Obsolete: Free Software - what do you use?

[raychuu]

I was initially going to make a thread about open-source software, since that one ends up being more legitimate kind of free, say, without ads or tricky installs that try to sneak taskbars unto your web browser, but I felt like that was too restrictive. So! What free software do you use, and would recommend to other forum users?

On this machine I'm currently running:

Spoiler

• Mozilla Thunderbird - very lightweight e-mail manager, alternative to Outlook;
  
  
• Dropbox - Nice for filesharing (granted you have good internet for the two or more machines participating), to host files (such as images for your signature or music you want to share) or backup some lightweight documents;
  
  
• KeePass - Password manager. Some might find the idea iffy but it has saved me numerous headaches since I began using it. A site got compromised? Change your password right away without having to memorize anything!
  
  
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - I run it along with my (paid) antivirus to help catch malware and their ilk that might have slipped under the radar. So far it has not caught anything truly noxious, not sure if I should take that as a good or bad sign *knocks wood*;
  
  
• CCleaner - This one I would say use with caution. It's great for freeing some space but might end up deleting important things if you are not careful;
  
  
• Speccy - Very simple to use compared to other alternatives, allows me to quickly check my computer's spec and some other important info such as temperatures;
  
  
• Feed notifier - To keep track of news;
  
  
• Steam - Do I really need to explain this one? ;
  
  
• Rainmeter - Some people get really creative and give this a good use, but in my case it's more for the sake of aesthetics;
  
  
• Flux - Saves my eyes from screen glare;
  
  
• Defraggler - Windows defrag works just fine but it gives me the extra defragging edge for free;
  
  
• Mozila Firefox - Wouldn't be able to post this thread otherwise! I use Chrome for emergencies;
  
  
• Stop StartUp Monitor - the number of applications that sneak into your start up is appalling. This one makes the job of monitoring those sneaky bastards easy, plus it's very lightweight (and, ironically, is a start up process);
  
  
• 7-Zip - Very lightweight unzipper;
  
  
• Foxit Reader - I use it as my pdf reader since Adobe's is a bloat, but this one's been bloaty too lately. I need to find a new one;
  
  
• IrfanView - Image viewer, better than Window's (imo);
  
  
  
• puush - great for taking screenshots quickly and easily;
  
  
  
• Media Player Classic - Best media player hands down.

...well, that's a lot of stuff. Your turn!

 

[Dolce]

Let's see, I have

Just Skype really, and AVG Antivirus 2014 (Free)... both are really straight forward. With Skype helping me stay in contact with friends, and AVG fulfilling a majority of my antivirus needs.

And before I got Adobe Creative Cloud for my online classes I used to have Paint.Net for my really basic image clipping needs, which I do recommend for anyone who needs straightforward image editing software.

As you can probably tell, I barely have programs on my computer.

 

[CrackFox]

So much stuff i'm sure I am going to be forgetting lots. Start with the big things..

FireFox: It annoys me when people slag it off, it has never given me any problems and it has so many add-ons and customisations available within it. It really is the best browser i've found. Yes i've tried others and like Ghaskan, I use Chrome in emergenices which is useful but it lacks the charm of FireFox.

VLC Media Player: A simple free media player, nothing flash and it has gave me a few problems in the past but it's a great backup player for the moments when WMP is failing me.

Avast: Free version, obviously, it can be a bit intrusive when it comes to updates and monitoring but it is a good piece of software and I trust it is doing its job well.
I've tried other antivirus like AVG, Norton and Mcafee, and found Avast to be the best option for freeware.

Skype: Obviously, I use it to speak with my friends irl and on the internet. I do feel like it's quite in need of improvement, there is no customisation and visually it looks pretty boring. Great considering it's free though.

Everest Home Edition: It's a program that can tell you all the info on your computer, I usually just use it when I want to find out the temp its currently running at as i've had problems with overheating. Simple, easy to understand and free!

Ccleaner: Cleans up bits of data that linger in your computer, mostly connected with your browser but it can also clean up rubbish that is in your registery. Helpful to make your pc run as smoothly as possible.

Rocketdock: I'm still running Windows XP so to get a nice dock for the desktop icons, this is perfect. It keeps everything tidy and you can change/customise the icons yourself so they look as sleek as possible. During occassions like Xmas and Halloween I used themed icons and it looks great.

Yahoo Widgets: I don't use this as much as I want because it can slow down my computer depending on the apps open. There are some nice ones, things like weather, clocks, temp monitors, calculators etc. I think Windows 7/8 already has this kind of thing covered but for XP users, it's quite exciting.

Spotify: Spotify free is great. It has so much music to offer, you can just type in the name and listen to the song of your choice. It does have adverts but you can't expect no drawbacks.

Paint.Net: A free paint program that has lots of cool features. Most people use Gimp but I've always found it quite messy and hard to get used too, Paint.net has a lot of the same features but it's also very simple. I recommend it for people who aren't big artist but who like to create something better than MS Paint can provide.

Those are the things I use most often. I have other little pieces of software but the list is too long and I doubt there use would apply to that many people.

 

[GastlyGibus]

Hmmm, let's see here...

In gaming peripherals, I have Steam (duh), Pokemon Showdown, and Nexus Mod Manager for my Skyrim mods.

For security, there's two great programs that I use. "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware" and "SpybotSD2" both of which are free and do exactly what their names suggest. Haven't had any problems with them; they work well and take up minimal space on my hard drive.

 

[Leggo]

I love open-source software because it's more reassuring and it won't come with viruses.

• GIMP (GNU Image Manipulative Program) - I'm using 2.8.10. It keeps on getting better and better. I have been using this for 4+ years now. It's free and I find it way more easier to use than Photoshop. I use it for digital manipulation and editing GIFs. Also, there's a portable version available online that you can download and install on a USB drive, so you can digitally edit anywhere now.
  
• MyPaint - I discovered it when I was in a Linux phase due to laptop problems. It offers an endless canvas and when you export it to an image format, the size of the image depends on the area you have drawn in. Also, it comes with a lot of interesting brushes that I'm too lazy to download for GIMP. It's my personal PaintTool Sai alternative.
  
• InkScape - Free alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It's used for vectors. I have noticed that a lot of people use this to vector My Little Pony screenshots. I don't know if Illustrator supports the SVG format.
  
• Avast! - It's amazing for virus protection.
  
• Comodo - Free firewall. This is what the free Avast lacks. The only downside is that it might block some games; make sure to check what it is blocking.
  
• CCleaner - Cleans out cookies and what's in your Recycling Bin. I love it.
  
• f.lux - Changes into pretty colors when outside gets dark.
  
• Ren'py - Used to make visual novels and to play them. Due to being distracted, I have yet to learn more coding for this program.
  
• EasyToon - For easy simple doodle animation GIFs. One of those extremely lightweight programs.
  
• Mozilla Firefox - It might be slower than Google Chrome, but it's my Internet Explorer alternative when I want to get something done and it has cuter themes than Chrome does.
  
• This work timer app - It was created by Neil Cicierega, the guy behind Harry Potter Puppet Pals on YouTube. I found out about this on Tumblr. It's friggin' amazing (This will be the only time you'll see me use this term). You set what programs you need to work with to keep on task and when you go to another program, it stops the timer (shows how much work hours you) and it turns red. I love how free and simple this application is.
  I have used it before. I set Firefox and Word as my work programs and when I go to Chrome, I feel it gets mad, but it helps me to stay on task when I needed to research on the Internet and type. xD
  
• Dropbox - It's amazing to use when syncing especially when needing to collaborate on a project and you are too lazy to go meet up. I haven't used it that much since I figured out how to set up Home Groups to be able to sync files between computers using my house's wi-fi.
  

 

[proserpina]

I make good use of CCleaner, Skype, Avast! and and Steam. Other than this there's just Chrome, which eventually won me over from Firefox as it feels faster and simpler.

Suffice to say, CCleaner and Avast! go a long way in keeping my computers running smoothly and safely (albeit with a fair few notifications and reminders from the latter).
Skype and Steam are of more use than I could say when I want to play games co-operatively while in calls too through software I'm already familiar and comfortable with. Skype is a little lacking, though, in that it seems to take up a hell of a lot of my computer's processing power when running even just IMing. Still, it does the job better than anything else I have used yet and its popularity is perhaps its most persuasive trait since there's little point having software to communicate with friends if none of your friends want to use it.

 

[indigohex]

I am currently using Firefox when it comes to the Internet, but I am planning to use more free software in the future.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

Eff yeah, free software!

My go-to Internet browser is Google Chrome. I used my Google account for a LOT of things when I was in college (and still do now), so I like how my Google account syncs so easily with Chrome. Not really a big fan of some of the recent changes, though. Firefox is my backup browser; it also handles file downloading better than Chrome does, in my opinion, so I mostly use it for that.

Continuing the Google Train, I have the Chrome App Launcher if that counts, which I didn't think I would like, but it's been growing on me. I also use Google Drive, which is basically Dropbox, but it was easier to use GDrive since I was using Google Docs from the early days. I also have Open Office for when I need to do offline document editing, but it's been giving me more and more issues recently. Now I just use a combination of Google Drive and Microsoft's Office Web Apps for online editing, and this weird ad-supported version of Microsoft Word that came with my computer for offline editing.

For media, I pretty much use VLC Media Player for all my video needs. It's a really nice media player, and it hasn't disappointed me since I first downloaded it. I use iTunes as my music manager--I know people have their issues with iTunes, but I've always found it reliable. And now that I have an iPhone/iCloud account, it's been even more helpful to have. And speaking of iPods, I use SharePod to get/download music off my iPod. I don't use it much now, but it was a lifesaver when my old hard drive (and therefore my music collection) was wiped out and I was in the middle of switching iPods. I downloaded Spotify long ago, but I just can't seem to fit it into my music life, no matter how hard I try. On the plus side, my Spotify account isn't connected to my Facebook account!

For security stuff, I use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware along with paid antivirus software... although, to be honest, I use Malwarebytes more than I use my paid software. Those two things combined with CCleaner makes a good team.

What else... Back in my more creative days I used GIMP a lot, and I still use it sometimes now. I really enjoy using it, and I haven't been disappointed by it. I use 7-Zip for unzipping, which is the best unzipping tool I've used so far. I have Foxit Reader because I really dislike Adobe's PDF reader (I only use it as a backup), and Foxit was the best one I could find.

I only use Skype when I want to video chat someone and they can't/don't want to use Google Hangouts.

I also have a couple of other oddball things, but they're whatever.

 

[raychuu]

In regards to free pdf readers, I found a neat alternative to Foxit - SumatraPDF. It's a lot more lightweight and simple; for the use I give it, it's ideal!

 

[Nero the Giant Whiscash]

I only run Free Software Foundation software and/or linux and right now i am running my own custom OS which is a combo of both

 

[King Duzu]

Open source:

Firefox
Qbittorrent (feels and look like µtorrent)
Notepad++
Filezilla
VLC
foobar2000
7zip
Gimp (trying to learn it)

None open source software:

Spotify
CCleaner
Photoshop cs6
Skype


I think that was every software that i use these days.

 

[indigohex]

I just downloaded LibreOffice, and plan to install it on my laptop tonight before I start writing a story that I am planning to enter in a competition here in Australia. But I might go with some additional free software as well. But I do have 7zip on my laptop as well.