Go to Main View

There's another compilation service similar to this one, called PortableApps.com [W]. For more on how Open Source projects are supported and promoted, see Packt [W].
Abbreviations used on this page: d = download page for this program; SR = SullivanRadley entry; W = Wikipedia entry.

All of the programs listed below are free (unless otherwise stated):

Special Downloads:

Essential System Expansion:

Advanced System Expansion:

More Useful Downloads:

Programmer's Essentials:

Wholesome Entertainment:

Obsolete, But Interesting:

Interesting, But Untested:

Useful Non-Free Programs:

Seemingly Obsolete, But Once Very Useful:

Peripheral Drivers:

Hardware Utilities:

This a screenshot of how I organized my "special downloads":

What you see above is just the tip of the iceberg. These 31 folders contain over 4GBs of data and over 20,000 files.

I have always used Norton AntiVirus, but an entry at Wikipedia changed my mind; it had Norton in cahoots with the FBI and CIA; it said that Norton had provided a "back door" into a Norton AntiVirus user's computer, allowing "big brother" to spy on us -- with us cozy, believing that we are being protected from unwanted eyes. That article at Wikipedia has since been pulled.

1. Panda
2. Symantec [W]
   Home of Norton AntiVirus [W]
3. McAfee - Community forum (example thread)
4. Spybot - Search & Destroy
   For removing spyware -- it's award-winning and free, but it won't protect you from viruses.

Get a Free Virus Scan:

• Panda ActiveScan Online Virus Check
• McAfee FreeScan

Application Removal Tools:

• McAfee - Removing Incompatible Third Party Applications - same page - Search Yahoo For This Page
• Link from Symantec on how to remove their product
  Symantec - Norton Removal Tool - use this if something goes awry with your installation - Search Yahoo For This Page
• Removing LiveUpdate after Add/Remove Programs does not work and no other Symantec products are installed

CAPTCHA [W] is security measure put in place to prevent auto-spamming; it is meant to ensure that at least a real human is sitting at the computer, who must visually (or aurally) descramble a somewhat jumbled series of characters (usually letters) and type this result into a box below the image. The Captcha system also serves as additional layer of security and has been a popular solution since about 2005.

Wikipedia excerpt: The term "CAPTCHA" was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum Nicholas J. Hopper (all of Carnegie Mellon University), and John Langford (then of IBM). It is a contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University.

Examples of where the CAPTCHA system has been beaten: Captcha Breaking W/ PHPBB2 Example [bluehatseo.com]

6.1.2 MD5 Checksum

Wikipedia articles on file checksum integrity verifier:

• Md5
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Md5
• Md5sum
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Md5sum

Products

• WinMD5Sum - a free checksumming program from NullRiver.com
  This is the program I use
  http://www.nullriver.com/products
• Free Checksumming Program From Microsoft
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

• SpywareGuide.com - CnsMin spyware
  CnSMin spyware was found by BellSouth's Scan&Clean Utility; and then, by Yahoo!-ing, I found an entry for it at SpywareGuide.com
  http://www.spywareguide.com/
  http://www.spywareguide.com/product_show.php?id=469

SystemGuard disabled - possible solution: run services.msc and set Properties for SystemGuard to Automatic startup; also run msconfig.exe and look under Services for if SystemGuard has been stopped)

Searchable words: mcafee security center

Microsoft Support Articles

1. Setup strong password policy in Windows XP
2. Strong passwords: How to create and use them
3. Password checker (helps you check the strength of your password)
4. How do I change my password in Windows Vista? How do I make it stronger? Answer: use special characters (such as !, @, #).
5. How to make files and folders private in Windows XP so that only you have access to them
6. Best practices for the Encrypting File System

Yahoo! Article

• How do I choose my password.

Application Launchers

Comparison of application launchers at Wikipedia

• Enso Launcher (free program for Windows) by Humanized - this article Graphical Keyboard Interface at Mozilla Labs introduced me to Enso
  Watch Enso Trailer
  Watch Enso Demo
  Download Enso Programs: Launcher and Words
• Launchy [W]
• QuickSilver [W] (for Apple Macs) by Blacktree

I first heard about Enso and QuickSilver through this article: Graphical Keyboard Interface at Mozilla Labs.

Command Line Interface is numero-uno when it comes to getting started in high-level programming. CLI is the polar opposite of Graphical User Interface; search this site for the related article. You may also be interested in Graphical Keyboard Interface at Mozilla Labs.

CMD.EXE

The first thing you've got to know about, is cmd.exe (Windows' Command Line Interface, aka CLI [W]). For instance, this is something that is never mentioned during the tutorials for Google's Web Toolkit. But they aren't the only nerds who are holding out to us newbies. The kind folks at Eclipse, who make one helluva free program, also never mention this during their in-program tutorials. Windows PowerShell [download] [W] is a souped up version of the standard CLI.

To run cmd.exe: click the START button (bottom-left on your Windows desktop); next, click RUN; then, type cmd.exe. This will get you to C: drive. But then you've got to navigate to the drive where the files are, with a bunch of cd this's\that's. It helps if you already have the folder pulled up, so that you can see the full path. (If you aren't seeing the full path in the blue header at the top of you have open, then you may need to go into TOOLS > FOLDER OPTIONS > VIEW tab.) I'm sure there is a faster way to do this, and I'm sure I'll soon discover it.

Else, I'll likely give up on this heavy programming, which I haven't done since 1991. For the past five years, I have only done light web coding (html and css). That's baby $h!t compared with Java, C++, JavaScript, PHP, and SQL-queries for database management systems. And it's really tough trying to learn all of it at once.

List of Content Management Systems [W]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems

Top-5 Content Management Systems

• CMS Made Simple - documentation - Themes
  free PHP-scripted and database-driven website management system
  http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/
  http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/
  http://themes.cmsmadesimple.org/Full_Themes.html
• phpBB - W
  free forum publishing system
  http://www.phpbb.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phpbb
• Joomla! CMS software - W - Mehdi's Coppermine Bridge - If you want an online store built into your Joomla site, download only the Joomla! eCommerce Edition at VirtueMart.net — Joomla! is a free open-source website development & management software; it branched off from Mambo CMS — Some MODULES: Filtered News, Moo Ticker [download], Tekdi Auto Content Ticker — Joomla CMS Tutorials, News...
  http://www.joomla.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joomla
  http://www.mehdiplugins.com/misc/
  http://virtuemart.net/
  http://extensions.joomla.org/
  http://joomlabamboo.com/
  http://www.joomlafeed.com/
  http://joomlacms-story.blogspot.com/
• Coppermine Photo Gallery CMS software - W
  free, open-source PHP-scripted and database-driven solution for websites that need a photo gallery management
  http://coppermine-gallery.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppermine_Photo_Gallery
• Drupal [W] - install and administer Drupal 6
  free CMS
  http://www.drupal.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupal
  http://drupal.org/getting-started/6

Run Demo Versions of Content Management Systems [OpenSourceCMS | CMS Ratings]
http://www.opensourcecms.com/
http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=143

Note: a common vulnerability of CMS sites is XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) [W]

The Rest A-Z...

• e107
  free CMS
  http://www.e107.org/
• Expression Engine CMS - forum entry on pagination - Simple Pagination PLUGIN Demonstration at VayaDesign
  pricing: free core, but for non-commercial use only; $100 gets you additional modules, but still for non-commerical use; $250+ gets you the version that is for commercial use
  comments: really beautiful style -- simple and slick
  searchable words: expressionengine cms - pagination in a cms [April 8, 2008]
• eZ Publish - Demo
  free; looks great, but I haven't used it; I've read that there's a pretty steep learning curve
  http://ez.no/ezpublish/
  http://ez.no/ezpublish/demo
• Jaws
  free; looks interesting
  http://www.jaws.com.mx/
• Jojo CMS [W]
  free; looks interesting
  http://www.jojocms.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojo_CMS
• Jupiter
  free, simple, nice-looking; used this one for about a year for my forum ... but it went the way of the dodo bird
  http://www.jupiterportal.com/
• Mambo CMS software - W
  free open-source website development & management software; branched from Joomla!, or the other way around
  http://source.mambo-foundation.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mambo_%28CMS%29
• MediaWiki CMS software - W
  free open-source website development & management software
  originally designed to serve the needs of Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
  http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki
• PostNuke - community, content, collaborative management system, a C3MS; can be bridged to Coppermine Photo Gallery - W
  free forum publishing system
  http://www.postnuke.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostNuke
• vBulletin [W] by Jelsoft Enterprises
  forum publishing system; proprietary (meaning that it's not free; costs $180+); nice examples: dspguru's Doom9 forum (BeSweet thread) and McAfee Community forum (example thread)
  http://www.vbulletin.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBulletin
  http://forum.doom9.org/
• WordPress software - W
  free blog publishing system
  http://wordpress.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordpress
• YACS
  crappy looking, but a lot of people claim to like it, and it's free
  http://www.yetanothercommunitysystem.com/

searchable words: cms rating

Integrating Google Adsense

CMS Made Simple documentation:

• Form Builder - added Sep. 7, 2008
• How to Secure Your CMSMS system
• Tags - Adsense
• Share Your Tags - Adsense
• Wikipedia-style External Links

CMS Made Simple Installation

• Download newest version of the software from their main page (presently version 1.2.3), saving the file to a folder on your computer
• Follow these links on their Installation Page:
  Quick Install Via FTP
  Troubleshooting
  Upgrading

Moving to a new site

• Read CMS Made Simple article on Copying to a New Server
• Create the new MySQL database at your web host; write down the database name, user name, password, and server
• Export tables from your old database on your web host to the hard drive on your computer
• Download all CMS Made Simple files from your old site to your computer's hard drive; this will be at your host's server and you'll achieve this with Filezilla
• Then upload these same files from your computer's hard drive to your new webspace; once again, achieved through Filezilla
• Download the config.php file and bring into Notepad++; make corrections to database name, user name, password, and server entries; correct instances of old url to new url; save and upload over old config.php file
• Go into Edit Tables on the appropriate database at your host; import the sql file that you exported earlier; check the format encoding of the file you are uploading; make sure the character sets match that of the Import interpreter (UTF-8, for instance); further, very specific instructions for my host -- under File to Import, find Character Set of the File: (choose) utf8; under  Format of Imported File, find sql compatibility mode: (choose) none
• Now, see if the website works: on the first try, my database connection failed; fixed it: I realized that I had mis-typed my database name in my config.php file
• After site is up and running (if url has changed), clear the cache in Site Admin/Global Settings

Upgrading

• Follow these instructions at CMS Made Simple; you'll need to set file attribute for config.php to 666 (using Filezilla), then back to 644 later; lastly, before using your site, you'll need to completely remove the Install directory
• Got this error: Warning: Parameter limit is not known... dropped in /misc/13/125/331/540/7/user/web/sullivanradley.com/research/lib/misc.functions.php on line 1287; fixed the problem with post by sayitlikeitis reply number 9

After installation, here's the progression of external links in the "sample data" pages:

• Documentation - Templates [http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/]
• Forum [http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/]
• IRC (chat) [http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/IRC.shtml]
• GPL (General Public License) [http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL]
• Powered by CMS Made Simple (takes you to their main page) [http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/]
• CSS (learn to write Cascading StyleSheets) [http://www.w3schools.com/css/]
• Download More Themes [http://themes.cmsmadesimple.org/]

More helpful links at their site:

• Optional Settings - Pretty URLs - Installation Tips and Tricks - Pretty URLs
• User Defined Tags [http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/User_Handbook/Admin_Panel/Extensions/User_Defined_Tags/Edit_User_Defined_Tag]
• Utilize their Mint Chocolate Chip Flash Tutorial to get ideas from other sites; or create your own presentation by downloading the free Wink tutorial software [W]; more freeware at snapfiles.com freeware
• Utilize their other Visual Tutorials

Installing Joomla! CMS

• Prepare a folder on your hard drive to receive the download, calling it something like joomla_1_5_3. I also recommend creating a second folder, within the joomla folder, called unpacked.
• Read the Joomla Security Checklist
• Read the pdf manual for Joomla 1.5
• Go to the Joomla! website and download the latest version. The easiest way to accomplish this is by clicking the "graphical" Download Latest button (traditionally, this button is found on the left side of the screen, about halfway down). This will take you to the appropriate download page at JoomlaCode.org.
• Now we need to make sure no one has tampered with the .zip file by comparing the MD5 Checksums. To do this, go to back Joomla's main page. Look on the left side of the screen, as you scroll down, and click the link for the appropriate MD5 Checksums page. I use the program winmd5sum to perform my comparisons. More specifically, I don't retype this long series of letters and numbers; instead, I use copy and paste (accessed through the Edit menu at the top of your browser window).
• Once you've confirmed that your file is legit, we can now proceed with unzipping (uncompressing) the file. I use the free PeaZip file archiver program, but you could use 7-Zip or another.
• Upload these files to your webspace on your web host (using Filezilla)
• Now just type the url location that contains Joomla and installation will commence

phpBB Installation

• Download latest version of phpBB CMS to a folder on your hard drive
• Perform a md5sum check to make sure the file is valid; I use winmd5sum (by nullriver) for this
• Unpack the zip file using Peazip, 7-Zip, or another file decompressor
• Create a new database on your webhost
• In your PHP Configuration, set php safe mode to off
• Create a sub-folder (or sub-domain) in your webspace to hold the unpacked files; upload files using Filezilla
• Use Quick Install instructions at phpBB website
• Change site logo using Filezilla to navigate to styles/prosilver/imageset; then go into administrative control panel and update your theme by choosing Styles/Themes/Refresh; or you could also read the article at phpBB

Making Changes to phpBB

• How to add favicon [W] to your phpBB site: using Filezilla (file transfer program), navigate through your site (styles/prosilver/templates) to overall_header.html; download this file to your computer and open with Notepad++ (text editor); add these lines in the head:
  <link href="favicon.png" type="image/png" rel="icon" />
  <link href="http://www.sullivanradley.com/favicon.png" rel="shortcut icon" />
  Save and upload it over the existing file; oh yeah, you'll need to upload the image (favicon.png) to the designated folder.

phpBB 3.0 Documentation

• Creating Forums
• Setting Permissions

• FamFamFam.com - Silk Icons
  free icon repository
  http://www.famfamfam.com/
  http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/
• Tango Desktop Project - Icon Gallery
  free icon repository
  http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Desktop_Project
  http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Gallery

Jimdo Relaunches Pretty and Simple (article) at Profy.com - Jimdo.com (free website)

• CRE Loaded [W]
  free open-source shopping cart system
  http://www.creloaded.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRE_Loaded
• CubeCart.com [W]
  affordable shopping cart system
  CubeCart.org
  for CubeCart mods and skins
  http://www.cubecart.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubecart
  http://www.cubecart.org
• OpenSourceCMS
  offers the opportunity to "try out" some of best free and open source software solutions, such as ZenCart and osCommerce
  http://www.opensourcecms.com/
• OpenSourceHost
  web host that supports the use of such cart systems as ZenCart and osCommerce
  http://www.opensourcehost.com/
• osCommerce [W]
  free open-source shopping cart system
  http://www.oscommerce.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscommerce
• phpShop
  free open-source shopping cart system; affiliated with Mambo CMS
  http://www.phpshop.org/
• VirtueMart [W]
  free open-source shopping cart system; affiliated with Joomla! CMS; a few fixes; Virtuemart 1.1 for Joomla! 1.5
  download older versions at trusted SourceForge.net
  permission denied problem downloading joomla! 1.5 solved!, using "download latest" button
  dev.virtuemart download page
  Note: COMPLETE packages must first be unpacked so that the COM and MOD .zip files are visible. Then these can be uploaded using FTP (Filezilla, for instance)
  Stable Release of VirtueMart 1.1 promised by April 9, 2008
  May 15, 2008: Joomla eCommerce 1.5 Bundle (with VirtueMart 1.1.0 stable)
  http://virtuemart.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtueMart
• Yahoo Merchant Solutions
  merchant starter plan costs $40.00 per month
  http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/features.php
• Zen Cart [W]
  free open-source shopping cart system
  http://www.zen-cart.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Cart

Like zShare and screencast, only you've got to install software.

Limewire.com

• FileZilla by Mozilla - Download from filezilla-project.org (primary; recommended) - Download from SourceForge.net (secondary) [W]
  free FTP client & server; for when you need to upload files in-bulk to the internet, and vice versa -- like when you're building a big website or an online store
  http://filezilla-project.org/
  http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filezilla
• Flash FXP by iniCom Networks [W]
  $25 file transfer program
  http://www.inicom.net/pages/en.ffxp-home.php
  http://www.inicom.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_fxp

Changing Permissions in FTP Client

Using Filezilla to change file attributes:

Settings			Permissions
Number	AKA	State	Owner	Group	Public
644		writeable only by myself	Read	Read	Read
666	-rw-rw-rw	writeable by all	Read, Write	Read, Write	Read, Write
755			Read, Write, Execute	Read, Execute	Read, Execute
777	-rwxrwxrwx	executable by all	Read, Write, Execute	Read, Write, Execute	Read, Write, Execute

FONT DESIGN

• Font Creator @ High Logic [W] - you get a 30-day trial, then its $80 - another program they offer is Scanahand (for $20)

I must admit that I haven't had much luck with this type of program. All of them are a helluva lot like Bookmark Manager and Favorites Manager in your Web Browser.

• Bookmark Bridge
  used to share bookmarks between browsers
  http://bookmarkbridge.sourceforge.net/
• LinkList - Hyperlink or Bookmark Organizer - Description
  manage and rate links and bookmarks in categories
  http://ncyoung.com/entry/66
  http://ncyoung.com/code/descriptions/linkListLib.html
• TK Outline
  outline creator; organizer; the one I use
  http://www.treemenu.net/
• Treemenu.net - Instructions - Treeview Builder
  free DHTML javascript-driven tree creator
  http://www.treemenu.net/
  http://www.treemenu.net/treemenu/instructions.asp
  http://www.treemenu.net/treemenu/treeview_builder.asp
  Favorites Manager.com - Bookmarks Manager
  from the Favorites Manager, click Enter Manager
  http://www.favoritesmanager.com/
  http://www.favoritesmanager.com/fmfiles/bookmarksmanager.html

Image Manipulation Programs

Before you download a program, you may want to read this download.com article.

• GIMP (free program) - GIMP GAP download (this is the animation plugin; make sure that you download and unpack the zip file)
  GIMP Help Files (make sure that you are downloading the .exe file)
  Read the Wikipedia Article
  http://www.gimp.org/
  http://sourceforge.net/project/
  http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Image_Manipulation_Program
• Photoshop - W
  $650 program from Adobe
  http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoshop
  
• ImageMagick image manipulation software - W - Binary Releases (Windows) - Imagemagick - Animation Basics - Gif Loop - Convert Command
  free image manipulation software; oftentimes used (server side) in conjunction with Coppermine
  http://www.imagemagick.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageMagick
  http://www.imagemagick.org/script/binary-releases.php#windows
  http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/anim_basics/#loop
  http://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php
  Examples of ImageMagick Usage
  http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/graphics/imagick6/

Image Hosting and Photo Sharing Website

• Flickr.com - W
  photo sharing
  http://www.flickr.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr
• Panoramio Sign-in - W
  free video and photo sharing
  http://www.panoramio.com/signin/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panoramio
• PhotoBucket.com - W
  free video and photo sharing
  http://photobucket.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photobucket

Online Image Manipulation

• ResizePic.com
  online image resizing tool; pic must be on YOUR computer's hard drive
  http://resizepic.com/
  

Paying For Your Website? Create Your Own Online Gallery...

• Coppermine Photo Gallery CMS software - W
  free, open-source PHP-scripted and database-driven solution for websites that need photo gallery management
  http://coppermine-gallery.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppermine_Photo_Gallery

Paint Program For Moviemakers

CinePaint [W] (free program), formerly FilmGimp. Examples of its use: Elephants Dream, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Last Samurai

Server-Side Image Manipulation Software

• GD Graphics Library image manipulation software - W
  free image manipulation software; oftentimes used in conjunction with Coppermine
  http://www.boutell.com/gd/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD_Graphics_Library
• ImageMagick image manipulation sofware - W - Binary Releases (Windows)
  free image manipulation software; oftentimes used in conjunction with Coppermine
  http://www.imagemagick.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageMagick
  Examples of ImageMagick Usage
  http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/graphics/imagick6/

Vector Graphics

Inkscape [W] (free program)

GIF Animation

I was working in THE GIMP and having some minor trouble with my GIF animation. My research led me down this path:

• Gif Animations.com - http://www.gifanimations.com/
• GIMP Tutorials - Simple Animations - http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Simple_Animations/
• Imagemagick - Animation Basics - Gif Loop - http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/anim_basics/#loop

Windows Media Player

iTunes

WinAmp [W] - a free basic media player - stasyna at forums.ilounge.com wrote: What takes up a) 28 Mb of memory b) 75% of cpu, while importing music? Answer: iTunes! What takes up a) 8 Mb of memory b) 3% cpu, and supports every audio format known? Answer: Winamp Dont believe the hype, iTunes isnt worth it. Windows Media Player 9, with a new skin.

Music Composing Software

• Finale Music Composing [W] - Notepad (free version of software) [download]
• Music Masterworks - by Aspire Software - what caught my eye was their voice-to-note feature - comes with a 30-day trial; after that it costs $35

Searchable words: music master works

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org [W] (free software) is developed by Sun Microsystems and the community - comes with a Word-like word processor, an Access-like database, and much more.

StarOffice

Star Office [W] ($70; get it) is developed by Sun Microsystems [comparison of office suites: W].
Google Pack seems to offer a free version of Star Office, along with a bunch of other free software.

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office [W] - $110 for the Home and Student version of Office 2007 [W] - a suite of inter-relateable program applications. Programs that are typically included in the suite:

• Access [W] - database
• Excel [W] - spreadsheet
• Outlook [W] - e-mail - not to be confused with Outlook Express (but serves a similar purpose)
• Word [W] - word processing
• PowerPoint [W] - presentations

Searchable words: Open Office.

What are plugins and add-ons?

They are free programs that you download onto your computer to enhance your web experience: allowing you to play games, view movie trailers, listen to music, view special animated content, etc.

Here's a list of links that will get you the essentials:

1. Mozilla Firefox Browser
   Better than Internet Explorer in so many ways.
2. Apple QuickTime for Windows
3. Microsoft Windows Media Player
4. Adobe Reader
5. Macromedia FlashPlayer
6. Macromedia ShockwavePlayer
7. Java Software
8. Basic RealPlayer
9. Microsoft DirectX
10. Apple iTunes
11. ChatZilla - FAQ - IRC Prelude - W

You can use these links to help you find even more plugins:

• Plugins at Mozilla.org
• PluginDoc at mozdev.org

CNET [W] - Download.com (CNET's freeware and shareware software download page) - Reviews

PC Magazine [W]

PC World [W] - 100 Best Products of 2008 - their list is shown at the bottom of this page.

ZDNet [W]

The following programs will allow you to create your own Flash tutorials:

• JingProject.com by Techsmith - JING is free software for creating screen-captured presentations - hosting is provided for free at screencast.com - a nice example of a Jing tutorial on screencast: De-crappify Your Computer - Embedding Jing Screencasts into Your Blog Posts
  http://www.jingproject.com/
  http://www.screencast.com/
  http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/
• Wink (free) [W]; examples of use: Mint Chocolate Chip tutorial by Andrew Strojny
  http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink_%28tutorial_software%29
  http://cmsmadesimple.org/uploads/media/mint_chocolate.htm
• Camtasia Studio ($299, with 30-day free trial) [W] by TechSmith; examples of use: Eclipse IDE For Java Developers tutorial
  http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camtasia_Studio
  http://eclipse.unixheads.org/

Reviews of Screen Capture Programs:

• Make Use Of.com - 5 Free Screencasting Apps for Creating Video Tutorials
  http://www.makeuseof.com/
  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-free-screencasting-apps-for-creating-video-tutorials/

searchable phrases: jing screen capture program

Text Editors [W - list] [TheFreeCountry - list]

To write web pages and program applications, you've got to have a good text editor; there are plenty of free ones listed below.

1. Notepad Plus Plus v3.7 - Free Text Editor - W [RR: IV]
   the best text editor for hand-coding html & css; better-known-as Notepad++
   http://sourceforge.net/projects/notepad-plus
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad_plus_plus

• Crimson Editor - Free profession source code editor for Windows - W
  http://www.crimsoneditor.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson_Editor
• First Page [W] - Free HTML Editor by EverSoft
  http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage2.shtml
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evrsoft_First_Page
• FCKeditor - the text editor for the internet - W
  open source WYSIWYG text editor; it comes packaged within CMS Made Simple; I don't like like it, but it does the job
  http://www.fckeditor.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCKeditor
• Komodo [W] - Komodo IDE is an IDE for dynamic programming languages built on the Mozilla platform. It supports dynamic languages, including JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl; framework stacks like Ruby on Rails and CakePHP; and client libraries such as the Yahoo! UI Library and Dojo. ActiveState added browser-side support in Komodo IDE 4.0, including debugging, DOM viewer, catalog support, HTTP Inspector, and code intelligence for languages such as JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and XML, enabling programmers to edit and debug Ajax code and multi-language files. Komodo IDE, although not Open Source, is extensible using standard Mozilla APIs based on XUL, XBL, and XPCOM, plus Python and JavaScript. Komodo IDE is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows platforms. Komodo Edit is a free text editor for dynamic programming languages introduced in January 2007. With the release of version 4.3, Komodo Edit is built on top of the Open Komodo project
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActiveState_Komodo
• KompoZer [W] [Download.com article] [download at SourceForge.net]
  a fork of -- the now abandoned -- NVU
  http://kompozer.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KompoZer
  http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9714054-12.html
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/kompozer
• NVU [W] - free web-design program
  this project has been abandoned; a good looking program; I just don't like what it does to my code: it changes my tabs, but you can override this feature
  Note that the Wikipedia entry critiques the UK version; I have never used this version, so I cannot speak FOR or AGAINST it
  http://www.nvu.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvu
• PSPad text & code editor - W
  free; looks good in the screenshots, but I haven't used it; I became interested in it when a person at CMS Made Simple said they used it
  http://www.pspad.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pspad
• UltraEdit - $40 programmer's editor by IDM Computer Solutions
  http://www.ultraedit.com/

A really obscure genre of computer program. I haven't got much use out of WinMerge yet.

• WinMerge [W]
  free; used to determine what has changed between project versions; I had planned on using it in conjunction with ZenCart upgrades
  http://winmerge.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winmerge

File Archiver Programs

This is a helluva cryptic term for a program that primarily unpacks .zip files. I reckon it got that name because these programs do a lot more than just that ... but mostly they are for compressing and decompressing large files so that they can be streamed quickly across the internet (aka uploading and downloading).

Read the Wikipedia article on File Archivers; Wikipedia's comparison of archivers

How to unpack tar balls: tar [W] and tar.gz (both are for Unix and Unix-like systems); it is my undestanding that tar and tar.gz files can be unpacked in Windows; for more info, see the "tar windows utility" below.

• 7-Zip [W]
  a 100% free file archiver
  http://www.7-zip.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Zip
• PeaZip [W] - UTF-8 [W] not fully supported in the GUI [PeaZip Entry] - tar windows utility
  a 100% free file archiver
  http://peazip.sourceforge.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeaZip
  http://peazip.sourceforge.net/tar-windows-utility.html
• WinRAR [W]
  file archiver; shareware (free for 40 days), by Eugene Roshal; I needed this program when I was making my own custom skin for the Firefox browser, where I had to repackage a JAR file
  http://www.win-rar.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinRAR
• WinZIP [W]
  $30 file archiver from Corel Corporation
  http://www.winzip.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinZIP

searchable words: 7zip

Video Editing Software [W - list - comparison]

• Avidemux (free; for Linux, but there is a Windows version) [W]
• Jahshaka (free; crossplatform; an unfinished project) [W] [SourceForge Download]
• Video Toaster [W]
  Open Video Toaster (download source freely; for Amiga computers only)

Original Promo for Video Toaster

Audio Editing

KaosAudio.com - Free Leslie Simulator; really cool pic of controls; added to this page on June 16, 2008

Top of the line hardware and software for audio editing is Pro Tools [W] by Digidesign. HD1 hardware w/ software systems cost about $8,000; the LE software costs about $75. It works on both Windows and Apple Mac systems.

Free Sound Recorder

MUST-HAVE FREE VIDEO & AUDIO EDITING TOOLS

Get Free Video Downloader at CNet - more freeware downloads from Jack1024.

• .net Framework @ Microsoft.com
  the .net framework is needed for CloneAd's rip.net & avi.net programs to function
  http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/default.aspx
• CloneAD
  home of 2 great DVD-to-MovieMaker tools -- rip.net & avi.net -- which make use of about 8 other programs that must also be downloaded; the only downside is those bothersome popup ads on the CloneAD site
  http://www.clonead.co.uk/
• Be Sweet
  free audio converter
  http://besweet.notrace.dk/
• PapaJohn MovieMaker Tutorials
  learn how to RIP those troublesome DVDs; follow this path at papajohn: Import Movie Source Files / Video / Discs - DVD
  http://www.papajohn.org/

List of codecs - W
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs

Audio Codecs

• AC3 Filter.net
  free audio codec required to play ac3 audio files
  you must have this codec for MovieMaker to read AVI files that contain AC3 audio
  http://ac3filter.net/
• LAME MP3 Encoder [W] - can be found at SnapFiles.com Audio Encoders; save the lame_enc.dll file to the system folder

Video Codecs

• DivX - W
  video codec that provides high-quality results; the downside is that you must have a fast computer to effectively run it without crashes
  http://www.divx.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX
• Xvid - W
  this is the free video codec that I prefer and use due to the fact that my machine is not fast enough to run DivX; the downside to using Xvid is that colors aren't as richly rendered as those done by DivX
  Xvid comes with CloneAd's rip.net and avi.net, so I had no reason to download it separately
  http://www.xvid.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XviD

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Audacity - free audio editor and recorder
  exactly free
  http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• RiverPast
  free DVD-VOBs to WMVs conversion tools
  http://www.riverpast.com/en/support/tutorials/convert/vob/wmv.php
• TMPGEnc.net
  free MPEG video editor
  http://www.tmpgenc.net/en/e_main.html

STEP ONE: Download and install everything from CloneAD

Items that are included:

• rip.NET v1.1
• DVDFab Decrypter 2.9.8.2
• DVDShrink v3.2

• avi.NET v2.2.1.0, which comes with AVISynth v2.57 RC1, VobSub v2.23, XviD v1.1.2
• VirtualDubMod package, which comes with VirtualDubMod v1.5.10.2, MP3 (professional) audio codec v3.3.2, AC3 audio decompressor v1.2

STEP TWO: Verify that you have .NET framework v2 installed on your computer

Follow these steps to do this:

• Click the Start button
• Click Control Panel
• If you are in Category View, click Switch to Classic View
• Double-click Add or Remove Programs
• Look for Microsoft .net Framework 2.0; if you have it, you should be good to go; if not, go back to my VIDEO & AUDIO EDITING and use the link to go Microsoft and get it

You may find that you need to install additional programs and codecs in order to get all this stuff to work

It all depends on:

• What came pre-installed on your computer
• the kinds of stuff you've bought and installed over the years
• and that stuff which you've downloaded and installed

It is not for me to guess what state your computer is in: that's your job.

I advise you to do as much research as you have time for; the best place to start is Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia; it has gotten me out of plenty of jams.

CD/DVD Authoring

• ISO 9660 [W]
• Optical Disc Authoring [W]
• Optical Disc Recording Modes [W]
• UDF - Universal Disk Format [W]

Audio Codecs [W - comparison]

Audio Compression [W]

Video Codecs [W - comparison]

The definitive source of all things DVD: Doom9.org and their forum.

To give this page greater searchability, I'm throwing in these keywords: doom9 DVD XviD

Once all of my software, codecs and frameworks are in place:

• I begin by ripping the video-audio (in this example, just 7 minutes in length) from the DVD (5 minutes)
• Convert this vob file to an avi (15 minutes)
• Import the avi file into Windows Moviemaker, where I trim and apply titles to the video (10 to 20 minutes)
• Save as a wmv movie file at about 1,000 kbps (30 minutes)
• Upload the wmv file to YouTube (30 minutes)

Total time: about 2 hours (for a 7-minute video)

Before proceeding any further, you may want to read more about browsers at Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

The Best

• Firefox [W] by Mozilla [W]
  - free browser by Mozilla; the best way to browse the internet; was the first browser to use TABS; the FIND feature, integrated into the bottom of the window, will interactively search for words as you type; the interface is fully customizable
  - Spread the fire. Tell your friends. Support Firefox by making a donation or by buying a t-shirt at Mozilla Store
  
  
  http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox
  http://www.mozilla.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla
  http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/donate.html
  http://www.mozillastore.com/

Firefox Recommended Addons

1. Web Developer by Chris Pederick- great for examining how your favorite websites are constructed - you can even examine the CSS stylesheets for those pages; keywords: webdeveloper
2. Quick Frame by Stefan Stammler- allows you to View Page Source for This Frame - handy for web designers; keywords: quickframe

A Special Kind of Browser

• Lynx [W] [fdisk.com - doslynx - lynx at browser.org - download Lynx browser]
  - Lynx is an extremely primitive, old-school kind of web browser; Google recommends using the Lynx browser to examine your site
  - if you want some hope in hell of getting Lynx to work out-of-the-box (without a whole lot of code compiling), use my download lynx browser link above; once you're on that page, click the lynx2-8-5.zip file to start your download.
  
  
  I was finally able to get Lynx installed by going to Lynx for Windows 2.8.5rel1 installer. Once you've downloaded the file, double-click the file's icon to unpack it. (You may need additional software to unpack files — I use these free file archivers: 7-Zip and PeaZip.) Upon installation a Lynx icon will be placed on your desktop. After launching Lynx, you start by pressing the letter "G" and then typing an internet address — like google.com — and it'll bring it up; before gaining access to the webpage, you'll have to press "Y" to allow cookies. (Most of what you type will be shown at the bottom of your Lynx window, next to a little blinking cursor.) Use arrow keys to navigate through the page — pressing enter on any link you want to follow — or bring up a list of links on the current page by pressing the "L" key. You can press the down arrow to tab down through the current page; press the left arrow to go back. You can quit by pressing "Q" and then confirm with "y."
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28web_browser%29
  http://fdisk.com/
  http://fdisk.com/doslynx/
  http://lynx.browser.org/
  http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.5/index.html

The Rest

• Opera - W
  a pretty good browser; might be compatible with certain tastes; I like it better than Internet Explorer ... but it still can't touch the leaness, nor the functionality of Firefox
  http://www.opera.com/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_%28Internet_suite%29
• Safari - W
  for the Mac
  http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/safari/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_%28web_browser%29
• SeaMonkey - W
  - a free, open source, and cross-platform Internet suite that is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite
  - contains an Internet browser, email & newsgroup client, HTML editor - called Composer [W], IRC chat and web development tools
  http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaMonkey
  http://www.mozilla.org/editor/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Composer
• Internet Explorer - W
  Bill Gates' pant-load of a browser; compared to Firefox, it just plain stinks
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer

CMU Sphinx [W]

by Carnegie Mellon University [W] is a free speech recognition system, which captures voice and turns this into text on the screen.

I'm gonna warn you ahead of time that installing this crap can be extremely problematic.

An attempt at installing PocketSphinx [project home page - documentation]:

• Download PocketSphinx 0.5 and SphinxBase 0.4 from sourceforge.net
• Unless you're having trubs, ignore the following links: Download PocketSphinx from Sourceforge.net

Keys to a botched installation:

• Download Sphinx 4
• Download and install Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v1.4 or better. Go to java.sun.com, and select "J2SE".
• Get Ant 1.6.0 [W] or better, available at ant.apache.org.
• Get CVS (newer site) [W] and SSH [W]
• Install Cygwin [W]

Other Speech Recognition Software

Other voice technology software at snapfiles.com, including TalkItTypeIt free trial.

Searchable words: pocket sphinx

Yahoo! Directory: System Utilities.

Skype [W] - allows you to use your webcam as a telephone - created by entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and a team of software developers based in Tallinn, Estonia; headquartered in Luxembourg - acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $2.6 billion