|
Borrowed from Neil, here's a list of some of the software I use on a regular basis.
Web Browsing: Despite all of the warnings against it, I'm still using MS Internet Explorer. This is mainly because I am very set in my ways, including having a browser that loads fairly instantly, displays sites as you would expect them to be displayed, and works with the toolbars I've come to heavily depend on. Most important is the Yahoo! Companion toolbar. I store all of my bookmarks on Yahoo! (a result of having lost all my bookmarks to hard drive failure one too many times, either by forgetting to salvage them or by them being too far gone), and the toolbar is the only convenient way to access them. Though I have never really fallen victim to any of IE's security holes, I have considered trying Firefox, but I also have a bit of a hangup about relying on a browser that isn't in its final release.
E-mail: I've been using the ad-supported version of Eudora for a few years now. It does really well at keeping my many e-mail accounts organized. The ads are quite unobtrusive and I absolutely don't mind seeing a few ads in exchange for high quality free software. And though it is ad-supported, it does not contain any spyware.
Imaging: Paint Shop Pro 7 all the way. Hopefully it will still run in Windows 2030 though, because I have no intention of ever upgrading to a new version, especially now that Corel has gotten ahold of it.
Instant Messaging: Like Neil, I am a paid user of Trillian Pro. I wouldn't go back to individual IM clients if you paid me.
Office Stuff: Don't laugh... my copy of Microsoft Works 4.0 (97) suits me just fine. It is a perfectly legal, paid for copy, but somehow I ended up with the Australian version - not quite sure how that happened. But for most purposes it is more than adequate. When I do need a slightly more powerful word processor, I've been experimenting with AbiWord. It's free, a little buggy, but not bad for completely free software. I also tend to do a lot of word processing directly in my voice recognition software, Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Security: Kerio Personal Firewall, AVG Anti-Virus, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware SE.
Compression: WinRAR and Windows XP's built-in zip support work for me.
Tweaking: X-Setup. I haven't written code for it like Neil, but I do know a couple other people involved in its development, through the WinExtra newsgroups.
FTP: FlashFXP - yet another great program I was happy to hand over the money for, despite the countless free alternatives.
Music Playing: Winamp 2.91 is pumping out tunes as I write this. Have you noticed I tend to be stubborn about upgrading certain things?
Newsreader: Neil left this out, but I wanted to mention I'm trying out a new program that combines NNTP news and RSS/Atom feeds into one application - JetBrains Omea Reader. Thus far I'd been using a Trillian plugin for RSS feeds, which is highly inadequate, I know. And I'd been sticking with Outlook Express for newsgroups. The jury's still out on Omea Reader - there are things I like, and things I don't, but could possibly get used to.
Bloggers, feel free to make your own list and post a trackback here. Or if you prefer (or don't have a blog/journal), you can discuss your various software choices on the forum.
<< prev • home • next >>
|
![[photo of me]](/mypic.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/seaworlddc2007/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
