some cool software

[shawn]

Well it's been a while since I've posted some finds I've made on free software but I've been using a few pieces lately that I find are good enough to share. Just type the program names into Google to find the homepages and download or to just get a more thorough description and some screenshots.

These first 2 slow things down. Most of us want our PC and programs as fast as possible but sometimes with these 2 pieces of software there are good reasons sometimes to slow things down.


Process Tamer

Freeware but you DO have to register it. This very small program uses virtually no resource but does a great job at slowing stuff down. It basically is set so when you have a program that uses whatever limit on cpu usage you set slow that program down automatically.
For examples I was using virtualdub to do some video editing and it was using 99% of the cpu time and this was going to take over an hour. Well since I had Process tamer set for 70% after 2 or 3 seconds it kicked in. I then started Firefox and did whatever till the editing was over and then Process Tamer kicked out and everything was back to normal.
You know sometimes when a flash video starts and not everyone but some like me have a totally unresponsive browser. Well now when flash starts I just can do whatever I want since it won't let flash even though it's in the browser overwhelm Firefox. Just right click on the icon in the taskbar and you can disable Process Tamer instantly.



Firefox Throttle

I just got this but I like it since I'm sharing a wireless connection and I don't want to be a bandwidth hog. This program lets you set the maximum upload or download speed you choose so if you decide to download some large file but don't want to use up all the bandwidth since you're in no hurry to get it done immediately this little Firefox Addon is what you need. You can disable it also with a couple of clicks if you want full speed back.



Gom Player

I used to use Zoom Player but the preferences got to be a pain in the ass. KM Player was great except it kept calling home for every single file I played.
I have now been using Gom Player for a couple of months and it's probably the best video player I've ever used. Built in support for a ton of formats including audio ones "I use AIMP2 for mp3's" and built in filters like deblocking, blur, etc which you can set yourself.



Q-Dir

This is a multi pane explorer replacement. You can open 2 or even 4 panes at once so you can transfer files with ease to multiple directories. It even has a favorites for the directories that you use the most a click away. Tons and tons of other features




This should be enough for now. If anyone has programs "not games, game related, or OS's" that make using Windows a much better experience. Just drop them here with a quick description.

 

[shawn]

Ok I wouldn't do this but I just got my ass saved big time.

If you use windows 2k, XP, or Vista then this little program Process Tamer "See my original post above" could help you out also.

Basically I fell asleep after putting Neverwinter Nights into pause mode. Well I woke up about a 1/2 hr ago and I noticed I left it open so I went to close it. Nothing, nothing at all happened when I tried. The program was not responding at all to mouse clicks or anything.

Well I hit ALT ESC and got to the desktop and brought up the Task Manager and saw that even though Neverwinter Nights wasn't responding it was taking up about 96% of cpu time.

Well the only reason I could do anything was because I had Process Tamer set for 65% so it would slow for just a slight moment Neverwinter Nights just long enough so other processes could run like normal but let it go right back to 96% right after so I could still play the game at full speed.

Well to get the game to save I had to get it out of the loop it was in which from past experience without Process Tamer meant no chance and basically killing the game I hadn't saved for a little while before I took a nap. Well on a hunch I clicked on the Firefox icon and then immediately clicked on Neverwinter Nights on the taskbar and brought the game up to fullscreen again while Firefox loaded. It worked.

When Firefox started to load which I knew would take a few seconds it slowed down Neverwinter Nights so I could save the game then normally exit without one problem at all. It didn't even act a little erratic with the mouse skipping, it was all smooth as there was never a problem. So now I know if a game starts to lock up because it's in some loop the Process Tamer will get me out of hot water.

I had recommended another one of these programs to control cpu usage so your computer wouldn't become unresponsive if another high intensity program was running but compared to Process Tamer they are all crap.

And again it is FREE, you just have to register twice. Once when you get it and then quickly just go back to their website when you get their email 6 months later and then you can use it for life or until you reformat.

If any of you have had a game do this to you then try out this program if you use 2k, XP or Vista. To me this program just means I don't have to worry about another lockup like this though there are others that it won't fix I don't have to worry about endless loops wear Kill Process is my ONLY option.

If anyone tries this an likes it post it here and let others know how great this piece of freeware works.

Just realized I never put a link to it, here you go and they have more freeware they programmed on the site. Yes this is an independent programmer site so check out the place.

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/