FREE Great Programs for Windows 7

I know that cross-posting is frowned upon and I don't usually do it; however, since this thread is about great free software and the other is complaining about the disappearance of functionality of the network system tray icon, I'll make an exception. If I'm out of line, please tell me and I won't do it again.

Check out NetWorx from http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/. It's not exactly a replacement for the XP network activity icon; but it serves almost the same function and gives a lot of additional information as well. There are lots of configuration settings. Seems to work perfectly with Win 7 x64 (both 7000 and 7077). I have it monitoring all ethernet activity and set the graph to display as the system system tray icon. I also changed the colors to green for iincoming, red for outgoing and yellow for both. That way, should the icon suddenly start displaying a lot of red when I'm not sending data, I'll know something is wrong.

virtualdub is another free program not on the list and works well in windows7 x86 havent got x64 installed so havent tested that.

Welcome to virtualdub.org! - virtualdub.org

polycue said:

Does it retain the hyperlinks in the pdf document?

Sadly, no, it doesn't. There is another free PDF printer driver, CutePDF Writer (uses the GhostScript PS3PDF converter) from Arco Software (cutepdf.com/ - also comes in a "pro" version for money), which does -- or, at least, it did on XP -- however, I have been unable to get it to work in Win.7.x64 (haven't tried x86). Maybe you'll have better luck.

CutePDF Writer seems to get lots of endorsements on "best of" utility lists; however, I've found it a bit finiky. It seems to get broken easily and needs to be reinstalled when other applications, including the GhostScript converter, get updated.

PDFCreator is stand-alone (it incorporates GhostScript internally rather than as an external converter); and, like Timex watches, takes a beating and keeps on ticking. New versions seem to appear at fairly frequent (but irregular) intervals. The active link feature is on their list of requested upgrades, so maybe it will be included soon.

u might also want to add samurize and fence. they make a great desktop

Recently I tried to sort out my .tga image collection and man, what a pain it was using Explorer without thumbnails. Tried ThumbView but it didn't seem to work on W7 x64. If you have a thumbnail program to suggest, please post. Here's just what I came up with after a bit of Googling:

MysticThumbs

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MysticThumbs v1.6 beta

PSD, DDS, TGA, PAA Thumbnail extension

32 and 64 bit for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
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Installation notes
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If everything goes well you will have thumbnail previews for:

Photoshop (.pds)
DirectDraw (.dds)
Targa (.tga)
Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
SGI image (.sgi, .rgb)
Painbrush (.pcx)
Apple Paintbrush (.pct)
Fax images (.fax)
.art, .avs, .cin, .dib, .fts, .hrz, .ipl, .jbg, .pbm.

You may need to close all your explorer windows and re-open them. In some cases you may have to restart Windows.

This component requires DirectX installed which should be no problem.
It comes with the required D3DX library for some image types.

DAEMON Tools Lite v4.30.4 32/64 Bits (with SPTD 1.58)
http://disc-tools.com/download/daemon

StackOverflow said:

Ooh great! And a hard, cool one: Google Chrome. Then run off and tell the developers about it!

Don't know if anyone has told you yet, but it works.