Free Software and Useful Sites
This Section of our Website is dedicated to finding, reviewing and recommending Software (Programs, Widgets, etc.,) and Services which you may find useful and can be downloaded or utilised for FREE from the web.
We also provide links to specific websites which we have found to be useful and give a précis of the service the site provides.
We don't claim to be professional website designers, but we do make websites, inexpensively (Please check the 'Websites' link above).
Down to Business...
In order to download a program in the list, just click on the associated picture logo (it'll open in a new tab)...
Quick Tip: when you get to the download site, DON'T click on the first download button you see - just make sure that you find the correct link to download.
Use the links on the next line to go to the relevant Section...
IZARC Compress/Decompressor (Zip/Unzip)
(Download Size = 3.97Mb)
Before we start downloading goodies it's advisable to have a good "Unzipper" program, because many of the downloads you may care to make are in a compressed format (to enhance download time) and need to be unzipped before you can use them.
This program, unlike WinZip, is easy to use and I like the fact that you can specify the destination for the unzipped files
Scotty WinPatrol System Monitor
(Download Size = 1Mb)
This System Monitor can best be appreciated by visiting Bill's site... 
But I must say that this little fellow is very pro-active! A must for all users!
Quisple Desktop Music Finder and Player
(Download Size = 1.7Mb)
This Desktop feature allows you to search for music on YouTube by song title and play same without invoking the YouTube site in your browser. It requires you to Register with them before you can download - no big deal! Also there are currently a couple of things I personally don't like... 1. there is no way to stop the play once executed. 2. there is no minimise facility, so you have to have it active in your desktop the whole time or not at all. I'm in touch with the owners concerning these points and will give you feedback a.s.a.p. - Just heard from Pavel, who will look at exit "maybe bug" and incorporate a solution on the next release (July 2010). As to the minimise, it's a moot point on my part because the system was designed to use the 'x' option and 'restart' from the System Tray (fair enough!) - These Guys are on the ball!!
E-Sword - an amazing Bible Study Tool!
(Download Size = 30Mb)
The downloaded package includes many well known and less well known Bible versions, Commentaries, Graphics, Dictionaries (Strong's) and extras. A must for any serious student of the Bible.
GOOGLE DESKTOP - SIDEBAR
(Download Size = 576Kb)
- i.e. the initialising routine, which leads to a larger download, as you wish.
It's an attractive and useful addition to your desktop - many gadget features!
GOOGLE CHROME - INTERNET BROWSER
(Downloaded Size = ?)
Pretty Big - size is unobtainable because the "download" does an installation, as opposed to a straightforward download.
This Browser is the quickest and easiest I've ever used...
GIMP - Gnu Image Manipulation Program
(Download Size = 17.4Mb)
Don't be intimidated by the jargon on the site. This facility is the ultimate in free graphic manipulation programs. It has all the facilities you enjoy in MS Paint and Picture Manager and more...
I use it often to remove backgrounds from images; increase and decrease image sizes, with minimal picture quality loss...
It even has a mention in Wikipedia
Open Office Productivity Suite
(Download Size = 38Mb)
A multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an Open-Source project. This means that programmmers from all over the world contribute to this project free of charge. It has been on the go for more than 20 years, is stable and innovative.
Compatible with all other major office suites...
This Package is rather large and will bite into your Internet Cap, if you are unlucky enough to have one (it's the amount of data you can download each month), but is well worth it!
It includes programs for word-processing, spreadsheet, graphics, databases and more... it can handle files created in all major office systems. In addition they have a myriad of other goodies (extensions/add-ons and stand alone) which can be downloaded!
Spartan Multi-Clipboard
(Download Size = 3.8Mb)
Have you ever been copying, cutting and pasting in your editor, wishing that you could have better control over the clipboard to select the items you are processing? Here is the solution...
ColorPic
- supplies per pixel the colour in RGB and Hexadecimal code.
(Download Size = 579Kb (Zipped))
Ever tried using a color picker on a high resolution monitor? It's impossible. That's why this color picker has a magnifier attached. Grab palettes of up to 16 colors at once and use four advanced color mixers to select a spectrum of possibilities.
Sticky-Notes for desktop
(Download Size = 5.7Mb)
Need a place to put small amounts of data, 'longer term' than the clipboard? Here's the answer!
Easy Thumbnails
- creates thumbnail versions of images.
(Download Size = 1.0Mb Zipped)
Below are some of the websites I have come across which I have found useful.
BeeMP3
- lets you download songs to your mobile/cellphone.
I'll be honest and say that I've never tried the Cellphone download (you may well have to pay) and for Webmasters it provides html code to insert a playable link into a web or blog page. Certain, but not all tracks are downloadable to your hard-drive!
This section may also be of interest to non Web Developers!...
Notepad++
- is a probably the best html editor out there!
I use version 5.6.8., which has a download size of 3.2Mb, because I prefer it. The most recent Version as of July 2010, is 5.7. ...
Unlike WYSIWYG editors (such as Kompozer, below), Notepad++ does not fill your html page with extraneous guff and is truly CSS friendly!
(Download Size = 3.9Mb)
Very easy to use and a stable html editor. Also handles PHP ASP XML etc.,
KompoZer
- is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) html editor.
(Download Size = 6.8Mb)
Very easy to use and a stable html editor, which took over from Nvu in 2005
(Download Size = 41.69Mb)
Filezilla
Upload your web documents to your server with a very reliable FTP Client Server Utility.
Stat Counter
These guys (aussies) do a fine visitor tracking service for nothing! I use it to track the number of visitors I receive and where they are from (from my StatCounter Online Control Panel). Good analytical information is gleaned from a comprehensive personal Control Panel. One can also embed a visitor count in webpages - quite useful...
Grad Color
This site enables you to create colour graded images online for subsequent download, vertically or horizontally - especially useful when creating page backgrounds!
If you want to create an html background image (like the one on this page), I recommend that you dimension you vertical image, in the Grad Color Control Panel, to 5 x 550 pixels...
The .html code below will set your background image to the gradient you have created and downloaded, and should be placed in the head section of your html file.
Be sure to change my url to yours!...
Dynamic Drive
Generate Favicon Online and download
A Favicon is the small logo on the tab of your browser, representing a Company; Organisation; etc.,
To designate a favicon to a webpage, upload your generated favicon.ico file to your root source folder in your domain and include the following code in the
section:
Don't forget to insert your proper domain name!
Komodo 5.2
for Windows a multi-language editor.
(Download Size = 33.8Mb)
I use this facility to edit PHP files.
Read an online review
.xml file editor
(Download Size = 395Kb zipped = 972Kb unzipped)
High performance text editing and parsing of text files, aligning and indenting XML, print, print preview, e-mail sending, text encoding selection and conversion, Unicode character functions, and C++ code generation to see how to create or navigate your XML with CMarkup.
The Free Dictionary
I just found this facility, but have only used it here... Maybe you can use it?
Comm100
Open Source and Free Hosted Customer Service Software
I utilise their Online Chat Utility as a better alternative to Windows Live Messenger, which I found intimidated visitors because of the pre-requisite 'Windows Live Id.' requirement. They have recently (July 2010) launched a Desktop Control Panel version, which simplifies things somewhat...
This site offers free blog facilities
Some attractive templates available...
Word Artist
- a variety of Image Text Styles to liven up a page!
(Download Size = 572Kb)
DeKnop
is a graphics editor...
(Download Size = 1.13Mb)
Lets you create buttons for your website, without necessarily having any graphic design experience.
FotoSketcher
Turns photographs into 'Art'
(Download Size = 3.9Mb)
However, I've created a similar effect simply by opening a photograph in MSPaint and saving it as a .gif file. Example...
Please, help me to promote these free facilities by sharing this site with your friends
on FaceBook...
and Jim Ord 
