Free sh-it edition

Some of my favorite and commonly used software that

A) Works
B) Is free

There are plenty more... and some will follow.

System Utilities

Anti-virus (free edition)
http://www.avast.com/

Disk Defrag

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag

CD/DVD Burning
http://infrarecorder.org/

Zip/Archive Utility
http://www.7-zip.org/

Entertainment

Media Player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Graphics
I am torn between

Paint.net
http://www.getpaint.net/

and

GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/

Virtualization
VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org/

Active Hard Disk Monitor

Active Hard Disk Monitor (http://www.ntfs.com/disk-monitor.htm) allows you access to view your hard drive information, scan for issues, and provides in-depth information about the health of the device.

Some screen shots:

About window

Various Tabs

Drive Gauge

Basic Icons

Test Results




Drive Information

The "scan disk" feature reads disk block information to analyze good/bad blocks. While the tools doesn't appear to have proactive monitoring capabilities in the freeware version, the monitoring available does provide a reactive tool that would provide some details as to what is going on "under the hood".

Teracopy - Making file copy movement easier

I recently downloaded the Teracopy application and have found this little utility to be a great add-on to the Windows Explorer shell. The context menus aid in copying or moving files from one location to another. May not sound like a big deal outside of what Windows Explorer is already able to perform, but the additional functionality of pausing the file movement is a great bonus.

As shown in the image above, the ability to 'skip' or 'pause' file movement comes in very handy.

Teracopy webpage LINK

Fuji FinePix S700

I am not a big fan of spending money on technology - at full retail. I just can't do it. The last camera purchase I made (this Fuji) was at a local discount retail outlet with a 'bullseye' for a logo. Between a couple of discount coupons, clearance pricing, and open-box-this-is-the-last-one pricing, I was able to pick this guy up for under 90.00 USD. i am still seeing this thing around for ~$200 USD.

I have purchased 2 digital cameras in my life - a Canon something-or-other point and shoot and this Fuji FinePix.

Now, the two cameras are not comparable. The Canon was a couple of years old but for the time, was full featured for a mid-to-low end point and shoot. But wow, this FinePix is extremely nice. More features than I thought I would really deal with - perhaps too many...?

Anyway, I recommend this camera if you are looking for something a little more than a basic point and shoot but not ready for the (D)SLR jump.

Pros:

• Fast shutter speed (for me)
• Auto mode takes care of you (for the most part)
• Ease of use with one hand (for me, again)
• LCD or eye view for display

Cons:

• Flash is built in
• USB connection is not USB "B"...yet another USB cable to worry about
• I have to show all files (including system files) in order to see the media when connected to my Windows XP - I will be trying this on my Ubuntu machine later