Links to Useful Freeware

http://www.rocketdownload.com/Details/Util/1584.htm - Start or Switch is a small but nice utility that enables you to have access to the Start Menu from any application, anywhere on the screen. A simple right-click on the mouse will pop up a menu with the Start button as well as any running applications. Start or Switch will let you start any program or switch to any running program without having to go to your task bar.

http://www.iisr-cnc.com/hamsin/ - A three-in-one easy-to-use clipboard extension utility that allows: - tracking clipboard history of the last ten clips of all common file types including RTF, Bitmaps and Metafiles which can be later returned back to the clipboard or directly pasted into applications, - pasting several copied clips automatically one after another or merged together, - saving favorite or commonly used clips for future pasting.  The interface is very simple - all the functions are accessible from any application via hotkeys and/or a pop-up menu invoked by a hotkey or a tray icon. All the hotkeys and the menu are customizable. Adding new clips to the history can be suspended so that undesired clips do not clutter the history.

http://www.taxslayer.com/ - Free basic tax program.  It allows you to E-file for IRS for $9.95 and for your state form for free.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html - Freeware image viewers that will import 360 image types, and export 40.

http://www.atomica.com/ - Freeware that allows you to select any word(s) in a web or any other program (including Notepad), hold down the Alt key, and click with the left mouse button and then find a definition and other useful information about the word(s).  Very fast and very useful. 

http://www.roboform.com/index.html - A Freeware program that allows you to fill common in common information for Web forms like name, address, E-mail address etc. with a touch of a button.  When you come to a page with form fields on it, Roboform recognizes it and prompts you asking you if you want to fill out the information.  You can create more than one set of answers.  You can also password protect the answers.  That is you answer yes to the question that you want the program to fill out the fields, and it then prompts you for a password.  It also has an extra feature that recognizes ID password field forms to enter password protected Web sites, which you again can fill out with a touch of a button.  It goes beyond Windows 2000 and XP in this feature, in that it also fills in the ID field, not just the password.  Very useful if you are constantly visiting sites with forms or ID-password protected sites (as I, a job seeker, is doing).

http://www.paltalk.com/paltalk2/index.html - A free videoconference software site, which supports up to four simultaneous video images.  Supported by advertising.  I have not tried it out yet.

http://www.copernic.com/products/copernic/index.html - A freeware web browser that Chuck Pruitt first suggested to me.  It will search eight big search engines simultaneously and also some Newsgroup, Shopping sites etc. if requested.  It is software to use if Google fails you.

http://www.winutility.com/qsd/ - A freeware program that allows you to quickly shut down, restart or log off windows with keyboard shortcuts.  Also can force shutdowns for a quick end to Windows.

http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s%3D1478%26a%3D9214,00.asp – Maybe the best program of all these, it will hide the system tray.  It also has a feature that allows you to just display the clock.  If you move your mouse over where the system tray used to be (or over the clock), the tray will reappear.  Works with Windows 2000 and older versions (I’ve tried it with Windows 2000 even though it does not mention compatibility with the OS).  I don’t know if it works with XP.  Very useful.

http://ww3.weatherbug.com/AWS/default.asp - Freeware that will display the current temperature of a weather station very near you in your system tray.  Find out if you need to put on a jacket before going out, without the usual effort.  Double click on the icon and get a full weather report from the web in a small window.

http://www.irfanview.com/ - Freeware viewer again.  Consistently one of the top freeware programs downloaded on the Web.  Will display EMF, EPS, WMF, Photoshop, Apple QuickTime, MPEG, Flash, Audio, Video, etc.  Supports batch conversion and slideshows.  View or listen to each file in a directory one by one by simply pressing the space bar.

http://www.paul-raedle.de/vtrain/down - Freeware program that will copy each clipboard item to a text file.  Useful during Web research, for copying quotes and text instead of writing them down.  Also useful for copying URLs.

http://www.xteq.com/products/urlb/index.html - URL Bandit is a freeware program which will extract just the URLs from the clipboard to a text file.  Also will search an entire text document and pull out the URLs to a file.  Haven’t got it to work right yet.

http://www.zoner.com/ - Best of the only two freeware vector drawing programs I could find on the Web.  There are a lot of freeware bitmap programs, but not a lot of vector ones.  Equivalent to say Corel Draw 3.0.

http://goosee.com/ - Powerful freeware vector drawing program, only 54K in size!  A little confusing to use, but can make huge poster drawings.  Has a feature which lets you embed the drawing program in the drawing file, thus you can send the whole package off to a user for viewing who does not have a vector drawing or viewer program. That user can edit or print the document.  Pretty strange.

http://mantadb.com/ - Freeware that let’s you index the Web pages you have visited in the past.  Thus you can search for words on Web sites you have visited.

 

http://pro.wanadoo.fr/dephitro/fonts.html - Neat freeware fonts which are made from actual person’s handwriting.  Pierre will even make your handwriting or company logo into a font for a nominal fee.

 

http://www.coolwintools.com/freeware.php3 – Includes TClock, freeware that displays the day, month and two digit year along with the time, to replace the normal clock.  You no longer have to pass the mouse pointer over the clock to get this information.  It’s customizable, allowing you to change the height of the letters, the color of the clock etc. to make it look good.  Page also includes MapOfChar which I downloaded and is definitely an improvement to the CharacterMap program Windows provides.

 

http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/pfbackup.aspx%20-%20Micorosoft%20Outlook%202000/2002 - Freeware add-in which puts an extra choice on the Outlook File menu for conveniently backing up some or all of your Outlook folders.  It even has a feature which will remind every so many days to use the utility again.

 

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBF/TIP2600/rh2651.htm - TClock site from the original Japanese writer.  Updated version features graduated fill colors and an option to make the whole taskbar translucent.

 

http://www.5star-shareware.com/Internet/BookmarkUtilities/webkey.html - Freeware that allows you to easily assign key combinations to any Web page, Windows program file or application.  

 

http://www.solutions.nu/advprop/ - Freeware which installs a right click menu choice for Internet Explorer.  When you choose the option, you can view hidden information about the Web page, like the physical address of the company, the IP address of the server, cookies, and other information which I don’t understand.

 

http://free.prohosting.com/~ladi/e_desk.html#top - DeskTask is a small and simple taskbar utility which gives you quick access to the desktop icons without minimizing active programs. DeskTask also allows you to easily switch between all open windows and dialogs. Other features: activate screensaver, close all windows, hide desktop icons.

 

http://www.cyber-matrix.com/clipmag.htm - vastly improves your productivity when you must cut and paste repetitive text.  Stores a single character to several pages of text.  Store as many items as you want.  Copies an item back to the Clipboard with a click of the mouse. Series paste and relative row paste hotkeys.

 

http://www.yankee-clipper.net/index.htm - A super powerful Windows clipboard extender/memory- now in its third generation. Handles Pictures, Rich text, URLS, etc - any size. Features printing, drag and drop, optional permanent storage of clippings. Familiar "Outlook" interface. Freeware.

 

http://www.soft-central.net/scr.php - SCR is a search-and-replace program. Use SCR to quickly replace text in all your documents within seconds.  SCR supports previewing, case-sensitivity and various search options. This program is fast and easy to use, making it one of the most powerful search-and-replace utilities available. In addition to replacement of text within files, SCR supports changing text within filenames too. With SCR it's possible to rename multiple files on your hard disk within seconds.

 

http://www.languageidentifier.com - have you ever come across documents or websites and not known what language it is written in? The Lextek Language Identifier is capable of identifying not only what language it is written in but also its character encoding and what other languages are most similar. This will alleviate your wondering of what languages you are working with or looking at.  Will identify 260 languages.

 

http://www.phraseexpress.com/ -No more typing the same phrase over and over again!  Phrase Express™ pastes all your frequently used text phrases in a snap! 

 

http://mooresoft.bizland.com/download.htm - a program that will read a disk's folder names and put it into a text file great for CD covers, disk labels, offline file of a zip disk, etc.

 

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.htm - CPU-Z is a freeware that provides some information on your CPU.

 

http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/38765.html - RAMpage is a small Windows utility that displays the amount of available memory in an icon in the System Tray. When the icon is double-clicked, the program tries to free a predefined amount of memory. RAMpage can also be configured to free memory automatically when the amount of available memory drops below a predefined level, and it includes a utility for freeing memory after a program finishes executing. RAMpage is a small Windows utility that displays the amount of available memory in an icon in the System Tray. When the icon is double-clicked, the program tries to free a predefined amount of memory. RAMpage can also be configured to free memory automatically when the amount of available memory drops below a predefined level, and it includes a utility for freeing memory after a program finishes executing.

 

http://www.defoortsoftware.com/clickie/ - Clickie is a handy utility that will add 2 new features to the context menu (right click) of Windows Explorer: Copy Path Name: Copies the path of the selected folder or file to the clipboard (as text). You can then paste it wherever you need it. Some software need the name and path of a file and do not provide any way to browse. In such a case, Clickie becomes very useful and will save you a lot of time. Open MS-DOS Prompt: Opens a DOS window in the selected directory. Using Clickie, you don't need to crawl to the directory you want to work in.

 

http://www.hiddensoft.com/AutoIt/index.html - AutoIt is a simple tool that can simulate key presses, mouse movements and window commands (maximize, minimize, wait for, etc.) in order to automate any windows based task (or even windowed DOS tasks).  AutoIt was primarily designed to assist in automatically installing software that cannot be automatically installed by other means. This is most useful during a PC rollout where hundreds or thousands of client machines need to be automatically installed.  However, AutoIt is not limited to software installation and can be used to automate most simple windows tasks.

 

http://www.hyperq.com/dlqs.htm - If you use Windows 98 or Windows 95 with Internet Explorer 4 Desktop Update sometimes the order of the Start Menu and Favorites entries get mixed up. Q-Sort 2000 arranges the Programs section of your Start Menu and your Internet Explorer Favorites in alphabetical order with a single mouse click.

 

http://adam2.org/software/general.html - NailIt - Tired of windows that won't stay on top when you need them to? Nail'm down with this free small utility!

 

http://adam2.org/software/general.html - Showcalc - Wow! A full-blown calculator with a tape window that allows you to check your work. It even prints!

 

http://adam2.org/software/general.html - Otto's PrintScreen32 - A versatile print utility that will capture any area of your desktop. Prints to disk or printer. Copies to clipboard for pasting into favorite image program.

 

http://adam2.org/software/general7.html#system – Taskview - Views and manages active tasks operating on your computer! Terminator for stubborn programs that refuse to shut down or are locked. Hotkey accessible.

 

http://hccweb1.bai.ne.jp/~hcj58401/ - Restore files which are deleted from the recycle bin by mistake. Conversely, delete files completely.

 

 

I hope these are useful.  I will update it as I find more programs.

 

Have fun,

 

Paul P.