Free Software - Utilities
Reviews and ratings of quality, hand-picked, websites for Zip programs, PDF readers and Screen Capture utility, Streaming video software
Tugzip 
• www.tugzip.com
Why on earth would anyone want to pay around £20 for a zip program? This one is absolutely free and will extract and archive your files as quick as you like. Very easy to use. Excellent.
Supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BH, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, JAR, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1 and ZOO archives.
Supports BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and NRG disc-images.
Platform: Windows
Zipitfast!
• www.zipitfast.com
Zipitfast! is the second free zip program we have chosen to feature. It, too, will extract and archive your files. And it is also absolutely free. Personally I prefer the Tugzip environment but its all a matter of taste and you can change the skins on this program. Also very easy to use. ZipItFast! supports virtually all compression formats including Zip, Exe, Tar, Cab, gZip, Lha, Ace, Rar and over 20 additional formats.
Platform: Windows
7Zip File Manager
• www.7-zip.org
7Zip is an open source program that allows you to archive and extract files. It is also a file manager which means you can use it to copy move and delete files and folders.
Supported formats:
Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS.
Platform: Windows
Free Download Manager
• www.freedownloadmanager.org
Program Type: Download Manager
This program allows you to download video from sites such as You Tube and Google Video; it increases download speeds and it has an upload manager. The program is open source.
Platform: Windows
Foxit Reader
• www.foxitsoftware.com
If you do not have a pdf reader, we recommend Foxit Reader, a free pdf reader which runs on most Windows platforms and which is very fast. It runs instantly without any installation.
Adobe Reader 
• www.adobe.com
Alternatively you can download Adobe Reader, also free but rather slow and clunky, but which will run on Windows, Mac, Linux, Palm and mobiles.
Screen Hunter 5 Free 
• http://wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm
Program Type: Screen Capture
The makers, Wisdom Soft, offers 3 versions of Screen Hunter. The free version allows you to capture full screen, active window and rectancular area. It will also show the mouse pointer if you want it to.
Cam Studio
• http://camstudio.org
Program Type: Streaming Video Software
Free open source streaming video software that will enable you to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files. It also has a built-in SWF Producer that can turn the AVIs into streaming Flash videos (SWFs).
Use it to create video demos and tutorials or to record problems you might be having with your computer (for the tech support people who, lets face it, think the rest of us are complete idiots and don't believe a word we say!)
Wink
• www.debugmode.com/wink
Program Type: Tutorial & Presentation Creation
Allows you to create tutorials and presentations using screenshots.
Features:
Audio: Record voice as you create the tutorial for explaining better.
Input formats: Capture screenshots from your PC, or use images in BMP/JPG/PNG/TIFF/GIF formats.
Output formats: Macromedia Flash, Standalone EXE, PDF, PostScript, HTML or any of the above image formats. Use Flash/html for the web, EXE for distributing to PC users and PDF for printable manuals.
Multilingual support: Works in English, French, German, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Serbian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Simplified/Traditional Chinese.
Smart Capture Tools: Capture screenshots automatically as you use your PC, based on mouse and keyboard input
Performance/Quality: Creates highly compressed Flash presentations (few kbs to few hundreds of kbs, much smaller than competing commercial products) ideal for using on the web.
Platforms: Windows and various versions of Linux (x86 only).
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