Your "essential" software?

[Ian]

I've just built a new W10 PC for my workshop, from spares accumulated over the years. One of the first things I do once I have a fresh Windows 10 install is to visit ninite.com (basically a basic package manager), along with any other app download sites that aren't on that list, then install my "essential" apps that I like on any of my machines. I'm sure I'm missing some gems, so I'd be interested to see what other users consider to be an essential app.

My list includes:

• Chrome
• Notepad++
• WinRAR
• VLC Media Player
• Putty (this isn't going to be essential for many people)
• Filezilla (this isn't going to be essential for many people)
• Foxit Reader
• Steam

What's on your list of apps to install on your freshly built PC?

 

[Tim Locke]

Chrome
Thunderbird
Windows 8 versions of Solitaire
Macrium reflect
MalwareBytes
Rufus
Putty to talk to my Raspberry Pi machines

And these not quite such a high priority

4K YouTube to MP3
Calibre
Google Earth
Rufus
iCloud for the calendar
iTunes
Google earth
Kindle

 

[Ian]

I use Putty for the same thing - I thought it would be pretty niche, so good to see another user .

Rufus

Good call - I'll add that to my list, it's better than my current imaging tool!

 

[davehc]

Paint.net? Free and superior to many paid for progs.

 

[Trouble]

I do like Rufus and PaintDotNet and would include 7zip

 

[Tim Locke]

I haven't found a Windows compressed file that File Explorer won't extract.


Ian, I see you use WinRar. Back in the '60s I worked with the guy who , later, wrote WinRar. He and I were on a team writing a flight simulator for the Harrier fighter. I lost touch with him for years after I moved to Canada. Another long ago friend told that he was moving to NYC...about a week later I got another message to say he dad had a heart attack and died just before starting the move.

 

[Trouble]

Most of the software mentioned here has a native equivalent.
And I don't use 7zip for only zipped files.
HP, Dell and others often do their driver files in self extracting executable. I just right click those with 7 zip and say, extract here and then just grab the drivers from inside the extracted package that I need and avoid having extra Dell, HP, SWsetup, etc., folder on my hard disk.

I haven't found a website that IE won't open but that doesn't keep me from installing Chrome or other alternative browsers.

 

[Grizzly]

my essentials are:
Office 2010
Filezilla
Winrar
Total Commander
CD-Print (Canon specific program)
CD Label Designer
Faststone Photo Resizer and FS Capture
Foxit Reader
Irfanview

not so essential:
Teamviewer
Onedrive
GDMMS (surveillance program)
PowerISO
Skype

 

[davehc]

One of the complaints with Edge, is the difficulty organising Favourites.
If you are not an Edge user, naturally this could not be considered "Essential". I do use Edge, and have found this little utility great for quickly getting the favourites/bookmarks in the order you want.

http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/EdgeManage.html

 

[clifford_cooley]

My Essential Software:

1. Total Commander & IrfanView
2. Mozilla Firefox (w/ uBlockOrigin) and Thunderbird
3. MS Office 2010 (Mainly Excel)
4. Paint.NET
5. CCleaner, Defraggler, & Speccy (Although I'm not happy about Avast buyout)
   
6. Audacity
7. Nero (My Alternate is AnyBurn)
   
8. Acronis True Image
9. Popcorn-Time
10. qBittorrent
    
11. Video.NET

Game Platformwith the occasional Humble Bundle purchases)

1. Steam
   
2. Origin
3. uPlay
   
4. GoG Galaxy

 

[Ian]

Looks like we're all on the same page here - some good lists! I need to check out Paint.net again, as I've not used it for a while - I still use an old version of Adobe CS5 for most of my work.

Ian, I see you use WinRar. Back in the '60s I worked with the guy who , later, wrote WinRar. He and I were on a team writing a flight simulator for the Harrier fighter. I lost touch with him for years after I moved to Canada. Another long ago friend told that he was moving to NYC...about a week later I got another message to say he dad had a heart attack and died just before starting the move.

Ah, that's sad to hear - especially just before an exciting move. I've used RAR and WinRAR for so many years now - I remember being excited in the mid nineties to see how much additional compression I could get from RAR (compared to ZIP), back when hard drives were tiny.

Are you an Aerospace Engineer @Tim Locke? I had some dealings with the simulation team at BAE in the UK in my previous job (I was researching the feasibility of auto-stereoscopic displays in flight simulation).

 

[Bif]

Daily driver software..
Audacity
Sony Acid Pro
Photoshop
Adobe Premiere
Picasa
Firefox
Stellarium
Google Earth Pro
Garmin Express
Garmin Basecamp
PotPlayer
iTunes
Chrome
Roland Friend Jam
Ccleaner
Calibre

Likely forgetting a few...but that's the gist.

 

[Bruce Banks]

I also use Sure Thing Disk Labeler for my printable DVDs - great for backups etc. Biggest pain is finding a decent printer with this added feature.

 

[Serdar Yalçın]

1. Office 2017
2. Steam
3. Origin
4. GIMP
5. Notepad++
6. ShareX
7.Imgburn - But I am looking for another burning software without any addware.Open sourced are more than welcome
8. Oracle Virtualbox
9. Java
10. Sea Monkey - for its HTML editor, free working and does not need steep learning.
11. CCCP for apparent reasons
12. Uplay there are games I play in this platform but way less than Steam and Origin.
13. Google Earth
14. Audacity.
15. Opera (Its VPN support is great)
16. Firefox
17. Chrome
18. Latest free version of Visual Studio

I earn my living by programming for Office environment. But time to time I do programming in different environment from PHP to Phyton.

 

[Tim Locke]

Looks like we're all on the same page here - some good lists! I need to check out Paint.net again, as I've not used it for a while - I still use an old version of Adobe CS5 for most of my work.



Ah, that's sad to hear - especially just before an exciting move. I've used RAR and WinRAR for so many years now - I remember being excited in the mid nineties to see how much additional compression I could get from RAR (compared to ZIP), back when hard drives were tiny.

Are you an Aerospace Engineer @Tim Locke? I had some dealings with the simulation team at BAE in the UK in my previous job (I was researching the feasibility of auto-stereoscopic displays in flight simulation).

No just a programmer who has always specialized in weird online stuff on weird mini-computers!, I was working for Miles Aviation at the time...the Simulator company in the UK which was NOT Redifon Simulators ( now part of Thales) MIles had a contract for the F111 simulator and when that was cancelled they got the Harrier simulator contract. Half way through that job they were taken over by Link ( The NA simulator company that is not CAE), I have no idea if they are still in business in the UK.

 

[Bruce Banks]

Oh, I am so envious of all your learning opportunities. I spent my time writing / maintaining Mainframe processes for a Telephone company's customer service department (COBOL, MFS, IMS DB2, Easytrieve, with a touch of DB2, Visual Basic, C++, etc.as we were moving toward adding internet access for customer service)

At one point my company offered a deal for support folks to gain remote access for things like 3 am call " I can't make it into office due to snowstorm" situations. I got an 8086, dos 4.01 PC with 9600 baud modem and I was hooked.

I read every book I could find as well as collecting any PC used parts I could scrounge/ buy [ I prefer frugal vs cheap].

Apparently MS noticed me as I have been BETA tester since Windows 7. Seems I have a Knack for breaking things!

Anyway, these days I look for what my PC can do for me personally - Like some are free but some are
commercial:, SO ?

 

[Ian]

Thanks for posting your "essential" lists . I'm currently trying out a few of the popular suggestions: Audacity, Paint.net and GIMP.

It's a shame Paint.net doesn't own the matching domain! Oddly, it appears that you can download it for free from their website... or purchase it via the Windows store for £4.19. I think it's very fair they can charge for it, but it's puzzling that it's the same product either way.

No just a programmer who has always specialized in weird online stuff on weird mini-computers!, I was working for Miles Aviation at the time...the Simulator company in the UK which was NOT Redifon Simulators ( now part of Thales) MIles had a contract for the F111 simulator and when that was cancelled they got the Harrier simulator contract. Half way through that job they were taken over by Link ( The NA simulator company that is not CAE), I have no idea if they are still in business in the UK.

Sounds like that would have been an interesting job - not often you get to program something that fun .

 

[davehc]

Maybe MS are collecting for that one!

 

[Bruce Banks]

Back on topic ?
I have a bunch of personal favotites: (Many commercial)
Nuance - PDF utilities / conversion tools (I like Omnipage)
Vmware - I Like old dos / 9x games
NTIUS - comersional media maker burner tool I personally like - been using forever
DVD Fab - got in early - DVD, Blu-Ray backup ( I Got Kids)
Vid/Aud (1) - Roxio easy VHS to DVD kit - creates DVD images from VHS tapes
Vid/Aud (2) - Video Redo works with above - removes commercials

Others I use - with care
NCH Software & Avs4you have vareous tools, some better than others

HDD Apps:
White Canyon has options as what to wipe vs save
DBAN wipes whole Hard drive
XXX? Most HDD companies have initalizing tool.

PS: I fix/help local users for free - Keeps me busy/useful

 

[JULIAN GARCIA]

I've just built a new W10 PC for my workshop, from spares accumulated over the years. One of the first things I do once I have a fresh Windows 10 install is to visit ninite.com (basically a basic package manager), along with any other app download sites that aren't on that list, then install my "essential" apps that I like on any of my machines. I'm sure I'm missing some gems, so I'd be interested to see what other users consider to be an essential app.

My list includes:

• Chrome
• Notepad++
• WinRAR
• VLC Media Player
• Putty (this isn't going to be essential for many people)
• Filezilla (this isn't going to be essential for many people)
• Foxit Reader
• Steam

What's on your list of apps to install on your freshly built PC?

All of the above (except "Putty" and "Steam").
I also get:
Glary Utilities Pro (Paid)
Evernote (Paid)
GoodSync
MiniTool Partition Manager
OO RegEdit
Speccy
Simple VHD Manager
Remove Empty Directories
Take Ownership Pro

Most of the paid versions have free limited versions
Julian