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Best Free Windows 64-bit Software
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Best Free Windows 64-bit Software - Page Index
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 4. Multimedia |
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Multimedia applications are generally popular and interesting so it is no surprise that there are several excellent 64-bit products.
Best Free Windows 64-bit Media Player
Daum PotPlayer is "feature packed, easy to use and provides awesome video and audio quality. Some may call it KMPlayerRedux with more stability and versatility. … PotPlayer truly stands out for supporting a wide variety of formats and having extensive configuration settings. It includes a long list of built-in audio and video codecs that enable you to play almost any media format you can dream about. PotPlayer has a simple and sleek interface though not mind-blowing and has high quality playback. The player is light on system resources and has a very fast startup." (Best Free Media Player)
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema
MPC-HC, like its predecessor, Media Player Classic, "is an incredibly small program but has a vast feature set." … Under the hood, this program packs a lot of features, including codecs for viewing DVD discs, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG 4 and x.264 movie files, MP3 and Ogg files. It can also use the QuickTime and the RealPlayer architectures (if installed on the computer) to play their native files. To further extend its functionality while avoiding the installation of RealPlayer, WinAmp and Quicktime, you will have to download some codec packs.… MPC Home Cinema requires no installation on your PC. This means that it can be run from your USB flash drive as well as your hard drive. (Best Free Media Player)
For those who use Apple devices, iTunes has a 64-bit version.
"iTunes has become more prevalent on many PCs due to the almost universal reach of the iPod, but it also uses a lot of resources and is processor intensive." (Best Free Media Player, It also gets a dismissive mention in Best Free Music Player) I am less restrained when I say iTunes is a hog and a dog. Much of that bloat seems to arise from Apple's distrust of Windows which showed in the need to bring almost everything with iTunes except the kitchen sink.
On the positive side, if you are going to run 'bloatware' then you're much better off doing it on a 64-bit system. I happily admit to being a long-time user of iTunes. All my children use it and it works very well with the media player on my non-Apple cell phone. Over several years of use I've had no problems with it and I'm not exasperated by any of its much-maligned issues (e.g. I use Autoruns to stop the unneeded applications). This new version has improved slightly but you won't see it in the interface. First, it is 64-bit. Second, I no longer need QuickTime. Third, for the 32-bit version, the download and footprint are noticeably smaller.
Best Free Windows 64-bit Media Centre
"Maintaining your media library is simple joy with XBMC. Point to a folder containing your files, indicate what type of files there are (Movies, TV Shows, etc.) and XBMC does the rest. It scans all subfolders and files and downloads all relevant information (text, thumbnails, sounds, etc) from the Internet." On the other hand, it has some idiosyncracies. "Most annoying for me still is that you cannot freely pick a position in your media file by clicking on the progress bar while it is playing. Instead you have to type in a time position via the keyboard. Don't ask me why the simplest media player can do that but most of the Media Center Software cannot." (Best Free Media Centre)
Best Free Windows 64-bit Audio Editor
"As far as single track editing goes, there is very little that cannot be achieved with Audacity, and achieved easily and cleanly. As far as physical drive space goes, Audicity is a small installation, but an immensely powerful one. Really though, track editing is just the tip of the iceberg with this application: it's functionality for editing is balanced with it's equally powerful functionality for recording, and also applying effects and modifications to existing audio tracks." (Best Free Audio Editing Software)
Best Free Windows 64-bit Video Editor
"Avidemux is a free open-source program designed for multi-purpose video editing and processing … Avidemux lets you do just about everything under the sun. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs." Its main weakness may well be its dated interface. (Best Free Video Editor)
Best Free Windows 64-bit Music Creator
"LMMS is a free open source MIDI sequencer/composer for Windows and Linux. … I initially found it a little bewildering … but it's worth taking the time because the rewards are great. … As a stand alone application, one would be hard pressed to find a more comprehensively full featured and versatile free music creator than this. There are so many instruments and effects to choose from … YOU NEED TO TRY THIS SOFTWARE!" (Best Free Music Creation Software)
Best Free Windows 64-bit CD and DVD Burner
Christian Kindahl's InfraRecorder is a GUI for CDRTools. It "supports all of the common features that a good burning application should have, and it works with all types of CDs and DVDs including dual layer discs" but "It does not support Blu-Ray discs or HD-DVDs." "It even includes full command line support like CDBurnerXP. With InfraRecorder, you can burn and create images with support for bootable discs, author rewritable discs, and create audio CDs and video DVDs. The interface is clean and simple without a lot of extras to make things confused." (Best Free CD-DVD Burner)
InfraRecorder does not have some advanced options.and is not as helpful as ImgBurn: it does not give much assistance, important information is in the manual, dialogs and warnings are often cryptic, and the interface is inconsistent. For example, sometimes the instruction to insert a particular disk is in its own pop-up window but other times it will be in the title of the current one.
If you read other users' comments you will see that they either love it because it works flawlessly or hate it because it converts their disks into coasters. It seems likely that CDRTools has problems working with some burners which would explain why I had consistent problems on my test system . Even so, I still recommend that you try it out because it is native 64-bit and will probably work for you.
Imgburn "is the most powerful free burning, as no other software comes close to its advanced features and options." However, "ImgBurn's advanced features may confuse you if you just want to do a basic burn. The welcome menu provides quick access to some common tasks, but other basic features such as erasing a re-writable disc are not immediately visible." (Best Free CD-DVD Burner)
Ashampoo Burning Studio "is still simple and intuitive to use. For power, simplicity and file backup. … If you want a program that focuses on burning discs quickly and easily with quality and a minimum fuss then this could be the program may well suit your needs." (Best Free CD-DVD Burning Software)
I evaluated the free version but you can also install a much later version for a time-limited (30/40 day) trial. I recommend you do two things when installing Ashampoo Burning Studio. First, select "Custom installation" so you can uncheck the Ashampoo toolbar and search. Second, do not accept the upgrade offer when you run Ashampoo Burning Studio for the first time. The upgrade is for a time-limited trial of the latest version which has a large download of more than 300 MB. If you decide to uninstall it you may have to remove the free version also.
Best Free Windows 64-bit CD and DVD Emulator
"MagicDisc, also known as MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD-ROM … allows you to run many types of CD/DVD images without burning them onto CDs or DVDs. It also allows you to create CD/DVD images from CDs/DVDs and save them into various formats including ISO, BIN/CUE, NRG, UIF.This program with a simple interface supports up to 15 virtual disk drives. Other features are available such as compress ISO, NRG, CUE, MDS and CCD formats into UIF format, or decompress UIF format into ISO format. The feature for burning images to disks is not supported." (Best Free CD-DVD Emulation Software)
Gizmo-Drive is rated best in its class, Best Free CD-DVD Emulation Software.
Best Free Windows 64-bit CD and DVD Ripper
HandBrake is rated best of class as a DVD Ripper. It "has a relatively small file size for all the features that it offers. Despite the slow speeds it transcodes … the transcoded video is surprisingly good quality for the amount of time it takes to rip. However, if you have a graphics driver installed that supports Open GL, it will take a rather small fraction of time to transcode the content. Handbrake produces an MPEG-4 file which is compatible with a wide range of media players. Note that you’ll need to have the right codecs installed for the type of file you wish to convert". For many of us the most useful feature is the "preconfigured profiles for Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV. It also provides numerous video and audio parameter settings for advanced users to alter the file size and video quality accordingly." (Best Free DVD Ripper)
Handbrake's main deficiency is that it does not convert copy-protected DVDs. So it can rip some but not all DVDs.
There are instructions for using Imgburn as portable software.
Supported formats for mounting: ISO, GDRIVE, BIN/CUE, CCD, NRG, MDS/MDF, IMG, VHD.
Making PotPlayer Portable: Store the PotPlayer settings to a .ini file after extracting the installer using 7-zip. Right click on the interface->Preferences->General->Enable the option 'Store settings to .ini file'.
Do not use the update feature.
Additional software to enhance Media Player Classic can be found here:
1. FFDShow
2. Real Alternative
3. QuickTime Alternative
4. WinAmp Alternative
Supported formats for mounting: ISO, CUE/BIN, CCD, NRG, MDS/MDF, BWT, CDI, PDI, IMG, UIF, etc.
Windows 7 allows hardware video decoding.
Requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable which it installs.
"Windows Home Server and Windows Server are not supported but have been reported to work with some tweaks."
As recommended by the authors, DVD ripping works better if you first copy the DVD to disk.
There is a more fully-featured trial version 9.24.
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Comments
I only posted that fragbook because it explains various problems with discs and fragmentation very well in terms that more or less anybody can understand. Specific manuals tend to use too much specific terminology that hardly anybody not involved with them understands! :)
Since I started using SSD's, file and disc fragmentation on those machines have dropped off my list altogether, although they were once a fairly high priority for me at least. I just try to do the best I can with what I have, just a hobby now, I don't even need most of it anyway! :)
Thanks for the interesting input!
Obviously 'one size fits all' cannot be applied to PC use. To an extent this is more complex than the 'Travelling Salesmen' problem as it is intangible. NP Hard / NP Complete problems at least have boundaries that we can state. Not computable in non-polynomial time being the most obvious. As computer scientists we work to address these issues and take our thinking forward. It isn't helped by people coming into the field that don't even know the fastest way to perform a sort, sigh...
Offers on the best way...Ordinary quick sort doesn't get you any points.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Well, I'm not a computer scientist as such, just a fairly experienced engineer, and the last sorting algorithm I had anything much to do with was library sort ( it's an insertion sort, fairly new, and invented in 2005 I believe). New ways to sort are still being invented. I really don't know enough about the alternatives or applications thereof to make any sensible comment, I am most certainly not on the cutting edge of forward thinking here, and I don't know the fastest way to sort per se either, so it looks like I am not going to get any points this time! :)
The MTBF may have improved but it doesn't change the fact that the drive will die. I can live with a two minute boot time safe in the knowledge that the machine will boot. If I really want a fast boot I go into Ubuntu :)
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
So we have turned full circle (once again).
You seem to be saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Well I wouldn't quite say full circle :)
Defragmenting the hard drive(s) will have an impact on performance, especially after a hefty dose of maintenance, such as installing a Service Pack. Improving file layout can also make a big difference, this requires knowledge of the files you use most and where best to move them to. This isn't rocket science you just have to put in a bit of hard work ;)
Although not highly regarded, the Microsoft disk defragmentation tool deals with the Boot Plan generated by ReadyBoot (sic.) MyDefrag is the only freeware tool that does that. So, if you don't use MyDefrag, don't disable the Windows tool.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
We don't really give points here, but if we did you would get quite a few. You've been kind enough to stop by and read and further you've taken time to join in by posting. Finally what you don't say in your post says more than what you do. A rare gift in life indeed...
Thanks for your post.
Finally, if anyone does want the low down on the fastest sorting algorithm, contact me and I'll send it to you :)
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Double Commander, native 64 BIT Explorer alternative. Still in Beta, but looking good.
http://doublecmd.sourceforge.net/
All of the installation files for the latest beta, 0.4.5, are Linux related deb, rpm or tar files. No mention of Windows anywhere.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Thanx.
My personal decision is to use the MS one about once a month except in the circumstances you note.
All downloads here;
http://sourceforge.net/projects/doublecmd/files/
All deb, rpm, etc. I can't see any Windows installation files.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
PS. I have it running on several systems, Linux ( several distros), XP, and 7. Works great, no problems at all as yet. I am of course hoping that because it is in very active development that it gets even better, and am going to contribute if I can.
Would be a good idea for anybody else who wants a really good explorer alternative on 7 to contribute as well if they can.
I have no other connection with the project, I just think it's very good.
I still have no download for a 64 bit Windows binary.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
That is very odd indeed. I know you don't normally allow direct download links, but I can't think of anything else in this case, remove TEST to use the link.
TESThttp://sourceforge.net/projects/doublecmd/files/DC%20for%20Windows%2064%20bit/Double%20Commander%200.4.5%20beta/doublecmd-0.4.5.x86_64-win64.exe/download
I have had no trouble with any of these downloads.
You can also reach the download page at Sourceforge by clicking on the "Download" link in the header of the first link page I posted.
Sourceforge can be rather difficult to navigate in some cases, but I don't understand what is happening here.
The only other thing I can think of is to search "Double Commander" on Google etc. this will also bring up various links. like this one: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/Double-Commander.shtml ( I have not tried this download myself ).
Most sites carrying it and linking to it are in German.
Okay, thanks to all of those that have pointed me in the right direction, I got the download in the end.
I haven't had chance to try "Double Commander" out fully but one immediate 'no, no', is that the folder names appear in bold when it is launched. No doubt someone will post a tip telling me how to change this. That though rather misses the point. When first started the application should use the system defaults, Sergio UI for Vista and later. If I decide to use a different font, make it bold, purple, or whatever then that is my choice. Well respected guidelines for User Interface elements in Windows have been around for years. Why are people still not following them?
When these fundamental issues have been addressed and a final stable release produced I will take another look.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
rikmayell your WRONG about superantispy (SAS) it does so work with windows x64 = 64 bit ,Im running windows 7 ultimate x64 right now, and it works great.Maybe next time you should EXACTLY test a program before misleading people!
Moderator's Comment: While you are etitled to your opinion, you are not entitled to throw wild accusations at others on this site. Be nice or begone.
Please be respectful for the person, who has taken pains to prepare the wonderful article, so that people get help. There is nothing written in the article which is misleading.
It clearly says "The 64 bit version of SAS is currently undergoing beta testing. It is unclear if there will be a free version."
I don't know how do you take it as misleading. If you have to say a thing, you can say it in a nice way, even if you differ from his point of view.
Rik is correct. It is still a pre-release as of version 4.90 dated 10th February, not yet fully functional and not recommended for use on machines except for testing and feedback purposes.
Just read the article? It clearly states that 32 SAS works under Windows 7 / Vista 64, indeed it is top pick.
The 64 bit version of SAS has been under development for many months without a sign yet of a release date for the finished product. As, when, and if, a free 64 bit version of SAS is released it will be reviewed here.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Since Windows 7 64-bit does not seem to be quite ready for prime time, I wonder if it would not be helpful for many of us to be informed when new information is added to this page.
For instance something such as this appearing at the bottom:
"Better still, get XXX's latest Win.7 64-bit free software information delivered daily via your RSS feeder or alternatively, have the RSS feed sent as email direct to your in-box."
Any other thoughts?
Robert D. Jewell
We are currently reviewing the way the site works and making a large number of changes behind the scenes. The sort of 'notification' system you suggest is being actively considered. Personally, I concur with you, this has to be the way to go.
All I can say at present is watch this space.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
I'm using FF 3.5.7 on W7, when I select print preview I get 21 pages. Whilst I haven't tried printing them, if I scroll through the preview they are all there.
You put together many of the recommended applications i too find as excellent tools to help maintain the windows environment. There are several i would like to add.
Winpatrol
IOBit360
Advanced Systems Care
Spybot Search and Destroy.
Nice stuff, thanks.
randy
Moderator's Comment : Email address removed. Please do not post email address in comments, its not safe.
Nobody seems to have mentioned the limitation in using Avira on 64 bit. See
h**p://www.avira.com/en/support/kbdetails.php?id=231
which says:
* protection of AntiVir services is not activated;
* detection of active rootkits is not activated.
(due to lack of API from Microsoft)
The lack of rootkit protection seems a big limitation so I wonder if MS Security Essentials should not be the top choice. I may be biased but the only virus problem I've ever seen was a rootkit (due to AVG free not having rootkit protection).
I am using IrfanView and Adobe Digital Negativ (.dng) aand i just noticed that dng is not supported within Windows 7 x64. Or on the other hand, Adobe Dng does not support x64, which is a shame actually.
Now there seem to be free 64bit codecs for dng available from 3rd party providers (http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/). Has anyone tried one of those yet and is able to give a recommendation?
Great Thanx, mike
edit:
IrfanView does support .dng within Win7 x64. (it was just a bit tricky for me to find that)
Still there is a codec from Adobe(currently in beta/rc status) that adds windows explorer / gallery preview for .dng, which is currently not available for x64-systems. (That's the shame.) As i mentioned above there are alternatives.
So if someone tried any of these, please share your experience here.
A nice one to all, mike
Moderator's Comment : Commercial software link removed. Please do not mention commercial software on the site. We are about freeware only.
First- I apologize if this has been covered- I didn't really want to read through numerous pages about this excellent article to see if it has been touched upon.
My comment is for 2 reasons- 1 is that it may prevent newbies from pulling their hair out, and the other is to show that MS does NOT THINK when they put out a SW app.
The file I am writing in regards to is 'SyncToy'. On their page- they have two download options. 1 that has an 'x64' ending, and one that has an 'x86' ending. WTF? I understand the naming convention- but wouldn't that confuse the hell out of some people that did not know what the numbers denoted??
Just had to mention the silliness.
Yes I can understand how that might confuse some people and will add something near the start of the article highlighting the difference. Thanks for bringing up a valuable point.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Agreed. Does it mean 64 bit Windows or does it mean x64 as in AMD 64 bit processor or Itanimum (Intel) 64 bit processor?