Recommended/Useful Software Thread

[Archangel]

I thought it might be useful for each of us to post the software we consider to be indispensable for our pc so that the rest of the people of the forum get to know it too

Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. Official versions are distributed under the terms of a proprietary EULA. Firefox had 22.05% of the recorded usage share of web browsers as of March 2009, making it the second most popular browser in terms of current use worldwide, after Internet Explorer.

UTorrent

µTorrent (or uTorrent and commonly abbreviated as "µT" or "uT") is a freeware closed source BitTorrent client by BitTorrent, Inc.. It is available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Both versions are written in C++. It gets the "µ" in its name from the SI prefix "micro" meaning one one-millionth and it refers to the program's small footprint. The program is designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet.

Combined Community Codec Pack

The Combined Community Codec Pack, more commonly referred to as the CCCP, is a collected archive of codecs (video compression filters) packed for Microsoft Windows, designed originally for the playback of anime fansubs. The CCCP is developed and maintained by members of various fansubbing groups. The name is a pun on the Russian name for the USSR (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, Soyuz Sovyetskikh Sotsialistichyeskikh Respublik); the Cyrillic name for the USSR is initialized CCCP, however it transliterates to SSSR.

That's it for now, i'll update it as it comes to mind.

[Board of Command]

I've always been against the idea of codec packs. I'd much rather install the individual components (ffdshow, vsfilter, etc.) myself, but that's just me.

For me, an indispensable program on all my systems is Rocketdock. It makes organizing your commonly used programs very easy and does it in an efficient manner if you customize it properly. The default settings render it useless (like the MacOS Dock), but once you play with the configuration and figure out the magic settings, it's surprisingly useful.

[Kraco]

Rename-It!

This was a mass file renaming program Yuki suggested to me once. You need an application such as this if you intend to archive manga as most releases have whatever if any naming conventions. Supports regular expressions, multiple filters, and most of the other jazz you could imagine.

- - - - - - - - - -

Agent Ransack

A file/text search program I found years ago. It's easy to use when looking for a string somewhere in a mass of text files.

[Buffalobiian]

How's RocketDock different from, say desktop shortcuts? It looks pretty snazzy, but the website didn't tell me a lot about what it's good for.

Xmarks:

Plug-in for Firefox that synchonises your bookmarks across multiple computers as long as you have internet. Not that I modify my bookmarks on a daily basis, but it really helps when you use multiple computers (desktop/laptop) frequently. There's also been some new features added, like password synching, Enhanced Google Search (modifies google results for "better" matches), and Site Info&Suggestion.

The only features I use are the bookmark backup and Site Info/Suggestion. The latter is sometimes useful. It adds an icon in your address bar, and when you press it, shows a summary description of what site you're on, and then a further 5 similar sites that you may be interested in.

Process Explorer (aka Procexp)

Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you'll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded. Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded.

The unique capabilities of Process Explorer make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.

Ever thought Windows Task Manager is lacking some features? Process Explorer is your answer. Can't do without it.

[Board of Command]

How's RocketDock different from, say desktop shortcuts? It looks pretty snazzy, but the website didn't tell me a lot about what it's good for.

You need access to the desktop if you want to use icons. You may not have such access if you have windows open on top of it. With Rocketdock, you can set it to pop up on top when you move your mouse to the edge of the screen. When not in use, you can set it to go to bottom so that it's not in the way of anything.

It's very practical if you get the settings right. Like I said earlier, the default settings make it useless.

[Psyke]

Rocketdock reminds of a similar software I used back on XP, but it was consuming too much resources and I had to remove it to run some applications. I'm downloading to give it a try though.

[Archangel]

Rocketdock reminds of a similar software I used back on XP, but it was consuming too much resources and I had to remove it to run some applications. I'm downloading to give it a try though.

Great to see the thread is getting results so fast

[Konohamaru!]

For any IT people out there, here is one of my favorites...

Visionapp:

If you manage different servers, or remote desktop to a number of machines, this is such a handy program. The freeware version only supports up to 3 concurrent connections though. =(

Trillian:

For those that instant message on different platforms, this takes AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ and rolls them into one program.

[Archangel]

Trillian:

For those that instant message on different platforms, this takes AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ and rolls them into one program.

Does it allow file sharing and videocalling with all the messengers?

[Konohamaru!]

yes, it's suppose to support that stuff, although I haven't tested anything more then some file sharing...

[Xelbair]

Rocketdock is awesome indeed.

vDownloader - you wanted to have some song fron youtube and you didin't saw it on torrents? you want a movie from youtube? get this and you'll be able to download them and they are automaticly converted to avi. (i used them to get my biggest motivator for playing guitar http://www.youtube.com/user/17586063 after i see some of those movies i always want to play.)

Deepburner CD/DVD burning free program - 50mb only on hdd, fast and imo way better than nero

Foobar2000 music player - imo way better than winamp due to clearer menu, great plugin support(supports my lovely g15 lcd display and my creative x-fi remote) and it takes up much less system resources.

RealVNC - remote desktop, those who want to use it already know what it is.

Notepad++ - notepad with tabs, plugins and it supports programming/scripting language coloring text, if you try it - you'll never use notepad again

Audacity - imo best recording program - it is open source and is used by professional studios too

Applocale - used for running non-Unicode application - for example visual novels

some interesting stuff:
Xoblite - blackbox for winXP - google it to see what it does - looks neat but for me it was impractical.

Rainlendar - multipurpose application, it started as calendar but thanks to plugin support it can do much more(check mail, cast weather, show system resource usage, foobar/winamp integration and much more)...a bit too annoying for me - i prefer calendar with notes in my cellphone, but its great for tweeking look of your system, and looks totaly awesome with xoblite.


all stuff mentioned above is free

[David75]

Trillian:

For those that instant message on different platforms, this takes AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ and rolls them into one program.

Pidgin is Opensource and does the same too for those interrested


Powerstrip, for those interrested in actually controlling their screen refresh rate and much more (exotic resolutions etc...). Beware, poweruser tool that can create resolutions your screen can't manage, and it won't turn back to normal after reboot, so you must know hos to deal with such situations. You have been warned. Apparently, works better with Ati cards.

Reclock
Directshow filter to synchronise frequencies between the processor, video and sound for better playback. A tad hard to understand all the implications and how to use it to actually have a better experience. You may need other tools and avisynth scripts to solve motion judder for example.

[itadakimasu]

Photofiltre

This is a great free picture editer. Use it every day.

[Buffalobiian]

Windows Install Clean Up

Not commonly used by me, but quite handy. Have you ever been ABSOLUTELY sure you've uninstalled something, but it's staying on the "add/remove programs" list? Or the uninstaller corrupted itself, and the only way to remove a program is to delete the install directory and remove it from the list? Windows Install Clean Up will force your computer to recognise a program is uninstalled, though any files remaining will still be there (reg tweaking only).

[Xelbair]

Powerstrip, for those interrested in actually controlling their screen refresh rate and much more (exotic resolutions etc...). Beware, poweruser tool that can create resolutions your screen can't manage, and it won't turn back to normal after reboot, so you must know hos to deal with such situations. You have been warned. Apparently, works better with Ati cards.
.

just press F8 after BIOS "press del to enter setup" screen then choose run windows in VGA mode - it'll return resolution to the 800x600. So now you can play with this program :]

[David75]

just press F8 after BIOS "press del to enter setup" screen then choose run windows in VGA mode - it'll return resolution to the 800x600. So now you can play with this program :]

I know, I just put an example so that those with weak computer experience do not try this tool and have problems they can't solve by themselves.
Another easy way, if you installed logmein prior to powerstrip, is to access the resolution cripled comp from another one. You can then access the desktop and restore failsafe resolutions. Last time I tried, *VNC didn't work in that case (no usable desktop if resolution is screwed)

So another piece of software:
LogMeIn: Use with caution as your comp becomes accessible from your logmein account. So if logmein is controled by the CIA, or someone steals your logins... they can access your comp, and if they also know logins on your comp, you're screwed...
Other than that, it's very helpful to help your parents, grandparents, or anyone you care who has weak technical skills. They do not even have to click on anything and you can use their comp as if it were yours. Of course, when there's no internet access...

[Xelbair]

I thought that you know - but some might not.

DBAN one of best free disk-kill software - it destroys all data on all hdd it can detect - beware before using it, and think before doing so - and makes it so that it'll take a lot time to get even 1kb back

[Buffalobiian]

I thought that you know - but some might not.

DBAN one of best free disk-kill software - it destroys all data on all hdd it can detect - beware before using it, and think before doing so - and makes it so that it'll take a lot time to get even 1kb back

What data must you destroy so thoroughly (and frequently?)?

Nice app though, could come in handy. Does it have a feature to shred single files, or is it limited to utterly nuking the HDD?

Spybot Search and Destroy No longer the "leading" antispyware program, but I still use it as it's still got decent spyware protection, has a file shredder, and an immunisation ability. I leave the proactive detection up to Avast (comes with both antivirus and antispyware since a few months ago).

Pretty sure it's well known, but going with the topic, it's indispensable to me:

Gmail notifier: Really, I love it. Install it, log in everytime you turn on your computer, and it checks for mail ever 2 minutes. Popup displays the Sender, Topic and a snippet of the message when you have new mail, and silently pops back into the system tray after ~1 second without intervention. If at any time you want to see what new mail you have, but don't want to sign into the browser, just right click and ask it to "tell me again".

So much better than the hotmail/MSN notification.

[Xelbair]

i just found it randomly on the net :] utter nuking only from what i know.

Gtalk has got gmail notifier merged with google IM client.


i hope i don't have to mention Daemon Tools - CD\DVD virtual drive. I'll for for R4 DS slogan here "you know what i does".

[Buffalobiian]

Yeah, the beauty of gnotifier is that you can quietly check your mail WITHOUT talking to anyone, or seeing anyone sign in. I hope they don't discontinue it in favour of Gtalk.