FREE Great Programs for Windows 7

[NoN]

I was looking at some stuff for myself that had turn me to IMGBurn software page, then it turns that i looked out for that one:

VSO Inspector - 2.1.0.6 - Released 21 Sep 2010:
VSO-Inspector is a free tool that reports various information about your hardware configuration. Using this freeware, you can check the listed Cd, Dvd and Blu-ray readers and writers connected to your computer, check the firmware used. The details about the media used and the speed supported by a given writer with this media. Also you can scan a burnt media for read errors and be confident about the readibility of your fresh backup.
VSO inspector : free CD, DVD and Blu-ray scanning reporting tool for testing your medias and burners

There's the Windows 7 logo compatible and this will install if needed the Patin-Couffin Driver
Handy informations are dispayed about your Cd-Rom/Dvd-Ram drive & media.

 

[Brink]

Thank you NoN. VSO-Inspector added.

 

[Chiumiento]

I really like some of these programs this thread was a really good idea.

 

[Maxxwire]

+1

~Maxx~
.

 

[Gaz1701]

Without looking through 133 pages, how about add QTTabBar to the list?
QTTabBar

 

[MilesAhead]

Without looking through 133 pages, how about add QTTabBar to the list?
QTTabBar

That's why there's a "Search This Thread" button at the top.

 

[NoN]

Wi-Spy for Wi-Fi Interference with inSSIDer

This is a little Program i use since the first version and that is Windows 7 x32bits & x64bits compatible. Very handy soft to scan all the neighborhood, that might use the same channel as yours...

Quick description:

InSSIDer is open-source software and FREE to download.

• Compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32 and 64-bit)
• Uses the Native Wi-Fi API and your current Wireless network card
• Sort results by Mac Address, SSID, Channel, RSSI and "Time Last Seen"
• Compatible with most GPS devices (NMEA v2.3 and higher)

• Inspect your WLAN and surrounding networks to troubleshoot competing access points
• Track the strength of received signal in dBm over time
• Filter access points in an easy-to-use format
• Highlight access points for areas with high Wi-Fi concentration
• Export Wi-Fi and GPS data to a KML file to view in Google Earth.
• Filter through hundreds of scanned access points

inSSIDer Wi-Fi Scanner | MetaGeek

 

[polycue]

NTFS Walker

NTFS Walker is a portable application (it can be used from a thumb drive) that contains its own NTFS drivers that allow it to “walk through” the entire file structure, bypassing the need for the Windows operating system. Once NTFS Walker has read your system it will then allow you to view every record on the file system’s Master File Table. And when you view a record you can actually get very detailed information about the file to be recovered.

NTFS Walker enables the user to recover files that have either been deleted or exist on a hard drive that is not bootable but the file system is still readable.

Very fast.

What’s wrong?
There is a pretty nasty bug in the application that applies if you are trying to recover files from a thumb drive. If you scroll to the very bottom of the file listing on such a drive you will start getting a seemingly infinite amount of access violation warnings. Once this happens you might as well manually shut down your machine and start all over.

 

[Shaunie]

Nice Post,
Thanks as its all neat and tidy.
Could of used spoilers to shorten thread
-Shaun

 

[Kari]

Found this yesterday, been testing today and this is simply the best freeware /donationware application I have ever seen, a great help for those reinstalling often and / or maintaining several rigs with different versions of Windows.

WSUS Offline Update allows you to download all available updates to any edition of Windows XP, Windows Server 200X, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Ms Office XP, Ms Office 2003, Ms Office 2007 and MS Office 2010. It creates one or several ISO images of your updates, which in its turn allows you to update the Windows or Office simple by mounting the ISO. You can of course burn the ISO to disk, which allows you to update other computers even when they are offline.

User interface is simple:



Choose to which versions of Windows you want WSUS to download updates. Choose if you want to create one ISO which contains all updates to several versions of Windows (x86 only), or if you want to create ISO's per selected Windows version and language.

You can also choose if you want to include service packs, NET Framework updates, MSE and 7 or Windows Defender definitions.

Click start, WSUS starts now downloading updates, creating ISO:



Done:



My test: I created an Universal Update ISO earlier today, containing all updates to XP, Vista and Seven, including service packs and NET Framework updates. I had one fresh Seven installation on an old desktop where I had still not done any updates, an XP SP2 laptop and an old Vista SP1 desktop.

Downloading all updates took some time, the ISO created was about 3 GB. I then burned the ISO to a DVD, disconnected all three test rigs from Internet and loaded the disk, updating all three rigs. Screenshot from Windows 7:



Everything went smoothly. My former XP SP2 is now SP3, Vista SP1 is SP2, and Seven is up to date. Judging from that WSUS created subfolders for each version of Windows which seemed to contain all updates (kbXXXXXX files), I would guess that it's easy to update the ISO, meaning if I run the UpdateCreator.exe in let's say a few weeks time it only downloads the new updates and updates the ISO. For instance, I now have all Seven updates in folder \wsusoffline\client\w61\glb.

Going to test the Office update tomorrow, I have Office XP, 2003 and 2010 in different rigs so I can test the global update ISO.

Notice that WSUS does not include optional updates in ISO. WSUS works in both x86 and x64 versions of Windows XP, Vista, Server 200X and Seven.

Kari

 

[seekermeister]

Too bad that it doesn't let one customize the SP to delete any unwanted updates.

 

[Kari]

Just do not select SP. You can then edit the ISO and delete any update you want to.

 

[seekermeister]

If the SP isn't selected, the available updates wouldn't include all of those available on the SP...would it?

 

[Kari]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't service pack just a collection of updates published prior the publishing the said service pack?

Kari

 

[seekermeister]

No, judging by this list of the updates on the RC of SP1:

List of Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows 7 SP1 x64 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 x64 | Capitalhead.com

There are many updates that are additional to those acquired previously on Windows Updates.

 

[whs]

Kari, this program essentially avoids multiple downloads. Do I see that right?

 

[Kari]

Yes. The ISO I created earlier today includes all available updates to XP, Vista x86 and Seven x86, all in one 3.1 GB iso, which can be run on any XP, Vista x86 or Seven x86 to update them. Updating does not need an Internet connection, it can be done offline.

For x64 systems you can not create a universal ISO, instead you have to create one for instance for Vista and another for Seven.

I really like this, decided to donate this guy a nice sum. This makes my life, maintaining my rigs, so much easier. Please notice that in my opinion this applications is good for you only if you normally install every important or critical update. If you want to exclude some important updates, this might not be your tool.

Kari

 

[whs]

Thank you Kari for the explanation. I guess I have too few systems and they are x64, x32, Vista and /7 mixed - and in 3 locations.

 

[Golden]

New FREE Microsoft Scientific Calculator

Microsoft Mathematics: Microsoft Education Product Center

From basic math to precalculus, Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 can help you visualize and see mathematical concepts as you’ve never seen them before. This free downloadable tool includes step-by-step instructions and explains fundamental concepts. The wide range of tools to help students with complex mathematics includes a full-featured graphing calculator that’s designed to work just like a hand-held calculator and ink handwriting support to recognize hand-written problems.

 

[profdlp]

Microsoft Mathematics: Microsoft Education Product Center

Even a 64-Bit version!