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Thread: Cool Software You Can't Do Without

  1. #21
    Junior Member damachine's Avatar
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    Oh yes I also forgot to mention VLC media player. The best player with all the codecs out there. I use this software everyday yet I totally forgot about it. My laptop volume is a bit low, this program really gives it an audio boost.

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    Hirens Boot CD or DVD, has helped me get out of issues a number of time.

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    Well I forgot that I absolutely depend on Irfanview as an image viewer & also image manipulator; it is just that good & simple at the same time.

    The best news is I just put it on my new W10 lappy & there is now a 64 bit version that is sweet as ever.

    You can get it at & don't forget to install the plugins, they make the best of the program. (hint when installing plugins for W8 -W10; the 64 bit Program files folder is the one that is not x86)

    Enjoy.
    Last edited by Tiny; 23-03-16 at 07:07 PM.
    Cheers, Tiny
    "You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
    The information is out there; you just have to let it in."

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    some good progs there . yep irfanview with plugins is awesome .. bin running it since Win 98SE ,,
    and CCleaner , never without.

    okay , i may as well say it - nowadays , i don't run an Antivirus prog , have found they bloat , and take up resources , and can give false positives , depending on the program , and sometimes what one will find , another will not ...
    Good house keeping is the key.
    and always have a recent full backup on a separate partition , with a boot CD. has saved me in more ways than one..
    or a clone HD..

    ...................................
    .................................................. .................................................. ..

    Don't get me wrong here , this is just my personal views , and experiences ..
    i DO NOT condone - NOT having an Antivirus program ..

    .................................................. .....
    .................................................. .................................................. ....
    I only Malwarebytes antimalware Free .
    i run XpSp3 Pro ,, IMO - the best .. OLD , BUT STABLE ,

    and , as added simple security , a modified HOSTS file ,


    And

    SpywareBlaster similar to Hosts ,


    + Windows 10 Firewall control.


    I EDIT my Services , for Security .
    Pity Black Viper site is no longer .

    i still use his Services Hacks ,,

    he was / is a coder for Firefox , if i'm not mistaken

    a bit of a long post , apologies .,

    Maybe Admin may be able to make this Thread by Tiny a sticky ..With Sysinternals post merged ..

    Cheers , hope i have'nt bored anyone

    Btw . i'm not a Tech expert , but just practical , and learnt thru experience . from win 3.1 , 95 , Me . 98 . 98Se ..

    cheers ... now back ta me Beer ,,, haha
    Last edited by manfromironbark; 15-02-17 at 10:12 AM.

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    Cute PDF Writer - works like a "printer", very useful.

    And yes, 100% agree, VLC Media Player.
    True freedom is the greatest gift a man can possess, yet is the one thing most easily and innocently given away, to crafty curses and binds cleverly disguised as blessings and gifts, in the pursuit of supposed achievement, status and power.

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    Media Monkey Gold - for managing my music library, and manipulating tags, syncing media etc.
    Exact Audio Copy - Ripping CDs accurately
    Irfan View and GIMP - for image editing
    Libre Office Suite - good free office suite that is highly compatible with Micrsoft Office.

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    Quote Originally Posted by manfromironbark View Post

    ...................................
    .................................................. .................................................. ..

    Don't get me wrong here , this is just my personal views , and experiences ..
    i DO NOT condone - NOT having an Antivirus program ..

    .................................................. .....
    .................................................. .................................................. ....
    I was a bit the same until I started using ESET. I've found it to be pretty non intrusive and faultless over a couple of years. Ya just gotta wear a condom on the web.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Default no worries , condom yep - i have virus protection ....


    Last edited by manfromironbark; 18-02-17 at 01:19 PM. Reason: humor/joking..

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    Boody hell I need a software that slows down time!

    I remember when Tiny started this almost 4 year old thread like it was barely a year ago (yes I am also aware of the irfanview resurrection, maybe a few months ago in my timeline) and remember deciding not to post my exotic stuff because I rarely use Windows and would bore every one again.
    If there was any Windows application I can NOT live without, then it is Total/Wincommander and yes also since Win3.11 (Norton Commander for DOS of course, although there were some better clones).
    It gives me Total control over Windows, without it I am like an eskimo in the desert.

    OK, best reader for me is Sumatra PDF, also reads Epub, superfast, just an exe(no installer) lean and clean, does everything right the way I want it. I hate Adobe.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 19-02-17 at 09:52 PM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

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    Default Ditto sans anti-virus

    Watch what you download, don't open email apps unless it is something you are expecting from someone you know and trust.
    Run suss proggies through Virus Total, Metascan or similar. At work I could test big proggies on a mem stick against corp strength
    anti-virus.
    But yeah, be smart, don't let temptation/greed sway you into installing ANYTHING unless you know it's safe. Use a good uninstall
    prog like for instance, Revo Uninstall to remove every last trace of rubbish/test proggies you want to see the back of.
    Many progs listed here I use. Can't be without Irfanview, an old version of Photoshop (its so stable) Magic Iso, Icare Data Recovery
    'cause I'm forever deleting folders (since win 7 doesn't change the focus with the cursor (hate that)) Total Commander 64 which is
    just excellent and with a plugin can sideload to Android devices like my watch for example. Can list files in a folder genuinely unsorted
    so good for copying songs onto USB sticks etc for music players that just plays 'em as it sees 'em. Win Explorer says it does this but it
    really does not. I like and use Lupus Rename. As above Sumatra pdf and as above hate Adobe . . . Flash and Reader that is. So intrusive
    for what they are and constantly requiring updates. I think they just want the user to notice them (advertising) as surely no software
    needs updating weekly. Sheesh!
    Erm, last bunch, for AV absolutely VLC and have done for years, Handbrake, Mkvmerge, MP3Gain. MP3Tag and xmplay.
    Love Google Earth & Notepad +. Like another here I use MS Office. Cost a bit but hey, it is the benchmark. I used it at work including
    Outlook so had to have it at home. Check around for best price on Pro. I bought my copy from a company in California. Serial came in
    an email and it was the genuine article. Ditto for SWMBO.
    Many others but it's getting boring I think.
    PS I gave external AV proggies the flick because they got in the way of everything. Man when Symantic took over Norton stuff they did
    a job on it all right. BUT I have MS Security Essentials sitting in the tray so I guess i do use an AV
    cheers, Philbo
    Last edited by Philbo; 19-04-17 at 06:05 PM.

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    Back to Basics for me, mostly being a utilitarian type.

    for fixing my friends stuff when needed.

    for easy backup images.

    for easy partitioning.

    or for bootable USB media

    comes in handy once in awhile, too.

    Don't forget for the home firewall!! Runs great on any crusty old doorstop PC you have laying around your closet!

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  • #32
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    I just re-loaded my lappie last night because I could not convince it that I really did want to see the other computers on my network. In the end it was quicker to do a re-format and re-load than it was to track down the problem. (I tried all the usual culprits to no avail). Anyway, it allowed me to determine my "must have" apps in no particular order.

    Malwarebytes
    Ccleaner
    M$ Orifice - 'cause the freebies still do not compete with VBA and Access
    IrfanView
    7Zip
    Audacity with Lame add on
    eSword - Bible app
    Tag and Rename
    MuseScore
    Notepad++
    Firefox
    Ashampoo Burning Studio
    SketchUp
    Samsung Sidesynch - for my phone
    Canon utilities - for my camera
    Win7 games for W8 and beyond - gotta have some fun.

    Note: for now, there is no AV/Firewall other than Windoze own. I've given up on AVG and Avast because they were too intrusive. I was running ZoneAlarm suite for a while and it seems to be quite good, I was not 100% convinced that it was not my network issue.
    Last edited by lsemmens; 13-07-17 at 09:46 PM.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

  • #33
    Junior Member TZB's Avatar
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    Synergy A software KVM that allow you to control multiple different OS'es from any one computer. Supports Mac, PC and Linux.

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    So many utilities and apps that I find useful and use practically every day. Most have already been mentioned. Here's a daggy one that I've taken a liking to: Veeam Endpoint Backup Free.



    It's a free version of the Veeam enterprise level backup and it seriously rocks. It uses VSS snapshots to take a backup of a running system. It can do a "bare metal" restore, so if your hard drive dies, you can restore everything to a new drive - even re-sizing the image if necessary. In these days of ransomware and SSD drives that can just die completely without warning, I've taken to installing it for the relatives and close friends who are likely to phone me and say "Help!" when something breaks.

    Related to the above - Team Viewer... for when someone phones me on a rainy night and expects me to drop everything and fix their PC. TeamViewer is remote control software that doesn't need to be installed in advance;



    PuTTY is also indispensable - it's THE terminal emulator these days:



    RD Tabs - lets you manage multiple RDP sessions at the same time. For those of us who manage large numbers of servers and often have many things on the go at once. It doesn't seem to be getting updated any more though and there are a few minor gremlins with authentication on Windows Server 2012. It had a competitor that wasn't quite as good about five years ago - I probably should go back and see if the other one has overtaken RD Tabs now.


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    I also like for easy .png screenshots.

    is good for Revision control.

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    I use Audacity all the time and love it. I use it for voice files for two way radios. Open source freeware

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    I know this is an expensive one, but a nice one is the Microsoft Visio package. Great for drawing all kinds of stuff that requires precision. Kind of like an engineering design or CAD program, but a lot easier to use. I can use it to draw virtually any kind of figures, block diagrams, floor plans, wiring diagrams, etc.

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