Free Software/Programs
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 by Philly0381 | Discussion: Community
No this isn't about a great new site for free software or programs, sorry. 
I wonder how many members of the community have free software and programs that they have picked up over the years and used the heck out of and haven't took the time to consider what went into making that software available. I know that I haven't.
I came across Stardock, WinCustomize and all this great software about five years ago. At the same time a found other free software/programs that people were skinning for that just went great on the desktop and have been using the heck out of.
For what ever reason, today was the day that the light bulb lite up over my head and I thought about this. A piece of free software that I have been using just had been updated and it cost me nothing. Of course I started to try and figure out just how does that work. I didn't pay for the program and I get updates without even thinking about it. The head started to hurt!
With a little help, from another member of the community, I realized that the folks making the free stuff will take donations, go figure.
So, do you donate to the folks whose free software and programs you are using?
The why we should I think is pretty clear.
Oh and SysMetrix is a great little program, give it a try if you haven't 
http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/
I made you read the whole thread before I told you what the program was, shame on me. 
Reply #2 Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:16 PM
Too true Philly. I guess we assume that if it's on the Internet then it's free. The Homer Simpson syndrome that lurks in all of us. Now you've got me feeling guilty, and I dont even have the software. 
Reply #3 Thursday, January 21, 2010 10:58 AM
Well, I really though more people used free software, guess not. 
Reply #4 Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:32 AM
A list of free apps I maintain . . ignore teh numbering.
1. Firefox Love it. Love the extensions
2. VLC Media Player Plays everything
3. Ubuntu Dual boot to this sometimes but not often. It's the *nix I'd use if I had to.
4. Open Office Still a bit slow but gets the job done
5. Pidgin Great all-in-on chat client. It's my IRC client of choince
8. Gmail It's my go to mail client
9. Adium When I had the Mac this was my chat client
10. CCleaner A mainstay for those of us who install and unistall often
11. Picasa The new plug-ins make this even better
13. Google Everyone but Jafo loves this. It must be good, right?
15. GIMP It makes my brain bleed but it's free and powerful
16. Foobar 2000 I use this to re-tag my music. Powerful.
17. Thunderbird Used to use it before gmail. Good Outlook replacement.
18. 7-Zip Oh yeah baby. Right there.
19. DropBox Sharing skins through this is super easy.
21. Winamp Stopped using years ago. Didn't do anything that much better than anything else.
22. Google Apps I wrote this list in that. 
23. AVG Antivirus Gets the job done with lowish resource use
25. IrfanView Been using this since the internet was a baby
27. Chrome Played with it . . Using it more and more
28. Google Calendar Oh. Yeah.
30. Skype My Mom is in Iraq and we use this now and again.
31. Linux See Ubuntu
32. Paint.NET Easy and gets the job done. Istart here and fire up GIMP when needed.
33. Ad-Aware I used to use this but don't anymore. Using Windows Defender
35. Google Docs See the other google entries
36. LogMeIn I've used this with SD tech support a few times. Easy like pie.
38. TrueCrypt LOVE THE HELL OUT OF THIS!
40. FileZilla It's a standard for a reason. It rocks.
42. PortableApps.com Tried and was satisfied but not my thing
45. UltraVNC This rocks for getting the job done.
46. VirtualBox I use this and VirtualPC. I like the snapshots here more.
47. Lastpass Why use anything else? Why remember all those other passwords?
Reply #5 Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:36 AM
I've got lots of free software that is worth paying for--Sysmetrix is a good example. I've donated money, but not as much as I would if I could. I'd recommend freewarefiles.com as a safe place to go.
I have threads in the forums at skinnalicious.net that list free software, free graphics software and free games. Just go to the home page and scroll down to the forums.
Reply #6 Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:29 PM
Lists of free softwasre or programs you have is cool if you want to show them, more interesting would be how many did you make a donation to.
Reply #7 Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:30 PM
ClocX -- best free clock ever, at least for my line of work, due to the alarm feature with a sweet, quiet little popup window that tells me when to start work and when to clock out. Totally skinnable, with no more than a .png and a few alterations to the .ini file. I couldn't survive without it.
Reply #8 Friday, January 22, 2010 12:44 AM
That's just mean. Now I have to reveal to the world the honest truth--I've made one donation in two and a half years of using a computer.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:11 PM
Sysmetrix has been updated so that it can now read the weather again. The new version is 3.43.