Freeware Rebooted

[Derek891]

USB Flash Drive Tester

Flash card/drive tester allows testing of any removable media including SD, MMC, CF, USB flash pen drives for bad or unstable sectors. Especially useful for testing for fake sizes often seen on low quality USB pen drives.

http://www.vconsole....page=page&id=13

 

Thanks for that one. I've got a couple of 4GB USB flash drives that are questionable. In the past, I've copied good .iso files onto them and find the files are corrupted when I copy them back to hdd. Now I won't feel bad about throwing them out if they fail.

[Hav0c]

Thanks for that one. I've got a couple of 4GB USB flash drives that are questionable. In the past, I've copied good .iso files onto them and find the files are corrupted when I copy them back to hdd. Now I won't feel bad about throwing them out if they fail.

 

Let the test run about 5 times, i have noticed in some cases 1 pass isn't all to good.

[Andavari]

USB Flash Drive Tester

 

Thank you very much for posting about that, and the 5 times scan being needed. I found out my old 2GB USB stick that would periodically give issues on my PC and PS3 needed to be thrown away.

[Hav0c]

Thank you very much for posting about that, and the 5 times scan being needed. I found out my old 2GB USB stick that would periodically give issues on my PC and PS3 needed to be thrown away.

 

Glad the software was helpful for you.

 

Transcend USB repair tool

http://za.transcend-info.com/Support/Software-3/

This little tool helped me save a Transend USB stick.

 

 

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool.shtml

Works like a charm

[Willy2]

Photodata shows all the Metadata of photos.

http://www.alexnolan.net/photodata

 

And there's a program that can erase that metadata:

JPG & PNG Stripper:

http://www.steelbytes.com/?mid=30

[Winapp2.ini]

Been using Stripper for years, though now sites like imgur strip metadata automatically when you upload

[trium]

updates without inet-connection (you must the updates previously download to tick the options you want)

 

http://www.wsusoffline.net/

 

Modifications in version 9.6

- Ability added to enable .NET Framework 3.5 feature on Windows 8, 8.1 and Server 2012(R2) (x86/x64) systems (Thanks to J. Smith)
- Update for untrusted/revoked Root Certificates (rvkroots.exe) updated to v. 8,0,2195,0 (kb3050995, March 2015) (Thanks to "harry" and "aker")
- Detection capability added for Windows 10
- Fix: DoUpdate.cmd script will now stop service 'Windows Update' (wuauserv) after scanning for missing updates to prevent system reboot prompts (Thanks to "putput", "blackerking", "phaedrus" and "aker")
- Fix: UpdateGenerator and UpdateInstaller dialog scaling calculation enhanced (Thanks to "Ethan" and "ProTofik")
- Fix: When launched by a foreign 32-bit host process on a 64-bit system, CleanupRecall.cmd script did not properly disable autologon (Thanks to "JabraXx")
- Fix: Consolidated ExcludeList-superseded-exclude.txt

 

[trium]

updatepacks from xp to windows 8.1

 

http://winfuture.de/UpdatePack

 

i dont know if that is available in english...

[Andavari]

Ocenaudio

 

Website: http://www.ocenaudio.com.br

Supports: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

License: Freeware

 

Description:

Ocenaudio is a cross-platform, easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is the ideal software for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complications. Ocenaudio also has powerful features that will please more advanced users.

 

It's capable of opening various audio formats including FLAC, and it can also save to various audio formats.

 

My thoughts:

While Ocenaudio doesn't rival Audacity based on features alone it is however much faster at editing compared to Audacity. It also has an easy to use GUI design, something which modern versions of Audacity abandoned.

[Andavari]

AnyBurn

 

License: Freeware
Supports: Microsoft Windows 2000 and newer (32-bit / 64-bit)
Website: http://www.anyburn.com

 

Clean:

Currently as of v3.2 it does not include or install any 3rd party junk, it's 100% clean.

 

Overview:
AnyBurn is a freeware full featured disc burning program. Available with a Setup program, and as a Portable.

 

Note:

The "Portable" version will create application data:

(username)\Application Data\anyburn\Upgrade

Features:
* Burns all CD, DVD, Blu-ray disc image files.
* Burns files and folders on your hard drive to CD, DVD, or Blu-ray disc.
* Burns Audio CD which can be played in regular CD and DVD players from: APE (lossless), FLAC (lossless), WAV (lossless), MP3 (lossy), WMA (lossy) audio formats.
* Burning CD-Text onto Audio CD is supported.
* Rip Audio CD to: APE (lossless), FLAC (lossless), WAV (lossless), MP3 (lossy), WMA (lossy) audio formats. Note that it does NOT fill in the Artist, Album, Track Name, Track Number. I recommend instead using a different software for audio CD ripping that will get track information from the Internet so you won't have to manually fill everything in.
* Copy disc using sector by sector method.
* Create image files from hard disk files or CD, DVD, BD discs as standard ISO or BIN/CUE formats.
* Convert disc image files between various formats. It can convert all popular image formats, such as; nrg, mdf, mds, daa, uif, isz, etc.
* Adding files using Clipboard, and drag 'n' drop is supported.
* Erase all re-writable discs. It supports two erasing methods; Quick Erasing and Full Erasing.
* Finalize disc so no further data can be written. Important!
* Verify disc after burning. Important!
* Eject disc after burning.
* View drive or disc information.
* Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.

 

My thoughts:

I've used it on my XP computer and it burns discs flawlessly and I really appreciate that it has the ability to verify discs after burning them which is a very important crucial feature. I've also used it with success on a Win10 laptop, again it worked flawless. It does not support Plextor PlexTools audio CDs authored/burned with the GigaRec setting, not that I expected it to.

[login123]

+1 for AnyBurn.  Great find, thanks for sharing. 

Works great here on win xp.

[Willy2]

WizTree (v1.07 is the latest version)

 

- Much faster than e.g. Treesize (Free) because "WizTree" searches the MFT to find the files.

- WizTree has an extra feature. After searching the HD the user can let the program pull up/show the 1000 largest files on the HD. WizTree has a tab for that. And that includes (a number of) system files as well. Like "$MFT", "Pagefile.sys" and "Hiberfil.sys".

 

Weblink:

http://antibody-software.com/web/software/software/wiztree-finds-the-files-and-folders-using-the-most-disk-space-on-your-hard-drive/

[Willy2]

Oooops. WizTree has advanced to version V2.00.

 

Same weblink as in the previous post.

[login123]

Oooops. WizTree has advanced to version V2.00.

 

Same weblink as in the previous post.

 

And now ver 2.01, same link.   

Wow that was fast. 

Thanks for sharing. 

Off to try it right  now. 

[Alan_B]

Thanks

 

Waiting till tomorrow and hoping for 2.02  

[hazelnut]

Alan how good to see you again

[login123]

Wow,  hey, look who's back. 

Long time no see, Alan. 

 

I just filed this little gem of a software in my "digital attic", a permanent storage USB drive.  

There I found a note with your name and this link: 

https://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=41518&do=findComment&comment=252103

 

I had completely forgotten about it, as with most things nowadays. 

 

So thanks again.

[Alan_B]

Thanks Hazel and Login123.

 

Just downloaded Wiztree 2.01

 

Over a year ago I broke my left femur just below the Hip.

After a month in bed with no access to my desktop P.C.

I have spent more time walking in the local park instead of using the computer,

hence I have only visited the forum when I get notification of updates to topics that I was involved in.

 

Two months ago my desktop MOBO/CPU died and a friend gave my his old discarded P.C.

I took out his Windows 7 HDD and swapped in my Windows 7 SSD and it worked better than I feared.

My old P.C. had an AMD C.P.U

so some Microsoft security updates were aimed at AMD,

but my new P.C. has an Intel C.P.U.

I have seen no compatibility conflicts so far,

 

I now plan to replace the Windows 7 HDD,

and then create all the shortcuts to my applications which are on my previous HDD.

Then I plan full image backups of both the "Intel HDD" and the "AMD SSD"

and then while Windows 10 is still free to try Windows 10 on both the HDD and the SSD.

and create an image and restore that image to my SSD.

 

Regards

Alan

[mta]

all I can add is Ouch!, sounds painful.

but it's good to have you, and your experience, back on the Forum.

[Andavari]

Welcome back Alan.   You've been missed on the forums!

[login123]

There is a new version of BurnAware, v-9.3, available 07 July 16. 

I haven't used it but I think several here have.  Supposed to be pretty good.

Home page says
BurnAware is a family of full-featured and free burning software to create CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs of all types. Home users can easily burn bootable discs, multisession discs, high-quality audio CDs and video DVDs, make, copy and burn disc images. Power users will benefit from BurnAware's advanced options, including control of boot settings, UDF partition and versions, ISO levels and restrictions, session selection, CD text for tracks and discs, data recovering, disc spanning and direct copying.

 

Free vs paid comparison:

http://www.burnaware.com/compare-editions.html

[hazelnut]

The page here

 

http://www.burnaware.com/download.html

 

If you look right at the bottom of the page there is a link to the freeware version 'without additional offers'.  This is the one without OpenCandy

[login123]

Good catch, Hazelnut.  I didn't know it had OpenCandy.  Saved lots of folks some grief, you did. 

[login123]

Apache Open Office (AOO) ver 4.1.2
Its a free, full featured office application.  I have been tinkering around with it for a couple of days now.  It seems a pretty good alternative to microsoft office. AOO is available for windows, Linux, and OS X.  Download from here:

Http://www.openoffice.org/download/

There is a portable version available at Portable Apps dot com.

It has been suggested that AOO Open Office may be gone soon.  That's what prompted me to download it and try it. See here:  

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/openoffice-after-years-of-neglect-could-shut-down/

However, there is a recent patch dated August 30, 2016, so it seems development is continuing. The patch is here:  

https://www.openoffice.org/security/cves/CVE-2016-1513.html

AOO seems a bit faster and lighter than Libre Office, but thats just my personal impression. They are very similar softwares, each will open the other's files.  Somewhere I read that AOO requires Java, but I don't have java here and it still works.  Here, it seems as fast as microsoft office applications.

AOO will:  
- Open microsoft office documents such as .PPT, .PPTX, .doc, .docx.  I didn't try the database applications nor the spreadsheets.  
- import PDF files so you can edit them, or cut and paste parts into other documents.
- allow for modifying microsoft files and saving them as either microsoft files or AOO type files

- Create new documents that can be opened with microsoft office software.  Just "save as" the proper file type. 

- One way cool feature is that it has an extension that will read your text aloud.  I have tried it, it works, but haven't experimented much with it. 

 

[mta]

Apache Open Office (AOO) ver 4.1.2

 

  Here, it seems as fast as microsoft office applications.

 

Ah, so you're saying it's slow then. (just kidding)