HomeAnime/ComicMIDIInternetCreationE-mail OperaMozillaNetscapeMSIE
[Useful Softwares - Internet Corner] KYuHome.com | Kevin Yu's Hobbies Folder 2003.05.22

Useful Softwares

Posted on
Software Name
Comments
May 22, 2003
Miranda-IM 0.3 (Release Candidate) RC2
http://miranda-icq.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56675#56675

(catagory: internet)


Miranda-IM 0.2.1 Stable Release
http://miranda-icq.sourceforge.net/

Miranda-IM is a freeware all-in-one clone of the official ICQ, MSN, AIM, Jabber (and with plugins for Yahoo!, IRC, Netsend, EmLan, and Gadu Gadu and more). Miranda-IM provides basic features present in the official ICQ/MSN/AIM/Jabber/Y! (less the online-chatroom support except for AIM), and uses much less memory and resources than the official ones. With suitable plugins, skins and icons installed, Miranda-IM is a better alternative to the official ICQ/MSN/Jabber/AIM/Y!/IRC/etc. for users who have novice computer knowledge.

(Please refer to the FAQ and the How-to document.)

Miranda-IM 0.3 (Nightly Build) Alpha contains many useful features that are absent in release 0.2.1, and supports for many new plugins. Although the Nightly Build Alpha represents a software under development and may not be feature complete, Miranda-IM's nightly builds are proven to be stable on most systems. Thus, the 0.3 Nightly Builds are preferred over the older 0.2.1 Release.

- Icons recommended -
· Original Gangsta Icons 2.7 ·
· mugzLESS (ICQ-style) 0.3 ·
· High Color Mirabilis Style 1.0 ·
· Spiffy YAHOO by floink 0.2 ·

- Skins recommended -
· Ridges Gradient Backgrounds 1.01 ·
(Please refer to the README file for details on how to set up the Miranda-IM interface correctly.)

- Plugins recommended -
· AIM Protocol 1.0.7.4 needs miranda 0.3 · Away System 0.2.8.2 · Contacts 1.2.0.0 · Conversation Style Messaging 0.99.8.0 · History+ 2.1.1.0 · IRC Protocol · Jabber Protocol · Last Seen 4.1.6.2 · Modified MSN Protocol 0.1.4.10 · nConvers 0.99.9.79 (with nHistory) · NewEventNotify 0.0.4.0 · NewStatusNotify 1.1.1.8 · PopUp 1.0.1.9 · ToolTip Info 2.1.0.0 · Wassup 0.1.3.5 · Weather Protocol 0.2.3.5 · WhoIsReadingMyStatus 0.0.1.0 · Yahoo! Protocol 0.0.5.3 ·

Note that there are many more useful add-ons in the offical plugin page. And also, many of the above plugins are under development, thus more features and/or bug fixes are coming up occasionally. So, check them out regularly (with the Wassup plugin, or directly with the official plugin page). And also, some of the above plugins requires the newest release or the Nightly Builds in order to run.
May 17, 2003
Acrobat Reader 5.1
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html

(catagory: general)
Acrobat Reader is a freeware PDF (portable document format) reader. Able to preserve graphical and textual layouts under different computer platforms, PDF is used widely as a standard electronic document format in the internet world, especially for corporation documents.
May 17, 2003
Anvil Studio 2003.04.02
http://www.anvilstudio.com/

(catagory: music)
Anvil Studio is a freeware MIDI composer program that let the users to record, play, compose, and edit standard multi-track MIDI music files. A MIDI keyboard for PC and a good sound card is recommended.
May 17, 2003
CDex 1.50
http://www.cdex.n3.net/

(catagory: music)
CDex is a freeware music convertor that can rip soundtracks from a music CD into .mp3 or .wav format. It can read CD track information from local/remote CD-DB and/or from Windows CD Player. (Note that some Windows 2000 systems may have trouble running this software.)
May 17, 2003
Cygwin Setup 2.340.2.5
http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/

(catagory: developer tools)
Cygwin is a freeware for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000 (or Win32 in short). Cygwin is a UNIX-like API package including most of the GNU development tools and utilities found in standard UNIX systems. It is a very good software for those who wish to develop Win32 (console or GUI) applications using the included development tools and utilities, or those who wish to port UNIX programs to Win32 platforms without the need for extensive changes to the source codes. The free utilities included in Cygwin are useful to average users, too, especially those who are familiar with UNIX or Linux.
May 17, 2003
GSview 4.4
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/

(catagory: general)
GSview is a freeware graphical interface that work with AFPL Ghostscript 8.00 (also a freeware) to display and print PostScript and PDF documents. PostScript format is the page description language commonly used by laser printers. For more information, here is GSview Readme.
May 17, 2003
Mozilla 1.3.1
http://www.mozilla.org/

(catagory: internet)
Mozilla is a freeware internet browser. It has integrated email-client, newsgroup-client, and instant-messaging-client.

Mozilla is an open-source project, which produces a web browser that is standards-compliant, performance-oriented, and available for many major operating systems. The core rendering engine of Mozilla is a preview of the future of the Netscape internet browsers.

Constantly improving in performance and versatility, Mozilla is a good internet browser choice.
May 17, 2003
OpenOffice.org 1.0.3.1
http://www.openoffice.org/

(catagory: office)
OpenOffice.org is a freeware, open-source office suite which the upcoming Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 6.0 (and up) will be based upon.

Like the original StarOffice, OpenOffice.org supports many popular document formats, including those of Microsoft Office's.

An advantage of using OpenOffice.org (over StarOffice) is that it should have less bugs than StarOffice since the core-engine of OpenOffice.org should be newer than that of StarOffice's, usually. And best of all, it is free of charge, whereas StarOffice 6 will jump into the commercial bandwagon.

However, OpenOffice.org lacks a few useful features that will be included in StarOffice 6.0. Also, OpenOffice.org does not support those less popular document formats that will be supported by StarOffice 6.0.

Please read the FAQ for more details.

(Note: OpenOffice.org is a software under continual developments -- meaning that the software may not be feature complete, and there should be newer builds/updates available within months.)
May 17, 2003
Opera 7.11
http://www.opera.com/

(catagory: internet)
Opera 7 is an adware internet browser featuring speed, compact size, and accessibility. It has integrated email-client, newsgroup-client.

Opera 7 features a big leap in functionality over the older Opera 6 versions. With the rewritten webpage rendering engine, improved browsing functionalities and supports, and the innovative M2 mail/news client, Opera 7 is a very good alternative internet browser.

Please read the changelogs and the new features page for more details.

You can customize the look of Opera 7 using skins.
May 17, 2003
WinAMP 2.91
http://classic.winamp.com/

(catagory: music)
WinAMP 2 is a powerful freeware media player. (WinAMP now supports some video formats, too.) Featuring customizable skins, graphic equalizers, playlist supports, visualizations, plugin supports, internet CD-DB query... etc.

Although WinAMP 3 is out, but WinAMP 2 is still a recommendable classic media player for most users.
May 17, 2003
ZoneAlarm 3.7.143
http://www.zonelabs.com/

(catagory: internet)
ZoneLabs' ZoneAlarm is a freeware, easy-to-use internet security utility and firewall software that monitors internet and/or local network access to your computer and helps prevent unauthorized intrusions from the Net. (Commercial users can use the enhanced version of ZoneAlarm Pro which contains more features than the freeware version.)
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
January 24, 2003
IrfanView32 3.80
http://www.irfanview.com/

(catagory: graphics)
IrfanView32 is a freeware graphic viewer for home users (or shareware for commercial users). Compact in size and supporting many graphic/video formats, IrfanView32 can also handle simple manipulations to your pictures. With suitable plug-ins installed, IrfanView32 is a good alternative multimedia suite.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
November 9, 2002
HTML-Kit 1.0 build 292
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

(catagory: developer tools)
HTML-Kit 1.0 (build 292) is a very powerful freeware code-based, web page editor that provide many professional features to help web page and script authors to edit, format, validate and publish their web pages. Plug-ins are available to extend HTML-Kit with even more useful features.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
September 7, 2002
Crimson Editor V3.45 R2
http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

(catagory: developer tools)
Crimson Editor is a freeware code editor featuring syntax-highlighting supporting many computer languages. Also featuring macro recorder, bookmarks, auto-indention, natural word wrapping, spell checker, FTP remote editing, print and print preview, DOS-console command executions and output capturing, etc. Another very good feature is the built-in calculator that can perform many simple scientific calculations. Crimson Editor is a very good code editor for computer programmers. A good complementary editor to ConTEXT Editor.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
August 15, 2002
ConTEXT Editor 0.97.2
http://www.fixedsys.com/context/

(catagory: developer tools)
ConTEXT is a freeware code editor featuring keyword-colouring supporting many computer languages. Also featuring unicode support, project workspace, code templates, macro recorder, bookmarks, auto-indention, DOS-console command executions and output capturing, etc., ConTEXT is a powerful code editor for computer programmers. A good complementary editor to Crimson Editor.

(Note: Please refer to the archived version 0.96.3 below.)
August 15, 2002
ConTEXT Editor 0.96.3
http://www.kyuhome.com/KYHF/internet/archive/ConTEXTsetup_0963.zip

(catagory: developer tools)
Certain users (like me) have experienced bugs/problems with newer ConTEXT 0.97 versions. So I've temporarily put up a more stable version 0.96.3 here, in hope that those apparent bugs will be fixed soon.

This file is provided on as-is basis without warranty of any kind. Download and install at your own risk.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
August 2001
WS_FTP LE 5.08
http://www.ftpplanet.com/download.htm

(catagory: internet)
WS_FTP LE is a shareware FTP client (but it is free to educational users or non-commercial home users), featuring multiple file transfers and the auto re-get or resuming feature. The WS_FTP Pro is a more powerful shareware version with many advanced features.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
January 2001
Call Center 3.9.3
http://www.v3inc.com/

(catagory: communication)
V3 Inc's Call Center is a freeware multi-purpose communication software featuring phone, fax and voice-mail managements through your PC. Upgrading to Call Center Pro allows you to access the full abilities of the software at a price-tag.
January 2001
Electronic Cosmo's MPEG Suite
http://ec2000.xperiment.net/

(catagory: music)
Electronic Cosmo's MPEG Suite is a freeware MP3-Wave converter, featuring very fast MP3 encoding/decoding engines. (Release 1.5.5 supports 3 encoding engines, and up to 340 Kbit/s MP3 encoding.)
January 2001
Utopia Live!
http://www.utopiasd.com/

(catagory: music)
Utopia Live! is a commercial GS/GM MIDI soundfont designed specifically for Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Live! soundcards, replacing the not-so-good soundfonts that come with the Live! soundcards. Although I have not tried the soundfont myself, the demos show that the acoustics of UtopiaLive! to be very nice and balanced. This software is highly recommended to those who own a SBLive! soundcard, and love to listen to MIDI files or are musicians using MIDI.

Please note that the 32MB font requires your PC to have at least 64MB of RAM, more is better. Also note that Utopia Live! is, by far, availabled only through online purchase or by mail, I'm not sure about the risks involved.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
May 2000
MidiNotate
http://www.notation.com/

(catagory: music)
MidiNotate is a shareware MIDI-to-sheet converter that converts the data in a MIDI file into a printable score of music. It also allows simple MIDI track renderings.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
April 2000
First Page 2000 HTML Editor
http://www.evrsoft.com/

(catagory: developer tools)
First Page 2000 is a powerful freeware HTML editor that provides many professional features. Rated 5-cows by Tucows, it provides 3 customizable user-levels, ranging from easy, expert, to hardcore users.
April 2000
GetRight
http://www.getright.com/

(catagory: internet)
GetRight is a very good adware download utility that can monitor and organize file downloads from your Netscape/IE browsers, automatically continue half-way downloads upon dial-up reconnections, allow you to set up download schedules, etc. By purchasing, you can turn off the advertisement function.
April 2000
NetLaunch
http://www.blackcastlesoft.com/

(catagory: internet)
NetLaunch is a freeware dial-up networking utility that helps dial-up internet users to get connected to their ISPs quickly and easily. NetLaunch can be scheduled to connect/disconnect automatically at any time. It can be set up to launch any programs upon connection. It can also be set up to redial or reconnect automatically upon disconnection.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
Sept 1999
FinePrint
http://www.fineprint.com/

(catagory: general)
FinePrint is an extremely useful shareware printing utility that can shrinks multiple pages into one page, saving printing cost and paper. An environment-friendly goodie for your PC.
Sept 1999
ICQ
http://www.icq.com/

(catagory: internet)
ICQ is a famous freeware instant messaging application that makes online communication with friends and colleagues quick and easy.
Sept 1999
QuickTime Plug-in
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

(catagory: multimedia)
QuickTime is a free browser plugin that plays many multimedia formats. There is a built-in Roland GS MIDI wavetable-simulator that delivers better quality sounds to MIDIs under cheaper sound cards. MIDI sound quality is quite good.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Posted on
Software Name
Comments
Feb 1999
McAfee VirusScan
http://www.mcafee.com/

(catagory: general)
McAfee VirusScan is a famous shareware virus detecting utility that helps preventing virus attacks on your PC.
Feb 1999
Norton AntiVirus
http://www.symantec.com/nav/

(catagory: general)
NAV is another famous shareware virus detecting utility for your PC.
Feb 1999
Programmer's File Editor
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe/

(catagory: developer tools)
PFE is a highly customizable freeware file editor for Windows 3.1+ (16 bits) or Windows 95+ (32 bits) featuring C/C++ and TeX syntax indentations, macros, easy calls to other programs (e.g. compilers), DOS and UNIX file formats... etc. Explore yourself for other amusements.
· Back to Top of Page ·
Notice

This page contains only links to my choice of Windows software product (mostly shareware/freeware) websites. Complaints and bug reports should be made to the developers of the softwares. I hold no responsibilities to any damages and/or losses due to the usage(s) of any of these softwares. I have chosen these particular softwares because I found them "could-be-useful" (in my view).

If there are outdated links or information about these softwares, please inform me through email at kyhf@kyuhome.com

External links to software sites will be opened in new windows.

Copyright © 1999-2003 Kevin Kei-fun Yu · back to the top