10 March, 2008

Add a Destination to the Send To Menu

 

By default, the Send To menu in Windows XP lists the following commands (destinations):
Compressed (zipped) Folder
Desktop (create shortcut)
Mail Recipient
My Documents
3 1/2 Floppy (A:)
CD Drive
To add a destination to the Send To menu, you must add a shortcut to the SendTo folder. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type sendto, and then click OK.
3. Add a destination by doing one of the following:
Use the drag-and-drop operation to move the item that you want to the SendTo folder; to do so, right-click, and then click Create Shortcuts Here.
-or-
Point to New on the File menu, and then click Shortcut.

Follow the instructions in the Create Shortcut Wizard.
A new shortcut is created in the SendTo folder, and it is displayed on the Send To menu.

Portable media players

I recently brought a portable media player (PMP). It has an LCD screen with a 4.0 MP camera, and extendible 1GB memory!! I was dazed and awestruck to know that it could be used as an MP3 player too! All this at a meager cost of 3000 rupees....That's about 180 dollars. And on top of all this, it could play mp4, wmv movies at an astounding 25 fps ! The resolution of the screen is 221 * 178. Thankfully, a few software's on the device still seem to work, and among them is a nameless avi to MP4 converter !

I could have never asked for a better deal. I brought this one roadside, and was so dazed I didn't even check to see if the manufacturer's driver disc was OK. I came back home, and saw that it had the SONY logo on it, but no model number or any other identification. The PMP in itself is able to read E-Books, so off I went to the e-book folder, and found a Japanese document with the letters SPMP3050 within. I did a search on Google, and I came to know that it was a fake, but who cares!! As long as I can get my job done and keep myself occupied, I don't give a darn if SONY manufactured it, or some street side vendor!

I am in the process of disassembling its firmware, and Im gonna blog about this if I'm successful. The player identifies itself to windows XP as a flash memory when connected using USB. But when turned off, and a certain key is held, it identifies itself as a webcam! This is a secret im gonna share with you. Most Japanese and Korean devices do this while updating their firmware. That is, you need to be in this operation of the device if you wanna upgrade the firmware.

I am currently experimenting with the skins and fonts in the device. I have successfully skinned it to a vista clone, but am having problems with the font. Itseems, even the English font on the device has a Korean substitute!! As I don't know Korean (yet) it will take some time for me to figure out the workings of this wonderful device.

08 March, 2008

Im back!!

yaw yaw yaw brothers and sisters of cyberspace!! Your ruler is back in his rightful throne again....Ahem!! Expect a flurry of articles about digital cameras, modems and what not in the next 3 days....

02 March, 2008

No posts for a week ;(

uh.....hey, thanks for the interest in my blog. I wont be able to write to you guys for another week :( My parents and I are planning to travel to North India. So, please watch this blog. When Im back, Ill have about 50 articles ready. Until then, you can check my archives.

29 February, 2008

Rapidshare VS BitTorrent, p2p

There are a lot of us, who are looking for free stuff, in the form of movies, games, and what not! Its a common misconception that the best content is available on rapidshare. In reality, you couldn't be farther away from truth. Sure, you could find the DVD rip of the latest 20th century fox release, but is the price you pay really worth it? I THINK NOT!!

In contrast, p2p is a pirates' heaven provided the wealth of content, and diversity. You get content straight from someone else's PC and whats more, you get bandwidth ripping speeds all at no cost! p2p is the holy grail for any pirate. It has proved its worth more than once.

Factor Rapidshare p2p
Usage Cost $9 per month FREE! on most sites. If you're paying, you're being ripped off!



Speed Full Bandwidth utilized Full Bandwidth utilized only with lots of seeders.



diversity Minimum. There are just a few uploaders and a lot of leechers. Maximum diversity.Anyone can upload and anyone can download.



Tweaking None. Lots of tinkering with the client, so that maximum speed is obtained.



Others opinions on the files being shared Opinions can only be expressed on forums. Opinions ranging from Quality of the upload to download speeds can be found along with the torrent.



Deletion The RIAA writes a letter to Rapidshare and off the movie goes! Bring on everything you got you maggots! Neither the government nor Bill Gates' lackeys can do anything about the files being shared.



Boot your PC without actually booting up!

I have a VIA mother board. I kept tinkering around with it, and one day discovered that when I put Windows on stand by, the computer actually seemed to shut down very fast. I switched on the power to the computer and found myself staring at the desktop! I was awestruck, and amazed. I thought I didnt observe the status of the PC properly before switching it on. But when it happened again, I started using it as a replacement for hibernation. Even movies, which were left playing would resume from that very instant, since when the PC was put on stand by!

 

It took me a lot of time to learn how it really worked. Im gonna share the secret with you. When I put the PC on stand by, what actually happened was the systems' state, that is, the RAMs contents were stored as long as power was on. Thus making it persistent. But, the power was being consumed in the process. As a result, when the power button was pressed again, the computer comes back to life, as if coming back from a stand by state. I think the same mechanism is used to conserve power in laptops too. Heres how I did it :

1. Boot your PC and enter the BIOS.

2. Goto the Power Management options.

3. Look for an option called "Enable S3" and set it to enabled.

4. Configure your Windows such that whenever you press the POWER button, it actually goes into standby.

5. You're all set! Check to see if it works!

 

I have seen the same happen to many other PC's fitted with VIA motherboards. So, if you have one, theres a good chance you'll be able to get this to work! Good luck !

28 February, 2008

Viruses in Video files?...Not exactly!

I recently heard from my friends that movies they downloaded off torrents asked users to download separate players in order to play such files. The message was being displayed from within a player such as VLC, and worse, it seemed to be a part of the movie!! The suspect was a certain "3W player". If the player was downloaded, anti virus programs would start going haywire with virus alerts. The player was rigged to play a certain stream within the video file. Some of my friends disabled the anti virus software they had, watched the movie, un installed the program and turned the virus protection back on. BAD BAD MOVE!!! If you happened to connect to the Internet when playing the movie with the "3W player", god knows what sort of malicious software it would download! Most of my friends' PC's have crashed as a result, and those that are running, don't boot up properly.

I sure did a lot of R & D on this one, and finally decoded what the player was trying to do. The video file itself has 2 streams :

Stream 1: shown when any other player is used.

Stream 2: shown when the particular player is used. The player is rigged to read from the video file after skipping stream 1.

There is practically no way to read stream 2 with an external player. There are a lot of video files going around with such streams, so be careful to read comments before downloading!

See my tutorial on How NOT to download virus ridden files off bit torrent

Is your Windows XP sluggish? contemplating re installation? Here's a much better solution!

We all have our operating systems customized just the way we want them. This is especially the case in windows. How many times have you re installed your Windows complaining of sluggishness? A newly installed Windows tends to give the user an impression that there's not a better OS under the sun in terms of speed. On the contrary, you're bound to soon discover that, upon installation, Windows XP seems to run slower and slower with each passing day. Like I thought previously, re installation isn't the only solution. It seems the simplest solution is to create another account and give it administrator privileges! YES!! This is the holy grail for Windows XP users. Log into your new account, and delete the old one! Its as simple as that! You will have all of your programs intact, and also gain a lot of performance! BELIEVE ME!! This works!

To create a new user account with administrator privileges :

1.  Go to start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts.

2. You will see a listing of all user accounts on your computer, and some options.

3. Selct "Create a new account".

4. Type in the Username for the new account.

5. The next screen is important! Select "Computer Administrator", and then select "create account". VOILA!! All you have to do now is logoff the current user, and login with the newly created account!

How to migrate JDK from a previous windows installation without actually installing it!

If you have a programming environment set up in windows, it is very difficult if not impossible to replicate it, if you happen to re install windows. This tutorial is for those Java developers who need to get their previous environment back without actually installing JDK. This tutorial assumes though that you haven't removed JDK from the HDD ;) . If you re installed windows XP cause your previous installation screwed up, and want to get your Java development environment including eclipse running, with minimum hassle, this tutorial is for you. Right click on "My Computer" and select "properties". You should see the screen below :

 

    1. Right click on "My Computer" and select "properties".
    2. Select Environment Variables
    3. You will need to set the "path" variables' value in the format :

    <Java Development Kit Directory path>\bin ;

    The ";" is required in the end, to separate one value from another. This is especially useful if you want the environment to include multiple paths in which to search for files.
    4. Similarly, you need to set the value for the "classpath" variable. The format is:

    <Java Development Kit Directory path>\lib;


    The ";" is required in the end, to separate one value from another. This is especially useful if you want the environment to include multiple paths in which to search for files.
    5. Click on "OK". Now, close any open "cmd" windows, and open them up again. The next time the "cmd" command is invoked, it should use the new environment.

    Now, you're all set! Now, you can even open eclipse, or NetBeans. All programs will begin to use the new environment without hassles!

Are there many files in your download? Don't know what to do with them?

Search for an executable file within the download. If you dont find one, you are dealing with multivolume archives. Multivolume archives are basically compressed files that are distributed over many files for easy uploading. These can be extracted using Winrar or 7zip. Right click on any of the files and go to your applications menu, and select the extract option. This should extract the file. Such multivolume archives are basically large files, so make sure you have enough space on disk before you start to extract. The uploader probably uploaded the same set of files to file sharing sites such as Rapidshare because the maximum upload size is limited. As a result, if someone downloaded these files, and shared it through bit torrent, you'll end up with multivolume archives. A word of precaution though. You have to be careful that ALL files get downloaded correctly. Even if one of these files are corrupt, the archive WONT extract !

27 February, 2008

How to download virus/ Trojan free stuff off torrent sites :

My first experiences with torrent sites was very awkward. I ended up downloading an anti virus software archive, which itself had a Trojan embedded! Sure, torrent sites, have a lot to offer, but beware! There are things you should be careful about :

  1. Don't download Anti Virus packages without first installing an antivirus! Yes, maybe your old antivirus is screwed up, but it can atleast help you overcome threats if they emerge from within the newly downloaded antivirus!
  2. Download "Scene Releases". These are stuff released by groups, most of which are trying to make a name for themselves. So, theyd be most careful not to include any viruses/ Trojans. These are also the people who give out quality stuff. Axxo, dopeman, Toed just to name a few.
  3. Never switch off your firewall when downloading. Use port forwarding if you're not getting speeds. Malicious hackers are everywhere and your PC just broadcasts its address into the bit torrent network whenever you put something for download.
  4. Most torrent sites have a forum style comment system for each and every torrent. So be sure to view the comments, to see if every user using the torrent is satisfied. Dont expect to see hymns being sung about the uploader but see to it that all users who have written comments have atleast not commented about the torrent containing a Trojan or virus.
  5. The above is also the case with video downloads. Sometimes you'll have to wait a lot for videos/ Large games, so make sure the torrent is worth downloading.

Downloaded an ISO/ MDF image(NO, NOT A PHOTO)? Dunno what to do with it?

What you're facing is a very trivial problem. The ISO / MDF are proprietary image formats. That is, these files have many files within them. The structure of the file is a replica of the CD / DVD that was used. As a result, you now have a complete dump of a CD / DVD in your Hard disk. Now, you have 2 options :

1. Burn the CD / DVD image onto a disc :

You can do this by using NERO or any other disc writing software. Simply select "Burn Image to disc" from the NERO menu and select the image you have. The image will be burnt onto a CD (image size < 700 MB) or to a DVD (image size >700 MB). This can be done if the image format is ISO. If it is in MDF format, you have to use Alcohol 120 % instead. The UI in A 120% is very neat, so you should have no trouble doing it.

2. Mount the CD / DVD image onto a Virtual Drive :

A virtual drive is a FAKE drive that is created by a software such as DEMON TOOLS(www.daemon-tools.cc/) or Alcohol 120%. The image you have, can be "mounted" onto such a fake drive, which is also called a "Virtual Drive". This means the software tells the OS that a CD / DVD is present physically even though it isn't. This is pretty useful, if you do not have a CD / DVD drive at all! Once you have "mounted" the disc onto a virtual drive, it should be available in your "My Computer" as a CD / DVD drives' icon. These images auto play, like any other CD / DVD ROM and thus you can disable this action too.

Some image files require other software. The image files in the format DAA require Disc Juggler. So, be sure to "Google" the image format in order to know, which software you need in order to get it working.

How to get maximum speed in bit torrent

Bit torrent works by basically opening ports for upload and download. These include TCP and UDP ports. If you have Windows XP or later, and not getting speeds, you're almost certainly having a firewall enabled. You have 2 options now:

1. TO disable the firewall, which I do not recommend.

2. To open the port so that it passes the information back and forth without hassles.

I would recommend the second method. For more information on port forwarding, visit www.portforward.com to get extensive information about your router and how to get bit torrents' port forwarding method.

A pirates guide to piracy terminologies

Bit torrent has become the weapon of choice for us pirates. Pirates of Cyberspace, that is. Heres a low-down on the tools, tips and tricks of the trade and everything you need to get started with torrents :

> Torrents are basically files that contain information on the "trackers" that they are connected to.

> Trackers are special services running on a website which will enable "tracking" of users' files/ bits of files that need to be sent to others.

> You need a bit torrent client such as utorrent , bit comet to use bit torrent.

> open the torrent files in one of these softwares to start downloading.

> Seeders are people who are sharing that particular file. The more seeders there are, the better the chance you have of getting the file fully.

> Leechers are people who are downloading the file...same as you.

> After completion of the download, you can become a seeder by letting it upload some more, so that others are able to get the file, and the file continues being circulated. This is considered ethical in the pirate world.

> Torrent files can be found on sites such as

http://www.thepiratebay.org or

http://www.h33t.com

> You almost always need to sign up in order to post torrents.

26 February, 2008

Does Windows Vista really beat XP? I think NOT!

Windows XP might just be the most stable OS that Microsoft has built. I thought of trying Vista a few days back, and installed it. The installation went smoothly. No hassles at all. I must say Microsoft has put in a lot of effort into this software, but it quite doesn't cut the cake. The GUI looked great, what with its new "Aero Glass" interface. I have a medium-high end PC, with 512 + 128 MB RAM, and a 128 MB GeForce FX graphics card. I don't see XP complaining!

In my view, a good OS is one which runs on most Pc's with minimum resource consumption. Provided my spec's people using XP would say its pretty fast, but on Vista, i found myself at a loss! The OS itself hogs around 500 - 600 MB of RAM!! When the OS was installed without any software, it was fairly fast, but after installing a couple of applications such as Office '07, it began to slog. The loading times for Vista seemed to double in subsequent restarts. And after installing the newly released Norton '07, Vista went Kaboom!

Even notepad took a long time to load, and everything on my desktop seemed to do the vanishing act every now and then. "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" is screamed out loud! I should actually thank god for giving me the good heart. I didnt uninstall my previous XP installation. It just sat at a corner of my HDD sulking about my new found obsession. I came back to XP and said "Home.......SWEET SWEET HOME!!".

If youre a user trying to migrate to Vista, I would recommend otherwise. The hassles of giving up on performance and embracing eye candy are many. You will actually miss the customization that all of us are so used to in XP. On top of all this Vista seems to index a particular folder again and again, every time you visit it.

MY RECOMMENDATION:

XP is the most widely used OS right now. It will be years until after which it will be declared a dead OS. It is one of the most stable and customizable OS I have ever used, and believe me when I say this : Its the best Windows OS out there! Try Vista, if your Hard disk is empty or you have a high end system with 2 GB RAM and a 1 GB Graphic card. But I know I'll be using XP for a long, long time...At least until Vista gets 3 service packs! Until then, its Bye Bye Vista!


Installation : 9.0 [ Hassle Free! ]

User Interface : 9.0 [ One of the best UI's I have seen around on an OS! ]

Performance : 3.0 [ I have seen Vista screw up and it does it pretty well!]

Disaster recovery : 2.0 [BSOD, restart are the only solutions Microsoft can STILL think of! ]

Backward Compatibility : 7.0 [ Most of my XP proggies ran on Vista ]

Disk Space required : 5.0 [ I believe NO operating system should exceed 1.5 GB]

25 February, 2008

How to uninstall Linux and still get XP/Vista to boot up properly:

Checklist:

  • Backup all important Linux documents onto a CD using KFreeBurner or something similar


     

  • Keep a Windows XP / Vista Bootable disk ready.


     

  • You cannot recover an XP installation from a Vista installation disk. So make sure you have a WORKING bootable XP disc. It doesn't matter which flavour. Just make sure it's bootable.


     

  • Make sure the BIOS settings are set such that the primary boot device is set to your CD/DVD disc drive.


     

  • Get a hardcopy of this document because once you start the recovery procedure, you will have no way of viewing this document on the same PC.

Go to Control Panel -> Administrative tools -> Disk Management in XP

  1. Your Linux partitions will be shown with a pink colour and labelled "unrecognized partition".


     

  2. Right click on a Linux partition, and select "Delete Volume". Give the confirmation in the window that pops up.


     

  3. Do step 2 for every Linux partition that you want to remove.


     

  4. Now put your bootable Windows XP/Vista disc into your CD/DVD drive.


     

  5. Restart the computer


     

  6. The "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD . . ." option appears. Press any key to enter installation

For Windows XP:

  • Let the CD/DVD do its thing. You will be asked to choose from a screen which contains 3 options:
  1. To proceed with installation.
  2. To enter the "Recovery" console.
  3. To use auto recover from a recovery disc.


     

  • Option 2 is what we are looking for. Press "r" to enter recovery console.


     

  • You will be provided with a DOS type screen.


     

  • As soon as the keyboard detection procedures are completed, you will be asked to choose from the available XP installations. The installations have numbers as markings. Press the number of the XP installation which you would like to boot into.


     

  • Type your administrator password when prompted. You will then receive a prompt such as "c:\....\....>".


     

  • Now, follow the procedure carefully. The actual sequence is of paramount importance:


     

  1. Type "fixboot" without the quotes and press enter


     

  2. Press "y" for confirmation


     

  3. Type "fixmbr" without the quotes and press enter


     

  4. Press "y" for confirmation


 

That's it!!! Now hit "exit" without the quotes and remove the bootable disc from the drive. Your PC will boot normally into the XP installation you chose as if you had never installed Linux!!


 

For Windows Vista:

The procedure here is relatively simple.

Boot up using the Vista disc and let the environment load. Be patient as this might take longer on some computers. Then select "Recover an installation". Then select the vista installation and VOILA! Your Vista installation is ready to rock and roll!!

Partitioning your HDD: Divide and Rule

  • There are a few basic rules to partitioning. Learn them and you'll be able to get the most out of your pc's HDD (Hard Disk Drive).


     

  • Your HDD is divided into "Logical Drives" and "Primary partitions".


     

  • "Primary partitions" are limited to 4 per hard disk no matter which partitioning software you use.


     

  • "Logical partitions" are limited only by the hard disk space you have. i.e., you can have any number of logical partitions.


     

  • Primary partitions are used as "mount points". That is, these are the partitions, which operating systems use to boot up. A maximum of 4 operating systems can be installed on a single HDD amounting to 4 primary partitions.


     

  • Logical partitions on the other hand are meant for data storage. These partitions can be used for any other purpose, or just left blank.


 

For all purposes, the "disk management" feature provided with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista should be enough to meet your partitioning needs. This doesn't recognize Linux and Mac partitions though. These will be shown in a pink colour and labelled "Unknown partition". You can always delete and resize such partitions from within windows.


 

The disk management window can be accessed from within windows 2k or greater:

Control Panel -> Administrative tools -> Disk Management in XP, windows 2k

Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative tools -> Create and format Hard disk partitions

How to get ANY game running on your PC !!

The following tutorial assumes that you have a minimum spec. graphic card such as the NVidia GeForce FX 5200 or something similar with a video RAM of atleast 64 MB.

  1. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card. The latest DX version is also recommended.
  2. You have to tweak the game to run optimally on your pc. The same rule holds no matter which game youre tweaking.
  3. Games these days integrate an "options menu" into their games. Normally found on the starting screen. Go through the game menu and find it.
    Older games/ games from Atari also configure themselves from an external "Launcher" program. These are normally found in the same installation directory as the game.
  4. Go through the configuration settings, go to the "video settings" and make sure everything is set to "low". Some games offer sliders to bring down the level of detail, so keep your eyes open.
  5. Decrease the resolution within the game to about 640x480. This should make the game run faster on most systems, but then again, quality is lost out.
  6. Run the game again. This time you'll find that the game runs faster!
  7. If you still wanna tweak it, get a patch for the game. Patches sometimes support older graphic cards and ensure compatibility.
  8. If "EAX environment sound" or "Hardware acceleration for sound" is enabled, you can disable it to gain some performance. This is especially useful if your game produces "stuttered" sound.
    Always look to play in "software" modes, rather than in "hardware" accelerated modes. This is becausethe "software" modes use the CPU contrary to the "hardware" accelerated modes' GPU usage. As your CPU's are always faster than your GPU's(assuming there is one), you can get a major performance gain.
  9. Make sure you got ample hard disk space on your drive(YES, the one the game is INSTALLED on, and on drive C). Some games need to write their SAVE status to a drive every now and then. If you do not have ample free space, your game may not save your progress and may CRASH during gameplay. Most games I have played crash without even giving out a message when encountered with disk space scarcity.
  10. Calculate the size of your page file and set it accordingly using the formula
    (3.5 * (The amount of RAM on your system))

    This should work wonders for your games.

12 February, 2008

Yu gi oh tricks

Tips for playing Yu gi oh TCG:

>Defense is the best offense! Never give up on your defense, if youre high on monster cards.

>Consider putting a lot of spells and very less monster cards(but powerful ones) in your deck. If you built your deck this way, you will do less summoning, and put the opponent to a loss even before the match begins!!

>Always have foresight. Predict what actions your opponent might take in order to avert your attacks. Act accordingly.

>Dont put too many summoned monster cards into your deck or you wont have any monsters for a tribute! Your hand will be filled with monsters but you cant summon any of 'em.

>While there is little/nothing you can do once GOD cards like EXODIA or DESTINY BOARD are activated, you can work from the starting of the match to prevent them ever from getting activated. For example, EXODIA relies on getting all of EXODIA's body parts before you can summon him. The cards have to be in the players hand for this. If even on of those cards is not present, the player wont be able to summon him. Thus, you can work to deprive him of such cards. Use "Forceful sentry" to get his card when he isnt summoning any monsters or his hand is getting filled up.

>When one of your precious "MONSTER REBORN" cards is sent to the graveyard as a result of a MAGIC JAMMER or any such effect, consider using your flip monsters to activate an effect by which you can get such a card from the graveyard.

>Having powerful cards in your deck doesnt mean youre gonna win! Have a combination of summoned creatures and low power, effect cards.

>If you are in a winning position and are looking to knock out the opposition, do NOT use cards which involve a gambling aspect such as TIME WIZARD. If the coin isnt called right, youll lose half the life of the monsters, and all your monsters are destroyed! So be careful.

>Trick your opponent into attacking a face down monster/effect card. There are many ways you can do this, so keep your eye peeled for the instructions on the cards.

>If you are playing first, always put up a defensive position first. Do NOT put your monster cards to attack until your opponents monsters give up trying to attack you, and start defending instead. Then, bring out a barrage of summoned creatures to shatter the opposition.

>Put a lot of defensive cards in your deck, preferably ones that have a DEF of 2000 or greater. These cards when played at the starting of the match will give your opponent a tough time, cause very few (non summoned) monster cards have an attack in excess of 2000.

>DO NOT consider attacking with HIGH ATK non summoned creatures unless inevitable. These creatures are switched to their DEF position in the next turn, so youll end up losing your monster. On the other hand, put such cards to a virtual stand-by. DO not attack with them. This way, your opponent will have to destroy them(will be tough) to get to you).

>Its like they say "The bigger they are the harder they fall!". Even though your opponent may give out 2 tributes to summon a GOD monster like "Blue eyes white dragon", such cards can be easily humbled by a "WEAK" monster/EFFECT such as "Man-eater bug", or a trap hole.

04 February, 2008

A listing of the software that I so frequently use

3D Graphics:
3Delight Free - http://www.3delight.com/index.htm
Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com/
Aqsis - http://www.aqsis.com/
Blender - http://www.blender3d.org/
Houdini (Free Edition) - http://www.sidefx.com/apprentice/index.html
Computer Graphics books - http://2020ok.com/4134.htm
Now3D - http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/homepage.htm
OpenFX - http://www.openfx.org
POV-Ray - http://www.povray.org/
SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP - http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/
Terragen - http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/
Toxic - http://www.toxicengine.org/
Wings 3D - http://www.wings3d.com/

Anti-Virus:
a-squared - http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/
AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/
Avast - http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1018.html
AVG - http://free.grisoft.com/
BitDefender - http://www.bitdefender.com
ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/

Anti Spyware:
Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Bazooka - http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html
Hijackthis - http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
SpyBot Search & Destroy - http://spybot.safer-networking.de/
SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
SpywareGuard - http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html
WinPatrol - http://www.winpatrol.com/

Audio Creation
Gungirl Sequencer - http://ggseq.sourceforge.net/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
HammerHead - http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/introduction.shtml
Jesusonic - http://www.jesusonic.com/soft.php
KRISTAL Audio Engine - http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/index.php
orDrumbox - http://ordrumbox.sourceforge.net/
Tu2 - http://www.brambos.com/news.html

Audio Players:
1by1 - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch
Billy - http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy
CoolPlayer - http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/
DeejaySystem MK1 - http://www.deejaysystem.com/prod_mk1.asp
DeliPlayer. http://www.deliplayer.com/
Foobar 2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/
iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Jet Audio Basic - http://www.jetaudio.com/
Mixere - http://mixere.sourceforge.net/
Mixxx - http://mixxx.sourceforge.net/
monoRAVEik - http://www.mono211.com/monoraveik/mr1200.html
MoreAmp - http://sourceforge.net/projects/moreamp/
Musik - http://musik.berlios.de/
musikCube - http://www.musikcube.com/
QCD Player - http://www.quinnware.com/
Sonique - http://sonique.lycos.com/
Winamp - http://www.winamp.com/
XMPlay - http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html
Zinf - http://www.zinf.org/


Audio Tools:
Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
AudioShell - http://www.softpointer.com/AudioShell.htm
BeSweet - http://dspguru.doom9.net/
CDex - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
dBpowerAMP Music Converter - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
EAC - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
Encounter 2003 - http://www.waschbusch.com/
GermaniXEncoder - http://www.germanixsoft.de/
K-MP3 - http://www.katarncorp.com/
KraMixer - http://www.kramware.com/
MP3 Book Helper - http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/
MP3 Tag - http://www.mp3tag.de/
Mp3 Tag Tools - http://massid3lib.sourceforge.net/
mp3DirectCut - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch/
MP3Gain - http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/
mp3Trim - http://www.logiccell.com/~mp3trim/
MusicBrainz - http://musicbrainz.org/
Rarewares - http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/
SoundEngine Free - http://www.cycleof5th.com/en/index.htm
TagScanner - http://xdev.narod.ru/tagscan_e.htm
The GodFather - http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/
TigoTago - http://www.tigotago.com/

CD/DVD Burning:
Burn4Free - http://www.burn4free.com/
Burnatonce - http://www.burnatonce.com/
Burrrn - http://www.burrrn.net/
CDBurnerXP - http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
CDRDAO - http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/
CDR Tools Frontend - http://demosten.com/cdrfe/
Deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/
DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/
Easy Burning, DropCD & Audio CD - http://www.paehl.de/cdr
ImgBurn - http://www.imgburn.com/

Compression / Decompression:
7-zip - http://www.7-zip.org/
bzip2 - http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/index.html
ExtractNow - http://www.extractnow.com/
FilZip - http://www.filzip.com/
Info-Zip - http://www.info-zip.org/
IZArc - http://www.florida.plus.com/izarc/
QuickZip - http://www.quickzip.org/
TUGZip - http://www.tugzip.com/
UPX - http://upx.sourceforge.net/
Zip&Go - http://www.handybits.com/zipngo.htm
Zipgenius - http://www.zipgenius.it/

Defrag Software:
DIRMS & Buzzsaw - http://www.dirms.com/
OpenVMS - http://www.execsoft.com/freeware/freeware.asp

Photo manipulation and image design:
ArtRage - http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Artweaver - http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version
ColorPic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/
Delineate - http://delineate.sourceforge.net/
Inkscape - http://www.inkscape.org/
JPEGCrops - http://ekot.dk/programmer/JPEGCrops/
Paint .NET - http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
Pixia - http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/
Pixie - http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html
PhotoFiltre - http://www.photofiltre.com/
Sodipodi - http://www.sodipodi.com/
The Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/
Tuxpaint - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint
Wax - http://www.debugmode.com/wax/
Wink - http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
WinMorph - http://www.debugmode.com/winmorph/

Programming:
ActivePerl - http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl
BlueJ - http://www.bluej.org/download/download.html
Crimson Editor - http://www.crimsoneditor.com/
Code::Blocks - http://www.codeblocks.org/
Context - http://www.context.cx/
Dev C++ - http://www.bloodshed.net/
Dev Pascal - http://www.bloodshed.net/
Computer Programming books - http://2020ok.com/4134.htm
Digital Mars C++ - http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html
Eclipse - http://www.eclipse.org/
ExamDiff - http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff
Freepascal - http://www.freepascal.org/
JCreator LE - http://www.jcreator.com/download.htm
jEdit - http://www.jedit.org/
Metapad - http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/
Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Notepad2 - http://www.flos-freeware.ch/
Open Watcom - http://www.openwatcom.org/
Pelles C - http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/index.htm
PHP Hypertext Parser - http://www.php.net/
Programmer's Notepad - http://www.pnotepad.org/
PSPad - http://www.pspad.com/
Python - http://www.python.org/
Ruby - http://www.dm4lab.to/~usa/ruby/index_en.html
SharpDevelop - http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/
WebMatrix - http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/
WinMerge - http://winmerge.org/

Pop-up Blockers:
Google Toolbar - http://www.google.com/
NoAds - http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/
PopUp Stopper - http://www.panicware.com/product_psfree.html
Privoxy - http://www.privoxy.org/
Proxomitron - http://www.proxomitron.info/

RSS Readers:
Ablion - http://www.fileheaven.com/Abilon/download/14059.htm
BlogExpress - http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html
Feedreader - http://www.feedreader.com/
FireANT - http://www.antisnottv.net/
GreatNews - http://www.curiostudio.com/
RssBandit - http://www.rssbandit.org/
RSSOwl - http://www.rssowl.org/
RssReader - http://www.rssreader.com/
RSS Xpress - http://rssxpress.free.fr/en/?page=&idNews=
SharpReader - http://www.sharpreader.net/

System Information and monitoring:
AIDA32 - http://www.sofotex.com/AIDA32-download_L9326.html
ATITool - http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
ATI Tray Tools - http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/
CPU-Z - http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Gkrellm - http://bill.nalens.com/
K1 - http://clanpkm.free.fr/K1/?lng=en
Motherboard monitor - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311
SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Sysmetrix - http://www.xymantix.com
WCPUID - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002374/src/download.html
WhatsRunning - http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

Video codecs:

DivX Codec - http://www.divx.com/divx/?src=toptab_divx_from_/index.php
FFDSHOW - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow
XviD - http://www.xvid.org/

Video players :
AC3Filter - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3filter
BsPlayer - http://www.bsplayer.org/
Crystal Player - http://www.crystalplayer.com/index.php?page=downloads
Cygwin MPlayer - http://armory.nicewarrior.org/projects/cygmp/
DivX Player - http://www.divx.com/
MaximusDVD - http://www.maximusdvd.com/
Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303
VideoLan - http://www.videolan.org/

Video tools:
DScaler - http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/
FlasKMPEG - http://www.flaskmpeg.net
GSpot - http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
TMPGEnc - http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html
VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org/
VirtualDubMod - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=65889
Zwei-Stein Video Editor - http://www.thugsatbay.com/software/index.html

Web browsers:
Firefox - http://www.getfirefox.com
K-Meleon - http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/
Mozilla - http://www.mozilla.org/
Netscape - http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp
Opera - http://www.opera.com

Web servers:
Abyss - http://abyss.sourceforge.net/
Apache - http://httpd.apache.org/
Apache2Triad - http://apache2triad.net/
HTTP File Server - http://www.rejetto.com/sw/
Web Development books - http://2020ok.com/3510.htm
Sambar - http://www.sambar.com/
Savant - http://savant.sourceforge.net/
SimpleServer:WWW - http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/sswww.htm
Smart Cache - http://scache.sourceforge.net/
TinyWeb - http://www.ritlabs.com/tinyweb/index.html
Xitami - http://www.xitami.com/

Webcam Software:
booruWebCam - http://www.booru.net/
Dorgem - http://dorgem.sourceforge.net/
grabMotion - http://www.grabmotion.com/
Pryme - http://www.hilo.dk/pryme/

Checksum Utilities:
fsum - http://www.slavasoft.com/fsum/
HashCalc - http://www.slavasoft.com/hashcalc/
hksfv - http://www.big-o-software.com/products/hksfv/
ICEECC - http://www.ice-graphics.com/ICEECC/IndexE.html
md5sum - http://www.etree.org/md5com.html
md5summer - http://www.md5summer.org/
MooSFV - http://www.ubercow.com/moosfv/
QuickPar - http://www.quickpar.org.uk/
QuickSFV - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/

General Utilities And Other Applications:
AdShield - http://www.lossepladsen.dk/all4you/TheLostWorld/AdShield.php
AnalogX - http://www.analogx.com/
AppRocket - http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/
AutoIt - http://www.hiddensoft.com/autoit3/
BISS - http://www.bluetack.co.uk/index.php
Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia
CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com
ClipX - http://bluemars.org/clipx/
Computer & Internet books - http://2020ok.com/5.htm
Contact - http://www.isaacboy.com/contact.htm
Cygwin - http://www.cygwin.com
Dir2HTML - http://www.pc-tools.net/win32/dir2html/
Dirkey - http://www.protonfx.com/dirkey/
EasyCleaner - http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
EditPad Lite - http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html
EssentialPIM - http://www.essentialpim.com/
Excessive-software - http://www.excessive-software.eu.tt/
Folder Size Extension - http://foldersize.sourceforge.net/
Hamsin Clipboard - http://www.iisr-cnc.com/hamsin/
HTTrack - http://www.httrack.com/
Inno Setup - http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
KeyNote - http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html
Kickjava - http://kickjava.com/books/
Language Identifier - http://www.languageidentifier.com/
Link Checker - http://www.relsoftware.com/rlc/
Memtest-86 - http://www.memtest86.com
Money Manager - http://www.thezeal.com/software/manager/default.asp
Multi Install - http://multiinstall.sourceforge.net/
MWSnap - http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
NetTime - http://nettime.sourceforge.net
Nullsoft Installer - http://www.nullsoft.com/free/nsis
Open Subfolder - http://www.bubblepop.com/opensubfolder/index.html
Peerguardian - http://www.methlabs.org/
Process Explorer (aka ProcessXP) -
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml
png2ico - http://winterdrache.de/freeware/png2ico
RegSeeker - http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
Restoration - http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
Startup Control Panel - http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
Stickies - http://finiteloop.org/~btaylor/software/stickies/
StrokeIt - http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/
Syncback - http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html
Sysinternals - http://www.sysinternals.com/
Toolbox - http://www.sil.org/computing/toolbox/
TreeSize - http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
TuneXP - http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/showdoc.php?doc=txp_about
Turbo Pad - http://turbopad.sourceforge.net/
Unlocker - http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
Vim - http://vim.sourceforge.net
WeathAlert - http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/msowul/?page=weathermain
WordWeb - http://wordweb.info/free/
XP AntiSpy - http://www.xpantispy.org/
YourDir - http://www.primeoption.com.au/FreewareYourDir.htm

Thanks for a patient reading :)