Great programs for your computer and you

[MAD]

I was talking with a co-worker a while ago about awesome programs that most people haven't heard about.
I decided I should make a list here too and maybe find out about other programs. I'm sure some of you already use some of the ones below.


1. Soluto: http://www.soluto.com/ (free)
Soluto is by far the coolest program I found this year. It chops your boot time in a visual fashion and constantly runs checks on your boot, measuring the boot times and comparing it to previous ones. You can also disable add-ons from browser or fix and prevent crashes to programs.

2. TuneUp Utilities 2012 http://www.tune-up.com/
This is one program I enjoy using on both my laptop and desktop. Not only it does regular system cleanups, it has a simple 1 click maintenance button too. Registry cleanup and defrag, HDD defrag, startup manager and more. One feature I love using is the Turbo button. This disables most unnecessary programs running on your PC to squeeze that extra juice you need in games or programs. On laptops there's also an Economic button that can keep the laptop running for 25-50% more time (depending on the laptop and the age of the battery, of course).

3. foobar2000 http://www.foobar2000.org/ (free)
Yes, sadly there are people using Winamp or Windows Media Player... or worse. Get rid of all that and use a simple player that can accommodate any needs. It can play from .mp3s to FLACs to .amrs to pretty much anything in between. You can also add a bunch of plugins, for example, lyrics. The best feature? Tabs.

4. SM Timer http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/SM-Timer-Download-126750.html (free)
Don't you hate it when you're watching a movie on your PC but you think you'll be falling asleep soon? You can use this program to schedule a PC shutdown at a certain time or after minutes or hours.

5. Rockmelt http://www.rockmelt.com/
This is maybe the best social browser out there. I've been using Flock since it was on a Firefox platform and after that based on chromium. Flock died but Rockmelt took its place making a better social browser. RSS feeds, full Facebook integration in the browser (in the title bar that is and chat on sidebar!), one-click-share button for fast tweeting. You can add Youtube, Flickr, Facebook notifications, anything really. It's great but it has its drawbacks. Having worked in Quality Assurance, I found those to be mildly annoying (such as, my tweetfeed position would reset after closing the sidebar) but most users won't.

6. Metrotwit http://www.metrotwit.com/
Initially I didn't want to include this one in the list but... it deserves to be there. Even before TweetDeck was redesigned or had a chrome extensions, Metrotwit had a bunch of cool features ranging from infinite scrolling to simple interface and options. I haven't been using Metrotwit for quite a while, but maybe you'll like it.

7. Log Me In https://secure.logmein.com/
I'll keep this short. Get an account, install the program on a PC, leave it open (might as well be locked). Go to another PC, install the program and take control of PC 1. Great if you have a PC at home and you need something from it while at work.

Do you have others to share?

[danebraddy]

I use a myriad of apps but my two most used/appreciated:

1. Dropbox
a cloud drive with (I think) 2GB free storage. Great for making sure I have files I need between home and work.

2. Evernote
another 'cloudlike' app - its a notebook that can run in browser or the apps you can download. The iOS versions are gret too, it has some nifty toys like reading text in a photo so you can search for it in your notebooks.

[TimA]

Spybot S&D http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html
Let it run scans every so often to get rid of all the crap that downloaded on to your computer when you were browsing those dodgy-looking torrent search engine sites.

Calibre E-book management http://calibre-ebook.com/
Manage and convert ebooks, PDF to kindle format and suchlike.

Handbrake http://handbrake.fr/
Really lightweight video conversion software, has presets for ipod, etc.

[MAD]

Ge.tt http://ge.tt/
Best sharing program if you're in a hurry. You don't even have to wait to complete the upload in order to send the link! Just select what you want to send and then give the link. Until it's uploaded they'll just get a message that tells them to wait.

[BenAkenobi]

since when does winamp mean sadly? :-|

[Harry Seaward]

I definitely agree with foobar2000, Handbrake, and Dropbox.

You guys forgot some essentials though. (All of these are free. Even if they weren't, learn how to pirate. Most of these all also for Windows, Macfags are SOL.)

Click on the names for links.

- CCleaner (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner) (Cleans your PC of junk, removes startup programs, cleans the registry, cookies, uninstall programs, etc.)

- f.lux (http://stereopsis.com/flux) (A simple program that adjusts screen brightness throughout the day to adjust to to your eyes. You can configure the settings to your preferences. It may look odd at first, but try it for a few hours during the night, then turn it off. You'll go blind. Has a Mac/Linux version.)

- Malwarebytes (http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware) (Standard anti-malware.)

- Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx) (Better than AVG, Norton (shudder oh God), any other free (and most paid) anti-virus programs.)

- Pidgin (http://www.filehippo.com/download_pidgin) (Simple, lightweight IM program. Has AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, Google Chat, etc. The most lightweight out of all the ones I've samples (Digsby, Trillian, etc.))

- Sumatra PDF (http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download-free-pdf-viewer.html) (Another lightweight program. No one should everuse Adobe to open PDFs. I don't even have any Adobe programs installed on my PC.)

- TeamViewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/index.aspx) (A program for screen-sharing. Just give your partner your code (or vice-versa) and they'll be able to view your screen. Click another button and they'll be able to control your PC, remotely. Great for tech support for family/friends. Has a Mac version.)

[BenAkenobi]

Winamp is also notorious for not playing back gapless recordings correctly

100% remedied by enabling hardware acceleration in directsound output :-|

[Harry Seaward]

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Sumatra PDF is a great, lightweight PDF reader but it STILL does not support some very "basic" color profiles... this is huge. Check out the Ghosts I-IV PDF and see if you notice "glowing or extremely dark" areas... these are color spaces not being rendered accurately.
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Fair enough. I rarely ever view PDFs, so it's just a nice tool for me. I've heard good things about Foxit, is it any better?


Exact Audio Copy (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/)
eac3to (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_video/convert_audio/eac3to.cfm)
BurnAware Free (http://www.burnaware.com/) (this does blu-ray's, iso's, boot iso's, as well as all the other stuff you'd expect)
K-Lite Codec Pack (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_video/codecs/k-lite_codec_pack_update.cfm) (this isn't a program, obviously, but it's been a great codec pack for over 5 years now)
VideoLAN (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)

For codecs, I just grab CCCP with MPC-HC. I'm pretty sure CCCP includes K-lite and VideoLAN, right? I'm not too familiar with codecs, CCCP has always flawlessly played anything I've needed.

[Jon]

Fair enough. I rarely ever view PDFs, so it's just a nice tool for me. I've heard good things about Foxit, is it any better?



For codecs, I just grab CCCP with MPC-HC. I'm pretty sure CCCP includes K-lite and VideoLAN, right? I'm not too familiar with codecs, CCCP has always flawlessly played anything I've needed.

ergh, yes. I meant to link CCCP

Edit: and Foxit is probably the best of the free PDF viewers, this (http://www.downloadmunkey.net/2008/04/random-monday-foxit-reader-vs-pdf-xchange-viewer-vs-sumatra/) webpage has some good information that is still "right" after over 3 years. Actual times, etc. have changed with newer versions over the years but the comparisons would still look something like this

[allegro]

A big shout-out to LOGMEIN!

https://secure.logmein.com/

I've been using GoToMyPC for a few years for remote access to my work computer (https://www.gotomypc.com (https://www.gotomypc.com/members/login.tmpl)) but I, my boss, and lots of people we know get pissed because it seems to HATE network printers and nobody, including GTMPC's help desk or others out there, can get certain printers (like my HP 1022N) to work with GTMPC.

I have been using a free LogMeIn account to help my mom manage her computer in Detroit (from where I live in Chicago) for a long time and, the other day, I *accidentally* printed something from her computer to my HP 1022N and I went "HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!" and today I bought the Pro version of LogMeIn for two computers and I'm shitcanning GoToMyPC.

There are aspects of GTMPC I really like, but it really sucks when it's fairly expensive and it doesn't work in so many ways and the fucking FREE LogMeIn account does more.

If you want to work remotely from home or just help your parents with their computer without leaving your computer, I highly recommend a free LogMeIn account (more than two computers, go with Pro, absolutely).

I *love* remote computing, worth every penny. I've helped my mom with her computer via my iPhone while on the train on the way home from work; I've done work via my iPad (and an Apple bluetooth keyboard) remotely using my work computer while sitting at the kitchen table at a condo in South Lake Tahoe in the morning while on a ski vacation; I've done work from my mom's house from her computer and still logged my hourly rate. I can work from ANYWHERE, using a Mac or a PC (or my iPhone or iPad).

[allegro]

Another work tool I absolutely love:

PDF Escape.

http://www.pdfescape.com/account/

It's fucking awesome if you don't have Adobe Acrobat.

[Bonedwarf]

I've used Foobar for years. I will say however it is the ONLY MP3 player in the 15 years I've been using the format that utterly killed and corrupted itself one day for no apparent reason.

Also:

X Media Recode (http://www.xmedia-recode.de/) : I do a TON of video encoding and have used every free program out there and this is BY FAR the best available. Updated regularly, available in a portable addition, and just bloody brilliant for recoding videos done by people who completely ignore the most popular HD game console in the world. (Seriously, SD content with one audio track and no subtitles in MKV. What are you, a fucking moron?)

Also I don't have a link, but XenonMKV is great for quickly converting bloody MKV into a format the Xbox can play.

[Conan The Barbarian]

I just got on the chrome bandwagon. any suggestions on security apps? I have adblock but not sure on which noscript like program would be good.

[MAD]

Welcome to Chrome. I can't help you with noscript since I never had to use it, but I can suggest the following extensions:
Cinematographia, clea.nr Videos for YouTube & Amazon, Fastest Chrome, FireShot, YouTube Downloader, TweetDeck.

[Conan The Barbarian]

so far Im digging it. thanks for the suggestions.

[georgecampbell]

In addition to hosted solutions from LogMeIn, you may want to consider a RHUB remote support server.

[virushopper]

Clover 3 (http://ejie.me/)-Open multiple folders on Windows 7 in a Chrome like atmosphere. Great if you're jumping through a ton of files.

[Leviathant]

A couple of months ago at work I became an overnight Ruby developer. This meant using a Macbook Pro. Great hardware, still not sold on the OS. The worst part of using OSX vs Win8 was the doc vs the taskbar. Turns out some guy out there made a program called uBar (http://www.brawersoftware.com/products/ubar), which at the time of this posting, mostly emulates the Win7 task bar. It's great if you keep entirely too many windows open like I do, especially if you have multiple windows of the same app open. It also has a quick calendar, not quite on par with the Windows calendar, but better than nothing.

Downsides are pretty minor: You can't currently rearrange the programs on the task bar, and the Finder's perpetually there (can I say that Finder's quite the ironic name?) You have to click to see which windows are open, and you don't currently get previews (like the way you do when you hover over the taskbar in Win8).

[Jinsai]

Downsides are pretty minor: You can't currently rearrange the programs on the task bar, and the Finder's perpetually there (can I say that Finder's quite the ironic name?) You have to click to see which windows are open, and you don't currently get previews (like the way you do when you hover over the taskbar in Win8).

There's a handy shortcut in OSX to toggle between applications and windows within that application. "cmmd tab" will show all active applications and allow you toggle between them by hitting the tab button, and "cmmd ~" toggles between open windows within an application. There's also the "show all open windows" gesture, where you slide down on the trackpad with four fingers.

[Leviathant]

There's a handy shortcut in OSX to toggle between applications and windows within that application. "cmmd tab" will show all active applications and allow you toggle between them by hitting the tab button
Yeah, this came pretty naturally, as I use alt+Tab in Windows. In Windows though, if you've got multiple browser windows open, they show up in the list. With Command+Tab, I can switch to Firefox, but the window I want might be below two other windows. In Win8, when you alt+tab between windows, if you wait on a particular window, it hides all the other windows until you press tab again or release the key combo.


and "cmmd ~" toggles between open windows within an application.

I feel like this hasn't worked consistently for me, but I can't find the application that failing to respond to Command ~.


There's also the "show all open windows" gesture, where you slide down on the trackpad with four fingers.

Which again groups windows by program, hiding some windows behind others, and not indicating window titles. In my situation, I often have several Sublime Text windows open, a couple of terminal windows (each with several tabs), and a couple of SourceTree windows for my git repos. Mail might have a few open messages floating around as well.

I appreciate the offer to help, but the only way it's going to get as good as I'm used to is if they get better at playing catch-up :) I do realize that I'm not the typical Mac user, and do not expect Apple to cater to me as a power user. The *nix underpinnings are nice, but the GUIs not even up to where Win7 was five years ago... but I'm glad the dude writing uBar is helping move things forward.

[Jinsai]

I appreciate the offer to help, but the only way it's going to get as good as I'm used to is if they get better at playing catch-up :)

Yeah, to be honest, I haven't really seriously used Windows since XP. I'm uncertain of what you're looking for here specifically.

You could just load Windows in Boot Camp though, right?

[Leviathant]

You could just load Windows in Boot Camp though, right?

Where's the sport in that? Hehe. All the Ruby devs at my company work off Macbook Pros. I would feel like a toolbag if I insisted that I can program Ruby but it's going to be on MY terms. So I threw myself in all the way. New programming language, new operating system, new everything. I have a Windows desktop beside me for when I need to help out with SQL Server stuff. Plus, I thought, a lot of people have great things to say about OS X, and I haven't given it a real try. All things taken into account, they're not all that different. I'm learning new keyboard shortcuts, and I'm configuring bash, and I'm getting by. But there are niceties in Windows that I definitely miss, particularly when it comes to window management and desktop organization. But that's another thread. I was just posting software that I thought was helpful :)

[Madmya]

Windowssssss

[georgecampbell]

In addition to above mentioned hosted solutions from LogMeIn, you may want to consider a RHUB remote support server.