List of Useful Applications
3D Modeling/Animation
Anti-malware (including anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewalls)
Relevant Links:
How to test your antivirus software
Audio Editors
BitTorrent Clients
Codecs
- QuickTime Alternative
From its name, you can tell that it's an alternative to QuickTime.
This codec is useful if you don't want to download QuickTime
Player, which eats up your resources.
It works with Media Player Classic and Windows Media Player.
- Mayi
- Real Alternative
Real Alternative is an alternative codec for Real Player. It's free
of advertising, no expiry unlike the original Real Player which
often shows pop ups while playing a song or video. It doesn't start
at startup as well, using up lesser system resources.
Works with Media Player Classic and Windows Media Player.
- Mayi
- CCCP
Disc Burning
Disc Ripping
Document Creators/Viewers/Editors
- Adobe Reader
- CutePDF
- OpenOffice
- PDFCreator
To make PDF-files you need the payed version of Adobe Writer. But
you can make them free and without advertisements with PDF Creator.
PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it
like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows
application.
Source is not needed if you don't know any programming. - Mayi
File Archiving
- 7-Zip
- ExtractNow
ExtractNow is a useful freeware application that unzips almost
every commonly used compromised file. Think about zip, rar, iso,
bin, ima, IMZ, 7Z, ace, jar, gz, lzh, lha and sit. .sit is not used
in Windows. Mac users will know. - Mayi
- WinRAR
Image Editors/Organizers
- GIMP
- Picasa
- IfranView
Simple but handy tool for photo editing. Handles very many
different imaging formats. - Mayi
- Paint.NET
- PowerDraw
Looking for a powerful 2D vector-drawing program that also supports
macros, plugins, import of AutoCAD DXF, exporting to WMF, BMP and
DXF, infinite undo possibility, working with layers and much more?
Then Powerdraw probably suits your interest. - Mayi
Instant Messenging (IM) Clients
Media Converters
Media Players
Screen/Video Capture Utilities
System Optimizers
Text Editors
- TextPad
- Notepad++
- SciTE (lightweight)
- Delphad
- Crimson Editor
It is used mainly for editing source codes, but you can use it to
edit text files as well.
One great feature that Crimson Editor has but Notepad doesn't is
TABS!!!! One window, many tabs, great for editing.
Since it's a source code editor, it will have features that make
editing easier. Take for example the curly brackets ( { } ) in
Java. It will mark for you the open and closing tags for you, so
you will know where you go wrong. The markings aren't that obvious
though, it's just an underline.
It also has a highlights the current line you are editing.
If a file that you are editing has changed (by using external
programs other than Crimson Editor itself), it will prompt you to
reload it. - Mayi
- RJ TextEd
Looks pretty weird, but very useful. If you want to create CSS
file, you will need an addon called TopStyle.
On the left, it has an explorer-like pane. You can open and close
file by navigating through it. On your right is where you edit or
create HTML files.
There are other features as well... need time to play with
them. - Mayi
Video Editors
Video Encoders
Virtual Machines (VM) and Cooperative Virtual Machines (CVM)
Web Browsers
Web Development
Others
- Java
- TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus
- Google Earth
- Hydrogen (drum machine)
- Eventcorder (macro recorder)
- Windows Grep (search and replace utility)
- ExamDiff (file comparison utility)
- NetTerm (network terminal)
- Civil Netizen (personal file transfer program)
You want to send big files to your little brother, but that doesn't
allways succeed with email, ftp and different messengers will also
cause problems. Civil Netizen is a software programm that solves
this. When both parties (sender-receiver) have installed Civil
Netizen you can place folders or files by "drag and drop" into the
"send parcel" window. Files are encrypted and zipped. The receiver
gets a hyperlink by email to download the files. Civil Netizen also
works on the local network and handles routers/firewalls correctly.
Only proxyservers at the office can cause trouble. - Mayi
- Pixie (colour picker)
Pixie is an easy, fast and small tool to specify colors. Place the
cursor on a color and Pixie tells you the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK en
HSV values of that color. - Mayi
- Cubic Explorer (Windows Explorer replacement)
The Windows Explorer is limited in its options. That's why there
are several replacements that can do more and are handled more
easily. Now there's a new one called CubicExplorer. What we like
about it is that it works like a browser with Favorites and
tabs. - Mayi
- Task Coach
Never forget anything anymore? Then use Task Coach. It can handle
complex tasks and makes to-do lists. - Mayi
- EverNote
With the free EverNote Basic you can easily save memos, webpages,
emails, phone messages, addresses, passwords, brainstorms,
sketches, documents and so on and find it back real quick. The paid
version also has handwriting recognition. - Mayi
- osFinancials
Full accounting software! Totally free! - Mayi
- Scribus (desktop publishing)
- Google Desktop (desktop search engine)
- Bulk Rename Utility
Rename many files in a few clicks. - Mayi
- Unlocker
Notice that you sometimes will get a "file in use" and all sorts of
errors while deleting files.
This program helps you to delete files by changing some properties
before deleting it. - Mayi
- MRU-Blaster
Winodws has a habit of keeping track of users' habits. All opened
and saved files are stored in the registry (for what I don't
know).
MRU Blaster helps to find and delete them. A great privacy tool.
- Mayi
Useful Sites
Notes:
- If an application is labelled as lightweight, it means it runs very well on systems with a limited amount of RAM. And that doesn't necessarily mean it lacks functionalities as compared to their more resource-heavy counterparts.
- To Mods: I've stopped at Page 5 of this topic. I may have missed a few items from the topic up till that page though, which you can add on to the list. Please include relevant information in this "Notes" section if you are updating this list. Categories may require revising (such as merging Audio Editors and Video Editors into Media Editors and moving VM/CVM into Others since there is only one entry; need opinions from you guys). May consider shortening/removing comments for most applications. May consider adding commericial applications such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop which are not free of charge into the list.
- Please post any comment in the existing topic. Suggestions for new entries can be made in that topic as well. Once this list is finalized, it will be carried over to a new topic which will be locked and stickied, and will only be updated manually by moderators to maintain neatness. This topic itself will be deleted.