Essential Software, Software that you shouldn't live without Options

[pepoluan]

EditPlus - free, good, lightweight, text editor

EditPlus is not free. It's cheap, though. And if you have low moral fiber (like moi ) you dismiss the registration reminder with a click and no functionality is gone.

[dewey1973]

With all this talk of text editors, I'll throw in my favorite:

evolvEd

It's 100% free and has context highlighting for several languages.

I'd also suggest this font to make reading your code easier:

Proggy Clean Slashed Zero Bold Punctuation (the 8th font on the page)

Here is a description:

Proggy Clean Slashed Zero Bold Punctuation is identical to the well-liked Proggy Clean but has a slashed zero instead of a dot.

In addition, this font contains some bold punctuation characters and delimiters. The bold characters make things like variable scope (braces/brackets/parentheses are bold) and function arguments (commas etc are bold) more apparent to the eye.

Enjoy!

[pepoluan]

I'd also suggest this font to make reading your code easier:

Proggy Clean Slashed Zero Bold Punctuation (the 8th font on the page)

Here is a description:

Proggy Clean Slashed Zero Bold Punctuation is identical to the well-liked Proggy Clean but has a slashed zero instead of a dot.

In addition, this font contains some bold punctuation characters and delimiters. The bold characters make things like variable scope (braces/brackets/parentheses are bold) and function arguments (commas etc are bold) more apparent to the eye.

Ahhh, speaking of monospaced fonts, here's a thread dedicated *just* for that subject:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=47855

HA is truly the resource center for... pretty much many things

[Agent69]

I love this thread! Here is my list of software that I am running on my Vista box:

FREE/OSS/Freeware:

Firefox (Web browser)
7-Zip (Compressor)
Paint.NET (Graphics)
Mame (Arcade emulator)
ImageMagick (Command line image manipulation)
Curl (Command line tool for transferring files)
Notepad 2 (Text editor)
Foxit Reader (PDF reader)
CCleaner (Windows maintenance tool)
Putty (SSH)
Imgburn (CD burning software)
Media Player Classic (Video player)
K-Lite Codec Pack Basic (Video codecs)
Foobar2000 (Music player)
Wavpack (My preferred lossless codec)
Exact Audio Copy (Ripper)
MP3Tag (Tag editor)
CheckWavpackFiles (Wavpack tool)


COMMERICAL:

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Photography)

[zima]

http://www.faststone.org/FSMaxViewDetail.htm minimalitic image viewer, very fast (it seems to do precaching of files like for example Picasa...but I want my images to be associated with lightweight image viewer, not album organiser)

update: after a month of usage I came to conclusion that, while FSMaxView has interface that I like more for fast image viewing and when loaded diplays images very fast (thanks to caching probably), starting of Irfanview is still noticeably faster...

http://www.cccp-project.net/ Combined Community Codec Pack, seems to cause much, much less troubles than "old" codec packs (background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Community_Codec_Pack )


PS. Why so many people seem compelled to add to this thread software that was mentioned many times and is generally widely known?...

This post has been edited by zima: Apr 21 2007, 21:06

[apul]

Here's my very essential Windows toolbox:
ACDSee Classic 2.44
Crap Cleaner
foobar2000
Foxit PDF Reader
Miranda
HijackThis 1.99.1
ImgBurn
McAfee AVERT Stinger
Mozilla Firefox
ProcessExplorer
TLCP (FFDShow & MPC)
Unlocker
WinRAR

The others:
Any Video Converter (last freeware v1.2.1)
Burrrn
CDex
DAEMON Tools
Microsoft Office ($)
Mp3tag
Nero Micro 7.x.
NOD32 or BitDefender Standard
VLC or GOM or MPUI
LockNote
PhotoFiltre Studio ($)
UXTheme Multi-Patcher



Updated: 29 May 2007

This post has been edited by apul: May 29 2007, 11:02

[pepoluan]

I have been using Comodo Firewall Pro, it's great! As good as ZoneAlarm Pro, but far far far lighter on resources, and free!

http://www.comodo.com/

Oh, and for a (moderated) list of freewares (and freewares only, no shareware, etc.), see this thread on Comodo's forums:

http://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,1731.0.html

PS. Why so many people seem compelled to add to this thread software that was mentioned many times and is generally widely known?...

Because we are listing what we are using on our PC. And apparently, many of us thought uniformly

[zima]

...

PS. Why so many people seem compelled to add to this thread software that was mentioned many times and is generally widely known?...

Because we are listing what we are using on our PC. And apparently, many of us thought uniformly

Well...no, this thread is "Essential Software, Software that you shouldn't live without", not "Software you're using on your PC". Yes, the post by thread starter was essentially the latter...but for some reason at the beginning people didn't duplicate much (and it was much easier to read/sort through recommendations that way)

[gameplaya15143]

Avisynth

.. the real reason I'm not using linux

I don't know how people can survive without it.

[skelly831]

Some of my favorites that haven't been mentioned are:

FastStone Capture, a very powerful screen capture utility, saves to BMP, PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, custom delay time, several capture modes (full screen, active window, any other window, custom selection, freehand), and is one of the very few screen capture utilities that can correctly capture third-party window effects like YzShadow.

Taskbar Shuffle, manage your taskbar buttons in the same manner as your firefox tabs, drag-n-drop to rearrange, close with middle-click, etc.

Cream, Vim with a modified and more user-friendly UI.

[smok3]

and a runfast replacer;
http://launchy.net/

Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.

Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

ok, it did not replace the file manager, but everything else. It does beat similar launchers thanks to fast config, since it has internal spider.

This post has been edited by smok3: May 22 2007, 09:50

[dewey1973]

Some of my favorites that haven't been mentioned are:

FastStone Capture

Just a quick FYI... The newest version of FastStone Capture is no longer free for home use. I was SO disappointed to come to that realization. Do not run out and upgrade!

[skelly831]

Just a quick FYI... The newest version of FastStone Capture is no longer free for home use. I was SO disappointed to come to that realization. Do not run out and upgrade!

I did notice that, so for your screenshooting pleasure, here's FastStione Capture 5.3 (the last free version)

BTW, Another miscellaneous app I like is Pitaschio, it offers some cool desktop tweaks like small icons, custom icon text color, per window transparency (via scroll wheel, awesome feature) and loads of customizable mouse+keyboard shorcuts.

This post has been edited by skelly831: May 27 2007, 04:18

[Dr. Oviri]

Delphi and a lot of imagination... the rest doesn't need

[neomoe]

recently switched to apple macintosh os x:

I won't link firefox, thunderbird, skype, the iLife stuff, adiumX (multi-protocol IM), VLC, StuffIt and the like, because I consider those standard apps for OS X


other software I like most:

Fan Control: system preferences extension for customising the fan speed ( > a lauder but colder mac or a quieter but hotter mac) (free)

colloquy: teh irc-client for the mac (free)

uApp: you think dragging an app to the trash deletes it completely? well, that's not the case. (free)

TinkeTool: hidden system-preferences; a nice little app (free)

SyncTwoFolders: guess what. (free)

ProVoc: helps you learn foreign languages . (free)

pdfLab: split and join pdfs. (free)

GoPod: circumvent the loudness restrictions of EU-iPods. (free)

rename4mac: batch rename several files. (free)

Neooffice: OpenOffice for the mac (doesnt require X11) (free)

MenuShade: a little application enhancer to dim the menu bar. (free)

SuperDuper!: easy Backup utility. (free)
CarbonCopyCloner: replaces SuperDuper! because it lets you do a backup as soon as the external drive is attached which is very convenient for laptop users.

senuti: copy music off your ipod. (free)

MainMenu: OSX maintenance tool. (free)

transmission: bittorrent-client (free)

cleardock: to alter the dock (free)

anacron OS X: to run the repeating maintenance script even when the mac isn't up 24/7 (free)

Coolbook: a tool to undervolt the CPU > reduces heat and therefor fan noise. (around 10 EUR) TOP!

DeLocalizer: to remove unnecessary language files; safes much disk space! (free)

folderglance: browse folders by contextual menu. (free)

quicksilver man, u need that. way more than simply a launcher. (free)



software for audio, video:


handbrake: a tool for ripping DVDs compressed to your harddrive. (free)

Max: a ripper, transcoder. check out the other apps on that site. (free)

flip4mac: windows media codecs.

GimmeSomeTune: fetches artwork and lyrics for songs played by iTunes in the background and displays the artwork. (free)

iScrobbler: scrobble current iTunes played songs to last.fm in a unoptrusive manner.

MediaRage: sadly the only tagging app which can compete with windows applications. (around 24 EUR) (of course there is tag.app and tritag.app but neither of them has all one needs.)

iVolume: sadly the only ReplayGain implemention for the mac. (12 EUR)

airfoil: stream any system sound to (multiple) airport express stations. (around 25 EUR)





edit: added more applications.

This post has been edited by neomoe: Jun 19 2008, 12:58

[smok3]

ReplayGain implemention for the mac. (12 EUR)

anything wrong with the itunes implementation?

[neomoe]

it's fast but it is not as accurate as ReplayGain. even I can tell the difference. sometimes you will have to adjust the loudness of a song manually to get equal loudness to other songs. and the SoudCheck function doesn't know AlbumGain or something comparable.

[gameplaya15143]

Taskbar Shuffle, manage your taskbar buttons in the same manner as your firefox tabs, drag-n-drop to rearrange, close with middle-click, etc.

I've used taskbarshuffle for a while. I tried to stop using it... started goin nuts after 2 minutes

gif optimizer
It sometimes even beats pngout in filesize .. and it's instant-fast.
There seems to be a small bug where it removes completely transparent frames from animations.

[skelly831]

Taskbar Shuffle, manage your taskbar buttons in the same manner as your firefox tabs, drag-n-drop to rearrange, close with middle-click, etc.

I've used taskbarshuffle for a while. I tried to stop using it... started goin nuts after 2 minutes

I have Pitaschio setup to minimize windows with a middle-click on the titlebar, and taskbar shuffle to close windows with a middle-click on the taskbar button, after a while it feels these are native Windows functions! I also disable the minimize/maximize animations for a "quicker" feel.

[Hollunder]

Avisynth

.. the real reason I'm not using linux

I don't know how people can survive without it.

http://avisynth3.unite-video.com/

I guess you can switch now


essential if you want to learn neo or dvorak or any other layout: http://ktouch.sourceforge.net/ ; http://klavaro.sourceforge.net/

[smok3]

Hollunder; this is not in the usefull state right now and also the plugins are incompatible with version 2.5x (so keep your xp install...)

[sthayashi]

and a runfast replacer;
http://launchy.net/

I have to say, I've been using this for 2 weeks now based on Smok3's recommendation, and it's darn useful, but not necessarily for launching programs. I point this at my music collection (which is semi-organized) and I can just type something part of the title or artist, and *boom* it finds it.

(Yes, I realize that other music players incorporate this feature, but it's never really felt this elegant before).

[pepoluan]

and a runfast replacer;http://launchy.net/

I have to say, I've been using this for 2 weeks now based on Smok3's recommendation, and it's darn useful, but not necessarily for launching programs. I point this at my music collection (which is semi-organized) and I can just type something part of the title or artist, and *boom* it finds it.

(Yes, I realize that other music players incorporate this feature, but it's never really felt this elegant before).

The beauty is that you don't have to start your music player first that's what makes it elegant

gifoptimizer
It sometimes even beats pngout in filesize .. and it's instant-fast.

Ah, you're comparing apples to oranges ... GIF's with only 256 colors (8-bit) will most of the time be smaller than a PNG with 16.7 million colors (24-bit).

You have to ensure that PNGOUT will output an 8-bit PNG, and thus the result should always be similar, most likely smaller.

Also if the GIF's got some colors thrown out, e.g. reducing it from 8-bit to 4-bit, you must also make sure PNGOUT outputs 4-bit (which I'm not sure it is capable or not).

[Jojo]

Abakt - an excellent lightweight backup tool that can act as a front end for 7-zip. Highly recommended.

[TREX6662k6]

and a runfast replacer;
http://launchy.net/

I have to say, I've been using this for 2 weeks now based on Smok3's recommendation, and it's darn useful, but not necessarily for launching programs. I point this at my music collection (which is semi-organized) and I can just type something part of the title or artist, and *boom* it finds it.

(Yes, I realize that other music players incorporate this feature, but it's never really felt this elegant before).

HOT DAMN! I'll experiment more with this later. Looks really interesting from the screen shots. I typically run everything from the Run dialogue box. Notepad, IExplore, msconfig, services.msc, gpedit, taskmgr...cant be bothered to use the mouse or startmenus

This post has been edited by TREX6662k6: Jun 20 2007, 01:10