Recommended Software*

[unicorn]

NB - this first post is the latest. My other posts down here in the thread are all superseeded by this first one. I'll try to keep it updated. All posts superseeded? No, not the last one.But this first post will be the main thing.
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This list of software is no longer maintained.
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To sum it up this far:
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Editing textfiles:
Everybody should have a good texteditor. Notepad comes with Windows and is a typical standard texteditor. It lacks of everything and a good replacement is recommended.

EDXOR Loads superfast (and you leave it superfast also), handles very big files, supports some different encryption standards, very small footprint yet possible to config.
Free, find it athttp://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/edxor.htm
NB: The author, Dariusz Stanislawek, has also done other good system-utils. (nominated by unicorn)

Textpad is a very competent yet affordable editor. Handles the largest files with ease. You get pretty much the same options as with UltraEdit but for halp the price.http://www.textpad.com (nominated by unicorn)

Ultraedit is no longer recommended, mainly because of an offending price. A full flanged editor with tons of options. Cost some money, go check it out athttp://www.ultraedit.com (nominated by rikytik)

Viewing pics:
Here is the same situation again... You need something better than the basic tools Microsoft provide together with the OS (Operating System).

XnView I used to be a fan of Irfanview. Lately I'm using XnView fromhttp://www.xnview.com which I have found to be pretty versatile. Free.(nominated by unicorn)

File-compressing:and archiving
Files need to be compressed and sometimes put togetherwith several other files in an archive... when sending them by mail, for backup-purposes and sometimes for sharing on the Net.

Win-RaR is a versatile, affective and pretty common tool. It handles several archive-formats, is easy to use and loads fast. Info athttp://www.rarlab.com This tool isn't free, but absolutely the best. (nominated by ~*McoreD*~)

Defrag:
In the old days we had to defrag the FAT-partitions pretty often. Nowadays things are different. There is an understatement here that the recommended Operative System (OS) is Windows XP (Home or Pro) and thus I suppose you use NTFS for filesystem...

defrag.exe is allready paid for... It comes with XP. Here is how: From time to time a cleaning is necessary. I do this at Christmas, before the summer and sometimes at the beginning of the autumn. Needed or not. Rest assured that you are absolutely not in need of any daily, or nightly, defrag.
Load the OS in Safe Mood with Command Prompt only. Run defrag with the switch -v for more feedback. This way you defrag most of the files, including those normally locked by the system. (nominated by .unicorn)
O&O Defrag is the tool for you who still believe NTFS need more attention than described above. No description, no pricetag given this far. (nominated by ~*McoreD*~)

Browsing the WWW:

Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Personally I go with Opera which is fast and efficient and loaded with nice features. Sometimes I have to choose IE (Internet Explorer). IE is the main browser at the Net today - hence many sites are optimized for IE, some even doesn't work with other browser. Shame on thoose webmasters (f eks see Microsoft pages...)! Here you have to make your own choice. Both Opera and Mozilla work very well (later versions that is, and ther is of course no reason to use an old one). IE works too of course. But you might want more, like tabbed windows, better downloadhandling etc. There also are different addons to make IE work better. This is an whole world by itself to explore. MyIE2 fromhttp://www.myie2.com/html_en/home.htm is one of theese, freeware/donationware, gives you a better IE. (nominated by hanovski)

Browsing companions, different types:

Safety - Firewall
A firewall is a must. It prevents you from hackers and crackers as well as they scan the Net for possible host-machines. They protect you aganins Trojans trying to access the Net from within your machine and transmit your precius data. The firewall that comes with Windows XP? Forget it, please. Once again Microsoft gives you only half of what you need. It will protect you from outside attacks. That is good of course. Meanwhile however it will let anything at your computer use the Net freely... Turn it of and install something else!

Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) Kerio is ok, really, and free. If you don't want to pay for extremely configurable safety you should go for KPF and so head away tohttp://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html for more information. (nominated by unicorn)

Agnitum Outpost Pro Since the release of version 2 Outpost Pro has become a *very* good and higly configurable firewall, yet easy to start with. Cost some money. There is a free version too without the "Pro" in the name. It isn't updated snce version 1 and is not recommended.(nominated by unicorn)

Others: There are a lot of them... Another one often mentioned is Zone-Alarm fromhttp://www.zonelabs.com who offer both a free and a paid version.

Safety - Antivirus
Norton AntiVirus is the only one nominated yet. This is somewhat like the situation with firewalls. You need one, there are many out there and you'll get a lot of opinions. (nominated by war59312) together with this copy'n'paste: Symantec's Norton AntiVirus? 2003 Professional Edition combines the world's most trusted antivirus solution* with additional features to protect and recover important files on two PCs. This easy-to-use program removes viruses from email messages and instant-message attachments automatically, without interrupting your work. And automatic updates help defend your PC against new viruses.http://nct.symantecstore.com/fulfill/0001.67#form

Browsing tools

Naviscope Naviscope has became freeware again! Never surf without it. Check it out athttp://www.naviscope.com and be prepared to fall in love. Or reject it. In some manners you can compare it to Proximitron...(nominated by unicorn)


Antiannoyance

PopUpCop is designed to return control of your browsing experience back to you. It does not block all advertisements: it blocks irritating Web site behavior, which is often used for advertisements. Like the ideal of a real police officer, it steps into a volatile situation and uses just enough force to restore calm. Get it here:http://www.popupcop.com/PopUpCop.exe (nominated by war59312)

Ad Muncher is a program for Windows systems which removes adverts, popups and general browsing annoyances from all popular browsers and web-utilizing programs (as well as most banner displaying and popup generating programs like ICQ, Morpheus, Kazaa, Grokster, Opera, PalTalk, iMesh, Bearshare, LimeWire, etc). Get it here:http://www.admuncher.com/download.shtml (nominated by war59312)

Download manager

Getright fromhttp://www.getright.com (nominated by war59312)

File-transfer:
There is a lot of fuzz around P2P-communitys and illegal distibuting of copyright protected music and videos theese days. An older way to distribute files cross the Net and different users is FTP. Still the biggest and best, still needed. You might need a ftp-client to download files from various makers. Might it be updates, utils, plain onformation or maybe demo-files. There is a simple ftp-client named "ftp" dlivered to you allready. Open a commandwindow in windows and type "ftp" without the quotes and you are there... However you get a lot more options with a graphic application. There are several to choose from.

FTP:
SmartFTP: fromhttp://www.smartftp.com is a full flanged graphic ftp-client. Free for personal use.
FlashFXP: fromhttp://www.flashfxp.com is considered the best by many. Costs money though. (nominated by hanovski)

Mail-client:
Mailing is still one of the best parts of the Net. Fast and efficient in many cases the very best way to communicate. You need some client though aside of the web-based systems. Outlook is the real target for many viiri-makers. There are several other alternatives to this bulky and targeted bloat.

The Bat: is small but yet really really efficient. One drawback though, you have to pay for it. Despite this recommended software here for the moment. Find out more athttp://www.ritlabs.com/the_bat/ where you also get a 30 day free trial.

Misc system-utils:

Copying/Pasting:

Clipmate
Yes, there is a clipboard in Windows. Unfortunately it is too basic. A replacement is recommended to easy up daily work.
A lot of utils are available. Clipmate is made by another hero of mines: Mike Lin. He has done a few small utils to be found athttp://www.mlin.net and I use Clipmate every day when it comes to copy/cut and paste. Of course Traysaver is loaded also... Free of use.(nominated by unicorn)

Misc:

PropertiesPlus adds more functionality to your right-click menu (like when you right-click something in Explorer), including tweaking file attributes, file extensions and the time stamps of single files, multiple files or files contained within the folders. Freeware. Get it athttp://www.netprosweb.com/pcu_007.htm (nominated by DoG)

OPEN SELECTED URL helps you browse away this way:
1. Select any text on the page (doesn't need to be a link)
2. Right click with the mouse
3. Choose "Open Selected URL" from the context menu
4. A new window will popup with the new url loaded !
Freeware (or Donationsware if you like it). Get it here:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hiren.t...ads/tools.html (nominated by DoG)

Spell It helps you check your spelling, handles everything you can copy and paste, find out more athttp://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/scripts8.html (nominated by DoG)

Damn nfo-viewerlets you view .nfo and .diz files as they were meant to be viewed. Ok, a texteditor lets you read them but this is alittle different. Freeware, to be retrieved fromhttp://www.damn.to/software (nominated by DoG) Another choice might be GetDiz from outertech athttp://www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=4&PHPSESSID=38 7bf8245750e573f04e2cf603bb8577 another freeware util from a nice corner of the Net. (nominated by hanovski)

SnagIt is a capture tool. Capturing something means copying something on the screen and put it at the copyboard. Snagit let's you capture anything you see. $40 seems a little much but it is versatile and good working. Read more athttp://www.techsmith.com/products/snagit/default.asp (nominated by rikytik)

Image-files:
but not pictures. Here I am thinking of a so called image made by means of copying a floppy, harddrive or CD exactly as is. This procedure saves the whole content in one single file. With the right tool you can make a dupe of the original media. Often used for backups or for transferring a floppy over a network.

Daemon-tools is a must. Free, nearly perfect in function and a great timesaver. Daemon-tools lets you run imagefiles as the were read directly from a (or several) extra CD-player. Like this: Make an imagefile of a CD. Put it somewhere at your harddrive. Load it in Daemon-tools and it will emulate a situation as if you actually had mounted a CD in an extra CD-reader. Works over an network. Right away tohttp://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/index.php (nominated by unicorn)

WinImage is the tool. Make images of CDs or harddrives or floppies. When it comes to make iso-images winimage is still the best. Made by Gilles Vollant, a true aficionado. More info athttp://www.winimage.com (nominated by unicorn)

UltraISO is a nice tool letting you edit single files inside a CD-image. Invaluable for small changes - you don't have to burn the CD, copy it to a harddrive, make the changes and then burn and make a new image... Note: UltraISO (and a similar product named WinISO) are reported to often cause CRC-errors when making an iso-file from a CD. For this task use Winimage. UltraISO:http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso (nominated by ~*McoreD*~)

Norton Ghost is the backup tool par choice. Find out more athttp://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal (nominated by unicorn)

Coasters:
Coasters are made at no cost (except for the the price of the media) using the inbuilt CD-burner in XP... You are better off with:

Nero Burning Rom from Ahead software athttp://www.nero.com/en/indexhtml which handles both ordinary CDs and DVDs. Versatile but maybe not exactly priceworthy ($50). (nominated by ~*McoreD*~)

Office:
Open Office fromhttp://www.openoffice.org should do what you need. Here you have to go search for reviews though. The office suits are to big to be fairly described here. Microsoft Office is the de facto standard in the field but will hardly be recommended here. Now this isn't because Ofice is bad or something, but no way it can compete with free software. Microsoft charge just to much and seem unwilling to adjust prices to an affordable level. (nominated by Sephiroth)

Graphics:
?

Audio:
We all like music. There are some tools delivered by m$ and once again: ditch them.

Listening:
Winamp: Oh well. Never fails, never make you disappointed, a lot of addons available, free, close to a perfect application as long as you stay with a version number less than 3. Made by Nullsoft, hijacked by AOL. Head away tohttp://www.winamp.com/ for more. Then take my advise and do not download version 3 from them, but rather 2.91 fromhttp://classic.winamp.com or do a Google search for "winamp 2.92" or "wiamp 2.95".

Editing:
Editing music... A tricky task. No recommendations yet. Not sure it should be here on this list at all. One application is nominated by ~*McoreD*~: Sonic.Foundry.Sound.Forge.v6.0. But now we are talking money, around $400. Here is from the nomination, a cut'n'paste:
Sound Forge is an award-winning digital audio editor that includes a powerful set of audio processes, tools, and effects for recording and manipulating audio. This industry-standard application is perfect for audio editing, audio recording, effects processing, and rich media encoding. Version 6.0 continues to improve on its decade-long legacy by adding features that make it faster and more powerful than ever. Edit files nondestructively down to the sample level with extreme speed and accuracy. Choose from over 35 real-time audio effects and processes with more than 200 presets. Sound Forge 6.0 puts the power of an audio production studio on your PC!
For more information:https://www.sonicfoundry.com/PRODUCT...ct.asp?PID=668

CD-ripping:
There are reasons for ripping a CD. You might rip the tunes you like and make a CD for playing in a car, as a backup, making a CD to bring to a party and such. With today's discussion about RIAA hangin' pirates in the trees and so on it's good to know that most, if not all, countries allow a personal copy for your own joy.

Windows Media Player 9 with WMA9 VBR 98%. No description or pricetag given.(nominated by ~*McoreD*~)

Messengers:
For your everyday chatting, sometimes for more important messages maybe?

Miranda is a multi protocol instant messenger client for Windows. Miranda IM uses very little memory and is extremely fast. It requires no installation and can be fitted on a single floppy disc. Its powerful plugin system makes Miranda IM very flexible. Only the most basic features are built in, but there are currently more than 150 free plugins available for download that allows users to extend the functionality of Miranda IM. (This text was copied and pasted here.) Go tohttp://miranda-im.org/ (nominated by war59312)

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...oh to be continued...
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Author's comments:

Thanks goes to the coders, the hackers and of course those that posted belove.
The work is far from done. There is still a need of better descriptions in many cases. There are areas not covered yet. There are suggestions not motivated and so on.

F eks:
Getright is allready recommended. Is Flashget better or more priceworthy?

Above an example of what I mean. Try to motivate why the tool or application you recommend is worthy.

Some areas might need more than one recommendation. Like texteditors as you can see.

Anyway: Please read, post suggestions or post better descriptions. Or ask me why norton firewall isn't recommended...

I hope this will help out, and in some way maybe support newbies and veterans alike. In case it shows up that noone reads it or needs it I hope I'll be told about it - then I'll use the time for other things instead...

And you noted the topic changed name?!