# Must Have (lesser known) software



## digibucc (Aug 9, 2011)

looking for any recommendations, of windows software that is lesser known but in your opinion must have.

i'm not talking about windows or adobe suite here.  I'm talking about things like:

yes i am adding contributions to the list, give me time.



Spoiler: Productivity





name|price|description

||
*Productivity*
TeraCopy
 | 
Free 
/
$22USD
 | 






> TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, providing the user with a lot of features:



 |

Notepad++
| 
Free 
|






> God's gift to Windows.





> Notepad++ is a free as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer" source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.



|

astrogrep
 | 
Free 
|






> great windows grep (relative expression searching) port, searches file contents, FAST!  supports multiple text editors, including notepad++ , it even opens notepad++ to the specific line and column with the following cmd expression: '-c%3 -n%2 %1' (minus ' single quotes)



|

ClipMagic
 | 
Trial 
/
$15USD
 | 






> ClipMagic monitors the Windows Clipboard saving everything you copy, keeping it safe for when you need it, and makes it easy to access your clips quickly whatever application you are working in.



 |

Microsoft Visual Studio Express Editions
 | 
Free
 | 






> Everything you need to make non-commercial applications.



 |

EditPlus
|
Trial
/
$35USD
|






> Powerful text/script editor. It can even find in files and has its own integrated browser.



|

Hex Workshop
|
Trial
/
$90USD
|






> Powerful binary file editor



.|







Spoiler: Customization





name|price|description

||
*Customization*
DisplayFusion
 | 
Free 
/
$25USD
 | 






> With powerful features like Multi-Monitor Taskbars, TitleBar Buttons and fully customizable HotKeys, DisplayFusion will make managing your multiple monitors easy



 |

Fences
 |
Free 
|






> organizes icons into zones and allows more control and hide with a double click



|

Windowblinds
 | 
Trial 
/
$20USD
 | 






> Choose from thousands of themes, change their colors, add textures, wallpapers, even start from the default Windows Aero theme if you wish.



|







Spoiler: Graphics





name|price|description
||
*Graphics*
GreenFish Icon Editor Pro
|
Free
|






> Powerful image/icon editor.



|

Paint.NET
|
Free
|






> Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows.



|

Gimp for Windows
|
Free
|






> The Famous Linux graphic software, for windows



|







Spoiler: Media





name|price|description
||
*Media*
MediaMonkey
 | 
Free 
/
$25USD
 |






> A skinnable, customizeable, music organization library.  It does ids, renaming/moving. folder organization /band/album/song.mp3 or /band/album-song.mp3 etc, totally custom  It does file conversion and apple hardware, as well as android, blaclkberry, etc.  simply the best library software in existence :



|

Media jukebox
 | 
Free 
/
$40USD
 |






> does more then mediamonkey and everything is free. inc. multicore processing, encodes, full DSP, etc). has an even better version called media center (apprx 40USD)  that adds video and zones (sending different songs to different rooms [sets of speakers], and tons more!)



|

MP3Gain
 | 
Free 
 | 






> MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.



|

handbrake
 | 
Free 
 | 






> Awesome video converter



|

virtualdub
 | 
Free 
 | 






> powerful video editor that's free



|

Free MP3 WMA Converter
 | 
Free 
 | 






> Free MP3 WMA Converter enables you to convert your MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, Mpc, Ape, FLAC, WAVE files:



|







Spoiler: Internet





name|price|description

||
*Internet*
Netlimiter
| 
Free 
/
$30USD
|






> internet traffic control and monitoring tool. it lets you limit individual programs or your entire computer to a specific amount of bandwidth, and also has a basic but effective firewall that can block specific applications/services from internet access. The free version is just a monitor with no shaping/firewall capabilities



|

IDA
|
Free 
/
$30USD
|






> Internet Download Accelerator effectively solves three of the biggest problems when downloading files: speed, resuming broken downloads, and management of downloaded files.  I know everyone has their manager, but i like this one :



|
w/
Flashgot 
Firefox Plugin |
Free 
|






> FlashGot is the free add-on for Firefox and Thunderbird, meant to handle single and massive "all" and "selection" downloads with several external Download Managers.



|

HTTrack
| (
Free
) |






> HTTrack is a free (GPL, libre/free software) and easy-to-use offline browser utility.



|

FileZilla
| (
Free
) |






> Fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS, and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive graphical user interface. FTP server is available, too.



|

Simple Port Forwarding 
|(
Free
)|






> This one was always a massive help when setting up a customer's PC "to their requirements". Update it, tell it the make + model of your router and your i.p. etc. and it forwards the requested ports on your router for you. I've always d/l'ed from majorgeeks as I didn't trust the look of any other sites that hosted it. Haven't used it for about a year though.








Spoiler: Archiving / Burning / Mounting





name|price|description

||
*Archiving / Burning / Mounting*
7zip
 |
Free 
|






> open source archiving software. handles everything, no need for others. free.



|

Virtual Clone Drive
 |
Free
|






> Mount ISOs , etc as a virtual drive. free.



|

imgBurn 
| 
Free 
|






> ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!



|

CDBurnerXP
| 
Free 
|






> CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface.



|







Spoiler: System Tools





name|price|description

||
*System Tools*
Yet Another Duplicate File Remover
 |
Free 
|






> Another duplicate file finder/remover. But this one is ULTRA FAST, safe, easy to use and of course free and open source.



|

process explorer
 |
Free 
|






> look more into what's ticking on your system. excellent program



|

BlueScreenView
|(
Free
)| 






> Scans all your minidump files created during "blue screen of death" crashes and marks the drivers found in the crash stack so you can easily locate the suspected drivers that might have caused the crash.



|

CrystalDiskInfo
|(
Free
)|






> HDD/SDD health monitoring utility; displays basic drive information, S.M.A.R.T. values, and disk temperature.



|

CutePDF Printer / GPL Postscript Converter
 | (
Free
) |






> Adds a printer that saves directly to a pdf file when used.  free, no watermark, print to pdf.



|

doPDF
|(
Free
)|






> Easily create PDF files by selecting the "Print" command from virtually any application.



|

VMWare
  | 
Free 
/
Paid
 |






> (anything from them)--->The best virtualization products!



|

CreateFlashCD
|(
Free
)|






> Lets you flash the BIOS on a motherboard where flashing by floppy is the only other means. I've needed this program for about the last 10 years! Only really useful if you're working on a lot of customer's old/oem rigs but useful nonetheless.



|





mostly i'm looking for the type of software you don't know you're missing until you find it,
then you think "wow how did i not know this existed!"

Thank you to everyone who has and will reply, special thanks to: Static~Charge | remixedcat | El Mayo | mlee49  | newtekie  | twilyth  | FordGT90 | Scaminatrix  | Derek12


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 9, 2011)

Well you said WinRAR, so I have to say 7zip because it is better.

Richcopy is another one.

Ultramon is essential if you have multiple monitors.


----------



## digibucc (Aug 9, 2011)

at first i was going to ask for paid software, to reflect the free list that's stickied, but i don't want to limit it and i'm asking for lesser know software either way.
agreed though, i bought a winrar license before i found 7zip. now as much as it pains me winrar isn't even installed  

I use displayfusion instead of ultramon. it gives me multi-monitor taskbars and rotating per monitor backgrounds ... what else does ultra-mon do?


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 9, 2011)

digibucc said:


> I use displayfusion instead of ultramon. it gives me multi-monitor taskbars and rotating per monitor backgrounds ... what else does ultra-mon do?



It puts an extra button at the top of every window that when clicked moves the window to the next screen.  It also adds a button at the top of every window that lets you maximize the window fill all the screens.

But really I only use it for the same functions you use Displayfusion for.


----------



## Fourstaff (Aug 9, 2011)

Denemo http://www.denemo.org/
Lilypond http://lilypond.org/

Useful for editing music, I have not used either but lilypond seems to be the Libre Office of music editing.


----------



## scaminatrix (Aug 9, 2011)

CreateFlashCD

Lets you flash the BIOS on a motherboard where flashing by floppy is the only other means. I've needed this program for about the last 10 years! Only really useful if you're working on a lot of customer's old/oem rigs but useful nonetheless.

Simple Port Forwarding 

This one was always a massive help when setting up a customer's PC "to their requirements". Update it, tell it the make + model of your router and your i.p. etc. and it forwards the requested ports on your router for you. I've always d/l'ed from majorgeeks as I didn't trust the look of any other sites that hosted it. Haven't used it for about a year though.


Both tools are free.


----------



## Suhidu (Aug 9, 2011)

Dexpot, ZBar, PangoBright, Taskbar Shuffle, AeroSnap, Sizer, Speedfan, 1-Click Answers, Link Shell Extension, DVD Shrink, Irfanview, Notepad++, Pixel Ruler, Flux, Air Mouse, Unlocker, Say the Time, VirtualDub, ffdshow, MagicDisc, KchmViewer, Pixeur.

Also, there are some good PowerToys if on XP.


----------



## IlluminAce (Aug 9, 2011)

Suhidu said:


> Notepad++



Suhidu's picked up on a lot of really good apps there, but I thought I'd just emphasize, this is a truly brilliant little application with a justifiably extensive following. If anybody here doesn't use this as their general text editor, do grab it and give it a whirl!


----------



## digibucc (Aug 9, 2011)

IlluminAce said:


> Suhidu's picked up on a lot of really good apps there, but I thought I'd just emphasize, this is a truly brilliant little application with a justifiably extensive following. If anybody here doesn't use this as their general text editor, do grab it and give it a whirl!



for sure. my general text and exclusive php editor. brilliant app.


----------



## twilyth (Aug 10, 2011)

IZArc - nice shell integrated menus like winrar's and seems to handle the different compression schemes I've thrown at it so far - free.

getFolderSize - free

bulk rename utility - free

fast duplicate file finder - free

m8 - tiny clipboard extender that is mostly bare bones but has some nice features and beats flipping windows - free.

Autoruns for Windows v10.07 - small, free program that I think used to be part of the sysinternals bundle.  It finds more startup spam than any other utility I've ever seen.


----------



## DRDNA (Aug 10, 2011)

Malwarebytes, Ms Security Essentails, AVAST free, WIndows XP OR Vista or 7 Fire wall(not the built in one)VLC,Steam, Google Earth.SmartDefrag(by Iobits), Yahoo Messenger. CCleaner,Google drive.Fraps, Handbrake,


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 10, 2011)

twilyth said:


> Autoruns for Windows v10.07 - small, free program that I think used to be part of the sysinternals bundle. It finds more startup spam than any other utility I've ever seen.



Heck yeah, Autoruns is a definite must!  Process Explorer v15 too!  I use both of those almost daily when confronted with a "slow" machine.


----------



## Easy Rhino (Aug 10, 2011)

Emacs. just sayin...


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 10, 2011)

oh, what about *VMWare Player*?  I don't see that mentioned a lot in these types of threads, but I used it all the time when I'm testing things that I'm not quite sure how they wil work, or I just want to play around with an OS that I don't feel like loading onto a real machine.  Plus it is free, and probably one of the easiest to use virtualization programs I've seen.


----------



## mlee49 (Aug 10, 2011)

My favorite lesser known software has to be Real Temp. I use it the most and have it installed on every build I can. 

Great support and a great programmer.


----------



## Goodman (Aug 10, 2011)

Free...

CDBurnerXP ; to burn CD/DVD
Link: http://cdburnerxp.se/

FLV to AVI ; convert FLV video (Youtube) into AVI , Mpeg , MP3 , DivX , etc..
Link: http://flvtoavi.com/

Winx free DVD Ripper ; rip DVD's in to AVI , DivX , Mpeg4 ,etc...
Link: http://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper/

Realplayer ; let you play music & video's also let you download video's on most site
Link: http://www.real.com/

Core Temp ; let you monitor CPU temp AMD\Intel & also can be add in to gadget bar (Vista/Win7)
Link: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/


----------



## Drone (Aug 10, 2011)

nvm


----------



## digibucc (Aug 10, 2011)

keep it coming! I am going to format this all into a link list soon.

a great program i forgot is FlashFXP.  my personal ftp client of choice, before the free (and good) filezilla.


----------



## Steevo (Aug 10, 2011)

People still use winzip and windowsblinds?


----------



## Goodman (Aug 10, 2011)

Steevo said:


> People still use winzip and windowsblinds?



Winzip... what's that?  

Last time i used Winzip was back in days of Win98se...


----------



## streetfighter 2 (Aug 10, 2011)

I thought about it long and hard (for the last 3.5 minutes ) and the only thing I can recommend that I haven't seen mentioned much on this forum is: cygwin.

I know there are a lot of ways to integrate more linux features into Windows but I've found that cygwin has almost everything I need, plus a friendly package manager, and it makes porting apps a nearly trivial matter.  It also has a very decent X server, extensive documentation, and a large community.

It's not for everyone obviously, and I still have an Ubuntu VM running perpetually, but it does add a huge amount of tools and capability to Windows.

The only other things I can think of are pretty well known:
Deskpins - For making windows "Always On Top"
VMware workstation - So much win
WinSCP - SSH/SFTP file manager client
I also wrote a blurb about accessing EXT3/EXT4 from Windows, which is something that I need to do from time to time.


IlluminAce said:


> Suhidu's picked up on a lot of really good apps there, but I thought I'd just emphasize, this is a truly brilliant little application with a justifiably extensive following. If anybody here doesn't use [notepad++] as their general text editor, do grab it and give it a whirl!


The file description for notepad++ should read: God's gift to Windows.

A lot of people don't know but gedit (the classic customizable gnome text editor) is availabe on windows.  Just FYI.


----------



## Batou1986 (Aug 10, 2011)

7zip
imgburn
Virtual Clone Drive
CCleaner
CCCP Codecs
Open Office
Combofix + Malwarebytes will nuke just about any infection.


----------



## twilyth (Aug 10, 2011)

The most powerful editor I've ever seen is the ISPF editor.  It was originally written for the IBM mainframe environment but there is a PC version called SPFSE.  There's no point in even looking at it unless you're familiar with ISPF.

It's structured so that you issue commands to manipulate the text from a command line above the text and the text is addressed via row and column position.  By using pointers to the row an column in your commands, you can treat any block of text of any size like a matrix where each individual element can be accessed independently.

This sort of off topic in the sense that no one who hasn't worked with ISPF would ever use this, but it's certainly "lesser" known and is the most powerful editing software I've ever used.


----------



## digibucc (Aug 10, 2011)

Steevo said:


> People still use windowsblinds?



what's a good alternative?  i have not had luck with uxtheme patcher. i use rainmeter but that can't skin native windows, can it?


----------



## newbsandwich (Aug 10, 2011)

Just wanted to say Great thread idea, and Thanks for putting it all together! Nicely done everybody.

Plus wanted to give a bump in case anybody missed this and knew of any other cool programs!


----------



## Fourstaff (Aug 10, 2011)

Would be nice if OP collect all the suggestions and arrange it for sticky vote.


----------



## KieX (Aug 10, 2011)

Well, thought I'd suggest some stuff for digital music.

dBpoweramp - Swiss army knife of music file conversion/ripping
Mp3tag - Tag editor for mp3. Can embed artwork, rename files according to tags, batch process details...


----------



## twilyth (Aug 11, 2011)

Fourstaff said:


> Would be nice if OP collect all the suggestions and arrange it for sticky vote.



I'll help with that if it's an option.  I think we can do basic tables in bb code, so maybe we could create a table for each class of software with the name (and a link to back it up and make it easier to find) and a quick one sentence description.


----------



## digibucc (Aug 11, 2011)

it's together, adding contributions now


----------



## Static~Charge (Aug 11, 2011)

BlueScreenView (Free)


> Scans all your minidump files created during "blue screen of death" crashes and marks the drivers found in the crash stack so you can easily locate the suspected drivers that might have caused the crash.



CrystalDiskInfo (Free)


> HDD/SDD health monitoring utility; displays basic drive information, S.M.A.R.T. values, and disk temperature.



doPDF (Free)


> Easily create PDF files by selecting the "Print" command from virtually any application.



FileZilla (Free)


> Fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS, and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive graphical user interface. FTP server is available, too.



Metapad (Free)


> Small, fast, and completely free text editor for Windows (95/98/NT/XP/Vista/7); similar to Notepad but with many extra (and rather useful) features.



SyncBack (Free / $30 or $50 USD)


> Easily backup and synchronize your files to: the same drive; a different drive or medium (CD-RW, CompactFlash, etc.); an FTP server; a network; or a Zip archive.



TrueCrypt (Free / Donation)


> On-the-fly disk encryption software for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.



uTorrent (Free)


> Lightweight and efficient BitTorrent client for Windows or Mac.




*Firefox add-ons*

Adblock Plus (Free)


> Content-filtering extension that removes web site ads (subscribing to a filter list is highly recommended).



Element Hiding Helper (Free)


> Companion extension for Adblock Plus that makes creating your own custom element-hiding rules much easier.



BetterPrivacy (Free)


> View and delete Adobe Flash Player's "super-cookies" (Local Shared Objects, or LSO's).



NoScript (Free / Donation)


> Control which web sites are allowed to run JavaScript, Java, Flash, and other plugins.


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 11, 2011)

anyone said VLC player yet?

also www.ninite.com is what I use every time I reinstall. So convenient


----------



## Steevo (Aug 11, 2011)

twilyth said:


> The most powerful editor I've ever seen is the ISPF editor.  It was originally written for the IBM mainframe environment but there is a PC version called SPFSE.  There's no point in even looking at it unless you're familiar with ISPF.
> 
> It's structured so that you issue commands to manipulate the text from a command line above the text and the text is addressed via row and column position.  By using pointers to the row an column in your commands, you can treat any block of text of any size like a matrix where each individual element can be accessed independently.
> 
> This sort of off topic in the sense that no one who hasn't worked with ISPF would ever use this, but it's certainly "lesser" known and is the most powerful editing software I've ever used.




I use a binary keyboard to directly enter commands on the CPU of IBM mainframes.......




Or I just hack shit together......whatever is faster.


----------



## twilyth (Aug 11, 2011)

Steevo said:


> I use a binary keyboard to directly enter commands on the CPU of IBM mainframes.......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm not sure if I should respond to that or not.  If you don't believe me and would like to try it for yourself, here is the link to SPF/SE.  You can download the demo and try both versions.

The software does have a limit of 64000 characters per line though - in case that would be an issue for you.


----------



## Frick (Aug 12, 2011)

Ultramon if you're running multiple monitors. Not free, but it's above everything else I've tried.


----------



## remixedcat (Aug 12, 2011)

Media jukebox--->does more then mediamonkey and everything is free. inc. multicore processing, encodes, full DSP, etc). has an even better version called media center (apprx 40USD)  that adds video and zones (sending different songs to different rooms [sets of speakers], and tons more!)
handbrake--->Awesome video converter
virtualdub--->powerful video editor that's free
process explorer--->look more into what's ticking on your system. excellent program
stardock fences--->organizes icons into zones and allows more control and hide with a double click
filezilla--->excellent free FTP program
VMWare (anything from them)--->The best virtualization products!


----------



## remixedcat (Aug 12, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> oh, what about *VMWare Player*?  I don't see that mentioned a lot in these types of threads, but I used it all the time when I'm testing things that I'm not quite sure how they wil work, or I just want to play around with an OS that I don't feel like loading onto a real machine.  Plus it is free, and probably one of the easiest to use virtualization programs I've seen.



VMWare FTW!!!! Love that company and thier Virtualization products!!!


----------



## digibucc (Aug 12, 2011)

I have been organizing them into the op, and i will continue that today.  If you have any ideas to make it cleaner let me know, other than that keep the contributions coming!


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 12, 2011)

Installed this yesterday:
http://download.cnet.com/Fences/3000-2072_4-10909535.html

It's called Fences and it's rather neat


----------



## digibucc (Aug 12, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> Installed this yesterday:
> http://download.cnet.com/Fences/3000-2072_4-10909535.html
> 
> It's called Fences and it's rather neat



someone else mentioned this, probably remixed. i can't believe i didn't! i personally use this and it is friggen awesome.

the fences are great and all, but it also has double click to hide desktop icons, which i love.

i will get it (and the rest of yours remixed  ) added today sometime.


----------



## remixedcat (Aug 12, 2011)

yup I am the one that mentioned it LOL. and yeah I love it.


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 13, 2011)

Oh yeahhh shoulda read the OP xD


----------



## digibucc (Aug 13, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> Oh yeahhh shoulda read the OP xD



it wouldn't have been there... i added it after you suggested it


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Aug 13, 2011)

GreenFish Icon Editor Pro|Free|Powerful image/icon editor.|
EditPlus|Trial/$35USD|Powerful text/script editor. It can even find in files and has its own integrated browser.|
Hex Workshop|Trial/$90USD|Powerful binary file editor.|
Microsoft Visual Studio Express Editions|Free|Everything you need to make non-commercial applications.|

The only one on there that might not qualify is VS EE but, I think a lot of people aren't aware they offer a free version (as opposed to $1000+) for non-commercial use.  It's great for those that want to test the waters of programming.


----------



## scaminatrix (Aug 13, 2011)

You know the two apps I posted yester-page fit the criteria


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 14, 2011)

If we're posting APPS as well, this is nice (for Chrome):
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji


----------



## RoutedScripter (Aug 14, 2011)

Programmers notepad


----------



## Derek12 (Aug 14, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> Installed this yesterday:
> http://download.cnet.com/Fences/3000-2072_4-10909535.html
> 
> It's called Fences and it's rather neat




WOW now my desktop is tidy and neat excellent program


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 14, 2011)

Picasa

It's like free photoshop, and easier to use than GIMP

I recommend it for basic editing


----------



## twilyth (Aug 16, 2011)

WinHTTrack - for downloading entire web sites.

I use this all of the time to do some serious leeching. It even has settings so you can do stealth leaching - IOW, leech from a site without impacting their bandwidth or response times.

Here is my favorite desktop gadget - AGS Digital Multi-Clock
You can have as many clocks as you want for all different time zones.  You can label each one and set a background just for that clock.  I think it comes in very handy.


----------



## Derek12 (Aug 16, 2011)

I would add Free MP3 WMA converter, it can convert almost all audio formats to each one 

http://www.koyotesoft.com/


MP3Gain to normalize volume through songs 

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/


----------



## mtosev (Aug 16, 2011)

www.google.com/pack


----------



## brandonwh64 (Aug 16, 2011)

I would add CDburnerXP to your list of programs. very fun and easy to use


----------



## digibucc (Aug 17, 2011)

layout updated, entries added.  any more? come on people!

we're looking for the software you just can't live without, but that also isn't very well known.

keep it coming!


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 17, 2011)

What do people use here to convert audio formats and/or download audio from youtube videos?

I use this http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm
but I'm sure there's gotta be something even better

also hasn't anyone mentioned GPU-Z, CPU-Z and MSI Afterburner?


----------



## digibucc (Aug 17, 2011)

in my mind, around here at least - MSI/GPU/CPU z are not little known pieces of software

as for youtube, i use a firefox plugin.  i have to find the one i used to use though, which is awesome.

just google "firefox youtube download" and try em out.  they put download links right next to the video, choose formats, and done. download through your browser. no software, no nag/license.


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 17, 2011)

nice list, can I add Dropbox to it? Well known, I'm afraid, but it's excellent for synchronizing files between PC's, with an app for the droid to sync what's in a folder on your SD card, and an official Droid app for viewing your Dropbox, and an excellent way to make use of torrents from remote computers.

Oh, and +1 to Fences!! It's an awesome app for keeping the desktop clean, and organized when it's not   Bumptop was a pretty neat desktop alternative, although it didn't technically replace the Shell by default. It was acquired by Google a couple of years ago, so you can't get the Pro version any more, but I do like the free one just fine .


----------



## naoan (Aug 17, 2011)

http://www.ximagic.com/d_index.html

best free denoiser (non local means) plugin for gimp, adobe photoshop and a number of other image editor.

and my favorite http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

the most powerful video post-processor available. you'd need to be a bit nerdy to effectively use it but once you master it, there's literally nothing you can't do with any video.

both are free softwares


----------



## mtosev (Aug 17, 2011)

http://portableapps.com/ must have


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 17, 2011)

naoan said:


> http://www.ximagic.com/d_index.html
> 
> best free denoiser (non local means) plugin for gimp, adobe photoshop and a number of other image editor.
> 
> ...



I might recommend that avisynth to my college, cos the adobe software they use sucks


----------



## naoan (Aug 17, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> I might recommend that avisynth to my college, cos the adobe software they use sucks



For NLE I recommend using lightworks http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ or combine it with avisynth for the workflow.

oh and it's open source


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 18, 2011)

naoan said:


> For NLE I recommend using lightworks http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ or combine it with avisynth for the workflow.
> 
> oh and it's open source



What's NLE?


----------



## digibucc (Aug 18, 2011)

Non Linear Editing.  it basically refers to method of seeking used when editing video. before digital and NLE you had to go frame by frame, linearly, to edit a video.  now you can choose a spot and jump to it, edit, without screwing up the rest of the source.


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 18, 2011)

http://ninite.com/

That is a pretty cool little site.  Just check all the free software you like to install, and it builds a package that you run and it automatically installs everything for you.


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 18, 2011)

naoan said:


> For NLE I recommend using lightworks http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ or combine it with avisynth for the workflow.
> 
> oh and it's open source





naoan said:


> http://www.ximagic.com/d_index.html
> 
> best free denoiser (non local means) plugin for gimp, adobe photoshop and a number of other image editor.
> 
> ...



ahh sick, I haven't got any videos to edit, so I'll try and make a gameplay video

Any idea what I can use to record gameplay?
I never liked using xfire and I ain't gonna pay for fraps


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 18, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> ahh sick, I haven't got any videos to edit, so I'll try and make a gameplay video
> 
> Any idea what I can use to record gameplay?
> I never liked using xfire and I ain't gonna pay for fraps



MSI Afterburner has  a built in recording feature.


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 18, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> MSI Afterburner has  a built in recording feature.



CoD4 (Punkbuster) kicks me whenever it's active


----------



## scaminatrix (Aug 18, 2011)

I keep meaning to try Afterburner's recorder. Gonna give it a go tonight I think.



El_Mayo said:


> CoD4 (Punkbuster) kicks me whenever it's active



Have you tried the "stealth" settings?


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 18, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> CoD4 (Punkbuster) kicks me whenever it's active



There is a stealth mode option, I believe you have to bring up the Display Server window to turn it on.


----------



## twilyth (Aug 18, 2011)

Don't remember.  Did anyone post Stream Transport yet?

Might not qualify as little known among Hulu users, but I didn't know about it.  It will let you download containerized video.  IOW, video sites like Hulu try to hide the location of the video files so you can't dl them directly.  ST gets around this.  Hulu had changed their site to bork ST but there's a new version I think that one ups Hulu.  I've been using it to dl from an anime site.  The videos are free so it's not like you're pirating anything, it just let's you dl the vids so you can view them with your preferred software and without pausing and getting timed out.


----------



## naoan (Aug 18, 2011)

El_Mayo said:


> ahh sick, I haven't got any videos to edit, so I'll try and make a gameplay video
> 
> Any idea what I can use to record gameplay?
> I never liked using xfire and I ain't gonna pay for fraps



I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with screen recording program. 

You could try one or two program available here http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?sc=205

on another note, that site is my main source of obscure portable software, very useful when you need something effective and fast to do specific things.


----------



## El_Mayo (Aug 18, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> There is a stealth mode option, I believe you have to bring up the Display Server window to turn it on.



I tried but it made my gameplay start to lag/freeze D:

edit: I'll try using the default recording settings


----------



## digibucc (Aug 26, 2011)

astrogrep added!  great windows grep port,   supports multiple text editors, including notepad++ , it even opens notepad++ to the specific line and column with the following cmd expression: '-c%3 -n%2 %1' (minus ' single quotes)


----------



## RejZoR (Aug 26, 2011)

*Add:*
- Freemake Video Converter (excellent multimedia converter that can use DXVA to accelerate encoding of H.264 videos)
- Format Factory (doesn't use GFX card to accelerate but is more configurable and supports more formats)

Both are very easy to use and i can't imagine my life without them. Both are fully free.


----------

