DVD43

In order to rip/transcode DVD you own, for example to see the videos on your mobile device, this tool may be useful. It circumvents copy protection and zone settings. It may be illegal under certain circumstances and jurisdictions, however the tool itself is probably legal, if you don't engage in llegal activities with it.

Homepage: http://www.dvd43.com/

Developer: unknown, maybe for legal reasons (?) [whois information]

Version: 4.4.1 (June 29, 2009)

License: closed source freeware

Platform: Windows

HandBrake

This software comes in hand, when you want to upload videos to a mobile phone or media player. It allows to transcode easily to mp4 format with a good control of options, encoder to use, resizing...

Here is my settings file (user_presets.xml), which I use to convert files to display them in my phone:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ArrayOfPreset xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Preset>
  <Level>0</Level>
  <Name>Mobile phone</Name>
  <Query> -f mp4 -w 400 -e ffmpeg -q 0.5 -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 0 -6 stereo -D 1 -m -v </Query>
</Preset>
</ArrayOfPreset>

My settings are: ffmpeg encoding, mp4 container format, aac stereo sound, 50% constant quality, resize to 400px width. Note that to be able to create a preset under Vista you need to start the application with administrative rights.

Homepage: http://handbrake.fr/

Platform: cross-platform

Version: 0.9.3 (Nov 23, 2008)

License: open source freeware

VLC media player

This media player allows to reproduce a wide spectrum of media files. It is extremely flexible and has a lot of advanced features, probably more than any other media player. The graphical interface (which is one of the different interfaces it has) is nevertheless very simple and lightweight.

You can select the GUI language using Ctrl+P and changing the first option in the dialog.

Homepage: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Developer: VideoLAN project
Version: 1.0.1 (July 27, 2009)
Platform: cross-platform
License: freeware, open source

SyncToy

As a simple backup strategy under Windows, I synchronize my important folders with a copy on an external drive. To do that I am using SyncToy, a free-to-download tool from Microsoft.

Download link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/[...]
Developer: Microsoft
Version: 2.0 (August 15, 2008)
Platform: Windows
License: freeware, closed source

Windows Alpha Blender

This tool allows to set the tranparency of a windows using a shortcut to increase (default: Ctrl+F11; my setting: Ctrl+<) or decrease (default: Ctrl+F12; my setting: Ctrl+Shift+<) the alpha transparency value of the currently active window. It is not very sofisticated, but it can be useful sometimes.

Personal settings (ie the keyboard shortcuts) are kept in the registry.

Homepage: http://www.vaultmate.com/freewaregifts.php
Developer: VaultMate Software
Version: 1.2 (June 7, 2008)
License: freeware, closed source
Platform: Windows

Colors in grep

To turn on colors in grep, you may add --color=auto to the GREP_OPTIONS environment variable. The way to do it is of course shell-dependant. E.g. add the following to your shell rc file:

export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'

Unlocker

This tool allows to identify the process, which is currently locking a given file or directory and if desidered to force unlocking of the file from one or all processes. It works as a shell extension in explorer. Note that under Vista the program requires a confirmation to be allowed to access a file (if the UAC system is on).

Homepage: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Developer: Cedrick Collomb

Version: 1.8.7 (May 1st, 2008)

Platform: Windows

License: freeware, closed source

WinSCP

WinSCP is the perfect windows tool to connect to remote servers and exchange (download/upload) files or edit them. It is a SFTP and FTP client.

There is a standalone version and an installer based setup; if using the latter, beware that it will ask you install additional software using the OpenCandy system. However at least the default is not to install any additional software.

I like to store the preferences in ini file instead of the registry, so that I can export them easily to other computers. To turn on the ini preferences storage: in WinSCP login dialog select "preferences", then "Other general options: Preferences", "Storage" and change the "configuration storage" value to "INI file". The default location of the ini file under Windows Vista will be: "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\WinSCP". Under older Windows version it will be directly in the application directory (C:\program files\WinSCP).

Homepage: http://winscp.net/

Documentation: http://winscp.net/eng/docs/guides

Version: 4.2.3 beta (August 18, 2009)

Platform: Windows

License: freeware

ls colors

add an alias to your shell rc file:

alias ls "ls --color=auto"