The New Freebie Thread

[MilesAhead]

SysInternals utilities use OS basics when possible so they tend to work from NT onwards. One example is sync.exe. Handy for flushing disk buffers. I always have it in a folder in the Path. Pop up a command prompt and type 'sync' to flush all the HD partitions to disk. On NT systems it just locks the drive and lets Windows do the flushing. No sneaky undocumented stuff. (It saves most sneaky undocumented stuf for Win9x there being no other way to accomplish the task.)

[soup]

Can't take the credit for this one, a friend put me on to it.

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

[MilesAhead]

FavesSoft Hotkey Utilities added to Softpedia

I filled out PAD files and submitted several of my programs to SoftPedia.com over time. Looks like they have taken their own initiative and added all the utilities from my Hotkeys Page that I didn't submit myself.

If you like the idea that a download site ran a virus scanner over the download and tried out the program before making it available for download, then you may want to check out the SoftPedia Page for FavesSoft Programs

[soup]

There's a few freebies in this link, including this one.

Since 1996 PC WIZARD is among the most advanced system information programs on the market. PC WIZARD is a powerful utility designed especially for detection of hardware, but also some more analysis. It's able to identify a large scale of system components and supports the latest technologies and standards. This tool is periodically updated (usually once per month) in order to provide most accurate results.
PC WIZARD is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.

http://www.cpuid.com/

[MilesAhead]

AnalogX active again

http://www.analogx.com/

AnalogX is a site with free tools I've used over the years. Quite a bit of time went by without any updates. Now I see the site has been redesigned and many of the apps I use, such as PCalc, have been rebuilt to deal with Vista compatibility issues.

If nothing else the calculator is interesting because instead of the calculator with numbered buttons interface, it's designed for C programmers. It has an input line where you type in the formula. You don't have to be a programmer, just learn a few of the C math operators. As example, if you wanted to add the product of 85 and 215 with the product of 125 and 1024, instead of punching in the numbers and hitting the operator buttons, you would just type this in this formula:
(85 * 215) + (125 * 1024)

and hit the Calculate button. The result is displayed in a bunch of numeric formats.. hex, decimal, octal etc..

edit: just trying it out now I see it now remembers screen position. Used to open center screen no matter what. I see it also has some new features like minimize to tray and that type of thing. Good stuff.

[MilesAhead]

Yet Another Partitioning Program

Someone on Vista64 forum said this free partitioning program is really good so I thought I'd pass the link along:

http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

I haven't tried it. It claims to support both 32 and 64 bit Windows flavors.

[MilesAhead]

Good daily digest of freeware updates

This page is part of Gizmo's site. It has notable freeware updates from around the web. Giveaway of the day seems to always be in the list, stuff from Softpedia etc..

http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-updates.htm

[MilesAhead]

RunOperaTen

Since Opera 10 was released recently I upgraded and looked to see if it still had Form Fill info kept in plain text in an .ini file. Yes it does. I like the Form fill tool in Opera but I don't like my name address phone etc. sitting in an .ini file in clear text in a known location. So my launcher encrypts it when not in use. Here's a link to the announcement for RunOperaTen

It's no threat to RoboForm or any sophisticated form filler. Just a convenience for those who like the Opera Forms tab fill in thingy.

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

Just suggested this on a different thread to Drf here ... I think it is a Nice Freeware ...

Desktop iCalendar Lite
Free Desktop Calendar for Windows

http://www.desksware.com/desktop-icalendar-lite.htm

G!

[MilesAhead]

Macrium Reflect 4.2 Free Version

I just put Macrium Reflect 4.2 Free Version on my Windows 7 machine and did a backup with it. Looks like they updated the Linux Rescue CD to v. 2. It should work with those HP PCs like mine with the AMD Raid controllers.

If you want a free solution to disaster recovery this looks good. The backup saves a copy of your MBR and offers to copy it onto the HD during restore. That can fix a lot of things that the OS install disc repair won't since it copies over the entire MBR including the partition table info.

Nice program. The same download installs on both 32 and 64 bit OS flavors.

edit: just got confirmation on the Macrium Reflect forum that the image backup file format and the Linux Rescue CD are the same on both the free and paid Macrium Reflect 4.2. The main difference, other than program features, would be that the paid also lets you download a WinPE image that you can modify to load Windows drivers and programs.

[MilesAhead]

Browser Chooser - (prospective new feature)

There is an open source free program for Vista and Windows 7 called Browser Chooser. Looks like it may work in XP but you have to set up a Run As Administrator.

Basically when you open a url from a non-browser app by clicking on a link or text that is a web address and the app depends on the default browser to open the url, Browser Chooser intercepts it and pops up a launch bar with the browsers you have set up. You click the one you want.

The author is considering adding a feature where you can set certain applications to bypass the launch bar and just go to the browser you have associated with that app. IOW, if I set EditPadLite to associate with IE, even though Firefox is my default browser, if I open a link from EditPadLite it will open in IE.

If you think this may be a good feature you can go to this discussion and vote if you like. When you register it's not just for Browser Chooser but for a bunch of Open Source apps. You may find a bunch of stuff you like there.

Browser Chooser Home

Browser Chooser New Feature Discussion

edit: btw I guess there was a problem setting to default browser in XP. I haven't tried it yet but if you try it on XP make sure you have at least v. 1.07 where the problem is said to be fixed.

[MilesAhead]

USB Safely Remove freebie

If you didn't get the USB Safely Remove freebie when it was offered recently you have another chance. They are giving away 10,000 free licenses:

http://safelyremove.com/giveaway10K.htm

[MilesAhead]

Returnil with 64 bit support

The new Returnil free home edition with 64 bit support is available:

http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/rvs-home-free

[soup]

Comodo System Cleaner is a powerful suite of utilities and tools that allows you to make your Windows XP or Vista computer faster, more efficient and more secure.

http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/

[dr_ml422]

Great Idea

http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/

I'm almost always here, and now I find this great thread. Anyway looks like Ccleaner, and I had a good run after using this Comodo Reg Cleaner. Thnx Soup.

Otn. You can't go wrong w/this. I've used it and on other drives, not only WD. Just in case you wondered.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp

Was posted on another thread before, but now Freebie is here.