Review - FreeUndelete 2.0 - the best free utility on the net?

[Bob Crabtree]

There's no end of good stuff available free on the web but Bob Crabtree reckons the best of the lot could be FreeUndelete 2.0, a sub-1MB app that just saved his bacon.

Check out the review and let us have your thoughts and nominations here for Best Free Utility on the Internet.

[DeMilo]

I wonder how long its been around? a few times i have searched for this type of app but have not found anything that doesn't look extremely dodgy or anything that wont cost me at least a red note. you certainly were very lucky!

I'll be installing this on all my machines when the weekend comes!

Zonelabs - Zonealarm. This free app provides a firewall, an application control, an Internet lock, and Zones and has always done me good. Norton Apps take up too much recourse so i tend to look for alternatives. its very simple to use and doesn't use much resourse at all.

it always asks for permissions to let certain programs through and you can change settings later if you wish with the very easy UI. You can set the internet block to deny traffic whilst your computer is un-attended to.

I dont have or need many cool apps but this is my proudest in my inventory

http://www.download.com/3000-2092-10039884.html if you would like to download it.
Also Zonelabs produce vaious other apps but these require payment http://www.zonelabs.com if you wanna know more.

[Bob Crabtree]

DeMilo,

I really was shocked and delightfully surprised not just to google-up this free program but to find that it is so very good.

I really do have quite a lot of paid-apps that do this sort of thing but won't now spend any time looking for them, cos this FreeUndelete 2.0 is so very good.

As for how long it's been around - no idea.

As for ZoneAlarm - I don't mean to knock your nomination at all but my experience is rather different.

Like you, I used to swear by it.

But, as with a number of other apps (including WinZip, many years ago), it was one that I signed up for and paid a fee.

Unfortunately, although the Pro version did work well for a good while, as I recall, one particular point upgrade ended up causing me a huge amount of problems - no internet connectivity for days - and when I realised it was the cause, I pulled it and never installed it again.

Can't say that it's absence worries me, though, cos I have a Firewall on my router and also on XP itself.

[Whiternoise]

Yeah, i'd second the worries about ZoneAlarm, kept causing STOP errors on my parents' laptop - our router firewall hasn't let anything serious through yet, although i'd recommend paying for a security suite tbh.

Hmm.. loads of great free apps (web browsers etc ;p). One that i found was amazing is PSPad. It's a code editor that supports just about ANY type of scripting language - php, C/++, pascal you name it, it's got it and you can download templates/extensions for the stuff it doesn't support. I found it a couple of days ago on Download.com looking for a php editor and this seems to do the trick. www.pspad.com or www.pspad.com/en. I haven't tried it extensively but it looks like a very good freeware editor

screenie:

Code Explorer

Spell Checker/FTP stuff

other awards: http://www.pspad.com/en/press.htm

[DavidM]

Looks very useful (both programs!)!

[FatalSaviour]

Great thread Bob....funnily enough it's already come in useful for me today!
Someone at work had deleted a file off a network share that he believed would go to the Recycle Bin...no such luck, but UD's got it back

[DeMilo]

yeah i have seen this before i know a few people already that swear by it and it seems to be getting largely popular! and rightly so it seems.

as for the zonealarm i only have the experience with the free stuff so thats fair enough. there must be so many GOOD free apps out there. this will be great for HEXUS. a large database of the best free applications. Winner

[Bob Crabtree]

Great thread Bob....funnily enough it's already come in useful for me today!
Someone at work had deleted a file off a network share that he believed would go to the Recycle Bin...no such luck, but UD's got it back

I've looked but I can't find the "Warms the cockles of my heart" smilie.

So, I'll just settle for:




Oh, but you do realise that the thread is just a pointer to the review I've written, don't you?

[S_D]

What an amazing coincidence this review is. This morning, in my bleary-eyed state, I managed to delete a folder from the D: drive on my work laptop. Instead of deleting the empty scratch folder that used to contain some work that was now done and dusted, I deleted my personal files folder with over 2,000 files and some 11GB of data! A quick google found 'FreeUndelete' and by 9am I had all the files back, which was no small relief I can tell you.

Being a network admin I'm forever telling people not to store important files on their C: drives, but rather on their network home directories, which are backed up every night. It is now my humble pleasure to admit that I am a hypocrite , but my pleasure to tell everyone and anyone who'll listen what a great little app this is.

Chuffed to see that you guys stumbled upon it too.

Simon

[Bob Crabtree]

Simon,

Thanks for the info - glad to have confirmation of my take on the app and google!

Truth is, it's all too easy for us supposed experts (and, forgive me if I include myself in there) to cock up badly.

My best (?) one was an accidental format of my own main work C: drive a few years back - and that really is a bowel-loosener. Again, with me it was an early-hours-of-the-morning howler

I did manage to retrieve virtually all the key data - but the whole process, including a fresh install of Windows and the huge number of apps that I use, took something like five days.

I really wish I'd had this little beauty back then!

Oh, and for anyone reading this and not overly familiar with data recovery, do PLEASE note all the caveats in the review about what to do if the deleted files are on your C: drive or another drive that is access by Windows because you've put stuff there such as My Documents or Windows's swap file.


PS - I think I'll probably be doing a bit of backing up tonight!

[chuckskull]

I've had free trials of similar programs save my ass a few times. nice find of a really good free one, I'll be installing just after I press send quick reply

[Bob Crabtree]

Clearly, at the moment, FreeUndelete is top of the pile for me but I do, of course, have a number of other free apps I can recommend - though, unlike FreeUndelete, the authors of these programs would very much like you to make a contribution to the upkeep of the programs.

Anti-nasties
Nothing unexpected here:

Anti-trojan:
AdAware Free (I bought the Pro version, cos I was so impressed)
SpyBot Search & Destroy
HiJack This (not a tool for the novice but VERY useful)

Anti-virus:
AVG Free

Zip-file uncompressor:
I long ago paid for WinZip and use the latest version happily still. However, the 7zip freebie is excellent. If Rar, rather than Zips are you thing, then WinRar is good too.

HTML-creation:
NVU

Web browser:
Mozilla FireFox, of course

Email:
Mozilla Thunderbird, naturally

FTP uploads and downloads:
FileZilla FTP (truly wonderful)

Hi-def video player (and very much more - truly amazing what it can do):
VLC

Analysis of video Codecs installed on a PC:
Sherlock (the Codec Detective)

Identifying what Codec a video file has been encoded with:
AVI Codec

Any more for any more?

[chuckskull]

HiJack This (not a tool for the novice but VERY useful)

Hijackthis is an excellent tool, used it many a time to fix many a PC (well diagnose, but you know what I mean)

[johnny02004976]

cheers for the heads up on this guys will be downloading and trying right away

[Bob Crabtree]

cheers for the heads up on this guys will be downloading and trying right away

You have my usual money-back guarantee!

[Hans Voralberg]

K-lite Codec Pack ?
Infranview ?