Recommend a computer program

[Winmar]

Have you found any computer programs to be particularly useful? If so, list them here.

I'll start with Defraggler, a program which allows you to defrag a hard drive or just individual files:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler/

CCleaner's not bad either for cleaning up your PC:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

 

[phlogiston]

PSPad - a notepad that detects when the file has been updated and will refresh it for you. Does other cool stuff too, but that's why I use it. Useful for looking at log files.

FileZilla - it's an FTP program.

Skype - Internet Telephone/Chat. Use it all the time for work.

I'm a programmer, but I think those might be the most generally useful ones for you "norms".

 

[Shadow298]

Have you found any computer programs to be particularly useful? If so, list them here.

I'll start with Defraggler, a program which allows you to defrag a hard drive or just individual files:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler/

CCleaner's not bad either for cleaning up your PC:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

both programs are beyond fucking lifesavers!

they clean up so much shit that you otherwise can't get rid of and then make sure it runs smoothly.

as for programs that I recommend:

for chat I recommend Trillian by Cerulean Studios.
It's an all-in-one shell that is far less resource intensive as MSN, YIM, AIM and the others and contains it all nicely within a single program.
It does have it's faults and limiations but it's still pretty sweet.
http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/
if you can afford to get the full version do so, wel worth it.

Anti-virus I solidly support AVast!
it's free, seldom targeted by viral agents and not a resourse hog -running smoothly in the back ground.
biggest bonus to it is the fact that it runs virus checks in boot, so the fuckers can't hid in sub-directories and such.
http://www.avast.com/

there are heaps of add-ons for firefox that I use too but can't be arsed writing them all out here.

 

[Lord Tim]

I used to recommend Trillian but it's become WAY bloated recently and doesn't display a lot of MSN stuff properly, I've found. That said, the new MSN 9 beta is utter shit too, so you're probably not losing anything by using Trillian over that!

I recommend...

VLC Media Player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Plays damn near anything (unless you're Rob, clearly! HAHA! Hope you got your CODEC issue sorted, man!)

Unlocker: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/ This is handy when you just can't delete a stubborn file - it gives you the option to kill the process that's locking it or just delete the damn thing once and for all.

And when you do that and you realise you've royally fucked up, get the file back with this - Recuva: http://www.recuva.com/ Freeware file undelete program.

 

[phlogiston]

When I use chat, I use either Digsby or Pidgin, both free and both multi-protocol (i.e. All-in-one).

I think Digsby has Facebook, email and Twitter integration as well.

http://www.pidgin.im/
http://www.digsby.com/

 

[Stonewall]

I found one called EaseUS Partition Manager 3.0 recently. It is freeware that lets you resize, delete, move, copy etc partitions in XP. I used it recently when fixing up a relatives pc that had a partitioned drive. No free space left on the C: partition, plenty in the D: (this would have been gobbledygook to them).

I used it to shrink the D: partition, then moved it to the back of the drive. Then expanded the C: partition over the free space.

Not without it's risks obviously, but it saved having to reformat the drive and do a reinstall with a user friendly single partition.

 

[Shadow298]

I used to recommend Trillian but it's become WAY bloated recently and doesn't display a lot of MSN stuff properly, I've found. That said, the new MSN 9 beta is utter shit too, so you're probably not losing anything by using Trillian over that!

you can get plug ins from Cerulean that fix a few of those issues and the latest version supposedly has eliminated a lot of them as well.
but I think they are saving full functionality for Trillian Astra when that is finally released.

VLC Media Player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Plays damn near anything

just got the latest version of VLC and it's so much more user friendly then the previous one, with a more simply interface and less lag.
you really need to fiddle with a lot of the setting though if you want to make the most out of it.

as for Codecs, I really recommend Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) because it works with almost every player and doesn't fuck around as much as say Windows Media Player trying to download random codecs to play something.
http://www.cccp-project.net/

 

[Winmar]

I was going to start a thread like this, but then thought that I already did so a while back, which was confirmed by a quick search. Anyway, a couple of programs to recommend:

Soluto - it analyses which programs are loaded when you boot your computer and how long it takes to do so, then gives you the option of stopping them or delaying them until your PC's idle. www.soluto.com

Magical Defrag - defrags your PC whenever it's idle and pauses the process when you're using it.