Note: updated list available

It were lists like this, that introduced me to a majority of the software I have in use today. So I decided to put up my own little(?) list.

This list contains all the software I use on Windows, but a lot of it is deliberately cross-platform. I prefer open-source software or at least freeware, that is why only three items on this list are commercial software (marked with '*'). But this shouldn't keep you from supporting/donating to projects you like! And finally, let me add, that I prefer software that is small, sleek and takes care of one thing only.

SYSTEM

• 7-Zip
  Handling of archive files.

• ClamWin
  Open-source Antivirus.

• DAEMON Tools Lite
  Perfect software for archiving your precious CDs/DVDs and mounting them in Windows.

• Desktops
  Creates up to 4 virtual desktops. It does so by creating 4 distinct desktop objects, instead of hiding/showing windows, like most(all?) other virtual-desktop solutions do. This results in a lot restrictions, however. But nothing that can’t be worked around or got used to.

• DOSBox
  Emulates an old DOS machine. Useful for very old programs or games.

• FreeCommander
  Nice alternative to standard Windows Explorer. Especially useful if you need Administrator-access to your filesystem, because you can run it as Administrator. Something you cannot do with Windows Explorer when logged in as restricted user.

• grepWin
  File-searching under windows done right.

• HotSwap!
  Allows you to remove internal SATA drives, which Windows considers to be non-removable. This is incredible helpful when using SATA HDDs as backup-medium.

• TrueCrypt
  Encrypt whole partitions or create an encrypted container to store files within.

• VirtualBox
  Virtualisation. Not only helpful for running old games under W9x or XP, but essential to compiling and testing software on multiple operating systems.

• WinDirStat
  Get a graphical view of your filesystem. Makes it very easy to free up space, or more important to me: reduce the absolute number of files.

VIEWERS

• SumatraPDF
  A PDF Reader, nothing more, nothing less. No fancy features but slim and tiny.

• VideoLAN Client
  Self-contained video player that does not require any external video codecs to be installed. Wonderful piece of software.

• XMPlay
  A very sleek but fully featured audio-player.

• XnView
  Viewer for image files. Including conversion, simple editing, etc.

INTERNET/COMMUNICATION

• FileZilla
  FTP/SFTP client.

• Firefox
  Web-browser with important (for me, at least) add-ons:

  • Vimperator
    VIM-like control of Firefox. Makes using the web so much quicker/easier. Absolute deal-breaker for me.

  • Tree Style Tab
    Finally gives tabs an added bonus so they are not only a duplication of the task-bars functionality in each and every application.

  • Extended Cookie Manager
    There may be other cookie managers, but I like its user interface. Informative and fast to work with.

  • Flashblock
    No words could ever describe…..

  • NoScript
    Similar interface as the Extended Cookie Manager. And I prefer to get information from webpages, not interactive multimedia presentations. Seems like the 90s all over.

• FishSpeak
  I couldn’t find a voice communication software that fit my requirements. So I decided to write my own and with that, FishSpeak was born.

• Miranda
  Multi-protocol instant messenger. Including support for OTR via plugin.

• Putty
  SSH-client and other utilities for working with SSH.

• RSSOwl
  Finding the right RSS-reader was really hard. But I finally settled on RSSOwl. It’s cross-platform, the user-interface is arranged they way I like it and - most importantly - each feed can be updated at a different rate.

• Thunderbird
  Thunderbird certainly fulfills all my needs in regards to E-mail. I’d like to use mutt, but on Windows that’s a hassle and Muttator doesn’t do it for me. So I stick to plain vanilla Thunderbird and be happy.

CONTENT CREATION

• AbiWord
  Word processing without all the bloat.

• Blender
  3D modelling/animation/..

• Canon Digital Professional
  RAW Converter for my Canon DSLRs.

• FL Studio*
  If you ever feel the urge to be a musician, that’s where I’d go.

• Gnumeric
  Spreadsheet. Plain and simple, albeit sometimes buggy in its Windows release.

• IcoFX
  Wonderful icon-editor. I had to look for something like this a very long time.

• Photoshop CS*
  It’s a very old version that I use, but it’s the only one I’ve got and it does everything I need.

DEVELOPMENT

• Debugging Tools for Windows
  It may take some time getting used to, but I’m not aware of any other debugger that is more powerful.

• doxygen
  Documentation-system for your code. It uses HTML Help Workshop to create .chm files.

• gDEBugger
  Debugger for OpenGL applications. Now free!

• gVIM
  Text-editor. Sorry: THE text-editor. I mean: THE ONE AND ONLY text editor.
  Emawhat?

• Microsoft Windows SDK
  Compiler, headers, libraries. All you need to develop software for Windows.

• mirkes.de Tiny Hexer
  My favourite hex editor. Unfortunately it’s not available on mirkes.de anymore. But you can find it on various download-sites: Find download locations.

• Strawberry Perl
  Call me old-school, that’s okay with me. But I like Perl.

• TortoiseHg
  I use Mercurial as revision-control tool and TortoiseHg to interface with it.

MISC

• DVD Decrypter
  Because my external Plextor DVD drive is annoyingly loud, I used DVD Decrypter to copy my DVDs to my hard-drive. As an added bonus I don’t have to change discs every two episodes when watching a series.
  Keep in mind, that based on where you live, using DVD Decrypter may be illegal to use.

• InfraRecorder
  CD/DVD burning. No fancy bloat included.

• SportTracks*
  In combination with a Garmin GPS watch I use SportTracks to keep track of my training.
  I use SportTracks 2 because it is free and has no limitations. Unfortunately that version is no longer available and the trial version of SportTracks 3 is rather limited.