Windows specific tools

This page lists the free software or inexpensive tools that can only be found under a MS Windows platform.

Version Control Systems (SVN, CVS, ...)

Tortoise SVN

An extension for Microsoft Windows Explorer that makes using SVN fun and easy. Features include: coloured icons, tight integration with SSH, and context-menu interactivity.
http://www.tortoisesvn.net/

Tortoise CVS

An extension for Microsoft Windows Explorer that makes using CVS fun and easy. Features include: coloured icons, tight integration with SSH, and context-menu interactivity.
http://www.tortoisecvs.org/

Synchronizing Files & Folders / Merging changes

WinMerge

WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle. WinMerge is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions. WinMerge can be used as an external differencing/merging tool or as a standalone application.
http://winmerge.org

Web development local environment

(apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin)

XAMPP

is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start.

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

EasyPHP

A complete software package allowing to use all the power and the flexibility that offers the dynamic language PHP and the efficient use of databases under Windows. Package includes an Apache server, a MySQL database, a fully PHP execution, as well as easy development tools for your web site or your applications
http://www.easyphp.org/

WAMP

Just like Easy PHP except i actually got it to work. A complete software package allowing to use all the power and the flexibility that offers the dynamic language PHP and the efficient use of databases under Windows. Package includes an Apache server, a MySQL database, a fully PHP execution, as well as easy development tools for your web site or your applications. NB: You have to turn off IIS Admin in Control Panel>Admin Tools>Services to allow Apache to work.
http://www.wampserver.com/

PHP Editors

Dev-PHP

A well-featured IDE for PHP. Fast and powerful, it is easy to use and has a lot of cool features : class browser, scripts preview, integration with PHP parsers, PHP-GTK library, and Xdebug of course. Dev-PHP-usb slips even into your pocket.
http://devphp.sourceforge.net/

SQL Editors

HeidiSQL

is a lightweight, Windows based interface for managing MySQL and Microsoft SQL databases. It enables you to browse and edit data, create and edit tables, views, procedures, triggers and scheduled events. Also, you can export structure and data either to SQL file, clipboard or to other servers.
http://www.heidisql.com/

Text editing supporting utf-8

Notepad++

is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

UniRed

Unicode (utf-8) editor for Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/UniRed/

Image editing and screenshot/screencast capturing

FastStone Capture

A very useful screenshot program for documentation purposes - uses hotkeys and then opens an editor to modify the screenshot you just took. Includes dropshapdows, highlighter, crop, resize, add text/captions and other goodies. There is an older FREEWARE out there but don't be cheap it is well worth the few bucks.
http://www.faststone.org/

CamStudio

Record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)
http://www.camstudio.org/

File compression/decompression

7-zip

A program with high compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression, but which also provides those supported formats for Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR, or for Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS. For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip. Self-extracting capability for 7z format, Integration with Windows Shell, Powerful File Manager, Powerful command line version, Plugin for FAR Manager, Localizations for 63 languages
http://7-zip.org

FTP-clients

FileZilla

FileZilla is a feature-rich-FTP-client. It supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X and more, has IPv6 support and is available in many languages.

http://filezilla-project.org/

WinSCP

is an open source free SFTP client, SCP client, FTPS client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers scripting and basic file manager functionality.

http://winscp.net/

File Managers / sFTP / Synchronizers

Total Commander

Similar to Norton Commander or Midnight Commander, it eases the tasks of file management in a two-pane window, including neat features such as bundled ftp (and optionally, sftp), comparing and synchronizing directories recursively between your local folder and the ftp folder where you installed tiki (useful for checking which files were not uploaded successfully to the server from all directories and subdirectories and re-upload them in one single click).
http://www.ghisler.com

Blog posting

w.Bloggar

An application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.
http://www.wbloggar.com/
For more information, press on the [+] below.

• The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.
  .
  Because w.bloggar runs over the Windows GUI, it allows the user to edit posts without being connected to the Internet. Posts can be saved locally; and anytime the user wants to publish a new text, one click on the w.bloggar icon in the system tray brings up the editor, and one more click will post it to the weblog.
  .
  Another great advantage of w.bloggar is that it is compatible with most of the weblog systems available, allowing an advanced user to have only one interface to several accounts hosted on several different sites, using different publishing systems.
  .
  To communicate with the weblog, w.bloggar requires that the blog system have implemented an API (Application Programming Interface.) Currently, w.bloggar is compatible with all tools that implements Blogger API, metaWeblog API, MovableType API and b2 API; all based on the XML-RPC definition.

Image editing

Irfanview

A very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. Simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. Many screenshots in this documention pages were captured, cropped and saved with Irfanview in a few clicks and on old machines
http://www.irfanview.com/

• Toolbox
• Multiplatform tools

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