Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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.

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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

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

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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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.

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

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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Atomix - DJ software

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

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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.

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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.

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

A-Patch is a great little tool for customizing just about everything in the horrendous MSN client, like removing ads, annoying links, etc etc.

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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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.getEleme ntsByTagName
("img");for(var%20i=0;i&lt;=pi.length;i++){var%20a spectratio=
(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.

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

For those that don't already use Open Office, 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - Password manager.

SmartFTP - Free graphical FTP client.

Since Putty's already been mentioned, WinSCP - Free graphical SFTP client.

Hamachi - Free VPN.

Synchronize It! - 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 - System information, diagnostics and benchmarking program.

Memtest86 - RAM diagnostic test.

Synch-It with Atom - 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 - CD/DVD image mounter (awxDTools for context menu support, YASU to hide Daemon Tools from certain programs).

foobar - Small footprint alternative to Winamp.

Mp3 Gain - Normalize your mp3s.

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 - 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 - Has replaced Matroska as my preferred codec pack.

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 due to AOL threats (despte the fact that GAIM has been in use before the acronym AIM).

Re: Software products that you think are really good
 

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.