Filed under: Blogging, Microsoft, Freeware, Lists
6 Microsoft freebies I actually love to use
1. Windows Live Writer - If you don't blog, Live Writer probably isn't that useful to you. If you do, though, it's hard to find a Windows application that can compete with WLW. It's got loads of great features including plugin support so I can add things like Twitter integration.
2. SysInternals - There are so many useful apps under the SysInternals umbrella - Autoruns, Process Explorer, Desktops, RegMon - the list goes on and on. There's also live.sysinternals.com to provide easy access to them all when I forget my usb flash drive. Awesome.
3. Windows Live Sync - At work and at home, I like to sync folders to my network attached storage to keep my data safe. Live Sync does a great job and the web interface is easy to use. I also use it as a DIY Weave for my Google Chrome profiles.
4. Skydrive - 25GB of free, online storage? Sounds good to me. No, I don't use SkyDrive to share anything I don't want Microsoft knowing about, but it's a handy place to stash things I need to download (or tell customers to download) frequently in one central location.
5. Security Essentials - The newest addition to my list. After about a week with SE, it's well suited to the way my wife and I use our computers. We're careful about where we browse and what we download (the first step in not getting infected), so I'm not looking for a full-blown internet security app. Coupled with Windows' built-in firewall, SE provides a good level of protection and doesn't hog my CPU or RAM. (linked to Softpedia, where you can still download the beta).
6. Windows 7 RC - Since I'll soon be supporting Microsoft's newest OS for retail customers and some of you seem to like reading about it as well, I've been running Windows 7 since last year. A free Windows OS until some time in 2010? Yeah, I'm alright with that.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
playstation_1987 said 1:02PM on 7-01-2009
that is a good list of programs. I want to add in that Microsoft sync toy is a nice simple program for syncing files to other drives and Windows Defender for Windows XP (standard on vista and windows 7).
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Mauricio said 1:09PM on 7-01-2009
You need to try Live Mesh, can be a good replacement/complement to Live Sync and SkyDrive
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Jon said 12:36PM on 7-01-2009
I love the Windows Live Photo Gallery .. It has a great interface and uploads to Flickr in a snap .. wish it would upload my videos though
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hmm said 12:51PM on 7-01-2009
trueSpace(www.caligari.com) ..Right up there with Blender
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socialreject1111 said 1:19PM on 7-01-2009
Microsoft Photo Story 3; it makes amazing slideshows. I just wish they would update it; it's getting a bit old.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
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Kenn.keeper said 1:49PM on 7-01-2009
Free is Good.....
Kenn.....
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Hector said 2:11PM on 7-01-2009
I'm starting to use Live Sync to keep things in order between my Desktop and my netbook, awesome piece of software.
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Dan said 3:25PM on 7-01-2009
I'd remove both Windows Live applications and pop in SyncToy and MyPhone. SyncToy is one of the lesser-known free apps that does a great job at syncing files across folders/drives/mapped locations. And MyPhone can backup some/all contents of your smartphone to a webspace for easy viewing/restore.
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minibar said 3:25PM on 7-01-2009
my understanding is installing security essentials uninstalls defender and both cannot be installed simultaneously.
i find the ( skydrive - mesh - live sync ) product matrix intriguing though i get the impression it's still a moving target.
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Dave Forster said 3:51PM on 7-01-2009
Scrub Security Essentials for me... i uninstalled after a week because it sometimes made my system crawl... went back to avg.
- Live Mesh (www.mesh.com)
- Synctoy 2.0 for keeping my NDS flashcart... erm synced!
- XML Notepad
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thebobman said 12:39AM on 7-02-2009
Microsoft Image Composite Editor - Super-Pano-Stitcher built using the Photosynth engine, take a pile of photos and stitch them into a new-age-Quicktime-VR (Microsoft calls it HDViewer) with gigapixel resolution.
Windows XP Powertoys - TweakUI, ClearType Control Panel, Enhanced Task-switcher, and more. All are fantastic extensions for Windows
SQL Express 2005 - I've long since last track of the number of businesses I know that use this *STILL* free version of MSSQL
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paul..benkis said 12:02PM on 7-02-2009
You forgot Movie Maker, quick edits for free, and its more or less stupid proof.
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Frank said 3:11PM on 7-02-2009
+1 for SyncToy 2
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moby said 2:55AM on 7-07-2009
WLW has come a long way since its inception. It is much better about not cluttering up HTML code (even though sometimes still messy). It is easy on the eyes, fast, and has decent auto-detect features. The add-in list is small but has a decent selection of useful plug-ins.
I prefer synctoy over livesync, just as a preference.
Win7 is all the things Vista should have been. If you run on laptops, it definitely increases battery life!
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CDN Crockett said 8:54AM on 7-08-2009
XBL Silver acct.
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