Best Freeware Options

[Ldub]

I'd like opinions on the best options for freeware out there.

For such applications as, but certainly not limited to:

Photo editing

Screen capture

Others you find useful ?

[crotchrocket]

i'd highly recomend Photoscape for picture re-sizing and re-naming in bulk, editing, etc. works great and i use it daily

edit~ my signature was put together in 3 minutes on it

[tom4bren]

What kinda photo editing are you talking about?

If it's just adding text or drawing in gorilly feets, just about any will do.

If you're talking about greyscale mapping or adjusting white scale or adjusting contrast/color/brightness, then it's an entirely different set of choices.

[mdwyer]

Photo editing

The Gimp is pretty good for photo editing, but the learning curve is sort of steep if you've never used Photoshop. On the other hand, if you've got photoshop, you wouldn't bother using The Gimp.

Others you find useful ?

• Foxit Reader - Replaces Adobe Acrobat with something quite a bit faster and one might argue safer.
• Media Player Classic or VLC - Replaces Windows Media Player
• Password Safe - Stores all your passwords safely
• TightVNC - Allows you to remote control your machine (use carefully!)
• OpenOffice - 80% of what you need from MS Office. Works great 80% of the time, but will make you pull your hair out when you need the other 20%.
• FooBar2000 - Lightweight replacement for WinAMP
• Google Earth, SketchUP, Picassa
• 7-Zip - Better than WinZip
• Putty and GVim - If you ever talk to unix machines

[Ascinder]

Everything's free if you know where to look

[Triathlete]

I use AVG anti virus and have had no problems.
Also like Open Office a lot.

And as Ascinder said most anything can be "found" out there!

[Ldub]

Thanks all, for the replies so far...

I've DL'd gimp & photoscape, & have been perusing some online tutorials for the gimp. Though I'm having trouble adjusting to the ball gag......
Also played with photoscape a little, & right out of the box did some conversion to greyscale...nice!
Also, I've been using irfanview for years to resize pics (thanks Boss...)

Keep em comin'...

I'm gonna try to post up some examples in the near future.

Also...whaddy'all think for pic storage?...photobucket the best?

[Ldub]

Here's a great "all in one" for gimp tut's...

Lot's of cool stuph I'll never be able to get my head around...

http://garmahis.com/tutorials/gimp-tutorials/

Also, a nice cross section of available photo editing freeware

http://garmahis.com/software/photosh...-alternatives/

[nfpgasmask]

Everything's free if you know where to look

x2

Bart

[Ldub]

Everything's free if you know where to look

x2

Bart

You two might find this hard to believe, but weren't niether of those comments wuz very helpful...

Dang young wisenheimers......

[nfpgasmask]

Ok then, this is the best freeware I have seen in a long time:

http://supermariocrossover.com/

Bart

[IndianaVX]

i ve found google sketchup very cool for drawing things in "3-d"
you can draw it, spin it around. ive drawen presentation drawings for customers, then taken them on virtual tours of the house, etc. pretty cool!

[Grif]

Just be careful all.

Just cuz it doesnt cost money, does not make it free.

Malware installed by "free programs". Outright viruses installed by programs downloaded from the peer to peer network(s) such as limewire and using protocols such as Bittorrent. Even the mp3's you download can infect, video files can infect, even .pdf files can infect. If you have not hardened your PC thru a combination of common sense AND some prophylactic protection (firewall, AV, antimalware) and you get out there and install stuff willy-nilly, then you are putting yourself, your data, your privacy and even your identity at risk.

I deal with that crap every day.

Always install the updates for your operating system. If they do not install, get help, you are at risk if not already infected.

Always make sure the programs you use are updated, especially anything Adobe (flash, shockwave, acrobat reader) as they are huge attack vectors nowadays. Always update Java. Always update your media players (winamp anyone?) again a huge attack vector.

Never use programs downloaded from "peer to peer" networks. period. (Unless you accept the risks associated with taking executables from known hackers.) If you do, then plz scan them with your up-to-date Antivirus and antimalware programs.

If your antivirus won't update and you dont know why, then get help. You are prolly infected.

I do this stuff for a living and 95% of the PC's I see are infected at one level or other. Granted, clients don't bring me computers unless they have a problem, but the problems originate from negligence and ignorance at the user level. By that I mean YOU Ms. Incredimail user, and you Mr. Weatherbug installer, and you Mr. 'I just posted a link via the forum to a search via a "Mywebsearch" link'. (thanks f*cker, your ignorance just infected forum users, you know who you are).

I could honestly write a book about this stuff, this diatribe barely scratches the surface. Just be careful out there folx. Free is rarely free.