Useful software

[Royzee617]

Now to another area where I have had to install new software to overcome XP's limitations.

In the heyday of DVD back ups and what not, XP cannot it seems to me, handle burning to a DVD. Probably another one of those things where it does not want to be seen as condoning copying DVDs... bah!

Anyway, I purchased what is said to be the best, Nero... well, that's a matter of opinion (just check the newsgroups) the other day I was backing up using some new Verbatim blank CDs and two were OK then it chewed up the third one FCS!

So I switched to my fave for CDs, "Burn4Free". Does what it says tho it seems it can't do DVDs in the free version I have.

http://www.burn4free.com/

XP will do CD burning but it is IMO not intuitive and keeps nagging you and I am not sure it is going to delete the files... best keep away.

Next time I will mention a DVD backer up software thingy.

 

[Royzee617]

Another shortcoming of XP is its file search... it is not exhaustive. That said I do use it sometimes... but more often I use another freebie or the search within 2xExplorer.

Try the oddly-named Agent Ransack:
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

 

[kiwimac]

A like this thread. I'm going to 'sticky' it and it can be a thread for freeware or useful shareware.

Kiwimac

 

[evangilder]

There is some good stuff here, but I am not a fan of Zone Alarm. Personally, I keep the firewall on a separate box on the peripery of my home network. Windows has way too many hooks that can be hacked and by having the firewall within windows, you run some risks. I use a netscreen firewall. It goes through the cable modem and hits the Netscreen first. My Windows OS can plug along fat dumb and happy without having to filter packets from the web. The netscreen is pricey, but I got mine free. There are other firewall routers that are also quite good, if they are set up right.

For file management and a good use interface, RedHat Linux is quite good. But you have to be willing to invest some time in it to make it work the way you want. The OS is much more robust and depending on the application, about 75% faster.

 

[Royzee617]

Audiograbber is a "beautiful piece of software that grabs digital audio from cd's. It copies the audio digitally-not through the soundcard-which enables you to make perfect copies of the originals. It can even perform a test to see that the copies really are perfect. Audiograbber can also automatically normalize the music, delete silence from the start and/or end of tracks, and send them to a variety or external MP3 encoders, such as Fraunhofers L3enc, or even use some MP3/WMA encoders internally for automatic creation of MP3's. Audiograbber can download and upload disc info from freedb, an Internet compact disc database. You can even record your vinyl LP's or cassette tapes with Audiograbber and make wav's or MP3's of them. There are a lot more functions in Audiograbber, but to put it simply: Audiograbber has the most features one can wish from such a program!"
http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/