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Trying to Avoid Desktop-Mods and Very Well-Known Programs
Published on January 29, 2004 By mittens In Personal Computing
I like this whole top-ten thing. Time for another. Unlike the last list, though, these are actually real suggestions. I will, however, be omitting the blatently obvious programs (Outlook, Word, Visual Studio, WinRAR, etc.)
  • WindowBlinds - Maybe not entirely practical, it is the single best desktop skinning software around.

  • metapad - Fuck notepad, metapad is where it's at. This is my favorite text-editor EVER.

  • Samurize - At first glance, it's just another piece of desktop mod'ing software. However, it's one of the most detailed and complex system monitors around. I can't live without this thing while I'm working.

  • Trillian - Screw any other IM client, Trillian is the best around. Even if you only use *ONE* IM service, Trillian is still the best. It has complete chat logging, skinning, plugins for all sorts of stuff, and it's incredibly stable. Definately worth the money for the Pro version.

  • Mozilla Firebird - The best browser around. This thing is stable, has tabbed-browsing, is constantly being updated, fully theme-able, and has "extensions" that can make it whatever you want it to be. For instance, I have it so that my menus are compact as possible, I have my top list of bookmarks easily accessible without navigating through any menu, a little google search-bar, and... well... so much more.

  • Irfanview - The ONLY image viewer you should *ever* be using.

  • QuickNotes - This is *the* best "sticky-note" software I've seen. Fully skinnable, perfectly stable, and almost 99.9% bug-free (I haven't seen a single one since I've used it). Hell yeah.

  • Paint Shop Pro - A very nice alternative to Photoshop, this product is one that I swear by. Sure it's not nearly as powerful as photoshop, but it gets the simple stuff done really fast, and sometimes, that's all I ever want/need.

  • BitTorrent - Ever want to share that 600mb file of yours, but you don't have nearly enough space on your site to hold it? Or do you know a lot of people will want your file really fast? Well, this is where BitTorrent comes in. This is a brilliant program that received the attention it deserves hella fast. A definate need for everyone.

  • MSDN - Without a doubt, the biggest resource a programmer can ever have available to him/her. This collection of articles/tutorials/references has saved many a life.

And that's it for this wonderful little list! Hope you find a program or two on it that you didn't know about. I tried to limit the desktop mod'ing programs on the list, or else I'm sure I'd be bitched out for not having a wide enough array of interests... Not that it wouldn't be deserved.
Comments
on Jan 30, 2004
Regarding text editor I prefer to use UltraEdit as this is the only one editor I found currently that is actually useful when you have need to open large logfiles to check/edit...etc. All other editors claim there has no file size limitation but you need to have enough memory in order to open the large text file. For example, I use a 40MB text file for the test, notepad use around 90MB real memory, metapad use around 100MB real memory, although it load faster than notepad. On ultraedit it use around 15MB real memory only, that seems the only editor to use a feature named 'MMIO' (memory mapped I/O?) from OS....

also I will add objectdock and HyperSnap DX 5 in my most useful apps list as well.
on Feb 02, 2004
i really like metapad too. all the text editing tricks it has makes it not just freeware but pricelessware. irfanview is cool too. in reverse of most people i use avantbrower (IE shell) to surf the web and firebird for sites that don't work because i have activex and flash turned off.

trillian not so much: the time i installed it my computer crashed, so i use "easy message" instead.

i wrote a list a long time ago that matches some of what you had. the most useful ones are below. you might want to check them out (on google, i didn't provide links). all freeware!

coolkeys: does lots of stuff but the best feature is that you can create a new folder by hitting shift-ctrl-f in windows explorer, instead of the annoying, right-click > new > folder

Radvideo: used to look at bik videos and convert graphics files.

Startman: for poking around my startup settings.

Proximitron: a proxy server. Very easy to set up. Basically it edits the HTML on a webpage before you see it. So it can get rid of banner ads on top, stop popup windows, remove background images, remove any music and sounds that webpages force on you. Advanced users can create their own filters: for example on a forum I go to I have three other forums listed on top as links right on the page that I added myself. And you can bypass the program itself if you need something on a page.

Adaware and Spybot to kill spyware.

Two icon lock programs to restore my desktop icon placement (in case I save instead of restore on one).

Agent Ransack to replace the crappy 2 inch by 4 inch windows file finder that never leaves enough room for directory paths and never remembers I resized it.

Enditall 2 to kill all programs before I shutdown.

Multirunner so I can run a group of programs at once without having to do my own batch file.

Quick Folders to remember the last x number of folders I accessed. Appears as a small button on the "Open" dialog box. Click it and it lists the last x number folders you used.

rjhExtensions to get a multiple file renamer, save directory list, copy file/dir path to clipboard, and duplicate file options in my right click menu on Windows Explorer.




on Feb 16, 2004
I've tried Samurize - great! I propose SciTE for text editing.
on Feb 16, 2004
Weird list. We live in very different worlds. Heheh. So it goes.

Eclipse ?!?!
on Apr 19, 2004
www.pricelessware.org has a superior list of software. It would benefit from more complete commentary and comparisons.

Alt.Comp.Freeware users have put together a Pricelessware 2004 CD that has many of the programs mentioned, a copy of the relevant Pricelessware descriptions, and checksum calculator. The CD is available by mail at cost from several semi-official and completely unofficial users (e.g., for $3 or mail CD-R with return mailer). .iso images are also floating around (check ACF for current locations - including active torrent / BitTorrent). BE SURE TO VERIFY _ANY_ Pricelessware 2004 CD with the checksums at Pricelessware.Org using a checksum program you download separately (not the one on the CD -- be paranoid).