Are you using a Gator or GAIN-supported application and would like to keep its functionality but dump the popup ads, excessive memory use, and data collection? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve researched a collection of free or low-cost programs that are superior to Gator’s. For each Gator application below, you’ll see our picks for programs that offer similar functionality.
The companies that offer these Gator alternatives respect your time and privacy. If you find their products to be useful, we urge you to upgrade to their paid versions (where available) or make a donation to support their work. All of these applications cost less than $30, many are free! (Did you know you can buy ad-free versions of Gator applications, but even if you do it will continue to collect data about your browsing habits?)
Gator eWallet
eWallet is Gator’s flagship utility. It stores information (including credit card numbers) to save you time when filling out web forms. Our recommendation for a much better replacement is RoboForm from Siber Systems. The free version has enough functionality for many users, and a full-featured Pro version is available for $30. (PC Pitstop receives a commission if you upgrade to the Pro version.) RoboForm will even offer to automatically convert the passwords and form information that you have stored in eWallet, making the escape from Gator’s jaws a lot less strenuous.
WeatherScope
Gator’s Weatherscope application displays the current temperature in the system tray and shows some basic forecast data when you click on the tray icon. WeatherPulse from Tropic Designs shows a lot more information including radar maps, and can even monitor for severe weather alerts and pop up a warning or send an email. Best of all, WeatherPulse is totally free and contains no adware or spyware.
Date Manager
If you have Microsoft Outlook 2000 or 2002, then you are already using a program that has much better date and appointment reminders than Gator’s Date Manager. Microsoft Money also comes with a reminder system, and many name-brand systems have MS Money already installed. One free alternative for managing reminders is VirtuaReminder from Nopo Software. Two good shareware options are xReminder from Duality Software and 1stClock from GreenParrots Software. The $20 xReminder can synchronize your system clock over the Internet, so it eliminates the need for both Date Manager and Precision Time.
Precision Time
For XP users, the best replacement for Precision Time is nothing! Windows XP already includes a feature to keep your system time in sync, just double-click on the time in the system tray and click the Internet Time tab. If you use another version of Windows, we recommend the free utility World Time Server from Chaos Software.
DivX Networks DivX video codec
Divx Networks offers their products in several versions. If you want their DivX Player or authoring tools (to create videos) then you either need to buy the $20 DivX Pro or download the “Ad Supported DivX Pro” that includes GAIN. However, most average users simply want to play DivX content. DivX makes their codec available for free, and you can use any free player such as Windows Media Player to play DivX content once you download the codec. Just click on the tiny link on their download page that says Standard DivX Codec(FREE). (If you have already installed the ad-supported DivX version you should uninstall it first through Control Panel Add/Remove and make sure that Gator/GAIN has been fully removed before installing the free DivX codec.)
