Author Topic: My favorite software! What's yours? (Read 234289 times)

zridling · « **on:** September 20, 2006, 10:00 PM »

Let's start a continuous thread here and call it My favorite software! What's yours? (Add to the discussion please.)

zridling · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:03 PM »

Lately it's been the fantastic file manager, XYplorer, and the ACDSee 9 image viewer/editor.

sri · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:06 PM »

StrokeIt
SnagIt, Camtasia
ReplaceEm
Windows Grep
Opera
PS Tray Factory
Xplorer2 lite

zridling · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:09 PM »

sri, I love StrokeIt, great find man!

allen · « **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2006, 10:41 PM »

My long time favorite application is EditPad Pro. Find & Run Robot has quickly become an application I can't imagine living without. Like you, Z, XYPlorer has quickly become an absolute favorite application. That's my top three, but there are more applications I love . . .

AdIyhc · « **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2006, 11:14 PM »

My favorite goes to FirstDefense-ISR. Backup is fast and reliable. Saves me from "bad" software.

Others will be:
- Opera (no more buggy FF extensions! yay!)
- System Safety Monitor (very active in development)
- Becky! Internet Mail (love its simplicity)
- LaunchBar Commander (best useful free software I've ever used in my life)

wr975 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 21, 2006, 01:35 AM »

Software I can't live without...

- StrokeIt
- Autohotkey
- SlimBrowser
- Find And Run Robot

taichimaster · « **Reply #7 on:** September 21, 2006, 01:59 AM »

My only "absolutely can't live without app" is xplorer2

Other favorites include:
- Find and Run Robot
- Synergy
- Website Watcher
- EmEditor
- AI-Roboform
- VMWare Workstation

Edit: Just downloaded StrokeIt, thanks for hooking me up!

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** September 21, 2006, 02:10 AM »

I'm a user of my own programs so naturally i like them, but my #1 fave app is Website Watcher (note, there is a 50% discount for dc members on wsw through september).

also: Beyond Compare.

aignes · « **Reply #9 on:** September 21, 2006, 02:39 AM »

Here's a list of tools I use daily (and I really love them):

- Servant Salamander 2.5
- SyncBackSE
- WinRAR
- TheBat
- Scotty (WinPatrol Plus)
- TrueCrypt (for the sources of my apps)
- ProcessTamer
- EditPadPro (I use it also to write forum posts with live spelling and a good set of predefined clips for quotes, bold text, URLs, text phrases etc. and a custom highlighter to colorize quotes and other stuff. It's the fastest way to answer questions in my own forums)

And of course my own tools:

- WebSite-Watcher
- AM-Notebook
- Local Website Archive

jgpaiva · « **Reply #10 on:** September 21, 2006, 02:59 AM »

well... other than the obvious autohotkey, my favourites are: (ordered from more important to less important)

FindAndRunRobot
Opera
GridMove
DOpus
gvim
keepass
Winamp

Definitelly, those are the ones I NEED my computer to have installed for me to able to use it normally, which means those are the apps i miss most when i use other people's computers.

f0dder · « **Reply #11 on:** September 21, 2006, 04:04 AM »

I think these are the most important...

xplorer^2 - because it's faster and smarter.
website watcher - keeps me up-to-date.
vmware - because it makes life safer.
VIM - because it's magical.
Notepad++ - because it's free and I'm not hardcore enough with VIM yet

subversion - because source control is necessary.
tortoiseSVN - because it's nifty.
SCons - because makefiles suck.
WinRAR - because it's one of the best compressors, with very good commandline support.
PuTTY - because it's the least-hassle SSH client I've used.[/url]
ToDoList - because I tend to forget things and suck at managing time.

app103 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2006, 04:11 AM »

What's my favorites? Or maybe what is it that I just can't live without?

First & formost...

My own DClock. I would go nuts if I didn't see it at the top of my screen....it HAS to be there. I even keep an older version that doesn't create registry entries on a floppy in my purse in case I find myself on someone else's pc.

Then the rest:

zj · « **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:36 AM »

- Becky! Internet Mail (love its simplicity)
-AdIyhc (September 20, 2006, 11:14 PM)

Can't agree with you more. In addition my favorites include:
- secureCRT (very flexible SSH client with tabbed UI)
- Emacs (one of the best choice for programming and writing latex documents)
- bbLean (a compact shell-replacement of explore.exe)
- Total Commander
- Firefox
- EmEditor (a modern and powerful text editor

)

and the following two are discovered very recently:
- Website-Watcher (thanks to Martin

)
- My Notes Center (feature rich, and also it is a mouse-free software.)

app103 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 21, 2006, 06:15 AM »

After I made the post on what was my favorites, I came across a cute email in my inbox that I blogged about here, which made me realize I had forgotten some major program I can't live without:

Paintshop Pro 7 (I don't like the newer versions and will only use that one)

f0dder · « **Reply #15 on:** September 21, 2006, 06:19 AM »

Paintshop Pro 7 (I don't like the newer versions and will only use that one)
-app103 (September 21, 2006, 06:15 AM)

Any reason you don't like 8? Haven't tried 9, but after corel bought PSP it *did* turn darn awful.

Renegade · « **Reply #16 on:** September 21, 2006, 08:22 AM »

Productivity:
Editplus - I just use it all the time.
Visual Studio - I just love Intellisense! Makes coding so much faster.

Raising Hell... Err... I mean for privacy:
TOR

That Tor stuff... Man... It is SOOOOO open to abuse...

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #17 on:** September 21, 2006, 09:23 AM »

Programmes I can't live without [definition: use and require every day] (in descending order):

PINs: The password manager I've used for years
PSPad: Does everything I need (and more)!
TaskSwitchXP: Don't know how I lived without it!
IESpell, closely followed by AreaEditor
KOApproach: Maybe not essential, but very handy

Programmes I'm [quickly] getting attached to:

LaunchBar Commander:
SandboxIE: Really easy protection.
ToDoList: So much more than just ToDo lists!!

I note that I've not added a file manager: I've probably tried them all, just can't settle on one is my problem!

I should probably add the graphics programmes somewhere (like DogWaffle, PhotoImpact, GIMP) but that's more hobby (like VisualStudio)

- Perry

sri · « **Reply #18 on:** September 21, 2006, 09:35 AM »

Nice to see so many Opera lovers. It's a fantastic piece of software. A browser that vrooms past you like a bullet-train leaving you breathless. Okay, that was bit too much..but you get the idea.

Eóin · « **Reply #19 on:** September 21, 2006, 10:34 AM »

I suppose in terms of what I use every single day I'd have to say;

Thats all I can think of off hand. Nothing too exciting really, notice they're all free? I'm not a cheapskate, honestly.

[edit]Oh I forgot Subversion using RapidSVN.[/edit]

Edvard · « **Reply #20 on:** September 21, 2006, 11:38 AM »

Hoo boy... Can o' worms comin' through!!

These are the ones I use either constantly or on a regular basis...

PowerPro- For oh, so many wonderful reasons.
xplorer^2- Man, what a concept... Two file panes=more work done. Who'd a thunk it?
JS Pager- Since discovering the concept of Virtual Desktops in Linux, I can't live without it.
FireFox- Sorry Opera lovers, it just rubs me wrong. Don't try to convert me, I've made up my mind.
Avira Personal- Not.One.Virus.Ever.
7-Zip- Obvious.
GNU Utilities for Windows- NOT the Cygwin ones!! (ech!)
AutoHotkey or AutoIt- Your choice, they're both good.
Scite- For editing my Auto-whatsit scripts.
PDFCreator and PDFTK and PDFBlender- Cause I'm too cheap for Acrobat Distiller...
XnView or IrfanView- Take your pick.
ContextEdit- h@x0r those pesky context menus! (linked from a google search because PCMag wants money for a freeware product...)

And I probably missed a few...

tinyvillager · « **Reply #21 on:** September 21, 2006, 04:59 PM »

Foobar2000-Just a swiss army knife of audio goodness
Unlocker-cause Microsoft thinks it knows what is good for you
Ccleaner-Almost a one push button solution to taking out windows garbage
Klipfolio-still a little buggy,but getting to be my feedreader of choice.
Inkscape-vector graphics editor,just damn cool,even your mistakes look cool
Net Transport-downloader of choice,records streams,etc.
Google Earth-Just damn fun
Opera-browser of choice
Firefox-cause Opera doesn't always cut the mustard.
FlashFXP-my ftp client of choice

and XYplorer is lingering on the edge of being a favorite

KenR · « **Reply #22 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:40 PM »

Well, I like all my software, but aside from my firewall, anitvirus, etc programs, that run all the time these are the programs I use the most:

Directory Opus. I use it far more than any other program.
OneNote. Wonderful for writing in pen on tablet pcs.
Website Watcher. Tells me when my software is updated
SyncBackSE. Great backup/sync program. It has more awards than I have brain cells.
UltraEdit. Felxible, powerful text editor
FeedDemon. Powerful, flexible, easy to use news aggregator
Quicken. I've used it for home and business accounting for over 10 years
Offline Explorer Pro. Still my favorite program for downloading web sites.

Ken

titan216 · « **Reply #23 on:** September 23, 2006, 12:15 AM »

well, my favorite software:

ACA capture PRO - powerful screen capture software.
www.acasystems.com

photoshop
winamp
acdsee

app103 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 23, 2006, 01:54 AM »

Paintshop Pro 7 (I don't like the newer versions and will only use that one)
-app103 (September 21, 2006, 06:15 AM)
Any reason you don't like 8? Haven't tried 9, but after corel bought PSP it *did* turn darn awful.
-f0dder (September 21, 2006, 06:19 AM)

I have full versions of 7 & 8.

Somewhere between versions 7 & 8 the guys at Jasc decided that it would be a great idea to toss out the window half of the good things that made it worth buying.

Without removing 1 feature they managed to take this away:

Simplicity
Speed
Familiarity
ability to run it from a thumb drive on another pc without actually installing it

In addition to all the useless new crap they added, they also gave you the following:

An environment that can now compete with Adobe Photoshop...in the confusion category.
It's now quite bloated.
No matter what drive you install it on, it will create unnecessary files and folders on your C drive rather than keeping them in the program folder like it used to.

So now, instead of getting a faster program that was easier to use than Photoshop, yet just as powerful, and for less money, you ended up with a cheap imitation of Photoshop, which is not what Paintshop Pro users want or need.

The exception to this is the trial of version 9. That was worth installing on a slow Win9x or 2k machine alongside version 7 for one reason only:

The ability to see thumbnails of .psp & .tub files in Explorer. There is no way you can actually run PSP 9 on a 233mhz machine with 64mb ram, but those thumbnails are really nice. And even after the trial expires, you can still see the Explorer thumbnails.

But you can also get that with this freeware utility and it actually works better than what is supplied by PSP 9+ and they have finally updated it to include 9x and 2k versions:

http://www.botproduc.../pspthumb/index.html