donald's favorites (332)

Universal USB Installer v2.0.2.0

Andrew Lee on 21 Oct 2023
  • 2MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 19 Oct 2023
  • Suggested by guinness

Universal USB Installer creates a "Live", or bootable Linux distribution without installation, on an external USB drive. A long list of distributions are available organized by the major groups including Ubuntu, Redhat and SuSE, as well as specialized distros for system management, rescue, security and more.

Category:
Runs on:Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Wine
Writes settings to: None
Stealth: ? Yes
License: Freeware/Open Source
How to extract: Download the EXE to a folder of your choice. Launch Universal-USB-Installer-X.X.X.X.exe.
Similar/alternative apps: YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer)
What's new? See: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/#Changelog
Latest comments
webfork on 2020-10-24 19:44

@JudyGarland: Have you tested on WinXP?  I ask because sometimes we list "system requirements / runs on" rather than "supported".  For example, a lot of tools here on the site were built before it came out, but we'll list Win10 if it's functional in testing.

JudyGarland on 2020-11-01 11:39

@webfork: I copy and paste from 'basic (system) requirements' section:
Windows Vista/7/8/10 or WINE to create the USB (Win 98/XP/2K WILL NOT Work!)
I'm able to 'run' it under XP though, but I have no idea if it actually 'works', either partially or totally.
Devs say it doesn't.

webfork on 2020-11-03 23:24

@JudyGarland: thanks for the additional detail. As usual, billon sorted it out.

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Tor Browser v13.0

Andrew Lee on 14 Oct 2023
  • 261MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 13 Oct 2023
  • Suggested by M@tty

Tor Browser enables secure, anonymous web access to help bypass various forms of censorship, region-blocking, and tracking. The program uses a modified version of the Firefox ESR browser with additional privacy and security features, including always-on access to an anonymous network and no usage history.

Components include the Vidalia Tor client and the NoScript and HTTPS Everywhere add-ons to enhance privacy. The program is the official browser bundle from the makers of Tor.

Functional in 64-bit. Cross-platform with clients available for Mac and Linux.

Category:
Runs on:Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11
Writes settings to: Application folder
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware/Open Source
How to extract:
  1. Download the installer, launch, and extract a folder of your choice
  2. Launch Start Tor Browser
  3. When prompted, uncheck the option to add items to your Desktop or Start Menu and then answer a few quick questions about your connection
Similar/alternative apps: Advanced Onion Router
What's new? See: https://blog.torproject.org/category/releases/
Latest comments
ronbo on 2015-06-16 13:40

Version 4.5.2 available.

smaragdus on 2015-09-05 03:36

I needed to connect to an onion site and downloaded the latest version (5.0.2) but Australis makes Tor Browser absolutely terrible and unusable- I do not want to install heaps of add-ons just to restore features the Mozilla idiots removed. I had an earlier version of Tor Browser (3.6.0- before the advent of the abominable Australis) but the perpetual blinking of the Tor button urging for update is unbearable and cannot be disabled. It can be removed from the tool-bar but this way one cannot acquire new identities.

rbon on 2018-09-22 16:46

Starting from version 8.0 Tor project builds both version of TorBrowser: 32 bit and 64 bit.
- TorBrowser page: https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html
- TorBrowser repository: https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/8.0.1/
So You can add on description the link for download 64 bit version 'torbrowser-install-win64-8.0.1_en-US.exe'

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FastStone Image Viewer v7.8

Ennovy on 29 Sep 2023
  • 20MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 28 Sep 2023
  • Suggested by Widya Santoso

FastStone Image Viewer is an image browser, viewer and converter that supports resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, watermarks, lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and more. It also includes a built-in slideshow with 60+ transitional effects. It supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO, TGA and several Camera RAWs.

The program includes metadata (EXIF) tools including the ability to pull up a map of where a given picture was taken by looking at GPS data.

Category:
Runs on:WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
Unicode support: Yes
License: Free for personal use
How to extract: Download the "portable" ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch FSViewer.exe.

Optionally, delete unnecessary language and help files.
Similar/alternative apps: IrfanView, XnView, Imagine
What's new? See: [https://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm#History
Latest comments
Midas on 2018-07-30 07:29

FYI, older versions still available, check forum topic.

g3ose on 2019-04-17 18:14

it is version 7.0 right now, is portable and free
great viewer, fast and lite. some good lossless transformations
use it as is, support is dead.
take care, thumbnail database is not big enough, optimisation of thumbnail database will clear most thumbs. resizing thumbnails will clear all database so using Tag section is completly useless. (tags are saved on thumbnail database)
Still one of top 3 in my image viewers.
it use SageThumbs https://sourceforge.net/projects/sagethumbs/
to manage .eps files

gcb43 on 2022-04-04 12:55

I fully agree with Miklo, having used FastStone for several years, I really like it: does everything I want almost intuitively.I still use version 6.4 . Tried to use the last version 7.6 but reversed to the previous one because in the last release there is a bug in the Multi-Page File Builder to created an Animated GIF (Alt+M):. the resulting GIF file shows only the first 2 loaded images then stops.

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USBDeview v3.07

Andrew Lee on 23 Sep 2023

USBDeview lists all USB devices plugged into your computer, both current and past. Information on devices includes name/description, type, serial number (for mass storage), the date/time that device was added, Vendor ID, Product ID etc. The program also allows you to disconnect currently connected USB devices as well as uninstall previously used USB devices.

The program will also allows you to execute a command from EXE/CMD/BAT file in every time that insert a USB device to your system, and USBDeview includes a read/write speed test for your USB flash drives.

Functional on remote computers, as long as you have an admin login to the destination machine.

Category:
Runs on:Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
License: Freeware
How to extract: Download the ZIP package and extract a folder of your choice. Launch USBDeview.exe.

Optionally, to show the vendor name and product name of your USB devices, download usb.ids to the same folder.
Similar/alternative apps: USB Oblivion
What's new?
  • Fixed issue: When copying data to the clipboard or exporting to tab-delimited file, every line contained an empty field in the end of the line.
  • Added 'Sort By' toolbar button.
Latest comments
Midas on 2015-12-11 21:32

@MIKLO: USB Oblivion (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=2287) does precisely what you mentioned...

MIKLO on 2017-05-25 14:30

@Midas thank you & I have used Oblivion before it is a very good App and works great, I do like better than USBDeview although it also is a very good App. Again that's @Midas for your help and info here and on many other Apps or Software on this site :)
MIKLO

Midas on 2017-05-26 10:25

Glad to be of help. :)

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DevManView v1.80

Andrew Lee on 11 Sep 2023
  • 150KB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 7 Sep 2023
  • Suggested by guinness

DevManView is an alternative to the standard Windows Device Manager. It displays all devices and their properties in a flat table, instead of a hierarchical treeview. In addition to displaying the devices of your local computer, DevManView also lets you view the device list of another computer on your network, as long as you have administrator access rights to that computer.

DevManView can also load the devices list from external instance of Windows and disable unwanted devices. This feature can be useful if you have trouble starting Windows on a particular machine and you need to disable a problematic device.

Category:
Runs on:Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware
How to extract: Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch DevManView.exe.
What's new?
  • Starting from this version, DevManView doesn't request to run as Administrator when your run it.
  • Added 'Run As Administrator' option (Ctrl+F11). You need to use this option if you want to disable/enable/uninstall devices or to view the install/connect/disconnect time.
  • Added /RunAsAdmin command-line option. For using with the disable/enable command-line options.
  • Added 'Black Background' option (Under the View menu). When it's turned on, the main table is displayed in black background and white text, instead of default system colors.
  • Updated to work properly in high DPI mode.
Latest comments
bro on 2013-11-01 19:17

I use this to enable/disable my touch screen on Windows 8.

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QuickWayToFolders v1.3.11

Andrew Lee on 8 Sep 2023
  • 2MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 4 Sep 2023
  • Suggested by crownixx

QuickWayToFolders provides quick and easy access to a folder on your computer via a taskbar icon. The program window disappears when you click outside the window. Display modes include:

  • Desktop: Act like a mini-desktop, with small icons
  • Small Browser: very similar to Windows explorer in "details" view
  • Menu: Display folder content in a menu
  • Multiple Folders Menu: Display multiple folders content in a single menu (note that you must manually add them or nothing will appear when you click the icon)
In the "Menu" and "Multiple Folders Menu" settings, the program can act like a Program Launcher. Multiple instances of the program can be run with customizable icons and each entry is added to the taskbar.

To use the program as a root folder of a portable folder choose Options - Local path, then use a forward slash: "\". To set an image as a background place it in the application folder and set path as "image name.jpg" etc.

Category:
Runs on:WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
Writes settings to: Application folder
Unicode support: No
Path portability: Requires manual entry of relative path (eg. ..\..\personal\work.doc)
License: GNU GPLv2
How to extract:
  1. Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice
  2. Launch QuickWayToFolders.exe
  3. Right-click the taskbar icon, select Options and uncheck "Launch at Windows Startup"
What's new?
  • Add support for multiple monitors
  • Handle mouse media buttons to browse forward and backward
  • Small GUI improvements and bugs solved
Latest comments
TP109 on 2016-03-21 12:48

@thehop

Thanks, those are interesting apps. I really find ShortPopUp especially useful.

smaragdus on 2016-03-21 21:28

@billon
Better trust the executable. Softpedia also corrected the version number:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/QuickWayToFolders.shtml

Midas on 2016-05-24 11:17

The version discrepancy should be noted -- the changelog at http://jacquelin.potier.free.fr/QuickWayToFolders/history.php stops at v1.3.4 ...

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HashMyFiles v2.44

Andrew Lee on 5 Aug 2023
  • 97KB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 1 Dec 2021
  • Suggested by infimum

HashMyFiles is a small utility that allows you to generate unique file identifiers (hashes) using a variety of popular checks. These can help determine if a file has been modified or corrupted, as well as help determine the file's reputation by submitting to the VirusTotal database for malware analysis.

Formats supported range form fast to secure with CRC32, MD5, SHA1/-256/-512/-384. The various hashing information can be saved to a report (text/HTML/XML/CSV/TSV) that includes name, path, dates, file size, version and other info.

Category:
Runs on:Win98 / WinME / WinNT / Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware
How to extract: Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch HashMyFiles.exe.
Similar/alternative apps: Hash, HashGenerator
What's new?
  • You can now send the hash data to stdout by specifying empty string as filename, for example:
    HashMyFiles.exe /File "C:\Temp\*.*" /scomma "" | more
Latest comments
Special on 2019-08-21 10:46

Blows my mind how stagnate NirSoft's programs become, HashMyFiles still doesn't have a way to "Delete files to Recycle Bin" or similar. And all his programs are still plagued with DPI/multi-monitor issues years after reporting about them.

billon on 2019-08-21 20:35

@__philippe:

Fix was about "Explorer context menu" which have absolutely nothing to do with TPFC, so I dared to omit such details

__philippe on 2019-08-22 05:25

@billon

Aha!…Light in the Midst of Darkness…! Ta !
That'll teach me the virtue of first double checking at the very source of any discontent…;-)

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Process Explorer v17.05

Ennovy on 26 Jul 2023
  • 4MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 26 Jul 2023
  • Suggested by Andrew Lee

Process Explorer is an advanced task manager. It is an indispensable tool for both beginners and power users. I use it all the time to kill tasks that refuse to be killed, or find what which processes are still holding on to a particular file or DLL so it refuses to be deleted.

Alternatively, Process Explorer Portable is also available, which is stealth.

Category:
Runs on:Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11
Writes settings to: Windows registry
Stealth: ? No
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware
How to extract:
  1. Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice
  2. Delete Eula.txt and procexp64a.exe
  3. Launch procexp.exe or procexp64.exe
Similar/alternative apps: Process Hacker
What's new? See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/#whats-new-rss-icon
Latest comments
Mike.S.G. on 2022-10-30 13:53

Bummer, the new dark theme doesn't work with Windows 8.1 :(

bawldiggle on 2023-02-25 23:02

Requires Chrome/Chromium browsers to access home page

Mench59 on 2024-02-13 11:10

Hello, could someone tell me what the differences are with Process Hacker?
Thank you !

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Auslogics Registry Defrag v14.0.0.3

Andrew Lee on 13 Jul 2023
  • 8MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 11 Jul 2023
  • Suggested by Andrew Lee

Auslogics Registry Defrag defragments and compacts the Windows Registry in less than a minute. It scans through the registry to remove slack spaces, reducing the registry size and ultimately the amount of RAM the registry takes up, improving drive performance.

Note: Speed benefits on a SSD-based (flash media) installation will be minimal.

Category:
Runs on:Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11
Writes settings to: Windows registry.
Stealth: ? No
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware
How to extract:
  1. Download the installer and use an extractor to put the contents in a folder of your choice
  2. The application files are located in the {app} subfolder
  3. Rename regdefrag,1.exe to regdefrag.exe and launch
What's new? See: https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/registry-defrag/ajax/history/
Latest comments
Pax on 2010-12-25 18:36

My only experience with a registry defragger left my system unable to boot (used backup registry to fix). I'm not writing this to take a cheap shot at the makers of this app but I think a better explanation is needed on their web pages. Most of the 'bullet-point' features sound like hype (reduce size, windows=faster, performance=faster).

Not sure what "remove slack spaces" and "Eliminates structural defects in the Registry" mean... Registry cleaners, disk defraggers, contiguous blocks of data, etc ... I understand. Registry compactors that fix structural defects... I don't understand.

lautrepay on 2012-07-18 02:48

The program is freeware again, but still not portable and won't run from external or network drives.

Emka on 2014-12-06 15:20

v8 available

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7-Zip Portable v23.01

Ennovy on 28 Jun 2023
  • 6MB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 27 Jun 2023
  • Suggested by Andrew Lee

7-Zip is an archive manager that can view and create a wide variety of formats. The program includes folder favorites, optional two-pane view, checksum calculator, file split/combine capability and more. Individual archives can be created with high speed or high compression settings, update options (including update, add/replace, synchronize), split volumes and more. Archives can be secured with standard zip or more secure AES encryption.

Although the official archiver for the open, high-compression "7z" format, the program also supports the creation of multiple formats including ZIP, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR and WIM. It will extract a long list of other formats, among them RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, RPM, VHD, VMDK etc. Even more formats are supported through third-party plugins. Supports many world languages.

Additionally, to use alternative toolbar and file icons, 7-Zip Theme Manager is available.

7-Zip Portable is a wrapper from PortableApps.com, auto-detecting 32 or 64-bit automatically. Alternatively, X-7zip is also available.

There is also a 7-Zip standalone console version.

Category:
Runs on:WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11 / Wine
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware/Open Source
How to extract: Download the self-extracting EXE and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch 7-ZipPortable.exe.
Similar/alternative apps: PeaZip, IZArc, BandiZip
What's new? See: https://7-zip.org/history.txt
Latest comments
AndTheWolf on 2019-02-01 14:58

PortableApps.com came out with v18.06 yesterday.

hamasaki on 2024-02-01 12:21

Not stealth, stores data at HKCU\Software\7Zip

freakazoid on 2024-02-02 21:52

@hamasaki - It's stealth to me. I don't see anything written to HKCU\Software\7Zip.

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