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Nate's Software Site





      I have spent a good deal of time searching around on the internet for useful freeware. I have wanted to spread the word about different applications that I have found, and this seems like as good a place to post it as any. Will anyone find this useful? I hope so, I really do, but also it will give me something to put on my website!

  drop me a line if you find something you like... ;0)    


 Firefox

      I have been using the Firefox browser for over a year, and it's the best out there! I must insist that you give it a try! It is very customizable, you can change the way it looks, and add all sorts of funtionality. There is no comparison between Firefox and Internet Explorer, this is really a "no-brainer"! If you've been using Internet Explorer then you have got to switch! Perhaps if you have lots of expensive firewall and antivirus software, you may get somewhat decent performance out of IE, but you need to check this browser out! I never get popups, Firefox doesn't support them! Try it, you won't go back!  

               

 Office Suite          
  Open Office
     If you want a full office suite, or want to begin weening yourself from Microsoft.... then Open Office is for you. It includes programs that parallel Microsoft's Powerpoint, Excel, Word, and Corel Draw. Plus, it is compaitble with files from all those applications. This is in many cases a big step up from what you get pre-installed on your computer, and it is TOTALLY FREE!

    Get     Open Office   now!
   

 Photo Stuff:      
GIMPSHOP
      If you need a powerful Photo editor, yet don't want to shell out the cash for one.... There is an opensource application called "GIMPSHOP" or "Gnu Image Manipulation Program. It is free to use, and it really can do a lot! It is similar in versatility and appearance to Photoshop, and completely free!        Download here  
   
      Pixresizer:       This one does just what is says, you can quickly and easily resize one picture or a whole folder! Great for resizing photos for email or the web!

      StumbleUpon:
      If you have not heard about this network, you really need to check it out!
    "StumbleUpon is an intelligent browsing tool for sharing and discovering great websites. As you click Stumble!, you'll get high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended (rated I like it) by friends and other SU members with similar interests. Rating these sites shares them with your friends and peers – you will automatically 'stumble upon' each others favorites sites."

  Read more about it here

      Webshots:       This is a service that lets you upload and share your photos, and lots of other stuff.


  The Open CD
 
      The Open CD:       This is a cd with a bunch of open-source software on it. It would take a really long time to download if you don't have DSL or Cable though. Many of the programs I list here are included, and also it has a demo version of "Ubuntu" linux that runs off of the cd without installing anything.


  Music
 
      Winamp:       Winamp is the best media player for Windows. I use it almost exclusively. It can handle all of your mp3's, and just about anything else you can throw at it. They recently added a long list of radio stations, and also XM satellite radio stations....

      FreeRip:       This is a utility that copy's your cd's and makes MP3's. You can also save in other formats. FreeRip finds the disk info online, and correctly labels your music.


  Games  
      Supertux:       This is a really fun game I found using Linux, and it turned out they make it for Windows too. It is a lot like "Super Mario Bros.", but the charachter is "Tux" the Linux mascot, instead. (you may want to adjust the settings for "jump" to the "up arrow"; use the arrow to select the command, then press the desired key to set it) Download Here

      Tuxracer:       This is another game from the Linux world. It is a downhill racing game, with Tux the Linux Penguin.               

      Super Mario III: Mario Forever:       This is a clone of the old Nintendo Super Mario Brothers games, I haven't played it a lot yet, and I think that I prefer "supertux" but this one may be worth a try. Download here


  Neat Odds and Ends....
  Instant Messaging Clients
      Qnext:       This is a great application! Qnext is an instant messaging client, but that is by far not all it can do. It allows you to set up private networks over the internet, you can share files and photos securely with anyone anywhere in the world, (they must also use Qnext). Another great feature is that you can use it for remote access of your pc from any computer in the world, and it is free! Also, you can use it for video conferencing.     Review

      Skype:       This is another Instant Messaging client which can also do a lot more that IM. You can call any other Skype user over the internet for free! It can call regular phones, but that isn't free, I do understand it is a good deal though. I sometimes use it to transfer files from one machine to another here at home, the file transfer I find very useful.

      Gaim:       Gaim is another instant messaging client. This one is from the Linux world... The cool thing about it is that it is so simple, and you can use it for many different types of IM services. Download Here


  Other
 
      My Video Daily:       This is a video player, that you can set to play all sorts of video off the web; News, music, anything. You can set it up to run at startup or on demand.

      Yahoo Widgets:       These are really cool little applications that reside on your desk top, things like a small calander, the current weather, and I really like the small window that randomly displays images from your photos folder. You want these!

      Gadwin Printscreener:       This is a free screen capture utility.

      NVU:       NVU is an html editor, I haven't used it a lot because I edit my html in a simple editor (Editpad Lite), but this is what is offered by the open-source world for html editing...

      Opera:       Opera is another alternative to Internet Explorer. I have only used it briefly, but I know that some folks love it. It's Firefox all the way for me!


  Office and file Utilities/File Transfer
 
      Editpad Lite:       Editpad Lite is an outstanding alternative to notepad. This is probably one of the programs listed here that I use the most. It opens very quickly, and offers tabbed pages, which is very helpful (I am creating this webpage with it now, and I have four tabs open and use them frequently.) Another great thing about it for html editing is that it hi-lites links which notepad doesn't do, and proves very helpful for navigation. Also, you can view your html directly in your default browser by the click of a button... needless to say, I recommend this one!

      SmartFTP:       SmartFTP is a great little FTP client. (I also use this quite frequently editing my website.) You can drag and drop files to upload, edit files in your choice of editor and alter them automatically server-side by saving, log-in anonomously, open multiple connections at once, and on and on.... I have found this very useful.

      PDF Creator:       PDF Creator is a simple application that lets you create a PDF file from any program that is able to print, by using the printing menu. Download Here
(if you have problems, email me.

      CutePDF:       This is another PDF creator, this one appears to work the same way as "PDF Creator", but requires 2 installations.

      AbiWord:       This is a word processor, it is full featured, and perhaps a little quicker than Open Office. It can handle MS Word .doc files, and create them. It also has it's own native format. It is freestanding, unlike OpenOffice.

      7zip:       7zip is a file compression utility. It can decompress, and create many different filetypes, including; .zip, .rar, .gzip, .tar, .7z

      Gmail:       Gmail is a free email service offered by Google. It is a great service because of all the space they give you(2.5 gigs), they provide pop3 access, the adds are unobtrusive, free mail forwarding, great mail search capabilities, and it doesn't delete itself if you don't check it for a while, unlike some services. It can be a pain to change your email address, notifying everyone and all, but this is one you'll like I think, so you could keep it a while, and not be tied to your ISP's email. At this point you can only get it by invitation, or thru an invite you request to have sent to your mobile phone. If you can't do the mobile phone thing email me, and I will send you an invite. ;0)

      Thunderbird Email:       Thunderbird is a open-source email client, like Outlook Express. It has more features than Outlook Express, but less than Oulook, so keep that in mind if you already have Outlook.... I have used it a lot, and find it quite user-friendly.

      Bitcomet:       This is a bittorrent client, this is a very efficient method of file transfer, I won't explain it here, but if you already know, this is the client I reccomend.


  Security
 
      Avast:       This is a free anti-virus program, it actively scans all incoming and outgoing traffic, and also can scan your harddrive on demand. I use this as my only AV program, and I haven't had any virus problems for a long time... this program rocks! (turn off the sound though, it can be annoying)

      Kerio Personal Firewall:       This is a great firewall. This is the firewall I have used for over a year, and no problems to speak of. It can be configured to give you incredible control over executed applications, and all incoming and outgoing traffic. It can also be set up to run with minimal input from you in default configuration. For a long time, there was a free version, but it was sold to a new company at the begining of the year. Now you can buy it for $20 but only $15 until March. This is a great price for this software, but I prefer free. There is an older free version floating around the web... here it is. I hear this works well, but if you don't want to buy it just yet, and want a more current version, email me, and I can send you the newer free version.

      HijackThis:       Has your browser been hijacked? Can't get to your homepage, have a new and mysterious one popping up all the time? Well this may, help. It can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing though, so do some research before you go crazy with this one!

      Killbox:       If you have a file you just can't get rid of, even in safe mode(virus, trojan), then this is for you. Just enter the file path into the application, and the ZAP IT! This can be a life saver!

      XoftSpy:       This is a free virus scanner, it is very sensitive, and finds nearly everything. It is however, only a scanner, but it will give you the file path, so in the midst of a bad infection, you can find the problem, and then delete the files with Killbox. This worked great for my last infection(which has been a very long time with all of this fine protection!)

      SilentRunners:       This is a very simple script that will create a text file when executed, and it lists all of the programs running on your machine. This can be helpful to determine if you have any spyware or viruses. Very useful.

      SpyBot:       This is a spyware scanner, and it works pretty well, I don't get much spyware, with Avast and Kerio, but when I do I run Spybot!

      WinSpy:       This will show you some crazy stuff! If you use Internet Explorer, or have for any period, it stored everything you have done online on your machine in an undetectable, and undeletable file called "index.dat". But now that you can see them, you may wnat to delete them, for privacy, and to open up space. We'll get to that...

      CCleaner:       Use this to delete those pesky "index.dat" files!

      Privacy Mantra:       This is another utility to delete "index.dat" files.


  Web Hosting
 
      FreeWebs:       This is a great service, you get 50m storage, and they have ready made templates, and a website builder. This is where I started! This is a great place for someone making their first webpage! If you prefer, you can write you own html also. I still host part of my site on their servers.

      50Webs:       This is the host that I use now. You get 60m of space, FTP access, multiple domains, you can use you own domain name if you have one. You don't even have to link back to their pages! I think I will on my home page soon. This page is hosted on their servers.... in Bulgaria!

      hostmybb:       Do you want your own bulletin board, or Forum? Well this would be great for you! This is easy to use, and has a nice look. It could also be used as a simple blog.

      Webshots:       This is a service that lets you upload and share your photos, and lots of other stuff.


  Linux
 
      Knoppix:       This is a live linux cd. It runs totally from the cd, and doesn't install anything. You can take this anywhere and have a fully funtional linux operating system on any computer. It has LOTS of software loaded on it! You can make a cd or a DVD if you have a burner. This is also an excellent way to get your feet wet with linux! (be sure to download the file with the extension ".en" so that it is in English)

      Mandriva Linux:       This is the Linux that I use, it is the only one I really know but I like it and would highly reccomend it! There is a free version, and several for sale, but it is still a lot cheaper than Windows, and nearly all of the applications are free after purchasing the Operating System. Check it out! Site hosted at no cost by 50webs.com, Thanks 50webs!

Photos

Interests

Home

        
Have you heard about Wikipedia?
It is a free online encyclopedia, which is fully editable by YOU! They do monitor the entries, and it has been found to be very accurate. Find it here

This is a flash presentation about factory farming, The Meatrix

This is a neat video I found as a software demo, Mom's Piano

















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