Submitted by drew on

All of this stuff is freeware.

Graphics Projects

IrfanView

For image viewing and very simple editing (such as cropping, scaling, rotating, etc)



GIMP

For raster artwork/editing. Like Microsoft Paint on super steroids.

It does have some vector editing tools.



Illustrator (ok, this one's not free)

For vector artwork.

This is also usually my main workspace for a new project, where I add all the different pieces into the final layout.

A freeware alternative would be Inkscape



LibreOffice

This is an office suite similar to Microsoft Office. It has equivalents to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. It also has a vector drawing program which I have not really used on its own, but it can draw boxes and things within PowerPoint and the other programs in the suite.

Slideshow Projects

Here's various free software that can be used to make slideshows. The Microsoft ones are probably easiest to use. DVD Slideshow GUI is a bit more complex, but the most configurable.



Microsoft Live Movie Maker

Create a WMV video file from images.

   Download: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/movie-maker

   Tutorial: http://voices.yahoo.com/create-slideshow-microsoft-movie-maker-tutorial-2724966.html



Microsoft Photo Story

Create a WMV video file from images. This is an older product, but some people find it better in some ways than Movie Maker.

   Download: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

   Tutorial: http://millie.furman.edu/mll/tutorials/photostory3/index.htm



IrfanView

Create either a script that reads images out of a folder or create a single executable file containing all of the images. If you just want to read a bunch of files out of a folder without an intermediate output, this is probably the way to go.

   Download: http://www.irfanview.com/

   Tutorial: http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Creating-A-Slideshow



LibreOffice Impress with PhotoAlbum plugin

Create a PowerPoint presentation from images.

   Download (LibreOffice): http://www.libreoffice.org/download/

   Download (plugin): http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/en/project/PhotoAlbum

   Tutorial (old): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-DMrYi0yvs



DVD Slideshow GUI

Has a whole bunch of different output options, including video file, upload to YouTube, or burn to DVD.

(Note: Durations are in number of frames, not seconds. Using one of the NTSC options, one second is 30 frames.)

   Download: http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/

   Tutorial: http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/tutorials.html



Flash Slide Show Maker

   Download: http://www.flash-slideshow-maker.com/myspace-slideshow-free/

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Software

Detecting MouseEnter and MouseLeave in a control that has lots of children controls (.Net)

Submitted by drew on

Seems like I have been through this before. What I want to do is hide and show something, depending on whether the mouse is inside of a certain area. For instance, I have a container of some sort with lots of controls on it. When the mouse is anywhere inside of the container, I want a link to be visible. I can't simply use the MouseEnter/MouseLeave events on the container, because MouseLeave is triggered when the mouse enters a child control and the MouseEventArgs don't say anything about what control is being entered.

Say Goodbye to Windows 8's Start Screen

Submitted by drew on

 

All of the people I've talked to who don't like Windows 8, don't like it because of the new start screen. You know, the tiled "apps" screen. A.K.A. "Metro" screen.

Maybe that sort of thing makes sense on a touchscreen device. Not on a desktop computer or standard laptop.

This free software brings back your start menu, like in Windows 7: ClassicShell. If you set it to start in desktop mode, you can say goodbye to the start screen! Here's how.