Its really just out of curiosity. I'm a great fan of them, and a lot of them are just as functional as the installed versions. At my latest count I have 12 not installed!
My newsgroup reader (xnews)
My email client (Scribe)
CCleaner
Unit Conversion utility
FsCapture
Jpeg cleaner
mediaplayer classic
Anagram solver/finder (Teabag - haven't found another version of this for years)
Pdf reader
HjSplit
Mrublaster
Dscypryt
Firefox
Anybody have any more they'd recommend? (Many thanks to the members of this forum who led me to dscrypt, unit conversion and Fscapture... )
I think stand alone programs are awesome for certain things. I have noticed that they do seem slower than installed ones(for things like firefox, openoffice, ect.).
I used to litterally have tons of them but not so much anymore. Right now I only use:
Autoruns
CCleaner
hijackthis
Foxit Reader
Keynote(this is actually one of the best applications ever period. I use it to store my hijackthis log speeches but its good to take notes with too. I use onenote for that though).
Someone has to ask the question, and it may as well be me.
How do you guys define a "standalone" program?
Seems to be a bit of a grey area according to Wiki.
Stand-alone is a loosely defined term used to sort computer programs. It tries to draw some distinction between programs invoked by some computer event and those invoked by other programs. However this distinction does not stand up to scrutiny outside the context of certain embedded systems, since the computer has usually to be running some program that prepares (and sometimes initially processes) the "stand-alone" program to begin with. Hence all programs are launched or prepared/processed by other programs (with the sole exception of the bootstrap loader), and no code can really be said to stand alone.
If "stand-alone" is more widely defined as a program not needing the services of other programs (except maybe firmware) once it is running, then most operating systems can also justifiably be called "stand-alone", since they need the bootstrap loader only for starting up. This is the definition of a "stand-alone application" that is used e.g. in the C programming language standards. Normal applications are called "hosted applications" in contrast.
If this Wiki article is an accurate description, how do you tell?
Someone has to ask the question, and it may as well be me.
How do you guys define a "standalone" program?
I personally define standalone as a program that doesn't write anything into the registry and only operates from either command line, or if GUI'd operates via an .ini file and/or .bat batch file.
Of course some of the audio related programs I use like Speeks Frontends do require some system files being present; mscomctl.ocx, tabctl32.ocx, Microsoft Visual Basic Run-Time v6.0 Service Pack 6
Sorry to drift off topic, but I was wondering how you kept those silky locks in such good condition.
The Volumax I use is an audio normalization program to make .wav audio files full scale (or slightly less which is what I use it for), the opposite of Replaygain I suppose.
I didn't even know there was a Volumax hair product, at least it isn't something worse.
My interpretation of "standalone" would have been things like Dial-a-fix, StartupLite, HijackThis, Process Scanner.
In other words applications that are a simple exe file and don't require an installation involving Program Files folders etc., but that interpretation obviously isn't the general concensus of what a standalone program actually is.
Andavari:- Thanks for the links, I've downloaded that Volumax. It'll be a good companion for another program I've been using recently, MP3gain, which I find very useful.
Pleased to here you don't use the hair product. This is a link Hazel gave me. The stuff seems to be pretty aggressive.
I'm a great fan of them. . .Anybody have any more they'd recommend? . . .
Also a fan, might even qualify as an "Installaholic". This not a list of recommendations, just apps that worked for me. Don't know how many qualify as stand alone. Other members might know of better apps for the same purposes.
Recuva
CCleaner
Restoration
Avira Unerase
CPUZ
SIW
core Temp
HDTune
HDView
Process Explorer (and just about anything from sysinternals)