Appreciate your modesty, Alex. I too like to give credit where it's due. So, a quick search, and it's our French connection, jlouis7518, who first discovered the French Avanquest calendar. Merci again, jlouis, and I apologize for correcting you in my earlier post. I didn't realize you didn't know we had found all the other calendars.

Hello Watcher13 and all the rest:
Unfortunately I cannot take the credit for digging this advent calendar thing up, somebody else did. They posted in the forum, where I saw it one day. However, when I wanted to go back to that comment, I couldn't find it anymore. That why I started a new thread ...
It does make one appreciate the effort of the GOTD team even more, at least here we won't find those interesting "free downloads"
Merry x-Mas to all, AlexSJ

Thanks, Internaught. I guess the bad news is that the version of Registry First Aid they're giving away on the site must be limited in some way. :(

The final ghacks raffle is ESET Nod32 Antivirus. Eset is a Slovakian company, but I have not found any flaws in the English on their website. It's also available for 64 bit. They actually define Nod32 as a small to medium business app. which they define as organizations which have 20-1000 computers. This program seems to be an up-and-comer. It's won some legit awards and some comparative tests have rated this better than many of the usual suspects. Even the one review I saw that gave it a C+ really liked it. The C+ was because the reviewer didn't like the support. The reviewer didn't like the lack of phone support - email only - and felt that, though the website had all the info., that info. was poorly organized. I haven't evaluated the support part of the site.

ghacks has 3 licenses, and you're in the raffle if you post a comment.
http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/24/ghacks-christmas-giveaway-eset-nod32-antivirus/#more-9324

Well, as Gerald Ford said, "Our long national nightmare is finally over". In other words, you won't have to put up with any more of my babling. I'll probably check back once more after Xmas, to see if the Avanquest and Chip calendars have been pulled. I hope this has helped some folks acquire some good software! You can thank AlexSJ and SimpleMinded for their sharp eyes in finding this stuff in the first place.

The programs on the UK site CD are:

* WebSite X5
* Safe'n'Sec Personal Deluxe
* Fix-It Express 7
* School of Magic Screensaver
* Radiotracker 5 SE
* Web Easy Express 7
* Avanquest Connection Manager
* PowerDesk 5 Standard
* Morpheus Photo Morpher Basic
* PC Booster

They sent an email announcing it.

Enjoy!

First, on the screensaver issue: those who want Christmas Time 3D, it's today's giveaway (we hope) on the Spanish site. Merci, Monsieur Louis. But, as you can see, it's a different giveaway on each country's site. A good try, though.

Day the final, 24:
UK: Their version of a collection CD. This has all 10 free softwares that are available on the UK site. So, essentially, you can buy a backup for these 10 programs for 6.75 pounds. However, I can only guess at the programs, since their not listed and Avanquest snuck in some demos during the 24 days. My guess is: WebSite X5 Smart Edition, Safe'n'Sec Personal, Fix-It Utilities Express 7, Radiotracker Standard Edition, Web Easy Express 7, Registry First Aid, Avanquest Connection Manager, Power Desk 7 Standard, Morpheus Photo Morpher Basic, PC Booster.
France: Night City, an Astro Gemini 3D screensaver.
Germany: Finally, the German compilation CD for 10 euros with free delivery. Like the others, but unlike the English, some of these are different than the giveaways. Some are older program versions. 9 programs (Germans just have to be different. Hee!): PC Booster 5, Web Easy 6 Pro, Power Desk 6 Pro, Greenbox Logo Maker 1, Fix-It 6 Pro, Avanquest Connection Manager, AutoSave 2, PDF to Word Pro, Driver Genius 7. You can download the programs after purchasing then the backup CD will arrive within 10 days. Maybe all multi-lingual.
Spain: Astro Gemini Christmas Time 3D screensaver.
Italy: Web Easy 6

I'll post the ghacks giveaway when it becomes available.

A reminder. As AlexSJ, who started all this (then I went nuts over it) pointed out, there are a lot of giveaways in the Advent Calendar of the German Chip Magazine. However, there's no way to tell which ones might be multi-lingual, as they're almost all supposed to be in German. I posted the only ones I found in English. Still, it might be worth a look.
http://www.chip.de/artikel/Download-Adventskalender-2008_33781926.html

hi, i don't read all this post before but i can give you the sites avanquest in french , english and 2 in german
i post it in french forum
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3701/page/3#post-46728
and also this one in german
http://web.avanquest.com/special_offers/2008_calendar/calendar.cfm?country_id=2&tr1=BB_DE_BN_AD_1208

i think they do the same in june as last year

sorry for my english it's not my native language
JL

Hi, if anyone here knows Italian, could they write to the Italian Avanquest site to let them know that the giveaway on the Advent calendar is the wrong screensaver?
It is supposed to be Christmas Time 3D, but the download is for School of Magic screensaver.

I have tried a couple times more, and I got the same download link, so I guess they haven't noticed yet?

Thanks, if anyone could let them know :)

Yeah, I think I see what you mean, Buzz. Of course, if you searched you could problem find most shareware that way. I'm no Angel, but I guess most of us wouldn't feel right getting it that way. Heck, I shouldn't even have made the posts I made about not having to be accurate in Avanquest registrations. But I see that slightly differently. If I uncheck the "send me notifications" box, and you promise not to send me anything, why do you need my name and e-mail? I think a lot of online sites do that only out of habit, thinking that's the way it has to be done, when all they really want is more traffic. On the other hand, I realize that Avanquest's motivation is hoping you won't uncheck that box. Still that's one of the glory's of true freeware: nothing to worry your conscience about.

hmmm, Ya got to 'register' too. No wonder I don't have a chance to get one. lol
Ultraedit has been around for almost ever. A good app, but overpriced, imo.

ps- When you do a google search for "UltraEdit v14.20" apparently many people
don't ever pay for it.

Today ghacks is raffling off 3 licenses to UltraEdit and 3 to UltraCompare from IDM Computer Solutions (though, for some reason, ghacks doesn't mention them.). UltraEdit is an award winning souped up text editor that retails for $50. ghacks says it's got quite a bit of extra features over many other text editors. The feature set includes: syntax highlighting, code folding, Unicode support, spell checking, ftp & sftp browser, ssh. macro engine, html building, customizations, backup, a file comparison tool, a dockable SSH / Telnet window to access a remote server command line right from the editor, and, apparently, some more. It's seems to have an impressive list of awards - some undoubtably real - including winning awards 3 different years at the Software Industry Conference's Shareware Industry Awards. In fact, IDM hasn't even updated that UltraEdit won this year's Best Business App. award.
http://www.ultraedit.com/products/ultraedit/ultraedit_awards.html
If you want to test drive first, there's a fully functional trial download.

UltraCompare is a file comparison tool. The Lite version is bundled with UltraEdit. This is, of course, the Pro version. It retails for $30. Most of it's awards are the standard file dump type, but a couple appear to be legit., including 5 cows from Tucows. It also has a free trial.

To restate: You register and post a comment in this topic at ghacks and you're eligible for the drawing. You can, apparently, post anything. They'd prefer you let them know what you're currently using/have used for these functions.
http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/23/ghacks-christmas-giveaway-ultraedit-and-ultracompare/#more-9290

Day 23:

UK: Free PC Booster.
France: Unfortunately a demo game that might be interesting to try. Azur et Asmar - English title: the Princes' Quest. Based on an award winning 2006 animated medieval children's fantasy film by Michel Ocelot. The movie was released around the world in '06 - '07, but didn't reach the U.S. until this fall. Distributors were afraid it would get a PG-13 or higher because of (Horrors!) a breast feeding scene. It's currently in the middle of an American art house run. Emme games released it, but it doesn't appear to have been widely distributed in English speaking countries. Here's a trailer in French. Warning! (Will Robinson) The offending scene is right up front.
http://www.videocodezone.com/videos/g/game_trailers/azur_et_asmar.html
The core download is almost certainly in French. You can play the first level for free.
Germany: Free full version Avanquest Connection Manager.
Spain: Free WebEasy 6 website software.
Italy: Astro Gemini's "Christmastime" 3D screensaver free.

The ghacks offer isn't yet available. Not sure what daily schedule they're on.

SimpleMinded posted a thread about a Christmas giveaway from the Germany based English language site Ghacks, which I'd never seen before. They're doing a daily drawing. They're being given a certain amount of free licenses each day from different developers and raffling them off. You have to register and post a comment on the giveaway topic, but it doesn't have to be intelligent - which lets me in. As I see it, you could even post blah, blah, blah, and be entered in the drawing.

Today's are WinSnap, a snapshot utility, and Window Space, a window manager that gives hotkey moving and resizing options as well as snapping options - snapping and locking a window into a preset place. Both are from a developer named ntwind and are also available for 64 bit systems.

I didn't know anything about Ghacks. It looks like an interesting site, including a blog that practically daily has posts about freeware.

ghacks.net

As Simple points out in his thread, the one exception is the sandbox program Returnil, which is offering unlimited free licenses up to the middle of Jan. 2.
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4478#post-47904
http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/20/ghacks-christmas-giveaway-returnil-premium/

I'll post the last 2 giveaways in this thread.

No problem! Time for today's (22nd) Magical Mystery Tour:

UK: Free Morpheus Photo Morpher Basic. At least I hope it's free and not an eval. copy. I say that because when the German site had it earlier it was a 45% discount. On the other hand, it was one of the 10 softwares in the French 10 euro cd?
France: 10 euros off on PC Show Buzz, online TV software. 20 euros. Also available from the Spanish site on the 17th for the same price, though I neglected to list the price at the time.
Germany: Unfortunately, apparently only an eval. copy of ExpertZIP Pro. At least I understand that's what the German term "testversion" means. Also says "free testing" on the button. Thanks loads! Maybe unfortunate as this has 18 formats, a burner, and also does Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to PDF conversion.
Spain: Free AutoSave Essentials.
Italy: 40% discount on ACDSee 9 Photo Manager. 23 euros. Also available on the Spanish site on the 18th at the same price.

that makes sense, thanks watcher13.

Let me explain, Txnnok. It's because I'm so wordy, it's made the thread so long. I can understand that not all members would want to go back and read all my blabbing, so let me clarify. Avanquest has 5 European sites. Each one is offering a different daily giveaway on their calendars. Some of the software is offered on different sites on different days. Some will most likely be unique to that site. It can be a little confusing to keep up. If you'll look up a couple messages you'll see the 21st giveaways listed. The purpose of the thread is for me to post these everyday to give folks a heads up.

I clicked on the german giveaway for the 21st and it gave me a pdf giveaway. I then checked the english away that launches to calender and chose the 21sy and got a mahjongg giveaway. strange
http://web.avanquest.com/special_offers/2008_calendar/calendar.cfm?country_id=3&tr1=AQ_UK_EM_AD_PTW_191208
here is to the calandar
http://web.avanquest.com/special_offers/2008_calendar/calendar.cfm?country_id=3&tr1=AQ_UK_EM_AD_PTW_191208

german giveaway for the same day
http://web.avanquest.com/special_offers/2008_calendar/calendar.cfm?country_id=2&tr1=BB_DE_BN_AD_1208

Yeah, Alex, I posted on the Mahjong heaven thread, and then had to go back and break the bad news to them. I'm assuming Avanquest couldn't come up with 24 good giveaways to cover the whole calendar and had to try and sneak some by demos by us as filler. Unaccepatble. Thanks for the heads up and let us know if you get O&O working. I assume you'll try and convert the language if it doesn't give you the multi option.

Guess what: I just wanted to download the Mahjongg Artifacts, but after giving your e-mail address it says: Please note that this game will run free of charge for 60 minutes before requiring activation.
So, you can download for free, but paly only 60 min....
Pura vida, AlexSJ

Chip has something useful on for today: O&O SafeErase 3
You have to register on the O&O site and they will send you a serial. I had some trouble to finally get to their page: http://www.oo-software.com/home/de/special/chip_adventskalender/ and as of yet have not received their e-mail
Greetings, AlexSJ

Thanks Wiz and Alex. Wiz, I went back to day 14 of the Chip calendar to check on Ashampoo and it says the language is German, so I assuming you mean it's multilingual. Cool. I like Babel Fish, but I've done this thread with Google Translate, and I'm having good success with it. Alex, I get the impression that despite the little tricks Avanquest pulls, this is probably one of the tricks from Driver Genius. I read a couple of reviews that said this is the kind of disabling they do with their demos.

Offers for the 21st:
UK: Free Mahjohngg Artefacts. Hopelessly this is truly a free full version and not a demo as they sometimes do. Says 100 levels, so keep your fingers crossed.
France: Free Smart Image Recovery.
Germany: 10 euro discount on PDF Experte 6 Professional. Converts Word and Excel to PDF. Says reconverts to Word. May simply mean PDF to Word conversion. Has signature tool. 30 euros.
Spain: Free Transfiere Tus DVDs (Transfer Your DVDs) 3. Transfer DVD material to iPod and iPhone, PSP, Nintendo DS, supposedly more. "Box" photo in Spanish.
Italy: 50% off on PDF Transformer 2. Converts to Word, Excel, HTML, text, others (?). 45 euros. Base download version is definitely Italian.

Hello all:
Decided to check a bit more about the Driver Genius:
As Watcher13 mentioned UK calendar on the 8th was only a scan. French calendar of the 19th is a fuller download, that lets you scan and backup in French only (I managed to get the interface in English by taking the Englisch language file English.lng and rename it to French.lng), but when you want to update drivers, you get redirected to buy the version. The promo code is good only for the installation, but cuts you right short on the web page - so you won't be able to update. If somebody gets any further, please post.
If you want a functioning version, your best bet really is http://www.chip.de/downloads/6.-Dezember-2008-DriverGenius-2007_33263191.html, which is version 7, but a full one as such. No hidden tricks as above. It also includes all Language files and let's you choose between under Tools/Options
Pura vida, AlexSJ

I thought that I would add that Ashampoo Photo Commander 6 is a full free version offered from chip and it does come in English. That being said, however, you do have to register on their german site so you may need a translator. I used babel fish. Once you're done registering, you simply put the code they provide under the link "My Free Reg. Keys" into the program and you're all set.

http://www.chip.de/downloads/14.-Dezember-2008-Ashampoo-Photo-Commander_33263439.html

Thanks for the heads up guys, I check these sites everyday.

Regards,
AH

Thanks, Buzz, but I don't deserve any sympathy. I was home and it only took about an hour to get everything straightened out. No harm done. Actually, yesterday was kind of a disorganized day and I was the disorganizer, so to speak. Oh well, time to get back on track.

Day 19 Avanquest promotions:
UK: 5 pounds off on PDF to Word. Now 10 pounds.
France: 2009 Avanquest Maxi Compil promotional software package for 10 euros. Promotional download + CD contains full versions of PC Booster 5 accelerator, Logomaker, Creez Votre Site website designer(core language appears to be French or Spanish), an unidentified backup software, Morpheus Basic photo software, IdiomaX Express translation software, Avanquest Connection Manager, Beetle Junior2 game, Arxon sudoku game, and an antique clock screensaver. Will also recieve software on cd 10 days after download. Limited edition. 1,000 copies of CD available (and, presumably, 1,000 downloads). CD delivery free.
Germany: 14 Euro discount on StarOffice 9 Deluxe. Office suite compatible with Linux and Mac, as well as PC.
Spain: 2009 Avanquest Special Collection cd for 10 euros. The 10 programs in this version: Auto Save 2, Connection Manager (for laptops), IdiomaX Express, Smart PC 4 repair software, Magic Speed accelerator, WebEasy 6 Pro, Smart Image Recovery, Classic Phone Tools phone and fax tools, Fix-it 6 anti-virus, anti-spyware and maintenance software, and a Xmas screensaver. Limited editon: 500 downloads + CD.
Italy: Avanquest Maxi Compilation 2009 for 10 euros. In the Italian Collection: Connection Manager, PC Booster 5 accelerator, Smart PC, Expert PDF 4, IdiomaX Express, WebEasy 6 web site designer, Digital Video Duplicator 3 video and DVD copy software, Smart Image Recovery, Fix-it 6, Xmas screensaver. 5,000 downloads + cds.

And the 20th:
UK: AutoSave Essentials demo. Free 30 days backup.
France: Driver Genius. Text says Backup Express. "Box" says Driver Genius 8. Previous version on Avanquest have been demos that only let you scan. This says free download and free version where the others said free scan?
Germany: Free full version of Greenbox Logo Maker. Includes templates, objects, shapes, effects, etc....
Spain: 65 euro discount on Smart PC compo back. Includes Smart PC Professional, Smart Data Scrubber, and My Privacy Online. 35 euros.
Italy: 40% discount on Mobile Media Studio 3 for cellphones. Doesn't specify final price. Could be 20 euros or 40% off 20 euros.

The German Chip magazine has English software for the 19th. The Home version of Advance Office Password Breaker for recovering lost 97/2000 Microsoft Office document passwords. Also those made in 97/2000 format on 2003/XP. It also includes an upgrade license key. Unclear from the translation whether it's a 30% discount on upgrade to the Pro version or 30% off for those who have the Pro version and want to get a new version without having it written down to the Home version (or both).

The direct link: http://dl99.chip.de/download/ff20e3d936a45766210f57a5230b6822/494c82dd/5631237/aopr25_home.zip

As I've said before, the old days' downloads are still good.

That's really a bummer watcher. At least (hope) you were home when it happened.

Thanks, Buzz. Pipe burst in the house and, with other things, I'll have to catch up tomorrow.

Spanish site finally came up, it's ACDsee v9 with 34% discount :(

Here we go, offers for the 18th:

UK and Germany: Free full version PowerDesk 7 Standard file organizer.
France: Photo and Video WebExtractor website media grabber. Likely a demo. 300 free downloads offered. Name is English, “box” graphic on website is French.
Spain: Spanish calendar entry is messed up. Apparently didn’t upload properly. Showing (header) (body), etc. The download button gives you the registration screen, but won’t download. The software box looks French. Translates in Google French, better than Spanish: Creez Votre Site (Create Your Site) Internet Pro2. Didn’t find anything in English when I Yahooed it. I’ll check it tomorrow.
Italy: 3 pack discount. PDF to Word, PDF to HTML, PDF to text. Developer not listed. Couldn’t verify, but could be our frequent contributor Quick-PDF.com. Down from 60 to 20 euros.

Sorry, folks: had two of the US DTV converter box coupons that were due to expire, yesterday, so I finally made up my mind about what boxes to get. That and installing them - I live in a bad spot and have had to coax the channels in - took a chunk out of yesterday. Also, I'm fighting an ear infection that's got my left ear swelled shut, and the occassional throbbing is distracting. Thanks AlexSJ for posting that heads up thread on ExpertPDF from today's giveaway. Helps to have the input from someone who's used it. And Whiterabbit recommended it in earlier post here. As I've said before, unless otherwise noted, these downloads are good 'til at least Xmas day.

Back to the grindstone. :)

Offers under the 16th:
UK: Free Registry First Aid
France: Free Radiotracker Standard Edition stream recording software.
Germany: Full version free Safe'n'Secure protection software. Falls in the category of a Host Intrusion Protection System (HIPS), including heuristics to prevent unwanted (malicious) execution of processes on your system.
Spain: Free Media Monkey music organizing and ripping software.
Italy: Free AutoSave Essentials backup software.

And the 17th:
UK: Free Avanquest Connection Manager for laptop network connection management.
France: 80 euros discount on 3 pack of collection organizing software from Collectorz.com: Music Collector, Book Collector, DVD Collector. This is a Dutch company, which also has English and German websites - so likely multi-lingual: collectorz.com. 40 euros.
Germany: 120 euro 3 pack discount. Alcohol 120% 4.0 Platinum CD/DVD copying, etc. software; Natural Voice Reader text to speech software; Faxtools 8 Pro faxing software. 50 euros.
Spain: 30% discount on PC ShowBuzz online TV software. Includes burning of streams option.
Italy: Free Expert PDF 4.

Thanks, Alex. I've been checking Chip every day since notblocklox posted the link last week, but only posted the one English software I'd found. Didn't know if there'd be enough interest in the German ones, and couldn't tell for sure if they had multi-language support. Please post anything from Chip's giveaway that you think would be interesting.

Hello all:
there is a similar calendar at http://www.chip.de/artikel/Download-Adventskalender-2008_33781926.html
Today they are giving away Paragon Partition Manager 8.5. It requires registration at Paragon's site, during setup there is a button to request the serial.
Version is in German, I couldn't find anything to switch to a different language - lol
Pura vida, AlexSJ