Updated Dec 2008 newest stuff in bold
From makeuseof.com
- Free CD/DVD File Recovery Tool – CD Recovery Toolbox
- 5 Awesome Apps To Make Things Easier On A USB Drive
- Good Open Source software with a CD/DVD burner replacement for Nero.
- And Instant Removable Drive Shortcuts with Desk Drive
- Some Adobe software replacements. Acrobat is too expensive and bloatware for sure!
- And finally some video software to Create DVDs Out of AVI or Other Media Files. I haven’t tried it yet though.
Engage – The automatic start menu organizer. It is really good especially for XP. Though I’m not using XP much anymore. Free for 30 days, $20 to buy a single license. Try the discount code, “TWIT” and you’ll get 20% off.
The best file manager is Total Commander. It also can compare directories and synchronize them, one way to update backups etc. It also has a very good file renaming feature which is good for digital photographs etc. I purchased it for $34 US some time back expecting to receive a registration code by Email but instead saw that they Email a CD. But I never got the CD. Well, you can use the sharware forever, it is not crippled, you only need to click past the nag screen.
Find the junk on your hard drive (guaranteed you’ll find lots of space).
Get the program called Space Monger. You can get the newest one for $20 with a 30 day free trial or get the old version 1.4 which is free.
I lately (Feb 2009) like JDiskReport as it it light and straight forward though isn’t as easy to get to files that need deleting.
Others are:
I tried WinDirStat, which is free, Open Source and does basically the same thing. The interface is different than Space Monger but I think better in some ways.
Wait, there is Treesize professional which tracks size and can also find duplicate files. I’m going to try it.
Find duplicate files, the best I’ve found so far is by Funduc Software called Duplicate File Finder which costs $15.
I had a copy of their program Directory Toolkit about ten years ago but now use Total Commander to synchronize directories.
I found JDiskReport via Tekzilla tips and am trying it now in Dec. 2008. In the same Tekzilla best of 2008 tips they also recommended SIW which is an advanced System Information for Windows to see what is installed.
Line up your windows, try allSnap, freeware by Ivan Heckman with its own web page here.
I found a little utility which is priceless. It pastes unformatted into anything. You press the Windows key and V together. It is called Pure Text and is at SteveMiller.net (not the musician) and is free!
For backups try:
FileBack PC
also go to Lifehacker and check also the comments for other programs such as IdleBackup.
I’m also trying a defragger called Vopt from www.goldenbow.com which is old but supposed to be very good. More on it later (maybe). Well actually not. Try Perfect Disk OK as of March 2009 I bought Perfect Disk
Here is a good article on 35 Useful Source Code Editors Reviewed And I bought (upgraded from a long time ago) Ultraedit.
