Okay, I signed up specifically to reply to this post. Thanks a LOT
I now have 20 tabs of freeware to go browse...I don't even remember how I got here...blasted web
I started coding in BASIC years ago, moved to QuickBASIC when it was still pretty new, then PDS BASIC. Made a living with PDS for several years before switching to Delphi because VB was still very runtime-driven, limited and bloated. Coded in that for several more years and recently became a layoff statistic at HP where I coded in C/C++ on both the desktop and the Pocket PC platforms.
Okay, that's me, now here's my freeware list.
I'm listing only the best of my favorites. As I am a freeware JUNKIE, my "core" is around 400K installed. Criteria for selection are:
Must be free, with no registration numbers to enter because it's too much trouble when you switch machines as often as I.
Must be able to be executed without an installer (e.g., creates registry entries/settings/etc on first run if it doesn't find them). I keep my freeware toolbox on a USB pen type drive and execute files on different machines frequently.
Preferrably small EXE size for obvious, purest reasons 
Must actually serve a purpose and be something I use. As a freeware freak, this is a dicipline I have yet to master
#0 I have used ScreenShotCaptor (
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/M ... shotcaptor) for not only capturing but more importantly
annotating screen captures for going on two years. The program requires a free registration and nags once each load. As much as I dislike this kind of thing, it's proven to be a must have in the office, or whenever I need to help someone with a technical matter that needs a little visual aid.
#1 After months of surfing, downloading and experimenting about a year ago I picked Ted Notepad (
http://jsimlo.sk/notepad) as the best cross between small size, fast execution, usable UI, and nifty features for a Notepad replacement. I haven't regretted it since.
#2 System Information for Windows (
http://www.gtopala.com). I actually sent this guy money, which was optional (and I'm
cheap!) because it is so impressive. Provides extensive list of information about your Win32 desktop.
#3 Xteq Finder (
http://www.xteq.com) is a good but not over-complicated tool to help you find a file on your system (searches files for text, or wildcard filename, etc.).
#4 Although I've seen this site mentioned in prior posts to this thread, I haven't seen the BinText text search tool listed (
http://www.foundstone.com). It's pretty good.
#5 I don't use this one much, but it's so small I have to give it honorable mention: TheGUN (
Grown
Up
Notepad) editor (
http://www.movsd.com/thegun.htm). At about 6K uncompressed (written in pure Win32 assembler), this is a complete notepad clone that makes a good resource for your pen drives.
#6 LanSpy (
http://www.LanTricks.com) is a nice tool for verifying your own machine's security not to mention others on the network. And
#7 Sam Spade (
http://www.google.com) is a good all-around web tool with typical finger, tracer, whois, and other familiar Internet ditties. Note that it does have an external DLL so needs to be installed with an installer (boo!).
#8 RegScanner (
http://www.nirsoft.net) is the absolute
fastest registery search tool I've ever found. Run this and compare your CPU utilization to the same search performed with Windows' stock RegEdit tool, it'll make you scratch your head as you ponder that which is Microsoft.
#9 On the development front, InstallSpy (
http://www.mjleaver.com) is a good tool to see what your installer is doing, and
#A API Monitor (
http://www.rohitab.com/apimonitor/version.html) allows you to monitor just about any Win32 debugging event. It hasn't been updated in a while but still works.
#B AWIcons Lite (
http://www.awicons.com/awicons.html) is the freeware version of this most powerful icon editor. I have several freebies in this category but AWIcons is by far the snazziest.
#C AbstractSpoon (
http://www.abstractspoon.com) is probably better known for producing an extensive to-do list which has lived on
http://www.codeproject.com for a long time, but another likely lesser-known tool is CodePlotter (
http://www.codeproject.com/macro/codeplotter.asp), which allows you to document your code with text-based Visio-like diagrams such as the one below. You type your comments in a GUI app which renders the result to the clipboard, such as:
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//{{DIAGRAM_START
//
// .----. .----.
// |Me <------<Us |
// | | | |
// ·v---· ·^---·
// | |
// | |
// .v---. .^---.
// |You >------>Them|
// | | | |
// ·----· ·----·
//}}DIAGRAM_END
And from the author that brought you Yoda's Protector (
http://yodap.cjb.net) comes Zero Dump, which is a window spy type tool which lets you drag-and-drop to, say, enable a disabled button on a dialog. Sadly, I'm not seeing it on his site, maybe I'm missing it. You may have to Google this one up...
#E ProgFont (
http://keir.net/progfont.html) is a useful tool to fill in all the dirty do-do required to load a font in C/C++ with the Win32 API. Since it produces pure Win32 API code, it's an easy convert to most other languages if you're not coding in C/C++.
#F Lastly, for those who have been bantering about the
Opera browser (
http://www.opera.com), note that it is
no longer a
banner-sponsored app; it's now nag-free. I'm using it as I type this hideously lengthy freeware speil. I've finally found an IE browser alternative that suites me. It's highly customizable (a little bewilderingly so at first) and the Tabbed layout works great. In the 9 months I've been using it almost exclusively, it hasn't crashed on me once I don't think, and comparred to IE v6 at least, it does the same thing IE does in have the RAM.
Okay, I've exhausted my arsenal of hexidecimal digits (0-F), not to mention making my fingers a bit numb.
Mike
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