Ruhani Rabin » Windows

Ultimate Guide for Speeding Up your Windows 7

Ruhani Rabin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:09:58 +0000

Windows 7 is, finally, a great operating system.

Every version of Windows, has many services enabled, while many optimizing tweaks are not enabled by default. The reason this is so is because the installation is designed to support a very generic set of devices and hardware. The cool part of using Windows is the ability to fine tune it to your needs. Some call this tuning process “Hacking”, others called it “Tweaking”. I’m not really that worried about the name, instead I prefer focusing on the content…

Before I get all technical, it’s important that you check your hardware and choose the edition of Windows 7 that best suits your system:

Choose Windows 7 32-bit if you have:

3GB or less system memory
Dual core or single core processor
Built in graphic card
250GB or less hard drive

Choose Windows 7 64-bit if you have:

4GB or more system memory
i7, Dual core or Quad Core processor
Dedicated PCI express graphic cards such as Nvidia or ATI
250GB or larger hard drive

Now that that’s out of the way – on we go to the good stuff…

1.0 Disable Unwanted Services

Windows 7 enables services that aren’t necessarily required by default. You can relieve a huge amount of system resources by disabling these services or setting them to “Manual mode”. Configuring a service to this setting means, it doesn’t start automatically, but rather only when it is required.

How to Disable services:

Access the “Start Menu“
Type in “services.msc” in the search line and press “Enter“. (Alternately you can open the “Control Panel“, locate the “Administrative Tools” icon and click on “Services“.)
Go to a service property page to set it to Automatic/Manual or Disabled. Right click on the service name and choose “Properties” to access the properties screen.
Use the screenshot below as a reference:

Safe Services Configuration

The configuration listed below lists a range of services you can disable to relieve system resources and yet it should provide a great experience for 95% of users. There should be little or no side effects to configuring your machine this way.

What you can disable:

Application Experience
Computer Browser (Disable this if you’re not joining any network)
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (Disable this if you don’t want the aero effects)
Diagnostic Policy Service
Distributed Link Tracking Client
IP Helper
Offline Files
Portable Device Enumerator Service
Print Spooler (Disable this if you do not have a printer)
Protected Storage
Remote Registry (Disable it for more Security)
Secondary Logon
Security Center
Server (Disable if you’re not running on any network or intranet)
Tablet PC Input Service
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Themes (Disable if you do not want aero and good visual appearance
Windows Error Reporting Service
Windows Media Center Service Launcher
Windows Search (Disable it if you hardly use Windows Search feature)
Windows Time (Disable this if you are not synchronizing system time with Internet time automatically)

Alternative method:

Another method for getting this done is by using the Game Booster freeware. It allows you to enable and disable using a single click.

2.0 Disable Unwanted Start-up Applications

Certain application put start up items on the Windows registry and start-up folder every time you install them. These programs are eventually hidden and they get started every time you start Windows. It’s not a bad idea to remove some of these because they aren’t really required to load during your boot-up. Disabling these applications decreases Windows’ desktop loading time.

Using MSCONFIG:

Go to start menu and in the search box type ” MSCONFIG”, press Enter. The Windows system configuration tool will open. It might ask you for Administrator password before continue.
Click on the 4th tab “Startup“, review each of the applications, decide which one to start at boot time and which one not needed to be started.
Click on the Check Boxes to enable to disable any startup application
Press Apply, MSCONFIG might ask you to pre-boot your computer.

Using a freeware Windows 7 customization tool EnhanceMySeven:

Get the freeware EnhanceMySeven
Install and open the application, Click on the “Startup items”Icon.
It will list all the programs set to run on Windows start up. Use the check boxes on the right to Enable or Disable any programs.
EnhanceMySeven provides much more functionality than just managing startup programs, but use it with caution.

3.0 Boost Windows 7 Boot

Using MSCONFIG:

Go to the “Start Menu“, type “MSCONFIG ” in the search box and press Enter. The Windows system configuration tool will start. It might ask you for Administrator password before continue.
Click the “Boot” (2nd) tab
Click “Advanced Options” button
Select the number of processors you have and the amount of memory available. For example, if you’re using a Dual Core processor then you should select “2″ from processors drop down menu, if you have a Quad Core processor, you should select “4″ from the processor drop down menu, etc.
Now Press “Ok“, then “Apply“, MSCONFIG might ask you to re-boot your computer.

4.0 Disable Visual Effects and Windows Aero

Windows 7 comes with a wide range of visual effects which actually require a lot of system resources. If you prefer a fast and responsive machine you might want to free up the resources used by these visual effects.

Right click on “Computer” and choose “Properties“.
Click on “Advanced System Settings” from the left pane to open up the “System Properties” window.
Select the “Advanced” tab.
Under “Performance” click “Settings“.
Choose “Custom Options“.
Uncheck all the options except the last 4 in the list.
Apply and reboot the system to bring the changes into effect.
You will notice the significant difference in speed

5.0 Disable Search Indexing

Windows 7 comes with a search indexing feature but I’ve noticed I never actually use it. It takes up quite an amount of Windows system resources. Here’s how to disable it:

Right-click the “Computer” icon in the desktop and select “Manage”.
Click “Services and Applications” in the “Computer Management” window.
Click on “Services”.
Look for “Windows Search” in the list that appears.
Right-click the service and select “Properties“
Change the start-up type option to “Disabled” from the drop-down menu.

6.0 Disable the UAC feature

Although this feature is meant for security it can be a real nuisance sometimes. Here’s how to disable the User Account Control (UAC) Feature in Windows 7:

From the Control Panel open the “User Accounts and Family Safety > User Account“.
Click the “User Account Control” settings link.
Drag the Slider towards “Never Notify”.
Click “OK” and Re-boot.

7.0 Choose High Performance Power Plan

The Power settings in Windows 7 are set for balanced power consumption by the hardware. “Balanced” is not the same as “Optimal”…

Double click the “Power Options” in the control panel.
Click the down arrow showing “Show Additional Plans” to show the “High Performance” power plan
Select the “High Performance” plan.

8.0 Enable and Use Hibernate or Sleep Mode

When entering Hibernation your computer writes the contents of your system memory to a permanent storage medium (nearly always a hard drive). This allows the computer to power-off yet retain the current usage state. Once the computer is turned back on the memory is refreshed with the hibernation data allowing you to resume working from the past session. Documents, applications and the desktop state are presented as they were when you entered Hibernation.

The feature is primarily designed for laptop users because it’s a very handy power-saving feature that extends battery life when your computer is idle. However, desktop users may also find this mode handy as it allows you to save power and resume your session very quickly.

Hibernation might not be activated by default on some computers, so you’ll need to manually enable it:

Go to Start Menu, Type “CMD” in the search box
Right click on CMD, Select “Run As Administrator”
At the Command console, type ” powercfg /hibernate on”
Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options and click ” Change Plan Settings” on your currently selected plan.
Click ” Advanced Power Settings“.
Scroll down to “Allow Hybrid Sleep” and select “Off“
Click OK
You should now see the Hibernate option in your Shut down menu.

9.0 Optimize your Anti-Virus settings

Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software can contribute to performance slowdowns. So much so that some users decide to go without real-time security software (not recommended for most users!).

A good way to achieve a sensible balance between protection and speed is to use an efficient anti-virus package that has a low resource footprint.

Most Anti-virus software comes configured for real-time scanning. Here are some tips to customize it for performance:

Select scan by executable extentions
Set no real-time scan for archives and big files.
Set the Heuristic scan mode to low level
Set the scan mode to “active” only when open any executable

These tips should be able to apply on almost any well known Anti-virus packages.

10.0 Turn off Unused Windows Features

There are many features in Windows 7 that most of us don’t use very often. Disabling them will really help in speeding things up:

Open “Programs and Features” from the Control Panel.
Click “Turn Windows features on or off” from the left pane.
Uncheck all the features you don’t use in Windows 7.
Restart the system for the changes to take effect.

11.0 Use the Tweak Power Tools

Many tweak and power tools already support Windows 7. Here are the best of them:

7Stacks

7stacks is an easy to use free app that lets Windows 7 (and Vista and XP) users have “stacks” of icons in their Taskbar (Win 7) or QuickLaunch Toolbar (Vista & XP). By using stacks, users can reduce icon clutter, and combine a group of related icons into a single icon.

For instance, if you use application suites such as Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or Adobe CS4, you can have all the suite’s icons combined into one icon!

You can also use it to browse and access documents within a folder very quickly. Usually when you want to edit a series of frequently used documents you’d have to either launch the app, and go to File|Open, or open the (My) Computer icon and go into your (My) Documents folder and pick the file you want. With 7stacks you just create a stack to the document’s folder and open it with a couple of clicks.

Enhance MySe7en

Make your Windows 7 faster and even more responsive with EnhanceMySe7en

This program offers tools that take care of the registry, disk space and defragmentation, installed software, HDD temperature and other things related to system’s health.

The clean and easy interface grants you access to a comprehensive set of powerful and well classified tools, settings and tweaks.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker

The Ultimate Windows Tweaker offers some basic tweaking tools. For example in enables you to add more options to your context menu, or to customize Windows Explorer. It’s a simple tool, but can come in very handy at times.

XdN Tweaker

A very simple tool – if you want to customize a few settings only this is a good choice. Enables you to customize your explorer context menus too.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009

TweakNow PowerPack is a fully-integrated suite of utilities that lets you fine-tune every aspect of your computer’s operating system and Web browser.
The Registry Cleaner module provides you with a safe and simple way to clean your Windows Registry.

To keep your computer at top performance we recommend you clean your registry at least once a month.

For tweak lovers the suite’s Windows Secret section provides access to over 100 hidden Windows settings. Using modules included in this section you can easily customize your Windows like a bona-fide geek.

The Virtual Desktop module lets you run as many as four custom-designed desktop configurations simultaneously allowing you to tailor your computer screen to your mood and your work requirements.

Last but not least the suite also gives you a complete picture of all the aspects of your computer’s hardware, including detailed information about your motherboard, processor, video card, memory, hard disk and network.

That’s all for now!

This is quite a long post but I think it pretty much sums up every tips, tools and tweaks you’ll ever need to enhance the performance of your Windows 7.

Heavy gamers might find other more tailored lists out there but my intention was addressing the needs of most average users. Feel free to share any further tips and tweaks you’re familiar with and let me know what else I could add here to make this list even better.

Have fun tweaking but always remember to backup before making any crucial changes to your system.

Rating: 8.6/10 (38 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Servers

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:13:40 +0000

Servers

Apache Tomcat – Apache Tomcat is the servlet container that is used in the official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (jsp) technologies.
Apache Web Server – Web Server, the best one around.
Apache2Triad – Installs a developer preconfigured environment with Apache, PHP, mySQL with control panel/PHPMyAdmin, xMail, ftp, and a Apache Web based Control Panel, etc. Power packed with new cool things like Python/Pearl mods, ASP support, SSL and so much more. Highly recommended.

EasyPHP – Really nice Apache install with PHP and mySQL included and configured. If you need a heavy duty Apache web development environment look at Apache2Triad.
FileZilla – FTP Server and client. Highly recommended.
Instantrails – Instant Rails is a one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails, Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run. No installer, you simply drop it into the directory of your choice and run it.
Uniformserver – The Uniform Server is a WAMP package that allows you to run a server on any MS Windows OS based computer. It is small and mobile to download or move around and can also be used or setup as a production/live server. Developers also use The Uniform Server to test their applications made with either PHP, MySQL, Perl, or the Apache HTTPd Server.
MoWES -Run a webserver based on Apache, MySQL and PHP from an USB Stick or any other writable media (harddrive, flash cards etc.) without installation under Windows (98 to Vista).
Web-Dev. Server Suite – WAMP-based [Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP] web-server distribution for Windows that is fully configured and ready to run. This has every thing from a Web Application firewall to ASP.NET Host Interface. Security hardened and even includes some open source CMS software, like Joomla.
XAMPP – Apache, MySQL, PHP web development environment install. Takes care of most configs and setup issues so you don’t have to.
EFTP – FTP client/server
WAMP – Apache, PHP5 and MySQL server

Rating: 7.6/10 (21 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – System and Desktop Utilities

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:12:14 +0000

System and Desktop Utilities

nLite – Build your own custom Windows disk.
Comodo – Firewall, Anti-virus, anti-spam, malware utilities.
Ewido – Blocks spyware/adware and trojans.

Eyeline – Professional Video Surveillance Software with multiple camera support.
Filseclab – Internet personal firewall
GPG4Win – File, email encryption and other encryption utilites, like a file shredder.
Hitman Lite – Hitman Pro is a freeware tool that combines a number of powerful anti-spyware programs in one integrated solution. Hitman Pro combines Ad-Aware SE, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, CWShredder, Spyware Blaster, NOD32, Sysclean package. Most of the included programs are freeware.
Hotspot Shield – Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop and the wireless router. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers and hackers from viewing your email, instant messages, credit card information or anything else you send over a wireless network. Which means you remain anonymous and protect your privacy.
Kerio Firewall – Internet personal firewall. Highly recommended.
PowerGUI – an extensible graphical administrative console and IDE for managing systems based on Windows PowerShell. (Recommended by Reader)
My Lockbox – My Lockbox is a security software enabling you to password protect any folder on your computer. The protected folder (lockbox) is hidden from any user and application of your system, including Administrator and System itself. It is impossible to access the lockbox not only from the local computer, but also from the net.
Outpost – Firewall.
PGP – A free encryption software program that is the de-facto global standard for E-mail and file privacy. Pretty Good Privacy (or PGP) offers full-strength, 128-bit encryption. PGP has constantly been upgraded over the years and now offers loads of useful features, including secure file wiping; advanced keyserver searching; and seamless integration with Qualcomm’s popular Eudora E-mail client
Password Gorilla – Password manager.
Spyware Blaster – Blocks spyware/adware. Highly recommended.
Truecrypt – Open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP , Mac OS X, and Linux. TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g.., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc).
Whisper32 – Password Manager with encryption.
WinPooch – Winpooch is a Windows watchdog, free and open source. Anti spyware and anti trojan, it gives a full protection against local or external attacks by scanning the activity of programs in real time. Associated with ClamWin antivirus, Winpooch keeps safe your computer against virus.
Zone Alarm – Internet personal firewall. Highly recommended.
Simple File Shredder – securely delete files
KeePass – password manager
LockNote – password manager
nPassword – password manager
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer – identify security misconfigurations
Spybot: Search & Destroy – anti-spyware
Windows Defender – anti-spyware
SpywareBlaster – anti-spyware
Spyware Terminator – anti-spyware
HiJack Free – system protection
HighJackThis – hijackers detector and remover
Black Box – Alternative Windows Shell. I found this to be more stable than XOBlite2. http://www.bb4win.org/news.php
Black Box Lean – Alternative Windows Shell.
Blueberry – Alternative Windows Shell in 3-D.
Clockwise3d – Alternative Windows Shell in 3-D.
Litestep – Alternative Windows Shell.
Project Looking Glass – 3D desktop. It reminds me of os x in three dimensions. Note: This is under development and requires lot’s of Java setup. I would not use this unless you want to test and develop and arn’t worried about your Windows installation.
SharpE – Alternative Windows Shell. More info and screen shots Here.
XOBLite – Alternative Windows Shell. Screenshot of my machine running XOBLite (blackbox) here
Madotate – 3D effects for Windows similar to those found in Project looking glass. This is a direct download link and is the english version.
Pitaschio – Pitaschio is the essential tool to use windows efficiently. Adds some interesting features.
RocketDock – Rocket dock is a Mac OS X like launcher complete with fisheye effect, taskbar features, and even themes well with other engines. They also have a cool icon enhancer for your desktop and file explorer with cool effects, plug-in based.
TaskSwicthXP – Task switcher (alt+tab) replacement.
Virtual Dimension – Multiple desktops in Windows. I love this app, it actually makes your desktop sessions separate and lots more cool features. Highly recommended.
VirtualWin – Virtual desktops in Windows.
Disclib – CD organizer
Dexpot – virtual desktops
DriveImage XML – create partition images
MozBackup – backup and restore bookmarks, etc.
SyncBack – system backup
Atomic Cock Sync – syncronize your clock
Citrus Alarm Clock – alarm clock
allSnap – make all windows snap
Sysinternals Tools – various system tools
StrokeIt – mouse gestures
Net Profiles – create profiles of your network settings
AveDesk – desktop enhancer
IconPhile – customize windows’s system icons
CursorXP Free – change mouse cursors
LClock – Windows Longhorn clock
Y‘z Dock – application launcher
Y‘z Shadow – shadow effect to the windows
Y‘z Toolbar – change the toolbar icons in Explorer and Internet Explorer
Taskbar Shuffle – rearrange the programs on the taskbar by dragging
Visual Task Tips – thumbnail preview image for each task in the taskbar
Badges – put badges on any folder or file
Folderico – change icons of the folders
Folder Marker – mark your folders
Folder2MyPC – add favourite locations to My Computer
Microsoft TweakUI – system settings
BricoPacks – shell packs
ShellPacks – shell packs
Tango Shell Patcher – shell patcher
XPize – GUI enhancer
CPU-Z – cpu information
CrystalCPUID – cpu information
Central Brain Identifier – cpu information
Everest – system information
SiSoft Sandra – system information
SpeedFan – hardware monitor
Memtest86 – memory test
PowerMax – HDD test
3Dmark 06 – 3D game performance benchmark
Aquamark – performance benchmark
rthdribl – 3D benchmark
Prime 95 – cpu benchmarking
SuperPI – cpu benchmarking
CPU Rightmark – cpu overclock
Core Temp – cpu temperature
aTuner – GeForce and Radeontweaker
RivaTuner – video overclock
Nokia Monitor Test – monitor adjustmets
UDPixel – fix dead pixels
Visual Tooltips – Enhance the Windows taskbar with thumbs ans 3D effects. Check out Yod’m while you’re there for a 3D cube virtual desktop.
WinRoll – Lets you shade your windows like in Linux.
7Zip – Zip utility with File Explorer support.
CabPack – compression program
Universal Extractor – extract files from any type of archive
AB Commander Lite – File explorer replacement.
Adaware – Spyware removal tool.
AlienGuise – Theme engine like Windows Blinds, by the same guys, and brought to you from Alienware computer systems.
AntiVir – Anti-virus. I have been using this for awhile and it kicks ass. Beats the shit out of Norton and it’s free! Highly recommended.
Avast – Anti-virus applcation. Free for personal use. I have not tried this software, but it works with Kerio so it can’t be bad.
BartPE – Windows live cd. Now you can boot Windows from a CD-Rom and have full read/write access to NTFS volumes!.
Boot manager/partition manager – Partition magic like clone and boot manager.
DeepBurner – CD/DVD burner
BurnAtOnce – CD/DVD burner
Express Burn – CD/DVD burner
Zilla CD-DVD Rip‘n‘Burn – CD/DVD burner
ImgBurn – ISO, BIN burner
DVD Decrypter – DVD ripper
Nero CD-DVD Speed – CD/DVD info and quality test
Burn4Free – CD/DVD burner application, works oh so well! p.s. Run Adaware after installing to remove the spyware piece
CD Image – ISO ripper. Like UltraISO, create convert disk images. Supports all the main images types.
CD burner XP – CD Burner.
Console – Terminal enhancement. Ever wanted a transparent background in the command prompt window like in Linux?
Crap Cleaner – Cleans up Windows, internet cache, temp files, registry entries, etc. Also has a kick ass uninstaller that works and a startup editor. Highly recommended.
xp-AntiSpy – OS setup
jv16 Powertools – system utilities
XP SysPad – system monitoring utility
What’s Running – process guard
Registrar Lite – registry editor
WinIPConfig – replacement for �ipconfig.exe� and �route.exe�
Unlocker – file eraser
Eraser – secure file eraser
Undelete Plus – file recovery
Duplicate File Finder – find all duplicate files
Ant Renamer – file renaming
ReNamer – file renaming
Icons From File – icos extractor
Chaos MD5 – MD5 generator
HashTab – MD5, SHA1 and CRC-32 file hashes
Cygwin – Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows.
Cygwin/x – Cygwin/x allows x11 (Linux apps) to run on Windows.
Daisy – Windows updater replacement that does not use IE settings.
DoISO – Create and burn ISO disk images.
Download Checker – The Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions and then send this information to filehippo.com to see if there are any newer releases. These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download.
Explore2fs – Let’s you see and explore a Linux partition, and do file operations, from Windows. Highly recommended if you dual boot.
ExplorerXP – Windows File Explorer replacement.
FS-driver – Mount Linux Ext2/Ext3 file systems on Windows.
Floola – Floola is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod or your Motorola mobile phone (any model supporting iTunes). Floola supports all common used iPod features including artwork, podcasts and smart playlists! It’s also able to convert audio or video incompatible with the iPod so that you can copy almost any file to it. It even allows adding youtube and myspace videos just entering the page url!
Free commander – File Explorer replacement. This is one of the best file explorer replacements I have ever used. Highly Recommended.
Mucommander – File Explorer replacement. If you liked Norton Commander you will love this.
ISOrecorder – ISO burn utility! Add an option to Explorer to burn .iso file to cd. HIghly Recommended.
IZArc – Zip utility. Opens everything and has File Explorer support.
Infrarecorder – CD/CDR burner.
Launchy – Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes! Similar to Quicksilver on OS X and Katapult on Linux.
OpenVMS – Defrag and hard drive utility.
Partition Utilities – Partition resize, delete, create, etc…
Rainlendar – Very cool skinnable calendar for windows, will set events from Outlook/Exchange!
Registry Fix – Fixes the Windows registry.
Resource Hacker – Utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems.
Samurize – Another skinnable clock, system meters, weather, email, and trash indicators as well as music playback, but with so much more – like multiple machine support! Highly recommended.
Skin Calc – Cool skinnable calculator.
Spybot – Spyware removal tool.
Stickies – Post it notes for your desktop.
StickiesforWindows – Post it notes for your desktop.
Synergy – Synergy is like dual monitors, a kvm switch, and vnc on speed! If you want to operate multiple machines with one keyboard and mouse, move files between them, and have both screens at your disposal this is for you. Works between platforms also!
Sysmetrix – Very cool skinnable clock system meters with weather, email, and trash indicators as well as music playback.
Task Scheduler – Task Schedule replacement.
Tugzip – Zip/archive application. Really nice and opens most everything including rar.
UBCD4Win – UBCD4Win is a bootable CD which contains software that allows you to repair/restore/diagnostic almost any computer problem. Also see Win/Linux Version.
UltraExplorer – File Explorer replacement.
Unxutils – Linux/Unix command line tools, like grep, written natively for Windows.
VSpeech – Voice command your Windows computer.
WikidPad – wikidPad is a real-time wiki. wikidPad is not a web server, or application server, or groupware solution. wikidPad is a standalone notepad like application, albeit notepad on steroids. wikidPad is like an IDE for your thoughts.
ZScreen – ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. It can also interface with image editing software. It is a C#.NET 2.0 program hosted on Sourceforge.net and built by BrandonZ (inf1ni).
Zipeg – Zipeg allows you to open and explore content of zip, rar and other archives, preview files and images before you extract/unzip them. Extract only the files you want. Zip thru photo archives. See image thumbnails. Zipeg allows you to decide what do you want to extract. You can choose what to extract and where to put extracted files or just drag and drop them.
Zipgenious – Zip utility that supports all the major archive types, zip, s7, gz, etc. Skinnable.
PearPC – Run Mac OS X or Linux on Windows !
VirtualBox – VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Rating: 7.3/10 (18 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Portable Applications Suite

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:09:50 +0000

Portable Applications Suites

PortableApps – Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer via USB Flash device, iPod, or portable hard disk, and it works like a start menu. Includes Firefox, Open Office, VideoLan, to name a few.
Lupo PenSuite – Lupo PenSuite mashes up a familiar looking menu with a huge offering of applications. Taking a note from the LiberKey school of portable suite production, Lupo PenSuite throws everything at you but the kitchen sink.
Geek.Menu – Geek.Menu is a branch in the PortableApps development tree. Geek.Menu uses the same convenient installation files from PortableApps.com that the original PortableApps suite uses. The layout is similar but Geek.Menu has several key enhancements.

LiberKey – It might not have the polished menu found in the PortableApps suite, but its menu is functional and conveniently arranged by program type. And 250 programs packed under the hood.

Rating: 7.8/10 (17 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Programming

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:07:58 +0000

Programming

Frhed – Hex editor.
ActiveGrid Studio – ActiveGrid Studio enables developers to rapidly build enterprise-level Web 2.0 applications with a minimum of training, time, and effort. Supports Java, PHP, Python. Database supports is the best I’ve seen in an open IDE. Has built in Python and Java environments plus a built in running Apache web server. Highly recommended.
Aptana – Development environment geared towards web development, Ajax style! Autocomplete and assistance for HTML, CSS, Java Script.

Balthisar Cascade 2.0 – CSS level 2 editor available for the Windows platform.
BlitzMax IDE – Basic programming IDE for use with the Blitz game development environment.
Boa Constructor – A visual GUI designer and IDE for Python
Code:Blocks – The IDE with all the features you need, having a consistent look, feel and operation across platforms.
Cooktop – XML editor.
Cream – A modern configuration of the powerful and famous Vim, with full GUI.
Eclipse – Eclipse java IDE for Windows. It can be extended into many other platforms.
Entice – Entice Designer is a Form Designer for DFL and a rich code editor, and is on the path to becoming an IDE. D programming language
Envelop VBasic – Visual Basic clone; compiles to exe, gui designer!
FarPy – Awesome wxPython and .Net GUI designer.
Flashdevelop – Actionscript 2 IDE with seamless swfmill and MTASC integration. FlashDevelop is the first alternative opensource IDE to feature AS3 & MXML completion, including Flex2 compiler integration (the best compiler integration after Adobe FB) and AS3 syntax checking. Highly recommended. Requires .Net.
GNUStep objective C – Objective C lib, compilers, etc.
Groovy – Groovy is an agile, dynamic programming language for the Java Virtual Machine. Groovy includes features found in Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk, but uses syntax similar to the Java programming language.
Haste – Haskell TurboEdit – is an IDE for the functional programming language Haskell, written in Haskell.
IronPythonIDE – IronPython IDE is a GUI application written in C#. It is dedicated to the IronPython language which is a .NET implementation of the Python language. It is aimed at providing a nice, easy, full featured development environment for IronPython. Read up on or download IronPython.
IronPythonStudio – IronPython Studio is a free full IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for the Python programming language. It is based on the existing IronPython example that is included in the VS SDK. IronPython Studio is based on the Visual Studio 2008 Shell runtime (royalty free) and can be installed without requiring any version of Visual Studio.
Komodo Edit – Free, feature-rich editor for JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and Tcl, on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.
Lazarus – Delphi/Kylix like programming environment using Pascal, compiles to exe and includes gui designer.!
NVU – HTML wysiwyg editor, supports CSS, Javascript, etc. Highly recommended.
Netbeans – IDE with the following features and language support Ajax | C/C++ | Databases | Debugger | Desktop | Editor | GUI Builder | Java EE | Java ME | Java SE | Javascript | Mobile | Profiler | Refactor | REST | Rich Client Platform | Ruby | SOA | SOAP | UML | Web | WSDL | XML.
OpenLaszlo – Flash creation, plus much more. Kind of like Macromedia Flex. For everything you need for this visit my Laszlo article.
PyScripter – A very powerful, full featured, professional Python IDE written in Delphi. Highly recommended.
Python Enthought edition – Scientific power packed Python install! This has wxWindows installed by default.
Python for Photoshop – Python Actions Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop
Python programming language! – So much power and easy to pick up! Has an included programming editor/IDE called PythonWin.exe
RadRails – Ruby On Rails IDE.
Rec – Decompiler, breaks exe files into C/C++ code.
SPE – If your a Python programmer working on Mac or Windows and your looking for a kick ass IDE Spe is for you! Highly recommended.
Scite – A free source code editor for Win32 and X.
Selenium – Web application test tool. Tests run directly in a browser, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox. Supported platforms Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. Languages include C#, Python, PHP, Ruby, etc.
Sepy – Flash Actionscript IDE. This is really nice! Has class list, auto complete, and compiler. Highly recommended.
SharpDevelop – IDE for C# and VB.NET projects on Microsoft’s .NET platform..
SimpleCSS – CSS Editor.
Spket – IDE for JavaScript, XUL/XBL and Yahoo! Widget development. It provides features like code completion, syntax highlighting and content outline that helps developers productively create efficient JavaScript code. Supports Laszlo and Silverlight. Requires Java.
TSWebeditor – HTML/PHP IDE. Has FTP, projects, and css support built in. Very nice! Highly recommended.
Vex – Vex is an editor for XML documents. The “visual” part comes from the fact that Vex hides the raw XML tags from the user, providing instead a wordprocessor-like interface. Because of this, Vex is best suited for “document-style” XML documents such as XHTML and DocBook rather than “data-style” XML documents.
WXWindows – BOA uses wxWindows backend
Webniac – HTML editor, CSS, ETC.
Xerlin – XML editor.
Xinha – HTML editor also has a Firefox extension.
ConText – Programmers text editor, supports most languages, shell scripts, plugin support.
Crimson editor – Programmers text editor. Features tabbed interface, html, php, c, python syntax highlighting, code output window, and built in FTP! Highly recommended.
Jedit – Jedit is a mature and well-designed programmer’s text editor with a big focus on Java. Has nice Jython support!
Notepad++ – Notepad replacement with tabs, plugins, no file size limit. Highlights many langauges included Python, Java, Html, etc. Highly Recommended.
AutoIt – task automation programming
SciTE4AutoIt3 – text editor for AutoIt
AutoHotkey – task automation
PHP Designer – PHP editor
PSPad – text editor
FoxEditor – text editor
Elfima Notepad – text editor
Notepad2 – text editor
Nvu – HTML editor
Alleycode – HTML editor
BlockNote – web page editor
Weaverslave – web page editor
TortoiseSVN – the best windows SVN client at your finger tips.
Visual Web Developer Express – A free edition of Visual Studio with the features of a full phase .Net web development IDE. A must have.

Rating: 7.4/10 (15 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Network and Internet

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:04:45 +0000

Network

Open SSH – SSH Remote administration.
Putty – Telnet/SSH application.
RRDTool – The industry standard data logging and graphing application. Use it to write your custom monitoring shell scripts or create whole applications using its Perl, Python or PHP bindings. RRD is the acronym for Round Robin Database. It is a system to store and display time-series data (i.e. network bandwidth, machine-room temperature, server load average).

TeraTerm – Terminal.
TightVNC – Remote desktop tool.
VNC – Remote desktop tool.
WinSCP – SCP for Windows. It’s a very good one.
UltraVNC – UltraVNC is a powerful, easy to use and free software that can display the screen of another computer (via internet or network) on your own screen. The program allows you to use your mouse and keyboard to control the other PC remotely. It means that you can work on a remote computer, as if you were sitting in front of it.
Netstumbler – Network Stumbler is a neat little program that allows you to see all the available Wi-Fi access points and networks that are in range of you and your active Wi-Fi computer. Network Stumbler is for desktop and laptop machines, and Mini Stumbler is the equivalent for the Wi-Fi enabled PDA.
Hamachi – VPN client
RealVNC – remote control
Ethereal – local area network administration
The Dude – network administration
Wireshark – network administration
Angry IP Scanner – IP scanner
IP-Tools – IP scanner
Free Port Scanner – IP scanner
NetMeter – network bandwidth monitoring

Internet

FrostWire – Next Generation of the Fastest P2P Program. Recommended.
BitTorrent – BitTorrent downloading!
BitTyrant – BitTorrent protocol compatible client. Faster than traditional BitTorrent, read more on their site.
Burst – A bittorrent creation and management tool! Highly recommended.
UTorrent – Ultimate Bittorrent Application. Highly recommended.
BitComet – torrent client
BitTornado – torrent client
DC++ – Direct Connect network client
PeerGuardian – IP blocker
Miranda – chat client
MSN Messenger – chat client
Yahoo Messenger – chat client
QIP – chat client
JAJC – chat client
HydraIRC – IRC client
Talkative IRC – IRC client
IceChat – IRC client
Google Talk – VOIP client
VoipStunt – VOIP client
Gizmo – VOIP client
Wengo – VOIP client
Bid O Magic – EBay bidding/selling utility.
Chronicle Lite – Blog client that works with xmlrpc – works with Drupal and any other blogapi supporting blog.
Ekiga – Ekiga (formely known as GnomeMeeting) is an open source VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME. Ekiga uses both the H.323 and SIP protocols. It supports many audio and video codecs, and is interoperable with other SIP compliant software and also with Microsoft NetMeeting.
EmailXT – EmailXT is an open, patent-free protocol that replaces your current email with a more secure, full-featured system. EmailXT is a relationship-based email system where unauthorized bulk emailing is no longer possible. No more spam and mass mailing viruses. You don’t need spam filters or service subscriptions any more.
FeedDemon – RSS Feed reader. Get your news and information instantly. Customize the way you read and organize feeds. Feeds are stored on NewsGator. I highly recommend this and NewsGator.
Feedreader – News aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats.
FireFox Tune – This will automatically tune Firefox for speed
Flock – Web browser based on Firefox with social networking utilities built in.
Digsby – All in one instant messanger and social networking client. Highly recommended.
Gaim – Chat client. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.
IM2 – Chat client. Works with Yahoo, MSN, AOL, ICQ, IRC. Features voice\video and encrypted chat. Skinnable
Pidgin – Multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once, used to be Gaim. Supports all the major IMs
Gizmoproject – Internet Phone. Gizmo Project uses your internet connection (broadband or dial-up) to make calls to other computers.
Jap – Anonymous proxy. JAP makes it possible to surf the internet anonymously and unobservably.
Juice – If you want to listen to podcasts, this program is for you.
Kmelon – Web browser, very lightweight.
Maxthon – Web browser, similar to Firefox, but uses the Internet Explorer backend and settings.
MegaTrack – MegaTrack is an application that tracks Atlantic and eastern Pacific tropical storms. It uses the HSQLDB engine and is updated from the tropical storm data repository from the Unisys weather center.
Mozilla – Web applications like Thunderbird mail client, Firefox web browser, SeaMonkey and Sunbird Calendar. Highly recommended.
Opera – Web browser.
Pegasus Mail – Email client, very mature and feature rich.
RSS Owl – RSS news reader.
RSSBandit – News aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats. Requires .Net
SFLphone – The SFLphone project aims to provide a multi-platform, multi-protocol (SIP/IAX2), and multi-GUI desktop VoIP phone.
Semagic – Blog clent for Live journal. Has the best features for Lj.
Skype – Internet phone. Skype is a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. Its free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers so your not limited to call friends using the same operating system. Skype also has other services that allow the calling of actual phone number and cells, plus video options for a small price.
Snarfer – RSS with very powerful features, like search, web broswer, sharing, and embedded video playback. Highly Recommended.
Speak-freely – Voice over ip, Internet phone.
BlogDesk – Blog client, in my opinion it is the best one around. Supports Drupal, Word Press, Live Journal, and many other blog types and even FTPs files and tags them with either link or image. Too many features to list here, highly recommended application.
Windows Live Writer – Powerful Blog client from Microsoft. Supports Drupal, Word Press, Live Journal, and many other blog types and even FTPs files and tags them with either link or image.
Zoomify – Flash image gallery creation.
Avant Browser – web browser
PopTray – check for emails
Free Download Manager – download manager
FlashGet – download manager
WellGet – download manager
WGET – commandline download manager
HTTrack – offline browser
WebReaper – offline browser
Yeah Reader – RSS reader
GreatNews – Excellent RSS reader
FavBackup – Handy little stand alone application, FavBackup, can actually do the job easier and it can also backup Chrome, Opera, Safari, Flock, and Internet Explorer as well!
TweetDeck – The best multi column twitter desktop client around
Seesmic Desktop – Only other alternative to TweetDeck
Twhirl – One of the most popular Twitter Desktop Client
Destroy Twitter – Regardless what the name is, it is a very tiny and effective twitter desktop client

Rating: 6.0/10 (9 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Miscellaneous

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:01:58 +0000

Miscellaneous

Doubletype – Font creation application.
Fontforge – Font creation application. Requires Cygwin.
Gourmet – Recipe Manager is a simple but powerful recipe-managing application.

SpeQ Mathematics – mathematics program
TimeTo – to better organize your work, or your entire life.
Dia – diagram creation program
Google Earth – explore the world
NASA World Wind – 3D virtual globe
Celestia – explore the space
Stellarium – planetarium
grabMotion – webcam capture
iDailyDiary – simple page-for-a-day diary
Pivot Stickfigure Animator – create stick-figure animations
Scribus – professional page layout
FreeMind – mind mapping software

Rating: 5.5/10 (2 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Finance

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:56 +0000

Finance

Grisbi – Personal accounting application.
HomeBank – HomeBank is free software. Use it to manage your personal accounts. It is designed to easy to use. Analyze your finances in detail using powerful filtering tools and graphs.

JMoney – Personal banking and accounting app.
Quasar – Nice replacement for Quickbooks.
TurboCash – Accounting personal finance software.

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Databases

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:58:18 +0000

Databases

MySQL – Most popular SQL Database.
Postgresql – SQL database. Heavy duty relational database.
SQLCC – GUI Frontend for mySQL.

GnuLedger – Open source financial solution. GnuLedger includes all of the functionality that home users need to manage their finances.
SQLite – Super fast and free file based database platform

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Best Windows Freeware – Multimedia Tools

Ruhani Rabin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:56:58 +0000

Multimedia Tools

Audacity – Wav editor with VST support and can export to mp3. Highly recommended.
Cdexos – CDex a CD-Ripper, thus extracting digital audio data from an Audio CD. The application supports many Audio encoders, like MPEG (MP2,MP3), VQF, AAC encoders. Highly recommended.
Ephpod – Copy iPod music to your PC.

Flac – Lossless audio compression tool. Rips tracks without the quality loss like you find in mp3 format.
Foobar2000 – Audio player.
Gungirl Sequencer – Gungirl Sequencer is an easy to use Audiosequencer. It includes a simple Filemanager and uses Drag & Drop to arrange Audiosamples.
Hydrogen – Drum and synth application like Fruityloops.
Hymn – The purpose of the Hymn Project is to allow you to exercise your fair-use rights under copyright law. The various software provided on this web site allows you to free your iTunes Music Store purchases (protected AAC / .m4p) from their DRM restrictions with no loss of sound quality. These songs can then be played outside of the iTunes environment, even on operating systems not supported by iTunes and on hardware not supported by Apple.
Jazzware – Midi sequencer
Kristal – Powerful multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer – ideal for anyone wanting to get started with recording, mixing and mastering digital audio. KRISTAL Audio Engine is free for personal, educational and non-commercial use.
Media Player Classic – Media Player Classic looks like the original Windows Media Player, but with more codex support. Tons of other downloads can be found here also, audio and video…
Mixx – Dj software.
Neuromixer – Neuromixer Innovative software solutions for visual artists and musicians for live video production.
Ogg Vorbis – Ogg is like an open source version of mp3. They list many ripping, playing, and utilities on their site also for use with this format. I like it better than mp3.
QCD – MP3/Ogg player and OGG encoder plugin Screw MP3 – rip to OGG!!! Better and free! Highly recommended.
Razorlame – Audio to mp3 ripper. Uses Lame Encoder
Resolution AXS – AXS is a combination of an analog synthesizer, a sampler, two effect units and a sequencer.
Skale – This is a Freeware Music Creation Program, This means you can create your own music with this software completely for free. All you need is your creativity and a big bunch of good sound samples to create all you want.
Songbird – Desktop Web player, digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like FirefoxÂÂ �, it is built from MozillaÂÂ �, cross-platform and open source. Reminds me a bit of Amarok. Also runs on OS X and Linux. Very nice player indeed!
Traverso – Cross platform multitrack audio recording and editing suite, with an innovative and easy to master User Interface. It’s suited for both the professional and home user, who needs a robust and solid DAW.
Wavosaur – Wavosaur is a free sound editor, audio editor, wav editor software for editing, processing and recording sounds, wav and mp3 files. Wavosaur has all the features to edit audio (cut, copy, paste, etc.) produce music loops, analyze, record, batch convert. Wavosaur supports VST plugins, ASIO driver, multichannel wav files, real time effect processing.
XMPlay – Really nice music player with plugin support. Supports all the major formats.
Zinf – Mp3/Ogg player, skinnable.
MediaPortal – MediaPortal is an Open Source application ideal for turning your PC in a very advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC. MediaPortal allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch your video’s and DVD’s, view, schedule and record live TV and much more.
SesamTV – SesamTV is an freeware application ideal for turning your PC in a very advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC. MediaPortal allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch your video’s and DVD’s, view, schedule and record live TV and much more.
XBMC – XBMC media center is a free cross-platform media-player jukebox and entertainment hub.
Yamipod – YamiPod is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod under Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation. Take a look at the feature list to find out what it can do and feel free to suggest anything that might be missing.
AVI Maker – Makes avi video from images.
Avidemux – Video editor.
Creatoon – 2D cartoon animation application.
DVDFlick – DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks as well as subtitles of your choice. Highly recommended.
DVDShrink – DVD ripper (rips encripted discs) that compresses for burning to DVD-r/CD-r. The best DVD backup tool I could find. Highly recommended.
DVDStyler – DVDStyler is a cross-platform DVD authoring application that makes possible for video enthusiasts to create professional-looking DVDs.
Democracy Player – Best damned video player! Play virtually any video– Quicktime, WMV, MPEG, AVI, XVID, and more. Video blog, YouTube, hell it does everything including BitTorrent.
Dorgem – Video/webcam capture.
Dr Divx – Officially the unofficial DivX encoding tool to create DivX media files for playback on DivX hardware and software players.
Griffith – Movie collection manager, which fetches movie info, supports cover art, etc.
Jahshaka – Video editor for Windows. Very nice.
K-Lite Codec Pack – Just about every codex you will ever need in Windows XP (Vista?). Also provides DVD (encrypted) playback in Windows Media Player. Highly recommended!
MPEG Streamclip – Video converter/editor.
Mediacoder – MediaCoder is an open source universal audio/video batch transcoder (converter), which puts together lots of excellent audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution.
Movica – Video editor.
MuteVJ – Mute is VJ software which aims to facilitate improvised, unique visuals.
StopMojo – StopMojo is cross-platform stop-motion animation suite designed to aid in the creation of stop-motion animations. Currently it includes a capture program supporting capture of image files from various video capture devices, overlay of previous frames (onion skinning), and export to AVI and QUICKTIME video formats.
Super – If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file SUPER � is all you need.
Synfig – Cartoon animation – industrial-strength vector-based 2D animation software package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources. Highly Recommended.
TransCoder – Video/DVD ripping and conversion tools.
VeohTV – VeohTV is a free specialized video browser that turns online video into Internet Television. Watch video from thousands of web sites, in one easy-to-use full screen application. Watch streaming video from major television networks such as Fox and CBS, to independently-produced content available on sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Veoh.com and MySpace. Highly recommended.
VideoLan – Movie player, plays most everything including DVD!
Videora iPhone – Convert video to iPod/iPhone format. Cues to iTunes for easy syncing. Highly recommended.
Virtualdub – Video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms.
WinMorph – Morphing app for video. Also look at Wax and Wink.
XMM – MeD’s Movie Manager is a simple to use, yet customizable, movie manager. Info is automatically retrieved from IMDb and tv.com. Technical info can also be retrieved from media files like AVI, OGM, MPEG and DVD (ifo). It’s written in Java and should therefore run on most desktop systems supporting Java.
WinAmp – audio player
1by1 – audio player
JetAudio – audio player
XMPlay – audio player
Xion – audio player
Apollo – audio player
MediaMonkey – music organizer
The GodFather – music organizer
WavePad – audio converter
Kristal Audio Engine – audio editor
Exact Audio Copy – CD ripper
Mp3 Tag Tools – tag editor
Mp3tag – tag editor
Taggin‘ MP3 – tag editor
Monkey’s Audio – APE compressor/decompressor
mpTrim – mp3 editor
WavTrim – wave editor
EncSpot Basic – analyse mp3 files
MV2Player – video player
CrystalPlayer 1.95 – video player
Zoom Player – video player
GOM Player – video player
viPlay – video player
DSPlayer – video player
CamStudio – video screen recording
AviSplit – Avi splitter
Video mp3 Extractor – rip audio from video files
Free iPod Converter – convert all popular video formats to iPod video
iDump – This program will allow you transfer your songs from your iPod to a PC, iDump does come wrapped in installer but you can simply drop the .exe in the root directory on your iPod and run it from there

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)