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Misc Software Downloads and Links
These Links are in no particular order. They relate to software and other downloads that I have found useful or interesting in the past. Oh! and they are free software. We Yorkshiremen have a reputation for not wanting to spend money where they don't need to - and yes, I am proud to be a Yorkshireman.
Things do move on and I cannot even guarantee that the sites will still be there. And obviously if you choose to use them, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. I hope they are safe - I still use many of them!
IrfanView is a very useful tool for viewing and handling a wide range of image types. I originally found it when I was trying to convert a library of WMF clipart to GIF files (there was a reason I'm sure). IrfanView and plug-ins, etc. are available from www.irfanview.net
PixVue is an interesting way to organise and annotate your image
files. The
program integrates with Windows Explorer and provides facilities that
apparently vary a bit according to the Windows Version - it looks good with
XP. As with all such tools the trick
seems to be working out a way of working that suits you. It has lots of
facilities - either a profusion or a confusion. It also includes facilities to
generate web galleries, and the templates can be tailored
if you are willing (or foolish) enough to tinker with some XSL coding.
To be honest the main reason I use it is the integration with Windows
Explorer that gives you instant access to the most useful Exif data held
in digital photographs. Just hovering over the file name gives you
date/time taken, exposure, etc.
Pixvue is still downloadable from various sites, but the old Pixvue site
(www.pixvue.com) seems to have gone awol. v1.6 was a 6.28mb installer file
- v2.01 is now available (e.g. from
www.softsea.com/review/PixVue.html
and is 7.42mb - perhaps I ought to upgrade!
Both IfranView and Pixvue allow you to document your images using ITPC Titles, etc. which are then embedded within the image file. I looked in more detail at what data they maintain and there is a brief discussion in the ReadMe for my ExifInfo software (see my 'My Software' page and the ReadMe). I now use Photoshop in preference because it is a bit more comprehensive, but IfranView and Pixvue have the advantage that they are free!
jEdit is a splendid text editor, but much more. Its written in Java, so it runs on most platforms. Dozens of macros and plugins are available. It does auto-indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages including HTML. I've used it to edit this HTML, and I use the jTidy plugin to check and tidy the result. jEdit is downloadable from www.jedit.org. It needs a Java runtime but that's easy to get.
Copernic Desktop Search is a great way to find that file you
know is somewhere on your hard disk. Its not unlike Google Desktop Search,
but I have to say that when I tried the Google version I wasn't impressed
(admittedly it was a while ago) and I felt it was somehow intrusive, and
so integrated that it got in the way.
Copernic beavers away in the background indexing those bits of your hard
disk that you choose to index and it does a good job of finding files,
emails, etc. on the proviso that they have been there long enough to get
indexed. All you normally see is a little search box in the taskbar, and
you either use this on its own, or use it to open the main application.
Copernic is available from
www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/.
JDiskReport is a good way to find out where all the space on your hard disk went! You select a disk or folder and it will analyse its files and sub-folders. Then it gives you a number of ways of looking at how much space is used and in which folders. JDiskReport is available from www.jgoodies.com.
Sysinternals Utilities are a bag of odds and ends available from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx or www.sysinternals.com as it was. It was independent of MS but has since been assimilated into the collective. Perhaps 'resistance is futile' but the utilities still have their uses! The one I use occassionally is 'Process Explorer' - its like Task Manager but with bells, whistles, and a full orchestra.
dafont.com (www.dafont.com) is a useful site if you want that special font for the wedding invitations but (like me) you don't want to spend money (did I mention that the sites on this page are FREE software, and that I'm a Yorkshireman). There are over 8000 fonts, though not all are free!
FontViewer (from www.ampsoft.net)
is what you need when you have installed the 300 fonts that came with
every piece of software under
the sun. To quote the bumph ...
"This program is an easy to use but powerful font manager, which allows
getting a quick overview of both installed and non installed fonts. It can
install and uninstall fonts, and organize them in categories."
SunGraph is a nice (and even useful) way of looking at sunrise and sunset times (and a lot more) around the world. Its found at www.analemma.com/SunGraph/index.html.
A useful module that provides File Selection facilities to be built into an MS Access 97 database can be obtained (as a 166kb mdb file) from www.fabalou.com/Access/Modules/file_open_dialog.asp. The site also includes other Access goodies.