00. THE 100% FREE TOOLS LIST - linuxgurugamer/HumanStuff_EasyBuilderWorkshop GitHub Wiki

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This pack is designed for use with these 100% FREE tools:

I can match 95% of tools, listed below, with free online "software as a service" alternatives

WINDOWS 8.1: here

URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

  • NOT FREE, BUT 98% CHANCE YOU OWN A LEGAL "KEY" FROM THE PC YOU ARE USING RIGHT NOW TO PLAY KSP

I know "What do I mean?... it can do anything Win10 can (with MINOR tweaking) & uses the least system resources of a 64bit Windows OS other than XP Pro64. Uses same drivers as windows 10. **Last "no MS-spyware mega bundle" Windows too

  • Your win7 upgrade, also a win8 & win10 coa ("licence key") or OTHER "upgrade" to Win10 is allowed for Windows 8.1 activation : see here

Paint.net: here

GIMP has nothing on Paint.net NOW in v4.x,_ This thing could be a 1 stop shop for 8 bit per channel work, all the way to mipmaps and encoding to DXT1 to DXT5, BC1, BC1a, BC3, BC3nm, BC6H_SF, BC6H_UF & BC7, UNORM, sRGB & Typeless

  • Gimps GIMP, like its a gimp! As a free raster editor due to "xfc". XFC is NOT a real image format! I wont go into it. It handles EVERYTHING 8 bit per channel and has "a enhanced version" & massive plugins library. HANDLES ANY 8 BIT PER CHANNEL FORMAT! OPTIMIZED! ENCODES TO dds, GENERATES MIPMAPS, HAS "every tool under the sun plus" FOR 8bpc

Kirita : here

**DO NOT DOWNLOAD FROM MS STORE OR STEAM, DEV WEBSITE ONLY ** URL: https://krita.org/en/download/krita-desktop/

  • _ BOW BEFORE ZO.... umm, _ The worlds greatest free raster image editor. Handles 16 pit per channel. Paint.net has better plugins/features. Handles EXR, ORA and other 16 bit per channel formats

Nvidia Stand Alone Texture Tool GUI: here

URL: https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-exporter

  • THE BEST GUI DXT/BC ENCODER, HANDS DOWN! Easy, has a display, QUALITY IS AWESOME!

MS Texcon GUI & Command Line tool : _ GUI _ here

URL: https://vvvv.org/contribution/texconvgui

  • The MOST up to date DDS/DXT/BC encoder there is. I will explain its use in EASY DETAILS! **MORE UP TO DATE, WITH: ** _ **Better Speed ** _ **AND ** _ Quality than the, so called, almighty CRUNCH! Uses about 1mb less ram to boot! _

_ For the "CMD TOOL": _

Just download texconv from https://github.com/Microsoft/DirectXTex/releases

UNITY ENHANCED CRUNCH: here

URL: https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/crunch/tree/unity

  • WHEN "LEAST RESOURCES USED BY TARGET" (in our case the "end user" of the texture etc) TRUMPS QUALITY...NOTHING MATCHES THIS!

VVVV DDS Converter: here

URL: https://vvvv.org/contribution/dds-converter

  • Its the old "DDS Converter 2.1" updated!, Combined with MS tool its good for BULK

IrfanView64(full plugins) & XnView Classic (USE Extended), plus XnView MP (for plugins)

  • These 2 (well 3) viewers can see ANYTHING! They have great tools tool. But 99% only for viewing.

XnConvert : here

URL: https://www.xnview.com/en/xnconvert/

  • NOTHING handles what this does_, as well. _I tested this to make 1000 (all copies) DXT1-BC1 heads frpm webp files in SECONDS! (on a Ryzen 5 3600XT). It doesnt have options for DXT encoding, just auto BC1/BC1a, & it doesnt do mipmapping, & it "pure CPU"..But it auto detects alpha and uses DXT1a (BC1 with 1bit alpha)

RIOT & Caesium Image Compressor Tools :

  • The best combo, hands down

Quixel Studio , ** AwesomeBump & xNormal ** Tools :

  • The best combo for normals, with Paint.net's normal plugin, hands down

MUST HAVE's for Easy of life:

If you need more 100% FREE Cloud storage, VPN, or Emails Message me, I can supply you with over 3TB free (_ requires 19+ Cloud providers, 4 on list will give you _ _ 1.15TB EASY & FREE _)

YMail:

  • 1TB FREE CLOUD Yahoo mail gives us up to 1 TB of free storage, ** plus a nice, fairly well "accepted" secondary email._ How to use it? __ ** < LINK, Basically limitless document, file, web linketc, etc storage _

Ninite : MY PICKS take this link.

  • An all in one installer:AUTO INSTALLER/UPDATER! SAFE! FREE! ** AWESOME CHECK IT OUT** _ NOW _ lol

NTlite :

  • I ntegrate updates, drivers, automate Windows & apps setup. Speedup Windows based dev tasks & have it all set for the next time. Optionally remove OS components, simplify installs. Reduce attack vectors, free up drive space. You can do all on your existing Windows in-place, no re-install

Abiword:

  • v2.86 is last for Windows. Because we dont need LibreOffice for "simple" rich text. ITS like 500% faster, ever better than Jarte for "speed"

Sumatra PDF:

  • Same reason as Abiword, SPEED & SIZE

O&O RegEditor:

  • Because like Ram, Page file, defragmentation & all the other "basics", MS Stopped caring in the Year 2000

Auslogic Disk Defrag Free :

  • The best defragger for Windows & SSD's. Its also 100% free, like they did with page file & ram, MS just stopped caring in the year 2000

DirectX here & Drivers:

  • I can not stress this enough. Update these OFTEN, from the website's of makers not Windows update. _ "Studio/Artist Driver packs" are in fact better for artists..wow _

BLEACHBIT:

  • SO GOOD, IT WAS ONCE USED FOR EVIL? (RUMOURS SAY) CCleaner would be deleted by this as "junk"

Classic Shell:

  • Unless your first windows was Windows 8....

CleanMem:

  • Because MS stopped saving you ram with windows 98se, after that they just said "buy more"

Bulk Rename utility :

  • OMG the time saved...the time...

DoubleCommander , QT build beta:

  • Again the time and confusion it saves to have a tabbed double pane file explorer. (the Qt beta is only so it can "match themes", like dark theme in windows 7+, beta isnt needed if you dont care)

Notepad++:

  • This should be everything that you dont use LibreOffice for. Its also a (not so) "simple" IDE

LibreOffice:

  • MS Office ++...enough said. Its better than Jatre, has plugins out the...umm...documents folder

Pcloud:

  • Not the best, but FREE 10GB more? Plus you can stream music and, with some playing, video directly from it

Mega:

  • _ 50gb cloud free, with auto upload? _ too useful for backups

Degoo:

  • _ 100GB cloud default free...more _?, without referrals +125mb per day (+0.5gb per referral), if you watch a video ad, on mobile, max 1TB. Lacks Megas ability to deal with files over 100mb ( split zip big files @ 97mb per "part" )

Brave:

  • A safe but fast web browser. Uses anything Chrome does. Has better security than Firefox

Kaspersky AV Free:

  • If you use nothing but this, at least its very good.

SpyBot S&D Free:

  • You must immunize! why get infected, to clean, then infected again next week? **A super good malware scanner too **

CPU-Z / GPU-Z:

  • Both simple, compact, informative about the system your looking at.

7Zip:

  • Zip method: Zip > Deflate64 (A 32BIT CPU WITH "64BIT SUPPORT" IS FINE WITH THIS) > Max word size > max compression. = smallest files with no corruption. Normal windows Winzip can see/unzip this (CKAN too)

MSI AFTERBURNER & KOMBUSTOR, + AMD/NVIDIA/INTEL "CPU/GPU TOOLS" :

  • Get the most out of your system safely. **Test the result before use! 115% stock is considered "average/safe", ** _ as "a rule of thumb" _ ** **

Redo Rescue & Rescucezilla :

  • Because Clonezillia has no GUI & Iperius isnt user friendly, this is an easy backup solution combo (output to your mega drive "local folder" and/or degoo cloud, "split zip" it, @ 97mb "parts", need be)

Joplin:

  • Logs, note, super hidden info/link....logs...to do's... lists... etc ** that you cant lose. ** _ Basically limitless document/web link storage _

AIO Run times: LINK

  • So useful I'm linking it. This is 90% of the run-times even an advanced user should need.

HWiNFO:

  • EXPANSIVE INFO, Because you really need to see details that other monitors dont give you

Cmdr:

  • Run powershell...run... This is a real cmd prompt tool...

"CRAZY POWER USER" TOOLS, for "Advanced users":

WinSCP:

  • FTP the, better, easy way

Visual Studio 2019:

  • Viewing .cs projects. SUPER informative. "The IDE / Scripting tool", unless your a huge Mac head or Linux guru...

Pandoc :

  • **Document Converter; RichText to MarkDown & Wikimedia, plus. If you need to convert files from one markup format into another, pandoc is your swiss-army knife. Pandoc can convert between many formats. ** Just follow the rules of "what markdown can do", formatting wise (common "Lorem ipsum", aka "gibberish/dummy" entry, the areas for imgur images inserts), inside libreoffice, **life saver **

HxD :

  • CONFUSING, POWERFUL, a "Hex editor"

MS DirectX "ToolKits" :

Mint Linux:

  • Simple, current, popular, well supported. Good dual boot option. "REAL" OpenGL testing (Unless your a Mac user)

Genie:

  • Notepad++'s "big bro"

Showing off:

Imgur:

  • Because instagram is... well not for this type of stuff... and its awesome. _ Basically limitless image storage. _

ImgBB :

  • Any Format, what Imgur cant do, this can! APNG & GIF move over Animated WebP _ is here _ _ Basically limitless image storage 2. _

ShareX:

  • Nothing takes an "easy custom" screenshot like shareX, nothing.

OBS:

  • Its THE streaming software, super supported

Kdenlive:

  • This is "easy pro level" video edition software. Very well supported by user base

PeerTube:

  • Cause Youtube has...odd policies. _ Basically limitless video storage _

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