One thing that amazes me about most PC users is the amount of inferior, shitty software they use and don’t even realize the superior alternatives – to either built in Windows tools, or commercial programs.
This is a rundown of all the different programs I usually load up on a brand new computer, why I use them, and why I find them superior to programs I used to use, or that most people use.
Updates and Changes:
- 2009-02-19 – Added Virtual Floppy Drive, OpenOffice, Speedfan. Category restructuring coming soon.
- 2009-02-18 - Added Mediacoder to the media section. Changed Automatic Wallpaper Changer to trialware and added link to old, free version. Added Process Manager for Windows under Interface.
ANTIVIRUS
ESET NOD 32 Antivirus (Commercial)- “But I have never heard of ESET before!” you say. Well, tough shit. ESET has long since made corporate antivirus programs, and a few years back made their interface a lot more user friendly. It’s dead simple, but has an advanced mode to tweak the shit out of it if you so wish. Defention updates three times a day. Low memory footprint. Beats the shit out of your Norton or McAfee you’re running right now. You know, the one that came for free on your computer? Or was given to you free from your ISP? Or the one that bogs your shit down so much you can’t even use it?
FIREWALL
Windows Firewall – Does the trick. Chances are, you’re running behind a dedicated hardware firewall on your ISP router or box – very few people plug directly into a modem anymore. If you’re plugged into that router or box, it has an integrated firewall built into it.
DEFRAG
Raxco PerfectDisk (Commercial) – Probably the most comprehensive, and full featured defrag program on the market. One of the few non-free programs I actually legally own.
JKDefrag (Free) – an equal alternative to PerfectDisk, without scheduling or automatic features of Raxco’s product.
INTARNET BROWSING
Firefox (Free) – Tried and true, Firefox 3 has improved greatly over it’s previous versions. The best feature of Firefox isn’t anything built into the browser, though – it’s the ability to extend the browser with addons:
- Adblock Plus – removes 99.9% of all ads on the intarnets, including ones that embed spyware or malicious code
- Download Statusbar - moves the download manager to the statusbar – select “mini” mode to make it even smaller – just a tiny icon on the statusbar
- Downthemall! – For mass downloading pictures or embedded links in a page, supports a more advanced “start and stop” feature than Firefox’s default download manager
- Extended Statusbar – I run this in compact mode, and it emulates Opera’s more information rich statusbar.
- Speed Dial – Adds an Opera (or Chrome) like start page with frequently used shortcuts
- Linkification – turns standard, non hyperlinked URLs into clickable hyperlinks.
- Mouse Gestures Redox – adds support for Mouse Gestures – by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse up, down, back, or down and to the right, I can open tabs, close tabs, move backwards, or close a window with less clicks. Opera has this feature natively, and I really can’t browse without it anymore. Make sure you turn off the unnecessary mouse trail it creates as well, or people will wonder what the fuck you’re drawing on your screen.
- Stop-or-Reload Button – probably the only handy feature from Safari, this turns the Stop and Reload buttons into one button – a stop button if the page is loading, and a refresh button if the page is stopped.
- TinyMenu – Changes the main menu into a smaller, more compact single “Menu” item – so my toolbar is more compacted (more on that in a minute).
- Youtube Comment Snob – Set the comment number to “0″, and you hide every fucking Youtube comment, ever. It’s a beautiful thing.
- Foxmarks Bookmark Synchornizer – Since Firefox 3.0 broke the amazing Google Sync, Foxmarks has replaced it as the best bookmark synching tool – and it even syncs to Internet Explorer. Useful for synching your bookmarks from one computer to a laptop, or vice versa. When I bookmark something on my laptop, it’s replicated on my desktop, and vice versa. More on syncing in a bit.
I also modify the Firefox interface a bit – by right clicking on the main toolbar, and selecting “Customize”, and dragging the navigation buttons and address bar to the main menu bar, selecting “use small icons”, and removing the search box and any extra icons I don’t need. Gives you maximum browser viewing space: (keep in mind this is Firefox running on my Debian laptop, not my Vista machine at home, and it has a couple of other addons running, but the layout is exactly the same)
On a side note, you think those fracking idiots would learn that you DO NOT frack with Admiral Adama by now.
IE7 Pro (Free) – For the times I absolutely HAVE to use Internet Explorer, I install this end-all-be-all addon for IE. Mouse gestures, adblocking, and interface tweaks make it a solid security lock down and usability solution for the otherwise issue prone IE7. I use this, in conjunction with IE7 Runonce Remover (to remove the annoying “first run options” site that IE7 defaults to until you enter the options), makes IE7 a solid and reliable browser.
SUPERIOR REPLACEMENTS FOR INTEGRATED WINDOWS COMPONENTS
Notepad ++ (Free) – Perhaps a bit overkill for an end user, Notepad ++ provides a much more solid text editor and viewer than the build in Notepad. Fast, tab support, and better character encoding make it win all around.
7-Zip (Free) – 1998 called, they want their Winzip or Winrar back. Seriously, if you’re still using these two programs, you probably pirated them. And if you didn’t, they suck, so use 7-Zip. Run it once and go to the Preferences option and associate it with all archive files. Simple, lightweight, unobtrusive (Winzip tray start?)
Pidgin (Free) – A superior replacement to any of the instant message protocols, as it supports plugins and is much simpler and sleeker. I’ve heard good things about Digsby as well, although Pidgin does everything I need it to do (including spell checking). AIM is such a shitty and bloated program, I’m suprised people still use it. EDIT: For those who can’t switch from AIM, there is AIM Adhack – which comes in both versions of the new AIM, and the classic version of AIM (5.0) – to remove ads and other shit from AIM.
Irfanview (Free) – A superior and lightweight alternative to the windows photo and fax viewer. Tries to install google toolbar, so watch out for that shit. Otherwise, it’s amazing.
CDBurnerXP (Free) – My CD burning software of choice. Gets the job done, without making any coasters.
Filezilla (Free) – I do a lot of downloading/uploading to and from FTP, and no client is near as simple or straight to the point as Filezilla.
Paint.net (Free) – Think of it as a mix between MS Paint and Photoshop. Kinda the bastard stepchild of the two. I don’t need any of the advanced features of Photoshop, but I do need the ability to manipulate images. Paint.net is free, and gets the job done. Plus, I don’t need to take a college course to learn how to fucking use it properly.
MEDIA PLAYERS AND TOOLS
Foobar2000 (Free) – A modular and lightweight music player from one of the guys that used to work on Winamp. Supports a number of different components. Not exactly for the feint of heart, but it’s a fantastic, lightweight replacement and alternative music player for people who just need it to sit in the system tray and play music.
CCCP (Free) – The Community Combined Codec pack is a collection of different filters and codecs to play nearly any video you can find. I use this and the bundled Media Player Classic Homecinema (which emulates the old Windows 9x style Media Player interface) to play all the videos and shit I download. Originally designed for use with anime, I find it works just fine for watching movies and porn.
VLC (Free) – For everything CCCP and MPC:HC don’t play, VLC will. It’s a bit sloppier in terms of polish, but it’s solid and can play nearly every file out there – including damaged or half downloaded movies.
Music Brainz Picard (Free) – For tagging the music I download, I use this program, which will search, create fingerprints for, and tag music accordingly.
TVVersity (Free) – If you have a PS3 or an Xbox360, or any other DLNA device, TVVersity is a clear winner for streaming and encoding media to and from the device. I use this to watch downloaded videos and media on my PS3 without even thinking about it, since it converts everything to the proper formats on the fly.
Handbrake (Free) – I use Handbrake to format video to the dimensions and standards of handhelds like my Nintendo DS, PSP, or Microsoft Zune.
Screamer (Free) – Sometimes I just want to listen to internet radio. Screamer is a lightweight, standalone app that can do just that.
Mp3Tag (Free) – For tagging and editing MP3 tags.
Mediacoder (Free) – Transcodes and converts music and videos.
INTERFACE
Flurry Screensaver (Free) – The same one used on Mac OSX, but for windows. Dump the .scr file into the C:\Windows\System32\ directory and select it as the screensaver. Looks a hell of a lot better than that Mazes one you’re still using.
Embedded and Royale Noir XP Themes (Free) – Vista’s Aero is pretty awesome, but if you’re still running on XP, these two themes are official, signed Microsoft themes that look a lot better than the ten year old XP default theme.
Vista Logon Studio (Free) – From Stardock, allows you to change the default “logon” background for Vista, to something a bit sexier (I use the Black Ultimate theme).
Stardock Fences (Free) – A sleek and sexy way to organize your desktop icons.
Steve Murphy’s Automatic Wallpaper Changer (Trialware) – I use this to rotate wallpapers every 5 minutes. Much better than looking at the same boring background day in and day out. UPDATE: The new version is trialware, for some fucking reason. You can download an older version (same functionality) here.
PowerMenu (Free) – Adds transparency, Priority, Always On Top, and Minimize to Tray options to every window. Small, low memory use executable – it just works. The ability to keep a window on top of others is something I sorely miss when not on my Linux laptop.
PMW – Process Manager for Windows (Free) – Does the same thing PowerMenu does, with more options.
TWEAKING AND OPTIMIZATION
Black Viper’s Service Guide (Free) – Not a program, but a guide to show you what services are needed by Windows, and which ones aren’t. If you’re running XP, check out ServiceTuner (which does the same thing), and on Vista check out Vista Service Optimizer (which is somewhat of the same thing.) You can substantially increase the speed and memory use of your computer by disabling unneeded services.
TweakUAC (Free) – Vista’s User Account Control is a great, albeit annoying feature. If you’re not comfortable with turning it off, install TweakUAC, which allows you to pretty much turn off notifications and silence UAC without opening up the associated security risks of disabling UAC.
Uberoptions for Logitech Setpoint (Free) – Lets you change all number of button mappings on Logitech devices that the vanilla SetPoint software cannot.
User Hive Profile Cleanup Service (Free) – From Microsoft, for Windows XP machines. Speeds up the time it takes to log off of your username.
XP and Vista Max Half-Open TCP/IP Patch (Free) – If your computer runs slow when downloading and Torrenting simultaneously, chances are you’re running at the default TCP IP limit of having only 10 max half open connections – which will slow your internet down to a crawl. Run either of these patches (depending on your Windows version) and connect to far more. Be warned, when running it on Vista 64, you’ll have to press F8 before starting up and select “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement” to boot properly. Users of regular Vista can install EasyBCD to edit the boot options so you don’t have to press F8 all the time. UPDATE: The new version I linked changes the actual TCPIP.sys file and doesn’t replace it, meaning it still shows up and appears to be a legit file to windows, so no need to press F8.
Autoruns (Free) – Gives you a comprehensive overview of everything running on your computer. You can even filter out Windows and Microsoft entries so you don’t do (serious) damage to your OS.
Revouninstaller (Free) – When uninstalling or reinstalling, use Revouninstaller to completely remove all traces of a program from your machine. It’s “Advanced” mode will remove every registry and file entry related to the program you’re removing.
CCleaner (Free) – Grab the Slim version of CCleaner (the one without the toolbar), and use it to clean all browsing history, cookies, junk files, and junk registry entries from your machine.
Speedfan (Free) – Allows you to configure and manage the speed of your case fans and other hardware if your motherboard supports it.
EVERYTHING ELSE
uTorrent (Free) – High speed, lightweight torrent client.
Daemon Tools Lite (Free) – For mounting disk images of your (legal) games.
Dropbox (Free) – A free, 2 gig storage space for syncing between computers, cross platform. I use this to synch files between my desktop and laptop. It’s invaluable, I use it so often.
Steam (Free) – The best and only application, DRM, and game overlay you need. But you already knew that, right?
Acronis TrueImage Home (Commercial) – The other program I own. Acronis lets me take snapshots, backups and restore them – although I don’t always remember to back up – so it has an automatic feature.
Powershell (Free) – A replacement for the default windows Command Prompt, Powershell lets you script and run *nix like commands on Windows.
Windows AutoPatcher (Free) – The first program I run after a new install. It downloads, updates, and installs numerous different Windows related hotfixes and programs, including Adobe Reader, Java, Flash Plugins, etc. It’s all automated, which is the best part.
Virtual Floppy Drive (Free) – installs a floppy drive, if you ever have the need for one – say, if you have a bios update that needs to write files to a floppy drive, or a driver that only extracts to a floppy. This way, you can copy it to the virtual floppy, and then copy the files to a more modern medium – like a thumb drive or CD.
OpenOffice (Free) – On my home compooter, Microsoft Office is a bit overkill. I really only ever need Word or Excel to open and view files, maybe edit a document or two. OpenOffice is a free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office. I’d take Office if given the choice between the two – sorry, open source community, but Microsoft has their shit together here. Office has unbeatable functionality and polish that Open Office can’t even come close to matching.
GoogleDocs (Free) – If you’re too lazy to install a 300mb executable, Google Docs works great and doesn’t require any installation.
That’s basically it. If you don’t use these exact programs, you’re an asshole.
