Free killer apps for your HTPC... - Page 13  

A new cross-platform frontend that looks very promising is Elisa:
http://elisa.fluendo.com/

sorry if some programs are repost and don't really fit the forum category. (I remove many duplicates) This is a short list I made for a guide I did. You can add these to the list op. thanks

You can add ccleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/ (Is pretty useful and fast)

Regclean - http://www.download.com/RegClean/3000-2094_4-10007196.html
(I had trouble after a new install and ran this fixed everything)

Here are some FREE (Online) Anti-Virus Scanners,
Symantec Online Virus Scanner, http://security.symantec.com/
McAfee FreeScan, http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp
F-Secure Online Scanner, http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml
Panda Active Scanner, http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeuse...ns/activescan/
Kaspersky Virus Scanner, http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
BitDefender Online Scanner, http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie
Trend Micro House Call, http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

PC PitStop - http://pcpitstop.com (Analyze and optimize system with suggestions)

Audio Editing,
Video Editing , Avisynth | 3GP Video Converter
Video Player,
Codecs, XP Codecs Pack | K-Lite Codecs Pack (Use for Playing Audio/Videos)
Photo Editing, GetPaint
3D Animations , Blender
HTML Editor, Eclipse (Create your website) | Mozilla Editor
Publishing, Scribus | Openberg
Financial Software, FinancialFate| GNuCash
Backup and Recovery, Areca | Imagerescue 3
Remote Desktop, rDesktop | jrDesktop (Java Based)
Encryption Software, AxCrypt | Truecrypt
SSH / Terminal Clients, Putty | Openssh
Passwords Managers, Password Safe
Burning, isoMaster | isoRecorder |
Email Clients, Mozilla Messenging |
Instant Messaging,
Download Managers,
Desktop cleaners, ccCleaner (Remove Cache and unwanted Junk)
Games, Freeware Games listed on Wiki


ps, I never really need any apps to optimize my HTPC . The only program I run is Symantec Corporate AV (It runs in the background). My HTPC runs very smoothly.

I'm surprised there is no link to this avsforum member program

Cliff Watson EPG add-on for MyHD, FusionHDTV, and HD Homerun


great epg and pvr software thread here (free but requires a Schedules Direct subsciption ($20/year) to get data for cable channels/ota stations)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...57&postcount=1

Didn't see this one on the list, though I've been known to lose my glasses while wearing them...

Free tool straight from Microsoft that lets you mount one or more .iso files as virtual drives. Fantastic, I use it constantly, so far no problems:

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...olpanel_21.exe

anyone know a good move/tv series manager, basically can scan your HDD for videos files and download info from imdb to create a movie database, also can watch the video using an external launcher?

A few more for the list...

MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD-ROM from MagicISO, completely freeware and superb alternative to Daemon Tools
http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/mi...c-overview.htm

WinMerge is an Open Source (GPL) visual text file differencing and merging tool for Windows. Great for comparing script and xml files
http://winmerge.org/

And was I going mad, did I not see XBMC listed under the HTPC frontends?
http://xbmc.org/

Hate to put in a plug for my home forum, but http://www.legitreviews.com is a great hardware review site

also thought id let you know that many of the link are broken, infact most of the media center links are either broken or point to one of those domainname place holder sites

Oh no! Please don't do that. There are some links that don't work, but we can deal with it. This is still a very valuable, useful list!

got another for you:
Songbird: Awesome opensource media player based on Firefox, still in beta, but shows alot of promise with built in last.fm support, zune/ipod support, and tons of other plugins that make it extremely versatile.

also didnt see it in there:
Pidgin: Free OSS multi protocol IM client, supports IM service Ive ever heard of a bunch i havent too
Pidgin Plugins: adds lots of great features to pidgin like auto correcting spell checker for common typos like teh ETC

last one:
VirtualDub Mod: virtualdub but with more awesome

Hi,

This is a great thread. I do have a suggestion: a lot of those links point to programs that are not free. In itself, that's ok. But it's misleading because you download it, it does whatever scans it's supposed to do then it asks for credit card info and all that.

I recommend that those be removed unless marked with an asterisk.

Regards

Auslogics Disk Defrag and Registry Defrag:

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software (bottom of the page).

I've always wondered why this thread is not a sticky. This thread is how I found out about GBPVR.

Sort of... it's new, and it does do some of things you wanted, but it is still under development and requires some other little programs to get the data from sources like imdb.....and it is....video browser (aka media browser)
direct link to downloads page and a place to read more
Oh, and I found it first on AVS Forum.

Most of these are mainly for XP users since Vista already has a lot of this functionality built-in.

For those who don't know, XP can download and use the Windows Desktop search engine. It constantly indexes all your files. I think the interface is way better than Google Desktop. However, I prefer using Index Your Files since the user can decide at what time of day it scans your files to update itself. "IYF" keeps an index of file names but not the internal contents like Windows Search and Google Desktop do, so it's a smaller footprint, sometimes gigs worth. Just depends what you prefer and need. I don't care for Google Desktop at all though compared to the Windows one. Anyway...

Windows Desktop Search - indexes everything, bigger footprint. Big url, so just go to Microsoft for it.
Index Your Files - search with filename indexing, smaller footprint. http://www.indexyourfiles.com/
WinFlip - 3D alt-tabbing. http://tokyodownstairs.blogspot.com/...1/winflip.html
Visual Task Tips - thumbnail image of things in your taskbar. http://www.visualtasktips.com/
Revo Uninstaller - make sure those programs are uninstalled. http://www.revouninstaller.com/
KatMouse - scroll in whatever window has the cursor, not the one in focus. Also can sort of alt-tab using the middle button. http://ehiti.de/katmouse/

I don't think that KatMouse one is a "killer" program, but it's nice so I tossed it in.

These next two are so full of win for XP users, let me tell ya...

Vista Start Menu - turns your start menu into something actually useable. You know how your "start, program files" area is a mess and ugly? Yeah, get this. http://www.vistastartmenu.com/index.html Even has a program search bar like Vista does. But, it's not that smart for misspellings and things, so you need the awesomeness that is...

Find And Run Robot. Press the hotkey to bring up the bar, type in some semblance of the shortcut or exe you're looking for, and there it is. Plugins also turn it into a dictionary and calculator and search engine and whatnot. Add shortcut icons to it if you want. With this, you maybe don't even need Vista Start Menu or other launchers. "Hmm, where'd I put the shortcut to that program I can only remember part of the name of?" Doesn't matter with FARR. http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/

The only thing about FARR is it's "donationware." It doesn't require a donation, but if you don't donate you need to visit the forum after like six months to then get a lifetime key for it. Sounds fair to me.

Another similar but not quite as good one imo is Launchy. http://www.launchy.net/ If you go with FARR, you may as well grab another of the author's great programs, ScreenshotCaptor. It's the only free screenshot software I've seen that can do a one-button capture of dual displays. Other ones make you highlight what part(s) of the screen to capture first.

And if someone likes the normal start menu but would like tree menus/groups in the quicklaunch bar, just get Free Launch Bar http://www.freelaunchbar.com/

I see Objectdock is already in the list. The more popular one now is arguably http://rocketdock.com/ This gives you a Mac-like launch bar. Definitely some cool eyecandy if nothing else. Add KKmenu to add trees/groups to it, or add Stack Dockletto it to get the big popup menus.

Want just the Stack Docklet type of popup launch menu for the QuickLaunch bar or for a shortcut folder on your desktop but don't want Object or Rocketdock? Get Standalone Stack. http://www.chrisnsoft.com/standalonestack/

And finally, I'll toss in Yahoo Widgets. http://widgets.yahoo.com/ Puts little things on your screen such as CPU meter, volume control, weather, clock with alarms, etc. I like these much better than Google Desktop Gadgets for a couple reasons other than many of them simply look better than the Google ones. Unlike Google Gadgets, you can move them anywhere, and you can reduce the transparency on them(!) so they aren't so obvious and blend in better. Check out "Gorgy Clock" for a cool clock/alarm and "Informer" for CPU/transfer speeds/memory usage/launch bar.

I would opine that the links don't even need to be there. All someone generally needs is the name, a quick description to see if they're interested, and then a browser to search for the current version.

The list is awesome. For novices like me though, is there anyway to get list of like 5 must haves?

hdmion

http://thydzik.com/tag/hdmion/

I use this to fix the problem where my TV won't detect the hdmi input from the pc after turn off/switching inputs. The program toggles the display on/off and restores the picture. I mapped it to a keystroke and then associated that keystroke with a mouse button.

http://www.iobit.com/

The Free download. (Advanced SystemCare)

My PC is about 1yr old, a powerful gaming unit when it was new. It has been starting to bog down. I ran these programs and it runs like new or better! Seriously incredible stuff, I am recommending them to everyone I know. Great stuff.

Might I add my own software to the list of remote control utilities ?

Remote Control - http://rc.hot.is/

Utility for controlling IR devices through a PC with an USB-UIRT or an MCE-IR blaster. Includes a Remote Control Manager, Remote Control Layout Designer, Remote Control GUI application which can communicate directly with the IR blaster as well as over network using the Remote Control Server.

An HTTP Server is also included which makes controlling devices using a web-browser possible. Works on the iPod Touch and iPhone as well