Found Software

PC | Mac

The web is loaded with tons of free software! The Media Center staff is constatly searching the web for hot new tools to make your life and your computer run smoother.

PC Software

In the world of Windows you are bombarded with so many software programs utilities and games. Here I have created a list of must have software for your computer to keep your PC running smoothly, make it more productive and perhaps it will make all of your wishes come true.

Image Manpulation

Gimp
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It is a powerful piece of software with capabilities not found in any other free software product. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert-quality photo-retouching program, an online batch-processing system, a mass production image renderer, or an image-format converter. GIMP is modular, expandable, and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image-manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

http://www.download.com/The-GIMP/3000-2192_4-10073935.html?tag=img

XnView
XnView is a fast multi-format graphics browser, viewer, and converter. It can read more than 400 file formats, e.g. gif, bmp, jpeg, png, targa, multipage tiff, camera RAW, jpeg 2000, mpeg, Avi, Quicktime. EXIF & IPTC metadata are also supported. The image viewer has an Explorer-like browser that allows quick and simple browsing of directory contents. XnView supports red eye correction, crops and transforms JPG images losslessly, generates HTML pages and contact sheets, and provides batch conversion and batch renaming. Slide shows with transitions effects, screen capturing, WIA & TWAIN support (scanner & digital cameras), image comparison, file operations, and more can be performed easily with this universal graphics tool.

http://www.download.com/XnView/3000-2192_4-10414429.html?tag=pop

Media Players

VCL Media Player
VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and OGG, as well as for DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It also can be used as a server for unicast or multicast streams in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

http://www.download.com/VLC-Media-Player/3000-2194_4-10267151.html?tag=txt

Browsers

Seriously, for all you IE (you know the blue e you call the internet) users out there, it’s time to change! This will save you and IT support a lot of problems and hassle. It is very secure, blocks pop-ups and if you are daring, it can be fully customized and personalized to do more than browsing the Internet. IE 7 was recently released, but guess what? Much of its functions were taken from Firefox, but it still has many security flaws. There is Opera 9 as an alterative too, which is just as good, if not better than Firefox. Cost: Free

Mozilla Firefox

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Alternative: Opera9

http://www.opera.com/

Anti-Virus

AVG Free
I’m sure you’ve all probably have heard of Norton or McAfee but have you heard of AVG? AVG is an anti-virus and anti-spyware program that is actually rated more powerful than the paid programs, so why pay for it when you can get it free. It includes scanners and updates whenever it is needed.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Word Prosessing

Open Office
Need word processor, spreadsheets, or presentation software? Don’t want to shell out the cash for Microsoft Office? Well Open Office is your answer! It’s fully backward compatible with Microsoft office and has everything you’ll need that MS Office has to offer plus a drawing tool too! Did I mention that this is free to use? With no strings attached!

http://www.openoffice.org/

Other

Konfabulator / Yahoo Widgets
Jealous of Mac users with those cool widgets that displays informative, fun and sometimes useless information on screen? Well envy no more! Yahoo widget is the tool for you. Install this on your PC and you too can have all the widgets you want that will tell you the weather, time, virtual stickies, and much more!

http://widgets.yahoo.com/

Google Products
Google is becoming the Anti-Microsoft company; they are coming up with tons of great software at no cost! They have everything from E-mail, Calendar, and online word processor to Maps, 3D drawing programs and Google Earth. Check them out!

http://www.google.com/intl/en/options

Cute PDF Writer
Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world. CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents - with just a push of a button!

http://www.download.com/CutePDF-Writer/3000-6675_4-10206470.html?tag=txt

Mac Software

Mac Software (Free!)

iAlertU

This is a fun little software application for the new owners of the Macbook and Macbook Pros. This is like a car alarm for your laptop computer. It uses the mouse, keyboard, and motion sensors on your Mac to set the alarm off for any unsuspecting thief! (But don’t rely on it as a main antitheft device!)
Download from: http://www.slappingturtle.com/home/

HandBrake

There are probably a lot of you who owns the iPod video now, but did you know that you don’t have to buy movies from the iTune stores? You can take those favorite DVDs of yours and put them into your iPod with Handbrake!
Download from: http://handbrake.m0k.org/

Virtue Desktop

Here’s some fun and useful software. Virtue Desktop gives you as much free desktop space as you need. If you do a lot of full screen window work, this will make your work even more productive. Each desktop you create can be organized however you please. You can use one for checking email, one for web surfing only and one for word processing. What make it so fun is the transitions they have between desktop to desktop, you’ll have to download to check it out!
Download from: http://virtuedesktops.info/

Quicksilver

Quicksilver is a very unique and useful tool. It allows you to quickly type in the application you want to open without clicking though all the windows and scrolling though the Application folder, just simply open Quicksilver, type in the software and hit return. Of course it does so much more than that though, for a quick overview watch this Youtube clip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5cnTxnDtEY
Download from: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

Cyberduck

Need an FTP client? This one is a simple yet powerful FTP. It has all the functions you need to do uploads or downloads to a server. It is also very well integrated to the Mac OS X for full compatibility
http://cyberduck.ch/

iClip lite

iClip is a very useful copy and pasting utility. Think of it as a multiple, controllable clipboard! The lite version works as a widget, but it’s free!
http://inventive.us/iCliplite/

Carbon Copy Cloner

Everyone needs to backup there system, even Mac machines has its bad day. Carbon Copy Cloner allows the user to make exact copy of their drive onto an external backup drive. So if anything is to happen to you computer, you can always return back to its original state before the chaos began. Just remember to backup!
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Transmission or Azureus

A Mac dedicated Bittorrent Utility. Alternatively there is Azureus. Both are great torrent utility but performance wise Transmission is better, while functionality Azureus wins. If you don’t know what Bittorrent is, you should ask a friend who does J

Download Transmission here: http://transmission.m0k.org/

Download Azureus here: http://azureus.sourceforge.net/

GIMP

Can’t afford the hefty tag on Adobe Photoshop but need a powerful photo editing software? Well look no further! GIMP is an open source software (which means FREE!) that will allow you to have most of the Photoshop functionality. A bit of warning though, you do need some patience and some technical skills to install this software, but once you do you’ll have a powerful editing software!

http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

Widgets for your Mac!

Hotspot Locator
If you travel a lot and need Internet access, try using this before your travels so you know where all the hot spots are!

http://www.jiwire.com/osx-tiger-dashboard-widget.htm

Mirror
Can’t find a mirror but have your Mac in front of you? Click on your Widget button! This widget turns your Mac into a Mirror! … well its actually the camera but you get the idea.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/webcams/mirror.html

Widget Games

Sudoku
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/sudokuwidget.html