Man - You guys are the GREATEST. I had so much trouble with stupid Kazaa that I finally had to de-install. I had glanced at some stuff about Kazaalite, but I thought that was just the same thing.

The fact that so many of you recomended it, I figured I would give it a look. Thanks so much! This was a great find. This makes me so stoked on the TFP. I think I am going to give back the only way I know how: post some smut on the titty board for all to enjoy!

extension: post your favorite items
 

SM70 EDIT: MERGED

I loved looking through the post your desktop post, because it gives me cool ideas about what I can do to better organize my desktop. I also learn about programs I have never tried or even heard of. I had never trial Trillian before and now I have etc.

What programs do you LOVE? If you had one computer to take with you every day... what programs would you install?

I use Outlook for my email
Trillian (used to use Gaim) for IM
Mozilla 1.4 for browsing
Can't choose between winamp or ultraplayer... what are your suggestions?

Trying to find new P2P program, but now using Kazaa and iMesh.

Windows blinds and icon packager are sweet!

i use opera7 for main browser and email. trillian. for ftp i use a program called bitbeamer which i like a lot

one thing i'd like to find is a very small audio program that will record .wav off any of the audio busses i've got on the computer. sometimes nero wave editor works for me, but sometimes not. i can use sonar, but i'd rather have the option of using a smaller program.. i don't think i can directly record what's going through windows wave mapper in sonar. i've been routing it back into the soundcard inputs. (recording audio from a video file playback, web audio streams, etc.)

Cygwin...

lets all not forget about
<a href="http://www.flashfxp.com/">Flash FXP</a> - it offers the easiest and fastest way to transfer any file using FTP

Get rid of Kazaa right now and get the K++ version of Kazaalite.

The only differences are good ones. You know all that spyware and adware that's packaged up with Kazaa? Well it's completely stripped out of Kazaalite. Not to mention that with the K++ version you can set it to continuously search over and over which helps you get a LOT more sources and you can also set your user score to a permanent 1000.

Macheath - I read somewhere tha Apple will be introducing some verison if iTunes for the PC some time this year. Don't worry!

As for my own installs:

current video drivers
current audio drivers
xNews news reader
CoolEdit (audio editor)
Photoshop
Office


Wow: to the people who listed the apps and what they do: THANKS! Looks like I will be hittin Google to try some of these out!

Good post this. I've had to re-install everything after a virus knocked my computer out. Thanks for the AVG anti-virus link.

After a clean install heres what i install first

WinRar [Site]
Icq [Site]
mIRC [Site]
Alcohol 120% [Site]
MusicMatch 8.0 [Site]
PGP [Site]
TheBat [Site]
FlashFXP [Site]
Nero [Site]
Winamp [Site]

Thats About All I Can Think Of

SmartFTP is the best FTP client, IMHO

A lot of new programs for me to try on this list....

I'm somewhat of a newbie, so maybe someone mentioned a better program, but SiSoft Sandra from www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk is a pretty great way to get detailed information about your system.

Your essential programs?
 

What programs would you rather not live without? Here's mine...
Alcohol 120% - Perfect for burning\creating CD images, I also enjoy the virtual drives.
eDonkey - Great for downloading full albums or programs.
K++ - Excellent for movies or individual songs.
Trillian - I love my friends.
Ad-Aware - Keep my system free of spyware.
MyIE2 - Cause plain ol' Internet Explorer sucks.
Winamp - Must play MP3s. Does it's job well as long as it's less than 3.0.

I use just about everything AnalogX has on his site:
http://www.analogx.com/

I can not live without 'the proxomitron' pop up ad killer, right click enabler, banner blocker, and it can force browser controls on windows that open without them.

I also like textpad. but then I bought a license for it.

Oh I also recently bought a license for macro-express. I use it for all those tedious events in mmorgs. like making brinks and flax in ATITD and mining in EVE: the second generation.

Oh yes and then there is cygwin. when you have to run windows but you love unix.

wow. you guys seemed to cover everything. wat's great is i came out with extra stuffs i gotta download=P too bad i got 56k. wait till i get back to college.

is mozilla better than opera?
only problem with opera is its inability to handle java.

and for future prog posting, can u give a description for noobs like meh. cause otherwise for some posts, u gota download inorder to find out wat it does. 56k sucks. but thanks all for the info

Heh, now THERE'S a loaded question ;)

In a nutshell, in my opinion, yes.
In a nutshell, some other people's opinion, no.

Hate to say it, especially with you on a 56k, but the best way to answer that is to find out for yourself.

I'll mention some things I like about Mozilla though.

<li>open source: what does this mean? Well, first off, it means that there are no ads in the free version. In fact, there is no non-free version. Also, it means that there is an infinite number of possible programmers. So, if someone wants something or something is needed, anyone can program it. That doesn't guarantee that it will be included because the core developers choose what gets put in, but it does help things happen a lot faster.

<li>www.mozdev.org : a necessary visit for any Mozilla user in my opinion. Know that the things here are not guaranteed to work - there's a reason they're not in the "stable" version of Mozilla. That reason could be because they're incomplete or buggy, but it can also be simply that they don't see the need to make that extra feature part of what everyone has to take time downloading to use Mozilla. This is the place you can go to get an add-on for Mozilla to have mouse gestures like in Opera among other things. You can also find themes here. Not to mention lots of other useful (useless?) goodies. A similar place which should be visited is www.xulplanet.com to get the PrefBar which I am particularly fond of.

<li>I repeat, no advertisements: That's right. None. NO advertisement banner like in opera, no AOL links like in Netscape, none.

<li>Pop-up blocking: I believe this is in Opera as well. Nonetheless, it's a great feature. You can also tell it to allow pop-ups for specific sites, so I've told it to allow pop-ups for TFP this way when I get a PM I can have the pop-up window to read it.

A note about Mozilla: The next version to be released will be version 1.4 This will be the last release of the Mozilla suite. That doesn't mean the Mozilla Project is over however. Right now, Mozilla comes with (but does not require you to install) an IRC client (ChatZilla), an HTML editor (Composer), and an e-mail client (Mozilla Mail). Personally I don't mind this, but a lot of people have considered this bloat. So, that's where Firebird (formerly Phoenix) entered the picture. It is the browser component all by itself - rewritten from the ground up. After Mozilla 1.4 is released, the Mozilla Project will shift their focus over to Firebird, which will take over as their main product. Similarly, Thunderbird (formerly Minotaur) will replace the Mozilla Mail client. Many people already use Firebird as it is and say it's very good and stable. Not being in a rush to change, I'm simply waiting for it to be "official." But know that many of the things on www.mozdev.org and the PrefBar from www.xulplanet.com will work with Firebird, and all the things I listed that I like about Mozilla remain.

I'm sure I missed a few too - perhaps meanspleen will have something to add since I know he is also an avid Mozilla user.


EDIT: OH, and for themes, there are two main places to go. http://themes.mozdev.org is the most reliable place to go as it is pretty useful ni helping you get the right theme for your version of the browser - many times new versions can tend to break compatibility with themes, although this seems to be less of a problem and also fixed relatively quickly. The other good place to go is www.deskmod.com, which I think is a great site for a lot of reasons. You'll need to know for yourself if you are installing a proper version of the theme, but it's not that hard - and sometimes they'll have a theme that mozdev doesn't.

Thanks for all the links, thoughts and ideas.

if there's no macs on your net, it's not necessary, but what lets me keep all my mp3s on one computer is

http://one2ohmygod.sourceforge.net

My latest download that I really like is E-prompter. This little program sits in your system tray and checks almost every email account that you have. It alerts you whenever you have new mail, and it can check hotmail and yahoo accounts. I have a few email addresses after several years of being online, and this makes it much easier to keep track of some of the accounts. The only problem that I have with it is that it doesn't support excite.com yet.

Definately Mozilla. The more I use it the more I've grown to like it.

Slowview for viewing pictures and movies. I like this one much. Very convenient.
http://www.slowview.at/?page=screens

mIRC can't live without this one. I don't like Trillian, tried a few others, and mIRC is my favorite.

Firebird, the new, less copy-right-infringing name for Phoenix, which will eventually replace Mozilla I think, is definitely worth the effort of downloading and configuring it. If I had to use IE again, I would seriously consider just giving up the internet.

Trillian is pretty, but unless you want to try to get the illegal version or pay for it, you might be better off with GAIM or what I use, Miranda IM, which is also GPL, but only runs under windows.

I used to use Winamp quite a bit, but then Winamp 3 came out, and it sucked bad. Winamp 2 is still decent, but I've found that foobar2000 is by far the best audio player I have ever used. It has components galore and only appears to be getting better.

Almost forgot, jEdit is a good java programming editor (has highlighting and stuff). And of course it is cross-platform, being coded in java.

For all the people recommending popup blockers, there is really no need, Firebird does it all, and more. (Thanks to SecretMethod70 for his very nice post covering Firebird/Mozilla)

To all you people who love Winamp, you must seriously try foobar2000.

Although there are some who swear by Exact Audio Copy, I personally like the power, features, and configurability of CDex. Also, CDex is released under the GPL.

As someone else mentioned, FileZilla is a nice <acronym title="File Transfer Protocol">FTP</acronym> client especially for the fact that it is free and GPL.

Much thanks to everyone who made suggestions, I learned of a few programs I had never heard of and was reminded of a few I forgot.

soulseek is an awesome mp3 download program.
it's not as fast or as widespread as kazaa (you don't download a file from multiple users) but it is easier for downloading whole albums at once (right click, download folder)

usually, most of the people who use this know what they're doing with mp3s, as oppose to aol kiddies on kazaa who rename files and leave incorrect tags

http://www.slsk.org/

Everytime I install again these are always on the top of the install lists:

Trillian Pro
Diskeeper
Winamp 3
Norton System Works 2002
Kazaalite
Adaware Pro
ZoneAlarm Pro
Style XP
Spybot
Office Pro and it's SP1 and SP2
Plus! XP
Winace
Photoshop 7
Reason 2.5
Acid Pro
Popup Stopper
Quicktime Pro
Xvid
Starrynight Backyard
CuteFTP
3DMark03
3DMark2001
PCMark2002
Windows Media 9

And of course the various games.

i think i`ve seen everything but google thats the very first thing that goes on mine you need it after win98 install

Most of the stuff I use has been mentioned already except for ZipAlot, everytime I join a site that has all the pic's in zipfiles... such as Sandiesfantasies, I'm stuck with dozens of zipfiles that have to be opened one at a time...... then each opened file has to be reopened to cut and paste the pic's in a single folder, with ZipAlot you just put all of the zipfiles in a folder... click source, find the folder, click it..... then yes, yes once again to create a image folder. Zip Zip.... ZipAlot opens all of the zipfiles and puts the pic's in the image folder :) Talk about save time! 100 zipfiles with a few thousand pic's are opened in seconds :D

http://www.ractive.ch/gpl/zipalot.html

Huh? Install Google?

Ok heres my list of must installs

XP pro
Office 2000(haven't got XP yet)
Nero
K++
Photoshop 7
Paint Shop Pro 8
Norton System Works 2003(includes anit-virus)
All drivers
Power DVD
Ad-aware and Spybot(I found you need both)
Si-Sanfra 2003 pro

And this is for all you zone alarm users - bin it and get black ice defender - zone alarm(which I used to have) does not even come close.

Those are all great programs posted here. For those of you who have a DVD collection, the greatest way to keep track of them that I have ever seen is little program called:

DVDProfiler

It keeps track of your whole collection and updates it. It pulls all the information on each DVD from the internet after you enter it in by barcode number. A great way to find new Easter Eggs and other goodies. It will make charts and graphs using the data as well. Other features allow you to keep track of who you loaned a movie to. And it is FREE.

I like winkey.

http://download.com.com/3000-2344-91...ml?tag=lst-0-1

It lets you create keyboard shortcuts for pretty much everything...you can open folders, run executables...whatever. I'm a keyboard guy, not too fond of the mouse, so this has been a lifesaver for me :)

MPEDrummer

I've been using Spybot for what seems like ages but recently added spywareblaster to my list of must haves.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Stops spyware from ever being installed.

Trillian all the way. Fuck I hate ICQ. bloated memory hog.
Pop-up stopper.
Winamp 2.91
ACDSEE 5.01 powerpack
Flashget 1.40
CloneCD
CDMate
Roger Wilco
WinRar
HWDoctor
Sisoft Sandra

Oh yeah, I'm gonna echo Mondak's kudos on Kazaalite. Plus, I downloaded Spybot and Spyware Blaster. I had so much crap on here I couldn't believe it. You guys freakin' rock!! :D :D :D

The first place I hit after I get network connectivity back up is the <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/en/index.html">GNU II site</a> (or I pull out the CD they've released and start installing.

I usually install a LOT from there.
Filezilla
Dia (UML and ERD diagramming tool)
NetHack
CDex

Then I move on to EditPlus, Trillian, MSN Messenger (why not use Trillian for that too? My wife is used the MSN messenger and can't figure out Trillian)
and a few other games.

While doing some periodic maintenance on a friend's Windows ME system (blech), I stumbled upon a task manager app called Another Task Manager (ATM) that lets you view each process like in Windows XP/2000, with memory usage, file location, etc. Even better, unlike all the other programs of its kind that I found, this one actually includes CPU usage for each process, whereas the other 9x "process viewers" don't.

I also recommend Window Washer over at webroot.com. I've cleaned out multiple gigabytes of crap on some systems, with the touch of a button. It's astonishing.

Visual Studio .Net Enterprise Architect edition 2003

The only way to work in C# :-) Not mentioned so far.

And LaTeX... THE ONLY quality document typesetting solution besides writing in postscript ;-)

Great lists everyone!

OK well the only thing that I can think of contributing to this is for all the people out there that rip CDs onto their computers and then compress them to mp3.

Go to THIS SITE

This method will give you the highest quality mp3s on the planet! Human ears will not be able to tell the difference.

There is a nicer guide to doing this on the kazaa lite forum but it is temp. down.

one of my favorites would have to be black widow because it allows you to take web browsing to a whole new level

RegClean v4.1a
This utility cleans your Registry of unnecessary entries that were created when you installed or uninstalled programs on your computer.

Motherboard Monitor v5.3
An overheated computer is an unhappy computer. This handy program reads temperature and fan RPM data collected by your system's BIOS, displays it in the Windows system tray, and alerts you when there's trouble.

ECleaner v2.02
Do you forward your favorite e-mail jokes to all your friends? Your wit will be better appreciated if it doesn't arrive with ">>>>>" at the beginning of every line. This nifty little program removes them from e-mail messages, making them look cleaner and preventing choppy word wraps. Now if only it made the jokes funny.:D