Best Freeware on the Web

[bandit]

I wish you could use Yahoo with trillian. Yahoo is very adamant about keeping third party clients out

...

Crimson Editor -- The best Windows style text editor there is, and it's completely free (unfortunately not open source). It's better than TextPad (which isn't really free anyway).

If Yahoo! prevents Trillian users from using it..just download the new patch. Cerulean Studios are usually quick with a patch for Yahoo. I got Trillian Pro as well, but mine is cracked =). Not worth paying $25 a year. I just like the little message pop up when someone signs on.

[kabuki]

Crimson Editor -- The best Windows style text editor there is, and it's completely free (unfortunately not open source). It's better than TextPad (which isn't really free anyway).

I'll have to check this out, thanks.

[arjue]

RoughDraft - incredibly practical word processor aimed towards writing scripts, novels and poems. Its awesome.

[Jeremy]

I'll second the RoughDraft mention, as I used it a couple of years ago, and found it to work wonderfully. It's a very user-friendly program.

[K3V]

OpenOffice - OpenOffice.org 1.1 gives you everything you'd expect in office software. You can create dynamic documents, analyse data, design eye-catching presentations, produce dramatic illustrations, and open up your databases. You can publish your work in Portable Document Format (.pdf), and release your graphics in Flash (.swf) format - without needing any additional software. OpenOffice.org 1.1 is now available for more users than ever, with support for complex text layout (CTL) languages (such as Thai, Hindi, Arabic, and Hebrew) and vertical writing languages.

If you're used to using other office suites - such as Microsoft Office - you'll be completely at home with OpenOffice.org 1.1. However, as you become used to OpenOffice.org 1.1, you'll start to appreciate the extras that make your life easier. You can of course continue to use your old Microsoft Office files without any problems - and if you need to exchange files with people still using Microsoft Office, that's no problem either.

[kabuki]

You can of course continue to use your old Microsoft Office files without any problems - and if you need to exchange files with people still using Microsoft Office, that's no problem either.

Unless they made some significant fixes since 1.0.3, that IS a problem. I wanted to switch to Open Office but found that documents saved in the .doc (MS Word) file format looked, well, completely wrong when opened in MS Word (specifically, headers and inserted tables and other extras).

[Tain]

I second SmartFTP...

My friend just directed me to DVD Shrink last night, and damn, it works well. Rips, compresses, and I believe writes.

[Brisco Bold]

For everyone who contributed, thank you for making my reformat that much better.

[lithium]

Unless they made some significant fixes since 1.0.3, that IS a problem. I wanted to switch to Open Office but found that documents saved in the .doc (MS Word) file format looked, well, completely wrong when opened in MS Word (specifically, headers and inserted tables and other extras).

MS puts significant effort into making their proprietary file formats difficult for 3rd parties to crack.

[Rich]

I recommend SmartFTP. Its free, user friendly, you can upload multiple files at one time, fast uploads, and you can store multiple FTP sites with username and password. Pretty much will suit your needs.

http://smartftp.com/

I've been using smartftp forever and love it. Filezilla is great, but I've become so accustomed to smartFTP that I continue using it.