Friday, October 31, 2008

PC Programs, Part I: Applications

I wrote this a while ago, and thought I'd repost it here.

This post is dedicated to giving you a list of programs I immediately download for any new PC I get into my possession. Yes, I personally think Macs are better, but there are a few features on PC's that I like, such as the vast majority of software being written for them, MS-DOS prompt, and Paint. In this list, I will be talking about PC's running Windows XP. I don't know how the programs will work on other versions of Windows, but since most Winodws user use XP, I think everything will be alright.

  1. Mozilla Firefox: as soon as the computer finishes booting up for the first time, I use Internet Explorer (shudder), and have this downloaded IMMEDIATELY. Firefox is great, being faster, safer, and generally better than IE. Also, you can throw in some great add-ons:
    • Search Engines: when the day is done, I have Google, Wikipedia, Webster, Answers.com, YouTube, and Metacafe.
    • Forcastfox: Cute weather bar, very useful. Included a pop-out radar tracker.
    • Adblock Plus: Pop-up/Advertisement blocker. You can use it to disable advertisements that you see.
    • Download Statusbar: Organizes your download into a compact bar on the bottom of your screen.
    • PDF Download: 'nuff said.
    • StumbleUpon: I'm planning to write a post on StumbleUpon, but until then, get a head start, get the toolbar, sign up for the website, and start stumbling!
    • A fast video downloading tool (there's too many, find one youreself)
    • GSpace: Turns your Gmail account into an online hard drive, with over 5GB of space!
    • FoxyMeter: Counts how many pages you have visited, mainly just for kicks.
    • Google Browser Sync: Keep all of your web history, bookmarks, passowrds, and more in sync with this app.
    • Homeland Security Threat Level: Ha! Gets me every time.
    • Sun Cult: Basically, an app for astronomy nerds, who want ot know when sundown is.
  2. ZoneAlarm: A great, free program that monitor incoming and outgoing internet traffic.
  3. PCTools Spyware Doctor: Anti-virus and spyware and Trojan and ad-ware and malware program, this is a must.
  4. Google Pack: Everything at once, very useful. I only download out of it Google Earth, Spyware Doctor (see #3), Google Desktop, Picasa, Google Photos Screensaver, Adobe Reader, Google Talk, and Skype. Overall, uber-useful.
  5. VLC Player: Universal media player. It rocks.
  6. Microsoft Calulator Plus: Geek calc from Microsoft.
  7. Quicktime: just get it.
  8. iTunes: Another media player. If you haven't heard of it, what are you doing here?
  9. Audacity: Audio editor It rocks also.
  10. AIM: again, 'nuff said.
  11. LogMeIn: Remote desktop any of your computers you have this on.
  12. Tor: Hides your identity, and I've heard it can be used to get free wi-fi at Starbucks...
  13. Unlocker: simple little program tht kill processes, allowing you to delete those "Cannot Delete" files.
  14. LimeWire: It's legal! Honest! Oh, if you want it better, download LimeWire PRO, through LimeWire!
  15. 7-Zip: zipping program. Just get it.
  16. CacheMan XP: This is a biggie. Manages your PC's memory usage, improving speed.
  17. CCleaner: Cleans more intensively than Disk Cleaner.
  18. GimpShop: I'm fine with Paint, but if you love Photoshop, get this instead.
  19. Launchy: THIS IS A MUST. Awesome program, activated by Alt+Space. It pops up this cute little black bar, from which you can run all of your programs, documents, and so forth.
  20. CALCULAT: For the die-hard geek. Calculate real and complex calculations, with 100-digit accurcy, in any base from 2 to 36. Just friggin' AWESOME!!!
So there's the list. If I left anything major off, leave a comment, please.

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