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Freebies

terryb18

terryb18

Gone but not forgotten R.I.P.
Because I am a bit of a tightwad, I like to use free programmes wherever possible, which is nearly all the time. So how about compiling a list of good free programmes we could all use, I’ll start off with ones I use and never have any problems with.

Avast. Antivirus software www.avast.com
Ad-aware. Anti spyware software. www.lavasoft.com
Audacity. Audio editor and recorder. www.audacity.sourceforge.net
Open office. Office suite. www.openoffice.org
Zonealarm. Firewall. www.zonealarm.com
VLC. Media player www.videolan.org
Spybot-search and destroy. Spyware. www.safer-networking.org/
Irfanview. Image viewer. www.irfanview.com
Pixresizer. Image resizer. www.bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm
Ccleaner. Cleans out computer. www.ccleaner.com

There are others I use, but these are my main ones
Can anyone else add to the list?
I have’nt included any of the web browsers, but feel free to add them.

Terry
 
Have you tried these Picasa for pics storage and Google earth to view anywhere on the planet,from overhead your house to where ever you want on ther planet,or see the stars at any of ther same points.
 
Been using Picasa Album site for a while now. It's great. Also, Google Earth is fascinating.
 
I can recommend:

Gimp which is an advanced image editing program
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Any Audio Converter which lets you convert the format of music files
https://www.any-audio-converter.com/

VLC https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html for playing just about all formats of video files

Speaking of video here's some instructions to save Youtube videos to your computer's hard drive (so you don't have to be online to watch them)

1. Make sure you have VLC installed

2. Get the URL (web address) of the youtube video
3. Go to https://keepvid.com/ and type in the Youtube URL and click download.

4. There will be two links displayed, right click on the the bottom of the two links and choose 'Save Target As...'

5. Save as an MP4 file which is the default option. Then use VLC to play it.

​
Cheers
Griz
 
Last edited:
hanco,
Great idea.
(Maybe it would be useful if someone on Admin could make this a sticky?)
I use most of the stuff you've recommended except preferring COMODO firewall rather than ZA, which I used for years until updates started to give problems. Comodo needs a bit of training but once it's settled it's brilliant, with auto updates which install a lot easier than ZA's.

I also dropped Ad-aware when the recent versions began to give problems. I now use SUPERANTISPYWARE and MALWAREBYTES together with the old reliable Spybot Search & Destroy and A SQUARED.
 
Paul does Zone Alarm uninstall ok? I remember once many moons ago having to re-install windows because I unistalled Zone Alarm. I couldn't connect to the net afterwards.

Ive made the thread sticky as you suggest
 
used Picassa and now using Photoscan as I can do more with it:)Format factory to change all the different files and DVD flick to do my dvds all free LOL:)
 
Balrog said:
Paul does Zone Alarm uninstall ok? I remember once many moons ago having to re-install windows because I unistalled Zone Alarm. I couldn't connect to the net afterwards.

Ive made the thread sticky as you suggest
Click to expand...
No, it's not the easiest program to uninstall. I got the attached instructions from the ZA forum...
 
What is a "Windows binary" as referred to on the Gimp site?
If I installed Gimp would it enable the clipping of extraneous material around photos?
Help with my learning curve would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi there

Gimp was developed for Linux which is a different sort of operating system (instead of Micrsoft Windows), so what "windows binary" means on that download page is that they don't offer a windows installer on that site but you can click the link just below that paragraph and you can download a version for windows.

It will definately clip your photos no worries (plus convert from B&w to sepia and back) - theres a good introduction page on the site www.gimp.org/about/introduction and also tutorials on the site.

Hope that helps
Griz
 
Most of the programmes mentioned I have tried then either uninstalled or kept. Gimp was one that I could,nt get on with, I probably never gave it a fair chance. Tried Picaso. I have'nt tried glary utilites, I will have a look at that. I've had google earth since the beginning.
Anyone tried Paint.net? another good programme. www.getpaint.net
I have converters to change extensions, like MP3's, mp4's etc,that I have obtained, though there is a bit of a learning curve on some.

There must be hundreds. of programmes.

Terry
 
Last edited:
BordesleyExile said:
If I installed Gimp would it enable the clipping of extraneous material around photos?
Click to expand...

Hi,
There is a very good cropping tool in Google's Picasa 3. It is the easiest one I've ever used, you can crop to fixed sizes or to whatever you want.
The program autosaves your originals images after cropping. I found out about Picasa 3 on this forum and love it. It's great for downloading from scanners and cameras etc. I have Gimp but it needs quite a bit of effort to use it.
 
The way grizelda68 described to download youtube videos is exactly the way I do it. Then I use a programme to strip the music to MP3 format and sometimes I then use audacity to crop the beginning or end if needed and sometimes save as a wav file, it depends. Then guess what? I copy to cd and play on my car radio.

Terry

P.S strictly for personal use only.
 
I have used the following anti-virus ware for over a year - seems very good.
Sorry I can only give you the name:

AVG Anti-Virus Free
 
For a quick and efficient photo editing tool, which does a lot, lot more, I reckon Irfanview (recommended by hanco at the beginning of this thread) takes a lot of beating.
 
Although having Paint Shop Pro 7 (not a Freebie), with many bells and whistles, I find myself using Picasa3. A user friendly interface helps and its easy to aquire pictures from the net and enlarge them for better viewing. Thats a must on BHF.
I recomend Recuva for finding lost or accidentaly deleted files. Remova uninstalls programs cleanly.Both are by the makers of CC Cleaners so are easy to use.
 
Are there any good free family tree programmes out there? I use Family Tree Maker, one of the few things I have paid for actually. But if theres one better, then I would give it a try.

Terry
 
For those who want a free PDF reader that's only a fraction of the size of Adobe Acrobat and opens documents in a fraction of the time there's FOXIT.
 
I use ARES to download free music now and then; you can get oldies and newies from it, it's perfectly straightforward and has caused me no problems with my computer. It is recommended that you download it from the SOURCEFORGE site. By the way, what's a 'sticky' thread?

Harborne
 
Oisin, Family Tree Builder looks good. Does it show siblings on the main tree? I could not find this out from web research & would welcome your input.
 
I use Firefox and just installed the addon NoScript. Got the suggestion from Moneysavingexpert. I've just made any script from this Forum trusted, everything looks ok - so far !
 
harborne, a "sticky" is a post that stops at the top of the page so will not drop off the end and get lost in the annuls of time.

BordesleyExile, sorry I cant help you as I don't use it myself. I don't do genealogy, and if you had my family you wouldn't either.
a050.gif
 
Have you seen 'street view' in google earth yet, just come out. Whatever your thoughts and views are, it's quite impressive, but where will it end?
 
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