Programs

From Mikeslab

When I run a fresh install of Windows XP or Vista (especially on my machines), I like to install good free programs that serve as perfect replacements to costly software. I don't make a lot of money, so that costly software is usually out of range for me. It's not to say that software is bad, but like a lot of people, I just don't have the money for it.

The programs listed below are programs that I love and trust very much. They don't contain any virus or spyware in them.

System Utilities

1. Avast! Anti-Virus - Great Norton replacement. Very light and light on resources. Only does what you need/want. Free registration.
2. Ccleaner - Cleans up the unneeded system crap! This is the ONLY application I trust to touch the registry. It's does a great job of freeing up a 1GB or two and fixing up the registry. You can also use it to control startup programs instead of msconfig. THere you can actually delete the startup entries you know you don't need.
3. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Rivals Ad-Aware and Spybot. Very nice quick and small utility (but has great options) to scan a machine. I use it to scan customers machines. There is a pay and free version. The free version works just fine for an average user.
4. 7-Zip - A free alternative to Winzip or Winrar. It will uncompress just about anything. I usually use the entries it puts in the right click menu to perfom my zipping and unzipping tasks.

Internet Apps

1. Firefox - My favorite browser (along with a few million others). Lightweight, fast, and fully extensible. It has a better interface than IE 7.
2. Pidgin - (Formally GAIM). AOL wanted them to stop using their old name because it conatined "AIM", I know, dumb. Anyway, This is a multi-protocol messenger. AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, etc, etc. Lightweight and easy on the resources. Interface is also easy on the eyes and can be cut down a lot.
3. FileZilla FTP Client - I love this FTP client. It does everything you need it to, and nothing you don't. It has a very refined user interface. It's very well done.
4. uTorrent - This is an amazing BitTorrent client. It has a ton of features, great interface, lot's of options, everything you would want and expect in a client (and fast). Insanely and amazingly, the executable (the one and only file) is a huge 264KB (that's right, less than 1MB, A LOT less.) I would love to meet the programmers of this application.

Multimedia Apps

1. VLC - (Video LAN Client) Plays just about everything. I haven't come across something it can't play yet. Very small install, simple but powerful interface.
2. Winamp - I'm a die hard Winamp fan. There are also other great free media players out there, but this is still my habit.
3. Irfanview - This is a great photo editing program. It can go from the simple cropping, resizing, etc to complicated who knows what with an extension. Saves and reads a lot of different photo formats. I use it a lot for cropping and resizing.
4. The Gimp - This is T H E Photoshop alternative. I don't even know how to make good use of it, but I like trying! Note: Gimp Org doesn't officially distribute Windows installs, but a third party does. Don't worry, it's perfectly fine.
5. Quicktime Alternative A small alternative to using Quicktime player (big and bloated). This will install the codecs and plugins necessary to play Quicktime files in Windows Media Player
6. Real Player Alternative Same as above, but for Real Player (very bloated).

Office

1. Open Office - This is T H E replacement for Microsoft Office. It can do everything Microsoft Office 2003 can do, and even looks like it. I perfer Open Office over MS Office (even MS Office 2007 as I'm not a fan of the "ribbon"). It can also open MS Office files, and save as them.
2. Dia - A MS Visio replacement. I actually like it better. It's still in Beta, but runs well.

Other

1. Notepad++ - This is a great Notepad/Wordpad/etc replacement. If you're a programmer, you will love this. It can do A LOT. There's a ton of extensions for it. It can also be very simple. Line numbers, code coloring, etc. I love it.
2. CDBurnerXP - Despite it's name, it also works on Vista. This is a very nice and simple program to compile data, audio, or easy burning of ISO images. It's like Nero but without the bloat or price.
3. FoxIt PDF Reader - This blows Adobe Acrobat Reader out of the water. It's very fast, and light. No load times, period. I almost classify Adobe Acrobat Reader in the same class of crapware as Norton. Those who know me, know how much I despise Norton and Acrobat Reader.
4. Daemon Tools This is an excellent ISO (and others) image mounter. It emulates a cd-rom drive and mounts an ISO image so you can browse it as if it was an actual CD. Very handy. A little note though, be careful when you are installing this software, as it wants to install toolbars and such. Uncheck those options!
5. PuTtY A free Telnet/ssh/etc client. Very small, fast and useful.

If you like any of these applications, please donate to the cause! I have donated to a few (I'm poor). These people have worked really hard to bring these excellent programs to us for free. At the same time I also would like to extend my thanks to the programmers of the above programs. Your work hasn't gone unappreciated.