These are freeware tools which have been useful to me many times.
There's a brief description of each tool followed by a download link. All these programs are safe to use, they do not install any malware, they will not screw up your computer.
Some of these programs are problem fixers, some are multimedia tools.
With AnalogX Capture, you can take screen shots (or screen captures) of anything on your screen.
You can use Capture for troubleshooting.
For example, you think you have a virus, so you take a screen shot of your running processes in Windows Task Manager, then you can post it on a self help computer forum, where someone who knows what they're doing can examine it and tell you what, if anything, is wrong.
You can use it to take screen shots for any reason.
Capture saves the screen shots as bitmap (.bmp) files. You can change the default directory that Capture saves the bitmaps in, if you want to. You can also set up hot keys to take captures of the desktop and active windows.
To open a bitmap with Paint, right click and choose "Open With..." and select Paint. You can also open a bitmap in MS Paint from Start>Run>Accessories>Paint.
I advise opening the bitmaps in Paint, then Save As a .jpg or .jpeg. It's pretty easy to do that from the drop down menu in Paint.
File sizes are smaller in jpeg format. Additionally, bitmaps are raster graphics and do not resize well without distortion. jpeg or jpg are vector graphics and are highly scalable and more highly compressed than bitmaps and other raster graphics. Images from digital cameras are always .jpeg or .jpg.
I've been using this program since 2001. Works great.
This program will handle zip, rar, iso and a multitude of other compressed file formats.
I've been using 7Zip for 4 years. 7Zip has a higher compression rate than any other archiver, and it is faster.
7Zip will also open many archive formats which other archivers will not.
I've had friends ask me how to extract .daa formats because they found they needed a retail program to open them. 7Zip will open several proprietary formats without the need to search for other converters.
You need codecs to play multimedia files. Some popular codecs you'll find neccessary to watch some movies and videos are not included in the Windows Media Player Codecs.
Codecs can be used to infect your computer. Be wary of what codecs you install.
Installing a lot of codecs will also slow your computer down. You're best off to download only a few codecs which will enable you to watch just about any multimedia file.
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GSpot is a codec sniffer. If you have a multimedia file that you can't open because of a missing codec, you can use GSpot to determine exactly what codec was used to encode the file, then get only the codec you need. No guess work.
GSpot only identifies the codec used, you have to Google search for the codec. When Googling any codec, always pay attention to the search results for possible viral issues with the codec.
If you see any search results about the codec being a virus, do more research and make sure you are not in fact installing a virus or trojan.
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ffdshow is probably the single most popular codec package.
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DivX is a very popular codec. I advise only downloading the codec, there is no need to buy their software. All you need is the codec. ffdshow installs DivX and Xvid, but if you want the latest version of DivX, you should download it seperately. You should still install ffdshow for the other codecs it adds, which should be all the majority of users need.
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The Combined Community Codec Pack is designed for all multimedia formats. CCCP adds support for more multimedia formats than any other codec package.
I began using this codec package when I needed to work on some .mkv files in Spring 2009. Since then I've found this to be the best all in one codec package. I can now play many formats in Windows Media Player that I previously could only watch using the VLC Media Player.
This freeware is better than any retail encoder. SUPER© handles more formats than any other program of it's kind. With this program you can convert just about any media file type to any other type. You can also make ringtones with SUPER©.
Use of the program is pretty easy. The download is near the bottom of the eRight page.
SUPER© also installs codecs. If you are going to do encoding of multimedia files, you can skip installing ffdshow if you want to because SUPER© will install those codecs.
Anyone who has had to remove AOL knows it is very difficult to remove. This is not an AOL uninstaller, this an AOL Remover that was not created by AOL. It works.
AOL is like a big bully on your computer, basically it takes control over many systems to the extent that removal may require repair of broken file associations and some Windows features and functions.
The AOL uninstaller will always leave residual registry and processes which means you still won't have full use of your system resources.
Use this tool if you ever have to remove AOL. I've scanned the file for viruses and the file is clean.
Here is the forum page where I found this AOL Remover.
Many retail programs uses FLEXnet, also known as the Software Update Manager.
This is a thing that seeks updates constantly. Programs which use FLEXnet should have an option for you to disable it, but that is often not the case.
FLEXnet is another resource sucker and in my opinion unneccessary. You can easily uninstall it with FLEXnet's uninstaller.
You have 2 alternatives to using the Windows Update Site or Automatic Updates.
AutoPatcher is a program which you use to update your system monthly.
AutoPatcher also has versions for various other Microsoft products including Office. See the menu at AutoPatcher.
AutoPatcher installs, then you run the program. AutoPatcher downloads all the updates from Microsoft, then applies them. Once you set up the update, it runs unattended. You have to run the program every month.
Originally, AutoPatcher included the MS Updates with the monthly AutoPatcher update, and with the core files you install the first time. That made AutoPatcher a time saver because the files could be burned to a disc or carried on a USB jump drive. Downloading takes time no matter how fast your connection is.
AutoPatcher was also very useful for updating computers that are offline.
Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Autopatcher, MS got Autopatcher shut down, now Autopatcher is back but only on the condition that the updates come from Microsoft. More information is here from Neowin.
The other option you have for updating Windows and Office is to visit The Software Patch. There's a link in the Useful Links navigation bar.
You can download the updates from Microsoft without visiting Microsoft's web site and save the updates to disc. Useful if you work on computers and update mutliple machines frequently.
Neither of these programs is intended as a means to avoid valid Windows licensing. They are alternatives to save time and resources when updating.
You use this program to slipstream a Microsoft Service Pack into your Windows installation disc.
AutoStreamer replaces files on your Windows installation disc with files from the Windows Service Pack.
This saves time on clean installations of Windows since you do not have to spend time applying the latest Service Pack following a clean install of the operating system.
You need to download the Service Pack Network Installation Package from Microsoft. Download XP Service Pack 3 from MS here. You can find the Vista packages easily yourself.
You start AutoStreamer, then you insert your Windows installation disc, the disc is read, then you are prompted to give the location of the Service Pack file you previously downloaded from MS.
Then AutoStreamer does it's magic, replaces the files and writes an .iso file, which you then burn. Now you have a new Windows install disc with the latest Service Pack already included. AutoStreamer is a big time saver.
There is a very easy to follow guide with screen shots of the whole procedure posted here (also linked at Neowin).
AutoStreamer is also supported at the AutoPatcher forum.
The file created by AutoStreamer is an .iso, so there is a freeware program you can use to burn .iso, which you will need if you have no other image burning software installed.
Active makes a number of valuable freeware programs. This iso burner is a great tool.
There is an issue which will occur on computers equipped with HD Audio devices following clean installs of XP with Service Pack 3.
This problem only exists if you install from an XP disc with Service Pack 3 included!
MS UAA Architechture is required for HD Audio to work. MS UAA will not install on Service Pack 3
Microsoft issued a patch for this problem, however, that patch was not working and this workaround is neccessary.
The Fix:
You have to tell your computer that it's SP2, reboot, install UAA, then install the HD Audio drivers for your device. Then the HD Audio will work. Then change XP version back to SP3.
Go to Start>Run then enter regedit and hit enter. That opens the Windows Registry Editor. Then navigate to this registry key:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows\CSDVersion
You have to change the dword value
values for XP SP's:
hex 100 = SP1
hex 200 = SP2
hex 300 = SP3
When done you change back to hex 300 and restart the computer
To make it easier to change the version, I made a set of registry files that you can download here, instructions included in the file. You can simply click the reg files to change the XP version.
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