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Suggest alternative software to this mega-list


mymiabear

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Some dealings with knowledge led me to replace a piece of software with another even better got me thinking. I have spent a LOT of time finding the best software.

Please see my list below and suggest alternatives.  I want to run mostly portable software, but the following software are the ones I run that are not portable:

http://i.imgur.com/MR2Hoa0.png  (note PIA = private internet access VPN)

 

Please write the name of the software and suggest alternatives.  I love lightweight, portable software. Can be free or paid.

 

Legend: 

PA = Portable Apps Version
(UAC)(A)  = Use UACpass to bypass runasadmin UAC window
(SB) = Running in Sandboxie (to prevent settings from escaping)
* = Either partially or fully not portable


---------------------------
MAIN FILES
---------------------------
AdMuncher - I still use this to protect myself from popups/ads that uBlock origin in Chrome mises
Bandizip  - My alternate compression app if WinRAR fails 
BitChe    - The best torrent searcher app - use it daily! 
OpalCalc     -  This replaced the outdated TabbyCalc to be the best Soulver-like notepad calculator out there  
Chrome X64 (PA) - Portable Apps version of 64bit Chrome.  I have not been able to find a TRUE portable alternative (tried sandboxed, chromium) that works for all my needs - e.g. 1Password extension
CloneApp (UAC)(A)   - Absolute lifesaver when reinstalling  windows and restoring settings for apps like Office 2016    
Converber - Excellent conversion utility 
Dropbox (SB) - 22GB (using VMWare referral trick hack) My go-to Cloud storage. 
EventGhost   - The best remote control software in existence. You can do almost anything with it! 
Excel 2016*- Best spreadsheet
Firefox (PA) - Keep this for backup in case Chrome Fails 
GoogleEarth (PA)          - Excellent maps for seeing world
Listary (UAC)(A)         - The best launcher app on Windows.  It is the closest I have found to Alfred for Mac.
mIRC      - Best IRC client 
Notepad++ - BEST Notepad client 
NZBget*  - Best usenet NZB downloader  - plugin in chrome is awesome too! 
OneNote 2016*  - Without question, hands down, my most used software. It is my 3rd arm and an extension of my life. If you haven't used this, it has saved my personal and work life. I am not kidding. 
Outlook 2016* -  I use gmail web interface, but this is the best windows mail client  
PowerPoint 2016* - Best powerpoint software 
priPrinter* - Easily the best printing management software ever coded. I use this daily. Make PDFs with it. It's so fast and lightweight
qBittorrent (PA)          - I am reluctantly running qBittorrent. I have uTorrent 2.2.1 as backup and I still find uTorrent 2.2.1 to be my favorite
QTranslate   - The best translation app ever made by mankind. Incredible incredible software
Rainmeter - Best desktop software 
SunsetScreen - Screw Windows 10 blue light blocking software. This one is the best. Better than f.lux by a mile. 
SyncBack  - I use free version (instead of pro) because it's updated often and author always bypasses the serial #s 
TeamViewer - I have Win10 Pro but still use this. The best remote connection software I have found.
Truelaunchbar   - I run this with Listary - my 2nd favorite launchers
UltraISO (UAC)(A)  - I keep this to use for ISO files just in case
uTorrent 2.2.1 (this version only) - Probably the best torrent client. I am very grudgingly using qBitorrent because it's updated, but this is still my favorite 
VoxCommando* The best speech control software I've found. 
vTask Studio - Cool app to make EXEs for file and windows actions! 
Willmaker 2017 (SB)    - If you need a durable power of attorny, will, or even living trust - use this app    
Winamp (Karaoke) - Modified version of Winamp to be like a karaoke player :)
Winamp    - The best music player I have ever used. I have tried the top 50 as of 4-2017 and I still come back to my idiotically tuned version of winamp 
WinRAR    - The best portable archive app ever made. Closest to it is bandizip and maybe peazip
Winscp    - The best SSH app 
Word 2016 - Can't live without this 
XMind     - Best mind mapping software 
Xntimer (Stopwatch)  - Lightweight, basic stopwatch. I love this. I also like "TenTimer" from Donation Coder but it feels slow and clunky compared to this
XYplorer  - THE BEST file manager on Windows.  Beats DOpus and TotalCommander (I've used both for years). There is no alternative IMO.

---------------------------
MEDIA Apps
---------------------------
3D Batch Youtube Downloader - THE BEST BATCH Youtube downloader ever made. I paid for this!!
3D Youtube Downloader   - If you need a SINGLE youtube downloader ever made 
ABBYY FineReader (SB)  - The best OCR software if I need to OCR PDF 
Adobe Photoshop (SB)  - Heavy/bloated, but still the most powerful graphics software 
ASCII Art Studio    - from the maker of RegistryWorkshop - turn any pic to ASCII
Audacity - lightweight basic sound editing software
avidemux  
Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder - specialized utility to find duplicate photos 
BeCyPDFMetaEdit - Modify PDF meta data 
Calibre - the best eBook management software
CDBurnerXP* - this or IMGBurn is the best. I like CDBurner's interface better  
FastStone Capture - I use ShareX instead of this, but keep it just in case
FastStone Photo Resizer      
Handbrake (SB) - Top 3 video conversion software       
Honeyview - My favorite picture viewing software and I've tried TOP 30 apps!
Irfanview = keep this as backup 
JPEGr - the best bulk JPEG rotation software I have found
Media Player Classic (HC) - I keep this just in case. Excellent video player
Mp3tag - The BEST mp3 tagging software I have found 
Paint  (mspaint.exe) - This is actually decent basic picture editing 
PDF-XChange Editor - honestly I find interface cluttered and shit, but it works 
PDF-XChange Viewer  - My favorite PDF viewer / basic edit software so far.
PhotoResizer  - specialized software to compress JPEGs to smaller size without major quality loss
PotPlayer - THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPION of video players right now as of 4-2017.  I have tried all of them and this is the king.
RingtoneMaker  - for iPhones
RIOT  - Use PhotoResizer instead of this, but here as backup
ScreenToGif - I use SHareX but I this is the best app for gif creation
Scrivener - Best book writing software
ShareX - Arguably the best screen capture program I have ever seen. This is such incredible software. I would pay for it in a heartbeat
SumatraPDF - Best ePub/Mobi readers. I use PDF-Xchangeviewer for PDFs but this is also excellent software
TAudioConverter  - I like Xrecode 3 better, but this is free           
TEncoder   - I like Vidcoder better, but this has x265
Vegas Pro (SB) - Video editing software
VidCoder  - My favorite video conversion software 
VLC (PA)  - Keep VLC here just in case PotPlayer fails (hasn't failed yet tho :) )
xrecode 3 - The best audio conversion software I have found
ZoomPlayer MAX -  NO LONGER THE BEST! PotPlayer dethroned this as the king. I no longer use it but keep as backup.          

---------------------------
SECURITY Apps
---------------------------
1Password 4  - Expensive, but THE BEST password management software ever. It beats LastPass and KeePass. If you want free KeePass is the best. If you have an iPhone, 1Password is the king
CCEnhancer (UAC)(A)   - Updates CCleaner with a massive database 
CCleaner64 (UAC)(A)      - The best windows cleaner app 
ContaCam* (SB) - Trying this out for camera software. BlueIris is probably the most powerful but it's god awful bloated and slow 
DisableWinTracking (UAC)(A)    - I use this & O&O Shutup! for Windows 10 Privacy
EasyNetMonitor  - Decent net monitor for computer 
EmptyRecycleBin - Special app that empties recycle bin (with keystroke set by Truelaunchbar)
eToolz      - My favorite portable net utility suite    
HFS - the best portable WWW web server hoster 
HijackThisPortable (UAC)(A)     - Good to have for windows crapware 
HxD - My favorite Windows hex utility 
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool  (UAC)(A) - my FAVORITE antivirus. I re-download this once a month and scan. It's portable. No crap drivers. No running in background. Nothing
KasperskyTDSSKillerPortable (UAC)(A)  - Checks for rootkits
Malwarebytes Antirootkit (UAC)(A) - Checks for rootkits
O&O ShutUp! (A)  - My first app I run on Windows reinstall and after windows updates 
PIA (UAC)(A) - My favorite VPN 
PortScan    - Excellent network utility suite 
Registry (Reg) Workshop (UAC)(A)-  THE BEST advanced Registry software I have found and I have used all of them
Sandboxie Control (UAC)(A)  - My top 5 app. One of the most widely used, indespensible apps on my computer   
TeamViewer (SB)(A)(UAC) 
TMAC - Best app to modify MAC address (fucking teamviewer! lol!) 
UACpass (A) - My favorite app to make TaskScheduler shortcuts to bypass UAC windows 
VeraCrypt (UAC)(A)  - The best encryption app so far. Replaced truecrypt  
VirusTotalUploader   - I use this app often to send suspicious files to virustotal while running them in sandboxie or vmware
VMWare ThinApp (TA)  - Best app to force-create portable apps 
VMware Workstation Pro  - THE GOLD STANDARD of all virtualization software. It's large, not portable, and somewhat slow but this is the king of the king of all virtual machine. I used VirtualBox and Portable Virtual Box for over 5 years before realizing VMWare is the best.
WackGet (PA)  - Decent download manager 
Windows 10 Firewall Control     -  The BEST software firewall for windows. Windows Firewall Control is also good but uses internal windows firewall and is not and will never portable
WipeFile  - excellent app to wipe files if you're on non-SSD

---------------------------
SYSTEM UTILITIES 
---------------------------
AIDA64 Business (UAC)(A)  - THE BEST system information utility.  Business version is top of the line.  I also use this to display system info on desktop (OSD)
AstroGrep  - Excellent grep utility 
AutoMouseClicker   - small niche utility 
Bat To Exe Converter - the best way to make BAT files into EXE 
Beyond Compare - THE BEST file or folder comparing app
Breevy*   - THE BEST text replacement app. Phraseexpress has no serial or medicine and is updated frequently and is ridiculously expensive, so I am forced to use this. TyperTask is also the best lightweight text replacement, but Breevy has paragraph support
Caffeine - Awesome little app to keep computer from standing by  quickly
ClickMonitorDDC - the BEST monitor dimmer app. Uses internal monitor settings! 
CloneSpy - best duplicate file finder
Console2 - Excellent cmd.exe replacement 
DirLister  - Directory lister as the name says 
DontSleep  - an  alternative to Caffeine to prevent stand by  
Double Driver  - 
ESBUnitConv - Another unit conversion utility. dont use this very often
Everything (UAC)(A)  - My favorite and the best file searcher on windows. wicked fast
EyesRelax  - MY FAVORITE "take a break". it has everything I want 
keycastow  - Excellent troubleshooting app to show what keys are being pressed
MacroCreator   - awesome macro creator
Magnifixer
MiniBin - AWESOME little app in notification tray to show if there's files in recycle bin!
Mouse Only Keyboard  
MultiPar - My favorite PAR utility
Networx  - Now costs $ but pre-v6 is the best network speed utility lister ever
Nimi Places - Excellent lightweight & free "fences-type" app that shows files in any folder on your desktop
Nvidia Inspector (A) - The best nvidia overclocking utility
PangoBright - If you need even dimmer monitor than ClickMonitorDDC - this is the best app 
Peazip   - I dont use this often (<3 WinRAR) but it's a good free portable archive utilutty
PopChar (SB) - the best character map 
PrintFlush - small little BAT file to empty the printer spooler 
Process Hacker (UAC)(A)   - THE BEST Process lister utility I have ever used. It even beats the previous king - process monitor 
ReNamer - Awesome free lightweight file renamer 
Rufus (UAC)(A)  - the BEST way to make USB system keys 
Sharemouse - The best app for using 1 keyboard + mouse for 2 or more computers. unfortunately latest TSRH medicine fails for latest versions :(
ShortcutsSearchAndReplace - I use this specialized app to find dead shortcuts in my shortcuts directory 
SpaceSniffer    - THE BEST APP EVER to find where your HD space is going. It beats TreeSize + everything else 
SUMo - This software is slow, ugly, not free, not portable and horrible design, but it's unfortunately still the best software to find updates
Textify  - very neat little utility to be able to copy paste from any window or place in windows 
ThisIsMyFile    - THE BEST file or folder unlocker. This is the new king
tinytask - very very lightweight amazing software to create macros! 
Too Long Paths Detector   - >265 char file name finder
Turn Off LCD    - shuts down my 3 monitors :)
typertask  - THE BEST text replacement app I have found. I unfortunately have to use Breevy because it doesn't have paragraph support. If you dont need multi-line entry, this is my favorite!
USB Disk Eject  - the best usb ejection software I have found
WSCC - My god this app is a TIMESAVER! Contains ALL nirsoft, SysInternal  and few internal windows software and keeps them updated! Wish it had donation software support!

YUMI - portable multi-iso multi-boot USB creator!  

---------------------------
Donation Coder Apps - NOTE I am only commenting on ones I use often or appreciate a lot
---------------------------
CovArtOps  - find out if your music is missing covertart
Files2Folder   
FindAndRunRobot - I replaced this with Listary, but this is an AWESOME file launcher app. my #2
kLED - awesome cute little utility to show num, scroll, caps lock status
ListNumberer  - create a numbered list 
Mixtape  - create random playlist with this app 
PDFInfoGUI - PDF metadata
PDFTextChecker - Checks whether PDF is image or textual based
PlainPaste 
PlayTime - THE BEST audio/video codec/container information app yet
sPlaylistMaker  - THE BEST m4a/mp3/audio playlist maker I have ever found 
TenTimer - the best multi timer or stopwatch, but slow unfortunately 
Text2Folders   
TrackErr
URLSnooper (YouTube)
Video2MP3  - turn any 
Volumouse  - ONE OF MY TOP 15 APPS! Use it hourly. Control volume with mouse! 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NirSoft Software - specialized nirsoft utilities I use.   - NOTE I am only commenting on ones I use often or appreciate a lot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ChromeCacheView
ChromeCookiesView 
ChromeHistoryView 
CleanAfterMe (A)  
CurrPorts (x64)
DevManView (A)(Drivers)  
DriverView
ExifDataView   
FileTypesMan (A)  
HashMyFiles  - My favorite "File hash" utility
HotKeysList
IconExtract
InsideClipboard
InstalledCodec 
InstalledDriversList
LastActivityView (A)
MACAddressView 
MyEventViewer (A) 
MyUninstaller  
NetworkInterfacesView
OpenedFilesView
OpenWithView (A)  
PingInfoView   
ProcessActivityView 
QuickSetDNS (A)
RecentFilesView
RegFromApp
RunAsDate 
SearchMyFiles (Grep)
ShellBagsView  
ShellExview (A)
ShellMenuNew (A)  
ShortcutsMan   
SmartSniff (A) 
SoundVolumeView
TaskSchedulerView 
TurnedOnTimesView (Uptime) 
USBDeview 
VideoCacheView 
WhatInStartup (UAC)(A)     - Autoruns is better, but I double check with this 
WhatIsHang
WinFontsView   
Wireless Network Watches 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SysInternals  - NOTE I am only commenting on ones I use often or appreciate a lot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
autoruns (UAC)(A)   - THE undisputed KING of viewing startup, drivers, taskschedule entries, EVERYTHING on windows. One of my top 25 apps!
Process Explorer (UAC)(A) - Use Process Hacker it's best, but this is still awesome! 
Procmon (A)
TCPView (A)
 

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OTHER

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Macrium Reflect Workstation Plus x64 bootcd is my new best option for backup.  Acronis below as backup

Acronis True Image BootCD - Use this for creating backup installs of WIndows!

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- Main

 

Bandizip - Peazip

mIRC - Weechat

Notepad++ - UEdit/UEStudio

NZBget* - SABnzbd

Winamp - AIMP

WinSCP - KiTTy

VirusTotalUploader - Winja

XYplorer - Q-Dir

 

- Media

 

Winamp - AIMP

MPC-HC - MPC-BE

 

---

 

I'll continue next time. ^^

 

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1 hour ago, Nastrahl said:

- Main

 

Bandizip - Peazip  -   Yes I have Peazip here too. both are comparable.

mIRC - Weechat  -  will try Weechat. never heard of it! 

Notepad++ - UEdit/UEStudio  will try both of these. never heard of it! 

NZBget* - SABnzbd  - I switched from SABNzbd to NZBget. I like NZB better

Winamp - AIMP  -  I knew this one was coming. There is no player I have found that can be configured like I have winamp (using albumlist - special plugin)

WinSCP - KiTTy   - 

VirusTotalUploader - Winja   - Yes I tried winja.  It's a little "bloaty" and crappy interface and worst of all not portable 

XYplorer - Q-Dir   - Q-Dir is good for basic stuff. def better than explorer, but XYplorer has much more features. (Search, for one- Q-Dir dev has been promising this for years)

 

- Media

 

Winamp - AIMP  -  see above.

MPC-HC - MPC-BE   - Have both - PotPlayer is preferred but they are good backup player. 

 

---

 

I'll continue next time. ^^ - PLEASE DO! I need more recommendations

 

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Tasty Monkey

Use fastKeys portable (http://fastkeys.vze.com/). It may replace many of your apps.

I use Notepad mod (https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/). It is very lightweight & portable.

Jdownloader (http://jdownloader.org/jdownloader2) takes care of all my downloading needs (including Youtube). It needs Java but portable.

Also Photoshop has been converted to paf portable which I use.
 

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28 minutes ago, Tasty Monkey said:

Use fastKeys portable (http://fastkeys.vze.com/). It may replace many of your apps.

I use Notepad mod (https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/). It is very lightweight & portable.

Jdownloader (http://jdownloader.org/jdownloader2) takes care of all my downloading needs (including Youtube). It needs Java but portable.

Also Photoshop has been converted to paf portable which I use.
 

 

Fastkeys - have seen references to it. will try portable one now. 

Notepad mod - I use notepad++

Photoshop - I have PAF, but note someone on nsaneforums showed me the light. omg omg omg!!   I now EXCLUSIVELY use Affinity Photo instead of photoshop.  Mark my words - this company will eventually overtake Photoshop!

Jdownloader - i remember this was java crap, although everyone likes it. 3D Downloader Batch is still THE BEST youtube downloader on earth I've used.

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  • Administrator

I must mention, one of the most detailed and one of the best software threads I have seen on nsane.forums. Well done.

 

First of all, some additions:

Audacity - one of the best audio editors.

BlueScreenView - BSOD information viewer.

HWMonitor - hardware temp monitor, better than others.

Kodi - Best media player, beyond common players.

MiniLyrics - Lyrics while playing audio. I do not know if it's maintained anymore though.

MSI Afterburner - manage your graphics card, OC and such, show OSD while gaming.

PerfectDisk - You did not mention any defrag softwares here. This one one of the top 3.

Revo Uninstaller Pro - one of the best uninstallers.

RIOT - Image optimizer / compressor, compress the size of images without effecting it's quality.

TreeSize Professional - check your disk usage, which file / folder is using how much space.

VisiPics - compare duplicate images, finds almost exact images, goes beyond hash checking.

X-Mouse Button Control - best mouse buttons / macros managing software.

 

Alternatives:

AIDA - HWiNFO64, useful for checking core usage more than other things.

HashTab - better than others to check hash of files.

Paint.NET - for quick image editing. Better than default Paint here.

Process Hacker - System Explorer, not the best but worth checking.

TEncoder - XMedia Recode. While TEncoder does look good, XMedia Recode is more famous and more detailed.

WackGet - IDM or EagleGet.

WinAMP - foobar2000 or AIMP mentioned above.

 

 

This is all I can recommend here.

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10 hours ago, DKT27 said:

I must mention, one of the most detailed and one of the best software threads I have seen on nsane.forums. Well done.

 

First of all, some additions:

Audacity - one of the best audio editors.           -- Agreed!

BlueScreenView - BSOD information viewer.      I have this but rarely use it.

HWMonitor - hardware temp monitor, better than others.  I suggest you try AIDA64 Engineer. I used to use HWMonitor and it's good but AIDA64 is much better

Kodi - Best media player, beyond common players.  I used to use Zoomplayer and Kodi.  Potplayer is the new king of video players right now. 

MiniLyrics - Lyrics while playing audio. I do not know if it's maintained anymore though.

MSI Afterburner - manage your graphics card, OC and such, show OSD while gaming. I used to use this and while it's good software, I have to recommend a better one -- Nvidia Inspector (yes it overclocks) and it's portable! :D

PerfectDisk - You did not mention any defrag softwares here. This one one of the top 3.  I use SSD so no defrag needed. I use a custom-made BAT entry for trimming my drive

Revo Uninstaller Pro - one of the best uninstallers. I rarely "install" stuff on my computer. I've heard Total Uninstall is better. Thoughts?

RIOT - Image optimizer / compressor, compress the size of images without effecting it's quality. Yes, this is a good app, I use to use it extensively until I found Photo(Picture)Resizer. It's better and much much faster. see here: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=13069.0   It's also portable. No settings. Just rename the exe. Follow directions on authors site.

TreeSize Professional - check your disk usage, which file / folder is using how much space.  I used to use this, but SpaceSniffer without question is better than this. 

VisiPics - compare duplicate images, finds almost exact images, goes beyond hash checking. Never used it, will try. Thanks!

X-Mouse Button Control - best mouse buttons / macros managing software. Never used it, will try thanks!

 

Alternatives:

AIDA - HWiNFO64, useful for checking core usage more than other things. Heh see above.

HashTab - better than others to check hash of files. Have you used HashMyFiles from Nirsoft? I've used both and prefer HashMyfILES

Paint.NET - for quick image editing. Better than default Paint here. I JUST deleted this last night. There is a new graphics editor champion and I can't fucking believe I hadn't seen it before. Someone on the forums introduced it to me - the only photoshop alternative and the one that will dethrone Adobe -- Affinity Photo. This is the best, most lightweight graphics app I have ever used. 

Process Hacker - System Explorer, not the best but worth checking. Process Hacker is the king. Process Explorer (by sysinternals) is pretty good too

TEncoder - XMedia Recode. While TEncoder does look good, XMedia Recode is more famous and more detailed. I no longer use either. I use VidCoder (uses handbrake engine) for video and Xrecode II or III for audio. 

WackGet - IDM or EagleGet. Do any of these come in portrable?  I don't use Wackget very often. I've heard of EagleGet; the interface always seemed so dry lol

WinAMP - foobar2000 or AIMP mentioned above. All 3 are good, but none of these apps unfortunately can replicate my setup. If I wrong, I will gladly re-try.

 

 

This is all I can recommend here. Thank you for the recommendations! Will try the apps I hadn't seen before.

 

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  • Administrator

@mymiabear: I see. Thanks for all the information. A question though. Does Nvidia Inspector show OSD while gaming, MSI AB shows way too many options in OSD, I wonder if this comes near it.

 

About Treesize, there is a reason I mentioned it and it was frontpaged, when it was done, it had come out with a new technology, which made it faster than any others out there. I guess others have improved too.

 

While I love Handbrake there is one thing it does not do - just copy the video, also, XMedia Recode has way too many options than Handbrake or such.

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On 4/18/2017 at 5:07 PM, DKT27 said:

@mymiabear: I see. Thanks for all the information. A question though. Does Nvidia Inspector show OSD while gaming, MSI AB shows way too many options in OSD, I wonder if this comes near it.

 

About Treesize, there is a reason I mentioned it and it was frontpaged, when it was done, it had come out with a new technology, which made it faster than any others out there. I guess others have improved too.

 

While I love Handbrake there is one thing it does not do - just copy the video, also, XMedia Recode has way too many options than Handbrake or such.

 

1. No i dont think it does OSD while gaming (u mean like FPS right?). Try it out. It's portable so it wont touch system

2. Try  spacesniffer. it's very lightweight, WICKED fast, and completely portable. I love the design better than treesize

3. Will try xmedia recode back again. thx for rec

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