The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives | WHDb The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives Update January 22, 2013: This article was originally posted February 7, 2008. Since then, it has been one of our most popular articles here at WHdb.com. In light of this, we have decided to give this article an update for 2013: we cleaned out some obsolete links and added a New for 2013 section. Enjoy! Not every proprietary program can drive a person crazy, right? The following fifty sixty proprietary programs are listed in no particular order within broad categories along with their open source alternatives. Jump to: Operating Systems & Web Browsers | Office Suites | Office Tools | Productivity | Graphic Programs | Web Editors | Desktop Publishing | Communications | Media | Utilities | Security | Financial | New for 2013 Operating Systems & Web Browsers Windows 10 to Ubuntu: This is Microsoft’s operating system (OS), and even Microsoft fans have become disillusioned with this product. Office Suites
The 33 Essential Free Utilities for Every New PC The Windows ecosystem is filled with more programs than we will ever need. But while you know to install essential programs like Firefox and Steam onto every new PC, there are plenty of core utilities you should install before downloading any application software. We pick out the 33 most useful utilities that enhance the Windows operating system. These aren't apps used for productivity (like word processing or web browsing) or entertainment (like video playback or gaming). Instead, they strengthen the backbone of Windows by optimizing hardware and system software. From single-purpose diagnostic tools to user-interface replacements, these programs provide general support to overhaul the gestalt of the Windows experience. Think you have every utility to bend Windows to your wishes? Cobian Backup After recommending SyncBack SE in our last app roundup, our readers turned us onto Cobian, an independently-developed backup utility that is as elegant as it is powerful. Executor / Launchy CCleaner
Downloadable Computer Repair CDs One of our Technibble forum members, PcTek9, and a handful of other Technibble members have compiled a large list of CDs for various computer repair tasks. In this list, the following types of CD are available for download: Antivirus Boot CDs, Recovery Disks, Hardware Diagnostic Boot CDs, Network Testing/Monitoring, Data Recovery Boot CDs and Special Purpose CDs. Some of these are free to download, some are not. Be sure to read the EULA for the CD’s you download and the applications you use to make sure you are allowed to use them in the manner you plan to use them in. Many of the CDs contain a variety of different programs and some of the applications are free to use as you please, but some of them disallow commercial use. Also, some of these CD’s may set off an antivirus false positive due to their virus removal, password cracking, system file changing nature. Some CDs have been purposely left out of this list as they contain illegal software. Creating Multiboot CDs
How Do I Torrent Safely Now That Demonoid Is Down? 10+ Best Free or Open Source Photoshop Alternative Software Most designers on a tight budget can get an uncontrolled rapid heartbeat by considering what an investment in a Photoshop license will do to their economy. While it is difficult to argue against Photoshop being the top pick for nearly any photo manipulation, non vector design job etc. there are actually some pretty OK alternatives you can use without spending a single dollar. Question is of course which alternative to use and to help you out I have collected a set of Open Source Photoshop Alternatives you need to be aware of. One of the serious disadvantages you face when not using Photoshop is that you can’t learn and self study using the huge number of excellent free tutorials you can find for Photoshop online. Advertisement Gimp Gimp is probably the most feature rich and well known open source Photoshop alternative that will not make you feel broke. GIMPshop Pixlr Editor This is a web-based photo editor with a layout that looks a bit like Photoshop CS. Paint.net ChocoFlop Splashup Krita
15 Online Tools that You Will Come to Love as a Tech | EmergingTechs.com I have compiled a list of 15 free online tools that will help you greatly as a tech. I’m sure that there are other good ones that I have left out so please feel free to post the ones that you like as well. IPTools offers a wide variety of online networking tools. BugMeNot allows you to find and share logins for sites that require you to register. SpeedTest.net allows you to test your Internet connection speed. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark sites and view them from any computer. Omnidrive is an online storage service that allows you to upload large files, access them from any computer, and share them with other people. 10 Minute Mail allows you to create temporary email addresses that expire after 10 minutes. Free Password GeneratorFree Password Generator generates very strong and unique passwords. Trend Micro HouseCall is an online virus, spyware, and malware scanner that runs in your web browser. 3Share2 2Share42Share0 7 141
The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 Even though we cover plenty of other topics, Windows has always been a primary focus around here, and we’ve got one of the largest collections of Windows-related how-to articles anywhere. Here’s the fifty best Windows articles that we wrote in 2010. Want even more? How to Customize Your Windows 7 Taskbar Icons for Any App Would you like to change out the icons on your taskbar with a beautiful set of icons that all go together? How to Customize Your Windows 7 Taskbar Icons for Any App Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Color Sure, you can hack Windows and install a custom theme if you really wanted to, or pay for a software package to do it for you. Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Color With No Extra Software (Stupid Geek Tricks) Change Your Windows 7 Taskbar Color the Easy Way (and Rotate Between Colors) How To Enable Macbook-Style Two Finger Scrolling on Windows Laptops How To Enable Macbook-Style Two Finger Scrolling on Windows Laptops How to Crack Your Forgotten Windows Password
Table of keyboard shortcuts In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a sequence or combination of keystrokes on a computer keyboard which invokes commands in software. Some keyboard shortcuts require the user to press a single key or a sequence of keys one after the other. Other keyboard shortcuts require pressing and holding several keys simultaneously (indicated in the tables below by this sign: +). Comparison of keyboard shortcuts[edit] Keyboard shortcuts are a common aspect of most modern operating systems and associated software applications. General shortcuts[edit] A note regarding KDE's shortcuts is that they can be changed and the below list contains the defaults. [edit] Power management[edit] Screenshots[edit] Text editing[edit] Many of these commands may be combined with ⇧ Shift to select a region of text. Text formatting[edit] [edit] Web browsers[edit] Tab management[edit] Window management[edit] User interface navigation (widgets and controls)[edit] Command line shortcuts[edit] Accessibility[edit] See also[edit]
Microsoft Substitutes Don't expect new programs with improved usability from the upcoming version of the World's favorite OS Windows XP. Why? Because its the same old Microsoft operating system with added eye candy. Stick to XP, along with all your devices that are not compatible with Windows Vista, and run your favorite non-Microsoft software! We all heard about the new Vista and I think its not an upgrade most of us will make anytime soon. Likewise, Windows XP also came loaded with many useless built-in programs that you ended up dumping for a better alternative. Internet Explorer = Mozilla FirefoxFirst thing I install on a fresh Windows XP. Windows Explorer = ExplorerXPTabs, groups and a toolbar with only the useful things. Windows Messenger = IMVUChat using 3d digital personalities. Windows Media Player = VLC PlayerPlays almost everything. Windows Media Encoder = Media CoderConverts between almost every type of media files. Windows Firewall = Sunbelt KerioPrevents hackers from breaking in. Windows Defender =
Roundup: 15 Must-Have Free Software Programs for Your PC Over the last three years, the writers here at MakeUseOf have profiled thousands of software apps on the website. With all these thousands being presented to you, it’s hard to decide which apps to use and which ones to discard. To make it easier for you, we have managed to compile a list of the top 15 absolute must-have tools for everyday tasks. These are the essential programs that we recommend you install and keep on your arsenal. 1. 1. Both Firefox and Google Chrome are excellent browsers. You can see all add-ons for Firefox at 10 Cool Extensions for Google Chrome 10 Cool Extensions for Google Chrome Read More 2. AVG Free Anti-Virus is the most popular free anti-virus software in the world. Most of the MakeUseOf authors use AVG and we highly recommend it to others. For those of you who frequently shop online and do regular online banking, AVG recommends AVG Internet Security. Download AVG Free (Platform: Windows only) 3. Download Auslogics Disk Defrag 4. 5.
150 Best Windows Applications Of Year 2010 [Editor's Pick] AddictiveTips is popular for covering the latest and greatest desktop applications, having one of the largest collection of Windows freeware reviews on the web. Now that 2010 has come to an end, we take a look back at the best 150 applications. We plan to cover more topics in 2011, including Cloud OS, Mobile (Android, WP7, iOS), Mac, and much more, apart from extensive Windows coverage. The AddictiveTips team wishes you a very Happy New Year! Without further ado, here are the best 150 desktop applications (in order from January to December) that we covered in 2010. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. iBin (Recover files from USB Drive) 6. 7. To download from Grooveshark and SoundCloud, give SciLor’s Grooveshark Downloader and SoundCloud Downloader a shot. 8. 9. ei.cfg Removal Utility (Create Windows 7 Universal DVD by removing Versions) 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Also check out Moo0 File Shredder. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Also check out 7sDocs. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. Another similar tool is WindowsMaster.
Are There Any Demonoid Alternatives? Demonoid is gone, at least for now. The servers in the Ukraine were pulled offline and an investigation into the site’s alleged owners is ongoing in Mexico. At the time of writing the Demonoid domain once again redirects to random ads… For former Demonoid members there’s no other option than to find a replacement. The easy option would be to list to the top 10 torrent sites of 2012, but those aren’t really a match for Demonoid. While the music and movie industries would quickly label Demonoid was a piracy haven, it was also place where creators were happy to share their work. Xihilisk for example, who shared one of his music albums exclusively on Demonoid. “I’ve been with Demonoid for a few years, and it’s always been the first place I go to look for something. A lot of this “obscure” content may now be gone for good. I really wanted to close this post with a few good alternatives to Demonoid, but I’m afraid that’s easier said than done. So here’s my question to everyone who reads this.