I am constantly asked for computer advice. I am absolutely amazed at how many times the first thing I tell someone is to
find better software. In order to make my life a tad easier I have put some of my more frequent recommendations together here for you. In choosing the "Best" software I have taken into consideration both the performance of the application and the price of it. The truly amazing part is that quite often, the best functioning application is also the cheapest.
The following table lays out the applications I recomend for various funcions on your computer. These are programs I find useful; you do not necessarily need all of them, or even want them.
Often times, screenshots are posted on the linked website, if you want to get a look at a program before installing it.
If you've got a question about the program, try their website first but gimme a call if you still need help.
It might help you to understand why I choose some of the following products if you know what the term "Open Source Software"
means.
This page from Wikipedia will tell you about Opensource software.
This link Will give you a quick definition of Open Source.
OpenSource software is always free. (And always will be)
| Application | Description | Notes | Web Address |
Firefox
Replaces: MS Internet Explorer
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 5 |
The Firefox web Browser is, basically, the newest version of Netscape. It has changed drastically and is much better than either Netscape or IE. Do not use IE, it is too open to viruses and exploits. | You should never purposely open IE. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most virus prone application on your computer. | http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ |
OpenOffice.Org
Replaces: MS Office
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 4 |
This product is the open source realease of Sun Microsystem's Star Office. It can open and save in any Microsoft format, so you can use it to read and write MS Word or MS Excel files. Included are a word processor, a spreedsheet application, a presentation application (like PowerPoint), a drawing program that knocks MSPaint out of the water, and more. | Many cheaper computers today come with MSWorks. Works is a (very) scaled down version of MSWord AND MSWorks' files are incompatible with the rest of the world OpenOffice is the answer for you, if you have Works. | http://www.openoffice.org/ |
Anti Virus by Grisoft
Replaces: Norton, McAfee
Type: Free/Promotional
Rating: 4 |
This is a free virus scanner. The company, Grisoft, makes its money by taking care of large corperate needs in terms of virus protection. This free home version is to attract business. It is just as capable as Norton | Most computers these days come with either Norton or McAfee anti-virus. There is nothing wrong with these programs, they simply cost money. When your subscription runs out, you will need to pay to be able to load new virus definitions from their servers. If you wish, you may uninstall what you have and install, AVG. - Battle tested by yours truly. | http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 |
Winamp
Peplaces: MS Media Player
Type: Free/Promotional
Rating: 4 |
The best music player on the market. It will handle MP3s and CDs just fine. | you have to pay for the "Full version" to be able to rip CDs to mp3's :( | http://www.winamp.com/ |
CDex
Replaces: MS Media Player
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 3 |
This program rips CD's to your harddrive. (That means it copies them) It can copy them in the native .wav or compress them to .mp3 or .ogg | You might have never heard of an Ogg file, but they have a great quality/file size ratio (better than mp3) and most every player (Winamp included) can now play them | http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ |
Trillian
Type: Free/Promotional
Rating: 3 |
Trillian is an instant messaging system that works with all major formats: AOL, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN. With Trillian (and an account to each) you can chat with people from each service | Friends still have to be using the same service to have a more-than-two-person conversation | http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ |
the GIMP
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 3 |
The GNU Image Manipulation Program. This is a (attempted) clone of photoshop. Its not quite as slick as photoshop but its the best thing going for editing pictures that you don't have to pay for. | The GTK+ will need to be installed first. | http://www.gimp.org/ |
Picasa
Type: Freeware
Rating: 3 |
Free from Google this program will search and find all the pictures on your harddrive. You may then categorize them as you please. With or without categorization Picasa allows you to quickly find the pictures you are looking for. | | http://picasa.google.com/ |
StrokIt
Type: Freeware
Rating: 2 |
I love this program. When running, it allows you to execute commands with your mouse. For example, holding down the right mouse button and drawing a "C" closes the window you are using. | You will need to disable this when playing any direct X games. | http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/ |
Irfanview
Type: Freeware
Rating: 2 |
A very nice, very small, very fast, very free picture viewer. Opens just about anything graphical. | Winders XP comes with a program that will do most everything Irfanview will do. Exception: Irfanview can give you a borderless full screen view handy for projectors that windows previewer will not. | http://www.irfanview.com/ |
7-zip
Replaces: Winzip, Winace, etc
Type: Freeware
Rating: 2 |
If you've heard of a .zip file, this is the next thing up. This program will compress your files into a lossless compressed filed called a .z7. More importantly it will open just about any other compressed file, so if you want to make sure you can open anything you download - this is the ticket for you. | Most sites on the Internet only use the original .zip format because of its popularity and Windows 2000 and XP both support .zips nativity. | http://www.7-zip.org/ |
Audacity
Type: Freeware
Rating: 2 |
Audacity is a sound mixing studio. You can record from your CD player and from your microphone and then mix the two together. | | http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ |
FileZilla
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 2 | This is an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) application. You can use this app to move files from one computer to another. If you make use of the free webspace provided by your ISP this is a great application to upload your files. | Many hosting sites provide a built in FTP that works through your browser so you do not need a stand alone FTP, but this functions much less clunky than those. | http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ |
Azureus
Type: OpenSource
Rating: 1 |
This is a bit torrent client. Under the bit torrent system, you would download a small .torrent file from a webserver. The client would then use that file to download a larger file from others who were hosting the file on bit torrent clients. The purpose is to provide you with a fast reliable download while relieving the host of huge upload fees | See this webpage for a better description of the bit torrent system. | http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ |
