FREE Great Programs for Windows 7

[mikinho]

I apologize if it has already been recommended but it wasn't on the first page and didn't turn up in a quick search.

Input Director is a free Windows application I can't live without. Input Director lets you control multiple Windows systems using the keyboard/mouse attached to one master computer. Basically it is a software based KVM switch.

Both at work and my home office I have between 3-6 monitors (various quite a bit as I play with different systems), Input Director saves me 1- clutter of having multiple keyboards\mouse; 2- time having to switch between different hardware; 3- money; 4- resources on my primary system. I basically dedicate 1 system to my core "office" applications (e-mail, work IM, monitoring software). This keeps my development system clean of extra apps and fast but with Input Director it acts like it is just another monitor.

Synergy is an alternative that is cross-platform and also free but development was halted years ago and does not work well in Vista or higher without disabling too many things.

 

[Brink]

Thank you Mikinho. Added.

 

[7echno7im]

Mikonho What is the benefit over running headless systems with remote control apps? is it performance, 3d rendering or...? Just curious. Since this is software based, you wouldn't be able to use it until Windows is booted. I have a few headless machines here that I just remote in to with VNC, LogMeIn, RDP.

ohhhhhhh you can seamlessly transition to the next desktop, like one big huge seamless monitor? nice!

 

[mikinho]

ohhhhhhh you can seamlessly transition to the next desktop, like one big huge seamless monitor? nice!

Exactly. Not as seamless as having 3x cards, each running 2 monitors, since you can't drag applications to any of the remote systems but in other ways nicer in that I keep each system "cleaner". The only real annoyance I had at first was getting used to the hot-keys for swapping systems instead of using alt-tab.

 

[Night Hawk]

I wasn't sure if anyone caught this one yet. But Corel is now seeing a free version of MediaOne Standard edition an image/photo editor available.



Corel & Lexar Special Partner Offer

 

[zay]

As an IT professional that do a lot of on and off site work, I like portability. Here is sweet app with a ton of apps included that you can run from a flash drive. I actully have a folder that I run them from on my desktop as well. LiberKey - Home
LiberKey, what is it ? LiberKey groups a lot of free software. True "swiss army knife", it offers local and/or portable use.

• Local use (directly installed in a hard disk directory)
  Why install more than 200 software if they are available in one step via LiberKey ?
  Best Open Source or Freeware have been selected in order to match most practical needs (OpenOffice, FireFox, Filezilla, Gimp, Videolan,...). They have been grouped under categories in order to facilitate the search and the execution of the desired software.
  
• Portable use (installed on USB key, external hard drive, music player such as iPod, ...)
  It is possible because these software have been made portable. For example, LiberKey installed on your portable device can be plugged in any computer.
  Immediately you have under hand all your familiar tools.
• How ? By a simple click on LiberKey icon
  

 

[pparks1]

Might I suggest adding Sun Virtual Box to your list. It's a virtual machine software package which runs rather nicely. The only thing I've had to fiddle with was changing the VM's over to using the Intel NIC driver to use bridged networking and DHCP.

Also you could add Exact Audio Copy. That is a great CD Ripper application, especially when coupled with this setup guide here:
http://www.teqnilogik.com/tutorials/eac.shtml

 

[mickey megabyte]

DVDFlick

multithreaded free GPL open-source software for making dvd's from avi, mpg, mkv etc etc

• Burn near any video file to DVD
• Support for over 45 file formats
• Support for over 60 video codecs
• Support for over 40 audio codecs
• Easily add a menu
• Add your own subtitles
• Easy to use interface
• Burn your project to disc after encoding
• Completely free without any adware, spyware or limitations

a bit more powerful than windows dvd maker

my only gripe is the lack of customised menus.

 

[Brink]

Thank you Mickey. Added.

 

[HerrKaLeun]

Partition program

I found this free software for W7 that partitions disks.
Partition Wizard is a Windows based FREE Partition Manager. It works as partition magic and supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 server and Windows 7. FREE for Home and Business user.
(the home edition is free)
i haven't tried it beyond isntalling, but the website says it is W7 compatible for 32 and 64 bit. (some i found only are for 32 bit W7 in the free version)

S, if it works, please put to the sticky list.

 

[Brink]

Thank you HerrKaLeun. Added.

 

[7echno7im]

Windows Live Sync is a free app from MS that syncs files and folder pairs between 2 internet connected Windows systems.

Windows Live Sync


Great for my brother who had no idea how to use offline files, who is always on the run with his laptop but once he gets home he uses he desktop. Syncs automagically, with no intervention and in the background.

 

[mikinho]

Windows Live Sync is a free app from MS that syncs files and folder pairs between 2 internet connected Windows systems.

Windows Live Sync


Great for my brother who had no idea how to use offline files, who is always on the run with his laptop but once he gets home he uses he desktop. Syncs automagically, with no intervention and in the background.

Live Mesh would also be worth adding then.

 

[7echno7im]

Live Mesh would also be worth adding then.

nice, is that basically connecting all of your devices to the free 5gb skydrive cloud storage?

 

[mikinho]

nice, is that basically connecting all of your devices to the free 5gb skydrive cloud storage?

Among other things. It has it's own RDP technology that allows you to connect over HTTP directly to your session. It is cross platform as well. It is still in beta so new features are planned, some rather exciting ones too (NDA to say more)

 

[swarfega]

Windows Live sync also comes as part of Windows Live Essentials.

 

[johngalt]

Shawn, I changed the link for ISO Recorder to v3.1 for Windows 7 - since Alex released that one a while back, I figured linking to it's page directly would be better.

 

[Brink]

Shawn, I changed the link for ISO Recorder to v3.1 for Windows 7 - since Alex released that one a while back, I figured linking to it's page directly would be better.

Thank you John.

 

[Zirro]

Ultimate Windows Tweaker

The updated Ultimate Windows Tweaker V2.0 (The Windows Club) is now working OK for me on Win 7 64-bit.

I like changing the Window padding size to 1.

 

[FullyLoadedMan]

Flock web browser
Flock Browser - The Social Web Browser
The Social Browser, access Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many more networking sites all from your browser.
Also has Blog editing tools and RSS feed reader.