Hey, I thought I'd tell you about seven great free (!) programs I've found on the Internet…software that makes my life at this computer a lot easier. These are just for us PC users and you download and use these at your own risk. In other words, I wouldn't listen to me if I were you.
- There are now about eight skillion file formats for audio and video…and even when you have software that will play FLV files, it sometimes won't play all FLV files. Well, so far I haven't come across an audio or video file that VLC Media Player couldn't handle. I've directed all my file types to ignore Windows Media Player and other such programs and to just open with VLC. [UPDATE: Yes, there is a MAC version of this program.]
- My hard disk got cluttered with multiple copies of files, especially ones I'd downloaded from the 'net. The answer? Doublekiller will search the folders you specify and show you which files are exact matches even if they have different filenames.
- As I clean up my hard disk using things like Doublekiller, I wind up with a lot of empty directories. That's why I need Remove Empty Directories.
- Many programs like to add themselves to your startup groups so they'll load every time you boot or reboot your computer. You probably don't want all of them there and you sometimes don't know where they hide themselves. You can find out what's loading and from where with Startup Optimizer.
- I had a lot of files that I needed to rename and I didn't want to sit there doing it hundreds of times. So I downloaded Bulk Rename Utility and it enabled me to rename them quite rapidly. It takes a few minutes to learn but once you do, watch out.
- I've been through a number of font utilities, some of which cost serious bucks. But the utterly free Font Xplorer does everything I need.
- Need to convert your Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks to Internet Explorer Favorites? Or vice-versa? Or do you need to convert Chrome or Opera or Safari or some other browser's placeholders? Then you'll like Transmute.
Like I said: Use 'em at your own risk. But they've worked for me so maybe they'll work for you.