I was asked by a friend of mine to write a blog on my favorite applications. So here it is…
I have a custom toolbar on my taskbar, title Apps, where I keep all my shortcuts in various folders.
So let’s start at the top.
Development
Photoshop/Gimp – There is not much I can say about Photoshop that you don’t already know. It is however expensive. If you can’t get your hands on a copy, you might want to check out an open source project, GIMP. It is not as easy to use, but there is a great deal of support on the web.
Dreamweaver – Dreamweaver makes web building easy as pie. If you are looking to write a bunch of HTML and/or CSS look no further. It makes the job as simple as I’ve seen it.
Visual Studio 2008 – The newest version of Visual Studio is completely revamped. It includes new features, like Master Pages and a sleek split view of design/source mode. Whether you are building your first website, or are an ASP.NET wiz, this tool should be in your shed.
MinGW Developer Studio – Another IDE for developing. I have this for one reason. It has a built in gcc compiler. Ohio University (at which I attend), has all the computer science majors develop on a UNIX system. So naturally to do homework, I wanted to use a compiler as close to UNIX based as I can.
Internet
In order to prevent people from starting another browser war via post comments, let me say this. I love all browsers equally! (*sarcasm) Now that I got that out of the way, here we go.
Internet Explorer 7 – IE7 stepped it up for the most used browser of all time. The ability to use add-ins really helped the cause, but with a mediocre memory consumer, and not so blazing speed (to say the least), the browser has been sliding down the list of most computer users.
Firefox 3 – Mozilla had a world record 8,002,530 people download Firefox 3 in 24 hours alone, and for good reason. Firefox has made a name for itself and you all know why. Thousands of extensions, skins, etc. for download, high quality support, and very extensive security are a few of these reasons. If you have an Internet Connection, you most likely have Firefox. The biggest downfall for Firefox has always been the same tough, Ridiculously high memory consumption!
Google Chrome – The newest contender in the Browser war. The all powerful Google has released its own browser, Chrome. Though it is still in Beta, it is BLAZING fast. Some features include: Independent tab environments (If one tab crashes, it doesn’t take the rest out with it), incognito mode (browse the internet secretly), and an Opera style speed dialer shows when you open a new tab with nine of your most viewed websites showing. Google has been attracting tons of Firefox fans due to the speed and low memory usage.
Minefield – Firefox couldn’t just sit back and let Google take its entire hard earned fan base. They recently released an Alpha build of the next Firefox release, code named Minefield. I haven’t used it much, but dare I say it might be faster than Chrome. It will be fun to see how this war turns out.
Internet Explorer 8 – I have never used it, but I hear good things. Check it out at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx
Thunderbird – I am not overly concerned with my email client. I use Mozilla Thunderbird because it is free, and handles IMAP and POP extremely easily. That makes it perfect for handling my gmail and my school accounts.
Music
Audacity – Audacity is a powerful, free program that allows you to manipulate your audio files in many ways. The only time I really use this is when I am cropping mp3’s for ringtones, so I cannot offer much advice for its features.
iTunes – Is it just me, or is iTunes 8 terrible on Windows? It is extremely slow. Maybe it is my 1.46 GHz Celeron M processor? (Gosh I need a new computer). I have 2 Gigs of RAM though? Anyways, iTunes is a must have for iPod management. Several other music clients offer iPod sync, but none of them work well in my experience. Please tell me if I am wrong, I would love to replace iTunes all together…
MediaMonkey – MediaMonkey is my music client of choice. It offers many features like downloadable skins and scripts (miniLyrics is a must have), AND it is super fast. It definitely isn’t the highest quality music player though, but I’d prefer speed than ease of use in this case.
OpenPandora – This one is pretty self explanatory. If you love Pandora as much as I do, you should check out its open source version so you can run it outside of a browser.
Ruckus – There is only one reason to get Ruckus. College students get free music downloads! Albeit, the music selection is decent at best, it is a must have for college students who are against stealing. Note: some of the fastest downloads I’ve seen, you can download entire albums in 20 seconds, depending on your system specs and internet connection.
SoundTaxi – This one isn’t free, but if you want to get rid of those pesky DRM encryptions (WHICH YOU SHOULD NEVER DO! *disclaimer) this tool will get the job done. SoundTaxi is an internal recorder which essentially copies your protected music, and makes mp3 copies of it.
VLC Media Player – VLC is an extremely light weight media player. It is fast, small, and has support for pretty much any type of media file in existence. Easily my top pick for watching video.
Utilities
ConvertXtoDvd 3 – Ever want to take your media files and turn them into DVDs? This is a simple, easy to use program that does do for you. It has tons of options and support. This is perfect for taking avi files of video and turning them into DVDs for all to enjoy. However it is not free.
Filezilla Client- Very easy to use FTP client that allows remote access in seconds. Perfect for students who have school accounts they want to access remotely.
ImageBurn – Software for burning data. This one is a cousin of DVD Decryptor, but focuses more on burning image files.
Skype – Free, easy, and great for cam to cam interactions. If you plan on chatting face to face over the internet with any of your friends, Skype is your best option.
Synergy – This little piece of software works magic. I run a PC and my laptop next to each other all day, and doing so I wanted a way to share a mouse and keyboard as if I was using my laptop as a dual monitor. Synergy allows that plus more. You can connect your computers through a network and share the keyboard, mouse, and even clipboard! You can copy from one of your computers, and paste on the other. It is my favorite utility by far. NOTE: the computers do not even have to be running the same OS.
Trillian Pro – This is an instant messaging client for windows. It offers multi-account support of MSN, Yahoo, IRC, AIM, Google Talk, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, Jabber, and Skype. Trillian Basic, the free version, only supports the first 4 and doesn’t allow audio or video chat. It is the best client on windows that I have found which supports all the instant messaging services.
Other
Quick list of other software I use…
Microsoft Office Suite 2007 Blue Edition, Cisco’s VPN client, Stardock’s Object Dock, SQL Server 2005, Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader (Adobe Reader replacement), Computer Alarm Clock.
Some Sidebar Widgets: Alarm Clock, Recycle Bin, Gas Prices, EBay Auction Watch, Stocks, Weather Bug, Sidebar Pong ( J ).
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