Page 5 - The Useful Freeware Database

Rthdribl is a "Real-time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting" demo. DirectX(R) 9.0 high-precision texture formats and version-2.0 of Pixel Shader represent real-time true HDR rendering.
Technical features of the demo are:

* True HDR (High-Dynamic Range) Rendering
* IBL (Image-Based Lighting)
* Glare Generation (Afterimage, Bloom, Halo, Ghost, and Star)
* Automatic Exposure Adjustment
* Iris shaped Depth of Field blur
* Realistic Motion Blur
* FSAA (Full-Scene Anti-Alias)
* Fresnel Effect (Specular Reflectance) etc

System Requirements

* Intel(R) 80x86-compatible CPU
* Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 98, ME, 2000, or XP
* DirectX(R) 9.0 or later
* A video card that supports Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0

Notes
First try crashed, you may find you have to edit the settings (.ini files) before it works. Known issues in Readme.

Download here

Everyone says Macs look cooler, so here's some free programs to bring OS X to your XP system.

Object Dock (you will need to download a bunch of higher-res icons if you want to put a lot of programs on the dock)
http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/

Konfabulator (beautiful program, now free because Yahoo! bought it, which OSX Tiger basically copied for the Dashboard)
http://www.konfabulator.com/

Windows Longhorn Theme Program (yes, this has a Longhorn theme included, which is cool to try out. But I was told you can plug in other themes from other programs, like Style XP ones, which is a commercial program. This prog one is free, and it doesn't randomly drop your theme like Style XP. I have used the program but not tested it to use other themes)
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System...nsforming.shtml

OSX Theme (This is for Style XP, but like I said somebody told me it works in the program above too. There are so many OSX themes I'm not sure if this is the one I used or not).
http://www.themexp.org/preview.php?...+Tiger+VS+2.zip

Rainmeter (desktop system statistics that can be skinned, a little different from Konfabulator)
http://www.ipi.fi/%7Erainy/index.ph...oject=rainmeter

Anything I'm missing that anyone else is running?

I know this doesn't follow format, but, try http://www.osx-e.com, as a mac user and Windows user, I use this site to turn my windows rigs to look like my beautiful powermac G5.

Compatibility
Not Documented

PrintConductor program prints any number of documents in batch mode. It lets you print large numbers of files, including Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word DOC, Microsoft Excel XLS, Autodesk AutoCAD DWG, Microsoft PowerPoint PPT, etc. Simply specify the files, adjust your printer and press the Run button!

(Combine this with pdf995 and batch convert PDF's!!!!)

PrintConductor

Compatibility:

• Windows 95/98/Me
• Windows NT4/2000
• Windows XP/XP x64 Edition
• Windows Server 2003
• Processor: 486 and later
• System memory: >32MB

Lavasys EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware1 hardware diagnostics and memory benchmarking solution for home PC users.

Lavasys Everest Home Edition
I lifted this software from pyromonkey and weevilofdoom's suggestion in another thread. So, all credits go to them, not me.

Compatibility:

• Windows XP/2000
• Linus
• Solaris

VNC is a remote control software which allows you to view and interact with one computer (the "server") using a simple program (the "viewer") on another computer anywhere on the Internet.

RealVNC's Virtual Network Console

Compatibility:
Not documented

Overview:
A third party FTP server, very useful for WinXP home users.

Rhinosoft Serv-U FTP Server
The Personal edition is free while Professional Edition needs to be purchased after 30 days trial. The trial itself converts into Personal edition if not bought.

I came across this one while setting up FTP in my own system.

Compatibility:
Windows 9x, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP.

Filezilla FTP Server
Credit Sandman for this contribution.

cNet Download.com.

Download.com is a website run by Cnet. A great place to search for freeware and shareware. You can customize your search for just freeware, or just shareware, if you're looking to purchase a piece of software. Download.com also notifies you if a piece of freeware contains adware. Download.com is also a great alternative to many of the websites listed here, as they have many of the titles uploaded on their high speed dedicated servers. If a download is running slow, check there.

http://www.download.com

Compatability: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP

A completely free audio converter that allows you to convert unprotected audio files between .wma, .mp3, .wav, and .ogg. Cheetah Audio converter has excellent encoding quality featuring the latest codecs, while also having a hyper-fast encoding engine, especially fast on Pentium D, and Pentium 4 with hyper-threading technology. Cheetah audio converter is completely free and fully functional.

Cheetah Software Homepage

Compatability: 98/Me/NT/2000/XP.

Email Remover can save you the trouble of downloading unwanted email. It connects to your ISP and retrieves mail header information (sender, subject, date, etc.), letting you pick mail you don't want to receive and deleting it from the mail server. The anti spam software will optionally run your regular email client when it's done so that you can transfer and read the mail you do want. Email Remover is a handy little tool in the never-ending battle against spam -- and it's free!


Email Remover

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less that a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Cleans the following:
Internet Explorer:
Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat.
Firefox:
Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history.
Windows:
Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.
Registry cleaner:
Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.
Third-party applications:
Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more...

CCleaner

A great, easy to use, email client with a nice graphical user interface. A great solution for those who lack computer knowledge, or just don't need all the features of outlook, and want more graphical features. Incredimail always runs on a low memory usage in the background, and has several alert choices when new mail is recieved. Mail is recieved in real time.

Incredimail

Compatability Windows 95-Xp


Pocket KillBox is a program that can be used to get rid of files that stubbornly refuse to allow you to delete them.

Usage Information:

Download this file, extract it, and run the killbox.exe file. When it loads type the full path to the file you would like to delete in the field and press the Delete File button (looks like a red circle with a white X). It will prompt you to reboot, allow it to do so, and hopefully your file will now be deleted.

Pocket Killbox

Mozilla Sunbird Project Page

NOTE: Mozilla Sunbird is still in it's developmental stages.