Best freeware alternative programs

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LTR12101B

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Re: any OKing this?

ChiMusic said:
How many will give an AOK/thumbs up for me to use this (Agnitum Outpost) as a free FIREWALL for another computer?
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I use it, moderately happy with it, but a long overdue version 2 looks like it may be upon us sometime - currently with the beta testers.

The firewall has application/port rule setting
The popup blocker and ad-blocker are not quite up to standalones like Proxomitron and all the "window killing" poup blockers - and there is occasional interference.

It is a little buggy, so I reserve recommendation until version 2 - I've had to re-install it a couple of times.

PS. You can also tune-up the ad-blocking using the "AGNIS for Outpost" list, and also ban obnoxious IP addresses using the free "Blockpost" plugin .... this has a priority above ALL other rules
 
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plextorman

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Maranello said:
You left out jv16 Powertools..
Graphis card tuner: RivaTuner
OS Tweak: Xteq X-Setup/Powertoys
Ad Filter: Proxomitron

I recommend this proggie to everyone.. Epsilon Squared 'InstallWatch Pro'
This prog monitors all your software installations and records them to a database. You can export the registry changes to a .reg file and undo them later. This is useful for tracking changes made by prog which you are trying out and you can easily do a clean uninstallation later.
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Maranello-jv16 Powertools are not free anymore.I`ve had a good old version for some time.Since upgrading to XP jv16 did not function correctly, so I went to the site to upgrade it..It`s now under a new name and it`s not free...
 
big_gie

big_gie

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plextorman:
Opera browser is half free... theres a free (unlimited) version but there is a banner ad in it...:( and the e-mail client is named M2, not M4 :) I never really tryed it... have heard it was nice. I'm using right now thunderbird and loving it :)
 
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plextorman

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LOL, LOL..M2-that`s it.Used to run Opera 7-it is nice.I`ve still got it somewhere,but I haven`t bothered to reinstall it.Sun Java 2 seems better than the MS version.Started using that with IE.I thought Mozilla`s mail options were better organised though..hmmm...Thunderbird..Had any problems with it,or has everything run smoothly?
 
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big_gie

big_gie

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plextorman said:
LOL, LOL..M2-that`s it.Used to run Opera 7-it is nice.I`ve still got it somewhere,but I haven`t bothered to reinstall it.Sun Java 2 seems better than the MS version.Started using that with IE.I thought Mozilla`s mail options were better organised though..hmmm...Thunderbird..Had any problems with it,or has everything run smoothly?
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Never use a Microsoft product when you can use something else. Sun invented Java, they make the best. Microsoft saw the possibilities of Java, and then "invented" something really crappy. I repeat, NEVER install the MS virtual machine :) its eeeeeviiiiiiil....:)
Never had any problems with sun's virtual machine. And if you use sun's java sdk, then your sure eveyone will be able to see/execute your program/applet.

I never used Mozilla's mail client. Since last christmas, I was using Netscape v7.01 e-mail client (witch is like Mozilla v1.2 or something...) I wanted to try Mozilla suite a month ago after formating, but it was ugly. Not "not usefull", just plain ugly :) On the web site I saw the Thunderbird thing... "Well, gonna try it..." And wow! This is simply great! It's not as full as Mozilla Mail, not yet :), but it has everyhing you want in a simple, fast, robust, small, secure, cute, client :)

One thing I didn't like in Mozilla was the old crappy "Netscape v2.0" theme... Even Mozila v1.4 (and surely v1.5) is ugly... But Thunderbird is really nice! The next versions will be able to get some extension, wich is like a plugin, so all the small details you even wanted to have would be there :) One can even write it's own! I've heard they would like to put an Hotmail (and maybe yahoo, not sure of this) as a default extension...

Here's Thunderbird's release notes (or homepage?)
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/release-notes.html

They already have locolization for German, Italian, Polish and Slovenian (for v0.2) and many others for v0.1 (like french :) ) witch I actualy use.

Anyway, you have to try it to love it :)

I also recommend Firebird (v0.6.1), wich will replace the Mozilla browser. Astounding! If you think Thunderbird is just "ok", Firebird is REALLY nice! hehe :)

It is faster than Opera as rendering pages (and by FAR FAR away faster then Internet Explorer), much more tweakable and much more compatible with sites than Opera. The only "down point" is it takes long to load (15 seconds on my P4 2.0Ghz, 512Mo) but there is some optimized builds (hey, its open source, you can optimize as you like :) ) (pls see http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=23006&highlight=aebrahims+optimized for the optimized files) and it then takes 1 second to load! Really nice :)

You can find a great FAQ @ http://texturizer.net/firebird/tips.html wich give some nice tweak option; theres even a way to block ALL ads! I've never seen an add with Firebird yet with those settings! Firebird is blocking Popups by default, so no more slow program to filter ads...

Well, its a sure try-it-love-it :)

http://www.mozilla.org
 
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plextorman

1
big_gie said:
Never use a Microsoft product when you can use something else. Sun invented Java, they make the best. Microsoft saw the possibilities of Java, and then "invented" something really crappy. I repeat, NEVER install the MS virtual machine :) its eeeeeviiiiiiil....:)
Never had any problems with sun's virtual machine. And if you use sun's java sdk, then your sure eveyone will be able to see/execute your program/applet.

I never used Mozilla's mail client. Since last christmas, I was using Netscape v7.01 e-mail client (witch is like Mozilla v1.2 or something...) I wanted to try Mozilla suite a month ago after formating, but it was ugly. Not "not usefull", just plain ugly :) On the web site I saw the Thunderbird thing... "Well, gonna try it..." And wow! This is simply great! It's not as full as Mozilla Mail, not yet :), but it has everyhing you want in a simple, fast, robust, small, secure, cute, client :)

One thing I didn't like in Mozilla was the old crappy "Netscape v2.0" theme... Even Mozila v1.4 (and surely v1.5) is ugly... But Thunderbird is really nice! The next versions will be able to get some extension, wich is like a plugin, so all the small details you even wanted to have would be there :) One can even write it's own! I've heard they would like to put an Hotmail (and maybe yahoo, not sure of this) as a default extension...

Here's Thunderbird's release notes (or homepage?)
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/release-notes.html

They already have locolization for German, Italian, Polish and Slovenian (for v0.2) and many others for v0.1 (like french :) ) witch I actualy use.

Anyway, you have to try it to love it :)

I also recommend Firebird (v0.6.1), wich will replace the Mozilla browser. Astounding! If you think Thunderbird is just "ok", Firebird is REALLY nice! hehe :)

It is faster than Opera as rendering pages (and by FAR FAR away faster then Internet Explorer), much more tweakable and much more compatible with sites than Opera. The only "down point" is it takes long to load (15 seconds on my P4 2.0Ghz, 512Mo) but there is some optimized builds (hey, its open source, you can optimize as you like :) ) (pls see http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=23006&highlight=aebrahims+optimized for the optimized files) and it then takes 1 second to load! Really nice :)

You can find a great FAQ @ http://texturizer.net/firebird/tips.html wich give some nice tweak option; theres even a way to block ALL ads! I've never seen an add with Firebird yet with those settings! Firebird is blocking Popups by default, so no more slow program to filter ads...

Well, its a sure try-it-love-it :)

http://www.mozilla.org
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Some great points there.Thanks.I`ve had experiences in the past with alternative browsers.I was having problems with some sites/pages (https,etc) because the browser in question was not fully IE compatible.
Tried the same sites/pages in IE...no problems..:)
 
big_gie

big_gie

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Yeah, the big problem with alternate browser is that some site don't like them...

Like Opera. Well the great majority of site that doesn't work with it is because the site is not standart compliante. That means: the site's webmaster sucks :) I think this is the only bad point of Opera...

But Firebird/Mozilla gave better results for displaying pages. And they load faster. And its free. And its open source. :)
 
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plextorman

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Thanks big_gie-Opera seemed more enjoyable to use than IE, except for the trouble(s) with some web sites.As I said earlier I`ve tried Mozilla some time ago-it was OK-So the latest one`s obviously even better?
 
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big_gie

big_gie

1
Yeah, Mozilla will die, and Firebird will take the lead.

Firebird is not the same as Mozilla. It is based on, but with great enchancement.
 
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FrightfoO

Member
Some freeware programs I use:

Browser:
Crazy Browser - has tabbed browsing and a popup stopper. Also doesn't clutter the window/screen.

Anti-virus software:
AVG - its database is updated all the time and can be scheduled to update and scan etc.
Agnitum Outpost - very customizable.

Media Players:
Zoom Player - I use this most of the time for watching movies.
VideoLAN - use it for playing .bin format, as well as some other formats if lucky (formats like .MOV etc). I don't use it that much though.
Media Player Classic - Real Alternative basically only for watching RealVideo 9 content because RV9 is very high quality video.

Codecs:
3ivX - single codec that plays back XviD and DivX content.
Moonight Odio Dekoda 1.23 - Capable of playback of AC3 and MP3. Works well if you're re-encoding DivX or XviD streams that have AC3 sound and are using TMPGEnc. TMPGEnc will be able to handle AC3 audio directly, if this codec is installed.

Share:
Shareaza - for its ability to Swarm (gather parts of files from BitTorrent, eDonky2000, Gnutella & Gnutella 2, simultaneously).
Kazaa Lite K++ Edition
mIRC (basically free)
DC++ - this mod in particular - PhantomDC++ for rare/disappearing files.

Video Editing:
TMPGEnc - use to use it for creating (S)VCDs. Don't need it so much now because XBMP (Xbox Media Player) plays back MPEG4 files in the Xbox.
VirtualDubMod - use to use this for editing and fixing AVI files. Not so much now though because XBMP can play back.

MP3 encoding:
EAC (Exact Audio Copy) in combination with LAME: because EAC's got Secure Mode and can be used with LAME 3.90.2 (--Alt-Presets etc) itself.

Other:
RegSeeker - for cleaning up
Irfanview - for simple resizing of images and stuff. Relatively small package.

I use a few other lil' freeware programs. They're not that great though.

Try out some beta stuff if ya want. At www.betanews.com .

edit - typo
 
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scarecrow

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...and Lame 3.90.2 is obsolete according to the builder of the release (Dibrom from Hydrogen Audio), he has replaced it with 3.90.3 which he swares that's better- and has almost persuaded most Hydrogen Audio geeks...
Also the latest version of Mirc (3.12) is full shareware, so I would rather suggest Xchat, which is just fine: http://www.xchat.org/
 
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FrightfoO

Member
Yip, I know about 3.90.3. I'm one of the ones that he hasn't convinced ;). I'm not too sure .3 is substantially better than 3.90.2.

I use mIRC because I also use the Invision add-on. I'm using one of the older versions of mIRC atm. It works pretty well.

Also used qwIRC for a little while.

I've also used some Rad Game Tools in the past. I particularly like the it how you can make an stand-alone video (.exe) which can be opened without the need for codecs or a certain media player etc.

I've pretty much tried most freeware programs on the net :D
 
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