Tweet
First and foremost, I want to start this thread by saying: Don't provide any links of/to ANY pirated software.
Broncomania could very well get into trouble..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I like to start this thread for people who are sick and tired of paying for over expensive software, when you could easily get it for free online.
Here are some of the best and top rated free software programs that will be beneficial for your computer use:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Fedora Linux
* Excellent Linux distro for servers, though you can use it as a desktop too.
Redhat Linux
* Another good distro for servers.
Ubuntu
* Very popular Linux distro for use as a desktop. Easy to install packages, they ship the DVDs free.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
*Wish you could run a different OS on VISTA? Some programs only work for XP? Use this free virtual PC from Microsoft. Works wonderful, especially on a vista.
BROWSERS
Mozilla Firefox
* Secure, fast. Supports thousands of user created addons, some of which I suggest below. Brings in your bookmarks from Internet Explorer. Tabbed browsing.
FIREFOX ADDONS
Stylish
* Sick and tired of the White/Gray Broncomania background? Does it blind your eyes? Use the stylish add on. To get the old Broncomania blue background, check out // / yardo's thread!
Adblock Plus
* You will never see a pop-up or flash ad ever again. Guaranteed.
Download Statusbar
* Easy to track downloads
Flagfox
* Displays which country the server hosting the webpage you are looking at resides in.
Googlepedia
* Displays a relevant wikipedia article alongside your google query.
IE Tab
* Lets you render a page using Internet Explorer
PDF Download
* Big PDF files can freeze up browsers. Not anymore since it asks you what you want to do with it.
Broncofox
* Love everything to be Denver Broncos? Add this add on and have a firefox "Denver Broncos" theme.
PROGRAMMING
Java Runtime (java.sun.com)
* Java programs require the JRE to be installed.
Bloodshed IDEs
* Excellent IDEs that use open source compilers like gcc.
SECURITY
avast! 4 Antivirus Free Home Edition
* Don't pay a dime but get excellent and non-laggy protection. Suggest you register for free for a one year license.
Spybot - Search & Destroy
* Find over 150,000 malware, adware, spyware programs with a scan. You can also immunize Internet Explorer and Firefox against malicious websites. Don't install TeaTimer unless you want to, it's annoying.
NanoScan
*In less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs.
Comodo Firewall Pro
*This protective dragon for XP and Vista keeps hackers out of your system, controls which programs can access the Net (its whitelist of about one million means you get fewer pop-ups), and blocks tricky "leak test" techniques. It's both tough and good-looking.
SYSTEM STABILITY
CCleaner
* Clean your registry, unused files, temp files, memory dumps, core dumps, anything and everything that takes up space but isn't needed.
Driver Cleaner Pro
* Strongly suggested when installing new video card drivers. Uninstall the old ones, run driver cleaner pro, reset PC, install new drivers. Prevents version conflicts common with driver upgrades.
ProcessScanner
* See what is running in your background and if it is trash.
ARCHIVING
7-zip
* Free, fast uncompressing and compressing technology. Doesn't annoy you like WinRar and WinZip.
IMAGE VIEWING
Irfanview
* Free fast image viewer.
3D MODELING
Blender
* Free and hundreds of user-made plugins let you do anything a full-featured $2000 program does.
COMMAND-LINE
vim
* Nothing is better for editing text files from a command line.
cygwin
* Linux bash shell on your windows machine.
THEMES
Theme patcher
* Lets you install 3rd party themes to WindowsXP
NiteLiteXP
* A dark winxp theme
LunaVX
* A blue winxp theme
Royale
* Microsoft winxp theme, ships with media center
Zune
* Dark microsoft winxp theme
MEDIA/UTILITIES
Itunes
* Store music in a library that organizes your music files neatly in folders. Can also transfer songs to Ipod devices, import music from cd albums, burn song files to bland cd's.
Adobe Reader
* Only PDF reader that can open any PDF files. There are 3rd party ones like Sumatra, but they are all buggy and still in development.
Combined Community Codec Pack
* Excellent for DVD playback. Will crack copy protection on any DVD that exists, letting you be able to watch movies on your PC.
Winamp
* Music player. I'm sure you've heard of it. Very skinnable.
Launchy
* Quick-launch programs by pressing alt-space and then typing part of the programs name.
SpeedFan
* Monitor cpu fans, case fans, motherboard temperature and more, assuming your mobo is compatible and reports these things.
VLC media player
* Forget Windows Media Player. VideoLAN's open-source VLC can replace it, and nearly every other player, too. VLC supports almost every audio format and video codec imaginable and doubles as a server for streaming your music and video to other PCs. Change its skin to make it look like the player you want—even WMP.
OFFICE/DOCUMENTS
GoogleDocs
* Online document editor. Word editor, spreadsheet editor are popular.
OpenOffice
* Too cheap for microsoft office? Grab openoffice. It's compatible with microsoft's formats and costs nothing.
Notepad++
* Notepad++ handles text--especially source code-in ways the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding.
Power Calculator
* Don't have a graphing calculator? That's alright.. use this program to do many things such as graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are lots more out there, but this can get you started.
Feel free to add to the list!
Hope you enjoy! :thumb:
Broncomania could very well get into trouble..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I like to start this thread for people who are sick and tired of paying for over expensive software, when you could easily get it for free online.
Here are some of the best and top rated free software programs that will be beneficial for your computer use:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Fedora Linux
* Excellent Linux distro for servers, though you can use it as a desktop too.
Redhat Linux
* Another good distro for servers.
Ubuntu
* Very popular Linux distro for use as a desktop. Easy to install packages, they ship the DVDs free.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
*Wish you could run a different OS on VISTA? Some programs only work for XP? Use this free virtual PC from Microsoft. Works wonderful, especially on a vista.
BROWSERS
Mozilla Firefox
* Secure, fast. Supports thousands of user created addons, some of which I suggest below. Brings in your bookmarks from Internet Explorer. Tabbed browsing.
FIREFOX ADDONS
Stylish
* Sick and tired of the White/Gray Broncomania background? Does it blind your eyes? Use the stylish add on. To get the old Broncomania blue background, check out // / yardo's thread!
Adblock Plus
* You will never see a pop-up or flash ad ever again. Guaranteed.
Download Statusbar
* Easy to track downloads
Flagfox
* Displays which country the server hosting the webpage you are looking at resides in.
Googlepedia
* Displays a relevant wikipedia article alongside your google query.
IE Tab
* Lets you render a page using Internet Explorer
PDF Download
* Big PDF files can freeze up browsers. Not anymore since it asks you what you want to do with it.
Broncofox
* Love everything to be Denver Broncos? Add this add on and have a firefox "Denver Broncos" theme.
PROGRAMMING
Java Runtime (java.sun.com)
* Java programs require the JRE to be installed.
Bloodshed IDEs
* Excellent IDEs that use open source compilers like gcc.
SECURITY
avast! 4 Antivirus Free Home Edition
* Don't pay a dime but get excellent and non-laggy protection. Suggest you register for free for a one year license.
Spybot - Search & Destroy
* Find over 150,000 malware, adware, spyware programs with a scan. You can also immunize Internet Explorer and Firefox against malicious websites. Don't install TeaTimer unless you want to, it's annoying.
NanoScan
*In less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs.
Comodo Firewall Pro
*This protective dragon for XP and Vista keeps hackers out of your system, controls which programs can access the Net (its whitelist of about one million means you get fewer pop-ups), and blocks tricky "leak test" techniques. It's both tough and good-looking.
SYSTEM STABILITY
CCleaner
* Clean your registry, unused files, temp files, memory dumps, core dumps, anything and everything that takes up space but isn't needed.
Driver Cleaner Pro
* Strongly suggested when installing new video card drivers. Uninstall the old ones, run driver cleaner pro, reset PC, install new drivers. Prevents version conflicts common with driver upgrades.
ProcessScanner
* See what is running in your background and if it is trash.
ARCHIVING
7-zip
* Free, fast uncompressing and compressing technology. Doesn't annoy you like WinRar and WinZip.
IMAGE VIEWING
Irfanview
* Free fast image viewer.
3D MODELING
Blender
* Free and hundreds of user-made plugins let you do anything a full-featured $2000 program does.
COMMAND-LINE
vim
* Nothing is better for editing text files from a command line.
cygwin
* Linux bash shell on your windows machine.
THEMES
Theme patcher
* Lets you install 3rd party themes to WindowsXP
NiteLiteXP
* A dark winxp theme
LunaVX
* A blue winxp theme
Royale
* Microsoft winxp theme, ships with media center
Zune
* Dark microsoft winxp theme
MEDIA/UTILITIES
Itunes
* Store music in a library that organizes your music files neatly in folders. Can also transfer songs to Ipod devices, import music from cd albums, burn song files to bland cd's.
Adobe Reader
* Only PDF reader that can open any PDF files. There are 3rd party ones like Sumatra, but they are all buggy and still in development.
Combined Community Codec Pack
* Excellent for DVD playback. Will crack copy protection on any DVD that exists, letting you be able to watch movies on your PC.
Winamp
* Music player. I'm sure you've heard of it. Very skinnable.
Launchy
* Quick-launch programs by pressing alt-space and then typing part of the programs name.
SpeedFan
* Monitor cpu fans, case fans, motherboard temperature and more, assuming your mobo is compatible and reports these things.
VLC media player
* Forget Windows Media Player. VideoLAN's open-source VLC can replace it, and nearly every other player, too. VLC supports almost every audio format and video codec imaginable and doubles as a server for streaming your music and video to other PCs. Change its skin to make it look like the player you want—even WMP.
OFFICE/DOCUMENTS
GoogleDocs
* Online document editor. Word editor, spreadsheet editor are popular.
OpenOffice
* Too cheap for microsoft office? Grab openoffice. It's compatible with microsoft's formats and costs nothing.
Notepad++
* Notepad++ handles text--especially source code-in ways the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding.
Power Calculator
* Don't have a graphing calculator? That's alright.. use this program to do many things such as graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are lots more out there, but this can get you started.
Feel free to add to the list!
Hope you enjoy! :thumb:
I get 
Comment