- Joined
- Nov 12, 2002
- Location
- Rootstown, OH
Here's a few words about the downloadables I'm fond of right now. Note that I'm a dial-up user at home, so I don't download anything I don't expect to get much use out of.
For those of you who think you are savvier than me about whats out there, and probably are, just look to the two entries in RED.
Office Suite:
Openoffice.org
This is a full featured open source office package that offers everything MSOffice does and even handles doc extensions without a problem. It is about a 60MB download which makes it an easy overnight grab for a dial-sucker. The autoformatting is actually convenient and controllable, unlike MSword and the thesaurus is far more useful. Can't say anything that would do this download justice - the single best free windows download available IMO.
Internet browser:
Mozilla Firefox
Forget about all the problems that come with IE. Forget about popups and adblock any images or flash frames you want. A great all around browser - it comes with links to a full assortment of useful extensions and themes that take only seconds to download.
Plain Neat:
StrokeIt
This program lets you control anything in windows with simple mouse gestures. Very good at recognition and I find myself using it a lot instead of clicking through menu items. Definetly download the minimize to tray plugin with it - it allows you to minimize ANY open window to an icon in the windows taskbar tray.
SayTheTime
Replaces the windows time display in the taskbar. Ability to set reminders/alarms as well as regularly announce the time aloud in a set interval. I find the time announcement most useful as often times I spend hours at a time on the forums without knowing it. Pleasant female or male voice selection.
MPsetupXP
The only reason I use mediaplayer is because of the MP 9 series - it integrates with the taskbar and displays a small non-intrusive window for show viewing or other visualization. Use it all the time.
Maintenance:
System Mechanic
A good program for general maintenance. Quicker than doing things the old fashioned way and I find myself keeping up with things better. I use the registry cleaner more often than anything else.
Regscrub
A good quick registry cleaner. Combined with system mechanic and Norton windoctor I feel pretty good about the cleanliness of my registry.
CWShredder
Eliminates variants of the CoolWebSearch bug. Only program I know of that can remove CWS without doing any damage in the process. CWS is somethign to look out for if you or a net surfer in your family are having browser problems - there are new variants surfacing all the time.
Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy
Nothing needs to really be said here. Get both though because they won't find everything alone.
Prime95
Go here to know how it's meant to be run and why.
Other
Nimo Codec Pack
Never worry about having the right codec again. Just download and install Nimo's codec pack and everything is there.
Conclusion:
These are the things I always install on a fresh format and think most anybody can find useful. Hope you like them.
UPDATE: Compiled list of linked member suggestions...
MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS:
www.iespell.com
a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage
http://www.7-zip.org/
7-zip - free archiver program (e.g. zip/rar/gz/etc). Only thing it lacks is drag and drop.
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
FileZilla - excellent (free) FTP program which supports SFTP as well.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1049831315
Quicktime Alternative - allows you to use any media player to view Quicktime files, no need to use Apple's player. This also includes Media Player Classic which was mentioned in this thread. Also, if you follow the link on that page the the Quicktime Alternative homepage, you should find the Real Alternative (no need for Real player), or just google for it.
Mail Washer
a free (well it is the kind that you can pay for if you really feel like it) proggie that checks your pop server and tells you what is there. It also supports user modifiable filters, heuristic Spam filtering and blacklisting. f that is not enough, you can connect to the spamcop database and the open relay database for still more spam filtering.
Convert
Convert is an easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions!
http://www.burn4free.com/
free CD/DVD burning software works great, though it lacks the conversion from wav-mp3 and vise versa, for everyday file buring this quick little burner holds its own, and it is free
www.realVNC.com
Real VNC allows you to connect remotely and control a system as though you were sitting in front of it.
Putty
SSH tunneling program good for makeing VNC more secure
www.irfanview.com
Great free image program
www.NetLimiter.com
Nifty little utility that lets you limit bandwidth to certain programs. Great for when your on dial-suck and want to try to download something (openoffice) and still be able to load a page in under 30 seconds.
For those of you who think you are savvier than me about whats out there, and probably are, just look to the two entries in RED.
Office Suite:
Openoffice.org
This is a full featured open source office package that offers everything MSOffice does and even handles doc extensions without a problem. It is about a 60MB download which makes it an easy overnight grab for a dial-sucker. The autoformatting is actually convenient and controllable, unlike MSword and the thesaurus is far more useful. Can't say anything that would do this download justice - the single best free windows download available IMO.
Internet browser:
Mozilla Firefox
Forget about all the problems that come with IE. Forget about popups and adblock any images or flash frames you want. A great all around browser - it comes with links to a full assortment of useful extensions and themes that take only seconds to download.
Plain Neat:
StrokeIt
This program lets you control anything in windows with simple mouse gestures. Very good at recognition and I find myself using it a lot instead of clicking through menu items. Definetly download the minimize to tray plugin with it - it allows you to minimize ANY open window to an icon in the windows taskbar tray.
SayTheTime
Replaces the windows time display in the taskbar. Ability to set reminders/alarms as well as regularly announce the time aloud in a set interval. I find the time announcement most useful as often times I spend hours at a time on the forums without knowing it. Pleasant female or male voice selection.
MPsetupXP
The only reason I use mediaplayer is because of the MP 9 series - it integrates with the taskbar and displays a small non-intrusive window for show viewing or other visualization. Use it all the time.
Maintenance:
System Mechanic
A good program for general maintenance. Quicker than doing things the old fashioned way and I find myself keeping up with things better. I use the registry cleaner more often than anything else.
Regscrub
A good quick registry cleaner. Combined with system mechanic and Norton windoctor I feel pretty good about the cleanliness of my registry.
CWShredder
Eliminates variants of the CoolWebSearch bug. Only program I know of that can remove CWS without doing any damage in the process. CWS is somethign to look out for if you or a net surfer in your family are having browser problems - there are new variants surfacing all the time.
Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy
Nothing needs to really be said here. Get both though because they won't find everything alone.
Prime95
Go here to know how it's meant to be run and why.
Other
Nimo Codec Pack
Never worry about having the right codec again. Just download and install Nimo's codec pack and everything is there.
Conclusion:
These are the things I always install on a fresh format and think most anybody can find useful. Hope you like them.
UPDATE: Compiled list of linked member suggestions...
MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS:
www.iespell.com
a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage
http://www.7-zip.org/
7-zip - free archiver program (e.g. zip/rar/gz/etc). Only thing it lacks is drag and drop.
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
FileZilla - excellent (free) FTP program which supports SFTP as well.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1049831315
Quicktime Alternative - allows you to use any media player to view Quicktime files, no need to use Apple's player. This also includes Media Player Classic which was mentioned in this thread. Also, if you follow the link on that page the the Quicktime Alternative homepage, you should find the Real Alternative (no need for Real player), or just google for it.
Mail Washer
a free (well it is the kind that you can pay for if you really feel like it) proggie that checks your pop server and tells you what is there. It also supports user modifiable filters, heuristic Spam filtering and blacklisting. f that is not enough, you can connect to the spamcop database and the open relay database for still more spam filtering.
Convert
Convert is an easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions!
http://www.burn4free.com/
free CD/DVD burning software works great, though it lacks the conversion from wav-mp3 and vise versa, for everyday file buring this quick little burner holds its own, and it is free
www.realVNC.com
Real VNC allows you to connect remotely and control a system as though you were sitting in front of it.
Putty
SSH tunneling program good for makeing VNC more secure
www.irfanview.com
Great free image program
www.NetLimiter.com
Nifty little utility that lets you limit bandwidth to certain programs. Great for when your on dial-suck and want to try to download something (openoffice) and still be able to load a page in under 30 seconds.
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