(06/10/05)
I reformatted my buddy's computer about a week ago and downloaded a few things for him. I shared some videos with another buddy and he didn't have the codec to play it. Some of my friends still decide to use Internet Explorer, when Opera and Firefox clearly work better.
Google Pack
The beauty of this packaged software is that it's really easy to maintain
the components.The components in Google Pack that I use-
Firefox - Stop using Intenet Explorer. It's bad for the
internet.
Adobe Reader - There are a lot of pdf files out there.
You should probably have some way of reading them.
Picasa - It's just a good program for organizing/importing
files. You should use it.
Google Desktop - I don't really use the sidebar or anything
like that, but it includes a really good plugin for Outlook for searching
emails. I also like searching old chat transcripts for things like phone
numbers or addresses, etc.
I occasionally play with Google Earth, but I'd hardly consider that an
essential.
VLC Media Player - It plays almost any codec you can think of. It works better than any other media player I've ever used. It is the only free DVD player that works well without adware/spyware. It crops videos so that you can watch things full screen, even if the amateur who created the file put a 16:9 video into a 4:3 file. This program is freaking awesome.
BitComet - torrents are one of the best ways to download large files from distributors who don't have very large bandwidth budgets, and this is my favorite client program to download torrents.
Windows Defender - I've been using this since it was Giant antispyware, before Microsoft bought them out. I always thought it was better than Ad-Aware, and it's only gotten better over time.
TweakUI and Alt-Tab Replacement - These are both Microsoft PowerToys, which is just small programs written by Microsoft engineers to make Windows better. TweakUI is a program that allows you to change a few things about the interface that aren't available through the default control panel. Alt-Tab Replacement is a much better interface than the default, where you can see a preview window of the window (useful if you use multiple browser windows, etc.)
Firefox Plugins
Bugmenot
- bypass that annoying required free web registration on news sites like
the NYT, etc.
Flashblock - doesn't let annoying
flash animations play without your permission, so you can say goodbye
to those "Punch the ninja and win a free PSP" ads.
Google
toolbar - allows you to find what you searched for on the page more
easily, link addresses to its corresponding map, fill out forms, etc.
with greater ease.
When Democracy Player fixes all its bugs, I'll add it to this list. Right now, it still pisses me off from time to time, but I have it set up to download shows like the Daily Show automatically every day (how to), and will probably get it set up to download Entourage's new season when that starts tomorrow.
Also, I know you guys know a lot of other programs that I haven't discovered yet. What free software (not pirated, not adware/spyware-ridden) can't you live without? Comment away.
