Great Software for Microsoft Windows

This page lists great software for Windows that i personally use. Most are also available for Mac and Linux.

Anti-Virus Software

See: Windows: Best Anti-virus Software.

Image

Image Viewer

Windows	Mac	Linux
Irfanview	GraphicConverter	Linux: Best Image Viewer

• GraphicConverter
• Irfanview
• Linux: feh. see: Linux: Best Image Viewer for Random Slideshow.

Photo Collection

Windows	Mac	Linux
Google Picasa	Google Picasa	Google Picasa

Picasa Pains: Using Picasa Web as Backup; Sync All Folders

Image Editor

Windows	Mac	Linux
Gimp	Gimp	Gimp

• Gimp

Vector Graphics Drawing

Windows	Mac	Linux
Inkscape	Inkscape	Inkscape

• Inkscape. ♥

Video

Video Player

Windows	Mac	Linux
VLC	VLC	VLC

• VLC media player
• Windows ＆ Mac: QuickTime. Not as a player, but you'll need this when playing videos from Apple.

Video Capture

Screen Video Capture, Screencasting, Softwares

DVD-ripper. HandBrake. Can't really rip encripted DVD. But good for converting DVD format to some video format as a file.

Video Editing

I haven't done any video editing. But here's what i heard that works fine.

• Windows Live Movie Maker
• VirtualDub

For linux:

• PiTiVi
• Kdenlive
• OpenShot Video Editor

Audio ＆ Music

Music player. Windows ＆ Mac: iTunes

See: Audio Recorder, Synthesizers, MIDI Software.

Office (WordProcessor, Spread Sheet, …)

• OpenOffice.org

Mail

Gmail, Yahoo Mail, HotMail

Windows ＆ Mac ＆ Linux: Mozilla Thunderbird

Windows: Windows Live Mail. 〔➤see Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Confusion Ball〕

{Voice, Video} Chat

• Skype. 〔➤see Skype Chat Encryption and Screen Sharing〕
• Google+ features “hangout”, which is voice and video chat for 2 or more people. 〔➤see What is Google Plus and Google+ Songs〕

Text Chat, IRC

all-in-one chats software for your Yahoo/AIM/MSN. But these usually only support text chat, no video or voice.

• Mac: Adium
• Mac: Colloquy (IRC client)
• Windows: Pidgin (sucks major.)

These days, just use twitter

ebook file Reader

• Calibre (software) 「calibre」 {.epub}
• FBReader fbreader {.epub, .chm}

Microsoft Help File (.chm)

• XCHM xchm {.chm}

File Sharing, BitTorrent

• Transmission (BitTorrent client) (Mac ＆ Linux)
• Deluge (software) (Windows ＆ Mac ＆ Linux)
• Vuze (Windows ＆ Mac). Requires Java. I do not recommend.
• Windows: μTorrent

Text Editor

Emacs. See: Tutorial: Install Emacs for {Windows, Mac, Linux}

Very occasionally, i also use:

• Mac: TextWrangler
• Windows: Notepad++

Keyboard Macros ＆ Launchers

• Microsoft Windows Keyboard Software Guide
• Mac Keyboard Software Guide
• Linux: Keyboard Software Guide ⌨

File Secure Deletion

See: How to Secure Delete Files, Shred Files, Wipe Drive.

Math

see: Great Math Software

3D Modeling Software

List of 3D Modeling Software.

Unix utils

Mac: build-in. But to install extra, use Fink or MacPorts.

Windows: Cygwin. 〔➤see Installing Cygwin Tutorial〕

VirtualBox. Best tool for running linux on Windows. 〔➤see How to Install Linux on VirtualBox〕

For text terminal, you can use ssh in cygwin (install openssh within cygwin). Also, in cygwin, use MinTTY. Or, you can download PuTTY.

Windows Tools for Programer, Sys Admin

PowerShell. Great command line shell: 〔➤see PowerShell Tutorial〕

• Process Explorer @ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653
• FTP client. FileZilla
• FTP client, Firefox add-on: FireFTP.
• 7-zip (zip, unzip, gzip, extracting installer exe etc.)

• Microsoft Log Parser 2.2. Source www.microsoft.com
• Cacls Command line tool to view or set file permissions.

• Wireshark (a packet sniffer)
• Peer gardian (IP blocker)
• ZoneAlarm (full featured firewall)

For monitoring network, see also: tool for monitoring network traffic on Windows 7 Home @ http://superuser.com/questions/302559/tool-for-monitoring-network-traffic-on-windows-7-home/

Inno Setup. (create installers)

This isn't exhaustive list of install software. Though, it contains all apps i use daily.

• Daily: emacs, cygwin, Google Chrome, Firefox, IrfanView, Safari, Opera, Skype.
• Weekly: GIMP, iTunes, Mathematica, VirtualBox, Firestorm/Phoenix (Second Life), Inkscape, Google Earth, Picasa, Thunderbird. (Mathematica should be there)

Just noticed a Walmart Photo Center there. lol. That's one of those bundled bloatware which somehow escaped my notice. It's going to trash now. Also, note that ComboFix.exe. It is supposed to be a rootkit detector or remover, but i haven't researched enough to be sure it's good. It is there temporarily.

For tools i use on linux, see: Xah Linux Setup.