Free4Win - Free Windows software Blog

Blog discontinued

2009-06-26T16:05:00.001+02:00

From now on I will only post at http://basvandijk.eu please update your RSS and bookmarks.

Free mindmapping tool

2008-11-25T09:25:00.000+01:00

Xmind is a free mind mapping tool which can help you when writing out ideas, studying etc.

360 Desktop

2008-09-18T11:15:00.002+02:00

As 360 desktop wrote on their website:

360desktop transforms your desktop into a panoramic workspace - with more space for everything. Slide around your new workspace quickly and easily between all your open applications, windows and widgets - it'll spin you out.

Check out their demo movie.

New blog about webdevelopment

2008-06-09T11:51:00.002+02:00

I created a new blog called WEB404. This blog contains posts about topics related to webdesign, like: CSS, HTML and JavaScript. Feel free to have a look!

Defraggler - Free defragmentation tool

2008-04-22T16:47:00.003+02:00

The creators of CCleaner now released a defragmentation tool called Defraggler. This tool is different from other tools because you can select which files you want to defrag.

More screenshots

uTorrent - 214kb torrent client

2008-03-10T09:57:00.002+01:00

uTorrent is a free lightweight bittorent client which has features like:

Multiple simultaneous downloads
Configurable bandwidth scheduler
Global and per-torrent speed limiting
Quick-resumes interrupted transfers
RSS Downloader
Trackerless support (Mainline DHT)

Packer - Javascript obfuscator

2008-03-01T11:42:00.002+01:00

Do you hate poeple stealing your Javascript code from your websites? Packer is a free Javascript obfuscator which makes the source of Javascript completely unreadable.

Packer comes in an online and offline version.

Geekbench - Cross platform benchmarking

2008-02-27T10:48:00.003+01:00

Geekbench is a cross platform benchmarking tool with which you can compare the speed of your system.

Recova - Restore files for free

2008-02-26T19:28:00.004+01:00

From the Recova website:

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

More screenshots

jEdit - Programmers text editor

2008-02-23T19:36:00.002+01:00

jEdit is a texteditor like Notepad++ which runs on Mac OS, Windows and Linux. It had the ability to use plugins so you can add extra features. It also has auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.

More screenshots

VirtualBox - Free virtualisation

2008-02-22T16:17:00.002+01:00

VirtualBox is a free general-purpose full virtualiser for x86 hardware.

More screenshots

Free bandwidth meter - BWMeter

2008-02-19T15:12:00.003+01:00

DeskSoft BWMeter monitors your network traffic from and to your computer. A special feature of BWMeter is the ability to analyse packets.

More screenshots

TrueCrypt disk encryption

2008-02-19T15:09:00.002+01:00

With TrueCrypt you can encrypt a disk, partition or file. With the new version you also can encrypt your bootdisk! Ideal if you are always on the road an not want anyone to be able to boot your laptop.

More screenshots

Disk Redactor WIPE utility

2008-02-16T14:00:00.004+01:00

Do you have an old harddisk which you want to entirely erase? Disk Redactor WIPE utility makes sure all the data is gone!

Audacity free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor

2008-02-09T16:48:00.001+01:00

Audacity is a free audio editor which can be quite useful for record your sounds into wav or mp3. It contains a lot of effects and filters.

Mplayer for Windows

2008-01-14T14:26:00.000+01:00

Mplayer is a popular media player which I used in Linux. I figured out there is also a Windows version available here.

FeedDemon feed reader (RSS)

2008-01-14T14:19:00.000+01:00

FeedDemon is a free tool which allows you to manage your rss feeds. You can set a interval of news checking. The advantage of using a tool like this, is not have to visit all the sites over and over to check if there is new news.

StereoPhoto Maker (Anaglyph software)

2007-12-29T14:33:00.001+01:00

Do you have these red/blue or red/cyan paper glasses? With StereoPhoto Maker you can create your own anaglyphs. This software merges two pictures together. The only thing you need to do is make two pictures where you moved you cam just a few centimeters. More anaglyph links...

PGP4Win

2007-12-18T09:52:00.000+01:00

PGP (pretty good privacy) can be used to encrypt/decrypt e-mail messages or files. It uses a public/private key system. PGP4Win is a package which contains several PGP tools, including a plugin for Outlook.

Tip: make sure your e-mail layout is set to plain text!

two icons in the Outlook toolbar

CPU Wizard pc hardware info

2007-11-04T22:45:00.000+01:00

CPU Wizard lists all the hardware of your pc.

Scribus - Free DTP

2007-11-01T18:33:00.001+01:00

Scribus is a free open source DTP program. Commercial DTP applications are: Adobe Indesign and Quark.

RegMon - Windows regitry monitor

2007-10-30T17:22:00.000+01:00

Microsoft has a tool which is called RegMon. This tool monitors all reads and writes to the Windows registry. This can help you debugging an application which refuses to start or to see what keys a program reads from the registry.

Backup your Outlook accounts

2007-10-29T09:33:00.000+01:00

I was wondering if there was a nice way to backup my Outlook 2003 settings when reinstalling my computer. There is a tool which you can find through select:

Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard.

This wizard will save all your settings in a OPS file. On the target computer you also start the wizard and choose for restore settings.

BTW you .pst file is most likely stored in:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst

Process Explorer v11.03

2007-10-27T13:16:00.000+02:00

Microsoft has a tool called Process Explorer. This is a free task manager replacement tool. You can even set it up as your default task manager, so when pressing ctrl + alt + delete it pops up. One of the advantages above the traditional task manager is that it can immediately kill a process without hanging...

Free all-in-one codec package

2007-10-26T17:17:00.000+02:00

This website provides an all-in-one package for all kind of codecs. Including DivX, Xvid and OGG.

Speedfan - Temperature control

2007-10-25T09:07:00.000+02:00

Speedfan is a tool which reads all the temperature sensors on your hardware. It is also capable of adjusting the fan speed dynamicaly.

NTP Time servers

2007-10-24T17:27:00.001+02:00

Windows has the feature to sync the time with a time server. Unfortunately it did not seem to work with the default Windows server. This website has a list of timeservers. Just copy the address and past it as your Windows time server.

Pictomio - Free photo and video browser

2007-10-23T11:33:00.000+02:00

Picomio is a 3D image/video browser which has several nice features like: 3d carousel and EXIF editor.

XChat - free irc client

2007-10-22T11:05:00.000+02:00

XChat is a free irc chat tool which is available for Windows and Linux.

7-zip free archiver

2007-10-21T13:47:00.000+02:00

7-zip is a free archiver which can pack 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR and unpack RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS. With the packing in the 7z format you can have a gain of 150% compared to zip (see table on the bottom of the page).

Firebug - Website debugging

2007-10-20T11:35:00.001+02:00

Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

CCleaner - Cleans your pc

2007-10-19T13:54:00.000+02:00

CCleaner can clean all kinds of locations on your pc like the harddisk and registry. First it shows you a list in the form of a report. After this you can choose to actually wipe the items.

Free fast disk defragmenter tool

2007-10-18T09:24:00.000+02:00

Auslogics has a free tool called "Disk Defrag". This tool can defragment your harddisk and is multiple times faster than the Windows build in. It also shows the gain of the defragmentation in the end.

Thanks to Christian for sending me an email suggesting this tool

Outlook to iCal converter

2007-10-17T09:57:00.001+02:00

While Mozilla Thunderbird can import your mail from Outlook, Mozilla Sunbird or the Thunderbird plugin Lightning can not automatically do this for you. After trying to convert with .csv files I Googled a while and found Outlook2ical. This is a free Visual Basic program for Outlook. The instructions are very well described. Of course you can import your iCal files into any program supporting iCal.

Registry defragmenter/optimizer

2007-10-15T10:57:00.000+02:00

NTregopt is a Windows registry optimizer for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista and completely free. My brand new XP install was running for three days and already had a gain of 5%.

Online favicon creator

2007-10-14T14:25:00.000+02:00

I found an online favicon creator website. You upload an imagefile and receive your image as favicon back. A favicon is the tiny icon next to the web address in the browser.

DENIM - website layout prototyping

2007-10-13T10:19:00.000+02:00

The University of Washington has developed a tool called DENIM. This tool helps you in visualising a website layout. On the website you can find a movie which shows all the features. The nice thing about DENIM is the fact that you can (preferable with a tablet) can draw your website and make it interactive and clickable in front of your client.

Free website templates

2007-10-12T17:32:00.000+02:00

This website provides free website templates. You need to register because the links to the template are being mailed to you.

Some template examples:

NOEMATA random name generator

2007-10-11T14:18:00.000+02:00

You created this amazing program of website, but what about the name? The NOEMATA random name generator generates random names for you. Just click on the "generate name" button and you are done...

EasyRGB - Find colour harmonies

2007-10-11T11:53:00.000+02:00

You picked a nice color for you website, but which other colors match this one? The EasyRGB site helps you further. You provide one colour and EasyRGB gives you the matching colours.

Stored procedures in MySQL 5

2007-10-10T10:17:00.000+02:00

What are stored procedures and how can you use them? This website answers these questions. There is also a part two where they going deeper into the material.

Notepad++

2007-10-10T10:09:00.000+02:00

Notepad++ as they say on their website "a free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment" When I worked with this editor I forgot about notepad, notepad++ it is. On their website are some more screenshots.

IE development toolbar

2007-10-09T11:04:00.000+02:00

Microsoft provides the free IE dev toolbar. This toolbar makes 'debugging' a website a lot easier. It can help outlining tables and divs or measure the dimensions of components.

Screenshot

Cross browser RTE

2007-10-08T10:06:00.000+02:00

Looking for a RTE (Rich Text Editor)? This site provides a nice one, all free and as the licencse states: "this code is public domain. Redistribution and use of this code, with or without modification, is permitted."

Font tester

2007-10-08T10:04:00.000+02:00

Typetester let you compare multiple font types next to each other so you can pick the one you want.

Free cheatsheets for (almost) everything web related

2007-10-07T13:37:00.000+02:00

Do you also sometimes forget the syntax of a language and like to have a one page overview? Ilovjackdaniels.com has the solution: cheatsheets. You can download them in PDF and PNG format for:

More can be found here.

Example sheet about CSS

Free iconset

2007-10-07T13:22:00.000+02:00

Always useful free icons...

Listible: lists

2007-10-07T13:12:00.000+02:00

Listible as the name already states makes lists. These lists can be anything like Web 2.0, Ajax, CSS, PHP etc.

Mozilla Firefox IE tab extention

2007-10-06T14:12:00.000+02:00

When developing websites you often like to know how a website shown in FireFox and IE. This plugin starts IE inside a FireFox tab. Can also be very useful when opening a IE only website.

Fiddler http analyser

2007-10-06T14:09:00.000+02:00

Fiddler is a http debugger. This tool can be very useful when developing websites, especially AJAX enabled ones. You can exactly see how much and what kind of data passes the wire...

SyncToy v1.4

2007-10-05T17:09:00.000+02:00

Microsoft has a Powertoy which can be very useful when syncing folders. It is called SyncToy. With this tool you can define sets of folders which need to be synchronized. I personally use it to sync my documents with my backup external harddisk.

DAWN e-mail converter

2007-10-05T17:06:00.000+02:00

DAWN is very nifty tool which can convert e-mail from one e-mail client to another.

Free C# IDE

2007-10-04T19:15:00.000+02:00

SharpDevelop is a free open source IDE for C# applications.

Screenshot

Javascript scrambler

2007-10-04T19:11:00.000+02:00

If you worked hard on some Javascript it can be quite annoying when someone just download and copy your files. A tool called Packer can change this. Packer scrambles your Javascript in such a way it is unreadable but still exactly the same.

Online Code formatter

2007-10-04T17:48:00.000+02:00

Sometimes you download of get source code from someone which is not very well formatted. This website is able to format your PHP, Java, C++, C, Perl, JavaScript and CSS.

ArtRage 2

2007-10-04T17:26:00.000+02:00

Always wanted to be a painter? Here is your chance! With ArtRage provides you a tool where you actually can use paint digitally. It comes in two versions a free and commercial one.

Mp3 tagging tool

2007-10-01T18:53:00.000+02:00

Bored of renaming all the id3 tags from your mp3 collection? Mp3tag might be just the tool for you. Mp3tag is a free tool which can easily do batch jobs on mp3 files.

TeamViewer

2007-10-01T18:46:00.001+02:00

TeamViewer allows you to easily setup a remote desktop viewer. You start the program on two random computers and you can connect between them by using a pin code. The online video demonstrates how this works.

TrueCrypt

2007-10-01T18:42:00.000+02:00

TrueCrypt provides a free way to encrypt your data. It had several features like encrypting a partition or create disk in a file. The latter option creates an arbitrary file on your harddisk which can be mounted by ThueCrypt. While mounted the disk appears as a normal harddisk.

PortableApps.com

2007-10-01T17:14:00.001+02:00

If you have usb 2.0 memory stick (trust me I tried it on a USB 1.0 stick and it takes hours!) and want to take your apps with you while working on lots of places, this might be a solution. Portableapps.com offers you portable versions of common applications. The nice thing: for free! Once at a foreign pc you plug in your usb stick and a menu appers on the sytem tray. When you are done working you take the usb stick out and your work with you!

U3 launchpad removal tool

2007-10-01T17:09:00.000+02:00

When I just bought my new Sandisk Micro Cruzer (1GB), it turns out that there was some new feature enabled called U3. However there is a tool in order to remove the U3 software. You can download this here. Remember that this erase U3 permanently!

OpenSource alteratives for commercial software

2007-09-17T21:50:00.000+02:00

Below a list with commercial software followed by an open source alternative:

Photo editing	Adobe Photoshop	The Gimp
Vector drawing	Adobe Illustrator	Inkscape
3D modeling	3d Studio Max, Maya	Blender 3D
FTP, SSH	Bulletproof FTP	FileZilla
Word processor, spreadsheet	Microsoft Office	OpenOffice

Windows users can download their copy of Gimp for Windows here...

Synergy

2007-09-17T21:45:00.001+02:00

Synergy is a tool for which provided you a virtual mouse and keyboard. With this tool you can control multiple pc's with one mouse/keybord set. It doesn't matter if you are running MacOS, Linux or Windows. A nice feature is the fact that you can use copy/paste between the different machines.

Why you should avoid using tables for your webpage layout...

2007-07-11T22:08:00.000+02:00

This article describes in a nice way why you can better avoid using tables in a webpage...

Apple Safari for Windows

2007-06-26T13:13:00.000+02:00

Apple had realeased Safari for Winfows. First there was some trouble with it but now it seems Apple fixes it. Apple claims Safari is lots faster than IE or Firefox. I tested it and yes it is true...

VLC media player

2007-06-02T13:31:00.001+02:00

VLC player is a very nifty mediaplayer. This player can play Quicktime files (.mov) in fullscreen mode for free (in contrast to the Apple Quicktime player). Another nice thing is the subtitle feature. If you have for example mymovie.avi and you download your subtile srt file from a subtitle website (e.g. divxtitles.com). If the subtitle name matches the avi filename (mymovie.srt), VLC plays this subtitle automatically! Another nice thing: it is open source.

Create and burn ISOs for free

2007-05-31T23:10:00.000+02:00

ISO recorder v2 is a free tool which can create and burn an ISO. This tool integrates itself in Explorer and the only thing to do is right click on an ISO file and choose "burn". Creating an ISO is almost as easy: right click op your cd/dvd drive and choose "create ISO"...

Open Source alternatives

2007-05-29T09:13:00.001+02:00

Osalt.com shows you a list with their open source variant on commercial products. This website helps you to find you open source alternative easily.

Microsoft Photo Info 1.0

2007-02-21T11:18:00.000+01:00

Microsoft had developed a nifty tool tool for meta-data eding of pictures.

Notebook BatteryInfo

2007-02-04T11:26:00.000+01:00

Notebook BatteryInfo is a nifty tool which runs in your taskbar. This one displays your battery instantly.

Notebook BatteryInfo

ODF converter for Word

2007-02-04T11:24:00.000+01:00

This tool is a plugin for Word which provides you ODF (OpenDocument Format) support for opening and saving. In order to make this plugin work correctly you should also install the Microsoft Compatibility pack. This makes sure you can also handle the new Office 2007 format.

FileZilla free (S)FTP client

2007-01-31T13:54:00.000+01:00

FileZilla is a free FTP and SFTP client. Very useful if you didn't have one...

screenshot

ColorBlender

2007-01-13T14:10:00.000+01:00

This tool provides you an online color map generator it can generate random colors and if you want match these to Pantones. Very useful when building a website or other graphical stuff. Here is another one from Adobe.

Software for starving students

2007-01-02T20:15:00.000+01:00

As they say about themselves:

"Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized for students (but available to anyone). We've gathered a list of best-in-class programs onto one CD (one disc for OS X, one for Windows), including a fully-featured office suite, a cutting-edge web browser, multi-media packages, academic tools, utilities and more."

Multiple IE's installed for testing

2006-12-02T19:07:00.000+01:00

While developing websites or apps it can be very useful when you can run multiple versions of IE. This tool installs several versions of IE besides each other.

Blendercourse.com - Blender 3D tutorials

2006-11-02T10:30:00.000+01:00

BlenderCourse.com has several Blender 3D tutorials available in pdf format.

Opening RAW file in The Gimp for Windows

2006-10-09T11:36:00.000+02:00

After shooting some RAW pictures with my Canon, I really like to read these file in The Gimp. With UFRAW plugin The Gimp can open CR2 files (Canon's RAW format).

Portable USB stick applications

2006-10-03T14:40:00.000+02:00

This website provides lots of applications which can all be used on a USB stick...

BOUML

2006-10-03T14:39:00.000+02:00

BOUML is a free UML tool for Windows, Linux en Mac.

Free image viewer

2006-10-03T14:36:00.000+02:00

I always used gqview to view images. FastStone Image Viewer does exactly the same with some more...

Web IDE for Javascript

2006-09-03T20:41:00.000+02:00

Aptana is a Web IDE which can be used for HTML, CSS and JavaScript purposes. A nice thing is Aptana currently supports auto completion for your code.

Stitching photos to a panorama one

2006-08-12T13:02:00.000+02:00

As described on the website:

"Autostitch™ is the world's first fully automatic 2D image stitcher. Capable of stitching full view panoramas without any user input whatsoever, Autostitch is a breakthrough technology for panoramic photography, VR and visualisation applications. This is the first solution to stitch any panorama completely automatically, whether 1D (horizontal) or 2D (horizontal and vertical)."

Some examples

Amazing vector art

2006-08-12T12:57:00.000+02:00

Check the picture below. On first hand nothing weird just a picture of a model. But actually this is a vector image! Check out the website for more...

Free installer

2006-07-28T10:04:00.000+02:00

Inno Setup is free installer creator for Windows.

Online gradient tool

2006-07-28T10:02:00.000+02:00

Do you need a gradient image? On this website can create one online.

ArtWeaver

2006-07-28T09:45:00.000+02:00

The website of ArtWeaver says:

Artweaver is a simple Freeware program for creative painting, i.e. Artweaver offers you all artistic effects which you need for your work.

You can create sketches from photos and experiment with a wide range of brushes. The brush simulation is thereby so realistic as possible.

Backlink Analyser

2006-07-04T15:20:00.000+02:00

Always wanted to know who is linking to your website? Backlink Analyser provides an online tool which can search these sits...

Online TTF font creator

2006-07-04T15:12:00.000+02:00

You want your own font? No problem! This site has a online tool where you can make one and when finished, download it as a TTF file...

screenshot

Film-Quality 2D Vector animation

2006-06-27T10:48:00.000+02:00

With Synfig you can create your own vector animation movies. Some screenshots.

Open Source Flash IDE

2006-06-27T10:45:00.000+02:00

This is a project which describes itself as: "An Integrated Development Environment for producing Flash and Animated SVG files, similar to Macromedia Captivate. Licensed under the LGPL."

Currently is not functionally but it is a very promising project.

Open Source Blog

2006-06-27T10:43:00.000+02:00

I found a Open Source software blog specially the overview with multimedia software is quite interesting...

Powertoys

2006-06-16T17:08:00.000+02:00

Microsoft has a few Powertoys around for a while. Now it has a virual desktop manager. This gives you four extra desktops. This Powertoy can be downloaded here.

Versiontracker

2006-05-29T22:07:00.000+02:00

This site tracs the latest version of all software you can imagine. At least you now know if you are up to date.

Managed DirectX

2006-05-11T20:11:00.000+02:00

Below some links for DirectX in C#:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/zman/zmantextures2/
http://www.c-unit.com/tutorials/mdirectx/index.php

IE addons

2006-04-26T19:19:00.000+02:00

Just after Mozilla, Internet Explorer has a site where plugins can be downloaded...

Freeware PDF tools

2006-04-22T09:25:00.000+02:00

Snapfiles has a list with different free PDF tools. Might be useful...

Design patterns in C# and VB.NET

2006-04-22T09:16:00.000+02:00

I foud this site with information about different kinds of design patterns. The examples use C# and VB.NET as a reference.

W3schools Online Web Tutorials

2006-04-07T08:56:00.000+02:00

Some might already know this website but still it does not matter to name it again: W3schools. This website has several tutorials about the following subjects:

Learn HTML
Learn XHTML
Learn CSS
Learn XML
Learn XSL
Learn XSLT
Learn JavaScript
Learn HTML DOM
Learn DHTML
Learn SQL
Learn ASP
Learn ADO
Learn PHP
.NET Microsoft
.NET ASP
.NET Mobile

Dual monitor on two pc's

2006-04-04T20:36:00.000+02:00

So you want to use your laptop as a secondary montior? This tool can make it work...

Webmasterworld forum

2006-04-04T20:32:00.000+02:00

Webmasterworld is a large forum for webmasters with tips and tricks or where you can drop your questions.