N 82 50 24 / Nat Arem Blog

You met me at a very strange time in my life.

Software I Use

I’ve spent years scouring the web for the best software. In my time doing that, I’ve realized something: There’s way more software than I could ever hope to test, use or integrate into my everyday life. That being said, here’s a list of “essential” software. This is, basically, the order that I tend to install things on my computer after I reinstall my operating system:

1. Firefox.  This is an obvious first install (because I use it to browse and download everything else).  My plugin list includes: AI Roboform Toolbar, Delicious Bookmarks, Download Statusbar, Fast Dial, Firebug, Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer, Header Spy, SearchStatus, SeoQuake, Web Developer.  I do have other plugins installed on some machines, but that’s my “essential” list.
2. Winamp.  I like Winamp because of the integrated AOL Radio, which is essential for my workday.
3. VLC Player. This is an essential video-watching tool. I watch most of my TV on my computer, so I use VLC for that purpose. It’s light, free and smooth. As compared to WMP which is awful and doesn’t have a lot of codecs built-in (which is important when dealing with media like MKV files).
4. Windows Grep. Most of us who use Windows are used to pretty much never being able to find anything with the search function. The reason is that Windows search is one of the saddest excuses for search I have seen in any situation. Windows Grep solves that with a very powerful solution that is similar in some ways to the grep command found in linux.
5. WinRAR. Like many things found in Windows, the built-in compression/decompression utility sucks. It doesn’t support .RAR or other compression formats, just .ZIP. And it’s very lacking in options. I always use WinRAR to handle my .ZIP and .RAR files (or some of the other rarer compression filetypes you come across).
6. Pidgin. I tried Digsby for a bit, but it was just too slow and memory heavy. I don’t need my AIM/gChat/Yahoo client slowing down my computer, so I returned to Pidgin. Configured correctly, Pidgin is awesome for multiple chat protocols. I still use Windows Live Messenger because it’s better than using Pidgin for MSN, but that’s the only other messaging client that I use in Windows.
7. Paint.NET. Before you install this, you might need to install the .NET framework (which, admittedly, is a pain in the ass, but it’s necessary for a lot of software programs). You can get the .NET framework here. This software is basically a freeware and light version of photoshop. Granted it isn’t nearly as powerful as photoshop, but it gets the job done for what I need to do. Frankly, I find a lot of the options in photoshop to be too extensive and I simply want something that can do simple jobs. This software fits the purpose and it’s free.
8. PSPad. I do a fair amount of HTML and PHP editing in my day job, so I need a good code editor. PSPad is great because it does a good job highlighting the code along with some basic text validation features. I could use Dreamweaver or a more advanced IDE, but, usually, I can get things done faster in PSPad. I only use more advanced IDEs (like Eclipse or Zend Studio for PHP) when I’m developing a more advanced web application. For the simple stuff, I like PSPad better (kind of like how I like Paint.NET better for simple photo stuff, even though I do usually put photoshop on my computers for something more advanced).
9. Roboform. As stated earlier, I always get the toolbar for Firefox, but it bears repeating that Roboform is the greatest productivity software known to man (for me at least, so I guess “known to me”).
10. Sumatra PDF. I really dislike most Adobe products. They’re usually slow and resource intensive. I don’t like Adobe Reader for that reason. So I install a light and freeware PDF reader instead. I’ve also used Ghostscript in the past, but I tend to like Sumatra PDF more. Ghostscript and some other programs are great for getting around Adobe’s copy protection though…
11. VirtuaWin. One of the best things about Macs and Linux is that they have Virtual Desktops. It’s shocking how behind the times Microsoft is, but Virtual desktops are terrific for productivity. While VirtuaWin doesn’t really replicate OS X’s “Spaces” as well as it could, it’s a decent/lightweight virtual desktop option.
12. Filezilla.  This is by far my favorite freeware FTP client.  It’s just terrific and using the Site Manager export feature, I can take my FTP logins from computer to computer without much trouble (although I wish it was more secure…).

I guess that’s it.  I usually get a lot of other stuff too (like iPod management software, video conversion software, etc) but listing out EVERY piece of software would take forever.  I am also not listing poker sites because I figure most of you know about all of those.

Anything great that I’m missing out on?

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Product Activation is LOL
2. Picasa, Google and Air Conditioning
3. the thepokerdb logo challenge
4. Website Success: Part Three
5. Start of thepokerdb

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to get future posts delivered to your feed reader.

Powered by Wordpress | WP Premium theme by WP Remix
Copyright 2008. Nat's Poker Blog. All rights reserved