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Free Resources

Trellian Web Page:

A full-featured HTML web page editor that’s capable of handling a single page or an entire site. This is freeware from the foks at Trellian Software. It loads quick so I use it to format HTML snippets that are headed for existing web sites or blogs.

NVU HTML Editor:

Full-featured open-source, WYSIWYG editor with plenty of features. I use Trellian because it loads faster, but for an overall free editor, NVU is hard to beat.

FileZilla FTP Program:

Fast, reliable, freeware FTP program. Handles file and directory properties, creating new directories, deleting files and directories and all modes of file transfer. I use FileZilla daily. The only thing I wish they would add is an option to view a web page or edit its html from within the right-click menu. Small inconvenience considering FileZilla’s speed and reliability.

Programmer’s File Editor:

Very reliable, extremely fast, text editor with a ton of features. It can handle very large text files, gracefully handle the wrong file types (like jpg, gif, exe, com) without crashing, handles multiple files, maintains a MRU (most recently used) list, has full search & replace and a bunch of other nifty features. I like it because it is small, fast and reliable. It’s much more stable than notepad.exe handling large files. The best part is, it works great with windows Vista and it is free. It’s written by some pretty sharp coder in the UK. It doesn’t get updated much, but, when you make something that works, “why fix it”?

Mozilla FireFox:

Now here’s a browser that’s worth taking for a test drive. It’s a little trickier than Internet Explorer until you get used to it. (That takes about 5 minutes.) After that, you’ll wonder why Micro$oft can’t make programs like this. Firefox has tabbed browsing, good bookmark handling, and pretty good security. It also has a vibrant “add-ons” community making some of the coolest plug-ins and add-ons you could ask for. You could easily spend an evening just reading about the extras. Do yourself a favor and give this browser a spin.

NotePad Plus Editor:

Straight from the NotePadPlus web site:

• Notepad++ is a free (free as in “free speech”, but also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement, which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment.
• This project, based on the Scintilla edit component (a very powerful editor component), written in C++ with pure win32 api and STL (that ensures the higher execution speed and smaller size of the program), is under the GPL Licence.

FRHED - Free Hex Editor:

This is an outstanding, stable and very capable hex editor.  It loads quickly and can handle very large files with ease.  Here’s a list of its features:

• Open Source! Distributed under GNU General Public License
• Native 32 bit Windows(tm) application: long filenames supported, editable file size limited only by available system memory.
• Small program size (ca. 100K), loads fast.
• Cut, copy & paste binary values.
• Syntax for describing byte, word, longword, float and double binary values in text form to use with find and paste functions.
• Directly enter hexadecimal values or text in main window (overwrite or insert).
• Compare files.
• Find/Replace any combination of text and binary values.
• Bit manipulation.
• Export as hexdump to file or clipboard.
• Automatically adjust bytes displayed per hexdump line to window width, or set bytes per line manually.
• Choose font size, character set (ANSI or OEM), colors of text and background.
• Intel or Motorola binary format.
• Can be used as “Send to”-Target.
• Set bookmarks to easily access offsets in the file.
• Load files partially.
• Drag and Drop.
• Apply binary templates for structured information.
• Hard disk sector read access.
• Cryptography support.
• C++ source code is included (written using Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0, does not use MFC).
• No registration fee required.

The only thing I wish they would have provided was a way to cut and paste between files. That would be a convenience when trying to fix corrupted database files.

IRFanView:

IRFanView is a freeware graphics viewer that is loaded with convenient features! This is a must-have if you don’t own a commercial graphics package.

Here’s a partial list of features: 

• Many supported file formats
• Multi language support
• Thumbnail/preview
• Paint option - to draw lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc
• Toolbar skins option
• Slideshow (save slideshow as EXE/SCR or burn it to CD)
• Show EXIF / IPTC / Comment text in Slideshow/Fullscreen etc
• Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters
• Fast directory view (moving through directory)
• Batch conversion (with image processing)
• Print option
• Change color depth
• Scan (batch scan) support
• Cut/crop
• Effects (Sharpen, Blur, Adobe 8BF, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited, etc.)
• Capturing, Extract icons from EXE / DLL / ICLs
• Lossless JPG rotation
• Only one EXE-File, no DLLs
• No Shareware messages like “I Agree” or “Evaluation expired”
• No registry changes without user permission!

CleverRuler:

Clever Ruler  is a tool that makes measuring screen objects easy!  It loads fast (I’ve got it on my launch bar) and is compatible with Windows XP and Vista (and possibly other Windows versions.) Although there’s a free and paid version, I’ve never needed anything but the free version.  The ruler can be easily moved around the screen and its always on top of all objects on the screen.  The ruler can be used to measure horizontal or vertical dimensions.  Its overall length, opacity and color can be changed.  A paid version offers the ability to switch units of measure, and offers a few other niceties.  Clever Ruler is a solid, easy-to-use tool that you should add to your tool box.  Google it or download it from cNet here.  The web site listed on the “about” page appears dead, so I wouldn’t count on any support.  (I’ve been using it for 16 months with no problems.)

ColorSchemer.com:

“ColorSchemer” is an online tool that allows you to pick a primary color and will then generate a 16-color matching palette showing the actual colors, hex color notation and RGB values.

It also has “Lighten Scheme” and “Darken Scheme” buttons that change the entire palette one color at a time.

The online version is free and there is also a commercial version with a color wheel that looks like it makes color selection a lot less frustrating.  Check it out at ColorSchemer.com

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Paid Resources:

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