new computers this holiday can make use of this resource
Or perhaps geeks helping family and friends will set up linux distros instead and head over to sourceforge, just to name one good place for solid gpl stuff.
Not trying flame here, but I got tired of being the windoze adming for the family and friends and for some time now I've been saying something along the lines "sorry, it's been years since I touched Microsoft and thesedays I wouldn't know where to begin to sort your problems. Let me set up a linux for ya and I'll promise I'll help you with as much as is needed."
1 Earth is warming, 2 It's us, 3 it's royally bad, 4 we need to take action NOW
WinMX is a P2P program that is NOT infested with spyware or adware. You must have gotten it from a bad location, because I use it and it's clean.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
very nice clean website, i like
Exact Audio Copy for cd grabbing
XnView for picture viewing
Subversion as code repository
Trillian 3 Basic as Instant Messenger
Media Player Classic, ffdshow, ZipGenius, and many others...
I'd nominate Virtual Dub. Come to think of it, I think I'm going to donate a little towards the guy who wrote that. Damn useful if you have to make .AVIs.
"Derp de derp."
Compatible, another algorithm with better compression, LGPL. http://www.7-zip.com/.
-ReK
md5sum -c reality.md5
reality: FAILED
md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
For some software, there are multiple distributions on Windows, or merely multiple distributors (check all those Ebay auctions seeling the "MS Office replacements" etc...).
What happens if one of these includes spyware? Will the whole program be delisted, or will the offending ditros be identified individually?
Things like FileMon, RegMon, Process Explorer etc.
http://www.easyphp.org/
Great development environment. Installs apache, mysql, php all in one go. Great replacement for mssql and iis.
Need a website host? Try out http://WebQualityHost.net
Microsoft offers a variety of useful little freeware.. They have a full page on them with detailed info and download:
w er toys/xppowertoys.mspx
:-)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/po
Hope you'll find it useful.
Anthony
http://www.palmzone.net
ConTEXT Superb text editor. Can't recommend it enough.
GAIM
MS VC++ Toolkit 2003 (Don't hate me. It's pretty good)
SpamPal: Nifty little spam filter. Works with almost any client.
Just suggestions. Not affiliated to any of the above in any way except as an end-user.
StrayByte.Net
Installed on my computer right now are:
Avast! Antivirus
OpenOffice
Ad-Aware
Audacity
Azureus
CDex
ExplorerXP
FeedReader
Gaim
Mozilla
Spybot S&D
Tweak UI
TightVNC
OpenSSL
MP3Gain
PowerMenu
All of those programs are truly free with no spyware or nag screens.
When I'm looking for new programs, I go to:
TinyApps.org
Pricelessware
SourceForge
In that order.
I love Imesh Light: http://www.imesh-light.com/
Game maker, the older versions are completely free, newer ones have some features hidden until registration.
http://www.gamemaker.nl/
Back when I was using windows (errr... about a year ago? I don't remember) I found the utilities written by Sysinternals very handy. They're probably not of use to everyone, but there were a few times when they were invaluable.
-ReK
md5sum -c reality.md5
reality: FAILED
md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
This nifty little utility was previously called Quickrun. It's a small command bar that launches applications, websites using keywords. Has some nice features and because essential very quickly. http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/
"You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
From their intro page: "Before we list anything here we check for viruses, trojans, spyware etc."
Are any of you having problems playing back some QuickTime MOV files that just lock up Media Player Classic v6.4.8.2 (QT Alternative v1.3.9)? It happens on my old P3 1 Ghz system with Windows 2000 SP4 (all updates) and Athlon 64 3200+ machine with Windows XP Professional SP2 (all updatses).
h are04/yahoomovies/7/11048407.mov
Example file (downloadable): http://mp3content03.bcst.yahoo.com/bmfroot04/BMFS
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
dont forget http://www.tinyapps.org/ they have their own ratings system of small, simple, free apps for windows. ...with a must-subscribe rss feed.
Omitting the ones that have been well-referenced by other posters:
More to come as I think of them.
"We dwell within a silent country, beyond the reach of time and death" -Nothing Sophotech, The Golden Transcendence
I can heartedly recommend Miranda to be added to the list if you are so inclined. It is a chat application that works in very much the same way as Trillian, allowing custom plug-ins and skins that is compatible with the majority of the IM networks around today. http://www.miranda-im.org/
Yeah, of course we have the normal /. pinheads that can't follow simple fucking instructions. LINUX is not the end all solution to everything- in fact trying to get someone to completely migrate to Linux is such a major pain in the ass it isn't even worth it. Hell, I'd rather wipe their system every 2 weeks rather than bother installing Linux and all the productive applications they may need.
Spending 2 weeks to find all the Linux apps to replace Grandmas, Dads or a friends apps is not my idea of fun. Giving Dad a copy of Gimp and expecting him to be productive is laughable.
How about this: instead of promoting Linux as an end all solution, why don't you educate Grandma on her system. Show her how to do a clean install (of Windows, if that is what came with her computer), tell her that she doesn't have to open every email and click on every link just because her name appears somewhere in the Subject.
After all, if she DID migrate to Linux, her own gimped up stupidity would inevitably muck up that system anyway. Guaranteed she would discover an ingenious method to crashing it.
Now that we have that out of the way- I hope this site really grows and is maintained. I was already aware of the majority of the apps at that site (the selection is relatively small right now). But it is a great start.
How about blender,
http://www.blender3d.org/
LetterRip
Ad-aware
AVG 7 Anti-virus
QCD player
Real & Quicktime Alternative.
Skype
Miranda
SoulSeek
FileZilla
I use Paint.NET for most of my stuff: Paint.NET page
Paint.NET, a Free Image Editor, with Source Code Available!
A great P2P program, open source, free, and no crapware!
www.shareaza.com
A great alternative to Kazaa, Limewire, and other questionables in the P2P arena...
DVD Shrink
DVD Decrypter
both of these are awesome for backing up your dvd's(and there STILL isn't any equivalent to DVD Shrink for linux yet)
Samurize
Aqua Dock
for some eyecandy for your desktop
Web browser: Firefox
Mail Client: Thunderbird
P2P app: Shareaza
Multimedia: VLC Media player, coolplayer for music. Zinf is also a good one.
FTP Client: Filezilla
Popup Blocker: Not needed
Spyware Remover: Not needed
The sister projects
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/
and
http://priv.solsector.net/
they do however establish a connection to the internet address 127.0.0.1 which may alert many users with firewalls that "the program is connecting to the internet" and users may assume it is spyware
All you have to teach them is the difference between Free Software and Freeware.
It is Freeware that is very often infected with spyware, trojans, ads, etc.
Free Software is almost the opposite. It's where not only can you be reasonably sure it's safe, it's also where you can check - something almost all commercial software doesn't allow you to.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Protowall - Security http://www.bluetack.co.uk/
Peer Guardian - Security http://www.methlabs.org/methlabs.htm
Good luck!
Instant Messaging client. Great tool and open source too: http://www.miranda-im.org/release/
IAAL
That list of yours might be difficult to compile, but it looks like you have the hardest step down: promotion. I think I need some help with my sites too- let me post them to /. quickly-like. ;)
Good-Tutorials
dev-c++b ird
WinSCP2
putty
winamp
firefox
thunder
buzz studio
audacity
buzz studio
kristal
yush
Zoom Player http://www.inmatrix.com/
VideoLAN http://www.videolan.org/
VirtualDub http://www.virtualdub.org/
Here's my list of spyware/adware free apps, in no particular order:
Crap Cleaner - Cleans temp files, cookies, etc
P2P + Codec Packs - Kazaa Lite Resurrection, K-Lite Codec Packs, QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative
Gmail Notifier - System tray icon that checks your google mail
Winamp - Media Player
Open Office - Office Suite
AbiWord - Word Processing
GIMP - Image Editor
Paint.Net - Image Editor
AVG Antivirus - Decent free antivirus
Everest Home - System diagnostics and benchmarking solution
Daemon Tools - CD/DVD emulator
Zone Alarm - The free version is a decent firewall
CWShredder - Removes CoolWeb adware
Trillian. 3.0 Basic is free.
3.0 Pro adds plugin support which gives you a spell checker and Jabber Support (if you want it for the price).
Trillian Basic does a good enough job replacing AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Y!M. Who using Windows would use anything else?
(Yes, I know, Linux and BSD users have other options... but...)
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
http://www.smartftp.com/
Sure, it bothers you about buying the professional version during business hours, but it's only a popup before the program starts, and only between 8 and 5. However, this client has some of the best tools I've ever seen for connecting through firewalls and all sorts of other "fun" hurdles. It works with the out of the box config 99% of the time, and does so efficiently and cleanly.
here: http://nettime.sourceforge.net/ im using it for several years now
IAAL
I'm a big indie game fiend, so here are some of the tools that I play with or keep an eye on:
http://www.verge-rpg.com/w w.gamemaker.nl/
For the RPG fanatic, there are a few great freeware tools for making RPGs:
http://sphere.sf.net/
http://ika.sf.net/
All three have a number of quality completed games and tech demos.
Then for those who are more interested in platformers and action games:
http://gamedev.sourceforge.net/
http://w
Those who love the old school sierra/lucasarts adventure games might want to check out AGS ( http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/ )
I also have a freeware game development tool of my own that I'm working on ( http://fury2.luminance.org/ ).
A lot of people seem to have trouble finding these tools.
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
Ecco Pro, which was commercially developed until 1998, is powerful, stable, free to download now, and may soon be open sourced. It is a fantastic contact and project manager, and a good PIM. I still haven't found a better program for journalists and researchers. Other fans include Scott Rosenberg at Salon.
OOo word count at http://www.darwinwars.com/lunatic/bugs/oo_macros.
Popsel is the handiest of all the freeware i've tried.It's a tiny little program that lets you have a program selection list pop up when you click it.I simply make 3 folder in my documents called popsel-av popsel-games and popsel-utilities then put a copy of popsel in each.Then i simply start the popsel i want to set,show it were the exe's are and make a shortcut to quicklaunch and use my own home made icons-red a/v for audio/video,green g for games,etc then instead of a clutter of icons on my desktop i'm just one click away from every program i use!And it doesn't suck resources and i only need three buttons for every prog in my entire pc!I've found it's so easy to use my 9 year old nephews complain when they have to use a pc without it.Crap cleaner is a program that i've found cleans out windows junk files better than system mechanic and works on ie,opera,AND my mozilla at the same time!And foxmail is so easy that i was able to use it to ween my sis off m$ net crap!After using foxmail for JUST ONE DAY she calls me and says "this is so easy and don't crash like outlook.What do you have that can replace explorer?"I set up a box with several but i'm afraid when it comes to browsers she's right,spend the dough for opera as the speed it cranks out pages STOMPS both ie and my mozilla.She tried the firefox too but i agree it's just too clunky.For me the mozilla just "feels" better.But for freeware browser speed,try kmeleon.It was the only one in our little test that even came close to opera,But in the end opera smoked it too.Whoever is designing moz/fox should try to figure out how opera does it because even on secure sites(which are HORRIBLY slow with my moz on sat net)the thing just flys.I will NEVER give up my moz though,i LOVE the plugins and themes too much to switch.Sis can have the speed,i'll take my flashblock,adblock,bugmenot and multizilla plugins over the speedboost.Try for a feel on how to setup a GREAT freeware site.They have links to thousands of spyware/adware free programs and make it VERY easy to search for what you need.Now when i need a program i alway go there first and simply type in the search what i need the prog to do and it ALWAYS finds me a freeware alternative.LONG LIVE FREEWARE!!!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
nice command line tool for starting programs w/ hot words http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/ goverment protection http://methlabs.org/methlabs.htm sercurity tools http://www.insecure.org/nmap/nmap_download.html http://www.bluetack.co.uk http://www.snapfiles.com/get/activeports.html thats it for now
This post brought to you by: the marketing division of The Sirus Cybernetics Corporation
Free software for window$. You can also try kikizas.net.
Ermm, I have also to say that these pages are in greek!Well xchat definitely oughta be on the list of chat clients.
Free will is just an illusion
Belarc Advisor (search it on google or download.com) is a great little utility that creates a profile of your computer (hardware and software) and creates a local HTML page that can be printed and/or saved for reference. It comes in very handy to have a hard copy of this information during a crash or a conversation with tech support. I have used it on every computer I own and can assure you that it is spyware free.
An excellent password management utility. With support for multiple password databases, password generation, etc.
<a href="http://gaim.sourceforge.net/">Gaim</a> == Gaim
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
On the website, I see that you use the term "free software" to refer to software that is not distributed under free software licenses. This is misleading and NOT cool. I suggest you use another term, or perhaps add a footnote that says "free as in beer, not as in speech".
Let's not forget Shareaza (www.shareaza.com). It's by far the best P2P software out there (partial downloads, connects to ED2k, Gnutella 1 and 2, and bittorrent), and, unlike Kazaa, comes with no spyware. And, drumroll pleasse, not only is it free as in beer, but it's also free as in speech (GPL'd open source). Unfortunately, it's only available on Windows.
kceasy
real alternative player
lots of tools at http://www.oddsock.org/
Media Player Classic http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I just browsed at -1 and searched for "Score: -1". Only three?! In an MS-Windows software discussion on Slashdot?!?#%
I'm packing my bags and getting the hell outta Dodge, this right here is definitely the seventh sign.
Kerio Personal Firewall (which, surprise, surprise, is a firewall).
StrongDC
Yeah, free Ipod! He is innocent!
I didnt notice filezilla anywhere on your site. I use it very often in windows for all my sftp needs.
http://bnac.biz/links.html
I for one will be looking through this list in the next week to see what else I can add to my own list.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
XnView
InkScape
Blender
Wings3D
http://www.bitcomet.com/ is a bittorrent client far superior to Azureus in both performance (Azureus's java background eats up memory and cpu) and accessibility. It has every feature Azureus has, without the bizarrely worded options dialogues and clumsy tabs. Best of all, it features key bittorrent decentralization protocols that Azureus hasn't implemented yet.
Don't know if this counts but a bunch of useful free utilities for Pocket PCs can be found here:
http://www.bitsinside.com/
They have a great collections of tools including TCPView, FileMon, RegMon etc.
www.sysinternals.com
- a bunch of Windows2000 since it doesn't force activiation
- a bunch of warez games
(but what windows user cares about spyware on teh work computer anyway)www.nonags.org
If you don't allow submissions, or even suggestions of any kind, the site will simply not grow. I know of LOTS of software that isn't on that list which I can say is completely spyware free, yet I cannot share that information since you will likely ignore me. I'm sorry, but I can't see this website of being any use. People would have more luck just looking for stuff via sourceforge. Theres more there, and everything is free of spyware. I could see this idea working if it was more of a community project, with submission forms and a group of volunteers who test the software and read the licenses to see if they are suitable for inclusion. As is though, with a single person, the website will fizzle out in no time.
- photoshop, stolen from work.
- windvd keygens
- MS office, stolen from work.
- a bunch of games from warez sites.
Who said MSFT doesn't have lots of free software - maybe not legal. A new term for windows softare - Free as in beer, or Free as in broke out of Jail?p.s. I don't really understand the point of this, even though I am contributing. I don't believe the world has yet thrown its arms up in despair and sorrowfully welcomed its new Spyware overlords. Not yet anyway. Besides, all those people who do see your site aren't going to be the average computer-newbie who thinks spyware only happens to people on the FBI's most wanted list, they'll be people smart enough to tell between a spyware app and a clean app.
Why use 7-Zip? There are so many other great alternatives. I prefer TugZip (http://www.tugzip.com/)
I will blog about your incompetence @ http://www.barelyadraft.com
all free...
FTP client: coreftp lite: http://www.coreftp.com
VIM editor: gvim: http://vim.sf.net
image browser: Irfanview: http://www.irfanview.com
SIP phone: sjlabs: http://www.sjlabs.com/sjp.html
StrokeIt is a mouse-gesture utility that is free for individual or non-profit use.
I use it all the time - once you get used to "right-click+drag-left" as "back" in your browser, you'll feel naked without it.
It's completely trainable - if you want to scrawl out your name to have it open Notepad, you can probably train it to pick up on that.
Otherwise, it comes with preprogrammed gestures that you can assign to all sorts of different commands - you can send keystrokes, hotkeys, even low-level Windows messaging commands to an application.
It's good stuff.
0x0D 0x0A
Since the parent doesn't know how to post a link without the space included, below is the above mentioned link that grandparent was originally trying to post:
o ls /default.mspx
;-P)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/to
(anyone see where this is going?
I know cleansoftware.org is for daily use applications, but I cannot consider a day complete without firing up the ol' multiple arcade machine emulator. Its free and has no spyware. And its awesome.
I have installed a personal firewall on my system which notifies me about every incoming and outgoing connection. You will be amazed to see how many of those programs try do connect to their home site often. I block their incoming and outgoing internet connection for once and all.
I'm curious, how does it feel to work with a system where nearly every program tries to screw you and is driven by its own agenda? These postings do make me feel even more comfortable with my Debian system, windows users seem have a high level of pain acceptance.
Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
The "free" in "free software" means free as in speech, not price. However, the parent does have a point since non-geeks probably don't know the FSF definition.
http://geocities.com/stealthrainfox/
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/software/winvn/winvn.html
:)
Writtten by NASA so it should be Spyware free
Very simple looking and hasn't been updated for years, but I use a DEC AlphaServer at work running NT and it is one of the view native AlphaNT Newsreaders out there.
Windows version is available as well though.
Jonathan
I think it would be better if the whole thing was compiled into the database with the simple search engine.
:)
The search result should tell four things.
1) whether it's been tested by org members to verify that it's free of the malware.
2) whether it's been tested by org members to verify that it contains certain malware.
3) verified ways to kill/remove malware if user choose to install it(for advanced users only - it could run as news group fashioned forum for best result - open source consunting - geeks for people)
4) it should return empty if software weren't submitted for testing or do not have knowledge for existance of the actual software. This attempt should be counted and used as priority marker for which software needs to be reviewed next.
* SOftware search should require three field (Software name, version, company)
This could be a good pilot project while people wait for the MS to close it's door.
Gurus can get together and develop an open source or clever automated procedures to test the various installation to see if product contains the known malware. It could come in two different method.
1) using QA tools to automate the installation of softwares to clean environment. Script tool + vmware to run install process and counting and comparing the number of running processes before and after to raise the alert.
2) Device a scanning software to scan the setup.exe or entire software package for malware signaure(binary size with matching hash from the file)...
This is very very cool.
Oktokie
I recently found a French site with the same goals: Framasoft. This may help you.
Google's Picassa is a great free image management tool.
I just spent a weekend setting up my wife's new laptop. In doing so, I added a lot of free and Spyware-free software. Here are some things you missed:
1. Editors! There are a lot of freely available (open source, freeware, etc.) editors out there. EMacs, Jove, VIM, Elvis, VILE/XVile/WinVile, NVI, Scintilla, and others too countless to name. I haven't seen ANY of these encumbered by SpyWare.
2. MultiMedia: RealPlayer and QuickTime both avoid spyware, if I'm not mistaken.
3. Blender and DIA are missing. They appear on
TheOpenCD.org, which seems to be a similar project to yours.
4. Cygwin32 -- Essential for any Linux user that needs to occasionally run Windows. With laptops with humongous drives, you can have an entire development system with GCC, perl, python, etc.
5. ActiveState has freeware implementations of a few useful languages, such as ActivePerl.
6. Tcl/tk comes to mind as not on your list.
7. Sun's Java is almost a requirement nowadays and integrates into IE, Opera, and the Mozilla-based browsers.
8. PaintDotNet was mentioned on Slashdot recently.
Now... for the site...
If you wish to use this as a service for users, then you should have a "This Just In!" section that shows items and when they are added. This way, a person can visit every couple of weeks and keep abreast of the things that have changed since they last left. This is also a good use for cookies--remember the last visit and highlight things that have changed since then.
Good attempt, and good luck!
"May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"
Official Homepage: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ Unofficial Win32 binaries + installers and/or GUI's: http://armory.nicewarrior.org/projects/cygmp/ http://csant.info/mplayer.htm http://deje.uw.hu/ http://mplayer.sunset-utopia.homeip.net/ http://mplayerc.uw.hu/ http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php
I know someone already mentioned Pricelessware.org, but I would consider populating your site with almost every program in pricelessware as a first step. It really is a good source, and is pretty similar to what you're trying to do, but it's been around a few years and has a good user community.
Those alt.freeware guys hate spyware, and pretty much any intrusive practices with a passion, and they often list even the tiniest privacy intrusion, or lack of ability to turn off a feature that threatens privacy.
Slices, dices, eats your lunch.
http://www.burnatonce.com/
Awesome set of open source tools using cygwin provide burning goodness superior to your pay-for-nothing buddies in the market.
Unix utilities. Very useful collection of Unix utilities for Windows. Includes stuff like tar, unzip, grep, and wget.
www.nonags.com
spyware free software.
they've been around for a few years.
hundreds of programs.
They use community feedback to delist programs which get adware added after being listed.
in this order . .
http://nonags.com/
http://www.pricelessware.org/thelist/index.htm
http://www.doom9.org/ (click on the download button on the left)
http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/
http://www.komando.com/shareware_index.asp
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best.htm
Do I need to mention sourceforge and freshmeat?
Not sure if http://skype.com/ is listed in the above lists - it is surely worth mentioning but sometimes requires a USB headset purchase to tweak it, which is well worth the expense since this software often rivals Vonage service in quality when calling pots lines (non-free) and blows away anything when calling pc to pc (free).
http://grouper.com/
http://www.ultravnc.com/ is almost always my preference over tightvnc.
Realplayer is not that bad if it is tweaked - you have to look for the setting that disables automatic ownership of filetypes.
http://kerio.com/ is my firewall preference over ZoneAlarm and Sygate, although the windows xp built-in is is usable. Kerio keeps an eye on changing files via an md5 hash.
http://grisoft.com/, in most cases, would be my recommendation for AV software.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/ is great if you have the connection for it.
And if you want more free software then download emule.
um uh . . erase that last line
If u are used to vi and need to use a windoze machine, u have to try out the vim port for windows ( www.vim.org) ... too lazy to make it a clicky link. Its free , open source and clean ( and its not emacs )
what other free, clean desktop software do you regularly use that Windows users should know about?
GNOME
XNView - An exellent graphics viewer with a massive collection of compatible file types, and a sweet thumbnailing browser.
SnideSoft IcoEdit - A thorough icon editing application, with support for multiple icon sizes and bit-depths.
WinWGet - A lightweight and simple file downloading tool.
FileZilla - A good FTP client, with a simple and familiar interface.
KillaFing 3 - A cookie/pop-up blocker for Internet Explorer 5.0 and higher.
Desktop Sidebar - A "Longhorn"-style desktop sidebar program, supporting email checking, a slideshow, clocks, quicklaunchers, and Outlook integration.
Codename Dsahboard - An alternative "Longhorn"-stlye desktop sidebar to the above.
... who read that as "Free Windows Solitaire?"
I guess we all know what Windows really gets used for. Oh, so many man-hours lost to that game.
As far as I can tell, there is no spyware associated with Futurepaint.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
It's not so much as 'every piece of windows software has malware/adware' it's just that the end users DO NOT BOTHER TO READ ANYTHING WHILE INSTALLING SOFTWARE!
Has anyone else noticed that programs nowadays come with more strict rules about users reading the EULA? I think software developers are trying to get a bigger message out : read it before you install it.
I mean, the same people that install this stuff wouldn't read a legally binding contract before signing it, if their life depended on it. They need to get out of these lazy mannerisms and put some actual thought in to what they click / sign on.
3 minutes of reading can save you more than you think.
Here is a site that I use for free windows software.
http://osswin.sourceforge.net/
Sourceforge anyone? Also check out www.pricelessware.org, the official site of the alt.comp.freeware usenet group which is a usenet group specifically to discuss this type of software.
Conor "You're not married,you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart
Debuggers
OllyDbg: http://home.t-online.de/home/Ollydbg/
WinDbg: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/ddk/debugging/
Packet Capture
Ethereal: http://www.ethereal.com/
WinPcap: http://winpcap.polito.it/
Until the previous major ver, power archiver was free but with the latest release it is shareware :(
This sig space tolet, reasonable rate.
nice RTF editor, complete with a 'highlight' hotkey: Copywriter: http://home.planet.nl/~gaale131/cw_home.htm
Windows security hardening tool: StopListening: http://www.nonebar.com/sl.html
Global script and hotkey tool: Autohotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/
Excellent PIM that fits on a USB drive: EssentialPIM: http://www.essentialpim.com/
(OK, that's 4:)
I think some of the programs loaded with spyware/adware are actually quite useful, and without the companions they would just not be free of upfront monetary charge.
The issue is that, one has to know what the spyware/adware does, its negatives, and weighs it against the positives to see if it's a viable option.
I'm sorry - but like the rest of the slashdot crowd - you just don't seem to 'get' windows users. Your site isn't flashly with graphics - nots not cool and smooth... who cares if it is valid css and html (outside slashdot). You need a lot more software on the lists as well... adding large amounts (updates etc) everyday so people come back.
Its a great idea - but there is a big divide between the slashdot *nix people and a general windows user and this web-site just highlights that.
Quick example - say a windows user happens across your site - they think - oooohh this looks really boring. Where is the nice graphics? Never mind back to google... - and now they think all free/open source software looks boring...
Schubert's pdf plugin for Mac OS X. Plays with all browsers, simple to install and fully featured.
A collection of handy tools written in x86 assembly can be found at DS Software
"...small executable file - self-contained and dependency-free - installation-and-pollution- free - freeware status..."
Edxor is my notepad replacement on any Windows install.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
Does anybody know good voip software? This one I know but it's a bit spartan and not so easy to use: Skype is well-known but I'm unsure how it uses P2P technique that uses bandwidth for its own purposes.
'Cause if you're talking freeware, just go to alt.comp.freeware and ask for a list. People there will point you to the Pricelessware List.
There's tons of freeware out there that doesn't include spyware of any kind.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
BSPlayer for movies, its fast and fairly lightweight. theres free, and non-free versions on the BSPlayer site
SmartFTP - n00b friendly FTP client - free for home/non-commercial use
pretty obvious what the following 3 are:
Apache
MySQL
PHP
PostCast SMTP server
CrapCleaner! cleans crap from your PC! temp files, MRUs, deletes invalid registry stuff. Whenever I use it, it usually free's up ~1GB on my hard drive! quite amazing how much crap there is on XP
Firefox and Thunderbird
how long before cleansoftware.com is squatted and/or worse yet, populated by spyware!
Skype is already mentioned but I'm not sure how it uses the bandwidth for its own purposes, since it is a P2P software. I wouldn't like the idea that skype uses my whole (or major part of) bandwidth for some obscure purposes. OTOH the ad on the skype page tells it has no spy/ad/malware.
Don't forget the Extensions for Firefox such as Ad-Block.
And of course, there's OpenOffice.
http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/ is what you want.
A cd full of good and open source software, a must!
The cd includes
From the page:
* OpenOffice 1.1.3
* AbiWord 2.2.1
* PDFCreator 0.8
Design
* GIMP 2.0.5
* Blender 2.35a
* Dia 0.94
* TuxPaint 0.9.14
Internet/Networking
* FireFox 1.0
* Thunderbird 1.0
* Mozilla suite 1.7.3
* Gaim 1.1.0
* Filezilla 2.2.9
* TightVNC 1.3dev6
* WinHTTrack 3.32-2
Multimedia
* Audacity 1.2.3
* Celestia 1.3.2
* CDex 1.51
Utilities
* 7-zip 3.13
* Notepad2 1.0.12
* SciTE 1.62
Games
* Sokoban 1.187
* Battle for Wesnoth 0.8.8
* Lbreakout 2.4.1
A little stupidity is as unlikely as a little pregnancy
this is kind of a dorky suggestion... but most importantly i would keep clear, consise directions on how to download and update the following (for all versions of windows):
1) windows update (windowsupdate.microsoft.com)
2) ad-aware (lavasoft.com)
3) firefox (you know what i'm talking about)
if you start out with a fresh install of windows 2000 and have all the aforementioned software, you're almost close to having a secure system, IMHO.
in addition, it'd be kind of cool to have a "downloaders forum", where people could ask questions about a certain piece of software they are about to download and execute. and maybe a log of domains or application names in a database with an indicator to their level of safeness.
Lets not forget the open office suite
Filezilla is a great FTP client which is currently being rewritten from scratch, though. The point is to use wxWidgets to make it run on all supported platforms, but for now it is Win32 only. I use it everyday, ditched SmartFTP for it. Never looked back.
And there also is a FileZilla server, I use it on several small machines as well (no up/down quotas afair, so no use for the mp3 server dudes).
Some other freeware I would recommend is Xnview. A fast image viewer with lotsa formats known. Not open source, but good nonetheless. Also available on Linux, though I never tried that version.
Hi fellas,
I still here rumours that ad-aware contains a keylogger and that they even been to court for it....I know rumours die hard or not at all, but is that ANY truth in it??
I use spybot btw but it was on the site mentioned in the article
Message from god, Please logoff, rebooting the Universe
You should included a page on your site that lists the programs that are Known to contain Ad/Spyware so your users will know what to avoid or delete.
We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
EAC is an audio grabber for CD-ROM drives
Anything from Systernals
Anything from AnalogX
Anything from GNU Win II
Anything from TheOpenCD
You need people like me so you can point your fuckin fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So what that make you? Good?
I don't think that a list of good software is very useful. Given that most freeware/shareware applications are free of "nasties", a list of known spyware and adware makes more sense.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Your site is a great idea, but the volume of what is out there guarantees you'll need a search function available on the front page sooner or later. While it is easy to use now (because you just started) when your total number of packages gets longer than four or five pages per category, it will be a little hairy. A simple search function would help a lot.
Plus, down the road when you've built some "street credibility," you could do things like partner with download sites with a "Verify This Program Isn't Spyware" link that goes to your search engine... If your search doesn't return a hit, the person knows not to d/l.
Great idea, though. Now all you have to do is get the people who most need the info to click on your link.
Who did what now?
Can't believe nobody else added this to the list
VLC is by far, the best media player I've ever encountered. I even use it to stream external hardware video, like from my XBox, to play console games and dvds on the same monitor.
Its usefulness is so invaluable, gosh, I'm in love
Sigs are for Terrorists.
PDF tool kit (pdftk), by Sid Steward, author of PDF Hacks (O'Reilly), at http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/
PDF merge/split/repair/etc. GPL, multi-platform.
Joe average user is going to get confused by download pages.
As an example, I went out and saw PDFCreator. Looks good, sez I, went out there, clicked on download, had to read and click another link to get to sourceforge's download page for the project, and once there, saw about 100 download links, mostly for old versions or different language files. There were two "correct" ones, one each with different GhostScript licenses.
Slashdot users aside, most people are NEVER going to download this. People want a big-arsed graphic button that they push to get the latest version. They're barely willing to download an exe and click on that. Downloading and installing needs to be made much simpler!
Thanks for the site though. The front page copy is quite good.
Are you joking? My business has grown exponentially since the spyware phenomenon began. And now some punk is gonna show my users how to avoid it altogether?! LUNACY!! You long haired monitor huggers don't understand what it's like trying to stay in business these days. Please don't take my last best hope for feeding my family.
/* For the humor impaired please disregard the previous post */
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Hmmm, if this gets big/visited enough; could it pose a threat to MS' home install base over time? Couple quality apps leading users to see the strength of open source... then WHAM! They're making clean and config, and GASP! exec'ing lilo
It's like they always said about marijuana... one drug leads to another?
... as interesting at least; I'd like to know if this is true and if so why this hasn't been shut down by now.
http://www.free-av.com/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.pmail.com Excellent Free email program.
Buy the President
http://www.nonags.org/
http://www.tinyapps.org/
note, Ive recently switched to the Mac, and am looking for a replacement for DVDshrink. Nothing I have thus far found has been as easy and as 'independant' (select what you want, leave it to do it), everything seems to want to do it in two steps. All Im looking for is am app that will rip to a single large .Vob, allowing me to select which audio and video streams I want in the ripped Vob (IE, just the main movie stream and the best audio) and allow me to specifiy what compression level I want (usually 50% of DVD mpeg rate). Thus far I havent found an app which will do this satisfactorily - help!
http://www.7zip.org/
supports rar,zip,gz,tar,tgz,LOTS of formats plus they have their own 7z format which compresses much better than any of the other formats!
and it's FOSS
Some of my favorites are: Dev-C++ BurnAtOnce IZarc Abiword Open Office GAIM
Does this do the same thing as www.pricelessware.org???
I'm a big tall mofo.
I find EAC to be fantastic for ripping CDs. Also, it works nicely out of the box with oggenc.
Purists would say that it is not exactly free because the guy who wrote it asks for a postcard if you use it. As good as free as far as I am concerned.
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
Eraser
All of the AnalogX tools.
Personally, I use the Atomic Time Sync (NTP), MaxMem (RAM Scrubber) & SuperShredder (Secure deletion tool), but there are countless others.
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.
Free form personal and commercial use. Works well!
I've been using ZipCentral (http://zipcentral.iscool.net/) for years. It's not OSS, but it is free, and looks/works a lot like WinZIP.
Ok, I know it hasn't been updated in a couple of years, but no one asked for "active" projects. As near as I can tell, it's pretty darn stable, so updates haven't concerned me as of yet (although I'm going to look closely at 7-zip, since I hadn't heard of it until now...)
Free CD ripper and encoder for MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC and (soon) MP4/iTunes.
Homepage: http://www.bonkenc.org/
SourceForge Project page: http://sf.net/projects/bonkenc
I have been doing this for years. I tell ppl that the only thig they have to pay for in Software nowdays is the Microsoft tax, even if they want to stay on Windoze.
7 -Zip is great, but I had it crash on me too often and too severe. Ultimate Zip never did.
;-)
...Xnap. A p2p framework that has plugins for many p2p networks.
d /downl oad.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
My list includes (but is no limited to, I have left out some stuff I have seen here):
1. Similar to Your site, a site about "liberated games has been set up and announced on Slashdot"
http://www.liberatedgames.com/
People also want to play games, don't they? And games is one thing where commercial software often times still has an edge. Good thing if they at least make free downloads.
2. Ultimate Zip is slightly outdated. 2002 is lightyears gone, but archievers don't change their un-archieve methods all too often.
http://www.ultimatezip.com/download.htm
3. Kerio Personal Firewall. Sygate is also good and Zone Alarm and all the others, but I found that in the last couple test Kerio always came out pretty good, so it should be included at least.
http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html
4. Don't forget about Opera. A banner is no spyware. www.opera.com
5. The Palm Desktop Software is a pretty cool PIM app (very easy, very straightforward). Much, much better than Outlook. And You can even sync with Your palm
http://www.palmone.com/us/software/desktop/
6. Exact Audio Copy is a pretty cool software that can Rip a CD and tries very hard to get it all.
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
7. Did You check for ClamWin? A Windows version of the free Clam AV Software.
http://www.clamwin.com/
GNU GPL and all that.
8. I always include a current version of the official JRE from Sun. This could come on handy to run...
9.
http://xnap.sourceforge.net/
10. Speaking of p2p gnucleus come to mind.
http://www.gnucleus.com/Gnucleus/
11. If You installed Mozilla You still need the flashplayer for it. Macromedia has a download for You:
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/downloa
12. For writing CDs under Linux there has been the trusty old cdrecord program. Suprise, surprise, it is available under Windows as well and someone even wrote a nice gui for it.
http://demosten.com/cdrfe/
There is soo much more, but the many ppl on Slashdot have covered a lot and will hopefully cover more. I am eager to see Your site in the future and will write more suggestions as they come to mind if You provide an Email address.
Cheers
It's the first place I consider when looking 'something to do something', for whatever platform.
And yes, Win32 binaries are usually available (I think less Windows users have/can use compilers).
Does anyone else use procxp from Sysinternals? It's the most needed thing to help you weed out file handle ghosts so that you don't have to reboot your whole system to delete a darn file... oh yes, sysinternals does offer pretty nifty stuff.
Don't forget about GNUWIN II!
All your favorite OSS stuff, but get them there for windows. All SPYWARE FREE!
You will also find a few apps that are *gasp* Windows Only! (Like Miranda IM which I wish would go cross platform.)
Anyway, its always great to find more sources for clean software.
You might want to take Gnucleus off the list, or look into it a little more clearly. On more than a few occasions Zonealarm caught it trying to send e-mails out. To who, I don't know.
These are the programs I install as soon as I have to work on a new machine -
1. Firefox with adblock plugin (browser)
2. CDEx (ripping audio CDs)
3. AVG (antivirus)
4. AceMoney Lite (Personal finance management)
5. Irfanview (Image viewer)
Cheers
--
I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.
There are many excellent free games for win32.
America's Army
Enemy Territory
Quake I & II
Legends
and many many others
Why create your own? Why not contribute to the one people already know
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
use of proper web dev standards. Makes me almost cry *sniffles* :)
best of luck
Why don't you set up a Wiki and let all these generous people help out with your site?
Berto
I took a look at your site, and you're missing one of the biggest guns in my adware/spyware aresenol: HijackThis! A little techie to use a first, but I find it a great last resort when spybot and adaware fail...
Which CD Burner would you recommend?
Category CD/DVD Burning:
Burn4Free - http://www.burn4free.com/ [burn4free.com]
Burnatonce - http://www.burnatonce.com/ [burnatonce.com]
CDBurnerXP - http://hem.bredband.net/cdburnerxp/ [bredband.net]
CDRDAO - http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
CDR Tools Frontend - http://demosten.com/cdrfe/ [demosten.com]
Deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/ [deepburner.com]
DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/ [dvddecrypter.com]
Easy Burning, DropCD & Audio CD - http://www.paehl.de/cdr [paehl.de]
That's because we're all browsing /. at work.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/d k/
http://theopencd.sunsite.
Collection of software w/no spy/addware. All enriched with open source goodness.
A good app to add under Internet would be Filezilla. It's free, and it works - no spyware!
http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/
HijackThis - an invaluable addition to the expert's arsenal in antspyware
These ones were mentioned already, but bear repeating:
AVG - free antivirus. I just used this over xmas to clean out someone's computer...
Virtualdub - possibly the best video editing program ever written. Source code too.
Sysinternals.com - my favorite site for expert's utilities. These guys are sharp, and they release their sourcecode too.
Not everyone uses this one all that often, but I do: USAPhotomaps, a free and fast way to access images from Terraserver.
USAPhotomaps
I would add:
Kerio Personal Firewall &
AVG Virus Scanner
I never had a problem with either and they work quite well (especially in conjunction + ad-aware ad-watch). They both appear clean to me. I havn't had a problem with spyware or adware on my windows system (Gasp!)
http://www.ryankegel.com/
Ace - Artificial Conversation Entity - Computer accepts voice commands and can carry a conversation. (You really need a good mic and some time to teach it your voice, though)
http://anywherebb.com/noctis.html
Noctis - Explore and map an alternate universe as a member of a dying race of felinoids. (The guy created his own alternate universe, and put it in a game for everyone to explore, weirdly cool.)
http://www.acelogix.com
Startup Guard - Startup Guard will inform you when new programs are added to the startup, in real time, and you can approve/disapprove the new entry. (Acelogix has a few other freebies, all non-nagware, good for them!)
All of these are freeware, The first two are pet projects for their creators, the third a good piece of software from a company that sells security software.
The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.
I am an almost exclusive Leenuks user and I usually trust the packages that I install, something that is not a good idea under Windows. Microsoft does have a point about "trusted" software and signing, which we should apply systematically, although in a non-intrusive manner.
Several source packages (and most distributions, I would assume) do provide md5sums or even gpg signatures. A uniform and systematic approach to this "source"/"package" verification would be a good thing for Free Software in general and would definitely solve the {mal,ad}ware issue for good.
Perhaps a very simple, centralized source/package "verifier" would be a nice response to windows user's concerns. Something like a simple GUI app that gets the package and tries to cross-reference it with gnu.org or sourceforge.net or the author's own signature file. Checking packages by hand like cleansoftware.org can be really nice but I'm afraid it will quickly lag behind software versions.
P.
Perhaps this key comment is why Microsoft isn't really combating this stuff like we would expect them too.
"see, all this free stuff is bad for you.. it brings in viruses, spy ware.. you need to BUY your software instead and be safe... oh and really fear that Linux stuff as its that evil 'open source' which is even worse for your computer"
Remember, reality does not apply when we talk of marketing..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I like to use AntiVir when fixing windows boxes.
The personal edition is free (http://www.free-av.com/)
VLC Media Player from www.videolan.org should be up there too.
The name alone is worth it.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Kudos to the creator of this site. I hope to see it grow! I was also happy to see that a lot of the titles i already use are listed on the cleansoftware.org site. I am curious to see what other sites get added form slashdotter's input.
Skype it's the best VOIP soft available right now, it's freeware and doesn't have spyware.
I'd start with ZoneAlarm.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
If you want to add a development section, www.thefreecountry.com has a lot of listings. Although they don't guarantee them to be spyware free.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
As long as CleanSoftware.org is listed, then I feel safe using their list of spyware-free software.
About noctis, is it just me, or is the site difficult to navigate? (using ie and Firefox)It looks like something we'd add into our gamer listings. I like to preview sites before putting it into the add queue.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
no easy way to submit *yawn*
Made a CD of software for my 82 year old Dad's PC that included: 1. Zone Labs Zone Alarm Firewall. 2. Ultra VNC is a good windows equivalent to TightVNC 3. Firefox 1.0 4. Thunderbird 1.0 This is in addition to the myriad of patches and service packs for his machine. He uses it primarily for Juno mail.
and nag-free? Is nagware to be included in the clean list? Technically, nagware is clean and free but some of the nags are nearly as annoying as adware. However, some limit themselves to a simple splash screen with an OK button.
What say you?
ChodaBoy
- The preceding statement is the product of a deranged mind and the sole property of the voices in my head.
Easy solution: ZipSlack.
No spyware, no ads, no bloat, no speed issues, no need for Windows to be running, no need for partitioning... (you have to run Windows 9x but probably better anyway, XP is bloated ;-)
Seriously, though, I'd have to list Ranish Partition Manager in this category. And I second the nomination for PuTTY (I actually set up a shortcut, puttyssh.cjb.net, I use it so often - you can actually run it straight from the Web btw) if it hasn't already been seconded.
And don't forget ReactOS - screw Windows, run everything on ReactOS!! ^_^
Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
Don't forget the malware free version of RealPlayer.
*puts on flame-retardant suit*
(try it before you bitch)
May I ask why you prefer a godless, warez version of RealPlayer over the malware-free Enterprise Edition?
Sincerely,
AC
I like it and will be back often to see the site grow. Great idea.
Nonags.com is very similar in mission to this poster's idea. I have been going there for years. It's the first place I found IrfanView, my favorite freeware/donationware ever. I also used them to find Filezilla.
Agent Ransack. An amazing search util, and Ditto CP a good clipboard manager.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
VirtuaWin rocks. Simplest implementation of virtual desktops for Windows I've used. Free, and it has no callhome or similar spyware features. Highly recommended.
Picasa - Great image viewing app.
Trillian Basic - Greate image viewing app.
Maxthon - Amazing IE shell, with all the features that should be default in IE or Firefox (with no extensions).
Freemind - A 'mind mapping' software, I find it handy to design databases visually.
Paint.NET - I don't use it *hugs Photoshop* but it's quite a handy freeware replacement to Paint with much more advanced features
That's all I can think of for now...how about listing some free (good) games too? :)
It's roughly equivalent to WinZIP in functionality, and it's free.
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
That's the platform that PMView started on, and as far as I know Peter is still maintaining the OS/2 version.
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
You do not seem to have a databse/development section, so I guess this would go under utility category. I use these two utilities on a regular basis for database admin/query work. Free version of TOAD is a previous version of the very popular and very populare and capable Oracle DB admin/query tool (Tool for Oracle Application Developers). Must be re-downloaded every two months or so, but no personal information necessary to download. WinSQL Lite is a scaled-down version of a commercial application that works against any ODBC/JDBC connection. You are required to submit personal info in order to get a free license key for the lite version.
drink beer, and let the water run the mill
Afraid it's not just you. It needs at least 800X600 screen resolution to render properly. (1024X768 prefered, and 640X480 chokes on it.)
As to navigating, here's the response from his FAQ:
----
Q: How do I navigate this site?
A: Admittedly, it may take a while to get familiar with its unusual behavior: this site uses many frames to organize and classify the informations. The main advantage of this technique consists in the fact that the most used links can be held always on the screen and always in the same position. Now, those links are grouped in the small frame you can see in the bottom left corner of the browser's window. The first link reads login when you come here as a guest, an unregistered visitor, or session when you log in using your registered account: in both cases, that link leads to the panel from which you can register accounts, perform the login, and control your session.
-BIG snip-
Well, just endure my atypical web design. As someone said in the forums, almost everything I do is non-conventional, but I take that as a compliment, and anyhow I couldn't help with that...
----
Personally, I've never had much trouble with it, But it is different. (The amazing part is it's all in English, it's an Italian website!)
P.S. If you're having trouble finding the download, it's the tab just under the picture at the top,
labled: cd/zips/Alex/noctis (1264 Kb)
The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.
Wow, you added that to your wife's laptop. You are a lucky, lucky man. The only Windows my wife uses are the ones she can see through. Linux to her means a swiss laundry detergent...shudder.
I love CDex. It's one of the few programs I install immediately whenever I install Windows somewhere (along with OO.o and Firefox/T-Bird). A great way to rip your CDs to Ogg/MP3/whatever you want. And completely Free.
You have Murphy's Law on your side.
If there's a way to screw up a computer (and there are probably hundreds of thousands of ways), then you'll still get business.
The geeks most likely wouldn't use computer repair services anyway, but the non-tech geeks wouldn't bother with Firefox because it's not as fast at loading up in the beginning anyway, and they'll STILL download the latest spyware infested p2p app, or screen saver, it's in their nature.
And the grandma's who don't use all these fancy programs (i.e. p2p) but just use email, the web, and docs, well they probably don't update their computers (heavy generalization), so they're still your customers.
statistics:s .shtml
R http://www.r-project.org/
WinBugs http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs/winbugs/content
symbolic mathematics:
Maxima http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
numerics:
Octave http://www.octave.org/
Scilab http://scilabsoft.inria.fr/
g95 (Fortran 95 compiler)http://www.g95.org/
You have the best intentions, but you assume that slashdot readerships are only of honest people. What makes you think that the suggestions from a reader is valid and not from some spamware/spyware/malware writers? For all we know they could be geeks too? Relying on what's being posted by unverified user is dangerous, IMHO. (Ironically, I am posting as an AC ;) )
Even if you qualify it with "to the best of your knowledge," it only takes a couple outbreaks from your recommended list to destroy your credibility. One sure way to do it is to install the said softwares and do routine scancheck. Perhaps install 5 softwares at a time and run a scan and if a malware gets installed, you can quickly pinpoint the offending software in the last 5 you installed. Since you are not doing any reviews, you could do it rather quicky. Maybe you could buy cheap PCs and process them in parallel. Maybe do a bit of scripting too to automate the process.
Well done, clean and simple with no condemnation for Windows users. You are helping the cause by exposing proprietary captives to the world of benign open source. Carry on!
"If no one tilts at windmills, the damn things will take over the world!"- christian simpleman
If you are want a super high-end video editing app then arguably nothing beats Avid. They have a free DV version of their software that only has minimal hinderances. Actually I find that their free version is on par with Premiere.
Check it out at http://www.avid.com/freedv/index.asp?dm=whatsNew
Irfan View is probably the best image (read: pr0n) viewer out there. It's small enough to fit on a floppy, will read dang near any image/video format, has a thumbnailing feature, batch operations capabilities, and is generally very useful for parsing large directories of images quickly. The Homepage.
This sounds like it would go hand in hand with the GNUWin II Project, which puts out an ISO image full of free software for Windoze.
Not sure if these have been listed or not but my favorites are Avast Anti-Virus (www.avast.com) HideOutlook (r2 Studios) Startup Delayer (r2 Studios) Yahoo! Pops Real VNC (www.realvnc.com) CookTop EvrSoft 1stPage (EvrSoft) I know it's already listed but I do love Startup Control panel.
I think something that might be interesting to do is have varying levels of "Clean" For instance, I'd be willing to accept an AOL Icon on my desktop for the use of WinAmp. It's easy to delete, and worth it in most cases. You could allow others to rate whether or not something is "Clean" or "Ad Free."
Information that is deemed for the public good should not have restrictive copyrights in place. You should consider switching to a Creative Commons license that allows for others to cite, copy, and otherwise distribute the useful information you've collected. Doing otherwise would be counterproductive.
AnimeNEXT anime convention
FreeOfficeApps.com is also doing the same thing and shows what "normal" apps are replaced by good Free Applications. You can get more ideas from there as well.
I am using Mozilla on RH9. But I usually have the mozilla User Agent Switcher set to IE6 on XP so that my bank's internet banking will deign to talk to me. Thanks to the large number of stupid sites like that, any non-Windows user agent is pretty much forced to lie on a regular basis. I hear FireFox lets you adjust how it lies about the User Agent based on the site hostname - an improvement.
I use NoteTab Light, a vey simple text editor that apparently has some power-user type functionality, too. Mostly, I use it as a Notepad replacement, and it's much better IMHO. In addition to tabs (a la Firefox), it has row & column numbering, column selction capabilities, etc. Doesn't feel like a geek's text editor, even simple enough for Mom to use. Check it out.
I just did the yearly format/reinstall of windows, and decided no more spyware! So, my computer is fully loaded with software from sourceforge (ie. Mediaplayer Classic, gaim, filezilla, Azureus, Gimp 2.2, and CDex), firefox for the web browsing, and Openoffice for my office suit. Great software, opensource and no spy/adware.
The Good Life
Personally I've used http://www.nonags.com/ a lot, and I think it's a great site. It lists freeware and shareware without "nag-screens" or "crippeled" features.
Other than than that, the new site looks lean and mean.
If you need free software for windows, look no further than GNU ports. Free as in freedom AND beer, and high quality too.
For all those who want people to stop porting GNU software to Windows... what about us who are forced to use Windows at our place of work, etc.? I don't think we should be denied GNU tools on those grounds.
On the contrary, I think we should try and make GNU software work with Windows even better. Already we have seen some bright things come out of it... Is there any better dev enviroment for windows than DJGPP? And it's DJGPP that first got me into the whole free software philosophy.
Free programmer's editor. Highlights: open source; runs on any OS that supports Java 2; built in Java; modularized; has regular expressions search/replace, auto indent, soft word wrapping, syntax highlighting, folding of code based upon its indentation level (useful for collapsing deeply nested code, in order to more easily see the overall structure), keyboard macros, abbreviation expansion, shell interface, file browser, class browsers, etc. Runs on Windows and Linux.
Available at http://www.jedit.org/.
opera
/.!!!!
deep burner
open office (such and obvious one???? WTV "virus")
real nvc
lansuite pro (free 5user lic)
sygate personal firewall
not totaly free but great, ezcd extractor (www.poikosoft.com)
man, your list is SHORT.... good thing you ASKED
more later.... too early to tink......
For one thing you lock the "menu" on the left in a very small font, which is hard to read for some of us ...
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
This one is my favorite:
m
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.ht
Lets you create ISOs, burn ISOs, and copy CDs just by right clicking on the icon!
-- Marcio
Just make a link. Really folks:
Even arbitrarially long URLs work: Say, a link to a Google search of spam I've submitted to NANAS, about 260 characters long.What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
bah, everyone talks about adware in free software. How about adware-free paid-for hardware? As in, not at all like the Logitech mouse driver [bad language] that comes on the supplied CD.
7Zip
Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB.
GUI or command-line. Self-extracting archives supported.
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
Is there any open-source backup software for Windows? I have a little Perl script that I've been using for my laptop running Linux that uses tar for compressed, incremental, selective backups onto a public backup SMB share (or any mounted directory) after gpg encryption. I can "port" it to cygwin very easily and may use that if I don't find anything friendlier.
There's another site that I like, Softpedia that also claims to have no spyware/adware. It's on a much larger scale, however.
...ICEOWS . It just plain rocks.
I also tend to use Embellish heavily under OS/2 as well, since I'm mainly modifying images rather than just viewing them. And I sometimes use XV, or GIMP, or Photo>Graphics, or ColorWorks, or PaintShoop Pro, or CorelDraw, or QuickView, or SEA3, or even NeoPaint.
:-)
The choices under OS/2 are not limited.
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
PuTTy
Less than 3 Megs. A quick search for it on Google brings up the download link.
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
The thing takes forever to load; one might consider posting an adendum to the Acrobat post on how to liposuction Acrobat.
You can find the article here: The Inquirer
Just trying to help. ^_^
The Tweak Files: Sanity is for t
Last week I did an extensive websearch trying to find a decent freeware solution to print multiple pictures on a single page for my parent's computer. They have a photo-quality printer, but the Epson software didn't include a multiple images per page feature. The solution I found was:
http://www.hp.com/united-states/ize/home.html
"Image Zone Express" is free basic printing software that nicely organizes digital images into a 4-per-page printing format. I've installed and am now using the software, and it appears to be adware free. It also doesn't seem to require an HP printer. The greatest feature of this software is one-click red eye reduction. I spent an hour in Gimp 2.2 trying to remove red eye from one of my family Christmas photos. It literally took 5 seconds with this HP software. I just clicked on each eyeball in the picture, and the quality of the removal algorithm was impressive.
If anyone knows of Gimp plug-ins that do one-click red eye reduction or multiple images per page, please post links here.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with HP.
-Froboz
Take off every Sig. For great justice.
I abandoned Acrobat Reader after it decided it didn't like my PC anymore, for whatever reason. Rather than reinstall it, I dumped it in favor of Foxit PDF Reader (clicky). It's much smaller, loads faster, and is almost as good as Acrobat Reader. Lacks text search, which can be a pain in the ass, but generally a good replacement.
I think that deserves to be on the list too.
Gimp (yay! 2.2)
AbiWord
Irfanview (image browser free for non commercial use)
Firefox (duh)
Gaim (IM)
Powerarchiver (zip util similar to winzip)
Regcleaner
Filezilla (FTP)
OpenOffice.org
Spybot S&D
Adaware (free for non commercial)
Spywareblaster (free for non commercial)
Protools free (audio authoring/editing)
There are two types of ad-supported software that I consider tolerable:
1) Installation that places an icon on the desktop for another product but DOES NOT actually perform the installation of that product;
2) Software which features banner ads wholly contained in a portion of the software but which DOES NOT leave any adware component running after the software is closed, and which DOES NOT launch additional windows to display advertising (like Slashdot).
Why do I say they are tolerable? Because in the first instance, it is optionally installed by the user, and in the second instance it is not obtrusive and in no way inhibits your ability to use the software/product and does not interfere with any other software packages (except for Slashdot, which inhibits my ability to use ANY other software).
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
You need a dynamic web page that will allow everyone to post what they think is good software, and allow all visitors give an agree or disagree to whether any or all of the software on the list is good. It'd almost be a specialized WIKI. What you'll get is a high level of agreement on software that really is good, and it will have a much more objective meaning to visitors than the website as it is, which looks more like a compilation of your personal opinions.
In fact, if you don't do that, I think I will. I think this is a great idea.
yudit (at least what is at the link provided) is not for Windoze (the target of the OP), but is for X Window.
There is no mention of M$.
Doesn't really earn a Funny either--not even a smirk from me.
Doesn't deserve a Score:5 by any measure, IMO.
gewg_
How you can possible live without using it?
Jokes apart, I think/hope it could really be useful to someone. Whenever you have a file with an unknown extension, or badly renamed, and so on, it may be of some help location the correct app to open/run a certain file.
Bye!
SeqBox
http://saveie6.com/
All these lists are fine, but I don't see much in regard to email security. I use a little email checker program called Poppy. Highly recommended.
Heard any good sigs lately?
...I've tried lately includes:
M L inux.Dar.ba ta.a
Linux/Etap.1C
Linux/Slapper
Backdoor.Linux.GM
Backdoor.Linux.Rst.a
DoS.Linux.Chass
Exploit.
HackTool.Linux.BF.a
Backdoor.Linux.G
This wiki page is a conglomeration of work and suggestions from many different forums I am a part of. Lots of good utilities available such as:
Nokia Monitor test: Test your CRT for focus, convergence, moire, geometry, voltage regulation, etc.
Locate - Windows version of a linux utility. Creates a database of every file on your drives. You can then search and get instant results.
Unstoppable Copier - The program allows you to attempt recovery of files from a physically or logically damaged disk. The program will attempt to recover as much data as possible without giving up once an error is encountered. The program allows recursive copying of whole disks.
OpenOffice.org - Think: Free MS Office without the bloat. Has Writer (word), Calc, Impress (powerpoint), Draw (vector art program) and the DB user tools to give you all the tools you need for day to day database work in a simple spreadsheet-like form.
Here is the full list:
File Utils
Installation / Automation
Multimedia Tools
ZipGenius (http://www.zipgenius.it/) - If you've used WinZip then this is the best freeware to compare with it.
XnView (http://www.xnview.com/) - prefer this to Irfanview as a graphics editor.
Ethereal (http://www.ethereal.com/) - network sniffer.
Calc98 (http://www.calculator.org/download.html) - better calculator than the default Windows' version.
CDBurnerXP (http://www.cdburnerxp.se/) - Full featured freeware CD burning software package.
Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) - ultimate notepad replacement.
Max's HTML Beauty (http://www.htmlbeauty.com/) - full featured HTML editor.
And of course nonags.com is one of the first places I check for these kinds of things.
Go ahead and install it.
I had some trouble with user accounts on Windows XP but I just gave users read and write privileges to that directory and it now works fine.
Also it can't open movies with Chinese characters in the file name. Renaming the file to all English characters works fine.
I just don't trust Real anymore and I don't want to evaluate it on my system.
You should include MikTex (www.miktex.org) in your office software. It is basically an implementation of LaTeX, which is used for scientific publications (pdf's, etc.), on Windows. Very handy software.
While I'm not a huge proponent of open source programs, they tend to be a good source of spyware/adware free programs. Not absolute though.
High quality freeware I use:
Irfanview -everything for viewing/manipulating images
Notepad++ - good for developing applications with heterogenous development environment. Supports many programming languages. I mainly use it for php/js/html.
InnoSetup - open source installer, competes with the closed source very well.
If anyone can think of a superior program for either function, please reply.
I used these free editors very often for coding languages ranging from C++ to Tcl/Tk: Crimson Editor and ConText.
keyboard not found! press any key to continue...
I highly recomend the Quintessential music player, It is a more minamalistic music player that's perfect for when you only want to play your some of your favorite songs. It has this cool feature where you just left click on the icon in the taskbar to pause and unpause it. Completely free software and it supports winamp plugins!.
Microsoft Windows Services for Unix. It should be named Unix Services for Windows, but whatever. Provides a development environment superior in many ways to Cygwin's.
MetaPad. Great Notepad replacement; no bells and whistles, but a few useful additions.
Ethereal. An Ethernet sniffer, useful for debugging problems and snooping on your neighbors.
WinCVS. GUI front end for CVS client.
CAM2PC - Freeware version. Nothing I've seen yet comes close for it's fullscreen ability to view pictures http://www.cam2pc.com/
DVD Shrink is a wonderful DVD backup tool with no spy-ware.
The DOS version of F-Prot is a handy anti-virus that has been around since the Win 3.x days. The DOS version is free (as in beer) and runs great on DOS-based Windows (3.1, 95, 98, ME) without sucking up resources. Not many DOS apps (or even Win 3.x apps) could contain spyware if they wanted to anyway. :)
Forte Free Agent, a free and excellent news reader http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.php
d ucts/sku_list_za.jsp;jsessionid=BQnRnRFFu7vlwK9sR9 zM3ydKxKZB7qdA2NEZ1dOyQNX1I20o5O2I!138179110!-1062 696904!7551!7552!-2058358518!-1062696905!7551!7552
r toys/xppowertoys.mspx
ZoneAlarm is an excellent free firewall, but it does seem to nag more than before http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/pro
The Microsoft PowerToys are free add-ons for Windows, some of which are very useful http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powe
Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is one of the best CD rippers, and free http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
DVDINFOPro is freeware that gives information about CD and DVD media http://www.dvdinfopro.com/
StrokeIt lets you use mouse gestures in any program http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/
For so long now, I have been warning my clients not to download "free" software because it probably contains spyware of some kind. The only exceptions of course were Spybot, Ad-Aware, and certain utilities like Winzip and WinRAR.
Thanks to you, I have an authoritative place I can refer all my clients to! "CleanSoftware.org". Clever title, very catchy!
Homestarrunner.net -- It's Dot Com!
It's a bit of self-promotion, but http://www.folderview.com/Folder View is free and perfectly clean.
Like this?
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
One of the big questions I would have is, which of the following P2P apps on CleanSoftware.org's website is the safest against tracking by the RIAA/MCAA bloodhounds: Azureus, BitTorrent, DC++, eMule, Gnucleus, Shareaza, Soulseek, or WinMX?
In other words, which app(s) can I use without fear that I'll be subpoenaed for music piracy?
Also, is it the GUI app or the networks you share on that are most important to the above question?
I'm waiting on a laptop to come back from repair, its been months!!! I have 'obtained' another laptop from someone who left the department, to use in the meantime and the HD died on this one!? I'm actually scared to turn this one over to IT to get fixed. Thank goodness for MDK move.
Linux Works