My favourite softwares

I am a born again software addict. My rebound from terminal software nutcase to sane user has been excruciating. The phenomenal obsession with shareware, trial ware, demo ware and freeware has since been toned down to occasional browsing for useful freeware. However, I have been able to compile a list of excellent applications while walking the wild side of cyberspace. Like a fairy tale dungeon dragon I have been guarding it all these years but I realize now that it has been damn tiresome and pretty stupid of me. So I have decided to bare it all – A Double Cheese Burger + Triple Sundae + Pepsi software combo pack of applications, mostly freeware and a few pay ware.

I haven’t written even one line of code in any of the applications listed. True to the spirit of every self respecting end user license agreement, I take no responsibility what so ever in case any of the applications featured here threaten you, your family, pets, neighbours, the planet, universe et al with eternal damnation and perdition.

Dedicated to selfless open source and freeware developers whose unflinching madness has yielded some of the best software’s mankind has ever known.

P.S:- The software’s listed are only for the Windows platform. Linux, BeOS, Mac OS, Other OS users – please excuse me. Power users, this list is not meant for you. I’m sure you have got them all and more.

1. PDF XChange Viewer – Outstanding PDF viewer and Annotator. Best I have ever known. The freeware version is quite impressive. Far better than Acrobat or Foxit Reader [Download Link]

2. PDFTools from Sheel Khanna – Hassle free Encryption/ Decryption, pdf splitting/ joining, pdf stamping and pdf page rearrange at no cost [Download Link]

3. PrintConductor – Freeware batch print utility. I couldn’t find another freeware replacement for this one [Download Link]

4. XYPlorer – Best windows explorer replacement with document preview and file search. Portable. XYPlorer Ver 5.55 is still available for free download [Download Link]

5. XPlorer2 – Another impressive windows explorer replacement [Download Link]

6. Everything Search – Lightning fast desktop file search engine. However works only with NTFS drives. Portable version available [Download Link]

7. Snowbird search – Portable desktop file search engine. Works with NTFS and FAT drives. Can search inside files as well [Download Link]

8. 7 Zip – Freeware, portable, zip/ unzip engine. Can handle multiple formats [Download Link]

9. Deskpins – Pin any number of windows to the desktop. Portable [Download Link]

10. TrayIt – Reduce desktop clutter. Send them all to the system tray [Download Link]

11. eTextReader – Unobtrusive, customizable, portable text reader [Download Link]

12. WordWeb – Excellent dictionary and thesaurus [Download Link]

13. The Sage – Very good dictionary and thesaurus. I like WordWeb better though [Download Link]

14. Autounbreak – Remove line breaks from text files [Download Link]

15. Text Stripper – Remove line breaks and a lot more. Much more versatile than Autounbreak [Download Link]

16. FSCapture – Uncluttered screen capture utility. Version 5.3 is freeware for home users [Download Link]

17. Screen2Exe – Very good onscreen video capture tool. Converts directly to standalone exe file. [Download Link]     Another good alternative is Camstudio [Download Link]

18. IrfanView – Superb Picture Viewer [Download Link]

19. Photoscape – Feature Rich Photo Editor [Download Link]

20. PhotoFiltre – Another fantastic photo editor. Combined with Photoscape provides matchless photo editing capability [Download Link]

21. FreeVideoConverter – Excellent video format converter [Download Link]

22. DVDShrink – Very good DVD ripper. Use Backup option under File menu to begin DVD rip [Download Link]

23. Calc98 – Excellent scientific calculator [Download Link]

24. Convert – Very good unit conversion tool [Download Link]

25. MyLockBox – Password protect your personal folder for free [Download Link]

26. Polyedit Lite – Compact, fast text editor. Notepad replacement [Download Link]

27. EditPad Lite – Similar to Polyedit Lite [Download Link]

28. VLC Player – Most versatile video player [Download Link]

29. KM Player – Good video player. Not as versatile as VLC player though [Download Link]

30. PStart – Compact, no fuss program launcher [Download Link]

31. TrueCrypt – Create highly secure encrypted file vaults [Download Link]

32. Universal Extractor – Extract files from exe files and make them portable [Download Link]

33. Sumatra PDF – No frills PDF viewer [Download Link]

34. Duplicate Cleaner – Find and clean duplicate files. User friendly interface [Download Link]

35. CloneSpy – Duplicate Cleaner. Less user friendly, but more thorough. Duplicate Cleaner combined with CloneSpy gives you formidable power [Download Link]

36. Eraser – Erase files and folders without a trace. Excellent. Portable version available [Download Link]

37. CCleaner – Full featured system cleaner [Download Link]

38. Cathy – Lightweight, simple disk cataloguing tool [Download Link]

39. QTTabBar – Enhance windows explorer functionality with this add-in [Download Link]

40. Sandboxie – Protects PC from viruses by denying access to hard disk while browsing internet [Download Link]

41. Avira Antivirus – Excellent freeware antivirus package [Download Link]

42. Super Antispyware – Anti-malaware tool. Best used for offline scanning [Download Link]

43. Rainbow Folders – Colour your folders for easy identification [Download Link]

44. MyNotesKeeper – Fantastic Personal Information Manager. Not freeware [Download Link]

45. Lookout – Fast, advanced search engine for Microsoft Outlook [Download Link]. See Note A

46. TextTicker – Scrolling text on your desktop. Not freeware [Download Link]

47. Excel Password Remover – Very good password remover add-in for excel [Download Link]

48. HxD Hexeditor – Very good Hex Editor [Download Link]

49. Picpick – Multi-utility screen capture, screen zoom tool [Download Link]

50. MyMobiler – View and manipulate windows mobile/ PDA screen on PC [Download Link]

51. Online Armour – Excellent Free Firewall [Download Link]

52. Mutorrent – Portable, easy to use torrent client with a tiny footprint [Download Link]

I use most of these software’s on a regular basis and I love them all. I’m sure you will too. Ciao…

Checkout this unique web resource – www.techsupportalert.com, it will have you hooked. The blog, whatsonmypc.wordpress.com is another great place to keep your software arsenal updated. Another wonderful site is, www.whoismadhur.com…

Other great software sites –www.ampercent.com; www.makeuseof.com….

I have discovered a few more gems. Guess I need to keep this site updated all the time. Here we go:-

53. Inkscape: Fabulous opensource scalable vector graphics editor. Simply the best. [Download Link]

54. CDBurnerXP: A Blu-Ray, DVD, CD Burner application with the most user friendly iterface. [Download Link]

55. DynamicDraw: Freeware Visio replacement. Excellent for flowcharts etc. [Download Link] (See Diagram Designer)

56. UBitMenu: Do not like Office 2007 Ribbon Toolbar? Want the Calssic toolbar badly? Check out UBitMenu – free for home use [Download Link] Another option is Exshail classic Menu [Download Link], My personal preference is RibbonCustomizer-Starter Edition [Download Link]

57. Mobythesaurus: Comprehensive freeware thesaurus. [Download Link]

58. Ycopy: Hassle free file copying for windows. Portable [Download Link], Another option is Teracopy [Download Link]

58. What is your computer doing?: A more useful Windows Task Manager [Download Link]

59. Great sites for PDA/ Mobile Utilities: http://3pda.ucoz.ae/; http://www.imserba.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=74; http://www.mobilism.org/

60. NirLauncher: 100 useful portable freeware in a single bundle [Download Link]

61. Diagram Designer: Great free software for designing flow charts [Download Link]

62. AbstractSpoon ToDoList: Free, portable Getting Things Done software- Simply Wonderful [Download Link]

63. Debut Video Capture (NCH Software): Best Video Capture Software, Free Too [Download Link]

Note A: Lookout can also be used with Outlook 2007. Check out this link to find details [Link]