DVD Shrink
www.dvdshrink.org
This app backs up part or all of a commercial DVD by running your Nero burning software automatically to copy the DVD directly to a new one in compressed form. Or, if you don't have Nero installed, you can save the compressed files to your hard drive, then manually burn them to a DVD using your own burning software. For legal reasons, the site has no download link, but it helps you find DVD Shrink on other sites. To the best of our knowledge, using the software isn't illegal, as long as you're backing up your own legally bought files.
Gallery 2
gallery.menalto.com
If you manage a Web site—be it a personal or community site, either on your own server or a hosted service—Gallery 2 is a great tool for organizing photos and integrating them into the site. Create and manage albums, upload photos, set permissions, and much more. (See our interview with Gallery's creator, below.)
GB-PVR
www.gbpvr.com
With GB-PVR you can schedule and play back recordings from almost any current video capture card or external video capture sources, but it works best with Hauppauge's popular hardware. It also records radio or Net radio and plays back DVDs. An elegant default skin and a set of default plug-ins give quick access to standard broadcast schedules, and a growing plug-in library lets you add weather and other special-interest sources.
www.gimp.org
It's not Photoshop, but GIMP is an amazingly powerful and efficient open-source bitmap-editing package that can look just as confusing as Photoshop if you open all its floating toolbars and sidebars. You'll need to get used to its nonstandard menus. If you make your living from graphics or photo editing, you'll probably go commercial, but GIMP gets the job done free.
Google SketchUp
sketchup.google.com
This 3D modeling tool matches what its developers call the "pencil" stage of designing—when you make quick, slightly rough-edged drawings of solid objects, complete with shadows but without the photorealism of commercial packages. This is the least intuitive of Google's software offerings, but it's easier to use than any rival 3D programs.
IrfanView
www.irfanview.com
IrfanView displays almost all standard bitmap image formats, is startlingly fast, and uses one-keystroke commands for the quickest-possible access to features such as saving in a different format or flipping upside-down images. You don't get WordPerfect Graphics (WPG) support, but everything else is there. Make this one your default image viewer.
Picasa 2.0
picasa.google.com
This photo-management tool from Google creates a library of the images on your computer (or on a particular drive), sorted by date. From Picasa you can edit images with a decent set of editing tools, send photos via Gmail, burn them to CD, or upload them to blogs, photo printing sites, or Picasa's own Web albums.
QuickTime Alternative and Real Alternative
www.codecguide.com
These apps let you play QuickTime or Real videos without Apple or Real's bloated, in-your-face proprietary players. While you're at the download site, get the up-to-date, extensive codec package and check the FAQs for advice on MPEG decoders and demuxers.
VLC media player
www.videolan.org
The recently upgraded VLC media player plays almost any multimedia file in almost any format, in a more compact and efficient interface than any commercial product. It can't handle Real Media and a few other proprietary formats, however. Even if you prefer Windows Media Player or QuickTime, keep this one handy for files that won't play in either of them.
Winamp
www.nullsoft.com
This is a classic alternative music player, free but owned by Time Warner. It's tiny and infinitely skinnable, but the reason you want it on your system even if you use iTunes is that it supports virtually every audio format (except for DRM-encrypted ones) via its enormous plug-in library.
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