The New Freebie Thread

[soup]

This was brought about by MilesAhead's thread. If we can't find one, make one. We all in our travels come across free stuff, so let's pass it on here. All I ask is that we stick to the rules of the Forum & keep the giveawayoftheday stuff to it's own thread. I am going to start it off with a media player that I was linked to a while ago & have tried it out, to find out that it is pretty good.

http://www.gomlab.com/

[soup]

We will stick with Media Players for now. Here's another one, VLC Media Player.

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac ...) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. See the full features list.
It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[MilesAhead]

The small free program you want coded to order

I mentioned this before but I don't think anyone took advantage of it. On the donationcoder site there is a forum called Coding Snacks where you can request a small program to do what you want!! Here's the link for new requests:

http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?board=71.0

As an example, I requested a utility where I could right click on a bunch of media files and have it show me the total play time of the files. The author even let me name the app(PlayTime) and provided several enhancements requested by others on the site.

If there is already a free program that works very closely to what you want someone may suggest it. If the program is too difficult it may not be taken on but often a volunteer will code it for you. It's kind of fun and different.

[soup]

Currently using these Codecs on XP32 & Windows 7.

http://shark007.net/

[MilesAhead]

Just to chime in, shark's codecs also work great for me in Vista64 SP1 and W7 32 bit(I'm using build 7077.. no problems.)

[MilesAhead]

WinTray 1.6

Here's a nice little free AutoIt3 script. It's called WinTray. It's up to v. 1.6 now. You can download AutoIt3 script source, the exe or a complete Win32 installer.

Basically if you want to minimize a program's window to the Task Tray without leaving the Taskbar Button, it does it by Shift-Clicking the mouse on the Minimize control on the window frame. On Windows7 with the Superbar you may feel no need for this but in XP and Vista it comes in handy.

I use it on Vista64 SP1 with no problems. v. 1.6 adds a couple of features like Restore/Hide buttons for all windows it has minimized, start with Windows, use Control instead of Shift for the mouse click modifier.

Here's the link:

http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85841&

hl=WinTray 16&st=0

[blutach]

For this sort of stuff, I use TrayIt very successfully - http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm

And for clipboard app, I use Yankee Clipper - http://www.intelexual.com/products/YC3/

For pesky windows that refuse to stay maximised/centred, use Autosizer - http://www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/

Regards

[MilesAhead]

Free USB Safely Remove license

Free License for USB Safely Remove latest version. Same as if you paid except no upgrade/downgrade available. Here's the link to announcement on Gizmo site:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/usb-safely-remove-v41-free-valid-aug-19th-25th.htm

I just got my license key and installed on W7 32 bit and Vista64. The license lets you install on as many PCs as you own personally. It's kind of like the Unlocker program for locked files. If you try to stop a USB drive and get the msg it's in use, it will show the programs that are using it. Looks like a handy thing esp. if you can use it free.

[soup]

Free License for USB Safely Remove latest version. Same as if you paid except no upgrade/downgrade available. Here's the link to announcement on Gizmo site:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/usb-safely-remove-v41-free-valid-aug-19th-25th.htm

I just got my license key and installed on W7 32 bit and Vista64. The license lets you install on as many PCs as you own personally. It's kind of like the Unlocker program for locked files. If you try to stop a USB drive and get the msg it's in use, it will show the programs that are using it. Looks like a handy thing esp. if you can use it free.

I have been using it for a while on Windows 7 64 bit & I don't seem to have any issues with it.

[soup]

I would strongly recommend that you read the FAQ before you go anywhere near this freebie.

http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

[blutach]

Or you could just use ORTHOS Stress Prime for 12 hours. If your PC is still alive in the morning, it's OK.

http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138142-orthos.html

Regards

[admin]

Paragon Drive Backup 9 Professional, free for the next couple of days:

http://www.digital-digest.com/deals/2009/08/26/paragon-drive-backup-9-professional-free/

[MilesAhead]

This is another of mine. It's called Selector. It's still a bit rough but it seems to work. The idea is to leave running in the Tray. Hit the hotkey to bring up the window. (By default the hotkey is Shift-NumPadDiv but you can change it from the Tray Icon Menu.) You can add, delete, and run programs from the list.

There are lots of hotkey programs that let you invoke another program with selected text by alias or by assigning another hotkey. After awhile though, you have to remember a bunch of hotkeys. With Selector, just remember the Selector hotkey. Click on one of the programs you put in the list and hit the Go Button.

It's a bit slow to add programs as you have to use a File Open Dialog and browse to the .exe file. But I'm not certain the list would need to hold more than about 1/2 dozen programs. I may enhance that in the future if I figure out AutoIt ListBox drag drop and file drop stuff.

Here's a link to the page:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

As usual, it's free to use at your own risk.

One of the reasons I wrote it is to open the current page in another browser without using a plugin. Or you can select a url in any editor. Or you can just use it as a short list of programs you use most.

I pretty much just got it working today so it will take awhile for enhancements to trickle in.

edit: the latest upload is easier on the eyes. I think it's pretty usable as it is. Along with better color scheme integration I also mended the code so that the popup window can't pop up when it's up already(2nd instance.)

edit2: here's a screen shot

edit3: made a few small tweaks like Text Input is only enabled if the bottom radio button is selected. Increased the button symmetry etc..

Selector 1.01 update: double click in ListBox now pushes the Go Button to launch the selected item.

Selector 1.1 now accepts additions of programs and shortcuts to the ListBox via Explorer Drag & Drop.

For each item in the drag & drop a short name is automatically generated. Hit Enter to accept it or edit it as you prefer. Note that all entries in the ListBox are unique. If "MyEditor" is already in the ListBox, adding an item with the short name "MyEditor" will overwrite it with the path to the new program or shortcut.

Selector 1.2 Fixed a bug where the Input Box could be hidden by the popup window. Latest upload has updated Readme file.

Up to Selector 1.4 Added a Go " Button that wraps the param in double quotes when launching the selected item. Necessary for file paths with spaces etc..
Also fixed a couple of minor bugs.

Selector 1.5 As you can see in the new screenshot, I enlarged the popup window so that the ListBox could be expanded. Also got rid of minimize and maximize buttons on popup window frame.

Selector 1.51 Added code to disable the hotkey while the About Dlg is showing. This fixes a hang if for some reason the user would press the hotkey while the About Dlg is up.

[soup]

I never forget about this one on any system I have.

This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.
Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.
You'll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically!

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

[blutach]

Don't forget the other "sysinternals stuff" on the same page. For example, Process Explorer is so much better than Task Manager.

The sysinternals stuff is updated monthly - just DL the suite and install it in a folder somewhere.

Regards