81 Best Free Instant Messaging Client
If you're like me, then you probably have friends and family using a variety of IM networks. One way to talk with people on each one of these networks is to open an account for each and then download and install each IM client on your computer. However, running four different IM applications on your computer uses a lot of system resources, is difficult to manage, and broadens your attack surface. Therefore, I would recommend using a multi-protocol IM client. These applications not only allow you to connect to multiple IM networks, but they are also advertisement free, more secure, and have features that allow you to easily manage your various IM accounts. For many Gaim [1] would be the first choice. It supports AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr IM networks and is available for multiple platform as as well. It's a solid choice but it's not by cup of tea. I've found it resource heavy and the interface confusing though I must admit the customizability though Guifications [2] is an attractive feature. Trillian Basic [3] is easier to use than Gaim, is less resource greedy and easier on the eye as well . It supports the AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo networks. Now, if you're a power user and want support for more networks and the ability to add features via plug-ins, then definitely check out Miranda Instant Messenger [4]. In addition to the networks supported by Trillian, it has native support for Gadu-Gadu and Jabber (it also will connect to the Google Talk network with a little plug-in tweaking). Its interface is minimalist, but the application is very extensible through the use of plug-ins. Miranda IM is now my IM client of choice
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| [1] http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gaimhttp://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gaim All Windows, 8MB. [2] http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/guifications [3 http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/learn/ Windows 98 and later, 8.6MB [4] http://www.miranda-im.org/ Windows 95 and later, 943 KB+ |
82 Best Free Video Editor
Subscriber Jim Nix writes "Gizmo this Christmas season I became in need of a video editor. I discovered my copy of Adobe Premiere 5.1 LE did not allow for gamma, brightness or contrast adjustment. I checked your “Best 46 Freeware” listings and found no video editor. If you have considered adding such a category I suggest you consider VirtualDub [1] which is outstanding. The package is however not complete without the additional filters. A comprehensive collection of third party filters is available from a Frenc site [2] - just click on the “TELECHARGER ICI” button to download the complete set of filters (RAR pack). Once all the filters are installed, delete the “PCVideo Image Processor” filter as the installation instructions are missing a step. Thank you Jim. I'm not a video sort of guy but I've checked out VirtualDub and it's an impressive Open source package that is regularly updated by its author. Note however that it won't handle DVD or MP4 and like all video software, needs a pretty fast PC.
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| Freeware, Windows 95 or later, 958KB. [1] http://www.virtualdub.org/ [2] http://milafat.free.fr/vdfilters.htm [3] http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualdub <= download link |
83 Best Free CD Ripper
I recently started the long task of ripping my 1200 CDs to my hard disk. I knew it was a huge job and one I certainly wanted to do only once. So, before I started, I was determined made sure I did it right. There are lots of rippers available. All media players including Windows Media Player can rip. There are also some great freebies plus a host of commercial rippers. Most will rip to WAV, MP3 and usually several other formats. After a lot of experimentation I ended up with three rippers to evaluate in detail: CDEX [1], Exact Audio Copy [2] and AudioGrabber [3]. All are free. If your CDs are like mine then some will be scratched or have lots of finger-marks. These can cause pops and crackles in the ripped file. Rippers vary greatly in their ability to handle these problems. Some will simply get stuck; others will skip forward over the problem or even create a silent gap. The best programs will try repeatedly to fix the problem with no audible effects. Of the three products I tested, one product was outstanding in its ability to handle CD imperfections. That product was Exact Audio Copy.
I'm now two thirds of the way through my ripping exercise. Of the 800 or so CDs ripped I've only had 7 tracks that EAC couldn't rip perfectly. Given the condition of some of my CDs, that's a mighty impressive performance. EAC can rip to WAV, MP3 (using the excellent LAME encoder), OGG, FLAC, APE and more. CD rippers interact strongly with your CD hardware so it's possible EAC may not work with your particular CD drive. If that's the case, try CDEX and AudioGrabber. While their performance with scratched CDs is not as good as EAC they are both outstanding freeware products.
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| [1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos/ (1.91MB) [2] http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ (1.18MB) [3] http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ (1.6MB) |
84 Best Free Video Conversion Program
Wouldn't it be neat to be able to convert any kind of video files to a format you can use on your PSP, iPod or mobile phone? "Super" is a free utility that allows you to do pretty well all of these things and more. It has two great strengths: first it's relatively easy to use and secondly it handles a large number of different file formats. It handles 3gp/3g2 (Nokia, Siemens, Sony, Ericsson), asf, avi (DivX, H263, H263+, H264, Xvid, MPEG4, MSmpeg4 etc), dat, fli, flc, flv (used in Flash), mkv, mpg (Mpeg I, Mpeg II), mov (H263, H263+, H264, MPEG4 etc), mp4 (H263, H263+, H264, MPEG4), ogg, qt, rm, ram, rmvb, str (Play Station), swf (Flash), ts (HDTV), viv, vob, and wmv. It also handles audio file format conversion including ac3, amr, mp2, mp3, mp4, ogg, ra, wav, and wma. Am I impressed? You bet; I've seen commercial software with fewer features selling for over$100. Be aware though, that video conversion by its very nature requires a lot of processing power and can be very slow on older PCs. NOTE: The download link on the author's site [1] seems to have been removed. Super can however be downloaded from here [2].
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| Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 18MB. [1] http://www.erightsoft.net [2] http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/super.cfm |
85 Best Free Reminder/To-Do Program
There are literally dozens of free stand-alone reminder programs. Even more if you include sticky notes utilities and calendaring programs that offer reminder features. Many, I can assure you, are not worth installing. Of the nine programs I looked at, two impressed me for their ease of use of their reminder and "to-do" features. "Easy To-Do" [1] has the starkest interface of any of the products I reviewed yet it is among the most effective in use. It has all the features you need but no more, including unlimited task lists, task categories, recurring reminders, audible and visual alarms, adjustable snooze, configurable reports and more. It's been really well thought through with lots of nice touches like the ability to add a new task or reminder by simply right-clicking the tray icon. Rainlender [2] by contrast, is a much slicker product but a tad more difficult to use. Rainlender is not only a reminder program but a very capable iCal "compatible" desktop calendar, though the calendar feature can be turned off. Used as a reminder and "to do" program it's very feature rich with a really snazzy interface employing things like variable windows transparency, impressive mouse-over effects, hotkeys and easy skinning. It also has several features missing from Easy To-Do such as the ability to synchronize events between clients as well as Outlook appointment integration. I liked, too, the way the tray icon shows the current date, a feature that Easy To-Do could well emulate. Either of these programs will meet the reminder needs of most users. Some will prefer Easy To-Do for its simple but effective approach while others will be won over by Rainlender's optional desktop calendar, impressive interface and powerful features. Firefox and Thunderbird users also have the option of using the free ReminderFox and Mozilla Calendar extensions which together provide similar functionality. They offer the advantage of avoiding the need for running a separate reminder application but at the cost of not having reminders available when Firefox or Thunderbird aren't running.
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| [1] http://www.xanadutools.com/ Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.2MB. [2] http://ipi.fi/~rainy/index.php?pn=projects&project=rainlendar Free GPL software, all Windows versions, 948KB [3] http://reminderfox.mozdev.org/ Free Open Source, requires Firefox and/or Thunderbird [4] http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/ Free, Open Source, available as Firefox and/or Thunderbird extension or in stand- alone form as Sunbird. |
86 Best Free CD Burning Software
Locating quality freeware burning applications for this review proved challenging, even though there are plenty of contenders. My short list included: AVS Disc Creator, burnatonce, Burn to the Brim, CDBurnerXP Pro, CDR Tools Front End, CommandBurner, DeepBurner Free, Easy Burning, Express Burn, and HT Fireman CD/DVD Burner. I was also attracted to two other programs, Burn4Free and Artisan (a.k.a. Sun), but they were packaged with adware and/or spyware and were discarded. Of all the products, the most impressive was CDBurnerXP Pro [1]. It possesses all of the core features you need including an intuitive interface, the ability to author data discs, create audio CDs playable in a regular CD player, create bootable discs, copy discs, and create and burn image files (e.g. ISO). It passed every test I was able to throw at it including adding to a multi-session disc created on another drive with another burning application and creating a functional slip-streamed Windows XP installation CD! In addition to the core features, CDBurnerXP Pro also has a several additional features including: customizable boot disc options (lacking in DeepBurner), integrated cover printing utility, integrated audio player and audio, and the ability to rip audio CDs to various formats including MP3 (with CDDB lookup). Lastly, those familiar with Nero will be right at home as CDBurnerXP's interface is very much like Nero's. All up, CDBurnerXP is a good choice for both basic and advanced users. DeepBurner Free [2] is a close second to CDBurnerXP Pro. If you don't author bootable CDs or care about the additional multimedia features, then DeepBurner Free might be the one for you. It has all of the core functionality, but is a much smaller download package and has a smaller installation footprint. It also offers a portable version that can be run stand-alone from a USB drive. In addition to these products, there are several free burners that are extremely small and specialize in just one or two features. For example, Burrrn [3] is for authoring audio CDs, CreateCD [4] and CommandBurner [5] offer command line burning capabilities, DVDShrink [6] is meant for creating DVD backups, and ImgBrn [7] and ISO Recorder [8] are for burning images to disc with a couple clicks of the mouse. For general users, though, CDBurnerXP Pro or DeepBurner Free are the clear winners. Editor's note: many thanks to regular contributor Craig Vollmar for taking the time to prepare this excellent review.
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| [1] http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Windows 98 and later, 11.02 MB [2] http://www.deepburner.com/ Windows 98 and later, 2.60 MB [3] http://www.burrrn.net/ Windows 98 and later, 2.02 MB [4] http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/CreateCD.htm Windows XP and 2003, 63 KB [5] http://www.commandburner.com/ Windows NT and later, 2.71 MB [6] http://www.dvdshrink.org/ Windows 9x/2000/XP, 1.06 MB [7] http://www.imgburn.com/ Windows 98 and later, 860 KB [8] http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm Windows XP and 2003 (64-bit available), 320 KB |
87 Best Free Notes Organizer
Evernote[1] is designed to help you organize all those random bits of information hanging around your PC: bookmarks, articles, bits of text, interesting web links, shopping lists, to-do lists, recipes, tips, etc. It's a common problem but a difficult one to solve as the information is so disparate. Some folks have tried to solve the problem by using free form databases while others use beefed up text editors or multi-media snippet managers. Evernote approaches the problem by allowing you to store your notes on an endless "roll" of virtual paper. You can create notes on the roll, drag and drop them or cut and paste them. Images can be stored as well as text. You can access the stored information several different ways: by searching for keywords, by using a category classification such as "recipes", by the date it was created or any combination of these. Toolbars for Internet Explorer and Firefox allow web site information to be highlighted and moved directly to Evernote together with a hyperlink back to the web site. A similar capability is provided for Outlook email. Sure, all this sounds nice but does it work? I evaluated Evernote for a month by using it to collect information for this newsletter. In this demanding task, I found it effective in doing the job and to work just about as well as anything else I've tried including Microsoft's OneNote.
It's got a few annoying weaknesses though. If you move an email message to another folder after you have posted the information to Evernote, it loses the link. This is a fatal flaw for me as I only have two mail folders - my inbox for unread mail and the deleted folder for everything else - so everything gets moved after I've read it. Additionally, the category system is weak. What is needed is the ability to assign tags not categories and to be able to search using those tags in the same manner as you can at del.icio.us and similar sites. That said, Evernote is an outstanding free product and will provide many folks with an excellent solution to note, snippet and general information management problems. Tablet computer users may want to check out the $34.95 "Plus" version that also handles hand-written notes. Note: a new beta version [2] is now available. It offers a host of improvements and enhancements including the ability to synchronize your notes between your PC and a USB
drive.
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| Freeware, Windows 2000 and later, 8.4MB [1] http://www.evernote.com/en/ [2] http://www.evernote.com/en/products/evernote/beta-features.php |
88 Best Free Virtual Desktop Manager
This review was prepared by regular contributor A.K. "I looked at a whole batch of free VDMs including VirtuaWin [1], Microdesk [2], Dexpot [3] and Virtual Desktop Toolbox [4].1] VirtuaWin is a competent but basic product that depends on third-party modules for extra features but unfortunately there aren't many around. Microdesk comes with more standard features such as 99 desktops, configurability of each desktop (name, password, wallpaper and icons), an attractive interface and a configurable transparent menu above the tray bar to navigate between desktops. However, there is no detailed FAQ and no forum. Dexpot allows even more configurability for each of its 20 possible desktops with its well-organized interface and enables easy switching between desktops and quick movement of windows. However, the online documentation is very incomplete and the most active section of the online forum is in German. Virtual Desktop Toolbox is loaded with features which the other three lack. The negative is that it takes a little longer to learn. However, the pain is eased by the very thorough user's guide and tips and tricks folder included in the installation and also available online [5], [6]. Note that to unlock some time and feature restrictions to Virtual Desktop Toolbox's evaluation version you need to take out a free registration. The four VDMs I reviewed are all very capable products but I recommend Virtual Desktop Toolbox because of its outstanding features list and excellent support. Once you have learned how to use it you will improve your organization and productivity, perhaps drastically so.
89 Best Free Duplicate File Detector
I must confess that I'm not a great fan of the practice of routinely deleting duplicate files from PCs. Sure it can free up some disk space but it can also get inexperienced users into a great deal of trouble. There are quite a few duplicate file detection utilities around but CloneSpy is the one that impresses me the most. It's certainly not the fastest program in its class but it's definitely the smartest. First, you can specifically select what is to be scanned and this can include multiple drives, multiple folders or just individual folders. Second, it has the ability to detect duplicates by CRC, by file name, by CRC and file name and by file name and size. Third, it will also detect zero length files. Fourth, the program does not need to be installed but can be run from the executable so it's a good candidate for your USB Flash drive toolkit. Finally, it throws up duplicates to the user in a way that at least makes you think about what you are deleting. Click-happy users may find this latter feature an annoyance; to me it's a safety feature. Safety feature or not, please read the help file and use with care. In particular do NOT include your Windows folder in your scan unless you are a knowledgeable technical user.
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| Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 643KB. http://www.clonespy.com/ |
90 Best Free Program Launcher
The are many free application launchers. Commonly these employ a dockable toolbar containing shortcuts to various programs on the PC. The toolbar can usually be hidden so it doesn't take up desktop space. I've never been keen on these things as often they achieve little more than what's available from the Windows Start menu. However, I've found an application launcher that actually really works. Launchy is a free Open Source utility that solves the fundamental weakness shared by many application launchers; intrusiveness. Unlike other products that use launch bars or tray icons, Launchy is invisible until you hit a special hotkey combination. By default this is Alt-Space. Hitting the hot key combination brings up a small window into which you type the name of the application you are looking for. You rarely even have to type the full name; mostly all you need do is just type a couple of letters. Launchy instantly displays on a find-as-you-type basis, any program that matches the letters you typed in. By default Launchy only searches files in your Start Menu folders. You can however, configure it to handle any file types and search any folders. So Launchy could be used to launch web link shortcuts or even your MP3 files. Configuration is easy; just right click on the Launchy Window. A top product.
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| http://www.launchy.net/ Free Open Source, Windows 2000 and later, 841KB. |
Enjoy ;)
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