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Geek Culture / Freeware stuff - How to get a Windows PC fully functional without paying a cent.

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Sid Sinister
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Joined: 10th Jul 2005
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Posted: 31st Jul 2008 09:06
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Yeah, we know tea spoon. We saw the thread. Don't hog Rami's lime light

But seriously, I'm looking for something nice looking, and an app that isn't afraid to show itself off in screenshots, like the one on your list does Tea (jgnash).

So far this one's looking pretty nice: http://www.codelathe.com/mmex/

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
-Computer Animation Major @Baker.edu-
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A Tea Spoon
19
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Location: good ol USA!
Posted: 31st Jul 2008 19:55 Edited at: 31st Jul 2008 19:59
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Sorry, just trying to be helpful. my site dosent give screenys for apps because for apps, theres not much to show. there is probably some on the home page though.

edit: ooh that rymed!

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tha_rami
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Posted: 31st Jul 2008 22:41
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Lol, no problem with me, the site you posted seems quite complete .


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Geryon
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 08:22
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As much as I hate to necrobump massively ancient topics, I love this one. I read through the guide many times, and it really looked like a good idea.

For a while, I had a keylogger on my laptop and an agreement with the GameFAQs user interested in compromising my accounts. I just restored my laptop to out-of-the-factory condition (read: wiped it clean). I'm betting that the keylogger didn't survive that kind of restore, because it's clear that nothing else did!

Anyway, I've been wanting to try this guide for a while, and I have to say, I like a lot of the recommended programs. In fact, I had put RocketDock on here before I reset the system because my Quick Launch bar was getting full of Internet browser shortcuts.

This was the perfect opportunity, since my laptop is like new again. So far, so good. With the exception of Glary's Utilities and TeraCopy, I've grabbed all of the "required" programs, and I really feel like I'm fully functional again. And I didn't realize that OpenOffice can read MS Word '03 docs. That is extra win right there.

Also, for email client, I like to use Mozilla Thunderbird to grab email from Gmail. But, that's just an opinion for you. I don't know a lot about email clients or how they compare to one another.

I'll probably grab a couple more applications marked "optional", but for now, this is great. Thanks for the recommendations on what to use. I am definitely gonna remember this thread for the rest of my life, and probably refer to it again when I need to set up another computer (whenever that may be).
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tha_rami
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 13:00
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Thank you! I hoped people would run across this topic with your situation and I'm really glad it has proven itself adequate.

I just added some new applications, all three of which are optional and one of them replaces another program.

First of all, Mozilla Thunderbird has been added to the list. It's actually pretty bad there was no e-mail client in the list.

Second, I've added a nifty program called Orb to the list. Read up on what this little amazing program can do for those of us with an always-on PC and a travelling attitude.

Finally, I've removed EssentialPIM (which turned out to have a nasty habit of overruling Photoshop's hotkeys) from the list and replaced it with the highly customizable Rainlendar.

Thanks again, Geryon, and I hope everything will continue to work smoothly .


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Mr Z
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 14:14 Edited at: 13th Sep 2008 14:15
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I must also that thank you. Now I run COMODO firewall on XP and Vista, and it works very good .

There is no greater virtue, then the ability to face oneself.
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bitJericho
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Location: United States
Posted: 13th Sep 2008 19:00
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I like the Opera Mail client much better

http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/m2/


It's not just for BYOND you know!
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JoelJ
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 20:35
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you should add SONGBIRD to the list. And also along with Thunderbird add Sunbird, it's a calendar application. They have it in the form of an extension for Thunderbird as well, called "Lightning".

http://getsongbird.com/
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/


[email protected] RAM-NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M-Windows Vista Business 32bit
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Geryon
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 20:43 Edited at: 13th Sep 2008 20:44
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Actually, I honestly don't care what email client I use. But Thunderbird does have the whole "add-ons" thing like Firefox, and I've gotten kind of used to it.

There's actually an add-on for it that I'm gonna go search for that turns it into a calender manager thingy.

Give me a second....
Yes. Lightning: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2313

That seems to have a pretty extensive calender/schedule functionality. I recommend that, just to save yourself a program (assuming that the user downloads Thunderbird as well).

[EDIT] Ninja'd by Joel....
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Jeku
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Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Posted: 13th Sep 2008 20:54
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Speaking of Thunderbird, I recommend MozBackup for backing up your email. If you want to move your email to a new Windows install, computer, or whatever, this will compress all your email, attachments, folders, contacts, and plugins into a single file, which can be automatically restored on your target PC. Very, very handy!


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Geryon
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 20:59
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Wow, cool. I might use that if I ever have to do a reset again.
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JoelJ
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 23:06
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Jeku, where were you three months ago? I couldn't get my thunderbird emails copied from my XP machine to my Vista machine properly. I had done it XP to XP, but for some reason it wouldn't work to vista :/ Anyway, that'll be so nice.


[email protected] RAM-NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M-Windows Vista Business 32bit
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 23:40
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http://www.launchy.net/

Cousin showed me this. I'm gonna download it right now. Feel free to add it to the list (appearance integrates pretty nicely with Vista btw)

MISoft Studios - Silver-Dawn Gorilda is lost!

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tha_rami
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Posted: 15th Sep 2008 15:20
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"Added" MozBackup to the paragraph about Thunderbird. Checking out Launchy.


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Geryon
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Posted: 27th Oct 2008 04:23
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In case it matters, OpenOffice.Org 3.0.0 is out. It looks like it has been since around October 13th, too. I just found out on Slashdot, though.
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zenassem
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Location: Long Island, NY
Posted: 27th Oct 2008 12:53
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I didn't see the following mentioned

IrfanView: IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.
http://www.irfanview.com/

SmartFTP:SmartFTP is an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client which allows you to transfer files between your local computer and a server on the Internet. With its many basic and advanced features SmartFTP also offers secure, reliable and efficient transfers that make it a powerful tool.
http://www.smartftp.com/

hijackthis:HijackThis lists the contents of key areas of the Registry and hard drive--areas that are used by both legitimate programmers and hijackers. The program is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs and URLs, only the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.
http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

"When I look at that square... I wish FPSC noobs would stay on their side of the forums and stop polluting these boards." - Benjamin
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General Reed
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Posted: 27th Oct 2008 13:03
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You should add VLC player, once you have that, you will never need another media player again. It plays absolubetly everything, and is a very nippy program.

CPU: AMD X2 6000+ 3.0ghz GFX: NVIDIA BFG Geforce 8800GTS 640MB OC-550mhz core RAM: 2048mb

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BatVink
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Posted: 11th Nov 2008 20:53
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I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but I just found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages

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JoelJ
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Posted: 12th Nov 2008 01:13
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You should add IBM's Symphony.
http://symphony.lotus.com/


[email protected] RAM-NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M-Windows Vista Business 32bit
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