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-   -   Software: Requests and Suggestions (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=63805)

felix 2006-09-18 05:22

Software: Requests and Suggestions
 
This thread is meant for discussing and spreading reliable and stable programs.

Some good programs can be hard to find either because they are not spoken of very often, the net has been overwhelmed with publicity for weaker programs from big corporations or people don't have enough expertise with the particular type of program to tell the difference between what's good and what's not so good.
This thread is meant to help point people to the good/excellent ones.

If you are having trouble finding programs, just don't know if you should buy a particular one or you're just curious what program is used to do some things post here so people may share their experience.
Maybe there's a program out there that does everything you wish for and is also FREE. :)
It never hurts to ask. :D

Guidelines for Requesting:
  • Be specific on what you want - please try to specify what you want the program to do. Comparing to previous experiences can help a lot.
  • Don't post for trouble shouting help - you can ask technical troubleshooting questions (regarding both software and hardware) in the Tech Support forum. Also, please try to seek help from the people that offer you the product so they may fix the problem in future versions.
  • Don't ask for illegal software.
Guidelines for Answering:
  • Give reasons for your suggestion - don't just stick the program's name out, offer some reasons why it's good. A few of the programs functions that you use or that exited you would suffice.
  • Specify the nature of the license - specify weather the program is :
    1. 100% FREE - all the functions of the program are available, no fee is necessary
    2. Shareware - programs that have some functions FREE, but you have to pay a price ($$$) to unlock all its features
    3. Addware - programs that have adds in them (usually the case of download managers), they are basically the same as Shareware but the price you pay is seeing the adds.
    4. Programs with a free Trial - these are generally more sophisticated programs. Basically the program is free to use for XXX days (it's absolutely FREE) but after the trial period expires you must pay a price to continue using it. (should you like it)
      Programs that have a trial period are usually good programs and stable.
    5. Or some other gimmick - for example I've seen programs that perform a certain task but if you want to save your work you have to buy a license.
  • If you agree with a suggestion of a fellow member and would like to add some other info about the program, please feel free to do so. ;)
  • No suggestion (or mentioning) of illegal software - programs that that are free but only use is to allow you to illegally use other software.
IMPORTANT RULE : In this thread and in the rest of the forum there will be NO Asking, NO Giving and NO Mentioning of information on where to find pirated software, how to crack/cheat/hack program licenses and software or any other piece of information that violates product copyrights, license etc.

felix 2006-09-18 05:23

This is a filtered list. More information is contained in the original software-list.xml (XSLT BBCode Transformation) file from which the following was generated.



Office Suite
OpenOffice.org aka OO.o
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: The program is a free alternative for Microsoft Office (Xp or earlier).
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux
Alternatives: ~Microsoft Office ~Abiword


File Archiver
7-Zip
¤Free
Homepage Wiki
Description: 7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), except for the RAR plugin. By default, the program creates 7z archives (.7z), using the LZMA algorithm for compression. This relatively new format allows the program to achieve a very high compression ratio, comparable to other popular high compression formats such as RAR (which is based on proprietary algorithms).
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux

Features
  1. Packing/Unpacking 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
  2. Unpacking Only RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
Alternatives: ~Winrar(pay) ~WinZIP(pay)


BitTorrent Client
µTorrent aka µT
¤Free
Homepage Wiki
Description: Small, efficient, reliable and stable. Well known for it's low resource consumption.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Alternatives: ~Azureus ~BitTornado ~ABC


Audio - Player
Winamp
¤Freeware
Homepage Wiki
Description: The BASIC Package contains almost everything the average user would need (support for skins, radio support etc). The PRO Package contains several features for ripping and burning music.
Supported Operating Systems:

Resources:
  1. Winamp.com (plug-ins/skins)
Alternatives: ~foobar2000


Audio - Processor
Audicity
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to: Record live audio. Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs. Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together. Change the speed or pitch of a recording. And more...
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux
Alternatives: ~SoundForge(pay) ~Adobe Audition(pay) ~Cakewalk(pay) ~Jazz++ ~Ableton Live(pay)


Video Player
Media Player Classic aka MPC
¤Free

Description: Comes with Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP). Supports almost every type of video file, including : .mkv and .mp4. Other formats like .mov, .rm and .rmvb etc are supported through 3rd party vendors.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows

Resources:
  1. CCCP (includes MPC)
  2. Real Alternative
  3. QuickTime Alternative
Alternatives: ~VideoLan Cross-Platform Media Player ~MPlayer


Internet Browser
Mozzila Firefox
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage
Description: Fast, simple, easy to use, fully custumizable, Firefox is among the most popular browsers. While lacking strict or fully compliance with certain standards firefox has been known to quickly adopt and even develop web standards. Loved by devolopers, Firefox users rest happy in the though that 99.99% of sites they browse will work flawleslly; certain sites have been known to be even firefox-only.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux
Uninstall: The program will delete most of it's runtime compoinent but settings and other files are likely to be kept.


Features
  1. Popular Capabilities Available Through Extentions Ad-Blocking, Full Macro and Key-Binding Options, Syncronazation, Adv. Web-Developement ToolsSets, Adv. AddressBar Customizations, Adv. Tab Options, Adv. History Options
Resources:
  1. Themes Addons and Extentions
Alternatives: ~Opera


Graphics - Raster
GNU Image Manipulation Program aka GIMP
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: The GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is a raster graphics editor application with some support for vector graphics. GIMP can be used to process digital graphics and photographs. Typical uses include creating graphics and logos, resizing and cropping photos, changing colors, combining images using a layer paradigm, removing unwanted image features, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create animated images using an improved layers method. The full capabilities of the GIMP extend much further, however, and include advanced image editing, manipulation, and professional graphics creation. If you have animation in mind install Gimp Animation Packege (aka GAP).
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.


Resources:
  1. Tutorials
  2. GIMP On Macs
  3. GimpShop - GIMP with Photoshop Layout
  4. Psip - Gimp host plugin to support Adobe Photoshop plugins
Paint.NET
¤Free
Homepage Wiki Dependency: .NET Framework
Description: Paint.NET is a bitmap graphics editor for the .NET Framework. Very similar in design and capabilities with Photoshop.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.


Resources:
  1. Screenshots
Alternatives: ~Photoshop Elements(pay) ~Adobe Photoshop(pay)


Graphics - Vector
Inkscape
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: Inkscape is a simple to use vector graphics editor, well known for it's very good SVG capabilities.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.

Alternatives: ~Adobe Illustrator(pay) ~Xara Xtreme(pay)


Graphics - Drawing/Painting
Open Canvas aka oC
¤Payed

Description: Open Canvas, popularly abbreviated as oC, is an art program for Microsoft Windows, popular among Japanese digital artists. Open Canvas is known for its unique blending style, something of a cross between Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Unlike many similar programs, Open Canvas is specifically designed for use with pressure-sensitive drawing tablets, like the popular Wacom's digitizing tablets. It is designed from the bottom up to be a sketch program rather than a graphic design program.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Alternatives: ~ArtWeaver


RSS/Atom/RDF Reader (Aggregator)
RSSOwl
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki Dependency: Java Runtime Environment
Description: Applications that collect data from RSS-compliant sites are called RSS readers or "aggregators." RSSOwl is such an application. RSSOwl lets you gather, organize, update, and store information from any compliant source in a convenient, easy to use interface, save selected information in various formats for offline viewing and sharing, and much more. It's easy to configure, available in many many languages and the best of all: It's platform-independent.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh Linux
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.

Alternatives: ~SharpReader ~GreatNews ~FeedDemon(pay) ~Akregator (linux)


IRC Client
mIRC
¤Freeware
Homepage
Description: mIRC is a simple and popular irc client with scripting support and gui interface for most irc needs.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows

Resources:
  1. Manual
  2. IRC Client Comparison
Alternatives: ~konversation (Linux) ~Colloquy (Mac) ~IceChat (Win) ~Irssi ~KVIrc ~IceChat


Code Editor
Notepad++
¤Free ¤Open Source

Description: Notepad++ is a free (free as in "free speech", but also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement, which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Linux
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.


Features
  1. Support ASP, Ada, ASCII art, Assembly, AutoIt, BAT, C, C#, C++, Caml, CSS, doxygen, FORTRAN, HTML, Haskell, Java, JavaScript, KiXtart, Lisp, Lua, makefile, Matlab, Objective-C, Pascal, Perl, PHP, PostScript, Python, Ruby, Scheme, Unix Shell Script, Smalltalk, SQL, Tcl, TeX, Verilog, VHDL, VB/VBScript, XML.
  2. Common Features Auto-completion (language and file), Bookmarks, Syntax highlighting (and brace and indent highlighting), Regular expression find and replace, Split screen editing, Zooming, Spell checker (built in but requires Aspell), Hex editor (plug in available), Tabbed document interface. It has support for macros and plugins. A user-written plug-in called TextFX, which provides many text transformation options, is included by default.
Resources:
  1. Download Linux Version
Alternatives: ~Komodo Edit


Tools
PDFCreator
¤Free ¤Open Source

Description: PDFCreator integrates into windows and offers support for applications to print to the PDF format. Some patented variations of PDF are not supported. At the time of this writing, the Windows Vista OS is not supported.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
InfraRecorder
¤Free ¤Open Source

Description: CD and DVD Burning Tool
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
SubRip
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: SubRip is an optical character recognition program for Windows which rips (extracts) subtitles and their timings from video files or DVDs, recording them as a text file. Subrip is also the name of the subtitle format created by this software. The caption files are named with the extension .SRT. This format is supported by most software video players and subtitle creation programs
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
MPEG Streamclip
¤Free
Homepage
Description: MPEG Streamclip is a converter for QuickTime files, MPEG-1/2/4 files and transport streams (.ts and .m2t). It provides high-quality conversion of movies and MPEGs into several useful formats. It is compatible with most editing applications and DVD authoring tools. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies. MPEG Streamclip can also download videos from YouTube and Google by entering the page URL.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Machintosh
WinSCP
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage
Description: WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Uninstall: Has a clean easy uninstall.

DVD Flick
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage
Description: DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks as well as subtitles of your choice.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
VisiPics
¤Free
Homepage
Description: If you get too many pictures on your harddrive, downloaded or photographied, from several different sources, it may happen that you have many duplicates. In that case you need a quick and easy to use program that finds and deletes all your duplicates. VisiPics does more than just look for identical files, it goes beyond checksums to look for similar pictures and does it all with a simple user interface. First, you select the root folder or folders to find and catalogue all of your pictures. It then applies five image comparison filters in order to measure how close pairs of images on the hard drive are.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Alternatives: ~OmniGraffle(pay)


Maintanance
PageDefrag
¤Free

Description: A free software that defrags your pagefile allowing windows to bootup and shutdown faster.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Auslogics DiskDefrag
¤Free

Description: Disk Defrag utility.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
HD Tune
¤Free

Description: Hard Drive Benchmark and Error Cheker.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
DriveImage XML
¤Free

Description: Image and Backup of Logical Partitions.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows

Resources:
  1. “Ghost” Windows XP for free
Darik's Boot and Nuke aka DBAN
¤Free

Description: Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Linux
RIVAtuner
¤Free
Homepage
Description: RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters. The widest driver-level Direct3D / OpenGL and system tuning options, flexible profiling system allowing to make custom settings on per-application basis, both driver-level and low-level hardware access modes, unique diagnostic and realtime hardware monitoring features and exclusive power user oriented tools like built-in registry editor and patch script engine make RivaTuner's feature set absolutely unmatched.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Partimage
¤Free
Homepage
Description: Partimage is a Linux utility which saves partitions having a supported filesystem to an image file. Most Linux and Windows filesystems are supported. The image file can be compressed with the gzip / bzip2 programs to save disk space, and they can be splitted into multiple files to be copied on CDs / DVDs
Supported Operating Systems: Linux
Crap Cleaner aka cCleaner
¤Free
Homepage
Description: CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Alternatives: ~Registry Mechanic(pay) ~TuneUp Utilities(pay) ~Acronis TrueImage(pay) ~CrystalDiskMark ~Cobian Backup


Other
AutoKeys
¤Free ¤Open Source
Homepage Wiki
Description: Autokeys is a program designed to create a shortcut key including mouse shortcuts for everything you want.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
RainMeter and Rainlendar 2
¤Free ¤Open Source

Description: Desktop Widget
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Linux 64bit Architecture

Resources:
  1. Skins
Unlocker
¤Free

Description: Access Lock Breaker
Supported Operating Systems: Windows

Created on: 2006-09-18. Last modified: 2008-04-07

felix 2006-09-18 05:25

Security Programs
 
Security related programs are listed here, as no finger can be pointed to any one of them as the best, thus I will just list them here and some details about them. Choose whichever you like. :)

FREE Security Programs
Back To Top

AVG AntiVirus Free Edition - antivirus/antispyware [Download]
Supposedly loosy on deletion.
Avast - Home Edition - antivirus [Download]

AntiVir by Avira - antivirus [Download]

BitDeffender 8 - antivirus [Download]

ClamWin - antivirus (screenshots) [Download]

BitDeffender Linux Edition - antivirus for Linux [Download]

Clam - antivirus for Linux [Download]

WinPooch - anti-spyware/anti-trojan [Download] [Open Source]

Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (SKPF) -Firewall [Download]

SmoothWall - Firewall [Download] [Open Source]

Sygate Personal Firewall - Firewall [Download]

ZoneAlarm - Firewall [Download]
Supposedly, good for gaming, bad for torrents.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile - protection for your mobile phone [Download]

SpyBot : Search & Destroy - anti-spyware [Download]

Other Anti-Spyware : Windows Defender (by Microssoft), Ad-Aware, Winpatrol, SpywareBlaster

McAfee SiteAdvisor - virus/spam/phishing etc site warning program [Download]
You are warned of the threat level of a site (and potential annoying factors) NOT that you have been infected.
The Programs is only for Internet Explorer users, it adds a little warning menu next to the adress bar (that warns you of potential threats), also shows a warning level next to each item in a google search. See "Other ways to protect your computer for FREE" for more info... and how to use the service without IE.
Comodo Firewall - Firewall [Download]

Comodo AntiVirus - AntiVirus [Download]

Other FREE Security Programs : Crap Cleaner WinPatrol SnoopFree F-Prot Antivirus for DOS


Other ways to protect your computer for FREE
  • Use FREE scan (like this one by Kaspersky or this one from Trend Micro or this one from BitDeffender or this one from Panda or this one from Symantec (the makers of Norton)) . If the scan finds things, then go to sites like Kaspersky's Official Site or BitDeffender's Official site or Symantec (Norton's Official site) or McAfee's Official site, there you will find removal tools, all FREE to download. These are basically specialized programs made to clean (usually disinfect) X virus/trojan/whatever. Needless to say these are more trustworthy then antivirus scans as they are made with your problem (virus/trojan/whatever X) in mind. This is also useful if the antivirus detects the threat with algorithms (doesn't have it registered in it's database) thus you have only the delete option available.
  • Use McAfee Site Advisor service (not the program mentioned above). Regardless of which browser you use you can go to the site and enter a the domain (address) of another site to check if it's Ok (Ex (links to rating) : AnimeSuki.com, Google.com). There you may find if the site is safe (note the service goes by a "better safe then sorry" policy, so a site may be marked as Unsafe if it's activities are very suspicious; check the user comments to find out more info/opinions). Main rating is by the staff (you are free to suggest any site for rating). Other ratings are by users, all opinions are welcome.
  • Use Spam Poison. Instructions : Just have a link to Spam Poison's site. Spam-bots searching for E-mails will go there were they will be fed tons and tons of fakes, making any information they collected from your site (or the site you like/visit etc) useless. A simple banner icon is available (http://pics3.inxhost.com/images/sticker.gif <-- click it to go to the site for the code), you can of course be more creative like NightWish and have it sneakily hidden somewhere, like your sigy.
  • Malware removal procedures...
Uhh... Ok I know there were some other ways... can't seem to remember ATM... ARGHH...



Paid Security Programs
Back To Top

F-Secure - antispyware [Download] [Price - $60(1 license) $120(3 licenses)]

Kaspersky Anti-Virus - antivirus [Download] [Price - $40 (1 year) $64 (2 years)]
Supposedly has issues with ZoneAlarm.
Kaspersky Internet Security - antivirus/firewall/anti-(hacker, spam, phishing, spyware, adware) [Download] [Price - $60 (1 year) $96 (2 years)]

AVG - antivirus [Download] [Price - Professional $40 (1 lice, 1 comp, 2 years) SoHo $60 (2 lice, 5 comp, 2 years)]

Trend Micro PC-Cillin - antivirus [Download] [Price - $50]

Panda Antivirus - antivirus/anti-spyware [Download] [Price - $30]

Norton Antivirus - antivirus/antispyware/email protection [Download] [Price - $40]
Supposedly, intrusive, resource heavy, has unfriendly settings, sometimes screws up network configuration, is a lot of a hassle.
//Note : A screenshot of a part in Norton Antivirus 2007 can be found on the download page.
Norton Internet Security - antivirus/firewall/anti-(phishing, hacking etc) [Download] [Price - $70]
May cause problems with networking.
//Note : A screenshot of a part in Norton Internet Security 2007 (Main Controls, probably) can be found on the download page.
McAfee VirusScanPlus - antivirus/firewall/antispyware [Download] [Price - $40 (1 year)]
Supposedly, a resource hog.
McAfee Internet Security - Read Spex... [Download] [Price - $50 (1 year)]

McAfee Total Protection - Read Spex... [Download] [Price - $60 (1 year), $100 (2 years)]

NOD32 - antivirus [Download] [Price - $40 (1 year), $33 (if you buy at least 5)]
Supposedly, has low resource consumption, known to fail miserably at detecting some threats.
F-Prot - antivirus [Download] [Price - $30]
Supposedly, low resource consumption. Interface screenshot...
Linux (and other OS) Version also available... (pay)
BitDeffender Antivirus - antivirus [Download] [Price - $40 (2 users 2 years)]

BitDeffender Internet Security - Antivirus/Firewall/Anti-Spyware etc Full details... [Download] [Price - $70 (2 users 2 years)]

ZoneAlarm® PRO - Firewall [Download] [Price - $40]
Spex (as listed on site) : Network and Program Firewall, Operating System Firewall, Identity Theft Protection, Anti-Spyware, Spy Site Blocking, Privacy Protection, Game Mode, Email Security, Wireless PC Protection, SmartDefense™ Service
How to avoid trouble :
  • You antivirus is your backup, you need to protect yourself. It can't protect you if you say ok to the trojan, virus or some internet scam. (in short : don't be an idiot)
  • Don't use your personal information unless its required for payment (or something similar) or you are writing it in something that wasn't specifically designed to hold it. (like a post on the forum for example)
  • Don't use a universal password. Your Email password should always be unique (don't use it anywhere else). For convenience you could use a password that you enter everytime you register to some random site you don't care much about or don't care much about ATM you register. When it becomes somewhat important change the password. If it contains content that can be exploited ($$$) should your account info be snatched (username/email, password) than use a unique password. Note : for a good password use more then numbers and letters. (should no specification of using only numbers and letters be made)
  • When creating a password use just your spontaneous imagination an try to avoid personal references. If you want to test your password start an account on hotmail (just enter the sing-up phase) and try out passwords, hotmail tells you how good it is (try to get a good grade, their check list seems pretty good).
  • If you're going to use (or really need to use) a mail client then use multiple emails. One official (never use email-client with it), use this one for business etc and one personal (use the email-client only with this one), tell this one to your friends, family, use it for forums etc
  • Be careful with what information you remember and what you store. Don't save or use, with caution, options that save information like user name and password on your computer. If you have amnesia often then write it on paper or in your mobile or some other external source.
  • Don't make public your email on any site. If you want to give it to people then give it through non-public means like a PM.
  • Sites from big companies or brands etc are usually safer.
  • The bigger, sophisticated, cooler the site the safer.
  • The secure connection thing isn't that much safer but it is a sign of trust.
  • Sites with their own domain are more trustworthy (domain names cost money) (don't confuse with subdomain names (like "forums" in "forums.animesuki.com", there are sites were you can get FREE subdomains or just a subdomain name)
  • See something in your browser pop up saying things like "your computer is infected" or "is at risk" etc. Just walk away or ignore it, it's always a trap.
  • The more ads the more unsafe the site.
  • Try not to use standard programs (IE etc). The more people use it the more people will try to find holes in it. Non-Standard programs are usually better anyway.

Security settings :
  • Configure your antivirus to reflect the security you need. Before you start choosing try to think just what do you have that needs protecting.
  • You will always need an antivirus to protect your Operating System from mutiny (unauthorized restarts, weird responses etc).
  • Don't carelessly set the settings to high. (scanning periodically and keeping the settings at a reasonable level is usually better).
  • Always have the highest level of security for the scans and make sure you scan everything. Quick scans can be useless (and create a false sense of security), they are good to check if you got totally and utterly infected.
  • When presented with infected files, unless they are system files (are located somewhere in the windows directory) or are very VERY important and hard to replace, DELETE them.
  • If you know someone is targeting you (personally), make sure you use the highest security settings for your security programs.

Ok... That should be n00b friendly enough...
If you would like to add some other suggestion please post here... :D

Antivirus comparason sites : av-comparatives


Other Security Related Programs

Darik's Boot and Nuke - Hard Drive Wipe [100% FREE] [Floppy-Boot / USB-Boot / CD-Boot] [supports: IDE, SCSI and SATA]
Darik's Boot and Nuke (commonly known as DBAN) is an open source project hosted on Sourceforge. The program is designed to securely wipe a hard disk until data is no longer recoverable, by overwriting the data with random numbers generated by Mersenne twister (a PRNG). The Gutmann method is included with DBAN.

Download : [Direct]

NoSanninWa 2006-09-18 05:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
Can anyone point me to a good rss program and irc program.

I use Opera for my RSS aggregator. Opera is already listed in the index as an internet browser and I'm extremely happy with Opera's RSS reader. It's free and has all the sorting ability I need. Also the fact that is fully integrated with my browser is a very nice bonus.

As an IRC client I use mIRC... I'll say it is better than Opera's IRC client, but not exceptional. mIRC is shareware; you get a free trial for 30 days before registering it for $20 so you might as well give it a try. If you don't think it is worth purchasing, then you can always use Opera for free.

******

Now, I've got a question: Can anyone recommend good Firewall and Anti-Virus programs for me? While I would prefer free or cheap programs, what I'm really interested in are programs that have minimal system overhead. Are there such programs that will do the job well, without slowing my system or eating up resources? It would be worth paying for such programs if they worked well. Unfortunately the market leaders have turned into bloatware and other programs seem to have other problems.

felix 2006-09-18 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa
I use Opera for my RSS aggregator. Opera is already listed in the index as an internet browser and I'm extremely happy with Opera's RSS reader. It's free and has all the sorting ability I need. Also the fact that is fully integrated with my browser is a very nice bonus.

I know... I use Opera... the problem is that Feeds thing is hard to get at...
I mean to get to it I would have to hit F11 >> drag all the way to Feeds >> click it >> click on the AS rss feed (and then I'm faced with a ton of info I don't need... and apparently I can't squeeze the fields to 0)

I might as well go to the AS front page... (Shift+F2) + s

I'm looking for a program that can run outside the browser and has some friendly form of announcing stuff... like a pop-up or sound. (I only need it for AS)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa
As an IRC client I use mIRC... I'll say it is better than Opera's IRC client, but not exceptional. mIRC is shareware; you get a free trial for 30 days before registering it for $20 so you might as well give it a try. If you don't think it is worth purchasing, then you can always use Opera for free.

$20... hmm...
I think I'll stick with good ol' Opera... IRC will probably disappear in a few years once Opera completes development on they're Event Streaming to Web Browsers thing... or not...

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa
Now, I've got a question: Can anyone recommend good Firewall and Anti-Virus programs for me? While I would prefer free or cheap programs, what I'm really interested in are programs that have minimal system overhead. Are there such programs that will do the job well, without slowing my system or eating up resources? It would be worth paying for such programs if they worked well. Unfortunately the market leaders have turned into bloatware and other programs seem to have other problems.

All anti-virus programs offer some protection... in other words your computer won't blow up.
I think it's better to go by what anti-virus should I not use...

For example Not32 is a really low resource anti-virus, but I got infected with jeefo so black boll for it... :mad:

Right now I'm happy with Kaspersky... pretty much detects/deletes anything that's threatening. (it's not that famed for it's disinfecting properties)
Until now every time I accidentally got a file that was dangerous (trojan or so) I would see a little window pop up saying that the file had trojen, virus etc and Kaspersky waked it off of my hdd... :D

I know some of my friends are happy with Bitdefender and McAfee... :)
Haven heard any bad stories about them...

Firewall ?... Hmm... I use the windows one... I'm starting to feel some second thoughts about software by Microsoft... I would also like to know of a FREE alternative... I'm don't play video games so it's not that important to me if it's a resource hog or not...

* * * * * * *

BTW can anyone advise me on Linux...
Heard about it... never seen one...
If I understand correctly it's FREE and there are several versions...
BTW were do I get it...
yes I'm a n00b... lol :D

bayoab 2006-09-18 09:03

This is probably going to be a lead in for a double post, one informational, one argumentative.
Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
Can anyone point me to a good rss program and irc program.

Thanks in advance :)

For RSS, I have found basically 3 programs that are decent enough to use. I just went through switching RSS readers a few weeks ago to one that satisfied certain requirements: not buggy, is still currently under active development, secure*, and doesn't leave a huge memory footprint with huge #'s of items in a feeed**. I ended up going with Sharpreader and its pretty good. Missing a few features though.
1) Sharpreader (Free) (Semi-active dev) (Secure) (Seems to be the preference of a few majors Developers too.)
2) Greatnews (Free) (Semi-active dev, secure?)
3) Feeddemon (30 day trial, then pay) (Fully Active dev) (Secure) ***

*Secure means that they have patched the internal RSS browser to run in the internet zone and not the local zone or similar to prevent rss attacks.
**I have a few feeds that I want to keep backups of and thus have 10000+ items. Feeddemon chokes HEAVILY on these. For things under 1000 or so, it works fine though.
***I used Feeddemon for the longest time and then wanted to upgrade. The problem is the new version REQUIRES integration with newsgator AND phones home. The program is still a really great RSS Program but these were two features that I definitely did not want. There is also a cap of 19999 items and it's memory usage shoots through the roof on anything over 5000 or so. There are also some very weird bugs.


Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa
Now, I've got a question: Can anyone recommend good Firewall and Anti-Virus programs for me? While I would prefer free or cheap programs, what I'm really interested in are programs that have minimal system overhead. Are there such programs that will do the job well, without slowing my system or eating up resources? It would be worth paying for such programs if they worked well. Unfortunately the market leaders have turned into bloatware and other programs seem to have other problems.

Firewalls:
If you can still find a copy of it, Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 (aka 2.15) (The last one before it became bloatware.)
Upsides: Free license, low memory foot print, very advanced control over the firewall.
Downsides: There are a few security holes (DOS only, no remote), minor issues with some setups, and it is 5 years old and out of development.

Anti-virus: They all are basically the same amount of suck somewhere. The best three (IMTSO) (plus one) are basically:
AVG: It's free, it works, decent detection rates.
Kaspersky: You have to pay for this one but it has the highest wild detection rate I saw. On the few systems that I saw it, it was pretty small memory wise.
F-secure I am going to recommend this one based on a handful of experiences and based on what they are producing. Its pay, but the few systems I saw it on, it had a pretty low memory footprint, was decently fast, and got most things. The thing is, they are the ones with new heurestics and rootkit detection in their latest version which sounds like it will increase their wild detection rates by a lot.
+1: If you happen to go to a school that has Norton Corporate, that is one of the best engines out there but the detection rates can be sucky.

bayoab 2006-09-18 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
FREE programs have priority.

Free does NOT mean better. The same way that Open Source does not mean better.

Quote:

OpenOffice.org - office suite [100% FREE] [Open Source] [Win/Mac/Linux] [MultiLang] [Clean Uninstall][indent]The program is a free alternative for Microsoft Office.
Alternative, yes. Superior, no. Openoffice is one of the WORST hackjobs for a programs that I have seen. The fact it is free does not make it a better program. There are many many quirks, issues, and bugs that appear with this program. (Most that I have experienced are on the issue of formatting where what you see onscreen is not what prints out.) Yes, for the basic person who just needs to type up a document, it is fine and does what it is supposed to do. But anything neededing more than that becomes a hassle and can be done in 1/2 the time on MS word. (Note: Not a MS fanboy, I hate word (and wordperfect) too.) Its security is also questionable and its cross compatibility borders on none sometimes. (I have made a document on one system only to have it open differently on another.)


Quote:

Opera - internet browser [100% FREE] [pay for tech support] [All-OS + Mobiles]
[indent] The most secure browser (0 unpached vulnabilities).
Security is not a function of number of unpatched vulnerabilities. Firefox has patched most of their vulnerabilities and they are not a problem if you have updated. Also, note that Opera has had its share of vulnerabilites too. Opera is currently under pre-mozilla-netscape syndrome. It's internet footprint is still too small for it to be gutted.

You also forgot to mention Mozilla Suite which has only 1/2 the vulns that are in Firefox (not based on the 1.5 code), is far more stable and reliable and its successor Mozilla Seamonkey which has the other 1/2 (based on the 1.5+ code).

Sylf 2006-09-18 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
Can anyone tell me of a program for creating music. The type were you add little sounds to make a tune etc
And a program to convert to the .au format.

Can anyone point me to a good rss program and irc program.

Are you a musician? Do you want to make music with MIDI programs? Or do you want bits and pieces of other music and other sound samples and make collage... like remix DJs?

For the former, use MIDI sequencer of some kind. Cakewalk comes out as the first pick program for me. It also has options to add wav audio to add any sound of your choice. It's been several years since I've touched any MIDI sequencers though. For the latter, check out Audacity (free) or CoolEdit (expensive).

RSS - I don't read very many feeds, but I'm using Thunderbird. After going through multiple stand-alone feed readers, I've decided I like this setting the best.

IRC - I've made my switch from mIRC to x-chat, and I've been very happy with it. The official version of x-chat for windows is a shareware. Because the source is still available for free under the GPL, there are other free versions available, such as the one by Silverex. It does have its own quirks that may bother some people. It does miss some features that mIRC supports (such as custom background images per window, etc). And not all configurable options are present in the preferences dialogue, so you need to configure them using /set command. Even with these drawbacks, I still like it better than mIRC.

felix 2006-09-18 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
1) Sharpreader (Free) (Semi-active dev) (Secure) (Seems to be the preference of a few majors Developers too.)

Yaay... that's exactly what I wanted :D :D :D
Simple... and I don't have to do a thing... :D
Thanks bayoab...
*reps bayoab*

I'll add the other 2 as alternatives...
Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
I have a few feeds that I want to keep backups of and thus have 10000+ items. Feeddemon chokes HEAVILY on these. For things under 1000 or so, it works fine though.

10000+ items :twitch:... cool :cool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
Free does NOT mean better.

I would like to second this motion...
I personally don't use OO.o... I'm very happy with MsO :p
However while FREE does not mean better... FREE is very important to most people... Even I like free stuff :D... It's Perfection Vs. Money...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
The same way that Open Source does not mean better.

As far as I'm consern Open Source means the program is free and has some prospects for good development...
The list isn't created by what I want... It just lists some of the information people might be intrested in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
Alternative, yes. Superior, no. Openoffice is one of the WORST hackjobs for a programs that I have seen. The fact it is free does not make it a better program. There are many many quirks, issues, and bugs that appear with this program. (Most that I have experienced are on the issue of formatting where what you see onscreen is not what prints out.) Yes, for the basic person who just needs to type up a document, it is fine and does what it is supposed to do. But anything neededing more than that becomes a hassle and can be done in 1/2 the time on MS word. (Note: Not a MS fanboy, I hate word (and wordperfect) too.) Its security is also questionable and its cross compatibility borders on none sometimes. (I have made a document on one system only to have it open differently on another.)

OO.o is the alternative that offers the most... it's still under development... and it's FREE... so it's got backing to be there...
I intend to add MsO (it's what I always use)... but like Photoshop I want to make sure I add all the info as best as I can... so it's going to take me a while... :cool: (it's hard to summarize it's functionality... and it's big...)
It's hard to summarize because I want to have a nice clean list with 4 lines (max) of description... of course it's impossible for these types of programs... but I try my best :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
Security is not a function of number of unpatched vulnerabilities. Firefox has patched most of their vulnerabilities and they are not a problem if you have updated. Also, note that Opera has had its share of vulnerabilites too. Opera is currently under pre-mozilla-netscape syndrome. It's internet footprint is still too small for it to be gutted.

Yes "0 unpached vulnabilities" might be inappropriate *removes*. I still see noting that says that Opera is insecure... I'll leave the title...

What do you mean by "pre-mozilla-netscape syndrome".

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
You also forgot to mention Mozilla Suite which has only 1/2 the vulns that are in Firefox (not based on the 1.5 code), is far more stable and reliable and its successor Mozilla Seamonkey which has the other 1/2 (based on the 1.5+ code).

I want to keep the list friendly and useful :)... so I think it's best to list only 2 programs for every purpose (one paid& one free; one fast& one secure; one resource hog& one efficient... etc)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayoab
Anti-virus: They all are basically the same amount of suck somewhere. The best three (IMTSO) (plus one) are basically:
AVG: It's free, it works, decent detection rates.
Kaspersky: You have to pay for this one but it has the highest wild detection rate I saw. On the few systems that I saw it, it was pretty small memory wise.
F-secure I am going to recommend this one based on a handful of experiences and based on what they are producing. Its pay, but the few systems I saw it on, it had a pretty low memory footprint, was decently fast, and got most things. The thing is, they are the ones with new heurestics and rootkit detection in their latest version which sounds like it will increase their wild detection rates by a lot.
+1: If you happen to go to a school that has Norton Corporate, that is one of the best engines out there but the detection rates can be sucky.

Hmm... maybe I should add Kaspersky and AVG (the free alternative).
Now that I think about it... I don't think there's any other free alternative then AVG.

I know I saw a thread about antivirus programs here somewhere... maybe I can put that to some use... hopefully xris didn't wack it :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylf
Are you a musician? Do you want to make music with MIDI programs? Or do you want bits and pieces of other music and other sound samples and make collage... like remix DJs?

For the former, use MIDI sequencer of some kind. Cakewalk comes out as the first pick program for me. It also has options to add wav audio to add any sound of your choice. It's been several years since I've touched any MIDI sequencers though. For the latter, check out Audacity (free) or CoolEdit (expensive).

Thanks :)
No I'm not a musician... I just want to make little ambient music from bits and pieces. I heard this type before and I feel it's good enough (actually some were really good) I know they used some program to make them... I just wanted to give it a try and didn't want to start off on the wrong foot....
The .au audio format is the one you can place on webpages. (I hope I didn't mess this up)
Then again you can use gifs for favicons now so I guess it might be a similar story for site background music :uhoh:
Oh well... thanks again for the help... :) *rep++*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slyf
IRC - I've made my switch from mIRC to x-chat, and I've been very happy with it. The official version of x-chat for windows is a shareware. Because the source is still available for free under the GPL, there are other free versions available, such as the one by Silverex. It does have its own quirks that may bother some people. It does miss some features that mIRC supports (such as custom background images per window, etc). And not all configurable options are present in the preferences dialogue, so you need to configure them using /set command. Even with these drawbacks, I still like it better than mIRC.

Hmm... sounds good... I'll look into it before I add anything... :)

bayoab 2006-09-18 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
What do you mean by "pre-mozilla-netscape syndrome".

Pre-mozilla-netscape syndrome is what was going on with Netscape before it merged with the Mozilla Trunk. Back when netscape was 4.x and such, it had such a small internet footprint that that number of people researching vulnerabilities for it were sizably small. Therefore, it had security holes, but nobody was really gutting the program to find them. The blackhat community was equally "nobody uses it, no use exploiting it". This is the semi-state opera is in. Iirc, during the month of browser bugs, a few were found by using manglers/fuzzers. Still, since 80% of the world uses IE, 80% of the browser research is on IE.

raikage 2006-09-18 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa
Now, I've got a question: Can anyone recommend good Firewall and Anti-Virus programs for me? While I would prefer free or cheap programs, what I'm really interested in are programs that have minimal system overhead. Are there such programs that will do the job well, without slowing my system or eating up resources? It would be worth paying for such programs if they worked well. Unfortunately the market leaders have turned into bloatware and other programs seem to have other problems.

For antivirus programs, I've had great luck so far with avast.

Hasn't crashed on me, hasn't taken up too many resources (my system is somewhat dated as a 1.8 GHz, 1 GB of RAM PC).

I use Windows firewall, but keep hearing the name Zonealarm brought up as an excellent program.

07ChanF 2006-09-19 01:59

IF you BT or any other custom internet use; Zone Alarm will be very annoying and detrimental. Personally due to me computer being a bit custom configured, ZA screwed up my settings with its driver. All IMO.

Jinto 2006-09-21 06:19

Regarding the audio related software...

For wave samples I suggest Adobe Audition (formerly known as Cooledit).
It has very good effect-filters (both realtime and pre-calculated), which on sidenote are not allowed in kcl822's karaoke competition :D
And you can align these samples in a multi track sequencer (even midi, but for midi only, I'ld suggest other sequencers - there are so many good ones, that it is basically your personal taste that decides which one is better... Cakewalk, Cubase - Steinberg, Logic Pro Audio -for Apple-, Magix, TR-XoX -for bass lines and other drum related work :D (free), Jazz++ (free, see sourceforge), lot more free ones at sourceforge).

If you like it more professional I'ld suggest Ableton Live, it has all the neat stuff that samplers usually have, but since it is meant for easy use in a live performance, the graphical user interface is really clean and tidy. Such that a fast and easy sequencing is possible without the cluttered/packed gui's some samplers have. (and again, it is personal taste that makes one sequencer better than another, you must decide for your own).

Electroguy 2006-09-21 13:58

Ahh Jinto Lin beat me to it!!

On top of his/her comprehensive list I'll add:

Audio:

Soundforge
WaveLab


Sequencers:

Reason 3.0 - Very user friendly for amateurs. Programs like cubase are a bit hard to pick up.

Fruity Loops - If you havent made music before this ridiculously basic program well get you going.

Rebirth - A nice acid instrument + self contained sequencer, 303s & 808s etc.

None are free if you're planning to pay for them but can be acquired through the usual alternative methods quite easily.

Epyon9283 2006-09-21 18:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
And a program to convert to the .au format.

Can anyone point me to a good rss program and irc program.

Thanks in advance :)

Its not free but quicktime pro will convert to .au.

The only RSS program I like is Akregator but thats only on *nix systems. For cross-platform I'd go with RSSOwl. Its java though.

For IRC, I use Irssi. I think there may be a windows version somewhere. When I installed it in Windows I did it in cygwin.

Jinto 2006-09-22 03:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electroguy
Ahh Jinto Lin beat me to it!!

On top of his/her comprehensive list I'll add:

Audio:

Soundforge
WaveLab


Sequencers:

Reason 3.0 - Very user friendly for amateurs. Programs like cubase are a bit hard to pick up.

Fruity Loops - If you havent made music before this ridiculously basic program well get you going.

Rebirth - A nice acid instrument + self contained sequencer, 303s & 808s etc.

None are free if you're planning to pay for them but can be acquired through the usual alternative methods quite easily.

Ah yes, blasphemy. How dare I forgot to mention Rebirth :) (very nice sequencer for looping beat patterns)

felix 2006-09-29 11:17

*bump*
Some minor upgrades to the list...

Added the relatively unknown 7-Zip. (if I'm not mistaken the only FREE File Archiver)
Also added Photoshop (with lots of resources and stuff) and RSSOwl...
Compressed the layout a little...

Added a Security section with (hopefully) all the popular (since that's important for them) and trusted programs... The list is more or less a summary of all the programs that were suggested here (on Animesuki forum/Tech Support) over the years. I also added other programs I found on the sites of the programs suggested (under the premis that that if product x is trusted and is from company y then if product z is also from company y then it's also trustworthy) (most of them are FREE programs/services)

I also added a little n00by security guide.
If you find anything wrong then by al means shoot away :)

I have tons of other stuff on my "To Check/Add list" (all those audio, irc progys @_@ a couple of other ones.... ), I'll add them a little later...

_________________________
* * * * * * * * * * *

Ah yes before I forget, while searching the threads in the forum I found some interesting statements. I was thinking of adding them, but after browsing hundreds of antivirus homepages for hours :eyespin: the idea sort of went away. :heh:
Anyway... I'm curious just what here is true.
  1. The Home Edition is always junk compared to the Corporate Edition.
  2. Linux and Macs are 100% virus/spyware/mallware FREE.
  3. IE invites trouble.
  4. Firewall only stops hackers and trojans NOT viruses.
  5. Windows Firewall offers a false sense of protection. It only checks for programs from the internet accessing your comp (by design), programs that send the information (like personal info) don't even register.
  6. Broadband pluged directly into the computer = DEATH.
  7. Routers are the best Firewall protection you can get
    A read a lot of hype over this one.

I think there was another... can't remember right now @_@.
Anyway any opinions on this ?(which is true/false)... My brain is fried ATM :), can't think straight.

Jinto 2006-09-29 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
...
_________________________
* * * * * * * * * * *

Ah yes before I forget, while searching the threads in the forum I found some interesting statements. I was thinking of adding them, but after browsing hundreds of antivirus homepages for hours :eyespin: the idea sort of went away. :heh:
Anyway... I'm curious just what here is true.
1. The Home Edition is always junk compared to the Corporate Edition.

No, you cannot generalize on this. The question should be, do you need the software beyond its home edition use?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
2. Linux and Macs are 100% virus/spyware/mallware FREE.

Almost. That basically means there are only some incidents known of infections on Linux. That does not neccessarily mean such OSes are much safer, but maybe just less a target, because in comparison to Windows relatively uncommon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
3. IE invites trouble.

If you...
know which settings to use,
keep it updated,
know which part of the registry to set readonly,
... than it is basically as safe as other browsers.
It has a considerably low preload compared to other browsers. It is easier to safely use browsers like Firefox instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
4. Firewall only stops hackers and trojans NOT viruses.

No a firewall doesn't stop hackers and trojans, but chances are high, that they cannot affect the PC much. It should stop any suspicious comunication, and any comunication you did block, or did not have yet allowed (if it is a fairly good firewall). Some special FWs have intrusion detection, but I wouldn't rely on such automated features too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
5. Windows Firewall offers a false sense of protection. It only checks for programs from the internet accessing your comp (by design), programs that send the information (like personal info) don't even register.

It is not meant to be a fully operational FW (and I think I read that it states that fact somewhere). If you use a good antivirus however and a router, that does only portforward certain ports, you do not neccessarily need a firewall imo. At least I don't use one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
6. Broadband pluged directly into the computer = DEATH.

Yes this is because of the high voltages. Always handle a broadband cable with care, you might get severly hurt if you come into contact with any conductive part. This thing is as dangerous as three phase high current. Try to share your braodband connection with as many as possible users, so it won't hurt your computer too much :D (I hope sarcasm is obvious).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
7. Routers are the best Firewall protection you can get
A read a lot of hype over this one.

No, routers are routers. And not every router is the same. Most of them will partly work as FW because they usually have closed incoming ports by default (means they just forward on certain ports like port 80 (http))

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
I think there was another... can't remember right now @_@.
Anyway any opinions on this ?(which is true/false)... My brain is fried ATM :), can't think straight.

I think a rating relying on how many times it was posted about, is not very objective.

edit:

Maybe I sound too harsh, but in general I like your idea and how much effort you put into this. Maybe you can try to find some reliable sources online, experts who have tested different tools (like FWs and AVs) and base your rating on such sources?
And you need to pay attention to not use (or even consider) phrases like

Quote:

6. Broadband pluged directly into the computer = DEATH.
Thats not very scientifically phrased. It won't add to the overall reputation of your software ratings. You know, some people might reason from the quality of such a statement on the quality of your software rating.

Sylf 2006-09-29 13:45

After reading through the software list again, even within the categories listed, there are softwares I want some considerations for additions.

Graphics.
Not everyone needs the power of photoshop. Heck, extremely limited number of people can really utilize the power of photoshop anyway. Seriously, it's a professional tool, not a casual home entertainment tool. I've never used this personally, but I think Photoshop Elements should be mentioned as well. Priced just below $90, it's much more affordable, and should pose less learning curve.

And for someone who doesn't care about Adobe product, I suggest Paint Shop Pro as a solid alternative to PS. Priced just under $100, it still is an extremely powerful image editor. The feature set should be pretty close to that of Photoshop. (I really can't testify myself, since I don't have Photoshop.) The version of PSP I own supports the plug-in system that's compatible with Photoshop's. In fact, I have Eye Candy plugin loaded on mine. (A tad old, I hardly use it, but... it's there.)

If someone is very very tight on budget, still want a powerful image editor, and don't mind a HUGE learning curve, GIMP should be a valid option too. It's originally made for unix/linux environment, so the user interface will look foreign to Windows users. It took me quite a while to feel even somewhat comfortable with this software. But to me, it's definitely worth it.

Audio:
I really have to put my plug for foobar2000. It doesn't have as nice of a skinnable interface as winamp (it's somewhat skinnable - if the default interface look boring, check out http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/fb2k/. Or check out Columns UI plugin.). But I choose foobar over winamp for a few reasons. *I don't need a pretty interface for my audio player. Most of the time, this app would be hidden behind other apps anyway. If that's the case, I'd much rather use an app that take up less memory too. *A damn good set of audio filter comes with the standard installation, so you can play back almost any audio types out of the box. (There are still a few others, such as Monkey's Audio decoder which need to be downloaded separately.) *Pretty good audio converter interface. Not that I use this often, but it comes in handy from time to time. *Fair set of filters. The graphic EQ has finer control than that of standard winamp - which can be good and bad. *Damn good tag editor. I'm now in love with the tag editor interface as of 0.9.3. It's the best one I've ever used. *Licensing? Free, opensource. *Gapless playback of mp3 files work better than any gapless plugin for winamp I've tried. Important for live albums and classical albums.

Media Player:
If you list VLC, you may also want to list MPLayer. It's also a player that has a built-in, ffmpeg based decoder, just like VLC. By default, it does not have any type of GUI. But as of current, it has much better softsub support. (Only on the bleeding edge, non-official builds.)

Free Security software:
At least list Sygate Personal Firewall as one of the free alternatives.

bayoab 2006-09-29 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatXIII
[*]Linux and Macs are 100% virus/spyware/mallware FREE.

As jinto said, this is incorrect. Linux and Macs can easily be hit by any of the above but compared to the number of windows boxes out there, hackers rarely bother. There are linux and mac viruses out there, especially root kits.
Quote:

[*]Firewall only stops hackers and trojans NOT viruses.
No. This is a really difficult issue because things like norton are firewalls + a shitload of other protections. A normal firewall, will stop internet worms and hackers if properly configured and there is nothing vulnerable on the other side. A firewall will not protect you from a webpage with malicious code or clicking on a bad program.

Quote:

[*]Routers are the best Firewall protection you can get
Routers are not firewalls. Many routers have built in firewalls. The way a router protects you is that by default, it drops incoming packets for new connections if they are started from the outside world. This is not how a firewall works.


Also, from the above... passphrases are the current "in" thing. Whole sentences that you remember and take selected words or even letters from to make passwords. Lastly, slicker sites arent safer. XSS code can be inserted anywhere.


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