Warez free and loving it!

[imported_Phil]

Hi all,

After a recent near-brush with the law on our little side of the pond, I've been having serious amounts of nervous paranoia about the amount of illegal software on my PC. So, over the last few weeks, I've been investigating the free alternatives to what I use on a regular basis.

Yesterday, I formatted and used the XP Recovery CD that came with my PC (I didn't want to use it but it's legal lol), and am now 100% warez free- it's a weird feeling after all this time, but at least I can sleep soundly now!

Here's what I'm using:

Opera
The GIMP
IfranView
OpenOffice
Zonealarm
Avast! Antivirus
Bloodshed Dev-C++
StarDownloader
The Godfather

I've also been given Nero 6 by a friend who received 10 copies at a software conference, so that's legal. Also, Drive Image 7 from work who had two copies by mistake from Powerquest.

Yikes

 

[drag]

Just use Debian Linux. Never have to worry about it again.

I mean, hey OpenOffice.org and Gimp? Your half-way there already.

 

[imported_Phil]

Well true, and I have dabbled with Mandrake 9.1 & Redhat 9, but I always have problems with my 9600 Pro and soundcard (Ac'97 onboard). Plus, because I've serviced Windows machines for the last 11 years, I find it very difficult to grasp Linux without some serious research and head-scratching. Maybe I should buy a book on it or something

(Ooh, it's my birthday soon, I should get someone to find one for me. And no, I'm not telling how old I'll be )

 

[Confused]

Well done!

As you've not got PMs on, gotta mention this here...i'm gathering a list of UK AT members, to hopefully try to arrange a get-together at some time, can I add you to the list? Email me (address in profile) with your details (such as location, email address to use, phone number should you want to) and i'll add you to my list and try to organise something at some time


Garry

 

[sak]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
Hi all,

After a recent near-brush with the law on our little side of the pond, I've been having serious amounts of nervous paranoia about the amount of illegal software on my PC. So, over the last few weeks, I've been investigating the free alternatives to what I use on a regular basis.
Yikes

Care to explaine ur why u had a near brush with the GOOD GUYS hint hint??

 

[imported_Phil]

Uhh... let's just say that it was a close call

 

[dnuggett]

Well WOW. You are doing something you should have done all along... congrats.

 

[theAnimal]

You may want to check out this thread...

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=33&threadid=997283

 

[Mitzi]

Well done DopeFiend. I've been in the process of doing a similar thing myself for months and months now, some of my changes included...

Opera/IE --> Firebird
Eudora --> Thunderbird
MS Office/Visio --> OpenOffice
Alcohol 120 --> Daemon Tools
Winzip --> Alzip
Trillian Pro --> Trillian Free
Zonealarm Pro --> Uninstalled because I have a NAT router now
ACDSee --> IrfanView
UltraEdit --> CrimsonEditor
WS_FTP --> Filezilla
CoolEdit->Audacity

In fact for a full list of all the freeware/OOS I use see the Cool Software link in my sig

I'm currently looking at Gentoo Linux as a replacement for all desktop computing except for gaming, I used to use Linux loads whilst at Uni but since leaving I've not really touched it.

 

[imported_Phil]

dnugget: Thanks, I feel a lot better for it. Don't want to get a holier-than-thou attitude but a lot more people should do it!

TheAnimal: That's where I got my ideas from But thanks.

Mitzi: So having a NAT router precludes using a firewall? I'm behind my own ADSL NAT router myself, so maybe Zonealarm can be uninstalled...?
Oh, and Mandrake 9.2 RC1 is coming down via BitTorrent right now

 

[Twista]

;-( for me. We lost another one dang it!

gl out there its a harsh world.

 

[groovin]

"I find it very difficult to grasp Linux without some serious research and head-scratching"

thats what makes the open source world so much fun!

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend

Mitzi: So having a NAT router precludes using a firewall? I'm behind my own ADSL NAT router myself, so maybe Zonealarm can be uninstalled...?

I wouldn't say that having a NAT router precludes a firewall, but it will protect you from attacks. What ZoneAlarm can do that the router can't do is block unwanted outgoing traffic from seeping out.

But in general, you're pretty safe just being behind a router.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend

Mitzi: So having a NAT router precludes using a firewall? I'm behind my own ADSL NAT router myself, so maybe Zonealarm can be uninstalled...?

a NAT router will block incoming connections on any ports that you don't have forwarded. So you are safe from attacks from the internet. However, it doesn't stop outgoing access. I find it very happy to know what programs are "phoning home" which is why I still use zonealarm on my computers, even when they are behind a NAT router.

It also doesn't protect you from stuff on the LAN. If you buddy comes over for a mini lan party, and has blaster, you'll get it to, without a software firewall. (That does assume that you haven't patched for blaster, but you get the picture).

I'd rather have the extra layer of protection.

 

[imported_Phil]

Twisa: A friend of mine has the same case as you, cost him £40 (~$66), with a 400w PSU. Might have to get me one of those...

 

[Nothinman]

gl out there its a harsh world.

It'll be even harsher once you get caught...

 

[lowtech1]

I have to second drag on the use of Linux/Debian, or Debian variant Knoppix, Morphix, Damn Small & Dynebolic.

 

[Twista]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

gl out there its a harsh world.

It'll be even harsher once you get caught...

really. kazaa is lite and fun

 

[Nothinman]

If you say so.

 

[Twista]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
If you say so.

nothing man take it easy Have you ever downloaded a mp3? OR are you talking about mp3-ing kazaa.

pz

 

[Nothinman]

Of course I have, but only to find out if an album is worth actually buying sadly most of the time it isn't these days.

And if I'm not mistaken this thread was about software, not music.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

ACDSee --> IrfanView

Mitzi, How does this IrfanView proggie compare to ACDSee?

The GIMP

Wow, Didn't know that GIMP was available for Winders... Learn something new everyday. I've only used GIMP in *nix.

 

[Twista]

well i got openofffice ;p and some other freebies istead of all warez and also i got a free ez cd creator with burner and 5-1 norton programs cd disk with refreb kt266 mobo hehe.

 

[earthman]

NAT don't mean squat. You probably have 12 ports open. What's the big deal about free software anyway? I like to get paid for my work. In fact, I have to, since I have to pay rent, buy food, etc.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: earthman
NAT don't mean squat. You probably have 12 ports open. What's the big deal about free software anyway? I like to get paid for my work. In fact, I have to, since I have to pay rent, buy food, etc.

What are you talking about?

Do you even know what a NAT router is and how it works? Obviously not with statements like "you probably have 12 ports open". They'd only be open because you want them to be open.

As far as free software. As long as there are computers programmers will always get paid for programming. Most open source programmers do get paid for their job. Many have a pet project on the side for a hobby, many get paid for simply developing the free software.

For instance IBM has several hundred programmers working on Linux and other open source software. Linus Torvald is a millionare for creating Linux, originally just a hobby, and has a full time job developing it.

Redhat for a couple seasons now has pulled out of the dot-com hell that swallowed up most small companies and has shown a profit for developing free software.

Free as in Freedom, Not free as in free beer.