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WINDOWS UTILITIES
INSTALLER - UNINSTALLERS
SCREEN CAPTURE - CLIPBOARD
CLEANERS - SCHEDULING - MEMORY
ZIP - UTILITY SUITE
PASSWORD REVEALERS - ICONS - DESKTOP - TRAY - GRAPHICS
============================================ SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
ZipInstaller - Nirsoft
http://www.nirsoft.n...t/utils/zipinst.html"This utility was originally developed to install the utilities in NirSoft Web site, but you can use it for installing utilities and applications from other sources, like the utilities provided in SysInternal Web site, Funduc Software, and many others."
Nothing real complicated there, except the addition of the uninstaller option is very nice, and saving time. ToDoList, Keynote-NF and JavaRa are examples of programs which afaik do not have their own Microsoft-style installation progrram. Also many of the "Portable Apps". Thus this is #1, since you might want to use this for installing some of the other apps.
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UNINSTALLER
Revo Uninstaller http://www.revouninstaller.com/"Revo Uninstaller is a freeware product and you can use it also in commercial environment according to its License Agreement, which forbids reverse engineering, modifying, removing any trade marks etc." - response to email request
Safarp-"Small And Fast Add/Remove Programs" Open Source - 2005
http://wistinga.online.fr/safarp/Forums
http://wistinga.sourceforge.net/forums/"Safarp is a small and fast alternative to the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel applet of Windows 2000/XP"
SPECIALTY UNINSTALLERS
JavaRa - Ra Products
http://raproducts.org/A specialty tool, cleans up the old Java versions and helps makes sure you are up-to-date. While not a major issue, it is a nice cleanup and does not have the complications of e.g. .net cleanup attempts. PureRa is also available, yet I would consider that more a "special use" product so it goes below, otherwise it might change things like folder order that you don't want to change.
"JavaRa is a simple tool that does a simple job: it removes old and redundant versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). ... RaProducts is a website dedicated to bringing you the highest-quality products for your home and office alike. Currently, our software includes JavaRa, PhoneRa, PureRa and PastIconsFlusher."
Automated cleanup tool to remove the .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 - Aaron Stebner
http://blogs.msdn.co...06/05/30/611355.aspxUnlike JavaRa this is not designed as a "run anytime to clean up" tool, but as a help in times of .Net trouble. (Originally I had omitted it, however with proper explanation and caution it might save a lot of headache and solve problems.)
Adobe Flash Uninstaller - Repair Tool of the Week
http://www.technibbl...ir-tool-of-the-week/How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control
http://kb2.adobe.com...ps/141/tn_14157.html============================================================
Note: PC Decrapifier is inexpensive for commercial use : ... $20 per "technician" (not per PC) per year. For folks receiving many new computers it may have a place with the few inexpensive products below. While AppRemover, designed for security tool removals, has a specific commercial license.
Comprehensive List of Uninstallers or Removal Tools for Antivirus Software - Raymond
http://www.raymond.c...tools-for-antivirus-oftware/#more-2878
avast, AVG, Avira, BitDefender, Computer Associates, ESET, F-Secure, McAfee, GData, TrendMicro, Panda, Norton and Windows Live OneCare references
Repair Tool of the Week: Antivirus Removal Tools - Technibble - June, 2009
http://www.technibbl...virus-removal-tools/Adds Kaspersky, omits GData
How to uninstall anything: free apps that get the job done - Samer (Freeware Genius)
http://www.freewareg...at-get-the-job-done/Remove Old Drivers After Upgrading to New Hardware
http://www.howtogeek...ing-to-new-hardware/==================
SCREEN CAPTURE
Purrint - Screen Capture
http://www.bcheck.net/apps/"Apps from your close personal friend, bCheck. These are all MS Windows apps, they have zero dependencies and are as small as I could get 'em. Source is supplied for most"
ScreenshotCaptor - Donationcoder -Mouser
https://www.donation...hotcaptor/index.htmlForum
https://www.donation...index.php?board=34.0Also Gadwin, MWSnap, PicPack and Greenshot (Screen Capturer from Extensoft also, below, also Screenshot Pilot and Annotation Pilot from Two Pilots), Gipo@ScreenCapture and Screeny may all be fully freeware, based on notes and research. I happen to like the simplicity of Purrint for giving to office folks, with an easily recognizable system tray icon, although as long as a software has an automatic "Print-key-->Print" configuration (with optional auto-file-save) the extra potential features in other softwares may make them a better one-horse install.
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SCREEN TEXT CAPTURE
Textractor - Resplendence Software
http://resplendence.com/textractorMonitor and capture all text any program writes to the screen
"Textractor is provided free of charge"
SysExporter - NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/sysexp.htmlSCREEN TEXT CAPTURE - OCR
JOCR - EverRex Software (2006)
http://home.megapass...ng/Product_JOCR.html"JOCR is a freeware"
http://home.megapass...g/Index_License.html"JExplorer (and power toys such as JOCR, JMounter, and JCalculator) is a freeware. You are free to use JExplorer at your own risk and free to distribute JExplorer in its original state to your friends, public web site, online service, or BBS without explicitly obtaining the author's permission. There is no charge for any such distribution. Notification would be greatly appreciated though ! ... (continues)"
Note the relationship of JOCR with MODI and we have a separate thread about accomplishing this OCR capture with Microsoft Office products, as well as the web alternatives like Evernote. Also note that the freeware file manager
JExplorer (2006) includes JOCR and
JMount, a virtual drive. JOCR received a positive review from FreewareGenius.
SCREEN WEB PAGE CAPTURE
SiteShoter - NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.n...site_screenshot.htmlLifehacker
http://lifehacker.co...creenshots-over-timeWebShot http://www.websitescreenshots.com/Email from Nathan confirms that free version is ok for commercial use. Pro version has additional features,
color being the most user-important, however in companies often b & w lasers are the norm.
Firefox extensions mentioned -
ScreenGrab -
PicnikOther Firefox extensions of interest.
Screenshot Studio Abduction SnapperWith paid and free versions
Page Saver Fireshot=====================================
VIDEO CAPTURE
CamStudio - Open Source
http://camstudio.org/http://sourceforge.n.../projects/camstudio/Forum
http://sourceforge.net/community/forum/"CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) "
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SCAN & TIFF --> TEXT OCR
Simple OCR - Simple Software
http://www.simpleocr.com/Info.asp"Not only is SimpleOCR up to 99% accurate, it is 100% free."
"SimpleOCR works with all fully compliant TWAIN scanners and also accepts input from TIFF files. "
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CLIPBOARD
Clipboard Help+Spellhttps://www.donation...pandspell/index.htmlForum
https://www.donation...index.php?board=49.0Ditto-cp Clipboard Manager - (fav in Lifehacker poll)
http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/Forums
http://sourceforge.n...orum/?group_id=84084ArsClip http://www.joejoesof...showpage.php?cid=111"My programs are freeware. There are no strings attached, no nags, no ads, and no timebombs. Those that enjoy my programs and wish to make a small donation can do so... Delphi 6 (Personal) source code is included - modify it freely for any non-profit use. NOTE: The newer versions are compiled with Turbo Delphi for Win32 (also a free download)."
Clipomatic - Mike Lin
http://www.mlin.net/Clipomatic.shtmlForum
http://groups.google.com/group/mlin_netClipX - Francis Gastellu
http://www.bluemars.org/clipx/"ClipX is a tiny clipboard history manager. It is sweet, it is free, use it"
BestFreeApps - ClipX
http://www.bestfreea.../system-tools/clipx/Ditto, ClipX and ArsClip are all Freeware Genius recommendations, with ArsClip getting a small special nod.
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CLEANERS
CCleaner - Piriform
http://www.ccleaner.com/"CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool."
"... like all Piriform products, Defraggler is completely free for both corporate and individual use."
Forum
http://forum.pirifor...ndex.php?showforum=4Bleachbit - Open Source
http://bleachbit-project.appspot.com/Forum
http://bleachbit-pro...t.appspot.com/forum/"The privacy and disk space cleaner for Linux and Windows"
Being fairly new and having a Linux heritage we do not have a lot of reviews and Windows discussion. One thing .. apparently it does handle a large number of applications.
Free Internet Window Washer - Eusing
http://www.eusing.co...er/Window_Washer.htm"Free Internet Window Washer is a freeware product, this means that you can download and use it for free. Anyway we will appreciate contributions: we will use collected money to finance new development of Free Internet Window Washer."
PureRa - System Purification Tool
http://raproducts.org/purera.html"removes files from your computer that other mainstream cleaning programs tend to oversee.
- Config.msi Folder [..Sometimes a Windows Installer package is sloppy..]
- Thumbs.db [.. tiny preview images generated for image files ]
- Iconcache.db [The icons used in Windows are saved in an icon cache]
- .sqm-files [sqm-files are created by MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.]
- Desktop.ini "
TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer
http://www.geekstogo...ldTimer-file187.html"TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs)"
TFC may be a good compliment to CCleaner to get to the other temp files of the other users without lots of reduncancy or complication.
A bit strangely wants to have the .exe on the Desktop (shortcut anywhere). And the instructions say:
"You MUST be logged on as an administrator to use this utility. While cleaning the temp files all open applications will be closed and the desktop will disappear. When finished, if any files need to be removed by a reboot you will be asked to reboot. Otherwise the desktop will be restored."
DiskMax - KoshyJohn (AutoIt application)
http://www.koshyjohn...oftware/diskmax.htmlSimilarly will clean out other user temp files. And similarly, reading on the web, lacks some configurability as an overall cleaner.
Links and mini-discussion of Cleanup!, ATF-Cleaner (new release planned, per blog) and many other freewares (not all fully freeware) :
CCleaner 2.0 Beta Released - Clean the Crap off your Computer
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=9598.25====================================
WINDOWS SCHEDULING
System Scheduler - Splinterware
"System Scheduler is provided free of charge (no warranties implied whatsoever). You can use System Scheduler at home or for business purposes. It can be redistributed freely but without modification of any kind. It must not be re-sold either by itself or as part of other commercial software."
Forum
http://www.splinterware.com/forum/Ka-Firetask - Konrad Papala
http://www.konradp.c...retask/pro_index.htm"none of my freeware has any restrictions, including Ka Firetask. It's 100% free, also in corporate use." (email from Konrad)
Network-aware.
JIT Scheduler 9 - Gibin Software
http://www.gibinsoft.net/" JIT Scheduler ... is licensed, not sold.. is a freeware. This means, that JIT Scheduler grants you the right to use it free-of-charge/free without any limitations for the number of copies. This Agreement grants a user the following limited, non-exclusive rights: the right to install and use the Software Product... You are not allowed to modify the Software Product or perform disassembling of any kind.You are encouraged to distribute the original, unmodified and integral package freely, in any form and on any media, provided you don't charge any fee for the Software Product."
Gibin has some other software of interest, especially Gipo@DB_Utilities "an easy way to work with different OLE DB- and ODBC-compatible databases and data sources such as Microsoft SQL Server 7.0/2000, Oracle DBMS, Informix, MySQL, DB2, Microsoft Access, dBase, Paradox, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro and many other databases that have OLE DB providers." License hasn't been checked yet, though, likely it is very similar.
nnCron litehttp://www.nncron.ru/#nncronltForum
http://www.nncron.ru...ms/viewforum.php?f=2 "* The nnCron LITE program is distributed as freeware.
* All copyrights to nnCron LITE are exclusively owned by its developer, Nicholas Nemtsev.
* The nnCron LITE may be freely distributed provided the distribution package is not modified. No person or company may charge a fee for the distribution of nnCron LITE without permission from the copyright holder. The nnCron LITE may be bundled or distributed with any other package without permission of the copyright holder."
PC Inspector Task Manager - Convar
http://www.pc-inspek.../info.htm?Language=1Apparently only in German so far, likely to expand .. found a Convar license note !
"The full version of PC INSPECTOR™ task manager is made available to you at no cost by "CONVAR – Die Datenretter™". You may use the software at no charge and with no time limitations. You are also allowed to share it with friends, acquaintances and colleagues. Please note that you must accept the following license agreement in order to use the software."
(License agreement is the "no warranty" stuff on the same page).
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MEMORY SWEEPING - "Working Set"
CleanMem - PC WinTech - Shane
http://www.pcwintech.com/node/145MemClean - KoshyJohn
http://www.koshyjohn...ftware/memclean.htmlWe can avoid the big debates about whether these types of programs are worthwhile. Your biz folks may have low-memory puters or early OS. These two look to be fully freeware and are written by techies who share in the forums and have other software and use superior techniques. Other software may be considered in this group. (I do have a small concern about whether the name similarity is simply coincidental.)
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ARCHIVE - ZIP
7-Ziphttp://www.7-zip.org/Forum
http://sourceforge.n...m.php?forum_id=45797"You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip. But you can make a donation to support further development of 7-Zip."
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PASSWORD REVEALERS
Password Revealer - Rekenwonder Software - Source Code included
http://rekenwonder.com/revealer.htm"Password Revealer is freeware."
"Please note that Password Revealer does NEVER work with the following passwords..."
Note his mini-apps with source code, such as Schedule Control and Member Administration and other utilities.
Asterik Logger - NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/astlog.html"Asterisk Logger - Recover passwords stored behind asterisk (**) characters."
Mail PassView - NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv.htmlRepair Tool of the Week: Mail PassView
http://www.technibbl...e-week-mailpassview/"Mail PassView is a small, freeware and portable tool designed to reveal the password and other account details which you should run before you format the machine."
(Note: these passwords will generally be less mission-criticial, able to be gotten from the ISP.)
Note also from NirSoft in the same style -
* MessenPass - Recover the passwords of 'Instant Messenger' applications.
* IE PassView - Recover the passwords of Internet Explorer.
* Dialupass - Recover VPN/RAS/Dialup passwords
* Network Password Recovery - Recover Windows XP/Vista network passwords (Credentials file)
The last one being of the most administrative interest.
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UTILITY SUITES
Advanced SystemCare Free - Iobit Utility Suite - "100% Freeware"
http://www.iobit.com...dwindowscareper.htmlForums
http://forums.iobit....forumdisplay.php?f=4=========================
Here are links to folks who have groups of freeware software utilities that they developed that appear to be fully free. Possibly will move to their own sections, licenses may vary even within the software author's packages.
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INDIVIDUAL UTILITIES - PLAN TO MOVE TO OWN SECTION AS THE NUMBERS BECOME VERY LARGE
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EZ-SHELL TO WINDOWS COMMANDS
XpSyspad - xtort
http://xtort.net/xto...t-software/xpsyspad/"Windows system monitoring utility that allows easy access to Windows system information and Windows system utilities, such as the individual control panel applets, as well as putting the “hidden” applications in Windows at your fingertips..."
DRIVE MANAGEMENT
Drive Manager - Alex Nolan
http://www.alexnolan...oftware/driveman.htm"No-install, standalone freeware utilities with a modern and easy user interface."
FILE ATTRIBUTES (Often included in File Managers)
Attribute Changer - Romain Petges
http://www.petges.lu/index.html"Attribute Changer is free, even for commercial use. "
"Attribute Changer shell extension (freeware) is a power user tool to change all kind of file and folder attributes, date, time and even NTFS compression."
DonationCoder thread shows pic of this feature on some file manager programs for comparison.
Program to Change File Attributes on Windows
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10647.0Flexible Renamer - Naru (updated 2008)
http://hp.vector.co....30/english/FlexRena/"Copyright Naru - License Type Freeware - Copying/Reproduction Free" "You can support future development by donating! I appreciate any amount of donation. Thank you!"
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Open Window Info and Troubleshooting (overlaps process explorers)
Window Seizer - Take control of your open windows and tasks. - Alex Nolan
http://www.alexnolan...re/window_seizer.htm"Windows Seizer is a standalone portable freeware utility which lists all the windows you have open..technical information .."
WinLister NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.n...utils/winlister.htmlWinExplorer - NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.n...ls/using_winexp.htmlCowSpy - NakenCow (2004)
http://www.nakencow.tk/cowspyindex.phpWinEnabler - SMarmotte
http://dragondarka.free.fr/smarmotte/AdminTest looks like a nice simple app,
Filelist might be handy,
Process Cleaner is of interest, and there are others.
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Windows
WinSplit Revolutionhttp://www.winsplit-revolution.com/"WinSplit Revolution is freeware. Some Rights Reserved.This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License."
"WinSplit Revolution is a small utility which allows you to easily organize your open windows by tiling, resizing and positioning them to make the best use of your desktop real estate. What can it do? WinSplit is especially useful for high-end LCD screens with high resolutions because it helps you to efficiently manage many active windows."
This could be especially nice for those execs with the 21" and 24" screens. Maybe even programmers !
Taskbar - System Tray
Taskix Reorder taskbar tabs and more
http://taskix.robustit.com/"Developing Taskix takes considerable time and effort. It you find it very helpful, I will greatly appreciate it if you are sending me in return a small amount of money. Thank you! "
Lifehacker - Taskix Enables Taskbar Reordering with a Small Footprint
http://lifehacker.co...th-a-small-footprint===================================================================
Icons & Thumbnails
IconFX - The Free Icon Editor
http://icofx.ro/" You can show your appreciation for IcoFX and support future development by donating! Your support makes this project possible, and your assistance is greatly appreciated! I strongly feel that IcoFX should remain free of charge in the future also. The recommended minimum donation is 10 USD, but of course any amount is welcome.Thank you!"
Forum
http://icofx.ro/forum/Easy Picture2Icon 2.5http://www.picture2icon.com/"The programs at Picture2Icon.com are freeware, but donations are gratefully accepted"
Review - CompletelyFreeSoftware
http://www.completel..._Picture2Icon32.htmlEasy Thumbnails - Fookeshttp://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs/"Easy Thumbnails is a genuine freeware product that will not annoy you with advertising, intrusive spyware components or nag screens. It comes from the developers of the award-winning NoteTab text editors."
Graphics
Creative Docs.Nethttp://www.creativedocs.net/"Creative Docs .NET 2.x is available for free as a full-featured version. It comes with no warranty whatsoever."
(License confirmed ok for biz use by author Pierre on CyberNet post.)
"Creative Docs .NET is a vector-based graphic design tool with support for rich text, ideal to quickly write short documents, manuals, posters, illustrations, schemas, plans, flow charts, and much more."
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GROUPS OF SMALL FREE UTILITIES
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Funduc Software.http://www.funduc.com/otsoft.htm#WordSR"We currently have eleven freeware applications available for Windows 95/98/ME NT/2000/XP: Count Characters, Decode Shell Extension, DupBlock, Folder Synchronize Script Editor, Limit Edit, HexView, FS ZIP Extractor, TZAdjust, SR Regular Expression Wizard, Word Search and Replace, Excel Search and Replace, and PowerPoint Search and Replace."
FreeBytehttp://www.freebyte.com/=======================================
LINUX and OS Interopability
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Ext2 Installable File System For Windows - Stephan Schreiber
http://www.fs-driver.org/"provides Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 with full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read access and write access). This may be useful if you have installed both Windows and Linux as a dual boot environment on your computer. The "Ext2 Installable File System for Windows" software is freeware.... Linux Ext3 volumes can also be accessed. "
As an OS extension, this may later go into its own subsection.
