Windows recommended apps

[mogster]

Here's my list:

Anti-Virus
ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2.7
Acclaimed best-in-class protection against viruses, phising, trojans, rootkits and spyware. Swift and dependable.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0
Great virus protection with realtime scanning, frequent updates and high detection rates.
McAfee Stinger
Free standalone tool for the removal of selected malware.
AVG Free Edition
Popular feature-reduced version of AVG Pro. Good detection rate and free updates.

Anti-Spyware
Web-root Spyware Sweeper
Award-winning antispyware that can detect, block and remove some of the most aggresive spyware around. Can run outside Windows and also protect itself. Simple, clear and attractive interface.
Sunbelt Counterspy
Rivaling with Spyware sweeper in reviews, counterspy offers fast ground-breaking protection against spyware.
Spyware Doctor 5
Yet another good anti-spyware product, removed all rootkits in lab tests, very high detection rate.
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Free and updated anti-spyware available for a range of operating systems and devices. Additional tools, skins and plug-ins available.
Lavasoft Ad-aware Professional
Popular and light spyware program. Bundled with ad-aware for realtime process scanning. Free version available.

Primary Response SafeConnect
Signatureless protection against unknown malware threats. Warning: This product looks for malware bahavior, which does not necessarily mean the offending result is malware.

Peer Blacklisting
Peerguardian 2
Actively blocks blacklisted IPs of anti-p2p organizations with updates.

Encryption
PGP Desktop Pro 9
Powerful technology for encrypting entire hard-drives or single files. Allows the setting of expiry dates and a range of encryption methods including RSA.
GhostSurf 2007
Redirects all your traffic through tenebril's private server, making all your internet activities un-traceable and anonymous.

Firewall
Agnitum Outpost Firewall PRO 4.0
Protects all types of network connectivity and detects and defends all types of hacker attacks. Anti-leak protection, stealth mode, best-in-class ID protection and "360 degree" protection against malicious software.
Comodo Personal Firewall 2.4
Free award-winning firewall that offers protection on par with for-pay firewalls. Clean interface.

Compressor, extractor
Winrar
Create, edit and extract RAR and ZIP files. Extended support for extracting (but not creating/edditing) other formats such as ISO and gzip.
7zip
Open source archiver that supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR. Also supports (for unpacking only) RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS. Simple to use and open source.

Audio
dB Power AMP
Encodes to many audio formats with additional plug-ins. Can also rip CDs perfectly by comparing checksums online.
Tag&Rename
Mass-rename MP3s and mass correct missing/incorrect ID tags. FreeDB/Amazon track listing support.
Nero Wave Editor
Hands-on editing of audio files. Add effects, clean up audio... it does a lot.

Video authoring, playback and encoding
DVD Decrypter
Removes copy protection from DVDs and copies the VOB files to your hard drive. No longer developed.
AutoGnot GK
Free tool that converts VOB files to XviD of desired quality.
Adobe Premiere Elements
Powerful video authoring suite that has outsold competitors. Edit your videos and background track on a timeline. Add special effects, edit the exposure, add font/images and more.
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra
Enabling playback of DVDs, high definition formats and media files on your computer.
Adobe Encore DVD
Semi-professional DVD authoring product with Photoshop integration. Offers broad functionality.
Camtasia Studio
Motion screen capture. Allows you to edit and output to high quality video.
Klite codec pack
K-lite codec pack saves the sweat of tracking down numerous codecs, offering a large selection of codecs, filters, players, tools and whatnot in one install.
SUPER©
Reliable and bug-free conversion of video (but a little slow). Supports a range of formats, and is completely free!

CD/DVD Creation
Ahead Nero 7
Create and copy CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs, blu-ray discs and more with the popular Nero suite of software. Also includes Nero vision, Nero wave-editor, Nero CoverDesigner...
Alcohol 120%
Create 1:1 backups of DVDs and CDs. Can burn, mount (emulate ISOs) and more!
Magic ISO Maker
Powerful CD/DVD image file creating/editing/extracting tool. Can make multi-boot images and supports a range of formats.

Chat
mIRC
IRC client allowing you to participate in group discussions on one of the many thousands of IRC channels or just talk in private to family or friends, wherever they are in the world.
MSN Live messenger
Original MSN client for chatting with others over the popular MSN protocol. Requires a .Net passport. Contains adware. Also check out the Mess.be patch and messenger plus!
Trillian Pro
Great multi-protocol chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Jabber, Novell, Rendezvous, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC.

PDF
Adobe Acrobat 8 Proffesional
Software for viewing and editing PDF documents. Free view-only version also available.

Browser
Firefox
Popular and secure internet browser with many features, a well devised UI, add-ons and skins.
Opera
Fast cross-platform internet browser. Feature packed with clean interface.

Torrent client
uTorrent
Fast, small and feature-packed torrent client. Now owned by BitTorrent, inc.
Azureus
Java-based torrent client with functionality and features.

P2P
Kceasy
Simple P2P client that connects to OpenFT, FastTrack, Gnutella, and Ares Galaxy. OpenNAP and ed2k plug-ins in development.
Shareaza
Open-source EDonkey2000, Gnutella, BitTorrent and Gnutella2 client. Customiseable, feature-packed and skinnable.
eMule
Popular ed2k client for finding those rarer files.

Imaging
Paint Shop Pro
Popular image editing suite with lots of functionality.
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Professional photo editing software.
IrfanView
For viewing images, and converting between formats. Open-source with a variety of plug-ins available.

Internet programming related software
WAMP
Allows Windows users to run their PC as a server. Combines MySQL, apache, PHP and more. Linux version (LAMP) available
Crimson Editor
Text editor that is primarily used for editing code.

Computer Utilities
CPU-Z
Displays information about computer hardware and configuration.
Speedfan
Regulates fan speeds and temperatures.
ATi Tool
Allows users to overclock their ATi graphics cards.

Other Various Tools
File Splitter
Allows users to split large files into seperate chunks of custom sizes. Chunks can be recompiled later.
Registry Mechanic 6
Claims to clean-up and optimize your registry.

[Silenus]

Thanks mogster.

I'll update my post.

[Holic]

Is paint shop the best program to use for making sigs,

easy to use, lots of features etc?

[Solid_Snake]

May I suggest that you also add links toi apps you recommend...or not(just don't flame me!!!)

[Proto]

We could add a link to Google if you insist

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by Solid_Snake

May I suggest that you also add links toi apps you recommend...or not(just don't flame me!!!)

WTH are you talking about?



Seriously, that would be really tedious.
And some of those apps aren't free.
It's best to take Proto's advice.

[hushypushy]

Well it would've been best if you'd added the links as you were writing so that now it wouldn't be such an incredibly tedious process which isn't worth undertaking.

[Silenus]

Don't worry, one boring day, I could do that.

[dashboardy]

Added all the links, did a little cleanup - made it more sticky-ish. anyways, Silenus, I took your post and integrated the links, removed the periods from some of the titles. Should be able to just quote, copy and paste. Wasn't that tedious - took about 25 minutes (put this in quote as it's not part of the rest... I'll be hurt if you don't implement this Silenus

[Solid_Snake]

Originally Posted by Silenus

WTH are you talking about?



Seriously, that would be really tedious.
And some of those apps aren't free.
It's best to take Proto's advice.

Ahh ok ok don't get mad at me find its your thread anyways

[NightDemon]

The good old FlashGet it also a good Download Manager
CCleaner is useful free program for deleting junk from the pc (cookies. temp files...)
GIMP is also a very good image editing program.

[Silenus]

Hey Solid_Snake, seems you don't get a joke.

Damn, I'll have to take Industian's class on sarcasm.

dashboardy, thanks for that man.
Now you made me look like a really lazy person.
I'll try to find the links for the apps you missed.

[dashboardy]

Originally Posted by Silenus

Hey Solid_Snake, seems you don't get a joke.

Damn, I'll have to take Industian's class on sarcasm.

dashboardy, thanks for that man.
Now you made me look like a really lazy person.
I'll try to find the links for the apps you missed.

np... lazy is as lazy does :P
I'll probably use this thread next time I format anyways. Looks a lot nicer when there's links to everything.

[dashboardy]

Silenus: add Clockgen to that list

[Player-X]

I just found another reason not to switch to Vista for now, this program allows you to search for stuff like the Vista search feature in the start menu, so far I am finding it quite useful.
Launchy: The Open Source Keystroke Launcher for Windows

[Hellsbound]

AVG Anti Spyware 7.5 Add that it protects you from over 800.000 spyware. It was ewido now AVG Anti Spyware.

Link ewido - anti-spyware and anti-malware solutions

[Hard core Rikki]

Among internet browsers, K-Meleon. It's a slimmed cousin of FireFox and Mozilla that is highly optimized for Windows. Of all the browsers I used, it is the fastest loading, and along Opera, the fastest to surf. Nice for those with dialup and/or no patience.
Gratis.
GPL.


Virtual Optical Drives, you forgot to mention the free Alcohol 52%. Gratis always beats payware. Its actually alcohol 120, but with the burning engine removed.
Gratis.


For Video and Audio Encoder/Converters: LameFE. Can rip CD's and/or convert audio files, as well as recognize music using acoustic fingerprinting to properly rename files. No more "02-no artist - track18.mp3" files anymore !!
Gratis.
GPL.


MusicBrainz Picard allows acoustic fingerprinting too. Quite nicely, I would add. For the audio taggers category.
Gratis.
GPL.


Get your Yahoo/Hotmail emails on your desktop, WITHOUT having to go premium to get POP3 access. FreePOPS can get your mails from h0tmail, AOL, Yahoo and others. Currently FreePOPS is for receiving email only btw. Those with Yahoo might want to use Ypops instead, wich allows to send mails too.
All gratis.


For the chat category, I highly recommend removing mIRC, whose non-free and insecure nature can be considered a threat to anyone's system. I recommend replacing it with X-chat (from official site is payware, from elsewhere not)
Gratis.
GPL.


Among desktop search programs, there's of course Google Desktop and X1, X1 being very nice for email-crazed peeps, and Google, well...yeah...
Both gratis.


Image viewers;
- FastStone Image Viewer. Reminds me of the good old acdsee before it got bloated like there's nothing else. Highly recommended.
Gratis.


OFFline Image editors: Paint.NET (requires the .NET framework btw, surprinsingly, stunning)
Gratis.
Opensource.


ONline Image editors (requires internet of course):
CellSea. Who needs gimp, photoshop and others when they can do it online without installing anythin??
#$@%ING GRATIS !!!


Virtual Machine utilities. Cuz noone loves GRUB!!
VMware Player. To use a virtual machine.
VMware converter. To actually make a virtual machine from YOUR very actual windows system.
Both gratis of course.


CD/DVD software:
- Deepburner (gratis, also comes in portable versions, handy for usb flash drives)
Gratis


Bookmark cleaners: AM-Deadlink. Removes duplicate bookmarks, and checks existing ones for validity. No more dead links. An absolute must, sylenus !!
Gratis.


Website rippers; Httrack. Handy to make a duplicate copy of a loved website. Dont try it with Emuforums though, unless you have at least 30 thousand gigabytes of spare disk space.
Gratis.


Exploring the world:
Google Earth. Uses higher quality commercial maps. Fast exploration, even faster when you go Pro.
Gratis.

WorldWind. WP article. VEERY versatile. Has considerably more display-able stuff than the 'basic' Google Earth. 2x less accurate maps though.
Gratis.
Opensource.


To update your Windows system, better use AutoPatcher. Saves time for new installations btw. Getting the full package is recommended.
Gratis.

============================

That's all I can remember for now. Btw, sylenus, you should append price to each selection in the 1st post. like 19.99 usd/gratis/free/gpl/opensource...

I hope you fellas like my list. There's more, but lets leave for another spammish post.

[Woodpeckersam]

Was a site ere.. removed link. (nothing related to topic now)

[Silenus]

Thanks for the info Hard core Rikki.
I'll update the list later today.

And Woodpeckersam, maybe you tried to help, but that site you linked contains pirated material, please remove it.

[Woodpeckersam]

Is it? sorry.. :/ my bad.. gosh i done a bit too much bad stuff here.. i'll remove it (that also meant the accidental post the a rom site !)