Recommended Tools and Utilities
Free or non-commercial software, tools, and websites we actually use and can recommend! Many of them are already the subjects of tutorials elsewhere on this site. All linked and annotated for your convenience. Objectivity not guaranteed. ;-)
Antivirus and Security
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- AVG Anti-Virus
- Description: Free, powerful anti-virus program.
- AVG Website (Free Download page)
- Operating Systems: Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP. (Pro version also runs on Linux.)
- Pros: Doesn't use resources, works unobtrusively in the background. Easy virus definiton updating. No longer requires registration with a working email address to obtain a serial number!
- Cons: Not for networked environments.
- Outstanding features: Easy and fast scheduled or manual updates. No reboot required after updating program or virus definition files. New email scanner checks for embedded viruses as your email downloads.
- Trend Micro HouseCall
- Description: Browser-based online virus checker (updated frequently to detect the latest viruses)
- HouseCall Website
- Operating Systems: Windows95/98/98SE/NT4.0 (SP 3 or above)/2000/XP.
- Browsers: MS Internet Explorer (4.0 and higher).
- Pros: fast and accurate; updated frequently to detect the latest viruses
- Cons: Requires ActiveX; Does not work with Mozilla-based browsers, Mac Safari, or Opera.
- Outstanding features: Used in conjunction with anti-virus software already in place on the computer, it may catch and irradicate a newer virus that other anti-virus software did not. Especially useful if one is lax about keeping antivirus programs and virus definitions updated.
- Zone Alarm Personal Firewall
- Description: PC firewall which prevents malicious intrusion into your computer. The free version offers protection against worms, trojans, spyware, and many types of email attachments. Includes an email scanner. The Pro version adds popup and cookie blocking, but since most decent browsers include those features anyway, the free version is all you'll need.
- Zone Alarm Website (Free Download page)
- Operating Systems: Windows
- Pros: Easy configuration, it asks the first time it encounters an application if you want to let that application pass data to/from your computer. Say yes or no, make the reply permanent and then don't worry about it anymore.
- Cons: Does not offer individual port forwarding-- a hardware (router) firewall is best for that.
- Outstanding features: Extremely easy to upgrade from free updates offered periodically on their website. Application can be configured to alert you when an update is available.
- Ad-Aware
- Description: Spyware detection and removal tool. Scans all drives plus the Windows Registry, to detect and remove spyware and potential security leaks. Standard version is free for individual personal use only.
- Ad-Aware Website
- Operating Systems: Windows98/ME/NT4/2000/XP
- Pros: Easy to install and use. Catches just about everything. Highly configurable. Perfect for household computers which are used for web surfing.
- Cons: Occasionally passwords for online forums will be removed causing the user to have to type in the passwords again. Also, some sites have in their agreements (one must always read the fine print of those agreements) that anti-spyware will not be installed against their sites. However, exceptions to certain spybots can be made in the Spyware Remover program.
- Outstanding features:
This is a really great program, especially for people who have teenaged children who are surfing the net. Spyware gets maliciously installed on your computer by visiting some internet sites; it seriously slows computers down. We know of someone who recently installed Adaware. She uncovered over 300 bugs on her computer. (She already had Norton anti-virus installed.) The next night, after her 15-yr-old had finished surfing and chatting, she ran Adaware again and discovered 35 new bugs. It is important to remember to frequently update whatever spyware detection program you have installed.
- Spybot Search & Destroy
- Description: Spyware detection and removal tool. Scans all drives plus the Windows Registry, to detect and remove spyware and potential security leaks.
- Spybot Website
- Operating Systems: Windows95 (Winsock update necessary), Windows98/ME/NT4/2000/XP (Administrator rights required for NT, 2000, and XP)
- Pros: Very thorough-- finds items that Ad-aware sometimes misses.
- Cons: Occasionally passwords for online forums will be removed causing the user to have to type in the passwords again. Also, some sites have in their agreements (one must always read the fine print of those agreements) that anti-spyware will not be installed against their sites. However, exceptions to certain spybots can be made in the Spyware Remover program.
- Outstanding features:
Spybot S & D may catch something that Ad-Aware has missed. It is important to remember to frequently update whatever spyware detection program you have installed. Spyware gets maliciously installed on your computer by visiting some internet sites; but it is not actually a virus. Anti-virus programs will not detect spyware on your system, but the presence of spyware seriously slows computers down and presents a security risk.
Web Browsers
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- Mozilla
- Description: Fantastic open-source web browser. Dev builds are updated nightly.
- Mozilla Website
- Operating Systems: Windows98/ME/NT4/2000/XP, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, OS/2, Solaris.
- Pros: Excellent browser-- uses the Gecko engine. Fully CSS1 and CSS2 compliant, integrated popup blocking, takes some nice toolbar plugins.
- Cons: none
- Outstanding features: Tabbed browsing! Built-in popup and cookie blockers. Highly configurable. Can zoom font size with the keyboard, and change stylesheets on the fly.
- Mozilla Firefox
- Description: Mozilla's flagship browser. Has all the great features of the basic Mozilla browser with a smaller footprint.
- Firefox Website
- Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux.
- Pros: See Mozilla features. Firefox's settings are set up like IE's Options, making for an easier switch from IE. Mozilla plugins work here too.
- Cons: none
- Outstanding features: Extensions made for it. Did we mention tabbed browsing and CSS2 compliance? ;-)
- Netscape 7.2
- Description: Mozilla 1.7 based browser built on the Gecko engine.
- Netscape Website
- Operating Systems: Windows98/ME/NT4/2000/XP, Mac OS X, Linux.
- Pros: Excellent browser-- totally rebuilt from the Gecko engine. Fully CSS1 and CSS2 compliant, takes Mozilla plugins. Not an update of the old Netscape Communicator.
- Cons: Development has ceased on this one, no further versions are expected.
- Outstanding features: Tabbed browsing and extensions! (Also see Mozilla features.)
- Opera Browser Updated!
- Description: Great CSS-compliant browser from Opera software.
- Opera Browser Website
- Operating Systems: Windows, Linux
- Pros: Fully CSS1 and CSS2 compliant, uses few resources. As of September 20, 2005, is completely free to download and use, and no longer has ads!
- Cons: None.
- Outstanding features: Tabbed browsing. Mouse gestures. (Love 'em or hate 'em, they're pretty neat.) Also ability to zoom size of both text and images on the fly. Very fast, new Preferences interface. Toolbars can be hidden to maximse viewing area.
- Safari
- Description: Apple's latest CSS-compliant browser, built on the Konqueror browser engine.
- Safari Website
- Operating Systems: Mac OS X
- Pros: Tabbed browsing, CSS compliance, integrated popup blocking, Google search.
- Cons: Does not work on OS 9 and older.
- Outstanding features:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
- Description: Web browser, tightly integrated into every Windows OS since Win98.
- MSIE Website
- Operating Systems: Windows only, or some older freestanding Mac versions.
- Pros: Has the highest use rate; no need to install it as a separate app.
- Cons: Needs constant security updating. Not fully CSS2 compliant. Uses proprietary ActiveX and scripting.
- Outstanding features:
Email clients and utilities
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- Mozilla Thunderbird
- Description: One of the newest and best free POP email clients. Created by the developers of the Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Thunderbird Website
- Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
- Pros: Extremely easy to set up and use. Supports multiple email addresses and servers. Does not access the "Windows Addressbook" (a prime source for spreading trojans). Imports mail and settings from Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, and other mail programs. Constantly updated to provide the most secure versions possible. Extremely user-friendly interface and Options dialogs.
- Cons: (minor niggle) Does not display the To: headers in the message list view-- helpful for spotting spam sent via dictionary scripts. Does not support server previewing and deleting before downloading.
- Outstanding features: IMAP/POP support, built-in RSS reader, ability to add extensions. Bayesian spam filtering to "learn" which email is spam, junk, or legit.
- Polarbar
- Description: Excellent, free POP/IMAP email client, written in Java.
- Polarbar Website
- Operating Systems: Any. Website includes installers and instructions for using on many different platforms. Compatible with IBM's JRE 1.1.8 and Sun's Java2 series. Can be run from a commandline.
- Pros: Constantly updated, based on user requests in the support mailing list. Supports multiple email accounts/users/servers. Conforms to standard RFC email and MIME protocols. Sends mail as plain-text only, reads in plain-text or HTML. Uses no Windows API features and cannot spread Windows-based viruses or trojans.
- Cons: Installation and initial configuration require some knowledge of commandline scripting, although automatic Windows installers are available. You must also know how to install an appropriate version of a JVM or JRE if you don't already have one.
- Outstanding features: Includes Bayesian filters for spam. Can preview and delete messages on the server before downloading. Messages are stored as individual plain-text files, and can be easily read outside of the POP client.
- Eudora
- Description: Powerful POP email client.
- Eudora Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP. Mac OS 9, X.
- Pros: Full-featured, easy to install and use. Can opt to use it for free and view small (non-intrusive) ads in the interface, or pay for it to remove the ads. Pay version has advanced junkmail filtering. Detected by most major anti-virus software. Comfortable interface, excellent documentation.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Huge set of configurable options. Works well with dialup connections-- can be configured to initiate a connection if none is present.
- Pegasus Mail
- Description: Free POP email client.
... the Internet's longest-serving PC e-mail system.
- Pegasus Mail Website
- Operating Systems: MSDOS or PCDOS; Windows 3.1/95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
- Pros:
- Cons:
- Outstanding features:
- Mail2Web
- Browser: Any forms-capable.
- Description: Free browser-based universal webmail client, which lets you log into any email address you currently have.
- Mail2Web Website
- Pros: Has options for a secure login. No ads or popups (although a tiny text-ad is appended to all outgoing mail). Does not retain login data from session to session. Can access POP, IMAP, and webmail accounts. Multi-language support.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: This is a very handy utility for people who travel a lot and need to access their mail on the go. Rather than require a separate email address, mail2web lets you access the email addresses you already have, all from one web page. You can read and reply to any emails, and choose to delete or to save mail for access later. A handy way to also "preview" mail on the server, before downloading potentially dangerous viruses to your hard drive with a POP client.
- PopTray Mail Notifier
- Description: A full-featured, customizable, free and Open-Source e-mail notifier.
- Operating Systems: Windows
- PopTray Mail Notifier Website
- Pros: Easy to configure, supports unlimited number of accounts, PopTray icon shows number of incoming messages (rotating by account), optional quick preview of message text, spam management features, Protocol plug-ins (e.g. IMAP4, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), can be run in a multi-user environment.
- Cons: Cannot send mail from poptray.
- Outstanding features: Ability to delete suspect email from the server without downloading.
- K9
- Description: Email filtering application that works in conjunction with your regular POP3 email program and automatically classifies incoming emails as spam (junk email) or non-spam.
- K9 Website
- Operating Systems: Windows-only standard POP3 email accounts
- Pros: Uses Bayesian-type filters to learn which email is spam
- Cons: Does not directly support Hotmail, AOL, or webmail systems. No support for SSL or secure authentication as used by MSN.
- Outstanding features: This little program really reduces the needless amount of time spent each day sifting through headers looking for legitimate email. After the first couple of days, it makes very few errors and all spam just automatically gets trashed.
FTP clients
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- WS_FTP LE
- Description: The free version of the well-known WS_FTP client. Only offered now for students and educators (but see the Cons section below).
- Websites (Download.com) or
Websites (Tucows)
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP.
- Pros: Easy to use and set up, works without a hitch, minimalist interface, doesn't eat resources.
- Cons: Current free version 6 is only licensed now for educators and students. The previous version 5.08 was also free for personal use. If you use 5.08 already, version 6 is the same software with the new license restriction, so no need to upgrade.
- Outstanding features: It set the standard for Windows FTP apps for a long time. It just works, no muss, no fuss.
- Other: See our tutorial for using it.
- FileZilla
- Description: Fast and reliable free and open-source FTP client and server, with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
- FileZilla Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP.
- Pros: SFTP and SSL support, file resume, keep alive.
- Cons: No audio alerts for uploading in the background.
- Outstanding features: Ease of use, good interface, security settings.
- Core FTP Lite
- Description: Free FTP client includes SSH/SFTP, SSL/TLS, browser integration, site to site transfers, drag and drop support, file viewing, file editing, transfer resuming, firewall support, custom commands, URL parsing, etc.
- Core FTP Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP.
- Pros: SSH and SSL support.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Security encryption, FXP (server to server) support.
- SmartFTP
- Description: Free, multilingual full-featured FTP client.
- SmartFTP Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 98/Me/NT/2k/XP/Server 2003. Requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.xx+
- Pros: Easy to use, Windows XP / IE like interface. Includes auto-resume. Supports SSL.
- Cons: Does not support SSH (expected in 2004).
- Outstanding features: FXP (server to server) and SSL support.
HTML and Text editors
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- NoteTab Lite
- Description: Full-featured Text editor.
- NoteTab Lite Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP.
- Pros: Opens multiple files, search/replace thru 1 or all files, split-window to view 2 files at the same time. Comes with pre-configured function lists. Has a Reopen menu to access the last 16 previously edited files that aren't currently open. When choosing to open a file, it can be set to either go to the most recently used directory, or to use the directory the currently opened document is in (if any).
- Cons: Does not support context highlighting. Does not support multi-level undo/redo.
- Outstanding features: Easy to install, extensive configuration options, multiple files open via tab interface, including ability to reorder tabs.
- Editpad Lite
- Description: Text editor - can open multiple files, make global changes to files
- Editpad Lite Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP, Linux.
- Pros: All versions understand line breaks used by Windows, Mac, and Linux. Has versions in English, Deutsch, Italiano, Nederlands, and Portugues. Can write and insert blocks of text. Function key toggles word wrap on and off. Understands all types of text files. Opens multiple files.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features:
- Textpad
- Description: Full-featured text and code editor. Shareware, nags you to register, but functions anyway.
- Textpad Website
- Operating Systems: Windows
- Pros: Syntax color highlighting; integrates with CSE HTML Validator. Updated regularly.
- Cons: Nags if you don't register it.
- Outstanding features: Highly configurable. Can create and edit syntax files and clip libraries.
- AceHtml 6 Freeware
- Description: Full-featured HTML, Javascript, and CSS editor.
- AceHtml Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP;
- Pros: Color syntax highlighting for most scripting languages. Integrated previewer. International alphabet support. Includes a library of DHTML and javascripts, and a CSS editor.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features:
Content Management
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- Movable Type
- Description: Perl CGI-based Weblog publisher for personal and business use that comes with a fully featured commenting system. It has tiered pricing, with a free model as well as several paid levels.
- Movable Type Website
- Browsers: IE5+, Netscape 7+, Apple Safari, Mozilla, Firefox.
- Requirements: Web server running Perl/CGI.
- Pros: Free support via their help forums, with a trouble ticket system for those who use any of their paid versions. A wealth of plugins written by the MovableType user community. Static page (with the type of markup of your choice, not just plain HTML) as well as dynamic PHP publishing. Full documentation that installs on your webspace. Four different databases to store entries. Several ways to slice your archives. XHTML 1.0 compliant default templates and CSS to go with them, as well as other CSS available from their site.
- Cons: No comment banning by email address
- Outstanding features: Templates include various standards compliant RSS and Atom XML feeds. Comments can be moderated so that they don't appear until you approve them, and there is IP banning for repeated unwanted comments from the same IP address. Static pages are available even when your database isn't.
- WordPress
- Description: Free, PHP-based content management tool to publish web pages and logs instantly.
- WordPress Website
- Operating Systems: N/A (completely web-based)
- Requirements: Web server running PHP.
- Pros: Install via Fantastico in CPanel, or download from the WordPress site and upload via FTP. No size restriction on numbers of posts. Full web standards compliance. Choose from more than 100 available themes. You don't have to be a PHP guru to use it!
- Cons: Support (by volunteers and other users) is only provided for the most recent official version of WordPress. Ensure that the theme of your choice is compatible with the version of WordPress you have installed.
- Outstanding features: Highly configurable, comment spam protection, allowance for multiple authors, categories, sub-categories. Templates include various standards compliant RSS and Atom XML feeds. Several comprehensive help sites linked in the included 'readme' file. Particularly useful is http://codex.wordpress.org/. And did we mention that it is free?
- Blogger
- Description: Free, web-based tool that helps you publish web logs instantly.
- Blogger Website
- Operating Systems: N/A
- Pros: Free and easy, works with your Crosswinds website!
- Cons:
- Outstanding features:
- phpBB
- Description: Free PHP-based website forums.
- phpBB Website
- Operating Systems: Any servers with PHP and MySQL installed. Typically UNIX, Linux, running Apache.
- Pros: Free, well-written, full-featured web forums. Highly configurable. Takes a huge variety of 3rd-party modifications and themes (skins). Themes are templated and easy to edit. Constantly updated. Excellent support and documentation on their website.
- Cons: Must be updated regularly to avoid security exploits.
- Outstanding features: Ease of use and configuration. Can be installed automatically from inside CPanel.
- IPB (Invision Power Board)
- Description: Free (or paid) PHP-based website forums with more features then some other forums.
- IPB Website
- Operating Systems: Any servers with PHP and MySQL installed. Typically UNIX, Linux, running Apache.
- Pros: Free to use, full-featured. Highly configurable. Many themes and modifications for it available, updated as often as necessary.
- Cons: Must pay for it to get support at the main website, but there are many free support sites for it online.
- Outstanding features: Comes with several features not available in other forums, such as quick reply, choosing what order to show posts, how many posts to show per page, username color management.
- BigDump.php
- Description: A simple PHP utility which makes it easy to restore large (greater than 2 MB) MySQL backup files. It's a one-page script which simultaneously breaks up a database backup into small chunks, and restores them in order, so that your new database works just as before.
- BigDump Website
- Requirements: Web server which supports PHP and MySQL. Ability to back up a database, either through a script or a utility like phpMyAdmin (also available via your cPanel).
- Pros: Free, and invaluable for anyone who has had to move large databases from one server to another. Works as it says it should, with no muss, no fuss.
- Cons: Very meager documentation, but also quite easy to figure out, once you read the steps provided.
Website Maintenance
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- W3C (X)HTML Validator
- Description: Free online website code validator from the people who wrote the (X)HTML standards. Uses the DOCTYPE statement on any HTML page to return an itemised list of errors with links to the rules explaining the correct syntax.
- W3C (X)HTML Validator Website
- Pros: Thorough and fast. Easy way to catch syntax errors which might prevent a page from displaying correctly. New Beta v0.6.5 has options for detailed validation, and a link to upload an offline file directly for validation.
- Cons: Error messages can be hard to decipher and correct, even after reading the official recommendations.
- Outstanding features: Ability to autotect DOCTYPE and characterset if not coded into the page. Perfectly coded page is allowed to display official W3C image buttons.
- W3C CSS Validation Service
- Description: Free online CSS validator from the people who wrote the CSS standards. Can validate linked, imported, and inline stylesheets. Returns an itemised list of errors with links to the rules explaining the correct syntax.
- W3C CSS Validator Website-Validate by URI
- W3C CSS Validator Website-Validate by Uploaded file
- W3C CSS Validator Website-Validate direct code paste
- Pros: Thorough and fast. Easy way to catch syntax errors which might prevent a page from displaying correctly.
- Cons: Error messages can be hard to decipher and correct, even after reading the official recommendations. Requires prior (X)HTML Validator validation.
- Outstanding features: Fast and thorough. Perfectly coded page is allowed to display official W3C image buttons.
- "Bobby" Web Page Accessibility Validation
- Description: Validates any web page to see if it meets either the WCAG or the U.S. Section 508 Standards.
- "Bobby" Website
- Pros: One of the first validators of its kind.
- Cons: Requires extensive knowledge of website accessibility requirements to get a page to validate. Will only allow one page validation per minute.
- Outstanding features:
- Cynthia Says™ Portal
- WDG HTML Validator
- Description: Excellent alternative HTML validator. Validates files by uploading from your computer or direct paste of HTML. Warns about valid but dangerous HTML such as unclosed start-tags, and for undefined character references.
- WDG HTML Validator Website
- Pros: Relatively easy to read (and comprehend) fixes for the errors; if the document type declaration is missing, it assumes HTML 4.01 Transitional and continues with assessment.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: No limit on the number of pages checked; includes option to validate entire site;
uses a special SGML declaration when the document refers to a custom DTD. The result is that many custom DTDs, especially those built from the HTML 4.0 Transitional DTD, work correctly with the WDG HTML Validator but not other validators.
- W3C Link Checker
- Description: Free webpage link checker, provided by the W3C.
- W3C Link Checker Website
- Pros: Fast and thorough
- Cons: Can only check one page at a time.
- Outstanding features: Checks all anchor tags which use
href="", and flags any which are forbidden, broken, or violate accessibility rules.
- WDG Link Valet
- Description: Free webpage link checker, provided by the WDG.
- WDG Link Valet Website
- Pros: Fast and thorough; honors robots.txt and meta tags.
- Cons: checking of links within applets is buggy (and documented).
- Outstanding features: Detailed and thorough-- has options for long or short-form results.
- Xenu's Link Sleuth
- Description: Website link checker. Finds broken links by looking at HTML source.
- Xenu Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP; Red Hat 8 using "wine" (http://www.winehq.com/)
- Pros: A report can be produced at any time (you set the limits)
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Great for large sites. Checks and finds broken links, and there is no page limit! Also finds orphan files. Great for dead links from defunct webrings.
Graphics and Imaging
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- IrfanView
- Description: Powerful, free image viewer and converter. Also plays media files with plugins.
- IrfanView Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
- Pros: Views, resizes, and edits dozens of image formats. Includes thumbnail creation, batch conversion, and screen capture. Reads digital camera output.
- Cons: No pixel or vector editing. (But includes a menu link to an external editor of choice.)
- Outstanding features: Easy, fast, and powerful. Saves .gif and .png transparencies. Huge archive of plugins allows ability to play sound and video files too.
- Project Dogwaffle
- Description: Powerful, painting program equal to any of the best. Although there is a new version for a very reasonable price, there is still the original version which is free.
- Dogwaffle Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
- Pros: Easy to use, lots of tools, and great results.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: This program is ideal for anyone who wants to try their hand at making their own graphics or digital painting. Quote from Cadre member makwakwe:
As I said when I was interviewed by Dogwaffler of the Month, I have not found a paint program that feels and looks like working in real oils or water colours, until Dogwaffle.
- Wings 3D
- Description: Free 3D modeling program. Extra simple to use and extremely versatile.
- Wings 3D Website
- Operating Systems: Completely open source. Can be compiled for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux/UNIX.
- Pros: Whether you want to model a 3D snowman, a vase or a complicated 3D space building, you can do it easily. It contains clear and straightforward tools, and the ability to save in .obj and other known 3D formats. It is actually just fun to play with.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Completely open source; original source code is available so you can compile it for your OS. Support is provided on their own forums and with a Sourceforge bugtracker.
- ZBrush
- Description:
ZBrush is an award-winning 2D and 3D image creation and processing tool, powered by a real-time rendering engine. Based on unique "Pixol" rendering technology, ZBrush enables artists to paint an image with depth -- applying both 2D and 3D effects in one integrated, real-time workspace.
- ZBrush Website
- Operating Systems: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP; Mac OS 8.6, 9.x, 10.x; 256 MB RAM.
- Pros: For anyone who has toyed with the idea of doing 3D graphics, or trying your hand at digital modelling, this program is so easy to use you can start playing with it right away. Version 1.55b can be downloaded as a free trial evaluation.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Very short learning curve.
- NetMechanic Image Optimization Tool
- Description: Free online image tool reduces load time on graphics. Supports jpg, gif. Also will create .png from .gif or .jpg
- NetMechanic Website (look for "Image Optimization Tool" and choose the "try it" link below)
- Operating Systems: N/A
- Pros: Your website viewers will thank you when your pages load quickly, because images are as small in bytesize as they can be.
- Cons: Will not optimize a .png (as of this writing)
- Outstanding features: Gives a percentage of how much the image is reduced, alongside each newly formed image. You choose which image will suit.
Search Engines and Reference
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- Google
- Description: Website search engine. Includes boolean searches for keywords, webpages, images, usenet posts, and more.
- Google Website
- Pros: Easy to use interface. Advanced search options allow individual preferences for language, number of results displayed, etc. No need to submit sites-- the entire web is automatically indexed regularly.
- Cons: Search keywords must be somewhat specific in order to narrow things down.
- Outstanding features: Sorts that huge amount of information out there in the ether, making it far more accessible.
- Atomz Express Search
- Browser: Any.
- Description: Free, remotely hosted website search.
The leading hosted site search application lets you turn search into a sales and marketing tool. Atomz Search breaks down the wall between searching and browsing, guiding site visitors to the products and content they want.
- Atomz Website
- Pros: No software installation required. A small link to Atomz on the search page is the only advertisement required on the free version. Highly customizable; can be configured to access more than one site and/or more than one domain, to search only the pages you want searched,
- Cons: Free version can only be used on sites with up to 500 total pages (but if page limit is reached, Atomz will search the 500 pages and count the excess pages for you).
- Outstanding features: No "trial period" -- can be used indefinitely.
- Verbix
- Operating System: Windows 98/Me/NT/2k/XP (for downloadable version only)
- Browser: Any which supports Unicode.
- Description: Provides verb conjugations for hundreds of languages. Includes both an online conjugator and a downloadable offline application.
- Verbix Website
- Pros: Huge language database, including extinct and recently invented languages (e.g. klingon!) Website includes linguistic history and evolution.
- Cons: The CGI script for the Spanish personal webpage conjugator occasionally fails.
- Outstanding features: Downloadable version includes translations and other language information about each verb. Web version includes sound files for pronunciation. Spanish has an option to put a conjugator on your own website, using a results page you can edit from their template to match your site. (Working example)
- Hyperdictionary
- Description: Contains English Dictionary, Computer Dictionary, Thesaurus, Dream Dictionary, Medical Dictionary.
an educational project to provide free dictionary services to any user on the web
- Hyperdictionary Website
- Pros: Huge data base;
- Cons: Spelling must be correct or no search results will be shown.
- Outstanding features: Shows itemized results from each dictionary that has an entry for the term being searched (e.g.: 'memory' shows definitions from English Dictionary, Computer Dictionary, Thesaurus, Dream Dictionary).
- SYMBOLS.com
- Description:
The world's largest online encyclopedia of graphic symbols [...] the online version of Carl G Liungman's book Thought Signs. The subtitle of the book is "The semiotics of Symbols---Western Non-pictorial Ideograms", which fairly describes its contents.
- SYMBOLS.com Website
- Pros: Use the graphic index to search for the meaning or history of a sign. To see an ideogram with a certain meaning, use the word index.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Easy to use Advanced search on the graphic index.
- Epicurious - Food & Wine dictionary
- Description: Contains hundreds of cooking terms and ingredients, with links to recipes.
- Epicurious Website
- Pros: Easy to use. More than 4000 food terms. Text within the definitions is hyperlinked to other entries.
In addition, many terms are linked to recipes in which they are a main ingredient.
You can also browse alphabetically by choosing a letter from the alphabet running along the top of each page.
- Cons: Spelling must be correct or no search results will be shown. Privacy policy is opt-out only-- personal information is shared with 3rd parties. Recipe pages have popup ads (which can be blocked).
- Outstanding features: Search box remains on the screen so multiple searches can be made.
- The Cook's Thesaurus
- Description: Cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions.
- Cook's Thesaurus Website
- Pros: Easy to use.
- Cons: May cause damage to keyboard from excessive drooling.
- Outstanding features: Corrects spelling on terms entered in the search box.
Miscellaneous
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- IE NetRenderer (Internet Explorer screenshots)
- Description: Creates screenshots of your own website as viewed by Internet Explorer 7, 6 or 5.5
- IE NetRenderer
- Pros: Just enter a URL, choose which version of IE from the dropdown list and wait a few seconds.
- Cons: None.
- Outstanding features: This is the perfect way to see how your site will look in several versions of Internet Explorer! Terrific free service.
- Browser Shots (browser screenshots)
- Description: Creates screenshots of any web page, from many different browsers.
- Browser Shots Website
- Pros: Huge number of operating systems and browser versions. Does not require registration. High quality .png images.
- Cons: Needs more bandwidth; there is often a very long wait for screenshots to be rendered.
- Outstanding features: Captures an entire web page, beyond what is visible in the viewfinder.
- iCapture (browser screenshots)
- Description: Creates screenshots of your own website as viewed by Mac's Safari browser on OS X. Now also captures screenshots on the Opera browser and older versions of IE!
- iCapture Website
- Operating Systems: N/A
- Pros: Just enter a URL and wait a few seconds. Images are 1024x768 .png and can be downloaded and saved.
- Cons: none
- Outstanding features: Testing a design in as many browsers as possible is crucial. This is the perfect way to see how your site will look in other browsers! Terrific service.
- Update: The site now requires free registration with an email address, in order to use it. No names, just an email address where you will receive a link to activate, and password in order to submit URLs. Still a fantastic service, and still free.
- Coda Music: Finale NotePad
- Description: Write, print, and listen to simple lines of music
- Finale NotePad Website
- Operating Systems: Windows98/2000/NT/Me/XP; Mac OS 8.6 - OS 9.2.2
- Pros: Writes and prints music notation; lets you play and listen to the file.
- Cons: Files can only be written in one key and one time signature in the free version
- Outstanding features: Wonderful little program -- very handy.
- JavE - Java ASCII Versatile Editor
- Description: JavE is a free ASCII Editor. Rather than for editing texts, it is intended for drawing simple diagrams by using ASCII characters. It is like a graphics editor for editing texts instead of images.
- JavE Website
- Operating Systems: Any. JavE is written in Java, and so should run on almost every operating system.
- Pros:
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: There's a cute ASCII-comic strip Nerd Boy whose author utilizes JavE.
Sources of free software
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- Sourceforge
- Description: Huge database of free and open source applications in varius stages of development. "SourceForge.net is the world's largest Open Source software development website, with the largest repository of Open Source code and applications available on the Internet. SourceForge.net provides free services to Open Source developers."
- Sourceforge Website
- Operating Systems: Something for everyone, although the majority tend to be Unix/Linux projects.
- Pros: Provides hosting, bugtracking, searching, and and downloading of many open-source applications.
- Cons: Many projects are in pre-stable release-- use at your own risk.
- Outstanding features:
- FreshMeat.net
- Description: "Freshmeat maintains the Web's largest index of Unix and cross-platform software, themes and related "eye-candy", and Palm OS software. Thousands of applications, which are preferably released under an open source license, are meticulously cataloged in the freshmeat database, and links to new applications are added daily."
- FreshMeat Website
- Operating Systems: Mostly Unix/Linux
- Pros: Excellent searchable database of open-source applications. Constantly updated, and general software quality id very high.
- Cons: Use software at your own risk, no support or guarantees.
- Outstanding features: Good search engine, clear and easy to understand details about each application.
- Pricelessware
- Description: Updated list of freeware, the official list of the newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware
- Pricelessware Website
- Operating Systems: Something for every OS in here.
- Pros: Comprehensive catalog of free software on the internet. Constantly updated.
- Cons:
- Outstanding features: Very organized, with extensive reviews and annotations by people who actually use each application.
- The Javascript Source
- Description: Large collection of free Javascripts to download and use.
- Javascript Source Website
- Pros: Those without Javascripting knowledge can have customized javascript on their webpages
- Cons: Some scripts may be outdated; may be necessary to check that the script will still run on newer browsers.
- Outstanding features: Excellent search function. Scripts are easy to cut and paste into your page. Most have a working demo.
- Dynamic Drive
- Description: Repository of free DHTML scripts
- Dynamic Drive Website
- Pros: Scripts edited and updated by users and website staff. Searchable, with demos of each script.
- Cons: Some scripts are outdated or only work with certain browsers.
- Outstanding features: Many scripts have extensive developer notes, explaining how the script works, and how it can be modified.
- Hot Scripts
- Description: Searchable database of scripts written in PHP, Perl/CGI, and more.
- Hot Scripts Website
- Pros: Scripts are user-rated, and searchable by language, script name, or rating.
- Cons: No central evaluating staff, use scripts at your own risk.
- Outstanding features: Huge number of scripts-- if it exists, it's probably listed here.
Recommended Reading
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- DemoDemo.com CPanel Flash Tutorials
- Description: Flash demos of various frequently used aspects of CPanel, plus a bonus Fantastico demo. Sets of tutorials available for various themes-- choose the set which is for the theme you use (hint: start with the xcontroller theme, since that's the default theme most Crosswinds members have). Requires an installed Flash browser plugin to view.
- DemoDemo.com CPanel Website
- Pros: Easy to follow, well timed tutorials with pause, rewind and forward buttons to review any part of the tutorial desired.
- Cons: Exit button does not always work. One must use browser "back" button to return to tutorial menu.
- Outstanding features: What can be said? Pictures really are worth a thousand words!
Member Recommendations
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