Your Recommended Freeware

[mikewl]

Open Office http://download.openoffice.org/2.3.0/index.html

I found this when I needed a spreadsheet program, not wanting to spend out on MS Office I found this free office suite, its a nice package that includes a spreadsheet, word, database and other stuff, also I think everything can be saved in MS Office compatible formats.

[charlesr]

Also: docs.google.com - word and spreadsheet and stuff but stored online

[smouty]

My whole home media server and client is based on free software.
The server is running Fedora. It has a web based Torrent client called Torrentflux so you can start torrents off remotely using a browser. It also runs MRTG so I can track what's happening on the home network and Systemgraph to monitor the server.
Webmin is used for browser based server admin.
I am also a very big fan of XBMC which I think is the best piece of free software ever written (albeit for a console). I look forward to the Linux port.
On the PC side I couldn't do without -

Look@LAN
VMWare server
DVD Decrypter
Treesize
Wink!
Putty
DScaler
Google Earth
Image Magick
Rasterbator
Barts bootdisk/CDs/WinPE
Ultimate Boot CD etc, etc

[zipper]

The best free antivirus imo is 'AVAST!'. I ditched Symantec for this and never looked back. http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Some other free stuff I use very regularly:
Google Desktop : Holy crap this is good. If you've been at a computer job for a few years, then you'll know that your hard drive / email history already holds the answers to many questions that come up. Quite simply, it's google for your own data. I would pay a small fortune for this.
Notepad++ : As mentioned before in this thread, this is a great editor. Loads of useful extras.
WinRAR : Excellent archiving tool. If you get files with unusual zip extensions like .7z or .rar, this will extract them. It asks you to buy each time you start up (much like Winzip - another great freebie), but doesn't require it.

[sj33]

MS Synctoy. Lets you sync files and folders around easily.

An alternative to this is SyncBack, which I prefer after Synctoy did some wierd stuff I didn't like.

[charlesr]

please tell. I'm using it to echo a folder from one machine to another when I want (i.e. not automatically)

[kernow]

Ultimate Boot CD etc, etc

great tool.

is XBMC technically free as it uses the MS XBOX SDK?

[smouty]

great tool.

is XBMC technically free as it uses the MS XBOX SDK?

The source code is
I though an open XDK was developed or was it just spoken about.

[elkatas]

RenameMaster is nice, and userfriendly tool for renaming files quickly. Features include:

- Intelligent number sorting
- JPEG/MP3 tag support and many more Meta-Variables
- Auto-Preview support
- "Scipts" to save commonly used renaming options
- [*] and [?] command prompt style wildcards for replacing and remove options
- "Undo" button so a renaming operation can be rolled back
- Floating thumbnail window for viewing pictures and optional thumbnail file list view
- Optional Explorer integration for right-clicking on folders or using "Send To"

[charlesr]

Diskcheckup

I put this in my startup folder and enabled the SMART facility in Bios. It sits there keeping track of my HDDs performance and warns me when things look like they are going downhill.

[charlesr]

FART

Find And Replace Text.

Let's you replace text in multiple files in subfolders etc. I use it for updating passwords in DB2 commands and sql file when old ones expire.

[charlaph]

Baaaaccckkkk frroooommmm ttthhhheeee deeeaaaaddddd!!!!!!

Couple of things I've been using for a while and have no qualms about recommending;

iLove - if you have a cowon, apple, archos, iriver or pda capable of playing video files you owe it to yourself to check it out. Works a treat and finally dragged me away from 3GP/pocketdivexencoder for my D2 and mobile phone.

Deluge torrent client. Again, drew me away from utorrent. Releases are constant but a touch patchy, my advice is to find one that works for you and stick with it until you find a new feature you want.

[charlesr]

Whilst users will probably have noticed this already.....

Handbrake now lets you encode most video formats, rather than just DVDs.
The best news is that it understands .m2ts files (and deinterlaces them properly if necessary).

Results are impressive.

I can now uninstall videora360.

[charlesr]

https://www.xxclone.com

Amazing app. Cloned my 400 to 500GB and made it bootable at the click of a button.

Worked perfectly. Swift too.
Free for personal use, but it worked so well, I feel like donating.



Norton Ghost into bin.

[xist]

Cathy

http://www.mtg.sk/rva/

An extremly small, very fast and easy to use media cataloging tool. You can use it to index files stored on removable media (CD's, DVD's or even diskettes), hard disks or net drives, and create searchable catalogs that can be used without having access to original media. Searching capabilities are based on file name, date and size. Additional features include filtering options, search duplicates or singles, customizable date format, etc. Found files can be opened (executed) or deleted directly, if they are present. Drag&drop support. Directory trees, MP3 album/song lists can be printed, disk space usage can be investigated. Single file executable, no install needed.