Subscribe to our freeware = unstable system
when will i ever learn. every year or so, I think to myself: this is a PC, it should make my life easier. so off i go to the shareware/freeware sites, and install a couple of applications.
then it begins. various windows features stop working, weird anomalies, and finally, system lockups. this is especially frustrating now, since my new LCD monitor shuts off and on with every hard reset, draining the life out of the CCFL's.
i've had it. i'm swearing off shareware/freeware. from this point forward i resolve never to install an app unless there is no other recourse. my second resolution is to finally make the long postponed jump to LINUX, and dual boot, using windows only for the occasional game, or website requiring MS IE. so it is written, so it shall be told.
how much is 2k?and where do u get it?or win7..win7 sounds good..
Even i faced a similar kind of problem a month ago and i was not able to resolve the issue my self but one of my friend told me about iYogi.net which provides technical support and i got it resolved by its technicians.
I have 2 desktops and 2 laptops. Two of th machines are Vista. I have never had a problem and use freeware when appropriate.
We have 4 PCS at our church, all running Vista with no problems.
If you buy a new PC with Vista you are not likely to have problems. Upgrading
older machines is a different story.
I have more problems with my XP boxes at home than the Vista boxes.
Are you sure about Vista? Even Microsoft has abandoned it, in favor of Windows 7. They're so embarrassed by Vista, they can't even speak the name - referring to it as Mojave.
Honestly though, if it's truly more stable than XP, I may make the switch in a year or so, just to see.
Not true. 7 is Vista Reloaded, it's the same kernel, Mojave is a Vista test, if testers knew they where using Vista, that wouldn't prove a thing, right ? Do your homework before posting !
My point is that they are abandoning the name, not the code, of this marketing disaster.
Should go to Linux Mint, much safer web browsing with Linux. None of that protection software that eats up all your CPU and memory!! I made the jump and am very happy with it. All I have is a Firewall. Like everything it is different, but given a short time you get use to it.
Actually, that's one of four I've been playing with, along with PCLinuxOS, MEPIS, and Ubuntu (yeah, me too). My motherboard needs an external driver for the drives to work (press F6 during windows install), so many distros won't work. PCLinuxOS was one of the few that did.
From what I hear, even a firewall is unnecessary, all downloaded software comes from repositories, and can be trusted - and the system itself locks out any unwanted intrusions. Go figure.
And what app(s) from this site buged your PC?
I was specifically looking for a firewall, explorer replacement, and video authoring software. A month or two ago I switched to Avast antivirus and was very happy with the performance. more recently, I tried several firewalls, comodo-free, OA-free, PCtools v5, and finally stuck with netveda. again, no complaints.
I must have tried at least six video converters, since none could handle a flash conversion. What I think finally did me in was the explorer replacement. Most of the explorer replacements didn't suit my needs, they didn't have features available in Windows Explorer. I tried QTTabBar. By nature, it gets into your system at a low level to integrate so seamlessly. but it was then that problems started. I tried to copy and paste photos from one folder to another. There were some duplicate filenames, and after previewing, I was locked out from either overwriting or deleting the files. I think it had something to do with the QTTabBar built-in previewer locking the file. I did an uninstall, but the problem has progressed to daily lockups.
Not to single out QTTabBar, or Gizmo's site, this seams to happen every time I get adventurous. It's sad that after 7 years of patches, WinXP can still be so unstable as to allow an errant app to take down the system. No matter, I was planning a re-install of windows, having just purchased a new hard drive.
Just to add my experience to the picture.
I use almost exclusively freeware (Free Software, Open Source,Freeware), recommended and carefully checked from sites like ours :)
Whenever I sort of stumble into an unknown piece of software, I check, if I can find a review, or even better several. If so, I give it a try. So far, I've only installed one software, a cd-burner, that put me on some spam list, so I lost one email address.
Of course, you have to master your GREED. Find out, what it is you need, then start looking for it on renowned sites (like ours) and get an idea, what is coming to your PC. Then decide for a download location and check, if it is safe! There are several extension (WOT, McAfee SiteAdvisor) that give you an estimate of the trustworthiness of the site you chose. If they warn you do not ignore the hint. Keep on looking for other places or find out, why there's a warning. Sometimes, there's an error. And check your downloads for malware! If you want to err, err on the safe side and keep your download for some weeks in a special folder and check regularly for viruses and the like. The longer you wait the less the chance you get caught by a new form of malware.
There is a whole bunch of reliable, dependable, high quality freeware out there, and I often wonder, who actually is still paying for software?
Well, sometimes I do. I use a commercial file manager which combines many, many functions in one program. And a very special program for structuring information (which also is available as 'cripple ware', a sort of freeware that's usually not worth bothering because its offering very limited functions only). Also I use Windows XP which came with my PC.
Using freeware is no longer a matter of a low budget. It is more often than not a matter of getting the best software available for the job you want to be done.And surely, a home PC can be completely equipped with freeware without curtailing your expectations in quality or usability.
WOT
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456
McAfee SiteAdvisor
http://www.siteadvisor.com/
--
always look on the bright sight of life...
Essential advice for all!
Lot's of times you have to install an app before knowing if it suits your needs. My experience with CD burner software: CDburnerXP would generate an error indicating that I don't have enough room on disk to burn 4294967296 MB ... even before selecting any files! (others have had this problem too). Deepburner wouldn't let me burn at slower speeds (I prefer DVD at 4x for greater reliability). Nero would crash when trying to burn an MP3 to audio CD. I could go on and on. I always start out cautious, but end up installing a half dozen apps instead of just one.
I think the problem is the Windows OS. It has become so convoluted that no one knows for sure how a program is going to act, especially when paired with other applications, all interacting in unexpected ways.
Also, the virus/malware threat is a little overblown. I've never had an infection. Virus scans would occasionally find a virus in "keygen.exe" but I would be suspicious of that file regardless.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear you've had success on your end.
QTTabBar uses .NetFramework which sucks a lot, still most people have it installed. It's in Vista by default and that means that Vista will never be stable. My XP is ROCK solid ...
...and my W2K install, definitely with NO dot.net allowed anywhere near it, is more solid than rock solid.
Man, I wish someone could buy W2K off of Micro$oft and rework it for modern use - new drivers etc. Easily the best OS ever made by anyone. RIP W2K.
Have to agree. Win2k is great and can still run most of the current or previous versions of the freeware recommended on this site. Have to say I think Win2k is very stable and easy to use and has served me well as my main and then my second computer for the past 8 years. Unfortunately it can no longer run some programs and so I had to buy XP pro for work.
I have also been trying the new Windows 7 beta these last few days and it seems really good. It was very easy to install and has some really nice touches that could speed up working on a PC. By the way Windows 7 runs fine on a single core Intel Atom based Mini-ITX. Even with Aero enabled, 1 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive this setup still only draws 41 watts max!
I think they should release only a home and a pro version (unlike Vista) and then maybe Win 7 could be the new Win2K!
I don't agree. Win XP is much more stable than win 2K. I realised this only after i started using XP. Many programs consumed much memory and processor power in win 2K. I do not worry about virus threats since I installed sandboxie. I have removed programs like spyware terminater or spybot or adAware, resulting in the increased performance. I use only one antivirus program Avast. I periodically delete the sandbox (Sometimes I have to use Unlocker or Icesword).
I would only like to say that do not install any unknown program on your computer; if you want to try it, install inside the sandbox.
Post new comment