GA Forum Members' Recommended Software

[ski]

I'd like this thread to eventually be a sticky.

Often times, it has been asked, "What program do you use to ________?"

I would like to collect all of the information and provide links for common tasks, that way instead of searching for things that might be waste-of-time programs, we have a list of tried-and-true software. :)

Spyware/Adware Removal

AdAaware (link) (http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?qt=adaware&tg=dl-2001&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=+Go%21+)
Spybot (link) (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-1)
Spyware Blaster (link) (http://www.download.com/SpywareBlaster/3000-8022_4-10396039.html?tag=lst-0-1)
your suggestions here


Office/Productivity

OpenOffice(link) (http://openoffice.org)
your suggestions here


Media Players

Winamp (link) (http://www.winamp.com/)
Windows Media Player (link) (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology=)
BSPlayer (link) (http://www.bsplayer.org)
your suggestions here


MP3 Editors

Audacity (link) (http://www.download.com/Audacity/3000-2170_4-10325373.html?tag=lst-0-5)
your suggestions here


Converters (MP3/WMA/WAV/AAC/etc.)

dBpowerAmp (link) (http://www.download.com/dBpowerAmp-Music-Converter/3000-2140_4-10341187.html?tag=lst-0-6)
your suggestions here


DVD Backup

DVDShrink (link) (http://www.dvdshrink.org)
DVD Decrypter (link) (http://www.dvddecrypter.com/)
your suggestions here

[Jenny]

My favorite Media Player: BSPlayer: http://www.bsplayer.org

[DarkFury]

Top Recommended software:

1. Norton Ghost (The "save your @ss in a jam" software)

2. Norton Systemworks Pro (which includes Ghost... however combined with Norton AV makes it worth buying the suite instead of buying separately. You don't have to use the other parts of the suite if you don't like those parts.)

3. DVD Shrink - Cause when you wanna burn that Movie to a DVD... it just works and does an admirable job of compressing it down to fit on a single layer DVD.

4. NoteTab Light - The end all of "text editors". So many good things this little free program does that other text editors only dream of doing.

5. CyberLink PowerVCR, PowerDVD, and PowerDirector - Pretty much they cover the need for video capture and DVD editing for a very good price.

6. Adobe Photoshop - 'Cause photochoppin' ain't Eazy. :heh:

7. Adaware PE, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Spyware Blaster - Basically the best FREE adware killers out there. Load em up... before adware bogs you down.

8. Nero 6 - It's CD/DVD "Burntastic" :D

[DaFunkyUnit]

Awesome idea, Ski!!!

Antivirus: AVG 7 (the free version)
Spyware: Spybot S&D
Registry cleaner: CCleaner and EasyCleaner (thanks, MechMike! (http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85944&highlight=registry)
Media Players: Winamp, WMP, QT, Real Alternative
DVD Playback: InterDVD
CD Burning: Nero, Alcohol, CloneCD
AIM: AIM (i just think Trillian and the other alternatives are just a pain to use. my opinion)
Internet Browser: Firefox

[PrObLy]

MP3/OGG/etc.. encoding: Without a doubt CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/), definitely using the LAME plugin for any encoding done above ~160 bitrate.

Spyware: as of now, I think it's almost essential to have several of the best programs installed on your computer, with at least one of them having real time protection. That being said, here's the list I use:
1)Lavasoft AdAware
2)Spybot: Search and Destroy
3)Spyware Blaster
4)Microsoft Anti-Spyware

between those 4 I seem to be able to catch anything that may squirm its way onto my beast.

DVD compressing: DVD Shrink (www.dvdshrink.org) along with DVD Decrypter (www.dvddecrypter.com) (for the cases that DVD shrink can't break the code)

[chadlnc]

I'd like to see a category for Anti-Spam. The company that makes the software i use now (Giant Software) got bought out by Microsoft for their anti-spyware product. I'll need to replace it soon, there have been bug fixes I have been waiting for that I will never see now.

[mcs328]

Slipstream?

[ski]

Will try to update with the new ideas once a day -- check back tomorrow! :)

[verve247]

essential software (http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70733)

I posted this awhile back when i wanted to know what people must have on their computers.

[speedracer120]

One vote for GOM player as THE media, they even have an English version out. It's a very feature loaded little player that automatically updates its codecs. It's sorta a pain to find download, because the site is in Korean but it's worth the hassle. But here's the link (http://gom.ipop.co.kr/gomBeta/view.html?intSeq=156&page=1&preface=)to their latest version (http://gom.ipop.co.kr/gomBeta/view.html?intSeq=156&page=1&preface=).

[AmRivlin]

VLC for Divx
iTunes for Music
Firefox for Web
Dashboard for information
AdiumX for IM
Autocad 2005 for drafting
Word 03 for papers

This is all i use ever.

[mechmike0034]

Open Office: http://openoffice.org (The 1.9/2.0 beta works well)

Most of my other faves have already been mentioned, but here's some links to Open Source, Freeware, and other legit free sites:

Public Antivirus CD, including guides and instructions:

http://nyquil-kid.dyndns.org

Great freeware CD/DVD burning program:

http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

RockXP – pull your XP CD Key and back up the wpa.dbl file so you don’t have to re-activate XP after a Repair Install:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/rockxp.html

From their FAQ: It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the Windows\System32 folder. Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a 'Repair' reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status. However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.

Aida32 – great sys info tool – no longer supported, but on my server:

http://downloads.carputers.net/aida32.zip

http://downloads.carputers.net/aida32_guide.zip

How to remove spyware:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#online

and...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=80

and...

http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Specific tutorials for using the individual recommended FREE programs and tools mentioned above (Spybot, AdAware, Spyware Blaster, and HijackThis) can be accessed from here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?act=Tutorials&CODE=01&CID=38

All kinda stuff:

http://aumha.org/freeware.htm
http://aumha.org/morefree.htm
http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/about2004PL.htm
http://www.tinyapps.org/

http://shinobiresources.com/downloads.htm

Spyware removers: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/soft6.htm

More info - the good, the bad and the ugly: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Ultimate Boot CD (“DOS”): http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Bootable XP Rescue CD, really cool! http://www.ubcd4win.com/ (This page is also linked from the original http://www.ultimatebootcd.com page).
I have gotten a lot of use out of the original Ultimate Boot CD, but this takes the concept forward.

There's also a link on that site to another program called AutoStreamer http://www.autopatcher.com/autostreamer.html which makes slipstreaming service packs into a bootable XP CD real easy.

Autopatcher http://www.autopatcher.com is the shizzle for patching 2K and XP boxes.

March release for XP here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/AutoPatcher-XP.shtml

Free, open source software (for Windows) compilations:

http://www.winlibre.com/en/
http://www.theopencd.org/
http://osswin.sourceforge.net/
http://osscd.sunsite.dk/
http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/en/index.html

Freeware links - most of these sites test their freeware to insure no ads, spyware, or nasties, however due diligence is recommended (some of these come and go):

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_free_utilities.htm
http://www.cleansoftware.org/
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=clif_notes
http://www.freewaremotherload.com/
http://decentdownloads.x-istence.com/
http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm
http://www.webgrid.co.uk/index.html
http://freeware.webvena.com/
http://www.all-freeware.com/
http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld/links.php
http://www.freewareoffice.com/
http://www.freewindows.dk/fw/modules/mydownloads/
http://www.users.bigpond.com/johncoom/johncoof.html
http://home.hccnet.nl/hmdejong/bestsites.html
http://www.itpeer.dyndns.org/dtae_FilesSection_notit.htm
http://freeware.intrastar.net/
http://www.onlythebestfreeware.com/
http://xpedition.mine.nu/index_en.html
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/WhutzNu.html
http://techsoup.org/products/downloads.cfm?cg=nav&sg=downloads
http://www.members.lycos.co.uk/thecavefreeware/
http://freewareoutpost1.blogspot.com/
http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Home
http://www.emm.ie/freeware/index.html

Freeware programs that either went commercial after these versions or were discontinued, or are hard to find or just plain good: http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32_freeware.html
http://www.oldversion.com

Freeware replacements for common commercial apps: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3616&st=0&#entry25169

Edit - more:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
--the best Windows (XP/2003) GUI bootdisk, period.

http://www.eventid.net
--for decrypting all those codes in the XP/2000/2003 Event Viewer

http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/
--need to id a hardware part, with no name? Just plug in the FCC code….

http://www.sysinternals.com/index.shtml
--the most complete collection of admin freeware around

http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
--Bruce Gibson may be paranoid, but his site is useful for test probing

http://labmice.techtarget.com/
--the best source for Windows information (with a better search engine than support.microsoft.com)

[johnnymk]

Wow, I am bookmarking those sites, mechmike. Thanks.

I also like CDRWIN and Alcohol 120% plus CDCreator (later versions) for burning CDs and DVDs.

[mechmike0034]

I am cheap, and I have a natural aversion to bootlegging commercial apps, so this is right up my alley!

True Freeware (from The Freeware Revolution):

Software that requires no payments (in any form)
Does not have registration requirements
Does not come with spyware/adware or other malware bundled inside it
Has all features 100% fully working
Does not have time limits
Does not require payment for access to support information
Allows you to freely share the program with friends, family and collegues

[PrObLy]

I forgot to add in my original list:

Video Card/Monitor/TV-out/Custom Resolution Tweaking: PowerStrip (http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm)

[verve247]

Hey Ski ,

Do you want to edit your first post to accomadate everyone else's links and recommendations? It would be an awesome list for us to check out.

[SnowSurfer]

Hey Ski ,

Do you want to edit your first post to accomadate everyone else's links and recommendations? It would be an awesome list for us to check out.

ill second that

[Markel]

I can't believe no one has mentioned IRFANVIEW (http://www.irfanview.com), an incredible freeware image viewer, editor, converter, etc. Get the plugins, and it will also open virtually any media type (image, video, audio).