Software products that you think are really good

[Boris]

List some software that you think rocks. It can be any application, music, email, enterprise stuff. You name it. If you have time describe why you like it.

I'll start.
Rhapsody's music service - Granted I havn't compared it to competing products, but it offers a wide variety of music on a subscription basis. It also offers a device that creates a fairly seamless integration from music selection to portable listening.

YouTube - the site has gone downhill a bit but I still like the crazy variety of video and the ease with which other websites can publish YouTube videos.

[El Diablo]

Boris,

Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/) - This lets me organize and stay on top of tons of feeds

Firefox (cue astro's list of extensions)

Trillian (instant messaging) (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/) - I like the ability to have multiple accounts open in one client across Yahoo, AIM, and MSN.

AVG Anti-spyware/anti-virus (http://www.grisoft.com/) free and pay versions. free home use version is great.

OpenVPN - For anyone who needs to set up a VPN to the office or wherever, this is super easy to setup and use.

[tuq]

Although we're 98% resigned to top-posting e-mails thanks to M$ setting the standard of putting the cursor above the header so long ago (as well as so many people choosing HTML as their default format), if you're a geek or wannabe geek who uses plain text format and likes to reply below the quotes (as is our standard in these forums, for example), here (http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/outlook-quotefix/) is a free download you may enjoy. I've used it for years. It automatically "fixes" the headers in Outlook when you hit reply, and you can also customize them to your liking. Note that this has no effect on HTML e-mails.

Not sure many will benefit from this, but for the few that will they'll find it pretty cool.

[RichC.]

Pandora when I could use it at work. Streaming music all day and it makes suggestions based on my choices.

Firefox, as mentioned before.

[Costanza]

TypeIt4Me (http://www.typeit4me.com/)

You set up a list of abbreviations for common words/phrases. Then, any time you're typing in any program it replaces the abbreviation with the word/phrase you defined.

Only for Macintosh though. If anyone knows of a similar program for Windows I'd love to know about it.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Emusic is a great music package. It's easy to use, provides fast downloads, and the Mp3's have no DRM. it's a lot of indie/ambient stuff, not a lot of GnR and U2 to be found.

[astroglide]

LAUNCHY (http://www.launchy.net/)

want to open paint? alt-spacebar, type 'pa', and hit enter.

want to open notepad? alt-spacebar, type 'no', and hit enter.

want to calculate 467823 * 463? alt-spacebar, enter the expression and it's calculated inline.

it indexes your start menu by default, but you can make it do other things. i added my documents to its directory list and pdf as a filetype. now if i want to pull up my nutritional data pdf from subway i hit alt-spacebar, type 'sub', and hit enter. this will work for any type of file that can be executed/opened: word documents, excel spreadsheets, etc. it can also index ie and firefox bookmarks.

http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/launchy/LaunchySetup103.exe

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
Pandora when I could use it at work. Streaming music all day and it makes suggestions based on my choices.



[/ QUOTE ]

very good one

[Isura]

keypass - Great for organizing all my passwords and very secure, and its free.

[[censored]]

spybot search and destroy - free

Ad aware SE personal - free

both are free, very easy to use and effective

[TiK]

Google Notebook (http://google.com/notebook/)

It's like notepad, but you can access it from any computer. You can save links, etc., with a couple of mouseclicks. I find it very convenient for saving web pages, random quotes on a webpage (you can highlight the text, right-click and save it to notebook, along with the url).

[kipin]

gmail - I love gmails interface and constant refreshing of your inbox.

photoshop - I don't really think this needs any explanation

winamp - stable, non bloatware mp3 player

Media Player Classic - This builds off the UI of the old school windows media player (before MS bloated it up) and is very sleek and non resource intensive. This is what I watch all my video files with. (Including quicktime files after I installed the quicktime alternative plugin)

Foxitreader - Very sleak, fast loading freeware pdf reader. It loads in less than a second which compared to Adobe's bloatware is amazing and it renders everything I have ever thrown at it flawlessly.

As others have already mentioned: AVG antivirus, Spybot S&D, and trillian are also very useful.

ffdshow - This is a video rendering engine that will render pretty much all avi files regardless of the codec they were encoded in. (Works flawlessly with Media Player Classic)

[PITTM]

hijackthis!-lists processes, autostarts and internet buttons and lets you manually remove them. i use this a lot at home.

[PITTM]

kipin. media player classic>VLC player?

also, imo, foobar2k>winamp

[traz]

I'm a big fan of mpc

[kipin]

RJ,

In my opinion yes. I like the controls MPC gives me when it comes to audio/video settings. For example it is very easy from within MPC to resize a video file (zoom in/out) change the aspect ratio, change audio speed etc.

I also started using MPC before VLC became popular so I am used to all the keyboard command shortcuts and I see no reason to switch.

MPC + ffdshow + AC3 codec = best for video playback.

One other program I forgot which I use all the time is
utorrent - very sleek fast loading highly customizable bitorrent client.

[onthebutton]

I seem to have a real problem with VLC player---lots of times there's really bad pixelation and lag, which takes 20-30 seconds for the player to "catch up" to. I'd be interested in hearing more about other video players. I can't get the new Media Player to play anything (almost)....tons of codec errors, etc.

[Josem]

google homepage - www.google.com/ig (http://www.google.com/ig) - email, news, weather, rss, etc., all on my homepage. i love this.

[astroglide]

i use mpc, and i like it a lot better than vlc. the non-native look and feel as well as the imprecise slidebar bother me.

i prefer winamp to foobar2k though. i like winamp's dead-simple operation and ability to right-click a folder and queue up all of its contents.

[edtost]

everything non-nerdy I use even remotely often has been mentioned, so here goes:

Mathematica - whenever I need a symbolic answer to something. it's like magic.

MATLAB - for everything else. data analysis, simulations, etc. plus a well-designed and simple c-style programming language that makes it easy to learn.

Excel - just an awesome all-around product. easy to use, and also very powerful for those (not so much myself) who are really good at manipulating it. one of the few microsoft products I really find superior to any competitor.

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
i prefer winamp to foobar2k though. i like winamp's dead-simple operation and ability to right-click a folder and queue up all of its contents.

[/ QUOTE ]

i think my love of foobar comes from the fact that all of my mp3s are there and sorted, i just scroll to where i want and start playing.

[Dids]

Strong preference for GAIM over Trillian.

2nd ED on Excel. So many people at work and in their personal life get silly products they don't need instead of just using Excel, which is super versitle.

I'm a fan of rocketlaunch, which is a util that basically lets me run the os10 toolbar on my pc, just a faster, better looking way of launching aps.

[El Diablo]

Josem,

I don't use a personalized homepage, but a lot of people I know love this one: http://www.netvibes.com/

[astroglide]

dids, have you checked out launchy?

[Tron]

"On the Job" is a beautifully simple time tracking and invoicing program for Mac. Unfortunately, I don't have any business. So if you want some PowerPoints made, call me up so I can use this damn software.

I know none of you use Macs, so the rest are web-based:

Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com) for custom start pages... Much better RSS integration than Google homepage and it's just prettier overall.

Wordpress.com (http://www.wordpress.com/) for free hosted blogging. I like the interface more than Blogger, plus the search engine results are RIDICULOUS.

Slideshare.net (http://www.slideshare.net) is kind of a YouTube for PowerPoints and other slideshows. I'm not sure if I'd say it's "really good," but it's the best of its kind.

[PITTM]

i still use aim 5.9 with deadaim and prefer it to gaim or trillian. i think i need to give gaim another look though.

i use fire for instant messaging/irc'ing on my mac and i wish they had fire for pc.

3rd the excel, excel rulz!

[Dids]

[ QUOTE ]
dids, have you checked out launchy?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't. That said, the way I use my computers is more mouse heavy than typing, so your initial description turned me off a bit. I used to be MUCH more keyboard heavy back when we ran a dos based db at work, but since we lost that in 2001, I'm a mouse slave now.

[kipin]

One other google service is use all the time are the advanced search functions such as the calculator function (Just do a google search with your equation (Ex. 16x3+(4+5) ), the converter function (Ex. 16 pounds in kilograms), and the english dictionary which returns definitions from multiple sources (ex. Define: Marsupial).

Anyone else have some handy google services they use that are offered through their websearch?

[astroglide]

i keep my browser window at fullscreen. if i wanted to open up my ruby pickaxe book pdf, i would have to grab the mouse, click the start menu, go to my documents, go to tech, and double-click the pdf. using launchy i can hit alt-spacebar, type 'pick', and hit enter. it's WAY more efficient.

[elus2]

If you've ever wanted to know what type of motherboard you have or other hardware info without having to open up your machine, siw (http://www.gtopala.com/) scans your machine and provides a comprehensive list of all hardware and software components. It's very useful if you've formatted your computer and need to find a driver for some hardware component but the list of hardware devices through windows my computer properties doesn't bring it up.

I'm also a big fan of google's online calendar and spreadsheet software for collaborating with remote groups of people.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
keypass - Great for organizing all my passwords and very secure, and its free.

[/ QUOTE ]

oh damn, thats another good one. I have a couple USB flash drives with my keypass database on them. One by my computer and one on my keychain.

[Dids]

I've got a laptop with a giant screen and a dual monitor desktop, my rocklaunch is never obstructed. Part of this also is that I just like clean, so I have zero icons on my desktop.

I do agree that the start menu is a horrible idea.

This reminds me that TweakUI is something everybody should have.

[Tron]

Post deleted by Tron

[Dids]

[ QUOTE ]
i keep my browser window at fullscreen. if i wanted to open up my ruby pickaxe book pdf, i would have to grab the mouse, click the start menu, go to my documents, go to tech, an

[/ QUOTE ]

Tron's software needs:

Better message board posting software.

[Benholio]

Well, while we are prattling off Google apps, I'll give Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com) a mention. I use it mainly at work, but it useful for home users too.

My favorite feature is the quick-search window that can be popped up by tapping control twice. It searches files, emails, etc, on your PC and/or any network drives that you choose to index.

[Tron]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i keep my browser window at fullscreen. if i wanted to open up my ruby pickaxe book pdf, i would have to grab the mouse, click the start menu, go to my documents, go to tech, an

[/ QUOTE ]

Tron's software needs:

Better message board posting software.


[/ QUOTE ]

The Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California's hardware needs:

Better wireless /images/graemlins/frown.gif /images/graemlins/frown.gif /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Dids]

Tron,

You just had an unclosed quote tag. It foiled me at first too.

Let's just both blame UBB software.

[Tron]

Dids,

Please. I don't make typing errors. My wireless cut out while it was sending the post. Once again, the wireless provided by the communication school I am sitting inside of. Communication. Hmmm.

[By-Tor]

Excel (entire (very profitable) career's are spent using this app)
Google Earth
DBConverter
TVUPlayer

[PITTM]

this thread inspired me to order a new 160gb hd to replace my macbook's current 60gb one. i think im gonna start dual booting vista once i get the bigger capacity. holla.

[kidcolin]

El D,

I've been using AVG for about two years now, free home edition. Recently when I start up it tells me it's going to expire soon. Is this just BS? Or can I renew it? If not I'll gladly pay the $40 or whatever for their services. I've been very pleased with it.

astro,
I look forward to trying out launcy when I get home. The less mouse the better.

edtoast,
Aren't MATLAB and mathematica really expensive? I used to use MATLAB a ton back in college. Awesome program.

re: google homepage: I just started using it, along with Google Reader (I know I'm a newb). They have some nice add-ons, but it's slow and a bit clunky to load up. And I mostly just use it to get over to my Google Reader. I might just go back to about:blank.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]

edtoast,
Aren't MATLAB and mathematica really expensive? I used to use MATLAB a ton back in college. Awesome program.

[/ QUOTE ]

They are definitely expensive. Even the student version of Mathematica (the same thing as the full version, as far as anybody can tell) runs about $160. I bought a copy for my father as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. The non-student version is closer to $1000, I believe.

If you have university affiliations, you can probably get your hands on them somewhat cheaper through some kind of licensing deal. But yeah, they're expensive. Pirated copies of both seem to be fairly common among nerds I know.

[sledghammer]

www.ztrace.com (http://www.ztrace.com)

I don't have it, but it was recommended on these forums. In the case of a stolen laptop, when the thieves access the internet, the address is sent to the police(or whoever). Also wipes the hard drive of all your sensitive files, so your information is secure.

[cbloom]

StartupMonitor + StartupCtlPanel : let you control what goes in your startup

muTorrent : best/simplest/non-invasive torrenter

Visual Assist : very nice MSVC enhancer for progammers

allSnap : cuz I'm anal

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]

Mathematica - whenever I need a symbolic answer to something. it's like magic.

[/ QUOTE ]

My girlfriend agrees with you. She loves this program more than she loves me and is always saying how amazing it is (She uses it extensively for math stuff). I don't use it at all and just make fun of her for being an überdork.

[wayninho]

Media Player Classic >> VLC

Parallels I've only been using for about a month, but so far it's been fantastic.

Azureus, if that's ok to mention

Cyberduck or Filezilla for FTP and SFTP

[thirddan]

<3 maya...<3 shake...

[mmbt0ne]

notepad++ is awesome and I use it all the time now instead of notepad.

Also, CCleaner for wiping your internet cache, history, cookies, etc.

[fnord_too]

Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org)

[olliejen]

XP Power Toys (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) (free):

Alt-Tab replacement: If you have multiple sessions of the same app open, you get a bigger version of each tabbed session to see where they are different from one another (e.g. multiple Outlook windows open)

Image Resizer: resize multiple JPG's at once by selecting then right clicking them.

Open Command Window Here: useful when traversing many nested subdirectories in Explorer.

enjoy! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[EMc]

Crap Cleaner- cleans off all crap from the net (cookies, history, cache, recycle bin)

[econophile]

<3 Stata

[Jack of Arcades]

Add another vote for gaim over trillian. Trillian used to always crash, so gaim was better in that area. Plus, it just blends in better with the desktop and it's open source, which I support.

Tag & Rename - for organizing big mp3 libraries this is a must.

Somebody else mentioned keypass, I'll go more in depth into it (and programs like it). If you have any need to keep anything password protected, it's a good idea to use this. You can have it generate random passwords and store them so that when you need them, all you need to do is copy/paste. I've done this for every site and don't even know the password for some sites. Just be sure to back it up.

That reminds me: Portable Apps. If you have a flash drive and tend to work between computers you know how annoying it can be to have two different setups for firefox, etc. You don't need it anymore. Portable Apps.com (http://www.portapleapps.com) Lets you download portable versions of programs like Firefox, AbiWord, Gaim, 7-Zip, VLC, and others. They've been shrunk and don't need to be installed, so you can run them straight from your jump drive. So your firefox will always have the same history, bookmarks, and searches no matter what computer you're on.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Mathematica - whenever I need a symbolic answer to something. it's like magic.

[/ QUOTE ]

My girlfriend agrees with you. She loves this program more than she loves me and is always saying how amazing it is (She uses it extensively for math stuff). I don't use it at all and just make fun of her for being an überdork.

[/ QUOTE ]
MATLAB >>>>> All, losers!

That said, I was pretty surprised to come in here and see Matlab mentioned, and especially Mathematica. Especially since people who like Mathematica for the reasons mentioned so far typically use and like MathCad. Real men use Matlab.

[frostbrn]

screw Trillian, meebo.com is where it's at

[[censored]]

patrick,

so basically its the old spice of mathematical software?

All,

AVG also a free anti spyware software out which is pretty good.

while all are aware of them i think Pokertracker and PokeraceHUD deserve mention as well. great software at incredible value

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Mathematica - whenever I need a symbolic answer to something. it's like magic.

[/ QUOTE ]

My girlfriend agrees with you. She loves this program more than she loves me and is always saying how amazing it is (She uses it extensively for math stuff). I don't use it at all and just make fun of her for being an überdork.

[/ QUOTE ]
MATLAB >>>>> All, losers!

That said, I was pretty surprised to come in here and see Matlab mentioned, and especially Mathematica. Especially since people who like Mathematica for the reasons mentioned so far typically use and like MathCad. Real men use Matlab.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know about MATLAB, but my girlfriend is probably biased towards Mathematica because she worked at Wolfram over the summer.

[Shajen]

I got mad love for Thunderbird and the calendar extension Lightning.

[PartyGirlUK]

[ QUOTE ]
<3 Stata

[/ QUOTE ]

[JaredL]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
<3 Stata

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Anybody else download the IPUMs data set and spend several hours just running random regressions? ("OK What's the effect of private school education on people from Georgia?")

Surely I'm not the only one.

edited to add: I should point out that I don't do applied work at all. I'll have to run regressions on experimental stuff for my research but barring something weird like being given a data set that wouldn't be widely available (which I may actually be able to get through my wife), I won't really use stata much for actual work. None the less, it's quite fun.

[JaredL]

Great Poker Patrick,

Probably 99% of my use of mathematica is either to solve equations (or systems of them) or do (definite) integration. Are these easy to do with matlab? I haven't used matlab much, other than for doing some simple simulation programs. They are very easy to do in mathematica.

Jared

[Tron]

[ QUOTE ]
screw Trillian, meebo.com is where it's at

[/ QUOTE ]

Meebo is great, I discovered it this summer when my place of employment blocked AIM Express.

[Josem]

i have just discovered meebo.com


i am mighty impressed.

quick and easy, yet it seems to all work.


next request: integration with IRC.

[kidcolin]

jared,

I think that's the main division between the two. I've never used matematica for much (if anything), but from what I understand it's awesome for integration solutions and things like that.

I used matlab a ton on a lot of my signals and systems courses to simulate control systems, look at hi/low pass filters, stuff like that. We even used it to optimize the placement of nodes in a 2D truss in mechanics class. It's a very powerful program for a lot of engineering disciplines.

[talentdeficit]

i am mostly a mac guy, so some of these are osx specific.

xylescope (http://www.culturedcode.com/)

this is, without doubt, the best css editor ever. it's insanely fantastic.

xcode (http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/)

my favorite ide. i can't believe someone upthread mentioned eclipse.

colloquy (http://colloquy.info/)

a decent irc client for osx. decent is about as good as it gets in this domain, unfortunately.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]
jared,

I think that's the main division between the two. I've never used matematica for much (if anything), but from what I understand it's awesome for integration solutions and things like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Generally, for symbolic manipulation, Mathematica > MATLAB. For numerical calculation, MATLAB > Mathematica. Though you can definitely do numerical stuff in Mathematica as well. I tend to use MATLAB a lot more than Mathematica these days.

[niss]

I know this isn't software ... but I have to mention the Creative Labs X-Mod, which restores sounds quality to MP3 files. I'm not sure how it works, but it's a pretty amazing little gadget.

[tiltowhirl]

taskzip
Very compact, easy archiving for smallish backups <2GB Good for home use, can add encryption and do whole directories with wildcard references.

Samba
for PDC and file serving without the MS client licensing fees

[nuggetz87]

www.beamyourscreen.com (http://www.beamyourscreen.com)

basically allows you to let someone see your screen in real time, or vice versa. it's free.

it's OMGawesome for anyone who is a poker coach/getting coached or just if you have friends you talk strategy with. df_newb and i have been sweating each other for the past couple of days with this.

[Borodog]

vi

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
www.beamyourscreen.com (http://www.beamyourscreen.com)

basically allows you to let someone see your screen in real time, or vice versa. it's free.

it's OMGawesome for anyone who is a poker coach/getting coached or just if you have friends you talk strategy with. df_newb and i have been sweating each other for the past couple of days with this.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, thats the tiits

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
notepad++ is awesome and I use it all the time now instead of notepad.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks dude.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
vi

[/ QUOTE ]
You gotta start on that, though. I was never able to force myself to get used to it after using emacs for a few years. I wish I could, though. Vi's a lot slimmer.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
i am mostly a mac guy, so some of these are osx specific.

xylescope (http://www.culturedcode.com/)

this is, without doubt, the best css editor ever. it's insanely fantastic.

xcode (http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/)

my favorite ide. i can't believe someone upthread mentioned eclipse.

colloquy (http://colloquy.info/)

a decent irc client for osx. decent is about as good as it gets in this domain, unfortunately.

[/ QUOTE ]
I always liked Adium for all protocols. I tried Colloquy as well, but it's not better enough to rationalize a second program running.

[BeaucoupFish]

This is MS, and is in beta, but MS Live Search 3d maps( http://local.live.com/ ) just looks cool when it works. You have to install components for the 3D to work, but you can then do Superman-like navigation through cities.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q22/beaucoupfish/livesf.jpg

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
Great Poker Patrick,

Probably 99% of my use of mathematica is either to solve equations (or systems of them) or do (definite) integration. Are these easy to do with matlab? I haven't used matlab much, other than for doing some simple simulation programs. They are very easy to do in mathematica.

Jared

[/ QUOTE ]

I consider myself pretty damn good at getting matlab to do things, and use it for almost everything; for either the tasks you mentioned, I turn to mathematica.

[IHateKeithSmart]

Groove Virtual Office (http://groove.net/home/index.cfm)

I'm a consultant, normally working on multi-person teams, and this is the best workflow/project management software I've used. It's main function is to sync files between systems, but you can also customize it heavily to drive project flow, track tasks/deadlines/calendar items, etc. When a project is done, you archive the workspace off (also integrates with sharepoint).

Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/) for photo management on windows. There are probably better, but this works well for me and integrates totally with blogger and Google web albums (and is free).

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
www.beamyourscreen.com (http://www.beamyourscreen.com)

basically allows you to let someone see your screen in real time, or vice versa. it's free.

it's OMGawesome for anyone who is a poker coach/getting coached or just if you have friends you talk strategy with. df_newb and i have been sweating each other for the past couple of days with this.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is awesome assuming it is not buggy thanks a lot.

[JaredL]

[ QUOTE ]
This is MS, and is in beta, but MS Live Search 3d maps( http://local.live.com/ ) just looks cool when it works. You have to install components for the 3D to work, but you can then do Superman-like navigation through cities.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q22/beaucoupfish/livesf.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh. Won't work for Sevilla and doesn't give me anywhere nearly as nice a 2D image as this from google maps:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v640/jdl22/misevilla.jpg

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
vi

[/ QUOTE ]

alias vi 'vim'

Vim is better.

[Golden_Rhino]

Trendmicro.com (spyware removal site)

I run a scan every week, and it always seems to find something. When used in conjunction with Ad-Aware and Spy Bot, they form the holy trinity of free spyware removal.

[AEKDBet]

Macro Express - Automate tasks, etc. This one actually works, enough for me to buy it.

Hypersnap Dx - screen capture app

Rarslave - freeware to automate extracting .rar's / checking par2 sets

Newsbin Pro - For binary newsgroups

Portable Firefox

Ultramon


http://www.shellcity.net/
This is a good site, I am not associated with them or anything.

[JaBlue]

I absolutely love goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com/). Its free (trial version) audio software that will let you open and edit any file with tons of effects, EQ, etc. I use it mainly to slow down solos to half speed so that I can transcribe them.

[Big_Jim]

For Mac Kids:
CrossOver (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/)
If you have an Intel mac, this is a great, seamless Wine loader, and works with most Windows software.

Quicksilver (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/)
A very nice launcher app, built around applescript, with a ton of built in functionality.

Genius (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21353)
A nice program for when you need to memorize a lot of information. Works kinda like flash cards.

Little Snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html)
Catches any outbound network traffic, and allows you to control access, for various applications. Great security tool.

[Big_Jim]

For PC Kids:
Process Guard (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Security-Related/Process-Guard.shtml)
Stops programs from opening up without your permission. Can be a tad annoying at times, but it has saved me on numerous occasions.

Pretty much everything else coming to mind for PC is already on here.

BeamYourScreen is great, btw.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I absolutely love goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com/). Its free (trial version) audio software that will let you open and edit any file with tons of effects, EQ, etc. I use it mainly to slow down solos to half speed so that I can transcribe them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I kinda like Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) for being a truly free thing. It's showing a lot of promise, and does what I need it to do.

I installed Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm) as per this thread's recommendation, and I'm liking it a whole lot.

I also ended up looking up a way to kill that "delete" option from the Recycle Bin's contextual menu (in Vista, I forget if it's there in XP), and instead ran into RecycleNOW (http://bluefive.pair.com/recyclenow.htm), which promises to be very useful and less annoying than the recycle bin.

Oh, and I don't see how there's no love for the "Express" editions of visual studio. Yes, it's very gay that they won't just install together and work like visual studio, but studio's a pretty fast code editor. They are too, and they're free.

[PietM]

Where to start?

UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com/)
I use it all the time for all my scripting/PHP-design and what-not.

AutoHotKey (http://www.autohotkey.com)
Why hasn't this been mentioned yet? Don't only use it for my pokerplaying needs, but for all sorts of tasks.

FireFox (http://www.mozilla.com)
Is there another browser?

This is from the top of my head (I have these programs opened right now).

[Catyoul]

Great thread idea Boris.

Opera (http://www.opera.com) : Simply the best browser for me. I've been a fan for 10 years now, they already had tabbed browsing at that time and countless other innovative ideas. I could expand on this subject, but to make it short I love the way it behaves and all the power-user-friendly options and tools available (though I also like Firefox).

Trillian (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/) : already mentioned in the thread

Mathematica : great for quick and easy symbolic calculations. I mostly use my own programs for numeric simulations (I must admit I never really bothered to learn Matlab but I've noticed it's powerful at the hands of others).

PCalc (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/program/pcalc.htm) : a good calculator, I use it all the time.

UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com/) : powerful editor, mostly for programming. I use an older version than the most recent one.

SysInternals (http://www.sysinternals.com/) : Advanced system tools by Mark Russinovich, recently bought by Microsoft.

CommView (http://www.tamos.com/) : Network sniffer. I use it for network programming or when I need to know what data a program is sending/receiving from my computer.

Proxomitron (http://www.proxomitron.info/) : Local http proxy. For when you want to easily change some of the page elements you receive (for ad blocking purposes for example) or http headers you receive or send (for deception/security circumvention purposes maybe). Very powerful. Unmaintained for several years now


I must have forgotten several other excellent programs but, not having used them recently, I cannot think of any more now.

[rwanger]

Google Calendar.

I put in obscure future events and set up reminders for them. Then it text messages my phone however far in advance I specify. Works great for birthdays and other things you won't remember.

Plus if your friends are using it too, you can overlay their calendars onto yours which is helpful for planning events.

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]
vi

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[KAknight]

http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/

Convert is a freeware program that does unit conversion for a ton of different units. Feet to inches, ounces to kilograms, etc.

[maryfield48]

Datebk (http://www.pimlicosoftware.com) - replacement calendar for Palm devices. This app. has kept me from straying from the Palm universe for 5 or 6 years. It supports (customizable) icons, a broad array of recurrence options, integrated todos with calendar (not offered by the original Palm calendar app), templates for appointments, links between appointments, todos, addressbook entries, and notes, purging/archiving of old appointments, snoozing alarms, time zones, hiding appointment categories by day/time, floating appointments (move from day to day until checked off), a slew of data entry short-cuts.

I often find it easier to enter new appointments on my Treo (and did with my graffiti-using Palms before) than on my notebook using Outlook or Entourage.

The user support offered by the application's creator, CES Dewar, is the best that I have ever experienced.

And if all that weren't enough, all the proceeds from the purchase of the product go towards the upkeep of a gorilla habitat that Dewar (independently wealthy from selling his desktop publishing business) has established in the mountains of Northern Georgia.

[MrWookie]

[ QUOTE ]
http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/

Convert is a freeware program that does unit conversion for a ton of different units. Feet to inches, ounces to kilograms, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why bother w/ this when you can use Google to do it for you?

[Yeti]

Is there any software that would allow me to write on my screen? eg. i press a button then i can draw or write using my mouse. basically like firefox mouse effects, but i dont want them to disappear

[Hey_Porter]

I just downloaded picasa which might outdo this, but I've always liked Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) for viewing/editing/resizing images.

[danzasmack]

As far as excel goes - I work with it just about every day. I only got the job I have now because of my "excel skills" and I have to say the software is awful. For what people try to do with it - I think it's really poor. The newest version will apparently allow a much larger sheet, which I'm hoping means more memory in general. I have spent sleepless nights trying to get excel to do the things it did every day and decided to just stop doing one day.

I'd say my favorite "software" is anything from google, really. I love gmail and use the window they have over thunderbird/outlook because of the way they organize my emails for me. Google home is basically a newspaper on my desktop.

I got "gimp" - the image editing software - for free a year or so back. Not sure if it's still free but it was basically everything I wanted and cost me nothing.

[Jeff W]

[ QUOTE ]
Strong preference for GAIM over Trillian.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, Trillian is buggy.

[Victor]

tweakui does not allow programs to steal focus. this is great bc it allows me to flawlessly berate donkeys while multitabling.

[IHateKeithSmart]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Strong preference for GAIM over Trillian.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, Trillian is buggy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Additionally, I highly, highly recommend against using Trillian on shared computers (family, etc.) if you are at all concerned with security/privacy.

[bozzer]

Beamyourscreen looks good but only 7 day trial??

Convert is very nice if you're often away from inet.

If you like rolling your sleeves up with HTML or CSS, EditPlus is a great shareware (that seems to have full functionality forever) app.

+1 for Excel - good for solving poker problems too.

If you want to record music on your pc, try n-track (more functions but can't mix down without paying up), or audacity (more basic, but free) as protools alternatives.

anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[StukOnStupid]

Carbonite - Great back-up service www.carbonite.com (http://www.carbonite.com)

MindJet MindManager - Excellent "mind mapping" software that allows you to easily export brain storms into word or excel as outlines www.mindjet.com (http://www.mindjet.com)

[eviljeff]

openoffice.org - if you don't like paying/pirating
camtasia studio - for recording your desktop + audio (poker videos)

OS X:
adium - for chat
growl - display for notifications
isquint - converts almost any video file into mp4 (compatible for video ipod)
voodoopad - wiki-style notepad (I use it for note taking in all of my classes)
terror alert - displays the current terror alert color (lol)

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[/ QUOTE ]

stata.

[bozzer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[/ QUOTE ]

stata.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should have specified that it must be free.

[Dave I]

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

I've been using AVG for about two years now, free home edition. Recently when I start up it tells me it's going to expire soon. Is this just BS? Or can I renew it? If not I'll gladly pay the $40 or whatever for their services. I've been very pleased with it.



[/ QUOTE ]

Just that version is expiring. Simply upgrade to the new free version, no need to pay.

[turnipmonster]

I really like mac osx a lot. most programs that I really need (calendar, mail client, etc) are built in, I can compile and run all manner of open source software (tomcat/apache/etc). even the common apps are really well designed and useful, for instance the calculator does currency conversion.

in addition stuff like the launchy application astro posted is built in to osx.

[chisness]

For those mentioning AIM/messaging clients like

GAIM, Trillian, Meebo

which of these have logging as a feature? I still use an old AIM version with DeadAIM because the logging feature is so great. I highly recommend using logging -- it makes it so easy to go back and remember what movie you were talking about, what link you sent a few days ago, etc.

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
For those mentioning AIM/messaging clients like

GAIM, Trillian, Meebo

which of these have logging as a feature? I still use an old AIM version with DeadAIM because the logging feature is so great. I highly recommend using logging -- it makes it so easy to go back and remember what movie you were talking about, what link you sent a few days ago, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

i use the exact same thing for the exact same reason and would also like an answer here.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
For those mentioning AIM/messaging clients like

GAIM, Trillian, Meebo

which of these have logging as a feature? I still use an old AIM version with DeadAIM because the logging feature is so great. I highly recommend using logging -- it makes it so easy to go back and remember what movie you were talking about, what link you sent a few days ago, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

i use the exact same thing for the exact same reason and would also like an answer here.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno about the all in one clients....but the new version of AIM has logging and is quite good and removes any reason to use an old version with deadAIM (Which is what I was using before as well)

[gharp]

[ QUOTE ]
For those mentioning AIM/messaging clients like

GAIM, Trillian, Meebo

which of these have logging as a feature? I still use an old AIM version with DeadAIM because the logging feature is so great. I highly recommend using logging -- it makes it so easy to go back and remember what movie you were talking about, what link you sent a few days ago, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]
I use Trillian and it saves everything you typed with someone (right-click the person in your list and click 'View Contact History')

[danzasmack]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[/ QUOTE ]

stata.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should have specified that it must be free.

[/ QUOTE ]

How big of a dataset? I think you mentioned excel - if you are doing anything on your own I trust it isn't much data and can just use excel.

Pretty much everything like STATA is going to cost and arm and a leg because they're commercial products. We use SAS here at work and I think it's a LOT better than STATA, more "project friendly" but it also costs a lot.

For any gifted developers an open source stat analysis package seems like a cool idea. If anyone is interested my statistics knowledge is vast, though I can hardly say the same for my programming skills.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[/ QUOTE ]

stata.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should have specified that it must be free.

[/ QUOTE ]

How big of a dataset? I think you mentioned excel - if you are doing anything on your own I trust it isn't much data and can just use excel.

Pretty much everything like STATA is going to cost and arm and a leg because they're commercial products. We use SAS here at work and I think it's a LOT better than STATA, more "project friendly" but it also costs a lot.

For any gifted developers an open source stat analysis package seems like a cool idea. If anyone is interested my statistics knowledge is vast, though I can hardly say the same for my programming skills.

[/ QUOTE ]
Stata's like a badass Origin?

[bozzer]

I'm a budding ecologist. There's loads of stuff Excel doesn't do, e.g. GLMs.

I agree that Open Source stats program would be very popular, and a very worthwhile project (think of all the 3rd world countries that can't afford $100+ programs).

While we're on the subject (new thread?), I had a great idea during dinner - a poker hand analysis tool that can calculate EV of various different moves if you provide hand ranges, b/r/c/k % etc. How sweet would that be? Perhaps it could even do game theory of certain situations. I'd play $15 for it.

[KOTLP]

My must have windows apps, most of which are free:

Firefox (drag de go and adblock are most important non-developer related extensions for me)
Thunderbird
EditPlus (very powerful text editor, also runs on Linux with wine if you aren't a VIM fan)
Gaim with the windows plugin. I use it for AIM, IRC, Google Talk, and a SILC server.
Gimp
Paint.net
Open Office
Winamp
Putty (ssh client)
CuteFTP Pro
Password Safe
Search and Destroy
AVG

And a bunch of developer tools.

[MrWookie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
For those mentioning AIM/messaging clients like

GAIM, Trillian, Meebo

which of these have logging as a feature? I still use an old AIM version with DeadAIM because the logging feature is so great. I highly recommend using logging -- it makes it so easy to go back and remember what movie you were talking about, what link you sent a few days ago, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]
I use Trillian and it saves everything you typed with someone (right-click the person in your list and click 'View Contact History')

[/ QUOTE ]

It's decently searchable, too. I'd consider switching from Trillian, but Meebo or whatever would have to have this feature.

[kniper]

Does anyone have any good Microsoft Word alternatives in Windows??

[KOTLP]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone have any good Microsoft Word alternatives in Windows??

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.openoffice.org/

[PartyGirlUK]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone have any good Microsoft Word alternatives in Windows??

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.openoffice.org/

[/ QUOTE ]

Open Office is really really good, at least for a casual user.

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone have any good Microsoft Word alternatives in Windows??

[/ QUOTE ]

Writer, part of open office (http://www.openoffice.org). I've only used the Mac version, but they do have a windows version.

Edit: Beat to the punch. I lose.

[Smokey_McPot]

VLC media player (http://www.videolan.org/)

firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/)

Mplayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) (not to be confused with mediaplayer), harder to use than vlc, but for the rare occations when vlc fails mplayer can play a ham sandwich.

fulDC (http://www.fuldc.net/) combined with the knowledge the begins at whyrar (http://whyrar.omfg.se/) opens a world of possibilities.

mIRC (http://www.mirc.com/) with nn script (http://www.nnscript.de/) rocks the socks off all other IM appz if you learn to use it.

[C-Dog]

Here is a list of stuff I really like:

Newsleecher (http://www.newsleecher.com)
The Best Binary news reader on the market, it has an integrated binary search, and it just added the ability to parity check and extract from archives within the program automatically. It's just sick.

Ultramon
Dual monitor program, best one I could find.

Movie Collector
For cataloging the DVD collection

The Portable Apps Suite (http://www.portableapps.com)
It is a bunch of free apps that run off your USB Drive and leave no trace on the PC.

RSS Owl
I like it for reading Newsfeeds at this point, though it would not surprise me to find something else I liked as much.

C-Dog

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
anyone know a user friendly stats program? By user friendly, I mean not R.

[/ QUOTE ]

stata.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should have specified that it must be free.

[/ QUOTE ]

How big of a dataset? I think you mentioned excel - if you are doing anything on your own I trust it isn't much data and can just use excel.

Pretty much everything like STATA is going to cost and arm and a leg because they're commercial products. We use SAS here at work and I think it's a LOT better than STATA, more "project friendly" but it also costs a lot.

For any gifted developers an open source stat analysis package seems like a cool idea. If anyone is interested my statistics knowledge is vast, though I can hardly say the same for my programming skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

SAS is about the most user-unfriendly programming language I've ever seen, though the GUI may be good/useful (I've only ever used it through a unix shell, so I have no idea). It is, however, very useful for merging data sets.

R is open source, and almost as weird/un-useful as SAS, though its about the most powerful thing out there. S-Plus is a commercial version that's slightly more intuitive to use, though the big problem with either one is the design of the language itself.

[goofyballer]

Microsoft Visual Studio (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx) is pretty much my favorite piece of software ever. It gets better with every release and allows me to program much more efficiently; just about any place I want to use a type/variable/whatever I can just type a couple characters and hit enter and it will fill in the rest; it does a ton of automated stuff as well, like fill in 'case' statements in a switch block, rename a variable/type/whatever in every spot in a project where it's referenced, it's just so [censored] cool and fast. One of my friends once described it by saying "You're like 'void main' and it's like 'Boom! Here's 50 lines of code' and you're like 'YES, that's the exact program I wanted to write!'" Plus, Express editions of VS for each .NET language are free.

Also, Skype (http://www.skype.com) is a voice chatting program which I've been using recently and works really well. It works similarly to an IM program, except that instead of sending messages you're usually 'calling' people on your buddy list. The quality is like 10x better than AIM voice chat; it does a really good job of stripping away background noise, for example. I've only started using it recently to sweat people playing poker but it works really well and I like it a lot.

Lastly, UltraMon (http://realtimesoft.com/ultramon/) is an awesome program for multi-monitor users. It lets you use multiple desktops on different monitors, or span one desktop across all of them; its most useful feature (imo) is the addition of a button on every window which allows you to quickly move a program between different monitors. I use that function at least 20x per day.

[mrkilla]

Some of these will be ubber geek but alas that is what I am...

Any case

Dameware - remote access tool - I am an IT dorq for a living and this makes my job super easy. From my PC I can remote into any machine on my network with a few clicks and a service install. It's also fairly light weight and has file transfer abilities. It also doesn't screw up video drivers like RDP and PC Anywhere does.

Spysweeper - Anti Spy ware - One the few that seems to get every piece of new spy ware and stays pretty up to date - sucky part is you need to pay but I fell its worth it.

Roboform - password keeper auto form filler - This is a siq program plugs into Firefox and IE saves your passwords and will auto fill forms with nae/CC info address etc. Highly recommended for those who login to lots of websites

utorrent - I care NOT to elaborate on this one /images/graemlins/smile.gif

lastly

VMware - Virtual PC's - this is really cool. I use this at work on servers mainly but what it does is allows you ro run multiple systems at once on one PC. Thus and under utilized File server I can install a Virtual machine on and use it for a front end application server with out disturbing the existing environment simultaneously. Also you can use it for say running Vista and XP at the same time and switching back and forth with out having to reboot into it.

[mmbt0ne]

[ QUOTE ]
Open Office is really really good, at least for a casual user.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very much so. The only reason I got away from it is because it didn't have (at least I could never find) the Excel Solver function.

[econophile]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a budding ecologist. There's loads of stuff Excel doesn't do, e.g. GLMs.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're just going to have to get Stata or SAS. I don't know as much about SAS, but Stata has a lot of built in biostatistics capabilities. Check to see if you can get student pricing through your school. It still won't be cheap, but it should be affordable.

[David Steele]

For online chess I like 2+2 TimM's
Xboard or Winboard (http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html) interface.

I am sure there must be something else that has come along
in the 15 or so years I have used a version of it, but it seems perfect.

[Nortonesque]

Private label Gmail -- basically Gmail but with your own domain. It's free right now because it's still in beta (click on "Business Solutions" on Google's main page to find it).

[suzzer99]

The imageshack toolbar is absolutely awesome for these boards.

Agent Ransack (http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/) - for searching through files. XP search sucks, and ignores certain kinds of files. This thing does so much more, including display the line that the text is found on, so you don't have to always open the document. Essential for coders, great for searching through HHs too.

Ultra Edit (http://www.ultraedit.com/) - sweet text editor for coding and pretty easy to customize to rapidly scan through HHs. I can go though one in about 30 sec. now on average. Also if you email support they get back to you in 5 min.

Synergy (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) - allows you to mouse and keyboard across X # of computers as if they were one. Also saves text in the clipboard across computers. Awesome program.

HT Track (http://www.httrack.com/) - website scraper. Comes in handy sometimes. I've made a few grand archiving websites for people.

Pivot Pro (http://www.portrait.com/us/products/pp_overview.html) - to rotate your monitors.

[iSTRONG]

[ QUOTE ]
www.beamyourscreen.com (http://www.beamyourscreen.com)

basically allows you to let someone see your screen in real time, or vice versa. it's free.

it's OMGawesome for anyone who is a poker coach/getting coached or just if you have friends you talk strategy with. df_newb and i have been sweating each other for the past couple of days with this.

[/ QUOTE ]

UltraVNC? (http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/)

[Sand]

Taskbar Shuffle (tweakui)

Love this thing. I usually keep lots of tasks open and this lets me relocate the taskbar buttons next to each other to be able to flip back and forth efficiently.

Great little tool.

[z28dreams]

A few of my favorites have already been mentioned:

- Launchy - a friend recommended it and I ignored him. A few days later he pestered me to try it again. I installed it. I'm now in love. Once you get used to using this, it's SO nice to find a program or song. (alt-space, 'osca') pulls up all oscar peterson mp3's in 2 seconds.

- Excel - I live and die by this program. Pretty damn solid all around.

- FlashFXP - I haven't found a better FTP client yet

- TextPad - nice lightweight color-coded editor that instantly loads unlike other slow IDE's. I can't believe I used to code without color highlighting.

[jba]

any cygwin fans in the house? there must be around here. Probably the one program that has improved my life the most. If you're a linux/unix guy trapped in a windows environment you really should be using it.

I'm also a huge vi fan. I wish someone would come up with a program to allow vi type editing in every program in windows (for example this text field in Firefox).

[SleeperHE]

Process Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx)

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have been opened or loaded.

[CrazyEyez]

TuboTax

I can do my taxes in about 30 minutes. It really shines if you use it year to year, because it saves you from having to enter repetitive data. And it will ask you, "Last year you had income from xyz, do you have that again this year?"

The beauty in it for me is that I don't have to spend hours scouring tax docs in fear that I missed something or filled out a form wrong. I simply answer every question it asks me, and my work is done. I usually have my refund in my bank account before most of my friends have even sent theirs in.

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
any cygwin fans in the house? there must be around here. Probably the one program that has improved my life the most. If you're a linux/unix guy trapped in a windows environment you really should be using it.

[/ QUOTE ]

If getting it set up wasn't so miserable, I might have listed it. Over a year later, I still sometimes have trouble getting X forwarding to work right.

[ojc02]

Great thread topic! I seem to go through a billion software products trying to find quality free ones.

I'm going to start with a fantastic bookmarklet that everyone on 2+2 should use:

Form Text Resizer (http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/FormTextResizer/) - Allows you to change the size of forms in webpages. GREAT for entering posts on 2+2.


Obvious / Repeated ones that I use:

Picassa (http://picasa.google.com/) Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) AutoHotKey (http://www.autohotkey.com/) KeePass (http://keepass.info/) Paint.NET (http://getpaint.net/index2.html) AllSnap (http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~iheckman/allsnap/) PDFcreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) MPC (https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303) uTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/) Word XL PowerPoint


Major awesomeness that you might not have heard of:

MiniAIM (http://miniaim.net/) - Incredible AIM program, microscopic (81K), standalone, all the important features, AIM only tho.

MWSnap (http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html) - Great little tool for screen capture. Lets you select a section of the screen. Customizable, feature-laden, and relatively small

Driver Collector (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3982) - Collects your currently installed drivers for easy reformatting of your computer. Lifesaver! Esp for pain in the ass Dell laptops with difficult to find drivers.

Back up email (http://tomerbd1.googlepages.com/backuptoemail) - Puts "Backup to email" in the right-click menu for windows. Quickly and painlessly sends the file to your gmail account. Will chop up files over a certain size so gmail will accept them.

DarkRoom (http://they.misled.us/dark-room) - If you ever just wanted to write without distraction, this is for you. Completely Black screen with green text - just like the good old days /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Comodo (http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/) - My new fave firewall software (better than ZoneAlarm IMO)

Tugzip (http://www.tugzip.com/) - Support for all the various compression standards and disc images

[CORed]

If you're a vi fan, you should try vim (VI Improved) http://www.vim.org. It works like vi, but with many added features. You can split your window vertically or horizontally and have multiple files open. You have history and editing for colon commands and searches. This feature alone makes it a huge improvement over plain vi. No more retyping your entire complex regular expression substitution command because you got one character wrong. Just hit the up arrow and edit it and try again. The gui version has menus and graphical file open and save dialogs (or you can use the command line like regular vi--the best of both worlds). It also has syntax coloring for a variety of programming languages and config file formats, can be set up to process compiler/syntax checker errors and take you to the line with the error, and is available for Windows, Linux and most varieties of UNIX (you can build it from source if no binary is available), and can be run in either GUI or terminal mode.

[Dazarath]

AIM Ad-Hack: (http://aimadhack.webhop.net/) Removes those damn ads from AIM.
TurboNote: (http://turbonotes.exaserve.net/tbnote34.exe) (the freeware version) Let's you make desktop notes. I think there's a Post-it program that's similar, but something about it used to bug me.
DefilerPak: (http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/) A large codec pack.

[Entity]

For most of my day-to-day computing I use OSX on Macbook Pro, so I definitely consider OSX to be one of the top programs that should be included in this.

Additionally, I'd add:

Ecto - Great tool for publishing to multiple blogs, if your'e into that sort of thing.

Textpad - Similar to, but better than, EditPlus for Windows. Great syntax highlighting built in and shortcuts for coding/writing in a number of languages ranging from Ruby to CSS.

Quicksilver - Tray app used to speed up productivity in OSX. Freeware. Good stuff.

AdiumX - Basically similar to Trillian, but better. Combines AIM+Gtalk+YahooM+other messenger clients for me. Definitely have a lot of /images/graemlins/heart.gif for this product.

Skype - I'm amazed at how many people aren't aware of how awesome Skype is. I use it for conference calls frequently.

Rob

[bwana devil]

just got my pcmagazine in the mail yesterday. cover story is "78 best free softare for 2007"

just one stand out from from the article:

www.gimp.org (http://www.gimp.org) - photoshop knock off. i started using it last night. im quite pleased so far...and lost.

there are a lot mroe stand outs. just depends on what your interests are.

[Dids]

Gimp is fantastic. It's slow loading, but given that the price of photoshop is so prohibitive, gimp's a great choice.

[Borodog]

I tried gimp years ago and what I really disliked is that the interface seemed really obtuse. Or maybe it was just me being obtuse. In photoshop it always seemed really easy to figure out how to do stuff, but in gimp, I think I had a hell of a time drawing a circle.

Has the interface improved over the years?

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
If you're a vi fan, you should try vim (VI Improved) http://www.vim.org. It works like vi, but with many added features. You can split your window vertically or horizontally and have multiple files open. You have history and editing for colon commands and searches. This feature alone makes it a huge improvement over plain vi. No more retyping your entire complex regular expression substitution command because you got one character wrong. Just hit the up arrow and edit it and try again. The gui version has menus and graphical file open and save dialogs (or you can use the command line like regular vi--the best of both worlds). It also has syntax coloring for a variety of programming languages and config file formats, can be set up to process compiler/syntax checker errors and take you to the line with the error, and is available for Windows, Linux and most varieties of UNIX (you can build it from source if no binary is available), and can be run in either GUI or terminal mode.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I need a moist towellette. I had no idea this was available for Windows. You just made my day dude.

[Dids]

Borodog,

GIMP's interface is pretty confusing, but from my limited use of photoshop, not demonstrably less so that ps. There's a pretty steep learning curve, but if you're not an idiot, you can figure most of it out.

[PITTM]

just to clear things up. openoffice files can be opened with microsoft office products and used interchangeably right?

[wslee00]

Memento (http://www.guyswithtowels.com/dev/apps/memento.html) - great little post it prog - very small footprint

[edtost]

RJ,

openoffice can write to microsoft office formats, though i have seen a few spreadsheets not open correctly in excel afterwards.

i have no idea whether MO can open OO formats or not.

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
Memento (http://www.guyswithtowels.com/dev/apps/memento.html) - great little post it prog - very small footprint

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks for replacing the 4390203473 stickies on my desk at work.

[D.H.]

[ QUOTE ]
screw Trillian, meebo.com is where it's at

[/ QUOTE ]

I was gonna say that I use Miranda but after checking out Meebo I switched. Great stuff!

[goofyballer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Memento (http://www.guyswithtowels.com/dev/apps/memento.html) - great little post it prog - very small footprint

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks for replacing the 4390203473 stickies on my desk at work.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just downloaded this and I can tell it's going to change my life. Thank you.

[mosta]

XXClone After pokertracker (no need to list) I think this is the first software I ever paid for. Makes a bootable clone of your xp system on your back-up hard drive (or whatever media). I'm not very tech advanced, but apparently msft doesn't like cloning your system b/c it facilitates piracy. generally a clone of xp won't be bootable. xxclone was designed to do it. now if my drive fails, I shut down, pull and trash the drive, and boot off the clone, which replicates everything since my last back up. hardly a hiccup. no extraction, no restore, no boot discs. maybe this just appeals to me b/c I'm tech retarded.

MSFT Streets and Trips. I'd spent my whole life never having given money to msft (pirated office, bot refurb'd computers). Then on a plane trip the guy next to me whips out his laptop, sticks a gps sensor on the window, and tracks our flight on a map. I was sold. since then I've navigated all around the country (and canada) with my old TP 650e laptop in the passenger seat. (gives audio directions too.) delorme has a competing product but reviews say it's not good. msft isn't perfect (some addresses are a block off), but it has never caused me a problem in many trips. and it's under 100 bucks.

open office. better I use this to fight msft than pirate it. I decided to make the step when a reviewer said office 2007 docs wouldn't be readable in old offict. f u msft. Calc (spreadsheet) doesn't do somethings as well as excel. but it does them. I'm kind of a medium power user, not a super power user, though. Writer does a lot of things better than Word. You can save in the msft formats for compatibility, and you can save to pdf too. (I'm not sure if msft reads open formats itself, though. but apparently they have caught on in some countries so...)

Bitpim. freeware. I've used it to make back ups and move files on and off of (and hack) my last 2 phones with verizon (an LG from 2 years ago and a new Razr). VZ locks them down. Bitpim picks the lock. (also for more advanced you need a seem editor.)


re the above: I'm interested in a universal remote. I now have 4: TV, CD/DVD, Squeezebox (which I only use for internet radio), and amp. I'm concerned they won't cover my amp. (PS Audio GCC 100 (Class D), not something you're going to find in Best Buy.) Maybe they do. Maybe they will as soon as you ask.

[El Diablo]

mosta,

Head over to astro's thread for universal remote recs.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
just to clear things up. openoffice files can be opened with microsoft office products and used interchangeably right?

[/ QUOTE ]

a word of warning. last year, i started a project at work in powerpoint. brought it home and worked on my computer in openoffice and everything was fine. brought it back to work tried to open it in powerpoint and the file was not fine. (it's been too long to remember exactly what was wrong).

im somewhat handy w/ a computer but couldnt do anything w/ it. one of the IT guys at work was able to fix the file after quite some time.

[astroglide]

[ QUOTE ]
I tried gimp years ago and what I really disliked is that the interface seemed really obtuse. Or maybe it was just me being obtuse. In photoshop it always seemed really easy to figure out how to do stuff, but in gimp, I think I had a hell of a time drawing a circle.

Has the interface improved over the years?

[/ QUOTE ]

try paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html). it's been mentioned, but not hyped. i only do simple crap, but i like it a lot better than gimp.

[asofel]

[ QUOTE ]
Textpad - Similar to, but better than, EditPlus for Windows. Great syntax highlighting built in and shortcuts for coding/writing in a number of languages ranging from Ruby to CSS.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you tried TextMate? I don't know if you're a programmer by trade, but I code in Ruby (specifically a Rails environment) all day, and I love this damn editor...

[astroglide]

[ QUOTE ]
any cygwin fans in the house? there must be around here. Probably the one program that has improved my life the most. If you're a linux/unix guy trapped in a windows environment you really should be using it.

[/ QUOTE ]

i love cygwin, but i think the nt terminal sucks. luckily, the unknown-but-amazing puttycyg (http://web.gccaz.edu/~medgar/puttycyg/) lets you use putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/) as a local shell window!!

i love vi and i hate emacs, but i am not a fan of vi mode on the command line.

[pvn]

Launchy is the bomb. Once you've used it for a day, using a computer without it is like going back to DOS.

It's that good.

For GNOME users, Deskbar is very similar.

Metapad is the best win32 barebones notepad replacement I've seen.

[jba]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
any cygwin fans in the house? there must be around here. Probably the one program that has improved my life the most. If you're a linux/unix guy trapped in a windows environment you really should be using it.

[/ QUOTE ]

i love cygwin, but i think the nt terminal sucks. luckily, the unknown-but-amazing puttycyg (http://web.gccaz.edu/~medgar/puttycyg/) lets you use putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/) as a local shell window!!

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah the default terminal is a disaster. I use rxvt which is pretty good - I'll have to check this out.

[cold_cash]

Here's a cool site with a bunch of freeware reviews.
46 best freeware utilities (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm)

[mmbt0ne]

Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

Also, in return I give you the greatest thing to happen to gigantic pictures on 2p2.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>javascript:maxwidth=800;pi=document.getElementsByT agName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20aspectrati o=
(pi.item(i).height/pi.item(i).width);if(pi.item(i).width&gt;maxwidth)
{pi.item(i).width=maxwidth;pi.item(i).height=aspec tratio*maxwidth;}}
</pre><hr />

Copy this, make it one line, make it a bookmark. Any time there is a thread with a gigantic picture, click the bookmark and it will resize every picture bigger than, in this case, 800 pixels wide. You can change the number to whatever you see fit.

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I tried gimp years ago and what I really disliked is that the interface seemed really obtuse. Or maybe it was just me being obtuse. In photoshop it always seemed really easy to figure out how to do stuff, but in gimp, I think I had a hell of a time drawing a circle.

Has the interface improved over the years?

[/ QUOTE ]

try paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html). it's been mentioned, but not hyped. i only do simple crap, but i like it a lot better than gimp.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks. This is exactly what I've been looking for.

[astroglide]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

[/ QUOTE ]

you could try acemoney lite (http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/index_lite.shtml)

[DrSavage]

FAR manager (http://farmanager.com/)

Maybe I'm just too old, but I can't imagine my life without this which is basically Norton Commander-like interface for working with files in Windows. Probably not the easiest piece of software to immediately pick up and use but it's very small frame, extremely fast and does pretty much anything, especially with many plugins available for all purposes. I have never been successful in converting normal people into using one but my life without it would be pretty much miserable.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

Also, in return I give you the greatest thing to happen to gigantic pictures on 2p2.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>javascript:maxwidth=800;pi=document.getElementsByT agName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20aspectrati o=
(pi.item(i).height/pi.item(i).width);if(pi.item(i).width&gt;maxwidth)
{pi.item(i).width=maxwidth;pi.item(i).height=aspec tratio*maxwidth;}}
</pre><hr />

Copy this, make it one line, make it a bookmark. Any time there is a thread with a gigantic picture, click the bookmark and it will resize every picture bigger than, in this case, 800 pixels wide. You can change the number to whatever you see fit.

[/ QUOTE ]

You shouldn't need to specify the aspect ratio. Setting a width should get them scaling correctly (my greasemonkey script is similar, and I don't specify height at all).

[jalexand42]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

Also, in return I give you the greatest thing to happen to gigantic pictures on 2p2.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>javascript:maxwidth=800;pi=document.getElementsByT agName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20aspectrati o=
(pi.item(i).height/pi.item(i).width);if(pi.item(i).width&gt;maxwidth)
{pi.item(i).width=maxwidth;pi.item(i).height=aspec tratio*maxwidth;}}
</pre><hr />

Copy this, make it one line, make it a bookmark. Any time there is a thread with a gigantic picture, click the bookmark and it will resize every picture bigger than, in this case, 800 pixels wide. You can change the number to whatever you see fit.

[/ QUOTE ]

You shouldn't need to specify the aspect ratio. Setting a width should get them scaling correctly (my greasemonkey script is similar, and I don't specify height at all).

[/ QUOTE ]

Source for your GM script plz? &lt;3 Greasemonkey.


Also, to contribute, I love TrayIt! for resident apps I don't want cluttering my toolbar.

[KOTLP]

Since I am in the process of converting all my CDs to FLAC (lossless), I'll add the following (all freeware):

FLAC (http://flac.sourceforge.net/)
Exact Audio Copy (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/) (see this thread (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=30959) for help configuring EAC for FLAC)
Accurate Rip (http://www.accuraterip.com/software.htm) (helps ensure perfect rips)

Also, for anyone using a Roku SoundBridge (http://www.rokulabs.com/), I highly recommend Firefly (http://fireflymediaserver.org/). It's open source, multi-platform, lightweight, and super fast.

[udbrky]

I decided to make the step when a reviewer said office 2007 docs wouldn't be readable in old offict.

You can save as 97-03 in the save as options.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

Also, in return I give you the greatest thing to happen to gigantic pictures on 2p2.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>javascript:maxwidth=800;pi=document.getElementsByT agName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20aspectrati o=
(pi.item(i).height/pi.item(i).width);if(pi.item(i).width&gt;maxwidth)
{pi.item(i).width=maxwidth;pi.item(i).height=aspec tratio*maxwidth;}}
</pre><hr />

Copy this, make it one line, make it a bookmark. Any time there is a thread with a gigantic picture, click the bookmark and it will resize every picture bigger than, in this case, 800 pixels wide. You can change the number to whatever you see fit.

[/ QUOTE ]

You shouldn't need to specify the aspect ratio. Setting a width should get them scaling correctly (my greasemonkey script is similar, and I don't specify height at all).

[/ QUOTE ]

Source for your GM script plz? &lt;3 Greasemonkey.


Also, to contribute, I love TrayIt! for resident apps I don't want cluttering my toolbar.

[/ QUOTE ] Duke's 2p2 greasemonkey script. (http://www.dnickolas.com/2p2/22fix.user.js)

[Marwan]

I really like Nero for burning things.. I was able to split aand burn a movie my first time without really reading anything.. very easy to use

[udbrky]

I like Metapad as a replacement for notepad - but it won't do AHK's. http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/

Powertoy Calculator when you need a calculator: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

[ojc02]

Does anyone know of a good and easy way to rip DVDs to yr computer? I've found it hard to find one that's easy for newbs.

[Soulman]

[ QUOTE ]
Although we're 98% resigned to top-posting e-mails thanks to M$ setting the standard of putting the cursor above the header so long ago (as well as so many people choosing HTML as their default format), if you're a geek or wannabe geek who uses plain text format and likes to reply below the quotes (as is our standard in these forums, for example), here (http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/outlook-quotefix/) is a free download you may enjoy. I've used it for years. It automatically "fixes" the headers in Outlook when you hit reply, and you can also customize them to your liking. Note that this has no effect on HTML e-mails.

Not sure many will benefit from this, but for the few that will they'll find it pretty cool.

[/ QUOTE ]
I work at a university, and the majority of my e-mails are in plain text. This software is a piece of GENIUS!!!! Thanks ever so much, PM me for free cybersex.

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]

Exact Audio Copy (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/)

[/ QUOTE ]

i have used the program like a billion times. it absolutely owns everything else for ripping cd's. use the LAME codec for super awesome mp3 ripping.

[mmbt0ne]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

[/ QUOTE ]

you could try acemoney lite (http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/index_lite.shtml)

[/ QUOTE ]

This looks very nice. However, now that I've played around with it some, I really want to be able to have account files for both my checking accounts, my savings account, and my 2 credit cards.

Is buying AceMoney the best way to do this or should I pay for something else?

[jba]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know of any good, and preferably freeware, Quicken-type programs for tracking expenses and whatnot?

[/ QUOTE ]

you could try acemoney lite (http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/index_lite.shtml)

[/ QUOTE ]

This looks very nice. However, now that I've played around with it some, I really want to be able to have account files for both my checking accounts, my savings account, and my 2 credit cards.

Is buying AceMoney the best way to do this or should I pay for something else?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah I had the same problem. the thing is for $30 you can get basic quicken which has a lot more to it.

[bruin]

i may get flack for this, but Facebook is an awesome website. The interface, speed, reliability and the overall features really do make it a great site.

[kniper]

is there an open-source alternative to photoshop by anychance??

[Catyoul]

Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/), it's been mentioned earlier in the thread.

[CrashPat]

Not enough love for emacs, I can't stand vi/vim at all, and I really like AUCTeX for LaTeX which is another thing I basically cannot live without. LaTeX is great for documents with a lot of math in them, or if you need to publish to multiple mediums. It is also open and does not lock you into a specific editor.

Dids mentioned Gaim, another tool I use every day. I like it more than trillian, and it is free.

Firefox obviously.

Subversion. Way better than CVS, and having access to my code wherever I am is a lifesaver. Plus apache mod for it is great, I love being able to easily grab the latest revision of a code file without knowing exactly where it is or checking out the whole repository.. and all from a web browser.

VMWare Server is nice, I don't use it that much, but it is great to have around.

Synergy has made my desk much cleaner. Not having 3 keyboards and mice on my desk is nice. And not having to move my hands to change computers is nice too.

TikiWiki is pretty great, I use it for information pages on a few software projects. It has a lot of stuff built in and is somewhat user friendly, I have not set up and used any other wiki products to know if they are easier or better though.

[ohgeetee]

I dislike gimp for the same reason. I read that when developing gimp, they set out to arrange the ui in such a way that it was as far from ps as possible, due to how much they hate adobe.

there is supposedly a plugin for gimp that rearranges everything to how ps is setup, i have been unable to find it though. laziness ensued.

[Osprey]

Mediamonkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) is an excellent and powerful music jukebox. The organization tools are top notch.

[jaffa]

[ QUOTE ]
Pandora when I could use it at work. Streaming music all day and it makes suggestions based on my choices.

Firefox, as mentioned before.

[/ QUOTE ]

Similar to Pandora
Last.fm (http://www.last.fm) is good for discovering new music. Especially if you're an indie kid. It also has a larger music library than pandora featuring pretty much every piece of music on amazon, including classical, jazz, latin etc. Not as easy to use as pandora though, but not hard either.

[btswims]

Newsleecher - Great program for downloading from newsgroups
Reget - Similar program except for downloading from websites

[Ineedaride2]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I tried gimp years ago and what I really disliked is that the interface seemed really obtuse. Or maybe it was just me being obtuse. In photoshop it always seemed really easy to figure out how to do stuff, but in gimp, I think I had a hell of a time drawing a circle.

Has the interface improved over the years?

[/ QUOTE ]

try paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html). it's been mentioned, but not hyped. i only do simple crap, but i like it a lot better than gimp.

[/ QUOTE ]

Also, I've read that gimpshop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop) really makes life easier, especially if you're already familiar with photoshop. I haven't tried it, but I figured it would be worth mentioning.

Acronis True Image: Backup software. It's shareware, but I used the free trial period to make an exact backup of a damaged hard drive I use for my business, and it worked like a charm. I plan on purchasing the full-version very soon.

Edited to add: For those people who delete sensitive information from their computer regularly, eraser (http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/) is a great program for all those paranoid people out there.

Lastly, Digg.com has pretty much got me hooked. It's a great place to catch up on news of all topics, and it has recently added a video section which seems to be growing fast.

[By-Tor]

For those who own color printers and print their own digital photo's, QImage (http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/) is a must-have.

[testaaja]

As I read down the thread some of my beloved programs have already been listed but I'll still list them /images/graemlins/smile.gif
Usually when I do formating I end up with these:

Opera
Best web browser imo.

Firefox
As a backup

Winamp
Audio/video player. I use it for video streaming purposes &amp; audio-listening.

Media Player Classic
IMO the best media player out there.

Ad Aware
A good spyware / adware cleaner.

Sfv-Check
To check my fellow stuff is not broken.

utorrent
The best [censored] client I've ever used.

HashCalc
To hash files and see they are legit/not broken.

Daemon tools
To mount images /images/graemlins/smile.gif

FlashFXP
Ultimately the best ftp-client I've ever used. Give it a try.

mIRC
Meh, I don't like mirc but you got to have it /images/graemlins/smile.gif for all your ircing needs!

Avast or AVG
Both are good, I've used them both. I'm not sure which I prefer /images/graemlins/smile.gif both do their job.

CCCP
Best codec package that I've stumbled upon.
http://www.cccp-project.net/

These were the ones' that came to my mind quickly. I really love all the programs that I listed.

[Freakin]

Picasa - Now useful to me cause of web albums

Audacity - free multi-track sound editing

Synergy2 - Control two computers with 2 monitors with one keyboard and mouse. Especially useful for home computer + laptop.

WinSCP - To hell with FTP!

Newsbin Pro - Best NNTP binary program evar

Calc - there when you need it

[mmbt0ne]

Bump because I'm still looking for a good software to keep track of 5 or 6 checking/savings accounts, credit cards, and loans. I am willing to pay for it.

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
dids, have you checked out launchy?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't. That said, the way I use my computers is more mouse heavy than typing, so your initial description turned me off a bit. I used to be MUCH more keyboard heavy back when we ran a dos based db at work, but since we lost that in 2001, I'm a mouse slave now.

[/ QUOTE ]

dids, do you have a link to rocketlaunch download?

[Dids]

Isura,

I don't, but the last time I needed it, I googled it and I think what I wanted was the was the first hit.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Bump because I'm still looking for a good software to keep track of 5 or 6 checking/savings accounts, credit cards, and loans. I am willing to pay for it.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm assuming you've tried and don't like MS Money or Quicken?

[mmbt0ne]

There are 3 different versions of Quicken Personal, so I don't even know which one to start with. Even the most basic one seems to have a bunch of unnecessary stuff though, like ways to pay your bills. I really don't want to link up my bank accounts to other programs.

I have used MS Money in the past and did not like it at all. Unless a lot of people suddenly swear by it, I don't think I would give it another shot.

I just want something simple really. Different accounts. How much in and out. Categorization into any sets I so desire.

I might just do it with some macros in excel if everything else is going to be all bells and whistles.

[IWEARGOGGLES]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if there is some music-related software that can do what some of the following stuff?

-Since I've downloaded a lot, some is mp3, some is m4a, some is 128KBPS, some is 192, etc. Is there anything that I can use to convert between these formats or possibly make it 192KBPS or whatever?

-In iTunes, is there any way I can use a program to search my list of albums for the years they came out and tag them that way? I have over 1,000 albums and this would be a pain to do...

Any other good sound-related programs you guys recommend?

[GrandmaStabone]

MusicIP Playlist maker (http://www.musicip.com/mixer/index.jsp)

Thread in OOT (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&amp;Number=9319946&amp;an=0&amp;page=0#Post 9319946)

-G

[hedgeyerbets]

i just want to thank everyone who pointed out launch. taht thing is going to make me like twice as productive at work.

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
There are 3 different versions of Quicken Personal, so I don't even know which one to start with. Even the most basic one seems to have a bunch of unnecessary stuff though, like ways to pay your bills. I really don't want to link up my bank accounts to other programs.



[/ QUOTE ]

I have Quicken 2004, and I use it only as a basic checkbook register, albeit for four different accounts--three of which I have since closed but were on earlier versions of Quicken that carried over.

FWIW, even the Geico cavemen could quikly master Quicken's basic checkbook register functions.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There are 3 different versions of Quicken Personal, so I don't even know which one to start with. Even the most basic one seems to have a bunch of unnecessary stuff though, like ways to pay your bills. I really don't want to link up my bank accounts to other programs.



[/ QUOTE ]

I have Quicken 2004, and I use it only as a basic checkbook register, albeit for four different accounts--three of which I have since closed but were on earlier versions of Quicken that carried over.

FWIW, even the Geico cavemen could quikly master Quicken's basic checkbook register functions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes Quicken is very good. I've used it ever since I got my first Windows machine in the early 90's, which came with Quicken preinstalled. I haven't kept a check register in about 15 years.

Just get the most basic version. The online bill paying and account linking stuff is all optional. The only thing I use that for is to import my Interactive Brokers statements. It's good at tax time because I can just print a report with all my trades, cost bases, and profit and loss in the same format it needs to be on my tax forms.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Syncback SE (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbse.html). Another poster on the tech help forum turned me on to this and it is the nuts for automated data backup. I have a two hard drive system with partitions and SyncBack easily and automatically backs up everything that matters (e.g., My Docs, Firefox profiles) on boot and the big stuff (60 gigs of music to an external drive) once a week. Well worth the $20 or $30 bucks.

MultiMon Taskbar (http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm) is free and IMO a lot better than the paid multi-monitor support tool mentioned elsewhere.

~ Rick

[keikiwai]

A question and a program:

Adobe Photoshop (I have Elements 3.0) for organizing photos on my hard-drive.

I like how there's a timeline at the top with a histogram of how many photos you take each month, and how you can add descriptions / labels to photos and search etc.

Are there other programs like this? I'm sure there must be better ones. I need something to label, organize, and search... I have about 12K photos and growing and it's a real pain to organize them in the traditional folder method, since I want to do so much cross indexing.

[tiltowhirl]

I don't know if this has been mentioned:

Adobe Acrobat 6.0 (I haven't tried the later versions).

This is saved me from having to fax pretty much ever since I installed it, in fact its saved me from printing reports that require multiple programs and having to walk down the hallway. It's also nice that pretty much anyone can open a pdf with the free reader.

[PITTM]

i actually think that adobe acrobat is one of the worst pieces of software ive ever used. While it is pretty useful, it takes FOREVER to load, always tells me there are updates, takes forever to update. i had always wished there was a better piece of software for this, then i got foxitreader and i am much much happier, so i guess this is a vote for foxitreader.

[Kimbell175113]

This thread has seriously improved my quality of life.

EDIT: Namely Meebo and Memento.

EDIT2: Foxitreader is waay better than Adobe's.

[ReptileHouse]

GCC: http://gcc.gnu.org

Not generally the "best" compiler for many platforms, but it's a darn good compiler for most all platforms it supports. That's nothing short of amazing. It's an enabling piece of software that has done profound things for the spread of embedded technology.

Gaim: http://gaim.sourceforge.net

Cross platform, usable, multi-protocol, actively developed and supported, and free software. What's not to love?

Vim: http://www.vim.org

I spend most of my day in vim. I find new tricks and features all the time that make me more productive. It's great knowing that wherever I go, whatever system I'm developing on, I'll always be able to find an editor that I can use and be effective with.

Google earth: http://earth.google.com

Any program that can be that enthralling is just cool. I've spent hours sending links back and forth with friends from around the world showing cool stuff we know where is. From "here's my house" to "here's a Russian naval base; you can see the rusting hulks of their fleet on the left side of the bay."

Teamspeak: http://www.goteamspeak.com/

Multi-user VOIP. Changes online gaming in more ways than I thought possible. Screw conference calls. This stuff is great.

[roy_miami]

[ QUOTE ]
to "here's a Russian naval base; you can see the rusting hulks of their fleet on the left side of the bay."

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you post that link please?

I like Google Toolbar. What I like about it is Spell checker, form filler and highlight words specifically.

ExtractNow for .rar extraction, works great and its free.

I used to use AVG antivirus, the new version is annoying though in that it does a scan every night and you can't change the scheduling if your using the free version. Now I use BitDefender, its was about $20 I think. Its supposed to be the best antivirus software out there and it doesn't hog my resources while its running a scan.

[JoseRijo]

[ QUOTE ]
Adobe Acrobat 6.0 (I haven't tried the later versions).


[/ QUOTE ]
PDFCreator will print out PDF's and it's free. I use it all the time:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

[SukitTrebek]

Surprised that no one has mentioned ItunesKeys (http://www.mattberube.com/software/ituneskeys/) . Links hotkeys to functions in itunes. Very useful. I have three rating keys and "next song" linked on my mouse.

Also, Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/) is very very easy to use for backing up and restoring disk drives.

[five4suited]

[ QUOTE ]
RJ,

In my opinion yes. I like the controls MPC gives me when it comes to audio/video settings. For example it is very easy from within MPC to resize a video file (zoom in/out) change the aspect ratio, change audio speed etc.

I also started using MPC before VLC became popular so I am used to all the keyboard command shortcuts and I see no reason to switch.

MPC + ffdshow + AC3 codec = best for video playback.

One other program I forgot which I use all the time is
utorrent - very sleek fast loading highly customizable bitorrent client.

[/ QUOTE ]

hey kipin, if you like mpc + ffdshow check this out. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=719041) it's a little more difficult than it seems to get it right, but I get the distinct impression that you have the knowledge and the hardware to tweak your playback until it's perfect, and you can, with this. you're welcome. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[five4suited]

[ QUOTE ]
Process Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx)

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have been opened or loaded.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/heart.gif

If you want to know why your machine isn't as fast as you think it should be, look here.

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

Source for your GM script plz? &lt;3 Greasemonkey.


[/ QUOTE ] Duke's 2p2 greasemonkey script. (http://www.dnickolas.com/2p2/22fix.user.js)

[/ QUOTE ]

I have also written a Greasemonkey script that fixes the cursor insert location for the "Instant UBB code" links in the replier form.

That way with Firefox, it will not just append it at the end of the text, but insert the UBB code where the caret is.

2+2 Greasemonkey scripts (http://www.visi.com/~sgrantz/greasemonkey.html)

(as it happens, there is also an image resizer, though Duke's may be better, I don't know)

[turnipmonster]

ableton live is the best sequencer I've ever used by a longshot.

[StevieG]

Here is another useful bookmarklet - specifying date range for searching the 2+2 archives:

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
javascript:(function() {maxDays=120; archDate=new Date(2006,00,01);
today=new Date(); var interval=parseInt(prompt("What " +
maxDays + " day interval?\n(1 starts back from " +
(archDate.getMonth()+1) +"/" + (archDate.getDate()+1)
+"/" + (archDate.getYear()+1900) + ")", "1"));
if (isNaN(interval)) {interval=1; };
older=Math.ceil((today.getTime()-archDate.getTime())/(1000*60*60*24)) + (maxDays * (interval-1));
document.forms[0]["newertype"].value="d";
document.forms[0]["oldertype"].value="d";
document.forms[0]["olderval"].value=older;
document.forms[0]["newerval"].value=older+maxDays;})()</pre><hr />

Again, copy as one line into the bookmark properties as one line and give it a title like "Specify date range for archive search"

No more trying to figure out "how many months ago was Jan 1, 2006?" and then working back from there.

When you use the bookmark a dialog will come up asking you to select the interval. Use "1" for the 120 days previous to 1/1/2006, "2" for the 120 days before that, and so on.

[FoldEqu1ty]

Not strictly software but the trio of:

Newsleecher (Usenet download software, free with Giganews unlimited account)
Newzbin.com account (Usenet cataloguer / organizer)
Giganews.com subscription (Best Usenet server)

Is the absolute holy-grail of getting anything for free. For example, if I want to watch the latest episode of 24 (we're way behind in Aus), I goto Newzbin and search for "24 6x13", and choose the resultion and encoding format I want. With one click the episode starts download at absolute full throttle, automatically repairs and unpacks itself, and two minutes after my whim I am watching the episode. All this in SSL too, if you're really security conscious. Absolute solid gold.

[Freakin]

[ QUOTE ]
Not strictly software but the trio of:

Newsleecher (Usenet download software, free with Giganews unlimited account)
Newzbin.com account (Usenet cataloguer / organizer)
Giganews.com subscription (Best Usenet server)

Is the absolute holy-grail of getting anything for free. For example, if I want to watch the latest episode of 24 (we're way behind in Aus), I goto Newzbin and search for "24 6x13", and choose the resultion and encoding format I want. With one click the episode starts download at absolute full throttle, automatically repairs and unpacks itself, and two minutes after my whim I am watching the episode. All this in SSL too, if you're really security conscious. Absolute solid gold.

[/ QUOTE ]

couldn't agree more. NNTP is the filesharing of the future (and past, really).

Nothing like maxing out a 12meg pipe.

At my last job, I ask my IT guy "So can I download newsgroups uncapped, or should I limit it?"

He responded with "We've got a 10 meg dedicated pipe... you can do whatever you want"

I said "I'm downloading at about 9.8Mbps..."

He said "Yeah, keep it under 5 from now on"

[Mark L]

Anyone who likes pandora really should check out www.last.fm. (http://www.last.fm.) I think it's far better.

Mac users should all check out:

Vienna - Open source rss reader. Very nice.

and

Adium - Open source messenger (like trillian but i think much nicer)


Also VLC media player is the [censored].

[Osprey]

Check out Slacker (http://www.slacker.com/) , an internet radio service with new and old song, lots of customizable options, with a hook of portable players that will have Wifi for streaming internet radio, and also car kits for satellite streaming internet radio. It sounds badass. The web service is good too, I've just been fooling around with it, but you can ban songs from your personalized stations, which I like....

[Josem]

any other recommendations of good usenet download software?


(Outlook Express just doesn't cut it for me)

[Neuge]

Enthought (http://code.enthought.com/) edition Python. It's a full Python install with all the possible scientific computing packages and libraries you could want included. Very handy. Everyone at the beginning of the thread concerned about the price of Matlab might want to check it out (and this (http://www.scipy.org/NumPy_for_Matlab_Users)) as a possible replacement. It's as close as freeware gets.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone who likes pandora really should check out www.last.fm. (http://www.last.fm.) I think it's far better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just read this pretty interesting blog entry/discussion here (http://tinyurl.com/75exy) regarding Pandora versus last.fm.

Right now this old guy is fooling around with both.

~ Rick

[FoldEqu1ty]

[ QUOTE ]
any other recommendations of good usenet download software?


(Outlook Express just doesn't cut it for me)

[/ QUOTE ]

Really Newsleecher is the way to go IMO. It's extremely powerful, easy-to-use and pretty too, easily the best of the bunch. They have just implemented an automatic "PAR and UNRAR" feature into the core software, which otherwise you are either doing manually or fiddling with a temperamental plugin. Also it's free with a Giganews unlimited account, which if you download &gt; 25GB per month you'll be getting anyway.

Make sure you learn to use NZBs too, which is what Newzbin us all about (basically they're like .torrents but for useNet).

[ilprincipe]

SABnzbd (http://sourceforge.net/projects/sabnzbd/ )+ FF + Newzbin + Greasemonkey one-click script/SAB-tab for newzbin is the way to go. Also, SABnzbd supports RSS feeds. Go buy a new HDD /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[SlowHabit]

I can't believe no one has mentioned PokerStove.

And Emacs is probably the greatest text editor.

[Boris]

I havn't tried any of these yet, but here are three web services that might prove super useful to participants in this community. Reviews are appreciated from anyone who has used these sites.

Zecco.com (http://www.zecco.com/Default.aspx) Offers up to 40 free stock trades per month. Zero rake action is every gamblers dream. I will likely be opening an account very soon.

Circle Lending (http://www.circlelending.com/) This service formalizes the contracts and payment terms for loans between friends and family. Now when your friend goes Busto! you can formalize the terms of your staking arrangement. It looks like even have documents to collateralize loans. Mark Newhouse take note.

Reputation Defender (http://www.reputationdefender.com/) This service will perform periodic searches of the Internet, including message boards, social networks and blogs, for information about you or your child. If scandalous information is found you can pay extra and a friendly staff member will go about removing the offending posts using "proprietary methods". I wonder if any of the mods have been contacted by a representative of Reputation Defender? I think we all know a few people who would find this service very useful.

[roblin]

shiira:
best webbrowser evah. how can you not love this:
http://shiira.jp/English/res/mov_tabExposeL.mov

[john voight]

Music Production:
Ableton Live!
Reason 3.0 (the best thing I have)
Audacity - great free program

Internet:
Firefox (videodownloader, SEO plug ins)
youtube
torrent
Full Tilt

Other Programs:
VLC media player
AIM v5.1.3
Windows XP

I'm not big on having hundreds of apps that do cool things. SO this is just a few programs I like. Mainly I deal w/ music when I'm not on the net or playing games.

[Freakin]

are there sites to search for nzb files?

[AEKDBet]

[ QUOTE ]
are there sites to search for nzb files?

[/ QUOTE ]

Binsearch.info (http://www.binsearch.info/index.php?adv_sort=date?q=%s&amp;m=&amp;max=100&amp;adv_g=&amp;adv _age=99&amp;adv_sort=date&amp;minsize=&amp;maxsize=&amp;font=&amp;post date=)

Also I use Newzbin.com

[Evan]

For anyone that uses google calendar this is an awesome little hack that allows you to quick add events from any page in firefox (gcal doesn't even have to be open).

http://torrez.us/archives/2006/04/18/433/

[CrashPat]

[ QUOTE ]
GCC: http://gcc.gnu.org

Not generally the "best" compiler for many platforms, but it's a darn good compiler for most all platforms it supports. That's nothing short of amazing. It's an enabling piece of software that has done profound things for the spread of embedded technology.


[/ QUOTE ]

GCC is probably the most amazing piece of software on the planet. It compiles well for many platforms, and is very well supported for the main target platform x86 or x86_64 (is that what they call it these days?) I do not think that GCC is a killer app though... so many people use it without knowing that it really kills its appeal.

I do disagree with you on vim though. Vim is gross.. I used to use it until for some reason I had inconsistencies in my configuration file between the linux platform at school, my linux platform at home, and my windows platform. Turned me off of vim forever.. if I am using the same version and I get different results something is obviously [censored] up.

Which is why I recommended emacs earlier. /images/graemlins/smile.gif And an emacs user has to defend his choice against vim users.. I think that is in the bible.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[beeyjay]

I know their slogan is No Software but whatever it is I think Salesforce.com is crazy for the amount of problems it can solve.

Looks like Microsoft might surpass this soon tho...

[Maulik]

Bump, is anyone familar with Department of Defense standards for file deletion (DOD 5220.22)?

I want to be able to delete files running a drive as slave, rather then using floppys like: http://dban.sourceforge.net/

[NCAces]

Great thread ...

Multiplicity ... http://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/.

If you like multiple monitors, this is the same thing but with multiple computers. I use three computers and 4 monitors at work ... this program makes it so that I can move from computer to computer, monitor to monitor, seemlessly using a single keyboard and mouse. Like a KVM switch, but with no switch. Couldn't live without it.

PSPad as a text editor. Free and really good, especially for programmers.

NCAces

[Isura]

I love this thread. After getting sick of slow loading times in firefox 2, I tried http://www.opera.com/

What a great browser! Faster and less memory intensive than firefox and the tab functionality is more smooth.

[Evan]

OpenDNS writeup in Tech Crunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/23/opendns-adds-short-cut-service/)
OpenDNS website (http://www.opendns.com/)

[ChipStorm]

For connecting machines at home so they can talk to eachother, share files, make backups easy...

Network Magic (http://www.networkmagic.com/nmlp/home-networking.php?src=google&amp;kw=network%20magic&amp;gclid =CPn1zL_C24sCFSWHPgod-CkCcA)

Hands down, the best piece of software I've put my hands to in the last couple of years. And cheap!

Can't describe the hassles that just went away when I installed this on my 4 machines at home.

[Disclosure: I'm programmer/geek type]

firefox (would love to see operas mouse gestures implemented)
antivir (german free antivirus)
ad aware (free)

utorrent
pokertracker
daemon tools

mbm / rivatuner (for overclocking)

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, while we are prattling off Google apps, I'll give Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com) a mention. I use it mainly at work, but it useful for home users too.

My favorite feature is the quick-search window that can be popped up by tapping control twice. It searches files, emails, etc, on your PC and/or any network drives that you choose to index.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just be careful on this one. I had linked my home computer and work computer through google desktop and one day I was searching my work desktop for something and my home results had porn websites I'd visited that for whatever reason had that phrase on the page somewhere.

[Reef]

Atomix - DJ software

lets any amateur mix songs .. can also record mixes .. tons of features

[fadedstar]

[ QUOTE ]
LAUNCHY (http://www.launchy.net/)

want to open paint? alt-spacebar, type 'pa', and hit enter.

want to open notepad? alt-spacebar, type 'no', and hit enter.

want to calculate 467823 * 463? alt-spacebar, enter the expression and it's calculated inline.

it indexes your start menu by default, but you can make it do other things. i added my documents to its directory list and pdf as a filetype. now if i want to pull up my nutritional data pdf from subway i hit alt-spacebar, type 'sub', and hit enter. this will work for any type of file that can be executed/opened: word documents, excel spreadsheets, etc. it can also index ie and firefox bookmarks.

http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/launchy/LaunchySetup103.exe

[/ QUOTE ]

whoaaaaaaaaaaa AMAZING!!! it pays to read something else than BBV lol! thanks for sharing

[mmbt0ne]

[ QUOTE ]
firefox (would love to see operas mouse gestures implemented)

[/ QUOTE ]

http://optimoz.mozdev.org/gestures/

[James282]

if you get a lot of email, www.clearcontext.com. (http://www.clearcontext.com.) it's an email organizer that is amazing. check it out.

[MadScientist]

Responding to the cleaner:
All in one Gestures for Firefox is pretty great.
It allows you to customize small mouse movements to control your browsing. For instance right clicking and moving up opens a link in a new tab. Down and to the right closes a tab, etc. Very 21st century.

[onthebutton]

[ QUOTE ]
if you get a lot of email, www.clearcontext.com. (http://www.clearcontext.com.) it's an email organizer that is amazing. check it out.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard some really good things about this from a friend of mine. I definitely need to check it out.

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
Not strictly software but the trio of:

Newsleecher (Usenet download software, free with Giganews unlimited account)
Newzbin.com account (Usenet cataloguer / organizer)
Giganews.com subscription (Best Usenet server)

Is the absolute holy-grail of getting anything for free. For example, if I want to watch the latest episode of 24 (we're way behind in Aus), I goto Newzbin and search for "24 6x13", and choose the resultion and encoding format I want. With one click the episode starts download at absolute full throttle, automatically repairs and unpacks itself, and two minutes after my whim I am watching the episode. All this in SSL too, if you're really security conscious. Absolute solid gold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm, $27/mo for this. I am going to give it a test and report back as to its usefulness. I may be hooked.

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
Atomix - DJ software

lets any amateur mix songs .. can also record mixes .. tons of features

[/ QUOTE ]

Never used this, but for music it is easy. ProTools if you know what you are doing and do this professionally (otherwise it is cost prohibitive). Otherwise, Audacity will do anything an amateur could want. ProTools is borderline ridiculous if you know how to use it though; the things you could do are incredible.

[kylephilly]

If you write alot of code UltraEdit is a must.

Pandora is good, I also heard of a similar one called "Slacker" i believe that's pretty good.

[eurythmech]

A-Patch (http://www.apatch.tk/) is a great little tool for customizing just about everything in the horrendous MSN client, like removing ads, annoying links, etc etc.

[N 82 50 24]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp is a pretty cool web-based remote access system.

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, in return I give you the greatest thing to happen to gigantic pictures on 2p2.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>javascript:maxwidth=800;pi=document.getElementsByT agName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20aspectrati o=
(pi.item(i).height/pi.item(i).width);if(pi.item(i).width&gt;maxwidth)
{pi.item(i).width=maxwidth;pi.item(i).height=aspec tratio*maxwidth;}}
</pre><hr />

Copy this, make it one line, make it a bookmark. Any time there is a thread with a gigantic picture, click the bookmark and it will resize every picture bigger than, in this case, 800 pixels wide. You can change the number to whatever you see fit.

[/ QUOTE ]

mmbt0ne I /images/graemlins/heart.gif you! Pics stretching forums has irked me to no end.

For those that don't already use Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org), the fact that you can export files as PDF should be reason enough to install it (especially considering that it's free anyway). Beats shelling out money for Adobe Acrobat Pro.

PSPad (http://www.pspad.com/) - Notepad replacement, it has syntax coloring that are user editable. By default color codes everything from web languages like (XHTML, PHP) to programming languages (Java, C++, C) to niche languages (Assembly, Autohotkey).

Actually for Autohotkey I think someone on the Autohotkey forums posted the color syntax file, I can't remember. Since there's no installation I just zip up the program and distribute it among my PCs.

Deja Vu Serif (http://dejavu.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) - It's an awesome font that's easy on the eyes. I've been using this for 6 months now and I still love it.

I didn't think I would notice or like it, but it's currently used as my system, browser, and programming font (it includes a sans-serif, serif, and monospace varations).

Also, don't forget to turn on ClearType (sub-pixel font rendering) if you're running WinXP: Display Properties -&gt; Appearance -&gt; Effects -&gt; Use the following: ClearType

JSPager - Virtual desktop manager for Windows. Most importantly it's fast and supports custom hotkeys for moving around workspaces. The drawback is that it's from the Win95 era and doesn't always handle window management well when CPU is pegged at 100% usage (upping priority might help).

I can't seem to Google a copy online, so if you want just send me a PM.

Rainlendar (http://www.rainlendar.net/[/url) - Desktop calendar and todo list for Windows/Linux. Free for local calendars, you need to pay to remove an [unregistered] tag from network (iCal) calendar events.

WinTidy (http://www.docsdownloads.com/Tier1/direct.htm) - Set desktop icons to list view and save placement. Originally freeware from PCMag.com but now they require registration or some crap. I just Google'd for the above link.

Password Safe (http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/) - Password manager.

SmartFTP (http://www.smartftp.com/) - Free graphical FTP client.

Since Putty's already been mentioned, WinSCP (http://winscp.net/eng/index.php) - Free graphical SFTP client.

Hamachi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi) - Free VPN.

Synchronize It! (http://www.grigsoft.com/winsin.htm) - Folder synchronization tool, I use it to automate backups over the network (it supports command line). Uncrippled shareware (no trial period) but I bought it anyway.

Ontrack Easy Recover Pro - Not free, but hands down the best disk recovery software I've ever come across.

Aida32 (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html) - System information, diagnostics and benchmarking program.

Memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/) - RAM diagnostic test.

Synch-It with Atom (http://www.tolvanen.com/syncit/) - Time synchronizer on a custom interval (vs. Windows 48 hr interval), crippleware. I used it when my HTPC system clock would run fast and it was extremely frustarating when it left off last few minutes of a recorded show.

Daemon Tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/announcements.php) - CD/DVD image mounter (awxDTools for context menu support, YASU to hide Daemon Tools from certain programs).

foobar (http://www.foobar2000.org/) - Small footprint alternative to Winamp.

Mp3 Gain (http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/) - Normalize your mp3s.

Gspot (http://www.headbands.com/gspot/) - Codec information for video files so you can hunt down which codec you're missing to play a file or if you have multiples of the same codec installed (e.g. DivX) which one is being used.

Light Alloy (http://www.softella.com/) - Media player for Windows OSes. Small footprint, skinnable, hotkey friendly. It's probably best described as Totem with better hotkey and subtitle file support.

CCCP Codec Pack (http://www.cccp-project.net/) - Has replaced Matroska as my preferred codec pack.

Real Alternative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Alternative) - RealMedia codec, i.e. use another media player instead of RealPlayer.

IP Gamma - Raises/lowers screen brightness since LCDs have a limitations, I use it for Counter-Strike.

DrDelete - For deleting locked files, or you could use Processor Explorer as mentioned earlier.

Firefox extensions:
Adblock Plus - Adblock with subscription filter
Customize Google - remove Google ads, privatize browsing habits
Download Statusbar
DownloadThemAll!
Foxmarks - bookmarks synchronizer (free, automatic, optional web interface access)
MouseGestures
Searchbar Autosizer
TabMix Plus

BTW GAIM has actually been renamed to Pidgin (http://pidgin.im/) due to AOL threats (despte the fact that GAIM has been in use before the acronym AIM).

[theblackkeys]

I'm going to have to 9th the launchy recommendation.

I am amazed that this internets thing works correctly, although it's not really software.

Another not really software product that works nicely is Apple's Airport Extreme Wireless N base station thingie. Really easy to set up and get going, I've used Belkin's N router and it was a bit of a pain in the butt. The new not-yet-standard for wireless is 802.11n, and theoretically can be 10 times as fast as the 802.11g standard. The good thing is that it can function in the a, b, and g standards as well so you can just buy the router and upgrade your wireless adapter card whenever. Also, cordless phones won't necessarily interfere with your wireless internet connection because the N standard can transmit in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency ranges. Cordless phones, and the g standard work only in 2.4 GHz.