Comments on: The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

Postroad — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:18:29 -0800

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."

By: snoktruix

snoktruix — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:25:58 -0800

You missed out the best freeware viewer of HEALPix maps projected on a sphere.

By: Captain Najork

Captain Najork — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:28:54 -0800

Most useful thank you Postroad. As something of a technological numpty I have oft wondered which of all these free majiggers were worth having. Very comprehensive.

By: RokkitNite

RokkitNite — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:30:03 -0800

46? That's not a proper list. It has to be a multiple of ten!

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:30:23 -0800

Cool. Thanks!

By: my sock puppet account

my sock puppet account — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:32:04 -0800

You think 46 is odd, click on to page two that lists 47-81.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:42:39 -0800

Would I be nit-picking if I pointed out that Firefox (and probably a number of other "bests" on that list) is not Freeware? It's open source. And we all know that Gratis != Libre.

By: joegester

joegester — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:44:50 -0800

Software is in a sad state when 8 of the top 10 are anti-malware apps.

By: justgary

justgary — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:45:19 -0800

Firefox number one. Really going out on a limb there.

By: jepler

jepler — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:46:30 -0800

This list features my personal pack of the "best of the best." I don't understand. Are you saying this is a self-link, or is it your oblique way to apologize that this is a single-link post? Here are some of the best free and open source programs I use almost every day: fedora linux firefox mutt irssi screen OpenSSH urxvt xmms mplayer python postfix gimp gcc X and the dozens of hardware drivers and other behind-the-scenes software I'm not even thinking about. Tags for this comment: smug unix user

By: cytherea

cytherea — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:47:27 -0800

Funny that they don't mention any kernels...

By: JHarris

JHarris — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:48:10 -0800

Er, the 47-81 page is a blatant pimping of the author's email newsletter. Bah!

By: justgary

justgary — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:48:56 -0800

(windows) Software is in a sad state when 8 of the top 10 are anti-malware apps.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:50:19 -0800

What joegester said...but, of course.... this wasn't a Mac list...

By: mischief

mischief — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:02:02 -0800

Meh. Nothing here I would go out of my way to replace.

By: eperker

eperker — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:02:35 -0800

I was going to point out the same thing as Joegester. If it was a mac list, 10 out of 10 of the products would be useful and enjoyable. It's a sad state of affairs for all you PC people that so much time and effort has to be spent of guarding and removing malware.

By: QuietDesperation

QuietDesperation — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:10:52 -0800

Note that about half of them are utilities for dealing with problems like spam, viruses, spyware, etc, rather than getting real work done. A sorry state we've come to...

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:28:27 -0800

I don't understand. Are you saying this is a self-link, or is it your oblique way to apologize that this is a single-link post? That's a pull quote from the top of the linked page.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:45:44 -0800

del.icio.us/popular

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:46:15 -0800

Nice post.

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:46:28 -0800

Useful post.

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:46:44 -0800

Thank you.

By: tiamat

tiamat — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:50:30 -0800

fun stuff, I think I've downloaded at least 12 of these in the last few minutes...

By: dodgygeezer

dodgygeezer — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:58:26 -0800

(windows) Software is in a sad state when 8 of the top 10 are anti-malware apps. To be pedantic I count six out of ten. Firewalls and anonymous browsing can be very useful to anyone regardless of their OS and are not necessarily related to malware. Still, not a great state of affairs. An interesting list. Thanks.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:02:39 -0800

I'm happy to see Keynote on the list. I am doing a major research project at the moment and Keynote has made it much, much easier. Unfortunately the developer is shutting the project down.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:14:50 -0800

Oh, bleah. The time and effort I spend in guarding and removing malware consists entirely of: (1) Using firefox and thunderbird or pine instead of IE and Outlook Express. (2) Going through a router, which I'd have to do anyway with 2 desktops and a laptop talking to the net. (3) Allowing windows update to do its thing. Never had any instance of any kind of malware, ever, even once. I suppose this has a lot to do with never having had any urge to click on the bouncing monkey or have little buddies in my browser.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:16:47 -0800

It's a sad state of affairs for all you PC people that so much time and effort has to be spent of guarding and removing malware. Puh-lease. I haven't got a single anti-spyware or anti-virus program running on my system. Know why? Because I don't need one. Know why? Because I don't run untrusted code. It's pretty fucking simple: when PC users finally get it through their heads that the default action to anything popping up on their computer should be "CANCEL or CLOSE" not "OK, SURE WHATEVER THX" then half this list will become moot.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:28:14 -0800

You think 46 is odd I'll speak only for myself here, but I know 46 is even. So there.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:48:53 -0800

A thread about 46 ways to fix or work around the security problems with Windows computers is hardly FPP-worthy — unless you're stuck using Windows, I guess.

By: fake

fake — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:10:10 -0800

you're stuck using Windows, I guess. or use it by choice. stop trolling.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:28:42 -0800

Civil_Disobedient writes "Puh-lease. I haven't got a single anti-spyware or anti-virus program running on my system. Know why? Because I don't need one. Know why? Because I don't run untrusted code. It's pretty fucking simple: when PC users finally get it through their heads that the default action to anything popping up on their computer should be 'CANCEL or CLOSE' not 'OK, SURE WHATEVER THX' then half this list will become moot." What you say is true. However, complaining that users are stupid isn't going to solve the problem. Windows is marketed and sold to people who have no idea what "untrusted code" means. I clean systems for a living (among other things), and the user isn't the issue. Trying to change behavior of users who do not understand the problem is not a solution. And the poor state of security in Windows is not a responsibility of those users, or anyone else except Microsoft. Systems marketed and sold to such end users should be much more difficult to compromise out-of-the-box. Perfect security isn't possible, but people shouldn't have to be well-versed in security to keep from being easily compromised. Believe me, when you give up on the idea that everyone should understand what's going on with the technical aspects of their computers, it makes the present situation much easier to understand.

By: Elpoca

Elpoca — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:55:01 -0800

A thread about 46 ways to fix or work around the security problems with Windows computers is hardly FPP-worthy — unless you're stuck using Windows, I guess. What about a thread about 46 very useful utilities, only a small fraction of which have anything to do with security. You know, like this thread?

By: moonbird

moonbird — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 21:34:34 -0800

Hey, while we're on this, any good p2p recommendations? Limewire seems to be just awful lately.

By: InnocentBystander

InnocentBystander — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:04:15 -0800

Moonbird, have you tried Soulseek? YMMV, but for me, it's the best source for rare \ obscure stuff I've found ever since Audiogalaxy went away.

By: FissionChips

FissionChips — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 00:11:26 -0800

Moonbird I would highly recommend eMule. It requires little setup other than feeding it a URL such as this so you have some servers to connect to.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 01:59:39 -0800

the user isn't the issue I disagree. There's a difference between understanding what's "under the hood" and understanding situational occurances that will FUBAR your system. To extend the analogy: most people don't know how their car operates, but understand that plowing into a bunch of schoolkids at 100 mph. while they're crossing the road isn't going to produce good results. Unfortunately, there's no training program in place for users to get licensed to connect to the internet, so, like a bunch of teenage n00bs, they get into their cars and all of a sudden the world is open to them. Without being handed any instructions, and without understanding any consequences. When they come to you for help, ("I done crashed my computer into a tree!) it's your duty to educate them. Of course they won't want to listen. That's fine. Tell them you like getting their repeat business.

By: storybored

storybored — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 09:17:14 -0800

To extend the analogy: most people don't know how their car operates, but understand that plowing into a bunch of schoolkids at 100 mph. while they're crossing the road isn't going to produce good results How about this analogy? You're driving down the road and the windshield falls into your lap. While dealing with the spiky glass, the right wheel comes off and gas starts spewing from a leak in the tank. The sparks from the dragging axle sets the mess on fire. Kaboom! Now you are in geosynchronous orbit with little bits of glass embedded in your posterior.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:34:04 -0800

No, that analogy doesn't work. See, here's the problem: driving down the road and the windshield falls into your lap The problem is that "it just [xxx]" means not operator error. That's the big difference. In general (99% of the cases) people don't "just get" viruses. They actively download something from an anonymous source, whether it be by email or by browser, then get 0wned. Your analogy absolves users from personal responsibility by supposing everything bad that happens to us is "just" someone else's fault but their own. I realize it's not a popular notion these days, but when people refuse to accept responsibility for their actions they hand over any power over their own personal growth. "Aww, poor thing, let me make you a world where you can't ever screw up," is bad for evolution.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:01:31 -0800

Civil_Disobedient writes "The problem is that 'it just [xxx]' means not operator error. That's the big difference. In general (99% of the cases) people don't 'just get' viruses. They actively download something from an anonymous source, whether it be by email or by browser, then get 0wned." Yes, but you can't really do the same thing on many other OSes. An unpriviledged user can't install anything, and almost all multi-user OSes warn against running as root (or administrator). Windows should not default to administrator, but it does, and MS does nothing to warn the user against running as root. There should be multiple idiot-proof popups, asking "Are you sure? Eunning as administrator puts you at risk! USE SPARINGLY!" Of course, the fact that many third-party software vendors require their software be run as admin isn't helping, but MS does nothing to discourage this.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:02:06 -0800

Sorry for the typos ... you get the idea.

By: nthdegx

nthdegx — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:15:40 -0800

Look. I have just *chosen* to move back to PC's after being a Mac user for the past three years. Trolling aside I'd like to highlight that with a couple of apps and a general common sense approach, being a Windows user does *not* mean being on a perpetual backfoot when it comes to security. In fact I'd go so far as to s""$%%^£%^$&*($"%^$^*%$^%^%^&*$^ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HOT COCKS ONLY MINUTE'S AWAY!!!!!!!! cLICK HERE!

By: storybored

storybored — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 14:47:34 -0800

C. Disobedient, you're right my analogy doesn't fit the virus situation exactly. My analogy applies more to the generally yucky quality of Windows. (Ironically i'm in the middle of installing a new hard drive on my Windows system, and it's taken so far about four hours).. However (not gonna let u off too easy now :-) )....re: "Your analogy absolves users from personal responsibility by supposing everything bad that happens to us is "just" someone else's fault but their own." Yes, to clarify I agree the end users are still responsible. But there's a big difference between making that responsibility easy and making it hard. Given that viruses and malware exist, users should do what they can to avoid them. But a system or product which allows bad things to happen easily is *poorly designed* and deserves to be condemned. How about another analogy: When you want to reformat your hard drive. Should the system ask you whether you want to do it or not? And should the system allow you to back out of it, if you suddenly realize you didn't want to reformat?

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:57:24 -0800

Windows should not default to administrator, but it does There are problems (large, looming problems) with Windows, don't get me wrong. The problem is, IMHO, with DLL's. You can't have users install system-wide DLLs that have access to fundamental parts of the core without running into problems. The current design requires administrator rights for even the meagerest of installations, and that's stupid. I agree. But to fix the problem, you'd have to re-do everything. I would actually pay money for a Windows operating system that was optimized from the ground up, with all memory holes plugged up, and DLLs abandoned forever, that still weighed in at less than 100 Megs. I know they can do it. But people like me are few and far between, so Microsoft will instead concentrate on the "Gee-Whiz" market. a system or product which allows bad things to happen easily is *poorly designed* and deserves to be condemned No doubt. When you want to reformat your hard drive. Should the system ask you whether you want to do it or not? Er, yes. And it does. I'm actually of the opinion that Windows could do well to lose some of the annoying, "Are you sure you wanna do this?" messages (though clearly not for important functions like reformatting a HD).

By: storybored

storybored — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 19:09:04 -0800

...so then if there was no such "are you sure?" message for reformatting a hard disk and someone accidentally toasted their hard drive, would you consider that to be the user's fault? I guess what i'm driving at is there's responsibility and there's good design. If something is designed well, my responsibilities should be few and simple.

By: weirdoactor

weirdoactor — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 20:11:19 -0800

No love for Nutshell?

By: purplesnow

purplesnow — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:45:55 -0800

Good stuff -- thx!