Below is a list of some my best freeware/donationware
finds on the net, some of which have been modified by yours truly, with plugins
etc to slightly enhance what were already great proggies. Also, all I’ve done
is make a few of them into install.exe’s so that lay users can stick them on
their computers easier and gain access to them via “desktop icons/start menu
etc”.
The
makers of these programs have not given me permission to do this in anyway and
I don’t want to in anyway take credit for their fine work…
I’ve
used most of these for ages, none contain spyware…
1by1 Mp3 player + - This baby comes originally from here as just a great, tiny mp3 player, however I added some plugins that now enables it to play most audio files, including .ogg and .cda (CD’s) This latest version is now set up to play tracks that blend seamlessly into the next. I’ve noticed it has trouble playing .wav files that have 5.1 capabilities, not many of us have these, so don’t worry, it can also make CD’s sound “skippy” at the start, this is purely due to the above mentioned ‘blending’ and is not causing any harm - after all it was designed to be mainly an Mp3 player… well worth a go…
q TIP ! CTRL+S takes you to its settings, fiddle in there to tweak sound etc- Keyboard shortcut [CTRL+G] toggles on/off gapless (blended) mp3 setting useful if you are intending to play other types of audio than mp3. screenshot
PICOPHONE1.63 – PC to PC chat programme, has saved me a fortune in phone
bills, I joke you not, it works best with headphones on and with people you trust,
due to the fact you have to give out your IP address to the caller (or visa
versa). It’s about the same quality as a long distance call via a speakerphone.
This version I made self extracting, if you need to send it to someone, they
only need the Picophone.exe for it to work, which is only about 50kbits, this
version however, may be easier for novices to install, also contains a ringer
for incoming calls. It’s so low on bandwidth that you can use it while playing
online games with no impact on lag. A must….
q TIP ! Pressing [ABOUT] will provide you with your IP address, Pressing [PREF] to set up your recording device (mic) etc. screenshot
wpcsetup_v1.90 – Changes your desktops background on boot up or at preset intervals, basically you create a folder, stick all your favourite ‘wallpapers’ pictures in it and the tell WPC where to look, that’s it, it will select them in file order or randomly. There are quite a few of these wallpaper progs out there but this has a great feature that others don’t. You can ask it to start with windows, but also force it to exit when it starts up, resulting in it starting on boot, changing the wallpaper (and the icon background to match the picture J) Then it closes itself, there by using no background resources at all after its made the change, (this only works on boot, not if you set for timed intervals) this means you get a new Wallpaper every day. Lazy or what….
NetMeter_v0999beta2 – JUST UPDATED
03/04/04 I love this thing,
it’s a internet traffic metre but it could also be a fancy animated wallpaper
(with some fancy tuning). It can display its data graphically or numerically or
both. It can be made transparent (win2000 and XP only) and also ‘click
through-able’ so you can still click on icons. This latest version also
features a log that allows you to see totals over weeks and even months, it
also has a configurable alarm feature to warn you if you are getting close to
any imposed ISP limits
q TIP
– Run it from start up. For controls right click on it in the tool bar. screenshot
Other favs of mine are (click name for homepage)
·
Donationware
(free) icon and curser making software, you can make animated, transparent
(winXP)style icons, all the way up to 24bit colour, supports shading etc.
·
Plugin-able
picture viewer/resizer/browser/ a must for anyone with a digital camera, not
only can you quickly view a entire folder of pictures using its forward and
back buttons, you can also batch scan them and resize them, change format eg
.jpeg to .gif plus much more. The plugins also make it possible to play back
mp3's and most avi's and mpeg's.
·
Lossless mp3 sound leveller, it changes the
sounds of your selected mp3's to approximately the same decibel level,
elimating those "wow that's loud!!" moments, and because it only
changers the tag header information on the mp3, any changes made can be
completely reversed, if for some reason you aren't happy with the results.
- (See
Net Meter screenshot) with Mother Board Monitor, installed (but not running)
this program allows you to constantly view your systems performance, not
only that, but you can also use it to check the weather view news
headlines, practically any program on your pc can be scripted to work
through it onto your desktop. If you’re not up to the scripting and
tagging part, you can download other users examples from the Coolmon website.
It may seem a bit baffling, but copy and paste works well J
- Is an instant messaging program
that is very lite and very configurable… If you’re looking for voice
chatting or video conferencing look elsewhere. What is great about it though is the file sharing part, you
can share files with friends with no size limit and the best part is, it
supports RESUME if you need to stop the download for some reason, all you
need to do is scan your friends files and click on it to restart, also
sending files couldn’t be easier, just drag and drop onto your friends
name.
·
Email client, with tons of features, best ones are, its very lite
(6-10mbs of ram) when compared to Outlook/Outlook Express (18-26 mbs of ram)
and others, minimises to tray, but has a thin scrolling bar which stays ‘on
top’ of what else you are doing and notifies you of new mail/subject and
sender. It also has powerful filter features that can rid your of unwanted mail
plus a whole lot more. The best feature I find is when it comes to backing up
or if you need to reformat, just simple zip up the program folder, with WinZip,
Zip Genius or any other zip
program, after you’re done, just extract it back to your “C:\Program Files” and
all your mail addresses and mail etc are returned, for you to start sending and
receiving mail immediately.
·
Sweeps away unwanted files form your systems registry and start
menu to name but two. In actual fact it performs 12 separate tasks all related
to clean up of unwanted or unused files, shortcuts, folders, duplicates,
internet etc, it removes items safely and quickly, however in case you delete
something you shouldn’t there is an undo key that goes back 10 stages (by
default). Very nice little utility to keep your system in tip-top condition.
More soon………..
Please note, all programs are
for windows OS’s