Softwares - Which one and why...

I thought we could share what soft we uses and why (briefly)

Defrag: Diskeeper (set it and forget-it! ).

Anti-virus: Avast (Im still trying it out, I wanted an alternative to norton who has let me down a couple of times (a lot actually)).

MP3 player: Itunes (great way to sort your music .. got bored with winamp over the years).

Media player: VLC (it has it all and its so easy to use).

Image viewer: XNView (It's free, easy to use, has a lot of cool features... the closest thing to ACDsee).

Anti-spywares: Adaware, Spybot S&D, Spyware blaster (you all know why hehe).

if you have reccomendations or thoughts on some appz .. dont be shy to speak out!

Vince

 

Zaar, I'm surprised no-one else has waded in. You don't state what OS you are using, XP 98 or what?. This subject has seen many posts in the past. Most are separate recommendations and not a listing of all stuff used.

For what it's worth, some I recommend that work on W98SE and sometimes XP are:-

CLEANING up cookies--all 3, free, and conflict free.

Cleanup! http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=990
EmpTemp http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1575
CrapCleaner--http://www.mrbass.org/freeware/crapcleaner/
Can't find it on MG nad I have version v1.09.057 which is later than one shown on website.

MSCONFIG alternative CodeStuff http://codestuff.netfirms.com/news.shtml

Uninstaller alternative to M$ Add/remove MyUninstaller from http://nirsoft.mirrorz.com/

Best downloader Leechget http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1821

Reducing the number of shortcuts on your startup page and ease of access to stuff SlickRun v3.2.2.2 http://www.bayden.com/slickrun/updates.asp?l=en&ver=3.2.2.2
I've got over 130 shortcuts stored, only a keystroke or 2 away and a clean desktop.

Backup software Karen's Replicator 2.2.3 http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3917.html

Does cumulative backups easily. Just started using it because of a recommendation here in MG. But have a second full backup method using a commercial product as well. Never too many backups as brain fade can occur. First time you run it will take a long time and does not compress files but it's free. Second time onwards, it is cumulative if you set it up that way.

Online scanner Trend Micro online scanner http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

Also recommended many times in MG.

Hope this assists. All mine are "Essential" on my PC. Bazza

===

 

I run Win XP Home:

This is only some of the software

The Rename
v2.1.6
2.9 Mb
http://www.herve-thouzard.com/therenamea.phtml
Batch File Rename
Audacity
v1.2.0
3 Mb
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/
Digital Audio Editor

GenEdit
V0.58
8.11 Mb
http://www.genesis3d.com
3D Graphic Editor

3D Canvas
v6.5.0.2
6.6 Mb
http://www.amabilis.com
3D Graphic Editor

WinMerge
v2.0.2.0
1.95 Mb
http://winmerge.sourceforge.net
File Comparison & Merging

CoffeeCup Flash Text Wizard
v7.1
2.3 Mb
http://www.coffeecup.com
Text Flash Creator

Zone Alarm
v4.5.594
4.9 Mb
http://www.zonelabs.com
Internet Firewall

AVG 6 Antivirus Scanner
v6.0.665
6.6 Mb
http://www.grisoft.com
Anti-Virus Scanner

BitDefender Virus Scanner
v7.1
9.6 Mb
http://www.bitdefender.com
Anti-Virus Scanner

OpenOffice.org
v1.1.1
65.4 Mb
http://www.openoffice.org
Office Suite Software

PDF Creator
v0.8.2
7.5 Mb
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
PDF Document Creator

OpenLP
v0.993b
5 Mb
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openlp/
Song Lyric & Bible Verse Projection

AC-3 Decoder
v1.24b
5.76 Mb
http://www.mediatwins.com
Dolby 6 Channel Stereo Decoder & Converter

GIMP2 for Windows
v2.0
14.9 Mb (with required runtime)
http://www.gimp.org
Comprehensive Picture Editing

DVDx 2.2
v2.2
2 Mb
http://dvdx.sourceforge.net
DVD w/ AC-3 to MPEG/AVI ‘One-Shot’ Converter

DVD Decrypter
v3.9.1.0
763 Kb
http://www.dvddecrypter.com
DVD Decrypting Software

Magical Jellybean Dictionary
v1.1
310 Kb
http://www.sixy.com
Online Dictionary

FlashGet
v1.60
1.8 Mb
http://www.amazesoft.com
Resumable Download Accelerator

RAD Video Tools
1.4 Mb
http://www.radgametools.com
One-step Multimedia & Picture Batch File Converter
(Converterts avi, mpg, mov, flc, other pics & video extensions into each other formats)

 

Everything here is a MUST for my computer.
I have some other things that I install when needed.

CD Burning
----------------
Deep Burner: CD-Burning Software
Pros: Free and small (~3Mb)
Cons: haven't found any yet
mkisofs: really good for creating ISO's that
you want to truly control.
cdrtools: port to w9x/xp of the GNU cdrtools.
small and free (~2-3Mb).

Software Development
-----------------------------
PellesC: An up-and-coming C/C++ compiler.
Very nice and completely free.
Dev-CPP: Freeware C++ compiler/ide based around
the MingW compiler. Very nice, but programs
can be a touch larger than i'd like. For
smaller progs, stick to TurboC.
DMD: Digital Mars D compiler - a fairly new language
whose model is close to C/C++ but is TRULY
object oriented. Also free.
IBASIC: A nice basic compiler from Pyxia. The one
real advantage of it versus other basic
langauges is the ability to use pointers.
Not free though.
GCC: the best compiler ever. GNU, open source,
need to say more.
VB6: because VB .NET is a little querky in my opinion.
Since .Net did away with the addressof statement,
I find some programs are simply easier to write
in VB6.
VB .NET: Microsoft developed it, so it's probably a good
idea to learn it.
GEL: A native java GUI. Really nice, free, and small.
JDK 1.4.1_01: Because I'm too lazy to download the
latest JDK.
BCX: Supposed to be a BASIC to C converter, but
has a lot of new syntax ontop of the regular
BASIC syntax. Pretty nice, but does take
time to learn. It's great for making dialogs
that are small and standalone.
RPG Maker 2003: I like games.

And, about 40 other's.

Anti-virii
-----------
Avast: So far, it seems to be the best
AVG: It's good, trusted, and has a free version.
(I don't completely trust Avast yet).
F-Prot: It's old, but still gets updated and is
great for a computer that you keep
DOS on for those old games that
you can't stand to give up.

Firewall
----------
BartWare Personal Firewall: Free and VERY strong.
It only lets apps access the
net that you explicitly
tell it to.
Internet
----------
Mozilla Firefox: Because I HATE M$ for coming
one step from completely imbeding
IE into windows. Where's our choice?
ALClient: Mud client for AL, but works with all other
MUD's as well. Freeware.
OpenSSH: a great, open source SSH client.
No need to say more.
FileZilla: another great GNU creation. Wonderful
GUI Ftp client.
Popcorn: Pretty good pop-mail checker/writer, but
doesn't handle attachments.
Gnucleus: Great GNU gnutells p2p client.
DD: I like command-line tools, and DD is a great
tools for creating disk images. Also, unlike
winimage and other image tools, DD can
grab a boot sector the way YOU tell it to.
MirandaIM: A GNU IM program that has support
for all of the major protocols: AIM,
ICQ, YAHOO, etc. Plugins need to
be downloaded for use of some
protocols, but they are small and
easy to install.

Compression/Zip
----------------------
UPX: THE executable compressor.
IZArc: If I were ever recommending anything,
THIS WOULD BE IT! It is a freeware
replacement for WinZip, et. al. Not only
does it replace WinZip, but it goes far
past it. IZArc handles...i believe ~40
compression algorithms including zip,
mszip, arj, lha (frozen5 and 6), 7Zip,
gzip, etc. Most noteable is the 7Zip
compression which in many cases can
compress a file about half-again as small
as zip. I highly recommend this, and I
wouldn't leave home without it.

Installers
------------
NSIS: A great fresh install makers. Free and nice.
NISEDIT: A scripting wizard for NSIS. Free.
Install-Rite: Captures any changes made to your
computer by an installer and creates
a hassle-free, no user input installer
from that info. Very nice and free.

Office
--------
OpenOffice: What can I say? It's what M$ Word
wishes it was. Has anyone figured
out why M$ never added a compressed
doc format like the OO compressed
SWX format?
PDF995: Create PDF's from anything by printing them
to a virtual printer that spits out a PDF doc.
Nice. Nagware.

Registry Editors
--------------------
Registry Commander: Free and much better than
regedit.


Editors
---------
XVI32: Great, small, free w9x/XP hex editor.
Notepad+: Notepad replacement with a few
extra's

VM's/VD's (that's virtual disks...)
-------
M$ Virtual PC 2004: Too bad Conexant sold it too them.
Has M$ every really created
anything, or do they aquire it
all like they did DOS?
Boch's: A really nice, open source VM. However, it
run's about 1/20th the speed of VPC. 3gHz+
needed to really do anythign with this.
But, one day it will be finished, and bye-bye
VPC.

Daemon Tools: Having to find CD's sucks.

Misc. Tools
---------------
BareGrep: A free, good GUI based grep for Win9x/XP.
Great tool if you need to find something
inside files.
XPLite: Too many things are installed that I never
need. Evern with a custom xp install, I
still use this.
TweakUI: M$ Powertoys for XP. No need to say more.

--RJS

 

Wow!

these are in depth analysis .. thx a lot for the info guys!!!
btw my OS is stated in my signature

 

Anti-Virus: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download955.html][/color]AntiVir Personal Addition v6.25.0.60 (Browsed the Antivirus programs here, sorted by popularity, and took the top one.)
MP3 Player: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2490][/color]WinAmp v5.03a (I like the functionality and the skins.)
Media Player: QuickTime (Apple might not be good for much, but when it comes to multimedia, you can't beat 'em.)
Anti-SpyWare: Ad-Aware v6.181 (Who doesn't use this program?).
Firewall: ZoneAlarm Security Suite 5.0 (Best software firewall out there right now)
Computer Management: System Mechanic (Absolutely magnificent program. Completes my set of system tools.)

 

Looks like my first two links are broken. I tried to edit my post to correct this, but it seems there is a time frame of 3 minutes after posting in which I am permitted to edit my post. Both of those programs are available for download here at Major Geeks. Simply do a search on the home page for the name.

 

Ad aware
Spybot search and destroy
spyware blaster
Winamp
media monkey
crap cleaner
fox mail
AVG
disk keeper lite
reg seeker
reg supreme
startup control panel by mike lin
weather watcher

 

Ad-Aware SE Personal
SpyBot-Search & Destroy
AVG Free Edition - Not let me down yet.
ZoneAlarm Free - The latest one.
RegSupreme - The best registry cleaner IMO.
Norton GoBack 4 - Hate that it is now a Symantec product, but it's so much better than the System Restore feature in XP. Been using this program since version 2 & it has saved my butt more than once.

 

I just signed and already find "GOLD-MINE" .............this forum is so good.........Just caant explain

I just want to ask Members to correct :

DOWNLOAD MANAGERS:

Stardownload :http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stardownloader.html

I found it very easy to handle .............and fast and free too!

 

I just run what is necessary for proper operation without all the eye candy and extras.
Win2000
Avast
Sygate