I am not a huge fan of windows, but it the operating system I have been running for the past 14 years (if you dont count college, or my current laptop… both were/are linux based). I have Windows Vista at home, and I have to use Windows XP at work.

Over the years, I have found programs that have worked for me. They have worked well, and helped me to get things done. I decided to make a list of the applications that I use on a rather regular basis. These are the things that I would for sure reinstall if my computer was to die tonight. Most of the software is free, and open source. As a result, many of the programs I am about to list also are available for Linux and Apple OSX. So here is the list of windows program that I love, in no particular order (expect Firefox, its at the top of the list)

Web Browsing:

• Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com)
  Sooooo much better then internet explorer SO USE IT!

File Searching:

• Agent Ransack (http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack)
  Soooo much better/faster then the built in windows file search

File Comparison:

• Compare It (http://www.grigsoft.com)
  Great tool for doing differences in files. helpful for programmers.

Text Editor:

• notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net)
  Simple and fast text editor

Sound Editing:

• audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net)
  no frills audio editing.

Windows Enhancements:

• taskbar shuffle ( http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm)
  use this tool to reorder the running programs in the windows taskbar. super light weight

Instant Messaging:

• pidgin (http://www.pidgin.im)
• GoogleTalk (http://www.google.com/talk)

CD Burning:

• infraRecorder (http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net)
  awesome open source/free cd burner. The only one I use now

Anti-virus:

• AVG 7.5 Free (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/downloads-products/us/frt/0?prd=aff)
  Norton can suck it

Spyware:

• adaware (http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download)
• spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html)

Image sharing/hosting:

• Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)
  the place I host my pics

• Flickr Uploadr (http://www.flickr.com/tools)
  how I upload my pics

• FlickrDown (http://greggman.com/pages/flickrdown.htm)
  how I leech my friends pics

VOIP:

• skype (http://www.skype.com)
  cool tool for talking to people

• prettymay (http://www.prettymay.net)
  answering machine for skype! record/download mp3 copies of things

P2P:

• soulseek (http://www.slsknet.org)
  awesome application for finding full albums of music

• utorrent (http://www.utorrent.com)
  my favorite torrent client, use with piratebay and isohunt FTW!

Backup:

• syncback (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbse.html)
  an application that will copy your files to a removable hard drive on a scheduled basis. great tool.

• carbonite (http://www.carbonite.com)
  $50 a year for unlimited off site backup? you better believe i use this. you should also!

Blogging:

• WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org)
  if you have your own server, use this! if not, wordpress.com is for you

Programming:

• Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org)
  I love this IDE, I do all my development in it now. These plugins really help get things done.
  • cfeclipse (http://www.cfeclipse.org)
  • phpeclipse (http://phpeclipse.sourceforge.com)
  • subversive (subversion control) (http://www.eclipse.org/subversive)
  • esftp (sftp control) (http://www.antimatter-studios.co.uk/sites/chris/projects/esftp)

SSH:

• putty (http://www.putty.org)
  simple and sweet ssh client

RSS Reader:

• Feedreader (http://www.feedreader.com)
  one of the best desktop news readers I have used

FTP:

• Filezilla (http://filezilla-project.org)
  so much better then cuteftp

Key Logging:

• BFK (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bfk)
  this came in handy when the guy installing FIOS had to use my computer to “configure” the modem/router. pwned!