Slowly Cleaning Up My Computer

[filkertom]

I've been checking out a few free utilities suggested by Maximum PC magazine. The two most helpful thus far are WinDirStat, which gives you a gorgeous and easy-to-work-with display of your files, showing exactly what's eating up your drive space, and Foxit PDF Reader, which is only about 1 MB, opens almost instantly, and doesn't have the damned Adobe Gamma thing running in the background.

Any good free software you've been using a lot lately? Please state what operating system it's for.

Comments

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

WinXP, all here.

WinDirStat rocks. I found it through Flickr, of all places...

Another program I'm using lately is the free VMWare Player, which allows me to run Ubuntu Linux in a virtual machine, rather than having to figure out how to make my HD dual-boot. (Dual-boot isn't the issue so much as having three other people in the house who have no interest in using Linux, so why keep booting between systems?)

Anything at all from Sysinternals is worth having: if you don't need it now, you'll need it later. :-) Process Explorer is the most generally-useful one: Filemon is instructive as well.

ExamDiff is good for figuring out what the differences are between two text files. ExamDiff Pro is much nicer, but you said "free". :-)

It's not a utility, but have you looked at the Firefox plugin Web Developer? One of the reviewers complains about not being able to give it 6 stars. :-) I don't use it much, but when I need it, I _really_ need it. :-)

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Windows XP/2000 here.

Oracle SQL Developer - not much good if you're not using Oracle.
MS SQL Server Express 2005
FileZilla
CrapCleaner
Bloodshed C++ Developer
TightVNC
ZipGenius
Paint.NET
EditPad Lite

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, how could I forget Paint.NET? Very nice for quick-and-dirty editing.

Besides the fact that I use The GIMP, of course. :-)

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Paint.NET loads quicker and has a simpler interface. Granted, not as powerful, but when I need a graphic NOW, it works great.

I also forgot Stickies. My wife and I use that to send notes back and forth as well as our own "to do" lists.

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I'm not quibbling about whether it's a good program, I use it too, when I don't want to waste time firing up the heavy artillery. :-)

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip. I have been wondering if something like WinDirStat existed for the past several weeks...

[hms42]

Hmm... Freeware....

CDeX for CD ripping to mp3 so I can traveller with more filk at once. (Mail site webpage is currently down, but the software is on download.com and the forums are still active.) It also is what I use regularly to convert .wav files I have recorded to mp3s.

MP3Direct Cut - http://www.mpesch3.de/

First program I found that did exactly what I wanted for creating my mp3 collection. (I used it to help back up my filk and other audio tapes.)

Those are the big two freeware programs I use other than Firefox and Thunderbird.

Harold

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I used to use CDex a lot. Now I use pro software, Sound Forge to be specific, but CDex is a good program. Only problem I ever had was that the interface was a bit clumsy.

[hms42]

In the forums, they are talking about update the user interface. A new team has taken over writing the program and they are learning the code before doing anything first.

Harold