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
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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
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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
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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.
-
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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
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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
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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
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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.