Software Recommendations

amazinghorse · September 20, 2014

Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.

It can be especially useful for cases where:

you need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.)
you need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed
you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
you want to run a low-level utility

Despite its small size, Rufus provides everything you need!

Oh, and Rufus is fast. For instance it's about twice as fast as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer or Windows 7 USB download tool, on the creation of a Windows 7 USB installation drive from an ISO. It is also marginally faster on the creation of Linux bootable USB from ISOs. ⁽¹⁾
A non exhaustive list of Rufus supported ISOs is also provided at the bottom of this page. ⁽²⁾

System Requirements:
Windows XP or later, 32 or 64 bit doesn't matter. Once downloaded, the application is ready to use.

Usage:
Download the executable and run it â€“ no installation is necessary.

http://rufus.akeo.ie/

Personal experience : Saved my day many times, when others failed ... just best in class!

Tigertunestoe · October 24, 2014

Not heard of this one will certainly try it out cheers

amazinghorse · January 25, 2015

Recommend a good app to your friends on IS!

amazinghorse · January 25, 2015

QTranslate is a free translator for Windows (Windows 8/7/Vista/XP). With this small utility, you simply select the text you want to translate and then press the hot key (Ctrl+Q to show translation in the popup window or Double Ctrl click to show the translation in the main window). The program also has the ability to speak text Ctrl+E and perform a dictionary search Win+Q. Also, you can open the main window and type text manually.

Note! The program translates text by using online translation services, so you need an Internet connection.

The current version supports the following translation services:

The program has two modes of translation by mouse selection (click on the program icon in the system tray to turn this mode on):

Show icon (Select text in any program, the program icon will appear near the cursor. Click on the icon, the popup window with the translation of the selected text will appear);
Show translation (Select text in any program and the popup window with the translation of the selected text will appear immediately).

The main features:

Translate text in any application that supports text selection (Google Chrome, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Acrobat Reader, Skype, IE and etc.);
Search in online dictionaries;
Instant translation;
Spell checking;
Text to speech synthesis;
Word suggestion/autocomplete;
History of translations;
Virtual keyboard.

https://quest-app.appspot.com/home

Launchy is a free cross-platform utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.

Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

http://www.launchy.net/

If you're a professional graphic designer or just a keen amateur who is knocking up images and graphics at home for your blog or home made cards, the Color Cop is just the thing for you. We're convinced you'll like the arresting qualities of the Color Cop - software that brings order to the lawless field of color. See the full list of features below:

Eyedropper Just click and drag the eyedropper anywhere on the screen to select a new color. Single pixel or 3x3/5x5 average sampling options are available.
Magnifier This control works exactly like the eyedropper. It can be used to zoom in on an area of the screen. After zooming, you can click in the magnifier view to select a color. The plus and minus buttons can be used to change the magnification level before or after magnifiying an area.
Auto-copy to clipboard With this option enabled, the output value will automatically be copied to the clipboard.
Multiple output options
HTML hex, Delphi hex, Powerbuilder, Visual Basic, Clarion, Visual C++, RGB float, RGB int
Color options
Snap to WebSafe, Detect WebSafe, Reverse, Random, Convert to Grayscale
Relative position measuring Press the Control key while dragging the eyedropper and the coordinates will be set to zero (0,0). When you drag the mouse to a new location, the coordinate values will be relative to the point on the screen where you pressed Control.
Color History The last 7 colors selected will appear in the color history. To select a previous color, simply click on it. Colors can be pushed into the color history by right clicking while eyedropping.
Complementary color palette 42 colors that complement the current color will be generated on the fly.
System tray support The application can be minimized to the system tray.
Mouse wheel support Spin the mouse wheel while magnifying to change the magnification level. Spinning the mouse wheel while focus is on either of the Red, Green, or Blue edit controls will increment or decrement by 1(hold shift for +/- 2, hold control for +/- 5).
BMP to clipboard
Double click on the magnifier's window and it will prompt to copy the the bitmap to the clipboard.
Other minor features RGB Float mode will output the color as 0.50,0.25,0.00 Alt+[ will decrease floating point precision and Alt+] will increase floating point precision.
The standard windows cross hair cursor can be used in lieu of the eyedropper cursor.
Omit the # or $ symbols from the hex codes
Upper or Lowercase hex output

http://colorcop.net/

HxD is a carefully designed and fast hex editor which, additionally to raw disk editing and modifying of main memory (RAM), handles files of any size.

The easy to use interface offers features such as searching and replacing, exporting, checksums/digests, insertion of byte patterns, a file shredder, concatenation or splitting of files, statistics and much more.

Editing works like in a text editor with a focus on a simple and task-oriented operation, as such functions were streamlined to hide differences that are purely technical.
For example, drives and memory are presented similar to a file and are shown as a whole, in contrast to a sector/region-limited view that cuts off data which potentially belongs together. Drives and memory can be edited the same way as a regular file including support for undo. In addition memory-sections define a foldable region and inaccessible sections are hidden by default.

Furthermore a lot of effort was put into making operations fast and efficient, instead of forcing you to use specialized functions for technical reasons or arbitrarily limiting file sizes. This includes a responsive interface and progress indicators for lengthy operations.

Features

Available as a portable and installable edition
RAM-Editor
- To edit the main memory
- Memory sections are tagged with data-folds
Disk-Editor (Hard disks, floppy disks, ZIP-disks, USB flash drives, CDs, ...)
- RAW reading and writing of disks and drives
- for Win9x, WinNT and higher
Instant opening regardless of file-size
- Up to 8EB; opening and editing is very fast
Liberal but safe file sharing with other programs
Flexible and fast searching/replacing for several data types
- Data types: text (including Unicode), hex-values, integers and floats
- Search direction: Forward, Backwards, All (starting from the beginning)
File compare (simple)
View data in Ansi, DOS, EBCDIC and Macintosh character sets
Checksum-Generator: Checksum, CRCs, Custom CRC, SHA-1, SHA-512, MD5, ...
Exporting of data to several formats
- Source code (Pascal, C, Java, C#, VB.NET)
- Formatted output (plain text, HTML, Richtext, TeX)
- Hex files (Intel HEX, Motorola S-record)
Insertion of byte patterns
File tools
- File shredder for safe file deletion
- Splitting or concatenating of files
Basic data analysis (statistics)
- Graphical representation of the byte/character distribution
- Helps to identify the data type of a selection
Byte grouping
- 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bytes packed together into one column
"Hex only" or "text only"-modes
Progress-window for lengthy operations
- Shows the remaining time
- Button to cancel
Modified data is highlighted
Unlimited undo
"Find updates..."-function
Easy to use and modern interface
Goto address
Printing
Overwrite or insert mode
Cut, copy, paste insert, paste write
Clipboard support for other hex editors
- Visual Studio/Visual C++, WinHex, HexWorkshop, ...
Bookmarks
- Ctrl+Shift+Number (0-9) sets a bookmark
- Ctrl+Number (0-9) goes to a bookmark
Navigating to nibbles with Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Right
Flicker free display and fast drawing

http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look goodâ€”they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.

f.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.

f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.

Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. f.lux will do the rest, automatically.

https://justgetflux.com/

amazinghorse · February 4, 2015

This will be a big one!
I hope you find this apps useful and understand that you can find much better alternatives to paid and mainstream software.

WinCDEmu is an open-source CD/DVD/BD emulator - a tool that allows you to mount optical disc images by simply clicking on them in Windows Explorer. If you have downloaded an ISO image and want to use it without burning it to a blank disc, WinCDEmu is the easiest way to do it.

Features:

One-click mounting of ISO, CUE, NRG, MDS/MDF, CCD, IMG images.
Supports unlimited amount of virtual drives.
Runs on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions from XP to Windows 8.
Allows creating ISO images through a context menu in Explorer.
Small installer size - less than 1MB!
Does not require rebooting after installation.
A special portable version is available.
Translated to more than 20 languages.
Does not occupy drive letters when not used.
Supports data, DVD-video and BD-video images.
WinCDEmu is free for any kind of use - it is licensed under LGPL

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/

Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows.
Sumatra PDF is powerful, small, portable and starts up very fast.
Simplicity of the user interface has a high priority.

http://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html

Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater is a a software updater for Adobeâ€™s Flash Player. Flash is one of the key technologies of Web 2.0 â€“ you can find it nearly everywhere. Commonly used technologies are always a main target for malware authors â€“ Flash Player is not different. Adobe frequently releases security updates to fix the latest security vulnerabilities.
However, Flash Playerâ€™s out-of-box updater uses long time intervals between update checks. Most endusers do not bother to configure the internal updater â€“ they run outdated Flash Player versions.

http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/alternative-flash-player-auto-updater/

NirLauncher is a package of more than 180 portable freeware utilities for Windows, all of them developed for NirSoft Web site during the last few years.

NirLauncher can be used from USB flash drive without need of any installation.
NirLauncher and all the utilities in the package are completely freeware, without any Spyware/Adware/Malware. This package doesn't contain any 3-party software, toolbars, Web browser plugins, or other unwanted surprises. It will not install any software on your system and it will not change your Web browser homepage or other settings on your system.
NirLauncher package includes variety of tools that you may need for your daily computer use, including utilities to recover lost passwords, to monitor your network, to view and extract cookies, cache, and other information stored by your Web browser, to search files in your system, and more...
For every utility in the package, you can easily run it, view the help file, or jump to the Web page of the utility.
When using it from USB flash drive, the configuration of every utility is saved into .cfg file on the flash drive.
On x64 systems, NirLauncher automatically run the x64 version of the utility, when there is a separated x64 version.
NirLauncher also allows to add more software packages in additional to the main NirSoft package.
NirLauncher allows you generate plugin files for BartPE (Launcher -> Generate BartPE Plugin Files), so you can easily use the utilities of NirSoft from a bootable live windows CD.

http://launcher.nirsoft.net/

Hiren's BootCD
When it comes to having a certain PC streamlined, base lined, or simply reformatted, there are various ways to do so. Many resort to using the traditional clean install, where the primary driver is reformatted, thus leaving the PC clean and new, and the only thing that is very tedious to do afterwards are none other than installing once again the drivers or hardware installed on the computer, which usually take 2 or 3 hours to finish. What more if the computer is having a problem to boot or load the operating system? What if the BIOS (Basic I/O or Input / Output System) becomes corrupt thus not able to access the operating system like Windows or Mac, and not being able to access the files? Well, there is a solution to this, and it's another easy to use software: Hiren's BootCD.
Hiren's BootCD is a boot disk utility that will help in resolving and making reformatting your computer easy. This kind of compilation software provides a compilation of programs to help resolves most and some uncommon Internet and computer issues like driver failure, intermittent internet connection and other computer malfunctions.

Features

Reveal hidden contents

Partition Tools
Partition means to divide a certain part of a hard drive for backup and system files, like separating a part from the whole. In most computers, the primary disk is C:, since it hold the operating system and program files. When a hard drive on the computer is partitioned, there are 2 independent drives, the primary for the OS, and the other for backup files. Since the 2 drives are independent, the drives work isolated and when becomes corrupt, the other is not affected. Partition Tools not only help in creating a new partition while there is still an open operating system, but it also helps manage and control the use of these partitioned drives. As a computer user, the person may opt to modify, resize the total capacity or delete any partitions made within the computer through the compiled list of programs which include Macrium Reflect, Partition Image and Partition Saving as one of the programs included. And that way, the creation of hard drive partitions without the need of installing an OS like Windows, Linux or Mac is lessened, which is the main goal of these computer programs, that is to add, modify or remove computer drive partitions without compromising the reinstallation of an Operating System.

Backup & Recovery
Files maybe sometimes irretrievable due to being accidentally deleted or the file was not recognized by the computer system. Although the search feature in Windows may prove worthy, it sometimes leads to no files being found even though the file is available and still on the said hard drive. Another thing to note is the backup and recovery of the files from a computer. People may never know when disaster strikes and files have already been missing or deleted somehow without the user noticing. BootCD has a list of programs that can be used to backup, recover and retrieve files easily and with no hassle. Aside from backup and retrieve purposes, some files that are backed up can be also corrupted and certain programs can help in recovering and making the file corrupted accessible to use. Now, the main purpose of having programs loike this is to ease the burdens of backing, thoug it may be a good practice. Software like these include GetDataBack, HDD Scan and Recuva, from the makers of the CCleaner software, Piriform.

Antivirus Tools
Most computers require an antivirus program. An antivirus program can be defined as a certain computer program designed to program and maintain the computer secure, meaning free of viruses and corrupt data. It also helps in maintaining computer performance in tip-top shape, so as to maintain the integrity of the hardware and system itself. Hiren's BootCD has a number of free antivirus and can be used immediately. There are also a number of hard drive cleaners if ever there is a chance that the computer is already infected with malware, spyware, Trojan or any other virus. Aside from these purposes, some antivirus does not take much or hog the system resources and work in the background not unless the computer is idle for a time being, that way processes of other programs that take more power and resources can be given priority. Some programs included are Avira AntiVirus, SpyBot: Search & Destroy, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Testing Tools
Maintaining a certain PC is a craft. It's hard work in the process. The BootCD software has programs that can help in maintaining computer stability. It also has programs to check errors on the hardware installed. Aside from these, a certain program can estimate the life of hard disk or hardware installed. Aside from the fact that can estimate and test a computer for known and unusual hardware activity and hardware life, it also tests a certain computer component for any possible errors it can make which can render the PC unusable or corrupted. It can also monitor faults in RAM (Random Access Memory) or the memory for storing processes. Aside from RAM, it can also monitor possible faults in devices like the hard drive, CD Drive even the USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports. The variety of software that can be used can also monitor the physical aspect of the device or driver installed. It can give a report that a certain computer component has physical damage and the user has to check if it has an error in placement or the device is really defective.

Password Tools
Passwords are an important security feature in most systems. But as time passes by, a certain user may forget such passwords. The BootCD software contains programs like Autologon, WindowsGate, or Windows Key Finder help manage and remember passwords for forgetful PC users. Certain programs also provide password encryption and requirement for hard drive writing or removal of files or simply to secure the net as well.

Mini Windows XP
A simple version of Windows XP is made as an option to be used in cases that require a separate or independent OS, like in a scenario that a certain computer has been filled with viruses. That way, another OS is working on the installed Operating System, and the user can use any available program to clean such viruses without having the need to reformat.

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/

You can use HFS (HTTP File Server) to send and receive files.
It's different from classic file sharing because it uses web technology to be more compatible with today's Internet.
It also differs from classic web servers because
it's very easy to use and runs "right out-of-the box".
Access your remote files, over the network.

Features

Download and upload
Virtual file system
Highly customizable
HTML template
Bandwidth control
Easy/Expert mode
Log
Full control over connections
Accounts
Dynamic DNS updater

http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

KeePass
Today you need to remember many passwords. You need a password for the Windows network logon, your e-mail account, your website's FTP password, online passwords (like website member account), etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Also, you should use different passwords for each account. Because if you use only one password everywhere and someone gets this password you have a problem... A serious problem. The thief would have access to your e-mail account, website, etc. Unimaginable.

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). For more information, see the features page.

http://keepass.info/

Process Hacker provides a customizable tree view with highlighting showing you the processes running on your computer. You can see detailed performance graphs. A complete list of services and full control over them (start, stop, pause, resume, and delete). It provides comprehensive information for all processes including full process performance history, threads listing and stacks with help symbols, token information, module and mapped file information, virtual memory map, environment variables, and handles. It provides full control over all processes, even processes protected by root kits or security software. You can find hidden processes and terminate them. Process Hacker detects processes hidden by simple root kits such as Hacker Defender and FU.

http://processhacker.sourceforge.net/

Audio Switcher easily switch the default audio device, input or output, on any Windows PC (Vista and above).

Using this application you can switch output OR input sound devices at the click of a button, or the press of a key.
I designed this application to be incredibly small and lightweight. There is no bloat, it does exactly what it should, nothing more, nothing less.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/audioswitcher/

amazinghorse · March 21, 2015

+Audio Apps

TAudioConverter is a multithreaded audio converter-extractor and CD Ripper.

TAudioConverter support various encoders. It can convert to MP3, AAC, AAC HE, AC3, MusePack, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, WMA, DTS, ALAC, FLAC, Monkey's Audio, TAK, TTA, WavPack, AIFF and PCM.

TAudioConverter is multithreaded. This means that it will run several encoders in parallel to shorten encoding time. The number of parallel processes depends on the CPU cores you have.

It can also extract audio streams from video files. This can be done with or without encoding the audio stream. Even if your video file has more that one audio stream, you can select the one you want.

CD ripper has freedb support.

Audio Merger. Merge several audio files into one.

It can copy tags and cover art from source.

TAC can split cue sheets.

TAudioConverter can apply certain effects to audio. It can change audio volume level and playback speed.

TAudioConverter is free open source software.

And more...

http://taudioconverter.sourceforge.net/

TagScanner is a multifunction program for organizing and managing your music collection. It can edit tags of most modern audio formats, rename files according to information from the tags, generate tag information from filenames, and perform any transformations of the text from tags and filenames. Also you may get album info and cd-covers via online databases like freedb, Amazon or Discogs. Supports ID3v1/v2, Vorbis comments, APEv2, WindowsMedia and MP4(iTunes) tags. Powerful TAG editor with batch functions and special features. Playlists generator with ability to export playlists to HTML or Excel. Easy-to-use multilanguage interface. Built-in music player.

Features:

Rename files based on the tag and file information
Powerful multiple files tag editor
Import tag information and album art from online databases like freedb or Amazon
Generate tag information from file/foldernames
Tag fields formatting and rearrangement
Words replacement and case conversion from tags and filenames
Supports MP3, OGG, FLAC, WMA, MPEG-4, Opus, Musepack, Monkey's Audio, AAC, OptimFROG, SPEEX, WavPack, TrueAudio, Direct Stream Digital files
Supports ID3 1.0/1.1/2.2/2.3/2.4 tags, APE v1 and v2 tags, Vorbis Comments, WMA tags and MP4(iTunes) metadata
Supports for embedded lyrics and cover art
Resize cover art for portable devices on the fly
TAGs versions conversions
Quick playlists creation
Export information to HTML, XML CSV or any user-defined format
Full support for Unicode
Multilanguage interface
Built-in multiformat player

http://www.xdlab.ru/en/

auCDtect Task Manager is a free GUI tool that lets you check if your lossless audio files were upconverted from a "lossy" file format.

auCDtect Task Manager uses external 3-rd party decoders to unpack the files being tested into temporary directory, whereupon authenticity of unpacked .wav files is tested by external auCDtect tool. Progress report is displayed as this process runs.

As soon as the test is completed, auCDtect Task Manager produces a report, signs it with a digital signature and saves it into a file.

Of course, auCDtect Task Manager can always verify the authenticity of its signatures.

Features:

Optimized for multitasking
Optimized for multiprocessor/multicore platforms
Each task is executed in a separate virtual "sandbox", which makes extended task management (e.g. safe error handling, task execution dynamic priority control, etc.) possible
More than 20 lossless/hybrid audio file formats are supported.This list can be expanded with minimal effort by editing a configuration file
Full unicode support
Easy localization
auCDtect Task Manager is portable, i.e. no installation is required. And You can even launch it from a write-protected CD
Advanced .WAVs analysis is possible by means of an external tool (Sonic Visualiser and Wavosaur are recommended)
Configurable spectrogram processing (SoX required)

http://y-soft.org/English/products/auCDtect-Task-Manager/

CUETools is a tool for lossless audio/CUE sheet format conversion. The goal is to make sure the album image is preserved accurately. A lossless disc image must be lossless not only in preserving contents of the audio tracks, but also in preserving gaps and CUE sheet contents. Many applications lose vital information upon conversion, and don't support all possible CUE sheet styles. For example, foobar2000 loses disc pre-gap information when converting an album image, and doesn't support gaps appended (noncompliant) CUE sheets.

Supports WAV, FLAC, APE, LossyWAV, ALAC, TTA, and WavPack audio input/output. Audio must be 16-bit, 44.1kHz samples stereo (i.e. CD PCM). Supports every CUE sheet style (embedded, single file, gaps appended/prepended/left out). It is also possible to process a set of audio files in a directory without a CUE sheet, or use a RAR archive as an input without unpacking it.