Several Great Freeware Applications February 1st, 2008
After realizing just how many freeware applications I use and essentially could not live without, the decision was made to create a list of the freeware I use as well as a short review of each one.
VLC (Video LAN Client)
VLC is my video player of choice. Mostly because it will play almost any video or audio file I can find, but also because it is a small install and is fairly efficient in terms of memory usage. It's a great alternative to using several players (Windows Media player, Quicktime, and even (shudder) Real player) and has most of the functionality of these players, if not more. One of the severe disadvantages to this software is the interface. It's difficult to figure out what to do to get a video playing. In short, it's a great flexible player with a difficult to use interface.
Rating: 7/10:
7-Zip Extracting/Compressing Software
Ever come across a file that is only available in .rar or .tar? 7-zip is another great freeware application that provides a range of unpacking capability as well as the ability to compress files. One of the nice things about this software is that it interfaces very well with the operating system(Available for Windows or Linux). Any file that you want to extract or compress, simply right click, scroll to 7-zip, and a list of commands are available. This is certainly a must-have software for anyone who does a lot of file transfers or downloads. One disadvantage is the compression ratio, as there are other softwares which can compress files significantly more than this software can. However, it is a great tool overall.
Rating: 9/10:
Rocketdock and Stardock
Rocketdock official site || Stardock official site
I've always been a big fan of the dock on Apple platforms, so when I came across stardock(and later, rocketdock) I was ecstatic. I like the layout of rocket dock much more, so it is the one I am going to focus on here. Not only does it allow you to have shortcuts in the dock, you can also choose to minimize windows to it, as well as have it display the triangle below active applications just like in Apple OSX. I have yet to have any serious issues with this software, but some windows programs don't work the greatest with it(such as AIM). My issue with stardock lies with the difficulty in getting the software without all sorts of extra other software, and the confusion involved in obtaining the software through their website.
RocketDock Rating: 9/10 :
Copyright © Kyle Diedrick and Graphics Unplugged 2008, All Rights Reserved
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