Sunday, February 19, 2006
New Freeware Utilities
I have added some new freeware utilites to my collection. The requirements for inclusion are that they are standalone, preferably portable-freeware.
File mangement tools
File mangement tools
- Xplorer2 lite - this can serve as a replacement for windows explorer. It has two panes that can be used for file sychronization comparisons (F9) This is the major feature for me. It can do byte for byte comparisons, useful for DVD-R backups that fail to see what the culprit files are. You'll have to get used to ingoring most of the buttons which are only available in the paid version.
- SyncBack is s used to back-up, restore, and synchronise files and directories, whether they be on a local drive, a network drive, an FTP server, a ZIP archive, or on removable media. You can carry out a 'Simulated Run' that will produce a report of what will be done. This takes more effort to set up that Xplorer2 lite. However for repeated operations, it is quite useful. This is another product that is a lite version of a commercial product.
- CCleaner - a PC optimization tool that removes unused and temporary files from your system. Deals with both IE and Firefox. Useful uninstaller to avoid the long startup for Add/Remove Control Panel feature. Shows statup apps. Has an analyze (this can take quite a while) and issues mode (registry setting inconcistencies) to see what it will do before cleaning things up. Although this does not qualify as a portable tool, it is still very nifty
- Empty Temp Folders not nearly as robust as the one above, but is partable. Cleans temp folders, recycle bin, clipboard, etc. that. Has additional EmpRunner program that can run periodically.
- 7-Zip - not as good a WinZip, but hey, its freeware and is a decent replacement with a friendly GUI that support 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR. It can also uncompress RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM and DEB
- IZArc is another archiver that is not as good as WinZip, but I like it better than 7-Zip. It supports a whole lot more formats, and as long as I have to used something other than WinZip, this has the extra functionality to makeit worthwhile. It has an explorer build into to select files and used with explorer, can do some simple drap and drop.
- Eraser is a file-shredder program. This is not the most intuitive user interface, but it has an explorer built into it that can be used to drag and drop to the other Outlook style section (only one can be visible at a time). You may be better off using exploere to do the drag and drop. Nevertheless, it is a security tool that can be useful to completely remove (sensitive) data from the hard drive by overwriting it several times with selected patterns.It alos has an Explorer shell extension and integrated scheduler to program overwriting of unused disk space.
- Filezilla I have been using SmartFTP for years and have finally gotten fed up enough with its progressively more restrictive licensing and nagging that I am biting the bullet to try another product. This one gets good reviews and after rejecting it 3 years ago, I think it has come far enough to give it another go.
# posted by xltd @ 2/19/2006 07:47:00 PM 
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