Ironworks Gaming Forum - Freeware experts please help!

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I've decided to try and free my system of unlicenced software - and because I don't have thousands of $$$, must resort to freeware. Here's some of the things I'm trying:

Pop3 Email: Pegasus - Other people I know use this and it seems pretty good.

Office Applications - OpenOffice - I've downloaded and installed it but have no real idea how good it is.

I'd like to know if anyone has good and tried free alternatives for:

*Anti Virus, System protection etc... (such as Norton, McAfee etc)

*System management, tweaking, enhancing (such as Systemworks)

*Faxing via modem

*CD burning and converting (write/rewrite/ripping/converting audio formats)

*Multitrack Audio applications - recording, mixing, mastering, looping etc (I hate some of the 'dinky' free ones I've tried) - I have legal copies of some of these but they're getting old...

*Webpage editing and publishing

Thanks - I know this is a lot but if anyone can recomend anything it'd be much apreciated... Also if you use another application that's good that does something I haven't mentioned I'd like to hear it. Cheers! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Edit: I'm running Windows 98SE - my sound card is not compatable after this and it's legal ;)

[ 08-31-2002, 01:45 AM: Message edited by: Leonis ]

You can search www.download.com for hoards of free/share/adwares. Be aware though, most good freewares are in fact adwares. I think it's the case with pegasus too.
One way to get over this is to install ad-aware, a simple to use program that spots and deletes ad-programs. The only problem being that some adwares simply download the ad everytime you connect to internet with it (some email programs) or simply stop working if the nasty files are not found.

I prefered Eudora over Pegasus, for reasons i don't remember now [img]smile.gif[/img] . It's an evil adware though, so now i'm back to Fisherprice's My First Email: Outlook.
The free version of Eudora has a advertisement windows which cuts precious space. The registered version still includes the adware... Otherwise, i liked it.

I don't know much about openoffice, and nothing at all about it's windows version. On linux, it's OK for basic word processing, but it does not have macros and many thingies you might be used to.

Multitrack audio: i generally hop from one trialware to another when i want to record myself (which does not happen often). I agree that audio freewares kinda suck, but that might be related to my ISA Soundblaster 16 (10 years old and she still has all her teeth).

Free and good antivirus? Is there such a thing??

Faxing via modem: doesn't an app comes with win 98?

InoculateIT Personal Edition from CA used to be a good free antivirus, better than any of the "big" ones...unfortunately, that's stopped running now, so there's no more updates...

What I use now is AVG Antivirus...if u google that phrase the first page should be the one...try it

Thanks! Actually Pegasus isn't adware: here's a nice antedote to BillGatesean world domination:

Quote:

The History of Pegasus Mail

By the standards of the ever-changing Internet, Pegasus Mail has a long history: it sent its first message in December 1989, and has been made available as a free service to the Internet since February 1990. The Windows version of Pegasus Mail first appeared in 1993. In the time since its initial release, Pegasus Mail has sent billions of messages for millions of people. It dates from the time when the Internet was a community rather than just a highway -- when people helped each other without worrying too much about who was going to pay for it.

My name is David Harris -- I'm the person who develops both Pegasus Mail and Mercury, its companion server product. There is no anonymous corporation behind the program, and the same pair of hands that wrote the first version in 1989 is still writing it in 2001. People regularly ask me why I originally wrote Pegasus Mail, and why I still make it available for free: if you've got a moment, I'll try to give you a little background.

In 1989, the University where I worked (in Dunedin, New Zealand) installed its first Novell NetWare network. It wasn't until after we installed it that we found that it didn't include an e-mail system, but we'd already used up our budget and the commercial mail packages that were available were very expensive. To fill the gap, I wrote a simple e-mail program in my own time and made it available on the network: I was quite surprised to find that people liked it.

Early in 1990, after tidying it up a little, I made it available on the Internet at a friend's FTP site in Hawaii, expecting that four or five other sites might find a use for it... In the first week of availability, it was downloaded more than 100 times, which also surprised me. I found that I was receiving mail from people thanking me for giving them something they couldn't have afforded any other way -- communication. I grew to understand that communication had to be regarded as a right, not as a privilege: it seemed to me in 1989, as it still seems to me now, that freedom of speech is useless if nobody can hear you. Giving away Pegasus Mail seemed to be a means by which I could try to make communication more accessible to a much wider range of people who needed it.

From that time, I began a curious double existence, working at the University by day, and working on Pegasus Mail at night, refining and tuning it to add the things people were asking for. With each release of the program, usage grew, until by 1993, the demands it was placing on my time were so great that I had to make a choice between my safe University job and going out full-time to support Pegasus Mail. Leaving the University gave me what I needed most -- time -- but took away what I needed to survive -- my salary. This put me in an awkward situation: the ideals that had motivated me to make the program available in the first place were still just as valid as ever, but I also had to eat. I hit upon the idea of making the manuals available for sale as an option to support the development of the program. This allowed the software to remain free, and the addition of extensive online help ensured that the program remained useful even without the manuals: so, the larder was stocked without compromising the ideals. To this day, my only source of income remains the sale of manuals for Pegasus Mail.

Since 1990, the world has changed: the Internet has become more or less a commodity, and people's expectations of software have altered enormously. I've worked hard to try to keep up with the expectations of my user base and to keep offering a program that fits all their needs. I enjoy making Pegasus Mail available on these terms, knowing that it helps people: your support is a key component of making this all happen, whether it's by purchasing manuals, or by showing the program to people who might benefit from using it, or simply by enjoying the fruits of my labour. With your support and backing, I look forward to being able to offer Pegasus Mail in the future for as long as the ideals it represents are still relevant.

Cheers!

-- David Harris --
Author, Pegasus Mail
Dunedin, July 2002.
David.Harris@pmail.gen.nz

My inlaws were put onto it in 1994 by their computer fixer/geek dude who was already heavily into it all. He bought the manual too! Don't know why I've never used it on my own gear before as it's unintrusive and stable...Working well for me now - Much better than the Misercough LookOut!

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